Bekah's mission call and temple day

Time sure does fly!!

It's been two months since Bekah opened her mission call!

 I've finally got my digital ducks in a row and a few moments to spare to make this post happen.

We've been reeeaaally busy!

Bekah has been really patient through it all.

I can remember the night last Spring that she decided to go on a mission.  I was working on my computer when she came into my office.  I could tell by the tone in her voice that this was an important conversation, so I stopped everything and listened as she poured out her tender experience with the Lord.  From that day on, there was no looking back.

As it turned out, she and Rachel turned in their mission papers at the same time.  We fully expected Rachel to leave before Bekah since she was older and ready to go.  Bekah couldn't leave until her 19th birthday in December.  So it was a surprise to us that Rachel's call to Mongolia had her leaving in January!  That was a long time to wait!  Of course we figured that had to do with passports and visas and such, but now we see that it was time enough for Andrew to come into the picture and sweep her off her feet.

We thought that the girls would get their mission calls in the mail the same week too, since they turned them in at the same time.  But Bekah had to wait another week to get hers.  It actually turned out to be a good thing so that each them had their own 'opening' time.  We continued to tally guesses and put pins on our map.  Yellow are Rachel and blue are Bekah.

(Nobody guessed right)

We invited our friends to come back and we set up Skype for all the family 

who couldn't come (that was an ordeal all its own).

Drum roll . . . . .

I think Dad knew before Bekah

OHIO, CLEVELAND MISSION!!!

January 6!!  Same as Rachel!!

I love this picture of my girls excited to go where the Lord wants them to go.
Of course Rachel is unaware that her mission will be changing from missionary to wife.

Thank you Lindsey and Kim for taking pictures for us!!

After that, everything got really busy!!

We took Rachel and Bekah up to Brigham Young University, Idaho (BYUI), I started homeschooling Esther; a week later I flew back to Utah for the funeral of my uncle; then a week after that Joseph and I flew back to Utah to take Bekah through the temple for the her first time.

She chose the Logan, UT temple which is one of the older temples in Utah.

The temple is not only a refuge from the world, it is a place of learning, service, and inspiration.  It's here that we make sacred covenants with God that will bring us great blessings. 

Those who have been called on a mission are encouraged to go to the temple

before their mission as much as possible so they can build their faith and 

strengthen their relationship with God.

It was great to have Uncle Rob and Aunt Heidi with us as well.

She'll be a great missionary!!
Such a sweetie!!

What you don't see is that Andrew drove Bekah and Rachel down from Idaho to the Logan Temple. It was a our chance to meet him.  Although he didn't come to the temple with us, he spent time with us as we attended General Conference of the Church and went thrift shopping in a cool vintage store.  

It didn't take long for him to get our stamp of approval.

I'm so very proud of my girls and the choices they've made!

Rachel's engaged!!!

I'm so excited to announce that my daughter Rachel is

entering a whole new phase in life by being engaged to this groovy guy!!

Andrew and Rachel have known each other since Winter semester last year (same ward) but

only started dating this semester.  They had the opportunity to serve together

by working for BYUI "I night" (a night of activities to help college kids get adjusted to their

new surroundings).  They found that they got along really well, so of course, they spent

a lot of time together.

We had the chance to meet Andrew when we traveled to Utah to help Bekah prepare

for her mission by going through the temple (I'll post about that another day).  Andrew was kind enough to drive our girls down from Idaho then spent time with his cousin while we did family things. Our first meeting was in the parking lot of the temple.  He was quite shy (understandably so).  But we got to know him better the next day when he joined our family as we listened to our church leaders speak at

General Conference.  He fit right in, jokes and all!

The picture above is of our "between meetings activity".  We went to a fabulous vintage 

thrift store where we had a blast trying things on.

Believe it or not I almost bought this hat!!

After getting to know Andrew, Joseph and I both agree that Rachel chose well.

He was very respectful to us and considerate of Rachel's needs.  He served the Lord on his mission in Peru and has a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.  

Many of you have asked about Rachel's mission, "What about Mongolia?"

Weeelll, basically she 's not going.  But, of course she and Andrew can go on a mission

to Mongolia together when they are much much older (like 70-something). But for now,

no big fur hats or throat singing. 

We were so pleased that she wanted to serve the Lord on a mission in the first place.

We are also so pleased and thrilled that she wants to make sacred covenants to a wonderful guy for all eternity.  It will be the start of a different kind of mission, for raising

a family who loves the Lord is a mission indeed!!

Because short engagements are optimal ;) aaaannnd because Bekah IS leaving on her mission to Ohio in January, the wedding date is set for December 19 (yes, in 2015) in the LA Temple.  I've always told my kids if they wanted a short engagement, that we would be supportive and up for the challenge of planning.

Soooo, here we go!!