Elder - Brett goes to the MTC

Today Brett went into the Missionary Training Center for a few weeks before heading off to Kennewick, Washington. It was great to see him, and almost all of my brothers and sisters, this weekend to send him off.

Brett was born when I was finishing my senior year of high school. Quite the gap between us! Now he is going to the part of the country where I served my mission. In fact, it looks like part of the area of eastern Oregon that I served in will now be in his mission. That was "rancher country" and I almost loved it more than the Portland area because it was so authentic and different than the typical city/suburb experience. The people were amazing! They would drive us two or three hours to an appointment. Sometimes they would even drive us up to Monument, Oregon from John Day and find a family for us to stay the night with since it was such a long drive. All of this for an appointment!

Those horses were a lot bigger than they look in the picture.

Me with Sis. Valora in John Day area at one of the members ranch houses. Often they would invite us over to eat around 8 p.m. when the haying was completed for the evening.

Good times and I'm glad Brett gets to experience his adventure in the Northwest.

Mission Call - Mr. Brett goes to Washington

Brett got his mission call on Thursday, February 28th. He is going to the Washington Kennewick mission. Very cool. I thought he would go to Portland like me, but it's just as well because the new mission boundaries actually include one of my areas in eastern Oregon.

All of my brothers, and sister, went to central or South America. I just couldn't see that continuing. The odds were against it. So, the oldest child and the youngest child got/get to go to the pacific northwest.

My brother Chris called us all and set up a "gotomeeting" on Thursday and so all eight brothers and sisters were on the conference call while Brett opened the envelope with the mission call. What a neat experience! Half the time we couldn't tell who was talking because very few of us have distinct voices, but it felt like a mini-reunion. We're going to start a tradition as a result of it and set a call up for every couple of weeks.

Anyway, here's to Brett on the next two years of his life! And, here's a picture of me those many years ago and the link to my mission book.

P.S. You must check the link called "Chris." True to the name of the blog, it has not been updated in a while. (-: