The Buells in Indonesia

We have the opportunity to serve at the Provo MTC and one of the things we do is to host the senior humanitarian and welfare mission couples as they are trained for four days. One of the couples we were able to host a few months ago were Elder and Sister Buell who were on their way to Indonesia.

Since they arrived there they have been diligent in posting on their blog comments and photos from their mission experience. We love it because each post reminds us of our service there – the people, places and activities…

If you want to share their great experiences just check their blog and enjoy!

https://thebuellsmissionadventure.com



2017 – A Year at Home…

Wow! It does not seem possible that almost a whole year has gone by since I posted on this blog. A year away from the mission field but not away from missionaries.

 

In January I started serving in the Book of Mormon Reading Program at the MTC. It is a program to help missionaries who need some help becoming the best missionary they can by tutoring them in comprehension, vocabulary, study habits and other areas. It is a great opportunity to work with the young missionaries one on one while experiencing the amazing spirit of the Provo MTC. Mary and I served in this program 20 years ago when it was very new but it has completely changed since then as the missionaries do not have as much time for BoM lessons.

Here is a letter I wrote to the BoM Reading program Supervisor. It will give you an idea of the blessings I have been receiving since I started tutoring young missionaries in this program.

“Hi Kris

Just a note to thank you and my savior for allowing me to tutor elder L. He is teachable, eager to serve, willing to listen and determined to be the best missionary he can be. His story is amazing – he was born into the Church and his family has always been active. In school the LDS youth pretty much ignored him so his friends were mostly non-LDS. But they knew his standards which he never broke. He told me that his friends would not invite him to go to their parties because they knew that there would be things there that he would not approve of. 

He also shared with me his feelings about the MTC. He said that when he walked onto a football field and smelled the grass he always got a great spiritual feeling. He says that is how he feels each day he is at the MTC. I noticed that he had marked that he had a hard time focusing on studying and when I asked him about that he said that he never really learned how to study. I think that is why the Lord had me give him the comprehension lesson instead of the planned vocabulary lesson. I am going to give him another lesson on Monday and I will see if it will be the study lesson or vocabulary. I did give him the how to study page from the old BoM manual and told him he should read it and see if that helped over the weekend. 

The real reason I want to thank you is that I really needed the spiritual edification that this lesson gave me. Mary knee has not improved and it looks like it is not going to get any better before Thanksgiving. I have been praying that I would not get discouraged and this lesson helped me remember that my Father in Heaven hears and answers my prayers. As Alma 17:11 says I am going to “be patient in long sufferiing and afflictions,” and have faith that He will comfort me and Mary.

In May Mary and I accepted a call to once a month host the senior couples who are going on Welfare missions. I wrote about how that came about in my journal..

I also want to write about how Mary and I became the hosts for the senior welfare missionaries. I had been serving in the Book of Mormon reading program for a few months and decided I would like to be a part time service missionaries. So after some meeting I dropped in at the Mehews to find out how I could apply. Only sister Mehew was there and we sat and talked for a while. I told her about some of our mission experiences and she was inspired to tell me about hosting the welfare missionaries every 4 weeks and then she asked if we would accept the call to do that. I told her that I had to talk to Mary but in my mind I knew we would accept. If I had not gone into see the Mehews – I later found that there really was no need for me to have – sister Mehew probably would have not been inspired to tell me about the program.

One of the interesting things about this is that it is very close to the way we were called on our first full-time service mission at the MTC in 1996.

As hosts we meet with the couples on Friday of their first week after they have finished the PMG  training. It is a short meeting just to get to know them a little and tell them about the coming week of Welfare and Humanitarian training. We spend the whole day – from 6 am to 6 pm with them as they travel to Salt Lake for a visit and training at Welfare Square and then to the Joseph Smith Memorial building for lunch and more training. Mostly our duty is to make sure they all get to the right place at the right time and none get left behind. Tuesday through Thursday we are at the MTC at the start of each day to oversee the short devotional and then on Thursday afternoon to give them a few words of encouragement and say goodbye.

Over the last 6 months we have meet over 25 dedicated senior couples who are going all over the world to serve 18-23 month missions. Some will be the only missionaries in the country, some will not be able to wear name tags with the name of the Church on them, and many of them will not be able to do any what is known as normal missionary work. But all will bring relief to those in need and change many people’s lives as they serve. image1

This is latest group of seniors we hosted who left for their missions in the last week. Starting on the left – elder and sister Jensen – Nairobi Kenya, elder and sister Stroud – Philippines, elder and sister Hansen – Democratic Republic of the Congo, elder and sister Hansen – Bulgaria.

More and pictures to come…

 



Christmas 2016 in Pictures

I am making this post so that if all the other places these pictures are stored disappear this record of this Christmas is available.

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Before Christmas we took a trip to Chicago to celebrate Charlotte and Colin’s birthday and Charlotte’s baptism. It was a fun trip except that I managed to catch a cold that I still have not got over after 2 weeks. But it was worth it to spend time with Jim’s family.

