Birthdays and Mission Conference

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM! Today Sam is 12 years old and received the preisthood. We are very happy for Sam and think he's a great young man, and we love him. His dad, Scott, ordained him a deacon. Here are a few pictures of Sam. The first one is with his dad at a scout meeting.
This picture was taken at Billy's and Amy's wedding. Andrew on the left, Sam in the middle, and Spencer on the right. Aren't they three handsome lads.

Here is Sam with his cousins at a cabin the end of April. They enjoyed themselves in the hot tub even if it snowed the whole three days we were there. Left to right: Spencer, Ali, Andrew, Sam, and Ashlynn.

Here is Sam with more cousins singing "New York New Yor" (with words written by Scott Dalebout) to Grandma and Grandpa before we left for our mission.

Life goes on in our mission. Dick and I will be transferred out of the office in a couple of weeks. We are looking forward to a new experience. Our mission President and the President of our stake are talking about things they would like us to do. We will probably be doing more Family History work down at the Manhattan Temple. There is a good chance that we will be working one day in the temple, and our Bishop would like us to be ward missionaries and go with the young missionaries to discussions, etc. So, we are quite excited about a change. The office was fine, but it just wasn't the kind of missionary work we thought we would do. There are two other couples who will be coming in to work in the office. One will replace us. They will be here on March 3rd. We will train them for about a week. Then, the first part of April, another couple will replace the Schoutens, who will return home in April.

On Friday, we had a full-mission conference. Elder David A. Bednar (an apostle) came to speak to us for three and a half hours. It was quite amazing, as he and Elder Clayton of the Seventy spoke to us. Elder Bednar had asked the missionaries a couple of weeks before the meeting to read a couple of his talks that he had given. Then, at the meeting, he fielded questions to the missionaries about those articles. After about an hour and a half of that, he had the missionaries ask him questions that they would like answered. It was a great interactive meeting, and the missionaries felt like they had contributed something to the meeting as well.

The following pictures were taken before the meeting, while the missionaires enjoyed eating some bagels.

Elder Beswick, Elder Dos Anjos, and Elder Willis. Elder Willis (on the right) is from Alabama, and the little branch where he came from has four missionaries serving missions. That's quite an achievement for a small branch in Alabama.

Sister Nalawas (from the Republic of Vanuatu in the Polynesian islands) and Sister Tuke. Sister Nalawas didn't speak much English when she came here, and it's been a bit hard for her. But, she's getting along okay now. She has a good companion.

Elder Willard and Elder Meadows.

L-R: Elder Anderson (brand new), Elder Wilkins, Elder Boekwig, Elder Dilling.

Two really sweet elders, Elder dos Anjos Sayao and Elder Dos Anjos. Confusing, eh? Both these elders are from Brazil and are very loving elders. Whenever I ask them how they are doing, they say: "Sister Dalebout, I am 'DIVINE.'" Neither one of them spoke English when they went to the MTC. And, they are doing great! They have learned English but they work with Portuguese investigators and members.

L-R: Elder Canfield, Elder Workman (who went to Timpview High School), Sister Dunagan and Sister Wilson.

Elder Prue (from Orem), Elder Larsen, Elder Bishop, Elder Rossell, and Elder Sorenson enjoying their food.

Elder Lambert and Elder Sorenson

L-R: Elder Gervacio, Elder Ibisagba, Elder Willard, Elder Covel, Elder Huerta Luna, Elder Mendez, Sister Dunagan and Sister Wilson

Here I am standing with three really tall and big elders: L-R: Elder Kafu (who will be playing football for BYU), Elder Fotu, who is 6'7", and Elder Thomas.

These four missionaries all have Dutch ancestry in their genealogy. Elder Boekweg, Elder Dalebout, Elder Minter and Sister Vander Does.

Elder Torres and Elder Sather.

Elder Bussard and Elder Wilkins (who is from Orem).

We truly love getting together with the missionaries. They have great spirits.

Our good friend and neighbor, Jay Steele, came over last night to celebrate his 64th birthday with us and the Schoutens. We had a nice dinner and had fun conversation.

Things to be Grateful for on Valentine's

February 13 marks Jenny's 37th birthday, and on February 15th, it will be Milly's 6th birthday. I am truly grateful for these two people in my life. Most of all, I am grateful that Jenny is still with us and is the mother of five beautiful children. Dad and I truly love you and hope you have a wonderful year. This picture was taken last year as Jenny and Milly celebrated their birthdays at Larry and Geri Wood's home.
I am grateful for two other wonderful people who celebrated their birthdays the first part of February. Shelley's birthday was February 2nd, and Jordan's 16th birthday was February 7th. Look out Texas, here comes Jordan driving the Expedition. Of course, I'm grateful for the other two in the picture too, Dick and Scott.

I'm grateful for wonderful missionaries who try to do what is right. I watched these two elders push a car out of the snow. When the man got out to thank them, the missionaries told them that he was parked in front of the church and they gave him a pass-along card and invited him to church. Missionaries are amazing!

Here are the two elders who pushed the car out of the snow, Elder Martin from Springville, and Elder Torres from Virginia. I'm grateful for those wonderful smiles.

I'm grateful to the Schoutens who invited us and eight of the missionaries over for dinner. We truly love getting together with all of them. And, Schoutens always provide a nice meal.

I'm grateful for being able to teach the Marriage and Family Relations class. We have loved working with these fine people in our class. They have taught us more than we have taught them. They are a fun group.

I am grateful for these cute little children who wait for the school bus outside our apartment every weekday. We always say "hi" to them, and they smile and say "hi" back. It makes me happy. I love kids.

I'm grateful for a good building superintendant and helper who scraped through 1 inch of ice so that we didn't have to go ice skating down the street.

I'm grateful for sister missionaries because I can hug them. I love that. Here are Sister Anderson and Sister Passantino. They are Spanish-speaking missionaries and visit us occasionally in the Family History Center. They really bring sunshine into the building when they come. We love them.

I'm grateful for the great missionaries we have in our mission. Here are the Zone leaders from our mission. They are superior young men and full of enthusiasm

I am grateful for President and Sister Darger, who host our senior couples parties and decorate so beautifully for all the holidays. They always provide a tasty meat dish, and the other senior couples bring salads, desserts, rolls, etc. Here is one of the tables decorated for Valentine's Day.

Here is another one of the tables they decorated. Fun, huh?

I'm grateful for humor. Here Elder Seamons presents Elder Dalebout ("your excellency") with a crown. Elder Seamons helps with the car inspections, and Elder Seamons asked Elder Dalebout what he should call him. Elder Dalebout said, "Just call me, 'Your Excellency.'" So, Elder Seamons brought him a crown.

I'm grateful for the senior couple missionaries and our association with them. President and Sister Smith are on the left front.

Here Elder Dalebout presented the crown to Elder Seamons and called him "the crown prince."

More senior couples I'm grateful for. President Darger is on the right.

Group picture, although some of the couples couldn't be seen. They're a great group of people and we love them.

And, I'm very grateful that the weather is beginning to moderate. I don't think the snow will melt until May, but at least the temperatures are climbing.