GOOD JOB!!
New tile
Off with the old ugly wildflower wallpaper.
We celebrated the New Year with a road trip to California. A little work and a little play. The work was a new remodeled bathroom. The play was downtown LA. All in all it was great to see the grandkids and Trevor and Gretchen. Great memory and fun with family again.
We had a great holiday with Darin and Lori and the grandkids at the cabin in the snow. It was great to spend the holidays with family. The snow was gorgeous and we even got a little skiing in.
Now tell me, how many times do you wake up to a herd of elk in your front yard?
This morning at sunrise we woke up to an amazing sight of about 70 visitors on our lawn. Would you believe elk? When we first saw them some were sitting down just lounging around. Our only question is how long had they been there? Oh the beauties of living in the country!
Post mission is lots of fun with grandkids! We have so far been able to have almost each family to ourselves while Mom and Dad get some alone time. We have only Trevor and Gretchen to visit after Christmas and we will have made the rounds. It has been more than wonderful to connect with family again. What could be better?
We drove to Arizona and visited family. Then we drove to Texas for Thanksgiving. We even made it over to our old stomping grounds Port Neches. It was fun to stroll down memory lane and see more family and friends.
I'm not sure whether they all like us or the four wheelers?????????
What do you do when you get home from your mission?
You play with your grandkids while their parents are away.
We ALL had an unforgettable time. How wonderful to be home again!
The girls worked and played
The boys played
The grandkids worked
The boys worked
WOW!!!! All of our sweet grandchildren greeted us at the airport! All of our children dressed them in true "all red style". We were overcome with joy!
Area advisers for the Caribbean now - the Castros will continue with family history 
Before we left our mission we shed a few tears. We will miss the saints and those we have grown to love. A few had a surprise party for us and told us how much they appreciated our dedication.
Is it True?!?!?!?!? We are about to finish our mission. The other senior missionaries have already had a little going away get together for us and then the leaders and directors that we work with in family history had a surprise party for us too. It finally hit us and we cried to have to say goodbye to friends we have made that we may never see again. This is a bitter sweet time. Many of the compliments we received was that there has definitely been an increase in family history, we have patiently taught them how to do family history and they were grateful for our example of dedication and our love for family history. We also had our interview with President Johnson and he thanked us for all we have accomplished. We have loved our mission and it is a bitter sweet time with lots of mixed emotions. We hate to see it come to an end but the best is yet to come and that is to reunite with our dear family and friends. We long to hug those grandkids once again.
We have spent the last week training a new couple missionary to take our place. When we explained all of our job description and what they had to do it sounded a bit overwhelming even to us. But the Lord has called them and knows they are capable for the task and will bless them as he did us. They are wonderful people and we are so excited to have someone carry on the work with the members. The garden of family history is fragile and needs lots of care to continue to grow and bring forth fruit. Many ancestors are waiting patiently to be a part of an eternal family with God. Our prayer and a piece of our heart will always be with the members in the Caribbean that we love so. They have been an example of faithfulness. The gospel is only about 30 years old and they are the pioneers of this area. They carry large loads with their callings because they are few in number. Many of their ancestors have been ripped away from family and homeland. They have a history of slavery and abuse. They have not had the wonderful blessing of family and many do not know their fathers. My heart aches for what they have suffered in this wicked, selfish world. But the members embrace the gospel message of truth and the plan of happiness. They are grateful for the restoration of the gospel and the scriptures. They know God and Jesus Christ love them. They are wonderful people that will always be an example to us. We love them so.
Serving a mission in the beautiful Caribbean Islands has been beyond description. We have been blessed to serve right near the shadows of the temple. We have many examples of faithful senior missionaries that we have made friends with. It has been a privilege to serve under the direction of the area president Elder Johnson who is also a cousin. He and Clyde have a loving bond of family and friendship. We will always hold a special place in our mind of the beautiful waters of the many islands. We have indeed experienced the best.
We have learned to love each other and appreciate our eternal union. We have learned to appreciate more the promptings of the Spirit. We have gained a greater appreciation of the Savior's great atoning sacrifice. We marvel at the power of sealing blessings to families that the Lord has offered His children. We love the examples of the great prophets in the scriptures and our modern day prophets and leaders. They devote their whole lives to the cause of the Lord and His members. May we ever be mindful of the Lord's out pouring of blessings upon our head. He loves us and answers our prayers of supplication to Him. We testify that our Father in Heaven and His Son live. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and the gospel was restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith. We love the time that we have been privileged to be about our Father's business. We honor Him and will continue to serve Him.
