The field is white . . .

President Thatcher picked the title for this blog entry.  While driving home after an amazing evening of tracting I turned to my dear companion and while shaking my head in wonder said, 'The field truly is white isn't it!' We were silent for a while as we pondered the words of this scripture, reflecting on those we had so recently met. These words have remained in our hearts and warmed them.    Come along with us as we tell you of the fields of white here in Auckland.

Monday 7 Nov 2017

We finally visited Natasha again. She is the mother of Denise who has Cerebral Palsy. She was waiting for us and seemed excited to have us. She said that Denise wanted to miss school because we were coming.  We showed Natasha pictures of our friend Kelly Werner which she loved seeing. Natasha tells us she was praying for help before we came a couple weeks ago. We told her we wanted to meet with her partner - that we didn’t want to teach her unless it was all right with him. She seemed to warm a little to the idea. It worries her that he won't want to learn, but we told her miracles happen.

We taught her about the restoration of the gospel because she asked why there were so many churches.  She feels the Spirit while we teach and is so accepting of anything we tell her.  We love her and hope we can teach her whole family.



Tuesday 8 Nov 2017

We had the most amazing experience this evening. It was the Rescue Night at the ward where people meet at the church at 6:00 and split up to go visiting less active people in the ward. It is a wonderful thing to do.

When everyone split up we left with no particular names to visit so President Thatcher felt that we should tract again and what better place to go than Cluthe Cres. It has been such a magical street for us and there are homes that we still haven’t visited. The third door that we knocked at opened revealing a sweet young woman and 4 beautiful children.  It would be a magical hour spent in that home.



The young woman let us in to show a video to the children. When we said we had a video about Jesus she opened the door wide and smiling, gave a sweeping motion to direct us inside. She turned out to be the aunty of these children. It was the home of her brother and sister in law and the little boy David, said there were 10 of them - 10 children.

Aunty Taiti (her Samoan name is Orepa - Samoan for Orpah, one of the daughter in laws of Naomi in the book of Ruth) She is a triplet and her sisters are Naomi and Ruth. She is the 2nd to the youngest of 13 children. We felt a bond right away. The children were David (7), Serafina (6), Nyreen (4) and Talia (3). They turned off the Disney movie ‘Brave’ and sat down on the carpet to watch our little video ‘Fishers of Men’.

Talia, Noreen, Serafina, and David

Aunty Taiti was so good with the children. They were well behaved and there was a feeling of love in that room that we all enjoyed.  They loved the video and when it ended Aunty Taiti grabbed her guitar from it’s resting place by the wall and asked the children to sing with her the song, ‘Fishers of Men’. We hadn’t heard it before but the children sang it first in Samoan and then in English. She would ask them questions about what they had watched, like ‘what did you learn from the video?’ and they would raise their hand and say the sweetest things.

We then sang, ‘I am a Child of God’. She played along with her guitar and the children tried to sing with us doing a beautiful job for never hearing the song before. David ran and got his Ukulele and played along with his aunty while they sang other songs too. We played more videos - the children’s one on the Atonement because Serafina had asked how Jesus died.

They wanted another story so I told them the story of Jesus and his apostles and how they died and then the story of Joseph Smith and his prayer and first vision. It was a sweet moment. The children listened with their eyes glued on me and so did the Aunty.  I also told the story of the angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith and telling him about the golden plates.  When I told them that people were unkind to Joseph when he told them about what he had seen David said, 'That is because they didn't believe in the angel.'  You could tell that David believed.

We gave Aunty Taiti 2 copies of the Book of Mormon one in English and one in Samoan.

Elder Thatcher had brought treats along for the children and while they enjoyed those we put on the song video ‘I’m trying to be like Jesus’.  It is the sweet one with the Tabernacle choir singing while videos are shown of Jesus in his ministry and of children being kind to others and serving like Jesus did.  When it ended Aunty Taiti asked the children what they had learned and asked them how they would better follow Jesus after this.  We talked about the feeling we have when we are kind and loving and trying to be like Jesus.  It was the same feeling we were experiencing at that moment.

It was a wondrous thing to be there with these sweet souls. We left feeling like life couldn’t be much better. We will return.


8 Nov 2017 - Wednesday

We had a great lesson with Moses and Antonina and the girls on Wednesday.   They recently had Naomi baptized in Moses' parents ward.  His mother is the Relief Society President there and all of his family is active in the church except for him.  We know he has a testimony and wants to change his life.

