THAT'S A WRAP

After 5 years of service as LDS Charities Wheelchair Specialists for Asia, 21 trips around the planet and over 300 flights, we'll finish up our full-time service in 9 days and have committed to stay on as part-time specialists for Nepal and Vietnam for at least one more year.   We are anxious to reconnect with our ward, our neighborhood and our family.

In thinking back over our experience, I've pinpointed a few very specific lessons I've learned:

1. In America WE ARE VERY SPOILED!!!  We have so much and don't really appreciate all the blessings we enjoy on a daily basis like clean water, a home, food, etc.

2. There are people all over the world, whether they're Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or whatever, that are filled with the "light of Christ" and live their lives in a spirit of selflessness.

3.  I’m grateful to belong to a Church that cares so much about the basic needs of the human family in all areas of the world.  I'm grateful that the Church provides me with opportunities like this mission to expand my brain power and to better understand the diversity of mankind.

4.  Modern day pioneers are blazing trails for the church to grow in remote places of the world just like the American Pioneers did in the 1800’s as they came to the Salt Lake Valley. Their trials today are just as extreme,  in almost every way, as the pioneers who crossed the plains.

5.  Blessings come as I dutifully and faithfully press forward with Church assignments that I might consider “uncomfortable, inconvenient and/or unnoticed.”  The blessings I received during our years of  mission service  FAR outnumber and outweigh the sacrifices I made.

6.  God's great earth is a beautiful place!!!!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Pokhara, Nepal

Sister Hymas and Sister Gatherum pose with Huong Pham in Hanoi

Hanoi, Vietnam

Kathmandu, Nepal

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Since my last post in November 2013 when my sweet mom passed away, I've had a hard time keeping up with my blog but NO WORRIES.....
WE'RE STILL ON OUR MISSION and just passed our four year mark!

We had a great experience doing wheelchair training in mainland China in Beijing in April and were grateful to get a glimpse of that amazingly huge country and the 1.4 billion beautiful people that inhabit it.  LDSC is scratching the surface of need for wheelchairs there but the fabulous Humanitarian Couples work themselves into oblivion serving the poor and needy.

We even had a free afternoon and took a quick trip to the Great Wall......FABULOUS!!!!

My darling, sweet 91 year old mom passed into heaven peacefully on the morning of November 13th.  Just a few days before her death, she and I had walked around Hobby Lobby to enjoy the Christmas decorations and then enjoyed a little Frosty at Wendy's.  Just the night before she passed, she had gone to a program at Legacy Village in Layton where she's lived for the past two years, and enjoyed singing and clapping along to the music.

She had a beautiful, full life and I feel so privileged to be her daughter and to have been able to be with her so much over the past 10 years since she and dad moved to Davis County.  It's fun to think of the fabulous reunion that she must have had with her two brothers, two sister, mom, dad, and countless other friends and relatives who've gone on before her.

I will miss her so much, but am grateful to have enjoyed her for such a long, long time.  LOVE YOU MOM!

Malaysia has filled our hearts, heads, stomachs, eyes, ears, and noses with all the beautiful and wonderful things we could every imagine.  We love this country and these people so very, very much.  We've been blessed to work with three fabulous couples:  E/S Howell in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Bharu, E/S Allen in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching and E/S Weichers who are the Public Affairs missionaries for Malaysia.

 The Allen's                                  
                                                           The Howell's

Our fantastic new friend and soulmate, Sukiati Lotuin who we've LOVED so much as she has been our co-trainer during these four trainings in Malaysia.

The Weichers

Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I start to think of our 15 times around this beautiful planet since the beginning of our LDS Charities Mission in June 2010! It's hard to believe that we've been able to meet so many wonderful people on three continents and in 14 incredible countries of the world.

People often ask me "What amazing things have you seen on your travels?"  I always tell them "PEOPLE......people who lift and inspire me to want to do better with the blessings I've been given and complain less about things that don't really matter in the eternal scheme of things."

We just returned from Vietnam this week and rubbed shoulders with another awe -inspiring bunch of people, but this man touched my heart to the very center....

His legs had been blown off by a land mine in the Vietnam War many, many years ago.  His current "legs and feet" are two small, but heavy, wooden stools tied to his stumps.  He walked in to our clinic with a gigantic smile on his face and was thrilled to receive a brand new 3 wheeled trike from LDS Charities so that he could go out and make a living for himself.   He shook my hand and said "thank you, thank you, thank you....good life!"

I pinched myself!!!

Fabulous 4th

We had a FANTASTIC 4th which was bittersweet as we remembered the 10th anniversary of the passing of our sweet daughter, Jodi:

but celebrated our joy in being proud Americans by attending traditional 4th of July events of a neighborhood breakfast and parade in Hyrum, Utah:

 

 

 Then finished off our fabulous day with a swim in the backyard and the Kaysvillefireworks .  Couldn't get much better than that!

Can't believe my BABY BOY is 22 years old!  We're loving having him home for the summer.  I made Mitch's "dream cake" with a picture of his head on Gordon Hayward's body!!!!!

A special day of celebration for Kimball Jamison's blessing and Bonnie Mae's 5th Birthday....