Texas Open House

Saturday, August 23rd, we enjoyed a fun Open House at our home in Pearland Texas. My sweet Visiting Teacher, Beth Livesay, offered to enlist the help of the ladies in our ward (congregation) & the food was delicious! I made beef brisket sandwiches (y'all know we Texans LOVE us some good brisket, haha!). It was wonderful to see so many of our sweet church friends & family again, after being gone for the summer. Bob made some fun "mission trading cards", as I love to refer to them...with our picture & our blog address, so friends can follow us on this blog. I teased that in 18 months these cards will surely be worth some $$$, LOL!

Enjoy sharing this fun night through our pictures:

Serena & our darling granddaughters, Maggie & Chloe.
Miranda & Jaxon Brown 

We were so excited that Debbie Berg (Bob's sister-in-law) was able to
come up from Port Arthur to join us for the weekend!

My dear friend, Laurel Smith
(thanks for the yummy Texas Sheet Cake, Laurel!)

The Smith brothers...

Our wonderful next-door neighbor, Kay.
We couldn't ask for a sweeter, more loving friend & neighbor!

My amazingly talented friend & life-saver, Beth Livesay.
The evening went off perfectly, thanks to her help!

Our little granddaughter, Brooklynn, LOVED Aunt Serena's chocolate cake :)

Our Stake President, Daryl Scott, & his wife, Apryl

The cute Scott sisters...

Sunday, August 24th, we spoke in our Pearland Ward. We have missed our ward "family" & have truly felt their love, support & prayers. We had been asked to speak about how missions can influence past, present & future generations. I revised my talk from a few weeks ago a bit to fit this new topic, but still began with the background of how we came to the decision to serve a public affairs mission. I also shared some experiences of how we have already recognized the influence this decision is having on our family & friends. 

One special experience is that my sweet mother-in-law, Norma, has been so excited to share articles about our church from the Houston Chronicle. Although she attends the Lutheran Church (which Bob grew up in), she is so supportive of our decision & always sends her love & prayers as we embark on this journey. She & her friend, Ann, even scheduled a day to spend in Nauvoo Illinois this past week, as they were traveling to Iowa & Minnesota. She called us yesterday & said they absolutely loved their time there & thought the temple was beautiful. Her favorite was the Women's Gardens with all of the lovely statues & flowers. 

Bob gave a great talk, as he always does, & focused much of it on Family History, sharing stories of several of his ancestors. I know that the passion he has for this valuable work will definitely be used as we serve throughout South Africa. He will be an incredible asset to those who want to learn & research their ancestors, & in turn, move the work of the Lord forward in these latter-days.

After our meeting, we came back to our home & had a great visit & lunch with family & friends. Thanks to our sweet family for putting together such a yummy lunch. We enjoyed having all four of Bob's kids there, as well as most of their families. We truly missed Shelby, Zoey & new little baby Jackson; as well as Julie, Addie, Jack & Millie. We did feel your presence & support there, though :) It was also fun to have Debbie with us Sunday also, as well as the Brown family (formerly from our East Texas Ward). And we were glad Trevor Young was able to make it back down from Belton to share in the festivities! He has been living in our home since January, & will be taking care of things while we are on our mission - such a HUGE blessing! 

Dave & Serena, Anthony, Debbie, Brooklynn, Breana & Joe, James & Grayson
Chloe, Maggie, Sharon & Bob

I brought our African display from Utah, so we could enjoy
at our Texas home too. Here are the mission "trading cards"
Bob created to share our blog address. Cool, huh?!!

Our friends, Johnny & Shawna Brown, from our former ward in East Texas,
surprised us by coming to our farewell. It was wonderful to see them again!

Joe & Anthony were able to fly in from California, just in time to join with us for the weekend activities.

Our grandson Grayson is such a character!

We were "serenaded" by these cute cousins, Grayson & Chloe

We gave each of the grandkids' families a South African flag
& let the kids choose their favorite African animal toy to remember us while we're gone :)

As we count down the final days til we reach the top of this "roller coaster ride" & take off on our mission adventure, we are grateful for family & friends who have helped us so much through their love & support. We love & will miss all of you, and hope you will enjoy sharing our journey through this blog. We are also thankful to the Lord for this amazing opportunity to serve Him in South Africa. We can only imagine what remarkable times lie ahead, & are looking forward to enjoying every single minute of this exhilarating ride!!! 

FOUR DAYS & COUNTING til we enter the Provo MTC September 1st...wow!!!