Moses and his sister Salote, Kesha, Samantha, and Naomi

In the lesson we went over what would need to happen before they could go to the temple.  It is a pretty long list and must feel like a mountain to climb.  But we testified that the power to do would grow with each step.  We showed a video by Katie's Mission President Elder Redd who talks about 3 simple things that will make a big difference in our lives; the sacrament, prayer and scripture study.  Moses told us that he has been reading the Book of Mormon.  'When I feel alone and tempted.  I read the Book and I feel different.  I have more strength.'


9 Nov 2017 Thursday - Intake Day at the MTC

Intake Day is always busy.  It begins early and ends late.  We love meeting the new missionaries and are always amazed at their faith and goodness.  Sister Howes tells them at the Welcome Meeting in the afternoon that each of them is a miracle.  Each of them have a story to tell of how they came to be missionaries.  One little Sister is the only one in her family that is a member and she was baptized in 2016 - such faith!  They truly are miracles and we love them.

Sister Mata'u

Beautiful Sister Mata'u is one of our new Sister Missionaries.  She is from Samoa.  She told us about how she came to be a member of the Church.  The missionaries knocked on their door in 2006.  They were looking for an investigator family and mistakenly knocked on the Mata'u's door.  At the time, she told us, her family was about to split up.  Her father had another girlfriend and was moving away to be with her.  Her father let the missionaries in and they taught about how important family is to God.  Her father felt deeply what they taught and called the girlfriend and told her, 'I'm sorry but I love my children.' Now he is a counselor in the bishopric and Sister Mata'u is the 3rd of the children in the family to serve missions.  'I am so grateful for this church!' she told us with tear filled eyes.

The day went well.  Towards the end of the Welcome Meeting Elder Thatcher whispered to me that we should leave, we weren't needed any longer and he thought we should go tracting.  How many of you are surprised at that?  We left and went home to our flat.  I was very tired and had a short nap but soon we were off to do a little tracting.   I was not expecting the wondrous experience that awaited us in the field of white.

Tuan Tran

At the third door, 4 Awatere, a small man with long grey hair answered our knock. We learned he was Vietnamese.

After speaking for a minute at the door he said he had a question for us and left us standing there to go get his Bible. He wanted to ask us a question about Gog and Magog. He invited us in to his kitchen table where we opened our Bibles.

He was difficult to understand but his Bible was an English one and he knew the Bible. Time and again he would turn to scriptures both old Testament and New Testament. He wanted to know about Gog and Magog and took us to Ezekiel 39. Elder Thatcher told him to go to Ezekiel 37 and he read to him about the two sticks. He knew the scripture. he went to Genesis 48,49 and was talking about the blessings that Jacob gave to his sons. He talked about Jacob crossing his hands and giving Ephraim the greater blessing. He then asked where Ephraim, (the great nation) was in the earth. We told him we knew, he knew too.  He knew the great nation was America and is where Ephraim must be.

He told us of miracles in his life.  God had saved his life many times. He spoke of the war and times  of hiding when he had no food or water.   He cut bamboo and would drink out of it but became so sick and was in so much pain that he wanted to die.   He couldn’t urinate and was in tremendous pain. he wanted his enemies to kill him. He prayed to ask God to either kill him or save him, he didn't care which, and it immediately began raining. He caught the rain in his pancho and drank it and immediately could urinate and the pain eased. He told of an enemy shooting at him so close that he saw the fire of the blast but was unhurt.  Over and over again his life was spared.

He told us how he couldn’t read well or understand English. He was put in jail (maybe by the communists) and while there had enough time on his hands that he began to read the Bible. He read and read and until he could understand it.  He said he would never have been able to read without that time in Jail.  He has learned to understand what God was teaching and showing in the Bible.

We gave him a Book of Mormon and told him that it is the stick of Joseph and the Bible, the stick of Judah. We played the video called ‘The Great Apostasy'.   It is the story of Wilford Woodruff and George Mason, his friend that believed that the Lord would set up his church anew. We could tell he was very moved by the video. When it ended he touched the Book of Mormon he had just been given and said, 'I will read this book.'

It was such a Spirit filled evening in the home of Tuan. We feel so blessed, so humbled to have had the honor of meeting him and talking with him about the things of God. We were touched by his study of the Word of God and his searching heart. We will meet with him again next Wednesday evening. We need to get him a Vietnamese Book of Mormon.

Elder Thatcher and Tuan Tran 

Here are Elder Thatchers words about our experience. “It seemed like it was a Parley P. Pratt experience, or someone like him who had loved the Bible all his life and had been led to a feast.  It was a melding of hearts. There was a love between us three. We felt like he was able to see that this was something important that he had been searching for. It was amazing that he went to Genesis 49, that he had an understanding that the history of the world needs to be looked at through the lens of the Bible. It was his belief that his life had been preserved many times, once from close up, point blank gunfire. So he had been led to Christianity years ago and away from his family religion of buddhism.  I feel that now through Christianity, and reading of the Bible, he has been led to the Book of Mormon. This is how it seemed to me."

