It's been a month

Tomorrow, Dec. 4Th, 2011 marks our one month anniversary for being in the mission field.  It's been quite a month.......  It's been difficult because Joe and I were needing to get trained by the couple that we are replacing, but unfortunately Sister Rogers was having some serious problems with her back and feet and she was having to go to many doctors appointments and having  many test so she could find out what was wrong before they had to start on their long drive home to Utah.  


The Roger's felt so bad because they weren't able to give us all the training that we so badly needed, and when we were able to do some training, it was constantly interrupted because there are always missionaries coming into the office for various thing and they want to talk with us. 


The day after we arrived we were invited to the Mission Presidents home for dinner.  The Roger's were also invited.   President and Sister Saylin have 7 children.  The oldest is 17 and the youngest is 6 months.   Some of the children wanted to play games with us and some just wanted to sit and talk with us.  After dinner we all sang a couple of songs together and President asked us and some of his children to bear our testimony.  Then he and Sister Saylin also shared their testimony.  It was a really nice evening and everyone made us feel so comfortable and so welcome. 

 Our first week  here we had two days of Zone Conferences.  Going to Zone Conference was really a wonderful experience.  Our Mission President, President Saylin taught about the The Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I've never heard it done in such an amazing way.  It was so beautiful and so full of feeling. 


The first day of Zone Conference lunch was brought in to feed all the missionaries by the ladies of one of the wards in our area.  The second day of Zone Conference, the ladies from another ward were suppose to bring lunch, but something happened and they were not going to be able to do it.  So the ladies in the mission office provided lunch.  The missionaries in our mission have a really neat thing that they do at the end of the meal.  They all stand together and sing a song to who ever prepared their meal and at the end of their song they sing a very fun THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL MEAL.  Then they line up and one by one shake hands with each person who prepared the meal and each one of then thanks you for the wonderful meal.   It's really a fun experience.


In our mission, there are 161 missionaries.  That's not counting all the Senior missionaries.  On the first day of Zone Conference, half of the missionaries were there and the other half on the second day.  Joe and I were introduced to all the missionaries in both session of Zone Conference because we will be working very closely with them.  


The end of the first week we had a General Authority from our church, Elder Rasban come to speak to the missionaries in our area.  What a wonderful experience that was.  All I can say, is that by the end of our 1st week, we had been so spiritually feed.  It was amazing! 


We've been working really hard trying to learn all the things that we need to know to do our job here in the mission field.  We start our day at the mission office around 8:15 and usually leave for home around 6:00.  Some days a little earlier and some a little later.  We are very busy doing a wide range of duties. 


 Joe's main job is taking care of anything to do with the missionaries cars and their bikes and making sure that all their drivers licenses are current.


He has a phone that he has to carry with him at all times.  If any missionary in our mission has a problem, such as having an accident or locking their keys in their car or getting sick or hurt and needing to go to the hospital or any type of a car problem or bike problem, they are to call Elder Lambdin.  He will advise them as to what to do, and in some cases he needs to go to where ever they are and help them.  If one of them has to go to the hospital for something, then we both have to go to where ever they are.  It could be as far away as 200 miles.  He does a lot of other miscellaneous jobs as well.  He's pretty busy most of the time. 


Ginny's main job is being secretary to the President.  I schedule all his interviews with all the missionaries.  I record all the baptisms and make sure that they are sent into Salt Lake.  I have to double check the report that comes back from Salt Lake to make sure that all the information that has been entered is correct.   I then send a letter to all the people who were just newly baptized.


That's only a part of what I do.  I have many other jobs just like Joe.


This past week was transfer week.   Some of the missionaries missions were over and it was time for them to go home and at that same time we have all the new missionaries coming in.  It's a very exciting time for all the missionaries.  Plus many of the missionaries have their area and their companions changed.  The first night the new missionaries arrive, they haven't met their companion as of yet.  They are housed in different home for the night.  Our home is one of the homes that the new missionaries come to.  We had 3 new sister missionaries stay with us.  It was fun having them.  They are so excited to get started doing the Lords work and to see their new surroundings and to meet all the other missionaries.   The missionaries are so anxious to see if their going to get changed, or if their going to be training one of the new missionaries.  There are a lot of changes that take place at that time as well.  It's all very exciting.  They are amazing young men and women.


They are always coming into the office and sharing a spiritual thought or some amazing story with me.  Sometimes they just want to talk to a grandma.  They will even sometimes share something special  that's in a letter from home or from a good friend.


