Lindsays Mission Call

I LOVE the words read and messages taught in one's personal Mission Call. 

 It is a reminder of the sacred work you have been called to do in building up the kingdom of God,, regardless of where on the Earth you will be asked to serve. Missionary work is all about Gods love and sharing the Good News of the gospel with all of HIS children.

Learning the location she would be assigned to serve for the next 18 months.

Such a special, special day for Lindsay! It was one of those days where the emotions we felt will forever be etched in our hearts.  Could not be prouder of this girl and her decision to serve the Lord and his children full time for the next 18 months.  Getting ready to open her call was a tad bit CRAZY, but as with all things, the Lord provoided and through a few miracles we were able to share this sacred expereince all together as a family!

Waiting for Lindz outside a dressing room inside the BYU Bookstore 😃

Gathering everyone to be there with Lindsay to open her call was a little tricky.  Robert was out of town in Tennesse.  I was home in South Jordan, The girls were in school. One major blessing was that her mission call came on a day that Kayla would be calling from the Philippines, so Lindz wanted to coordinate opening her call with when Kayla would be on the phone with us.  She also knew she wanted to open in on the Provo City Center Temple grounds and to be dressed in Sunday best.

 

As soon as I got word that she had received her call, I jumped in the car and headed to Provo while Lindz went to class. We met up after class and ran to the bookstore to buy her a dress and shoes, as she wanted to be dressed nice for this special occasion. Meanwhile, Aubrey quickly got Kai ready and in the car and headed to our house to grab Brenna and Emily.  It was a  miracle they were both home and Aubs car quickly headed to Provo.  On route, Aubs called Elan, who was working in Lehi, and he immediately left the office and headed for Provo also. When Lindz got out of class, we all headed to the Provo City Temple grounds and she found a spot she liked. 

Her new outfit furnished by the BYU Bookstore

Excited, happy, nervous, 

Gathering of the Miller Girls with Kayla on one phone and Robert on another.  We all gathered together to hear Lindsay read her call and were so happy to learn where and when she would serve her mission.

We were all so excited for Lindsay to be called to serve in Brazil

But Elan was over the moon excited because he also had served in the southern most part of Brazil and would now have another Portuguese speaker in the family.

Happy Day! Grateful for all the tender mercies that allowed us to share this time together!

Elan knew a great Brazilian restuarant in Provo that allowed us to jump right into the food and culture of Brazil.

It even had a ful wall mural that depicting what the next 18 months of Lindsays life will be focused on. Jesus Christ and the people of Brazil.

Congrats Sister Miller!

 

Church Day

Ikaika is now 6 months old and looking soooo grown up sitting in his chair before church.   

We sooooo love watching this cute boy grow up right before our eyes.

FAVORITE PICTURE

This is my favorite picture of 2020.  Aubrey & Kai kneeling by his bed learning to PRAY.  This is what Motherhood is all about.  For years I have shared with the girls my favorite Mom scripture:

3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

2/3 of the Shelf are Home

Mary Jane (MJ as we call her) is home from her mission in Chile.  MJ was one of Kayla roommates through a mutual friend their freshman year, and they have been such good friends since then,  You may remember MJ from this post

https://necfamily.blogspot.com/2018/05/vigor-half-marathon.html

when she and Kay ran a Half Marathon together before leaving for their missions.

6.girls.and.a.shelf was the Instagram handle for these 6 Roommates at Heritage Halls during their Freshman year at BYU.  After that first year, the girls all went out to serve in different countries around the world. 

 2/3 of the shelf have now returned home - Brooke, Brook, Sarah, and MJ are home with Kayla still serving in the Philippines and Kelsey still serving in Uruguay.  It has been so fun to visit with these girls as they have returned home, and I know they can't wait for Kayla and Kelsey to join them.  Just a few more months and the shelf will be complete again!

Drill Down - 2nd Place Overall

 

Video chat with Kay

There she is - Sister Miller with her signature flower tucked behind her ear.  Today she was up in Cebu at the Temple Complex and was able to connect with us through a computer with a camera.  Doesn't happen much, but it is always such a fun surprise to see her smiling face

A picture she had taken earlier today in front of the Cebu Temple.  No good words to decribe how she feels about this Holy House of the Lord.  She feels beyond blessed to be able to serve in the Cebu Mission and be able to attend the Cebu Temple fairly often.  They Lord knows each of us individually and she testifies of that often.  So happy we got to see her smiling face and feel of her love and devotion to the Savior and those she is teaching.

Lunch with Bradshaws

We were so excited to meet up with the Bradshaws today for lunch at Fuled Fresh Kitchen (Lindsay's new favorite restaurant)

Sister Bradshaw was one of Kayla 1st companions after arriving in Cebu.  We consider her an angel as she helped Kay through the learning curves of a new culture, country, weather, not knowing the language very well, and all the ups and down of being a brand new missionary.  Sister Bradshaw (whose first name is Katie) lives in American Fork and will be returning to BYU in January.  It was soooo awesome to sit and visit with her and her mom and sister.  She said she felt like she already knew us from all the time she and Kay spent together.  Sometime she would just stare at us saying I feel like I'm talking to Kayla right now.  You guys are just like her! 

We learned more about some of the people they taught together, and about how Kayla was always running place to place and never wanted to stop to eat lunch.  She felt an urgency about the work and just wanted to keep going.  It was the day Kay thought they should go home for a bit and she laid down that they knew something was definitely wrong.  As they traveled together to San Carlos to get medical help, later learning that she has a 104.3 degree fever, she said Kay still shared the gospel with the people they traveled with.  She never put her own needs before helping others.  

We know that Kayla will have similar stories about Sister Bradshaw, as she did so much to lead and serve all of those in their areas.  I have so much love and respect for these Cebu missionaries.  They're living conditions are rough, but they so easily move past that to focus on sharing the love and light of Jesus Christ with everyone they meet -  rain or shine, in good health or not, they are amazing!!!  

What a special blessing for us to meet Katie and be able to visit with her.  We will always love and admire her.  I can't imagine the reunion these girls will have in a few months as their are hearts strings are so deeply connected to one another. 

Tube Man

On top of basement projects, we also ended up doing some unanticaipted shop projects over the break as well.  This is our 2nd holiday season owning Sunny Decals, are we are stilling learning what that means for us.  Demand for our products do not necessarily increase during the holidays, which is nice, but we are defintely effected by the shipping demands/delays that come with holiday season.  Our products take longer to arrive to customers and our supplies take longer to arrive at our shop. 

So what do you do when youre completely out of 8 inch tubes and Amazon is asking more more and more products???

Take the 36 inch tubes that we do have in stock and cut them into 8 inch tubes in our garage.

Not exactly how we planned to spend our morning, but it worked and got us through until our 8-inch tubes arrived.  Oh the ups and downs of having your own business.

Basement Painting Project

After updating the main floor of the house a few yerars ago, we decided it was time to update the basement - in hopes of maybe getting more use out of it.  It's almost 1/3 of out house, but we just don't spend much time down here,  Not sure if updating it will change that, but it atleast encourages us to get rid of some  items we no longer need or use down here.  With most everyone home between Christmas and New Years, it seemed like a good time to tackle this project.

We rocked out to some tunes

listened to a few podcasts

and even painted together at 3am on New Years Eve since we were all awake

It feels like a mess, but this too will pass, and I know it will be worth it when we are done.