Tuan Tran is my age, 67.  I thought of my father on that night shortly before he died when he kept saying that we needed to get him up so he could go on a mission. “It isn’t fair.” he said, “We have the gospel and so many don’t know it.” “Get me up! I need to go on a mission!” I felt keenly the difference in the life I have lived - so rich with the gospel - so full of the joy it brings, and the life that this man has endured - war, enemies, hard work, survival - all without the gospel - and his struggle to know God. It was a humbling touching evening. We pray for help in teaching this dear man about the Restoration of the Gospel.


10 Nov 2017 - Friday

We taught a couple we had met tracting today.  They are Maori and were difficult to teach. The wife is sweet and teachable but the husband was pretty closed.  He wanted to do most of the teaching so we have learned quite a little about the Maori religion today.

We left that teaching appointment for our Clover Park Ward Party - 'Blast From the Past' and it was a blast!  Marietta Ulugia was in charge and she is a riot.  She is the mother of Lamanite, the little boy that Elder Thatcher confirmed a few weeks ago.  She is always so helpful to us but we had no idea what a comedian she was.

Sister Ulugia - the life of the party

The big surprise of the night was that our investigators Richie and Georeah came to the party!!!!! The rest of the Edmonds family is in Hawaii.  They enjoyed themselves.  Georeah (9) had no shyness at all.  She quickly made friends and was running the halls having a ball.

Richie and Elder Thatcher at the Ward Party

It is a wonderful ward.  President Viavia, a counselor in the Stake Presidency, and his wife sat by us and told us of their visit to Leitu and Enekosi at the hospital.   They spent a couple hours with them there.

What a week!  We love working in this beautifully white field. We wonder who lives behind all the doors we have yet to approach.

Happenings Back Home

Welcome baby Kate.  Born 9 Nov 2017 - 6 lbs 15 oz. - 19 inches.  So beautiful like your sisters before you.  So happy you have arrived safely and that your mother is doing well.

It makes us smile to think that Katie's little Tommy was named after Kent and Kent's little Kate after Katie.  May they grow up loving each other like their parents did.

Baby Kate Thatcher

We had several birthdays this week.  Ty celebrated his first year of life.  He certainly has adoring fans.

Happy Birthday Ty

Lindy and Thatcher celebrated their birthdays as well.

happy birthday dear Lindy - your party sounded very fun!

Happy Birthday Thatcher - We love you!

And Jonny got a blue fish for his birthday and named him 'Blue Fish'.  They spotlighted Jonny in nursery.  Thought you might like to read what his mother wrote about him:

Jonny and 'Blue Fish'

Jonny is almost always happy!  He is content with very little.  He loves to wrestle and run around with his brothers or sit and look at books or do puzzles.  he's constantly making us laugh.  he thinks food is 'pure delicious, or pure disgusting.' He has a big imagination.  We never know who he's going to be when he wakes up.  Sometimes he's an elephant, or Optimus Prime, or a Ninja, or Batman.  Jonny is a very special boy and an important part of our family.  We love him very much!!

It is very hard to miss all the fun happenings back home.  We especially missed seeing Will as Aladdin and Steven as one of the guards in the play this week.  We have received glowing revues and even been able to hear a song or two.   So thankful for technology.

Steven keeping Will in line

Our Talented Will as Aladdin

We love you all.  We miss you all.  We love you ever more and more.

Mom and Dad,
Grandma and Grandpa,
Elder and Sister Thatcher

Connections. . .

Our son Paul forwarded this email to us that he had written to Megan, Sister Thatcher (the young and beautiful one), our missionary granddaughter in England.   It is a great story so we thought we would make a blog entry of it and Sister Thatcher's response.   Enjoy

Sister Thatcher,

We are loving your mission emails! You give so much detail and the pictures you send are awesome. Keep them coming. We love you and pray for you as a family every day.

Almost 19 years ago, I left on my mission. One of the people I was most sad to say goodby to was you. You were my first niece, and we all adored you. I didn't want to miss out on you growing up and learning to walk and all that fun stuff. Here's a picture of saying goodbye to you before leaving. I showed this picture to people all throughout my mission so they could see my adorable niece:

Paul leaving for his mission hold little Megan

On my 3rd day in my greenie city, we visited a sister who was a brand new member of the church. This is what I wrote of that visit: "She has three small kids and one on the way, and her home looked like kids were living there. She was embarrassed, but I told her that with 13 kids in my family, I understand disorder. So Elder Miller and I spent 20 minutes doing her dishes before teaching the third new member discussion. Just before we began teaching, her husband came home. The missionaries always teach when he's not there because he is against the church. But all went well and we had a good discussion. She is such a wonderful woman -- I hope she will always be active."

