WE'VE FINALLY HERE!

As you may know, we were initially scheduled to start our 18 month mission on May 13 of this year.  But it proved trickier to get our New Zealand religious work visas than anticipated, and that date came and went with no visas having been issued.  Our mission start date was pushed back to June 10.  Having already sold our home and packed, that left us with time to burn.  So at the last minute I bought plane tickets and joined our children Ed and Lora on their pre-planned trip to Machu Picchu in Peru.  When else could I make this trip with 2 interpreters already lined up?!  We had a great time exploring.  Alisa enjoyed some quiet time while we were gone.

The extra month gave us plenty of time to fine-tune our preparations for NZ and to visit family.  The visas finally came through and "here we are. " Alisa has now been notified that she'll work with public affairs and government relations for the church in NZ while I focus on legal matters.

So where is "here"?  We just finished spending a terrific week at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT.  It brought back a lot of memories as I was in the first group to enter this facility on June 16, 1976, the difference being that I spent 2 months at that time in the MTC and had to learn Japanese!  This time was more laid back, and we actually had our evenings free to attend the temple, go out for ice cream and to visit family.  A big shout out to Rockwell's Ice Creamery in downtown Provo, we went in there to get ice cream cones and they surprised us by telling us they were free to missionaries!  "Free" is my favorite 4 letter word, right next to "work".  Luckily, not everyone will be reading this blog, otherwise all the missionaries in the Provo MTC might go in to Rockwell's for free ice cream!

Anyway, on Friday we drove to SLC, after stopping at Costco one last time for final supplies, and visiting the Kranchers and Maws, friends who have moved to northern Utah.  We are currently camped out at City Creek Marriott in SLC.  Tomorrow and Tuesday we have 2 days of training at the Office of General Counsel in the church office building, then we fly out on Wednesday to New Zealand!  More later.