What Do We Want Most?

Everyday at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site, the story of the Mormon Battalion, US Army of the West is told.  It is an amazing story of faith, sacrifice, and service. Answering a call to serve for one year in the Mexican-American War, and at the encouragement of their prophet leader, these men, and women, left their loved ones in Iowa and marched nearly 2,000 miles to the Pacific Ocean.    

As we listen to and read their story of faith, sacrifice, and service, we cannot help but see the similarities in our lives.  Although we are not having to endure the physical hardships the Battalion did, we too have exercised faith in sacrificing time away from our home and family to serve a mission in an effort to help bless others.  We too trust that God is mindful of our loved ones and will bless them in ways that we could not, even if we were with them.  

One of the lines in the presentation at the Mormon Battalion is, "We got what we wanted most where we least expected it."  What do we want most?  We want our posterity to know God and feel His love, peace, and guidance in their lives, in their families, and with their fellowmen.  

Unlike the Mormon Battalion our family members can come visit us! And it has been a joy to have them come!  Below is a recap of who has come so far.  We look forward to having more visits! 

Aubrey & Cassidy - June 5-10 -- We picked Aubrey up from the San Diego Airport Wednesday evening and she attended a devotional meeting with us with Ben, Gary, and Aaron from the Church Historical Dept.  On Thursday Aubrey picked up Cassidy from Anaheim where she had been doing some nannying. We enjoyed having Aubrey and Cassie join us for some of our missionary meetings and activities as well as have a tour of the Mormon Battalion.  We enjoyed some beach scenes, Coronado Island and Hotel del Coronado.  Aubrey and Cassie kept busy when we weren't able to be with them.  They rented bikes and rode around Mission Bay.  It was so nice to have them with us! 

Taylor, Kate, Will, Ada, and Nel visited us on May 25th - 29th.   We enjoyed going to an organ concert at the largest outdoor organ amphitheater in Balboa Park on Sunday afternoon and listening to some amazing organ playing.  It was fun to see the family enjoy the tour of the Mormon Battalion.  In fact the children enjoyed it so much they went two more times just by themselves so that all three of them could take turns dressing up as a soldier.  Despite the overcast skies and cooler weather we had a poolside BBQ on Memorial Day and the children swam in the pool and warmed up in the hot tub.  It was worth getting up  early to go to La Jolla Beach during an extra low tide to find sand dollars and clams! Taylor and Kate also took the children and had a great time at Sea World.  

 

 

On May 12th we received a text message from Don asking us what we were doing about 11a.m. our time.  Assuming he wanted to FaceTime we told him we were available.  He replied with, "A little face time is exactly what I have in mind." and proceeded to tell us that he had a cyber security conference in San Fransisco he was attending.  He changed his return flight home to have a layover in San Diego with just enough time to stop by for a short visit and a hug.  Such a great surprise and much appreciated boost to our spirits. Exactly the "something we wanted most"!  About one hour later we were driving him back to the airport to catch his flight.  

With David and Jessica living the closest to us they said they would come and see us more often.  Their first visit was just the two of them on an anniversary get-a-away May 3-6.  It was so nice to have them come and use our place as their home base as they went out doing activities together and returning in the evening to play games with us.  

Just about seven weeks after starting our mission at the Mormon Battalion Historical Site Dallin, Whitlie, Brynlee, and Clayton were our first family members to come see us.  (March 30th - April 4th.)  We were still pretty "green" and blown away with our schedule, so I'm afraid we weren't very relaxed or a lot of fun, but we did enjoy having them with us.  Bryn and Clay were real "troopers" on Easter Sunday attending both our Church meeting and then a special private Easter service at the Battalion with our missionaries.  That was a lot of sitting still for me, let alone them!  Dallin and Whitlie made it a fun Easter for them by hiding their Easter basket in our small apartment with the announcement of a surprise trip to Disneyland.  So they were able to take part of their vacation time with us and go to the "happiest place on earth."   Swimming in our pool, seeing the seals at La Jolla beach, and visiting the Midway aircraft carrier were a few other things we did together.  

So, what do we want or like most? To see our family!