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Overgrown Path #2

This was a major project that took much of an afternoon. I love Vinca but only when it grows where I want it to grow. This is what happens when it runs unchecked for 18 months or so. What I am not showing is the bottom edge of this mass of plants that had expanded into the oak grove. That took another coupe of hours to clean up. But all is good – and there are only 3 or 4 more paths that need my attention before the crop of leaves start falling.IMG_2084 IMG_2086 IMG_2085 IMG_2087



Cleaning Up an Overgrown Path

We have short paths that run up and down the changing elevations in our yard that can become quickly overgrown if they are not kept up. Here are some before and after photos of one of the short ones that runs off our driveway. It was almost completely hidden by the Oregon grape that loves to grow when unchecked but 30-45 minutes of clearing produced a useable – and I think interesting – path and a full 30 gallon trash can.

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This is the view from East side of our loft looking towards the front door. The plant you can see on the left is about 16 feet high and has been with us for about 25 years. The philodendron that is peeking out from behind the ceiling fixture was in the house when we bought it in 1983! It stretches about 10 feet into the room. You can see that we love green plants both inside and outside our house.



Home Sweet Home – Art Inside and Out

It is a good thing that we have a large house and a big yard because we can not seem to stop buying all kinds of art. Some are souvenirs that we have picked up on our missions but most are an accumulation of things that we have seen and just could not pass up buying. It can happen at any time and any where. Some have monetary value but most just have memory value. I decided to post some of the art you will find if you ever come to visit us  and wandered through the house and yard. But this is just a sample – you will have to come see us if you want to see all of it! We give guided tours with commentary!

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The project started with my taking a picture of a display of giraffes that we have collected on our missions. The big one came from my aunt’s home, the smaller one to its left is from Indonesia, The tall bright colored one was bought in Joburg, the smaller one was a gift from sister Mann, and the one nibbling on it’s leg was bought while we were serving in Richard’s Bay. The picture of the family of giraffes was bought in Potch. The bell is one of many you will see here and was a gift to me from Mary.

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It is a good thing we have big walls because these two paintings are quite large. The one on the left is by a fairly famous artist and the one on the right is by a teacher at the University of Utah. Both were bought because we fell in love with them. Two of our many such purchases. Table in front of the Rosamond has our collection of artificial apples. We have picked them up all over the world. The big dark red one on the extreme left is the latest addition and was bought in South Africa on our mission. The ceramic unusually made up lady sculpture has been part of the family  for over 30 years – her name is Rose.

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The picture on the left includes a large painting from Indonesia, a mask from South Africa, a small painting from Florida and a black and white print from Bali. I need to put something up from our last mission. For some reason we are big on bells and chimes. The bell by our fireplace  came from exotic CostCo – and I have a hard time keeping the top supports straight. If you look past the edge of the fireplace you can see two masks from Indonesia.

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Almost everyone talks about having a door bell but most of them have electrical chimes. We have a real doorbell but few people use it. I decorated it for Christmas 2013 and forgot to take it down. It will be right in season in just a couple of months. Many know and have seen gargoyles, some know that their purpose was to scare away evil spirits, but hardly anyone has one on their front door – we do. It was made for us by a student from the Y – he also did Rose.IMG_2051 IMG_2052

Next to our front door we have these four friendly faces from Indonesia- or was it Africa? They are door knockers and you can see the stick to beat them with hanging from the second one from the left. As you look down our drive way  – it is 150 or so feet long – from our front porch you will see one of our kinetic wind sculptures that we bought at a fair in Salt Lake. It takes a good wind to get all the levels moving but when they do it is poetry in motion.IMG_2053 IMG_2054

As you walk in our front door you are met by ‘Charlie’ – what I call him ‘Art’ as Cindy calls him or ‘Gypsy Undertaker at the Watch Tower’ which his official title. What ever you may call him he is about 6 feet tall on his pedestal, made of fired ceramics with different textural feeling. He has a very bad overbite and four feet – two where they should be and two on the inside of his thighs. Outside near the front door is another sculpture by Dennis Deegan. It is a bronze and is called Lukan Post – in honor of his son. When you come to visit we will tell you about Luke’s special feature – besides his winged head that is.

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Wander through the paths in our yard – there are a number of them and you will see sculptures, chimes – about a dozen or so large cast bells, and fish of all sizes. I had not noticed how many fish in different materials we had until I took these pictures…they turn up all over the yard. IMG_2059 IMG_2060 IMG_2061 IMG_2062 IMG_2063 IMG_2064

Bells, Chimes – we love it when the wind blows and secret places with interesting displays can be found through out the yard.

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Just off our lower patio you will find a strange sculpture that I have never figured out what it is supposed to represent and the artist was no help at all. It kind of looks like a weird angel with tattered wings. When you see it you can give me your take. Another CostCo purchase was this wonderful Torren copper bird feeder. When we get settled in a little more I will start feeding the birds again. The small triangle bell in the lower left of the photo was a gift for Mary – it needs a little work.

