Sunday, September 13, 2020
September Week 2
I have gained a testimony of the power of the MTC no matter where it is! I experienced the Provo MTC as a missionary 23 years ago and remember so many amazing experiences there. That 8.5-week segment of my mission was very significant - kind of like its own mission in a way. I also taught at the MTC for 18 amazing months. I worried about an at-home experience being able to “compete” at all. What I have experienced in Natalie’s first week of missionary training at home has been so powerful. I know now with a surety that the Lord’s work and His power is not confined to any building, campus, or physical classroom. His spirit can strengthen and teach individuals no matter where they are. The Holy Ghost can touch people meeting over an Internet connection as much as it can in-person. The support Natalie has received both from her family and from the Lord is so strong. Rather than struggling for a week with an issue or question, it is immediately resolved. She has been able to focus so intently on learning Dutch and the gospel of Jesus Christ in this environment! She is thriving and she is on fire! I know she is being prepared and strengthened in every way. I have been enabled to perform as a mother so much more effectively since Natalie was set apart as a missionary. I’ve been able to manage more and be there for all of my kids including my missionary at levels that make me feel so happy. The connection Natalie and I have is even stronger than before. (And that’s saying a lot!) This has been amazing!
Monday, September 7
Tuesday, September 8
Wednesday, September 9
Thursday, September 10
Friday, September 11
Saturday, September 12
Happy #11 Birthday, Tyler!
Sunday, September 13
The MTC Cafeteria’s Monday morning breakfast was an easy one, and a big favorite: cereal!
We noticed the river of filthy water that ran along the west end of the temple! The rain did a really nice job of cleaning the air (from fire smoke) in our skies so now we can exercise and spend more time outdoors again! We are so grateful!
The crazy wind storm did affect about half of her MTC district, though. Her companion’s house lost power, so she had to go to her grandma’s house for service. Another sister had enough connection to be on the Zoom, but had to keep her camera off. A few elders were affected too. They got through it!
I am thoroughly enjoying the time I get to spend with my missionary daughter! I love it when she pops out of her room for a 3-5 minute break during classes, for meals, and for breaks especially when she needs to get out of the house and go for a walk. I love our chats in the evening digesting the day’s events, brainstorming ideas for memorization techniques, etc. I also love the sounds that come from the MTC! I hear Natalie practicing vocabulary out loud with the Tabernacle Choir in the background, teachers greeting their missionaries, inspirational messages, and missionaries chatting. I can’t usually hear it distinctly, but love the little glimpses that I catch!
This field belongs to Natalie! Our morning walk was very cold! We had a little more time on this P-day morning, so went around the MTC field. Woot! Woot!
Sister Lund looked adorable in her new outfit! After our morning run, she enjoyed a yogurt parfait and tried out strawberry milk. Mmmm.
Tyler had one last requirement for his Arrow of Light award: to meet with a community leader, find out their responsibilities and discuss an important issue facing our community. I arranged a visit with our Neighborhood Chair, Rachel Luke. I have been so impressed by her since she started in that position. She is so organized and all of her emails or to the point, very informative and useful.
Natalie and I had our usual wake up time and exercise that morning, and then I made his requested cinnamon rolls for an after-lunch treat when they returned. (He requested grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch again.)
Our family went to our ward’s in-person sacrament meeting for the first time since March! (Natalie and Adam went in person once.) I had been a little nervous knowing that COVID has been and is in our ward, but also felt that it’s probably everywhere, and we wanted to give Sister Lund a change of scenery. It felt so nice to go to the church building again and to have the structure that provides. They closed the meeting with prayer, stopped the broadcast, and then administered the sacrament. At home, we did our CFM time, which was great.
Jon and Adam helped draw pickle ball court lines for 3 courts on Bishop Sandholtz’s street. PV 5 hosted a pickle ball tournament for Labor Day, and I joined in! I was so rusty, so was embarrassed by how poorly I played in one game in particular, but Jon helped me defeat Doug and Carly Jackson in our first game (who both play tennis well), Adam and I beat Carly and Millie Mitton, and then Lyman (Annie Sandholtz’s husband - the trombone performance PhD) and I got beaten by Mike Middleton and his son-in-law (Katie’s husband). I had fun with that last one, though, because I remembered that Katie and her husband met on their missions in Yekaterinburg, Russia. So I struck up a little conversation in Russian, which continued after the game and migrated over to Laura Middleton and Katie. I had so much fun talking about Russian missions with Katie, Natalie’s experience in the MTC, Lindsey Middleton’s experience right now in Kentucky learning Karen (that’s a language from Thailand/Burma), plus the Garretts’ experience as mission president in Panama right now. It was so fun!
