Carry On!

In the spirit of our dear pioneers ancestors, and for those old enough to remember "Promised Valley," we asked, "Are we moving again, Celia?" 

Moving from our tiny house on Lady Hawk Drive was both easy and hard.

One of our favorite scriptures...Isaiah 40:31

                                             

Easy because we won't miss those 17 killer steps up to the front door multiple times a day!  Thankfully no mishaps!

Nor will we miss the very tiny living space  What you see here was pretty much it!  We couldn't lose each other...ever!

But I will miss my jog from the street up that steep driveway and around the back and up the mountain on a little dirt road every morning.  Good commune time with my Father in Heaven!  And heart rate up!

 

And we'll miss the excitement of a helicopter flying over our house every 5 minutes for 4 hours one day.  It was carrying a "little" red bucket, filling it up in the lake and heading to a fire on Mt. Baldy nearby. 

We later learned that that "bambi" bucket probably held 500-1000 gallons of water each time.  The biggest ones hold 2650 gallons!  Glad it didn't spill on my head as I was taking photos!  Thankfully the fire was out by nightfall.

We'll miss our peaceful morning walks in beautiful Dover Bay.

And the abundant and very distinctive Canadian geese.  Notice their white chin straps.

With the help of 2 senior couples from our

mission in Spokane and 4 young missionaries

including our darling sisters who carried our baggage up those 17 steps, we moved our belongings to new digs in Sagle, Idaho.  Just 4 steps up this time!  This is affectionately called our "double wide."  (No reference to body parts.)  

A tad more roomy, don't you think?  Two bedrooms, full kitchen, dining and living room, 2 baths and a laundry room!  Sister P has died and gone to heaven!  No more trips to the laundromat!

We can be in different parts of the house!  A good thing for our marriage!

Now we're in the "big house in the woods." We have no internet provider here but thankfully our cell phones work well...we could even FaceTime our children and grandchildren recently and we were able to watch the Pioneer Concert from Temple Square on KBYU (amazing by the way!) with our cell phone hotspots.  Our newest song is "Turn on your hotspot!"  Little joys...we're so grateful!

The day after our move, the best part of our week happened as we watched our new young YSA friend, Edison Abel, enter the sacred waters of baptism.  He was "golden" from day one and our  dear sister missionaries here in Sandpoint were privileged to get to teach him.  Loved his white suit coat and big smile!  The YSA's welcomed him lovingly into their circle.  That eternal move into the the covenant family of Christ puts all the worldly moves into perspective! 

We were so happy to recently find this little home of one of our YSA's we've been trying to reach.  We just missed her but we had a great visit with her mother and sisters.   We'll head out on that rather remote dirt road again soon to meet Miriama and talk about PathwayConnect.  This online path to enroll in BYU-Idaho is such a blessing for students who otherwise wouldn't be able to go to college.

The turkeys were friendly, too and invited us to come again!

This one might be supper before we make it back though.

Sorry...

   

So now we cheerfully and courageously do everything in our power to, "Carry On."  May we all go forward with Faith in Every Footstep!  Happy Pioneer Day to all!

Elder and Sister P.

God's Fireworks!!

For 3 hours during the night of July 3rd, we were treated to a thunderous lightning show that rivaled any we've seen at Stadium of Fire!  Wow!  Explosions of light and ear-splitting thunder followed so close that I wondered this morning if I would see fallen trees on my hike up the hill.  Nothing had changed in the forest but what a spectacular display of Heavenly Father's power!  It was exciting and unnerving at the same time to lay in bed in the dark and have the room light up over and over and hear those explosive blasts!  We unplugged our computer and printer and phones hoping to protect from possible power surges.  (We had a computer fried in an electrical storm years ago in Lindon.)  All was well the next morning.

4th of July night, we gathered with a few thousand others at the Sandpoint city beach to watch fireworks.

It was spectacular out on the lake, brilliant and loud, but still no contest with Heavenly Father's magnificent display the night before!

I've been thinking about
a video we watched at the MTC of a past missionary devotional by Elder Holland.  He recounted places in the Book of Mormon where God's power was manifested...the ground shaking, walls of a prison falling, fire encircling disciples, the strength of Ammon..."and the people began to be astonished."  Indeed!  Elder Holland with his unique power and thunder testified that we, as full-time missionaries, possess power and authority from God.  We are essentially apostles with a small "a."  He concluded by saying, "Now go out and astonish someone!"

As we dive into this work of finding and gathering our young single adults from the wards and branches of this very spread out Stake (stretching from Montana to Washington, inviting them to come to Institute and YSA activities, we're really inviting them to "come and see."  (President Uchtdorf)  As they do, maybe a little of the Almighty's power and thunder and spiritual fireworks will penetrate their hearts.  Then our prayers will be for them to "come and stay" and "come and help."  If they choose so, it could be gloriously astonishing!

This is on our way to meet with Bishop Roos, one of our wonderful Bishops in the Stake to discuss his YSA's.  He lives in a beautiful spot...Sunnyside Drive.  His sweet wife made us lunch.  Elder Partridge actually ate a grilled cheese sandwich!  Will wonders never cease?  Bishop Roos's parents who live there, too, joined us for lunch.

We found out that they just celebrated their 75th Wedding Anniversary.  That's right 75 years together!  They are President Nelson's age.  We made another trip back to bring them a little treat to congratulate them...milk shakes from their favorite burger dive in Sandpoint.   Aren't they adorable!  We want to grow up to be just like them!

This is the view outside their living room window.  No wonder they've lived so long!

Side note.  Elder Partridge needed a haircut.  No room in the little house in the woods for a chair in the "one cheek" kitchen nor bathroom, and the 2 other rooms are carpeted...so it was "out to the front porch we go!"

Methinks he may never want to be inside for a haircut again!  Well...we shall see this winter!

Love to all our dear ones!  All is well with our souls!

Elder and Sister P

Happy Independence Day!

We enjoyed the Sandpoint 4th of July parade this morning.  It was so fun!

Patriotism galore! 

You're a grand old flag!

Ahoy Mateys!

Family Fun Travel!

That there is an OLD tractor!  

Love those bagpipes!

Nice, don't you think?

Our sweet sister missionaries!

Love these sisters!

Hope you all have a great celebration today!  We're so grateful and proud to be Americans!  More blog to come later.  Going to eat a hot dog today!  What's more American than that?  Maybe a piece of razzleberry pie?  We'll do that, too!  The sweet member owner of Panhandler Pies give missionaries a 50 percent discount!  Wahoo!