Halloween 2009

It was Halloween night and there were no grandkids to go trick or treating with so we decided to go to the Frederickson's Halloween wedding reception and get down...
Here are the bride and groom Kelly and Holden Leavitt

It wouldn't be a halloween party without trunk or treating and so we set the mood in the back of our car....we even made monster cupcakes...

Garth and Wayne from Waynes world arriving to DJ the party...garth why is your hair poking Wayne in the face??

Here is Jose dancing with Jackie...hmmm donde esta su esposa?...

Here is Jose again with Michelle....hmmmm...y su esposa??....

She must have gotten the swine flu from these two happy little viruses...

Another Garth?! This is a flappingly cute family....

Matt watching the bun in Courtney's oven!...

Wayne and Garth practising their moves for the wedding party! They were the DJ's now how cool is that?
Even Kelso and Jackie made an appearance and danced the night away!

A woman who shall remain anonymous showed up as a pregnancy test...directions are on the back....I guess she keeps having little monsters!

The baker was tending to his wife who has a bun in the oven and just in case it got too hot Jeff was there with his shower to cool things off!

Halloween is always a favorite holiday with the Elmers and would not be such without dry ice and a boiling caldron!

Power of the Message of the Restoration

This is a great experience that Jeff had while visiting the zone of Quillabamba which is a little zone of 8 missionaries 5 hours north of Cusco high up over an Andean pass and nestled in the jungle. It is known for growing cocoa beans and coca leaves and is one of the most beautiful cities in our mission. I thought I would add a few photos to show you the missionaries and the chapel at district conference time so you can get a feel for the area. They call it ceja de selva which means the eyebrow of the jungle or just onthe edge of the jungle. I was up in Utah when this occurred and so I missed being there for this great experience but here it is in Jeff's words! This is a wonderful example of how the lamanite people receive revelation---it is easy to see why they are the children of Lehi for he was a dreamer too...

Chapel in Quillabamba at conference time

We always have to take a silly shot after we take our serious shot!

Here's the serious shot

Jeff doing what he does best--teaching--only the assistent seems to be falling asleep it may be because he has heard this talk at least 6 or 7 times!

Hard not to be silly!

I had a great experience the other day I will just share with you. I was giving a zone conference in Quillabamba and I had been teaching the missionaries how to present the Book of Mormon in a powerful way. I reviewed 2 Nephi 30:3-6 with them and as I was finishing a man came into the chapel and sat down in the back. I thought he was a member and that he was waiting to talk to me so I went and met him. He said that he was walking down the street and felt that he should come in. I went and got a copy of the Book of Mormon and the restoration pamphlet and a little tract we have on 3 Nephi 11 and came back and started to teach him. He lives two days into the jungle and comes into Quillabamba about once a month. For about 30 minutes I got to know him and basically presented the first lesson with a powerful presentation of the Book of Mormon. He seemed totally amazed at what I was teaching him. At the end I invited him to read the tract of 3 Nephi 11 and told him that if he came to the meeting the following day, and if he had read the tract, I would give him a Book of Mormon. He looked at me and he said. "I saw you in a dream last night." I knew that you were a foreigner and that you would teach me many things that I had never heard and that I needed for my life. I was trying to figure out where I could find a white man in Quillabamba and as I walked down the street I felt impressed to come into this chapel." I told him that that was the Holy Spirit directing him to the message of the gospel. We knelt and prayed together. I prayed first and then he prayed. His prayer was very sincere and very humble asking the Lord to forgive him and to guide him. At the end we hugged and he looked at me and told me that we hugged in his dream as well.
The next day was Sunday and I presided and spoke at the branch meeting at 8am. I did not see him. We had three confirmations during the meeting and so I felt impressed to teach about the great privilege of the gift of the Holy Ghost and how it speaks to us. Because so many of these sons and daughters of Lehi have revelatory dreams and because of the experience I had had with this man and many others I taught them of the importance of these revelatory dreams. Well, because I had two other branches to visit I excused myself before the final hymn and prayer so I could go to the other sacrament meetings. What I did not know is that my investigator was there. After the meeting the missionaries noticed him and they asked him if he had read the tract. He had and he said that he wanted to get baptized. (3 Nephi 11 talks a lot about baptism.) He was introduced to the branch president, he got his Book of Mormon and we invited him to come by or call any time he was in town and we would continue to teach him and prepare him for baptism.
Now, it just does not get any better than that!

Musings on the Mission....