I love being here for them, to help them in any way that I can.  We're all here to help the Lord's work to go forward and to help one another.  It's really hard work, but it's so rewarding.  We couldn't do all the things that we are doing if it weren't for the Lord's helping hand.  It's amazing how He has blessed us to be able learn so many things in such a short time and to be able to keep up with such a busy schedule.  We couldn't do it without His help.


We're so appreciative of our daughter Shanna for writing on our blog for us for the past couple of months while we have been at the MTC in Salt Lake and traveling to Houston and then while we have been trying to learn our jobs here in the mission.  We are now ready to take over the job.  We still need to learn how to do things on this blog, but we'll get the hang of it soon.   


  


   

And they're off...

Today they started their drive to Houston!  The van was [PACKED] !!!

They are really excited to get there, meet everyone, and start their work!

Please keep them in your prayers for a safe, uneventful drive.

Joe making sure that everything was packed tight!

Ginny was adding a couple more items.

Sealing everything up

Time to go! 7 hours of driving today!

Here they go.

The van was a little low, it scraped the sidewalk.  I hope they don't hit many potholes!

HOUSTON, HERE WE COME!!!

MTC

My parents went to the MTC, and had a wonderful time.  They truly loved the experience.  They learned so much.  I am going to add their pictures from the MTC and they will add information about the images later.  Enjoy the pictures!

Our lovely room at the MTC

Our  new friends from the MTC

Our teacher, SIster Zitting.  She co-taught the Preach My Gospel class with below.

Elder Whiting he co-taught the Preach My Gospel class with Sister Zitting.

Saturday P-Day,  The Senior Missionaries can leave the MTC.  We got into the 1/2 half of the BYU game for free :)

Go Cougars!

The BYU "Y"

Raven in Provo

 Stack of books, created by Adam Bateman
"His site-specific book sculpture in this exhibition is comprised of approximately 80,000 pounds of books — the equivalent weight of 30 to 40 cars — and resembles a geologic cross section of the Earth."  For more information about this amazing piece of art CLICK HERE

The BYU cougar at the BYU store

Our Grandson's mailbox, while he was there.

Our Mailbox while we were there.

The hustle and bustle of the MTC

The missionaries get SO excited to get their mail!  This is a busy spot come mail time.

Our new friends, Elder and Sister HORNE.  They are serving in the Washington DC temple now!

Letter to grandkids ( To others- Yes, We are doing well! :)

We are having an amazing time here at the MTC.  There are 2500 missionaries here right now.  It's so fun to watch all the young missionaries getting their mail every day.  They get so excited.  And if they get a box, they are really excited.  Their mail boxes are in our building on the first floor.  It's right next to the elevator that we use to get to our room on the 3rd floor.  As I watch them I think about Deric & that he was standing right there just a few days before we came here getting his mail.  We can see his mail box.  It's really cool!!

The MTC is such an amazing place.  The spirit is SOOooo strong here.  We had a wonderful fireside last night.  The firesides and the devotionals are so awesome.  Stephen Allen, a member of the Seventy spoke to us last night.  He is also the person responsible for the Preach My Gospel manual, and he is the managing director over the missionary dept.  What a wonderful fireside it was.   

Tomorrow night we will have another devotional.  I don't know who the general authority will be that will be talking to us.  I know it will be wonderful no matter who it is.

We have been studying really hard.  There is so much to learn in such a short period of time.  Last week we were working from the Preach My Gospel manual and this week we are learning all the different things that we will need to know for working in the mission office.  It's a lot of computer stuff.  They are teaching us all the computer programs that we will be using in the mission office.  All the couples that are going to be working in various mission offices all over the world are in our class.  And all the couples that are going to work in various temples around the world, they are in their special classes learning the things that they need to know for their missions.  Each type of mission has
their own special classes.    Grandpa & I have been learning so much since we arrived here at the MTC.  It's been great.

Last Friday evening after dinner we went to the Provo temple.  What a beautiful temple!  Then on Saturday morning we went to the mall here in Prove.  After walking around the mall for a while, we went to P.F. Changs for lunch.  That was good!  Then went to the last quarter of the BYU football game.  That was a lot of fun.  After the  game we walked around the BYU campus and went to the book store.  Then we called the MTC shuttle to pick us up and bring us back to the MTC.  On the way back, we realized that we wouldn't make it back in time before the cafeteria closed for dinner, so the shuttle driver suggested that he drop us off at the BYU Creamery & just call him when were done and he would pick us up.  So that's what we did.  It was really busy at the Creamery.  A lot of people go there after the games they said.  We had a really nice day.  It was good to just go out for a while after having such a busy week.  Senior couples are permitted to leave the MTC.
We just have to sign out and let them know where we are and when we will return.  The shuttle takes us where ever we want to go here in Provo.  It's great!!
We've go to close for now and get to bed.  Our day starts very early.  We'll see you in a couple of days.
WE LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH.  Have a good week.