Natalie enlisted help from Amy and Adam to play a musical number with her in her MTC district devotional. How cool is that? Amy practiced a Dutch greeting beforehand for meeting the district, and that was pretty cool and drew a lot of smiles from the missionaries!
Andrew loves his new skateboard! I dropped him off with Adam at the local skate park and reminded them of our standards since the crowd makes me a bit nervous. They didn’t end up staying too long, but had fun.
So what does a missionary do in the evenings between dinner and bedtime? My missionary studies! She visits with us for a bit and then studies Dutch. She has an aggressive goal of a certain number of new words to learn each day. She draws the cutest pictures on the outside of the card with the Dutch word on the inside, then tapes them to a wall. After mastering a word, she moves it to a different wall. Her vocabulary is growing quickly! Her wall space won’t last too long!
About an hour before bedtime she is ready for another walk, so we typically go out when the weather is nice and cool again. I love it!
Daniel and Katie’s husband established a reputation, so the crowd egged on Jon and Doug to play them (thinking Daniel’s team would kill them), but Jon and Doug wiped them out 11-3!
I made sure to be home from the pickle ball party in time to set up the cafeteria for Sister Lund. Today she chose an egg salad sandwiches, a fresh peach, carrots, chips, apple juice, and freshly baked cookies (from frozen cookie dough). This is so fun! (You can see we had a few boys do a “missionary morning” to earn their turn at the cereal dispenser today!)
The rain and wind didn’t stop Zuster Lund and me from doing our morning jog!
Before heading off for school on his bike, Mark noticed the super awesome mountain with clouds swirling quickly around it. The picture doesn’t do it justice! He was so excited about it and made sure I ran out to see it. This was a super cold day - such the opposite from the day before when I was sweating bullets!
Natalie was super excited about the mango berry salad on the menu. I was running behind from grocery shopping, so she helped me throw it together before her “Normal and Natural Interactions Workshop.” It tasted really yummy!
With so much time on their hands due to less school, I’ve been giving Adam and Andrew lots of extra tasks lately. (It’s awesome!) This time they took care of our garden tomatoes. They were so excited about it. Can you tell? I know it’s good for them!
I tried out making Zucchini Boats for dinner, and they were a hit! It was a fun way to use some of Natalie’s garden zucchini!
My goodness, I’m having so much fun with this missionary of mine! I love visiting her at night and hearing the exciting things about her day. She is blowing my mind with how many words she is memorizing each day! She is so cute and full of the joy the Spirit brings! I am going to have a really hard time when she leaves our MTC!
We got a very happy package in the mailbox upon arriving home: Natalie’s passport!!! It took 3 1/2 months and is another answered prayer! And look at that beautiful sunrise!
It is hard not to take so many pictures when Natalie is so cute! She felt funny wearing jeans and her Pulisic jersey, but it felt good!
Tyler surprised Natalie with his copycat passport and missionary tag.
After Natalie’s personal and companionship study, we deposited money in the bank, shopped at Hobby Lobby (which both of us love), and exchanged a skirt that didn’t work with her outfits for the cutest new jumper and long-sleeved shirt. I was so tempted to buy a twinner outfit because I loved it so much!
The boys practiced and did schoolwork on their Chromebooks. I got an email last night from our school district about a tentative plan to move to Phase 2 for elementary schools on September 21st (early release schedule for 4 days per week rather than 2). Secondary schools would start 2 weeks later. I’m hoping and praying that we get to do that! It would be so much better!
I took the boys up to the Springdell garden to harvest produce. There wasn’t as much as I anticipated, but it was still good to get up there.
Andrew’s friend Tristan came with us. I found a praying mantis in the basil bush, which Tristan befriended.
The boys skateboarded in the pond for a few minutes while I did a few things in the cabin.
I had the boys work on tomatoes at home while I put the yogurt I made last night into containers I brought home from the cabin.
