Shopping is always an important part of getting ready for the mission.  Guess what?  This trip was all about Van.  He was the guy who has worn out his "dress-up" clothes working in them and traveling in them a lot.  So we made a trip to of all places ,to the Church bookstore in Milton, Washington.  Guess what they have there:  CTR Clothing.  We love being able to find reasonably priced suits, socks and ties for the mission.

Thanks to our good friend, Kim, we were able to get Van what he needed.  She knew exactly which suits to show him.  He looks like a missionary now.  Of course this couldn't be done without measuring and lots of visiting.

What?  Did Millie go shopping?  Well, of course but I really didn't need as many things as Van.  I still have a whole wardrobe from working for the Church Educational System.  Add a blazer to the existing skirts and blouses and I look like a missionary too.  And yes, there are no pictures to post.

Good-bye furniture

 The first thing we decided to get rid of was the dining room table, chairs, and china closet.  A beautiful day in October dawned with our son-in-law, Paul, coming to get the above and give them a new home.  Our daughter, Nellie, has wanted the above items since high school.  Now the furniture resides in the home of Nellie and Paul.  I made her day letting her taking the dining room furniture.  She also got a bonus--the china.  She will take good care of this part of my life.  Oh, by the way,  The furniture looks so beautiful in their home.

Part of preparing for a mission is "What are we going to do with our house while we are gone?"  Rachel was very helpful.  She is more like the "throw away queen."  We got rid of lots of things from my house.  I honestly have to say that I hadn't used any of those things in "forever."  It was great having her help me decide what to keep and what not to keep.  All of a sudden life starts flashing before my eyes and I realize that they are just things and I don't really need this "stuff."  Thanks for the great day of digging and delving Rachel.

Okay. So the next thing on our list to do is get shots for the mission.  We were off to see the travel nurse at Virginia Mason.  She gave us lots of important information.  So why is it that I was the only one who got a shot?

Last Friday we met Leticia from the MTC.  She is our tutor for Spanish and is great!  Tutoring for me is from the beginning and fine-tuning for Van.  Wow!  I am overwhelmed.  We were already past what I remembered from high school and college after the first hour-long session.    We received some great books from the MTC:  501 Spanish Verbs and The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice.  We also received other books with diaglog for missionaries and temple tasks. Learning a language was much easier in high school and college.  Van is helping me with homework.  We are reading scriptures and praying in Spanish.
With the Lord's help anything is possible.

Christmas Present

                      

This was our Christmas present a few days early!

We finally got our mission call 6 weeks after it was sent in by President Miles.  We are going to the Chile Santiago East Mission assigned to work 18 months in Santiago Chile temple.  We feel very blessed and humbled to receive a call from the Lord to serve in Chile Lindo.  I served my mission there in 1968-1970 and am thrilled to return with Millie for this special time in our lives.  We report to Provo Utah April 2nd for 2 weeks of training.  We then will fly to Santiago, Chile on April 13th.  Millie has worked in the Seattle temple for 5 plus years and I have worked for 1 1/2 years, so we both have a love for temple and genealogy work.  We will start tutoring tomorrow in the Spanish language.  Millie will have an hour and I will have an hour.  We are hoping that the language comes to Millie so she can feel comfortable as soon as possible.  I want to brush up on my grammar and start augmenting my vocabulary.  I was in Santiago last October 2011 for 3 weeks and feel I am ready for the challenge.  My friends in Chile are excited to have us there for an extended period of time.  Well this is the first of many blogs to come.

Okay, Millie, this looks like you are happy about the call.