Well, Jeff and I have been feeling very remorseful that we have been so terrible at keeping a journal of this mission. He claims that if I didn't spend so much time reading everyones else's blogs and start to write more in mine that we would have a pretty good history. As of right now everything seems to be a big blur in the past but after this week which included another one our "getting stuck in Andahuaylus" experiences I thought I would begin again. The only problem I see with putting this on our blog page is that you all may be bored to tears like Rob and Brisa were when they watched "Errand of Angels" about a day in the life of a sister missionary....only another sister missionary would really appreciate the movie!
It seems that almost everytime we attempt to fly in or out of Andahuaylus our plane is either canceled or the smoke blows in or the winds are too high or, as was the case this time, the pilot was afraid to land! Curses!! So there we sat high up on the mountain as we watched our little 18 passenger plane circle the airport and then fly away much to the chagrin of all the customers, well, all 6 of us there waiting. What it meant was that we could wait until the next day and hope that the piot would want to come again and get us (because the plane only flys once a day) or go back into town and look for a way to get to Cusco. Since we had Zone conference in Lima the next day we opted for driving to Cusco and catching an early flight to Lima since Cusco has flights that leave early in the morning which would get us back in time. So we drove the 45 minutes back to town and went to the bus terminal to see what there was available to ride in and ended up renting a 8 passanger van driven by Lucho and his brother. It is an 8 hour trip over curving unpaved mountain roads and so not one that I relish doing very often but luckily I had my supply of "gravol" anti-nausea medicine to keep us all from getting sick. Most of the missionaries throw up on the drive to Andahuaylus! The plus side of the whole trip is that we were entertained by Lucho and his brother who talked the whole way and wanted to know all about life in the states and "that black guy Obama". We in turn tried to convert them but gave up when the raod became so bumpy and noisy that you could hardly think straight! Half way throught he trip we came upon a giant Eucalyptus tree that had fallen across the road and blocked both lanes and so all the men int he van had to get out and try and move it and did I mention that it was raining? Well, we finally drug into Cusco at 9:00 at night and got a pretty good nights sleep at our home away from home "the Jose Antonio" and tried to hook up with the three amigos but couldn't get ahold of them. (For those of you that don't know who the three amigos are they are: Jim Rippy, Mike Metcalf and Chris Olsen and they came down to Peru to visit the sights and we are hoping to get to see them this weekend.) Anyway, when we got up in the morning and went to the airport there was a huge line of people and apparently they had cancelled our flight!! Double curses!! So here we were stuck once again until the 9:30am flight left, so Jeff changed zone conference to Friday and set up interviews for the afternoon....you know that ride you used to love as a kids where you ran around pushing the merry go round faster and faster until you had to fling yourself on and hold on for dear life? Well, that is kind of what our mission feels like most days...you just run as hard as you can and hope not to be thrown off the ride!!
Today we had our zone conference and it was so great and the spirit was so strong and as I looked out over the sea of faith-filled faces I thought this is what makes it all worthwhile these great missionaries and their great spirits and their love for the work and the people...it made all the long drive from Andahuaylus to Cusco worthwhile.

The years second most anticpated event (well, for Rob and Brisa) the Honeymoon!

Boarding the boats fot he jungle trip!
Hammock Heaven in our own little paradise!

Rob and Brisa in a little jungle downpour...note that Brisas boots were full to the brim!

We'll build a little love nest int he woods!

Lake Sandoval where we saw bats. birds and howler monkeys!

Inka Terra a beautiful jungle retreat!

Malerie spied this little (well big ) pink toes tarantula onour night walk through the jungle!

Cruising the Madre de Dios River looking for caiman ...I sware our guide had x-ray vision!

A little philosophy on the meaning of life....

A little frivolity and let's not get so deep yet!

The jungle get-a-way/ honeymoon for Rob and Brisa was a wonderful detour in our usually hectic schedule. We stayed at the beautiful Inka Terra resort where they pampered us from head to foot except when we had to make a mad dash through the rain to get to our boat only to find that they sent a boat without the roof on it...I will try and post the results in our video but you know I am not that sophisticated so we shall see. All in all we had a wonderful time getting to know Brisa!

The Most Anticipated and Prayed for Event of 2008!

The wedding of Rob and Brisa was the highlight of 2008 and an answer to a mother's prayers or as Dan would say: "Mom, your prayers ruined the life of a perfectly nice young lady!"


All the family was there except I don't know where Malerie wandered off to?


Don't you just love the red high heels!

Love will keep you warm!

The Elmer girls are never too far away from a good time even if it means weathering the cold extremes of winter!

We are still waiting for the answer to this prayer!

I think their lips may be frozen to his cheeks if truth be known!

She is contemplating whether to walk up those stairs or let mom carry her!

The whole flam damly minus Jeff!

It really was a wonderful day even if it was freezing, but I have to give Brisa and Rob credit they never complained even after more than 2 hours of picture taking! I just wish I had better pictures to post on this blog but these will have to do. We had a wonderful man who sealed them in the Salt Lake Temple who gave some really good advice, and even though Rob and Brisa will probably never remember it we certainly will. He said two things to remember are 1. After you make the decision to marry to never look back and wonder "What if?" but to look forward and work each day for an eternal marriage and number 2. to tell and show each other every day how much you love them. It helped us all to remember that it is the little things that count in a relationship and that help to make us happy in our lives. After the temple ceremony we went out on temple square to take photos and then across the street to have a great breakfast at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Hmmm...french toast, bacon, eggs and fruit compote and juice! That evening we went to Layton for the reception which was hosted by the Archibald family and was really nice. Lucky for Rob he has married into a wonderful, loving family...I can't believe how fortunate all our boys are to have chosen women from such loving homes. We are truly blessed!