I still hadn’t been able to get some things from Costco that I needed for my meal plans, and I had to run to Day’s Market while making an improvised dinner. It turned out great!
Andrew went bowling with the deacons, Jon and Adam had DP Cheesesteaks in the canyon with the priests, and Amy played 9-square with the young women while I videoed each young woman reciting the new young women theme for a video the stake is putting together.
When I got home, brownies were baking in the oven (made by Natalie). She was so excited to learn today that she is allowed to play board games on p-days, so we played Azul Summer Pavilion! We had the best conversation at night about her MTC experience. The insights we both shared were inspiring, uplifting and exciting! I can’t express how much the Lord is blessing us!
Jon worked hard all night again. Summer came over and studied with Amy. I am so grateful that Amy has such an amazing friend!
Look how adorable Natalie and her companion are! They are a really great support to each other!
While on a very quick afternoon walk, our cousin Coleman Rowberry zoomed up the street on his electric scooter. He was “racing” with Tyler who was trudging up the road on his bicycle. It was especially fun to see Coleman because he was leaving for BYU-Idaho in 20 minutes!
Adam got in some driving time, dropping off Andrew, Jonah and another friend at Provo Beach Resort, and then driving Tyler and Mark to their pack meeting and then Tyler’s soccer practice.
Since scouts got moved earlier, Tyler got to come. I was glad because it was their annual Quiddich match! Tyler and Mark both loved it! In the above picture, Mark is saying, “Up!” like the students in Harry Potter.
Amy saved the day by practicing violin with Mark. It has been a long time since has has practiced and she helped him a lot!
At the end of our visit, Rachel told us that we could go in her place to the dedication of the new Provo Fire Station 22 (invitation only) at 11am. I wasn’t sure if we should go, but ended up bringing both Tyler and Mark in their cub scout uniforms.
Thankfully, the talking ended, and we watched the hose cutting ceremony (rather than a ribbon).
Tyler caught the snitch once, meaning he chased down the older scout who had it attached to his waist with Velcro. Tyler wore him down enough to catch up with him and take the snitch!
Mark scored in the game I think more than once. Tyler didn’t want to leave even though he’d be late for soccer practice. We did get him to his practice late, and it was all fine.
Rachel was awesome! I learned a lot about how communication works between neighborhood chairs and the city council and mayor. Tyler was most interested in the issue of helicopter rights in our neighborhood, and that was interesting to learn about as well!
The program was very long (a little over an hour). This was also a September 11th Tribute to the heroes. I mostly enjoyed hearing from a man who went to ground zero a few days after the tragedy and helped recover human remains. It was touching to hear about that experience. This also fulfilled two scouting requirements for Mark... cha ching!
Photo Courtesy: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
The boys and I are in the last row in the back on the right.
Then look who popped up on Mayor Kaufusi’s Instagram post! Although we were the 5th picture in, we were the only citizens pictured, and she mentioned the citizens in her post. What’s even more funny is that the photographer probably didn’t notice that Mark had pulled his mask up over his eyes because he said it was too bright and he had a headache!
The boys got gift bags, a hat, a cold water bottle and a fire truck cookie. Then we got to walk ourselves through the new fire station. It is top notch and very nice! Our increased taxes paid for that. I’m really glad we went!
Natalie snapped a practicing photo of Mark and me. I love it when we practice together!
Amy had a few cute visitors: Lindsey and her kids including her brand new baby. Lindsey’s kids could all be models they are so adorable! It was so cool of them to stop by and see Amy. They love her!
Jon and I cheered on Amy in her cross country meet at Kiwanis Park. It’s a tough course, but she did great! It’s so easy for us parents to just trot over to the next cheering spot while these kids are working their tails off running so hard and far!
The Hafens asked if we could do game night outside at our cabin, so we hosted under the platform there. We thought Friday was the movie night in the dell, so let our boys invite over friends. Instead of a movie, they all had a blast playing on the trampoline and playing night games in the dell. Adam’s group finally came over (including Meg, Afton, Brynn, Jared, and now Josh Rowberry). Andrew had Jared Romo over. It was so fun to hear their laughter! Our game night group didn’t end up playing one game, but had a really enjoyable time talking!