Sandy Utah Open House

On Saturday August 9, 2014 we had our Missionary Farewell Open House at our home in Sandy, Utah. We were delighted to have so many family and friends over for some great food and laughs. I decorated the house with lots of African-themed centerpieces (thanks to Hobby Lobby & Zurcher's!) including a gorgeous African elephant & calf statue & a hand-carved ostrich egg that my parents brought home from Capetown. And yep, I had to dress the part in a leopard-print blouse my mom loaned me, haha! It was such a fun evening! 

Some of our fellow BYU Boosters...Lyndel, Lynne, Lola, Kaye & her granddaughter.

Our former bishop, Randy Harris & his wife, Karen

Such a sweet picture of my nephew, Aaron,
with his Grandma Carolyn

My darling daughter-in-law, Loren
with her sweet Daddy.
Love this picture :)
BTW, Loren is carrying our next
little granddaughter (due in Oct)
Grandchild #18!!!
Thank goodness for Skype so we
can see this little dolly!

I can only imagine what Randy was saying to Aaron...haha!

It was wonderful to see our former neighbors, Stan & Jill.
They had just driven in from Albuquerque!

Jeremy helped keep the boys entertained with an
intense game of football. Go Team Back & Orullian!

My cute parents, Gordon & Carolyn Owen, with their
life-long friends, Lawry & Marilyn Hunsaker

Getting all these wound-up grandkids to hold still for a picture
was quite a trick! We love them SO much!!!
Mason, Zoe, Kylie
Kingston, Aidan, Easton, Malosi & Addie

My handsome boys & beautiful daughters:
Shane, Matt, Heather, Mike
Lindsey & Dan

Sunday, August 10th, Bob & I spoke in our Willow Canyon 8th Ward. I spoke about how we came to the decision to serve a mission, & also explained what our assignment will consist of as Public Affairs missionaries. I shared the analogy Brother Otterson used in our training last week about comparing this experience to a roller coaster ride: When we received our call, it was like climbing into the car & getting buckled in. Then... climbing up & up the track in anticipation, as we got all of our preparations made & training done. As you reach the top of the coaster & get ready to descend is like where we are RIGHT NOW! Whoa...what are we doing? Do I want to jump off, or enjoy the rest of the ride? Well, we are about to start flying down the track, & with butterflies in our stomachs...we are going to love EVERY MINUTE! 

I did finally get to addressing our topic, which was "Receiving Guidance & Direction from the Holy Ghost". We have definitely had to rely on the Spirit throughout this entire process. We have felt the Lord's influence & know that this will be one of the most wonderful blessings of our lives.

Sister Andrus & Sister Kristani sang a gorgeous arrangement of "Faith in Every Footstep". This has always been one of my favorite missionary songs, & added such a strong spirit to the meeting. It gave me chills! I was sure glad I spoke BEFORE they sang, because I would have been too emotional after!

Bob gave an amazing talk, he is such a great speaker! He shared many of his experiences working with Family History, where the Spirit has guided him to find ancestors in remarkable ways. He is so dedicated & diligent in his research, & I know there will be a blessed reunion on the other side of the veil as he meets so many of these family members.

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week (July 30, 31, and Aug 1) we attended training for our upcoming roles in Public Affairs.

Three couples and two sister missionaries attended this training held at the Joseph Smith Building in Salt Lake City, UT.

Elder and Sister Smith will be going to Bangkok and report to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT next Monday.

Sister Russell and Sister Banner will be companions in the UK (London) in about a month or so.

Elder and Sister Evensen will be going to New Delhi, India in October.

Elder and Sister Larsen did a wonderful job of organizing the training with lots of good information and great speakers.



Elder and Sister Larsen are the missionaries in charge of the selection of Public Affairs missionaries.  They served a Public Affairs Mission in New Zealand a couple of years ago.















Brother and Sister Murdock did a wonderful powerpoint on their mission to Africa Southeast.

Brother Hwa Lee was our tech guy and Brother Dave Watson presented several different classes including "Country Newsroom" and "Government and Community Relations."

Sister Larsen did an excellent presentation on how to use photography in Public Affairs and then took portraits of each of the sets of missionaries for their wall in the office.  Here she is taking a portrait of Brother and Sister Evensen.


                                                     





Here is our official class photo.
(back: David Smith, Bob Berg, Paul Evensen)
(front:  Irene Smith, Sharon Berg, Bonnie Evensen, Nyla Banner and Susan Russell)

                             















This is my favorite picture of the group.

       

















We added Sister Larsen on the left and Brother Larsen on the right to complete the group.
(Thanks to Hwa Lee for taking this pic)