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Big noisy bells are the best. These two were made from old gas cylinders by a couple of true artists. The North part of our yard is steep and has three terraces. You can see some two more of our kinetic wind sculptures and a lot of plants that need pruning.IMG_2069 IMG_2070

The Summer before we left on our last mission we went to the arts fair in Salt Lake and bought this interesting sculpture o five different size metal disks on rods. I put them in a planter we had and when I left there was a solar light in the middle but seems to have got lost along the way. One final wind chime .

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This is what you see standing at the NorthWest corner of our garage. In summer it is beautiful and green while in the winter it is beautiful and white. This is the head of a sculpture that got destroyed when the folks cleaning up some of our trees dropped a big limb right on top of it. Some day I hope to get the artist to re-connect everything.

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Three CostCo birds are being carefully watched by the cat behind the bush. My son Tom gave me the center metal sculpture and I cleaned it up and painted it black, blue and brown. The fish were a close out we bought somewhere, the really ugly frog comes from Oregon while the snail – can you see him – came from another trip to the SL art fair. We really should stay away from that show.

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These two tree gnomes protect a part of of our yard. One of our grandsons would not come up the driveway if they were around – he has grown out of that so they can now check out each of our visitors as they approach our door. This is the scene looking straight out our front door lots going on and that is how we like it. That is the end of this abbreviated tour – hope you will come to visit and enjoy an full one.
IMG_2078As I work at my computer – as I am dong right now – and look to my right, this is what I see. Some personal art, part of the 2500 classical cds I have collected and a few small art objects.

 

 



Report – Party

We reported on our mission on Sunday the 30th. I am afraid I was a little preachy about the need for couple missionaries. I would have been kinder but I did not have enough time left to really do it properly so I just bore in. A number of parents of some of the elders we served with in South Africa, Joburg mission, the Roberts who we served with in Indonesia, the Bartholomews who we served with in Richards Bay, the Nuzmans who followed us in Richards Bay, our dear friend Fran Anderson and Frank Knowles who was our trainer in Potch all came to our sacrament meeting. There was also a good number of FFL RMs there.

After the meeting we came home where the family and some of the great FFL RMs gathered to have some lunch, have a good time talking about what has been going on in their lives, and just to say welcome home to us. It was a great time.

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Saturday – The Family Gathers – Twice

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Thursday – We Get to See the Twins

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Angels We Met Along the Way

I am sorry that I am so far behind in putting words to the pictures I have posted since we have returned home. I thought I should comment on these photos and tell the stories behind them. On Monday August 24th elder Allred arrived at our flat to pick up all the furniture and other things that belong to the mission. For some unknown reason I did not take any photos of the packing of the trailer and truck. The job was made easy by the help of these four Angels and elder Allred. President Kwaikwai and his wife came to help as did elders Wild and Hentunen. We took final photos with them. They – and elder Allred – were the first Angels to help us on our journey home.

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On Tuesday evening sister Dunn took us to the airport where two more ‘angels’ appeared just as we parked. Once again I failed to take any pictures of these un-named helpers who took all our luggage from the van and then escorted us and the luggage through all the ins and outs of getting it on the plane. This included getting it wrapped, showing where I needed to pay for the extra bag, and escorting us to our gate. Without them it would have been a real struggle to get through the check-in process. I gave them each a pass-along card and a nice tip. Even angels need to eat and take care of their families.

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The young man on in the photo on the left is Karhk Radhakrishnan. As we got off the plane in LA we had to board buses. We got to the loading area the first bus had just been filled so we got on the second bus. Mary went to the back so she could sit down but I decided to stand with our carry-on bags so I did not have to haul them up and down the platform. As I standing waiting for the bus to fill this young man introduced himself as a returned missionary from India on his way to Salt Lake to go to LDS Business College. For the next two hours he took care of us and our luggage while we worked our way through the maze that is LAX. Once again I do not know how we would have got through without him.  Why we know that he was sent to us by the Lord is that he was traveling with his friend who lives in Salt Lake and goes to LDSBC but he traveled on our plane from Dubai to LAX and on to SL because it was much cheaper than the flight his friend took. That is the reason we met him on the bus. If he had flown with his friend as they had planned we would probably never met him.

The next angel the Lord provided was Andrew Jackson – really that was his name – who saw Mary sitting waiting for Karhik and I to return from clearing our bags for the flight to LA. He got her a wheelchair and then escorted us through the maze of LAX to our gate.

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Our grandson Shane Webb took over the gathering and hauling our luggage when we arrived at SLC. We have always thought he was an angel. But the story does not end there. It turned out that the friend that Karhk was traveling with and who he will be living with has been going to LDSBC with Shane and he had even been over to our son Bob’s house recently.

If you believe in a mass of coincidences than there was nothing special about our trip home, but  we know that the Lord watched over us every step of the way and provided the right person at the right time to get two of His senior missionaries home with minimum struggles and worries.