Tyler had a few friends over to play including Jayden and his younger brother, and also Nixon.
After an exciting drive through the car wash “for Tyler’s birthday,” we took Tyler birthday shopping at Harbor Freight. Jon found a coupon for the lantern he wanted, and then the checker used another coupon to give him a really cool (and free) flashlight. Bonus!
A birthday haircut was definitely in order! Mark also got one as well as Jon.
Tyler was so excited about his new lego set! He also got some Taki’s, a watercolor set and a big set of Mad Libs.
Homemade mac and cheese with peas really hit the spot for dinner! He asked for Lemon Jello Cake for dessert, but I tried a new lemon cake recipe. It was super yummy, but extremely rich, so I think I know the right alterations to make for next time so it will be just right!
These three had a ball putting together the new Hulkbuster Lego set!
We only had a few minutes before leaving for the cabin, but I made sure to get Zuster Lund out of the house for a nice walk! The weather was amazing and we love our talking time! The sunset was so pretty!
For the first time since COVID-19, the west (main) gates to the temple grounds were open! We had to go in and see the fountains. It felt so nice to get to walk on the temple grounds again! Natalie felt all pumped and energized after our walk.
Once Sister Lund was safe and sound at home, the rest of us went up to Springdell for the outdoor movie in the dell: the new live-action Mulan. It got pretty chilly at the end, but was entertaining, and it was fun to watch another movie outdoors!
The big excitement of the day was Natalie getting to meet her companion, Sister Wolthuis in person! She drove down from Eden, Utah with her mom. Sunday is the only day of the week where they have enough time to make the drive. Most online MTC schedules have classes 9am-noon and 6-9pm. But they have a sister in England in their district who would be finishing class at 4am. So they moved that evening class to an earlier time, which is actually quite perfect for us! Rather than a 6-hour break in the middle of the day, she has enough time to eat lunch, have companionship study and a little breather. Then after their evening class, there are just 3 hours before bedtime, which is perfect for dinner, studying, and visiting with family. P-day is also broken up by the evening class being moved to the earlier time. So Sunday is the only day with a long span of time they can use to drive somewhere.
I wish I got a picture of their first hug. It was so cute! They have already been such a great support to each other, and have bonded, so hugging in person was just heavenly!
Sister Wolthuis’s great-grandfather emigrated from the Netherlands (hence the native last name - pronounced “Volt-house” in Dutch), and her grandfather served his mission in the Netherlands.
Tyler had a similar birthday morning to Andrew. Jon and the boys left our house at 6am to go help Gary and M’Jean clear all the branches and debris from the huge wind storm they had in Bountiful (winds up to 99 mph). They picked up Barney on the way, and Gary had pancakes ready for them at 7am.
Andrew got stung by a hornet on the back of his leg, and Jon got stung behind his ear. Molly pulled out the stinger from Jon’s head!
Sister Wolthuis was so excited to see Natalie’s room in person, and it was cool for Natalie to show her the vocab wall especially since her companion could actually say the Dutch words!
After dinner, these two set off on foot for the other MTC since Sister Wolthuis has never seen it!
Nikki (Sister Wothuis’s mom) and I drove over to the MTC and found these cute sister missionaries chillin’ on the bench. They had asked the security guard if he’d let them inside the gate to the MTC and were denied. Brave girls. They had several people wave and say, “Hi sisters!” which they loved!
We drove over to the Provo Temple for a picture too, and then headed back to the house to watch the Face-to-Face event with Elder and Sister Rasband. The 50,000 missionaries currently serving were all invited to this young adult fireside.
I filled one of the cereal dispensers with Sister Wolthuis’s favorite cereal: Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and they each had a small bowl right before the fireside.
Nikki, Sister Wolthuis, Sister Lund, Jen
This visit was such a boon to both Natalie and her companion!
I wish they could be together all the time, but it was a huge blessing to get to visit in person. They hope to do it again. They said, “I’ll see you tomorrow [on Zoom]!”
This week has been so fantastic and we are so blessed to have a missionary serving the Lord!
Tyler taped this note to a small Cherry Airhead and left it in Natalie’s mailbox outside her door. He told her he would’ve given her a bigger Airhead, but there weren’t any cherry flavored big ones (to go with his clever “cherry-ty” line).
