October 14, 2022- This Is the Last One!!
Hello All, Happy Fall,
Our last transfer in New Hampshire has been busy with mission tour, training replacements, going to favorite places one more time and saying goodbyes. I think Dad has given great detail about most of those things in his segment below, so no need to write it twice.
The mission tour was mid-September and that was when we said our goodbyes to most of the missionaries and then we stuck around for another 3 weeks! That was not my favorite. I like to say goodbye and go. However the extra time did allow for a few lunch dates and special goodbyes. Some of them are like family. My phone is full of pictures with missionaries that will need to be labeled and put in a book. Lots of promises made to keep in touch and see each other again - we shall see...
These last 18 months have been filled with experiences both challenging and rewarding. Times never to be forgotten. Experiences that have touched our hearts and lives for good. We have had the opportunity to serve with some valiant young missionaries. We have seen them teach and testify with power and authority. What examples they have been to us. Our experiences and interactions with them are what makes leaving hard. But I will steal the thought of one of the missionaries who quoted "a very wise bear" - Winnie the Pooh- who said "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard"
Although the NewHampshire Manchester Mission was not what we were expecting, it is where we needed to be. We have enjoyed serving here, have grown in our testimonies as we have served and have actually enjoyed being companions in our service.
We have missed each of you as we have served - missed being part of the goings on in your lives. We are anxious to catch up and want you to know that we are grateful for the support we have felt from each of you. I feel that all of us have been blessed in various and sometimes unexpected ways while we have been serving. Evidence that our Heavenly Father knows us and what we need usually before we realize it ourselves.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. We are blessed in all aspects of our lives.
Mission Accomplished!
See you soon,
Love you much, Mom
PS - only a couple of pictures this time- one with Elder and Sister Sikehema and one on last day at office crossing the finish line created by Pres and Sister Hayden 
Final Installment from New Hampshire
The last clothes are going into bags and boxes, our souvenirs have been wrapped and shipped home, we are bidding farewells to those that are so close to our hearts now. We’re headed into our next transfer.
As with many experiences that are good and enduring, this chapter of our life is coming to a close. We have spent the past two weeks training our replacements, Sister Allan and Elder Clark, and, just like us, they’ll get most of it right. Sister Allan joined the office staff after serving almost a year up in Newport, VT, a beautiful but remote area just a few miles south of the Canadian border. She and her biological sister, Sister Olsen, were Member and Leader Support (MLS) missionaries there, and when Sister Olsen’s health started to fade, we bade her farewell as she returned west. Sister Allan agreed to stay into November, and is a wonderful addition to the office crew, primarily supporting recording, supplies and meals—Mom’s areas. Elder Clark drove solo from Utah to join us, towing a somewhat mangled car that got rear-ended twice just weeks before their planned departure. Sister Clark learned two days before they finished the MTC that her ex-husband had passed, and she was needed by her daughters to help sort out all the details. She will join the mission staff mid-October. Meanwhile Dad has been training Elder Clark on all things cars, and he’s shared just about everything he was taught and has learned these past months. Considering all the challenges that the Clarks have had, we are so grateful he is here and she’s inbound.
Our final month was far from routine. We did support our last Transfers in early September—a modest group of 18 new missionaries. One change for us was that the outgoing group was small—just 3—so President and Sister Hayden drove them to Concord, MA alone to visit the Minuteman NHP and celebrate their successful service with dinner at the Colonial Inn. We missed that evening sharing and hearing sweet lessons learned from life and service.
By far the highlight of the month was the Mission Tour with Elder and Sister Vai and Keala Sikahema, a General Authority Seventy. In lieu of traditional Zone Conferences in three locations across the mission, they hosted two conferences and a Mission Leader training session over two days at Manchester. While we didn’t have to travel, Mom prepared for days to feed much larger groups of missionaries. That aspect of the Tour went great, but the real treats were sessions with the Sikahema’s. Those began with an evening dinner and devotional with the senior missionaries from across the mission at the Mission Home. In a very personal and intimate setting, they both shared experiences and guidance on the importance of service in their, and our, lives. How they met, how they courted, how they grew as a family. He played football for BYU, then in the NFL with the Packers, Cardinals, and Eagles for 7 years. The sweetest story he related was about his parents, who had struggled to bring their family from Tonga to the States. When Elder Sikahema was drafted into the NFL, he offered to pay off his parents’ mortgage. They declined, asking only that he pay on it for two years while they served a senior mission in Tonga. Now, when he meets with seniors, he has such fond memories of his own parent’s service and example. And thanked us deeply for ours.
One of the funny stories he shared was why he calls Jim McMahon, who played at BYU and won two Super Bowls, Bishop McMahon. Elder Sikahema tells Jim he’ll baptize him when he does join the Church, and that within two or three years after that, he’ll be called as a Bishop. He’ll be so understanding of those that come to confess to the Bishop, because he’s done everything they have at least two or three times. Ha Ha. We enjoyed the two days with them immensely, and it was a special way to wrap up the final months of our time in New England.
Over the course of September and October it was a series of ‘lasts’. Last time to walk the beach (Ogunquit). Last time to search for sea glass and take pictures of lighthouses (New Castle). Last time to eat a lobster roll (Manchester). Last Fisher Cats baseball game. Last trip to Portland to have lunch with some favorite missionaries. Last frantic call during that lunch from two sisters that slid off the road in a rainstorm and had to crawl out the driver window because the door was too heavy to open as the car sat on a tilt. And who were rescued by two great guys driving by with a tow chain and big truck. Last time to deal with grouchy and greedy tow truck drivers that towed a mission car illegally parked at 2am and wanted way too much money to get it out of the lot. Last chance to play Finders-Seekers (London), with the help of two sister missionaries that came over for dinner. Last chance to visit with a Highland friend (Andrus Rock) that moved to NH to be closer to his kids.
We did enjoy an evening dinner at the mission home and President and Sister Hayden with the mission office couples that are departing and staying. They were, and are, most gracious and fun to work with. The NHMM missionaries are in great hands!
We are leaving New England at a perfect time—the colors this year seem particularly vibrant in comparison to last year. Perhaps it was some late summer, early fall rain that juiced up the trees, but the colors were spectacular. We didn’t even have to drive up north to find color—they were right in Manchester. The leaf peepers will get their money’s worth this year!
I suppose by the time this gets to you we will be well into our trek west. Plans are to visit the Priesthood Restoration site in Susquehanna, PA, then Gettysburg National Battlefield and the Eisenhower farm which is adjacent to the battlefield. Anyway you look at it, it will be a long drive, with stops in Mechanicsburg, PA, Wheeling, WV and Normal, IL before we pause a few days in Iowa with Melanie and family. We’ll be sharing details on our Homecoming as they become available. We hope to see you there, as well as the many missionaries that preceded us in their returns. It will be great to be back, but our hearts are full of memories and experiences, all special and precious. Thanks again for your encouragement, prayers and support. Love you all, Dad.
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