Hugs & kisses,

Elder Pop pop & Sister Nana

Devotional at The Lorenzo Snow Auditorium

Good Morning!! Well here it is 6:00 AM I am up and showered. Last night (10/18/11) was the weekly Devotional at the MTC. 

Elder Richard G Scott

It was very, very good. Elder Richard G Scott (one of the Twelve Apostles) was the main speaker. It was amazing to see an auditorium filled with Missionaries, both young and not so young (us Seniors got preferred seating up front). Needless to say the enthusiasm of the Missionaries was evident from the opening hymn. After the opening prayer and welcome we sang "Called to Serve", WOW was that emotional. You could feel the Spirit so strong.. As you looked around there were several misty eyes and kleenex.   Elder Scott's talk was very unusual. He asked if any of the missionaries would like to answer some questions and/or read some scriptures. There were two microphones set up in the auditorium. The Sister and Elder missionaries quickly volunteered not knowing what question was going to be presented to them. It was really neat to hear their responses. There poise and knowledge was amazing.It was a great evening and we look forward to next weeks devotional.

Well we made in through two days and they have not called us into the "Office" to send us home. We are enjoying it, but they are definitely challenging us. We have a "Role Play" teaching session this morning that they are going to video and provide feedback to us. So there is a little stress prior to this session. But, we prayed about it and studied the best we could. We will let you know how it went.

Yesterday morning we had an MTC fire drill. They made us all leave the building and go across the main street to the off campus parking area. Seeing all those missionaries in one traveling heard was amazing. We took some pictures with our phones and will send them later.

Take Care and we will drop you all a line when ever we can

Love Elder and Sister Lambdin

Here we are!

10/17/11  We are at the MTC MAP!!

Sister Lambdin pointing to their mission.  HOUSTON, TX!!

My mom asked me to post this picture and letter because they had a lot of reading to do tonight! (10/17- their first full day in the MTC!)

Here is the letter from 10/16/11:

Well we're finally getting started with our missionary experience.  I can't tell you how excited we are to get started.  It feels like we have been waiting for such a long time.  We flew to Salt Lake today, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2011.  We took a shuttle to the MTC, ( Missionary Training Center).  After getting checked in, we went to the cafeteria for dinner.  It was an amazing experience.  Here we are in this huge room with hundreds of missionaries.  Everyone there learning all that they need to be a wonderful missionary.  Many are there learning about the country they will be serving in and learning the language.  When they need to learn a language, they are here at the MTC for 2 to 3 months. 

Every where we went, if we looked like we were lost or if it looked like we needed help with anything at all, (like our luggage), these amazing polite young missionaries would stop us and ask if they could help us.  One of the young missionaries that was sitting next to us at dinner even took our tray with all our dishes  and trash and disposed of it for us.  We tried to tell him that we would take care of it, but he insisted.  He just really wanted to do that for us.  

We are all here at the MTC to learn to be of service to others, and it's truly amazing to see how wonderful it is when your surrounded by people who genuinely want to do for others weather they know you or not.  They do it because the Lord has taught us by His example how we should treat one another.  It won't always be easy, but it will be worth it.     

There are a lot of senior missionaries here going on missions all over the world.  Several of the couples that we spoke with tonight have been on multiple missions.  They have had such wonderful experiences.   Everyone we have spoken with has told us that we are in for an amazing experience.  We are ready and anxious  to get started.

Well I need to get to bed because the day starts very early here.

With Love,
Elder & Sister Lambdin

Busy, Busy Day! Pumpkins & Farewell Open House

So, My parents are busily gettting ready for their flight to the MTC tomorrow morning.   I, their daughter Shanna,  thought I would take a moment to post a little message for them about today's activities. 

We wanted to get our pumpkins before they left.  So, we went out at 9:30am to the pumpkin patch!

Joe & GInny with some of their grandkids.
  

Here we are about to go into the CORN MAZE!

We are READY TO be DONE with the corn maze. :)

We used corn to mark our path.

We made it to the finish!!! AMEN!

We all picked out our pumpkins.

On our way back from the pumpkin patch.

Lovely fall mums, with my "Mum"

So, we did the pumpkin patch in the morning.  In the evening we had family and friends over for their  Farewell open house.  It was so nice to have so many friends and family stop by to wish them well.   A good time was had by all.

Joe's brother Bill, and My brother (Joe & Ginny's Son) John


Well, That's it.  We are tired!  We had a FUN day!!
They have an early flight out tomorrow morning! We are all so excited for them!
~Shanna :)