Monday, August 14 to Sunday, August 20, 2017

Monday, August 14, 2017

We got up at 3:30am. The Office Elders picked us up at 5am and took us to the airport. Our flight left at 7:30 am. We arrived on time in Atlanta and after going to immigration and customs, we looked for new Elders who were arriving from the MTC on their way to Nicaragua. We found Elders Davis, Russell and Deere. We had lunch with them, explaining about the mission and answering their questions.

Everywhere we went, we found other senior missionaries, current or past. It felt like we were part of a fraternity. We met missionaries serving in Panama (Temple), Dallas and Hawaii. We met other members who would say “hi” to us. It was a lot of fun. We arrived in SLC at 7pm, got our car and drove to Idaho Falls, arriving about 11:30pm.

When we landed in Atlanta, we had a wonderful feeling come over us, telling us “we are home”. With all of the problems we have in the USA, it is still a wonderful place to live.  The first thing Sister Bell did was drink out of the drinking fountain and brush her teeth using tap water at the airport.  Those little luxuries!!!!!

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

We started the day at the temple. The Idaho Falls temple has been renovated and it is beautiful.  Michelle’s sister, brother, sister-in-law, nieces and a nephew joined us.  We miss the temple and it was like going home.  We felt close to Dad there as that was one of his favorite places to be.  He went to the temple weekly for most of his life and served as a veil worker.

We spent the day with family preparing for the viewing tonight and the funeral tomorrow. It was great to be with family. Everyone is working together to make grandpas funeral go well. We met the babies of Danielle and Marie. They are both adorable. Everyone wanted to hold and entertain them.  Michelle and her sisters helped put Dad’s temple robes on and worked on their talk for tomorrow. We had a luncheon with everyone that was there so far, about 25. The viewing was very nice. Several seminary teachers came that worked with dad.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Today was grandpa’s funeral. Paul, Addie, McKay, John, Steve, Ginger, Avery, Heidi, Dutch, Nora, Becky, Kanika, Kadin, Corgan and Meena all came. It was a wonderful tribute to a great man. Dad loved to serve others. He did things, not so much because he wanted to, but because others wanted to do them. For example, he went hunting with Kevin, because Kevin likes to hunt. Michelle, Roxanne and Jamie shared stories. It was a lot of fun. The grandkids and great grandkids sang “Give said the little stream”. Michelle shared a story that changed his life, it was during WW II. He was in an LDS church service. A young man bore his testimony and said that if he died in battle, he was ready to go. Dad felt the spirit strongly and he wondered if he had done things to build the kingdom. He decided then that he needed to do more to build the gospel. Michelle shared his testimony that he had written as part of his person history. It was very strong. 

Steve gave the doctrinal talk. He summarized the plan of Salvation in a simple manner. We were very proud of him. The graveside service was in McCammon. Paul, John, Steve were pall bearers, along with the other grandsons.

We went to Becky’s after the funeral. John, Paul, Addie and McKay went to Logan. The kids went swimming at Paul’s hotel. We picked up barbeque in Malad and took it to Becky’s.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Michelle and I took John to the airport. We were so thankful he came. He flew in on Tuesday night and drove to Idaho Falls with Paul. He stayed at Becky’s house on Wednesday night and then flew home today. We had an enjoyable time driving to the airport with him and had a good talk. Then we drove to Steve’s in Big Piney. Paul was there, too. We picked up fresh peaches and corn from Willard and cooked corn for dinner. We are having a wonderful grandkid “fix”.  It was especially nice to hug little Nora for the first time. 

Friday, August 18, 2017

Happy Birthday Ginger

We spent the morning in Wyoming. Paul left about 11am and Michelle and I left about 2pm. We enjoyed our stay with Steve and Ginger. They are very happy and the kids are growing fast. We are excited about their new one that will be born in March. We hope to be home for the big event.

We drove to Becky’s and stayed with her Friday night. It was good to be with her family too. We love and miss our children and grandchildren.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

We left Becky’s about 5:30am and drove to the airport. We flew to Atlanta and then to Managua, arriving about 8pm. Elder Adams, Chinchilla and Ruiz met us at the airport. All was well at our home.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

We got up at 4am and left the house at 5:30am, headed for Somoto. We wanted to attend the Branch Conference. However, when we were almost to Esteli, Elder Koelliker called and said that the branch and District Presidents had a meeting in Managua. We didn’t know if the conference would still happen, but we kept going to Somoto. We found out that they had postponed the Branch Conference. We still enjoyed the meetings. We stopped by President Alaniz’s house to visit with Sister Alaniz. Juanito was sick so she could not come to the meeting. We visited with her awhile and then left for home, stopping briefly at the Koellikers house. We got home about 7pm.