I drew very close to this Sister and her children as we continued to teach her over the next several months. I helped them do some work on the new home they were building. I cried when I was transferred as I said goodbye to her and her family. I remember how excited I was when I heard the news of the birth of her new son. I prayed throughout my mission for them, and after my mission, that they would always stay close to the Lord.

You have no idea how excited I was to see the picture you sent of Elder Strihavka who is in your district. He was the baby boy born to Claudia Strihavka, the new member I have loved all these years!! Here he is, third Elder from the left:

Sister Thatcher's District at the England MTC - Elder Strihavka 3rd from right, Sister Thatcher 5th from right

One of the happiest days of my life was when I received an email from Teri Weidman, Mom's cousin who was serving a mission in Austria 4 years ago. She sent this picture of the Strihavka family and let me know they were all still faithful to the Savior:

Sister Claudia Strihavka and her four children

Last summer, we ran into the Weidmans on Temple square. We talked about the Strihavkas, and they mentioned that Camilla, Elder Strihavka's sister, was serving a mission on temple square. We decided to see if we could find her, and we were successful! She was a happy, and powerful missionary. Here she is on the far right:

Paul with Grace and Millie, Brent Weidman, ?, ?, Terry Weidman, Sister Strihavka

,

Please pass on my love to Boris, whom I've never met, but who I care a lot about. I know he will be a fantastic missionary, because he was raised by a mother with great faith, and his dad Christian is a wonderful man.

Megan, you will meet your Claudia Strihavka's during your mission in England. I didn't play a very significant role in her conversion -- we just loved her and helped teach some new member lessons. But she and her family hold a significant place in my heart because the Lord filled my heart with love for them. That perhaps is one of the greatest privileges of serving the Lord on a mission: He fills your heart with His love for the people you are privileged to meet and teach, and you're never quite the same again. They will become a part of you, and your love for them will extend past this life and into eternity. In it's simplest form, missionary work is really just loving people, and helping them feel how deeply their Father and Savior love them. Once they feel that, we put our arm around them as they learn faith and repentance, receive baptism and the influence of the Holy Ghost that leads them to the House of the Lord.

Just know how much we love you, and how grateful we are for your example to us.

Carry On!
Uncle Paul


It was fun to receive Sister Thatcher's (the young and beautiful one) email this last week where she responded to her uncle Paul's email to her.  Here is part of that email.


Ok anyways COOLEST STORY EVER SO LISTEN UP!!!! By now a lot of you probably know this but I mentioned an Elder Strihavka from my district in my last email but said he was from Germany but he is not, I later found out he is from Austria, anyways my uncle Paul was one of the missionaries that taught her and her family after she was baptized. Elder Strihavka says the coolest thing about it is that even his dad- who is not a member- remembers him.   He says that his dad does not remember any of the missionaries that taught his mom but remembers you because you helped him build his house, so he says that you must be a pretty special guy.   But how cool Elder Strihavka is the youngest of 4 kids- all members- and now he is in the same MTC district as Elder Thatcher's niece. Small world huh. It was awesome- me and Elder Strihavka are basically family now.

Sister Thatcher and Elder Strihavka

We have often heard that it is a small world if you belong to the Church.  We love the connections we discover with those around us as we go about our daily lives as members of this wonderful Church and Kingdom of God.   

Not too long ago our son Mark gave a talk in his ward and mentioned Grandma Amacher, who as a convert to the church in Switzerland and victim to a crippling disease, had prayed for a man from Utah with the gift of healing to be sent to heal her.  Her prayer was answered when a Bishop Wheatley from Honeyville Utah came to Switzerland and was brought to her home by a missionary.  Through the priesthood he healed my grandmother and her story of faith and testimony has been passed down to her descendants.  

After Mark's talk a man he worked very closely with in the ward came to him and told Mark that Bishop Wheatley was his great grandfather.  Mark was able to give him Grandma Amacher life history.  His family had never heard the story.  Our lives do interact in miraculous ways.  The Lord of the Harvest is at work among us and we experience the joy of wondrous connections with others. 

We are so thankful that our lives connect with all of yours.  

"Have you been to Disneyland?"

 A glimpse at our two worlds . . .

Murphy, Benson, Easton and Ray observe the new snow back home

Spring arrives here in Auckland

Sister Liu at the MTC is from China. She will be serving her mission in Sydney.  Yesterday President Thatcher had an interview with her.  Here is his report:

In my interview with the ESL missionaries it is difficult to ask them questions and have them be able to respond unless it is just yes or no questions.  It's hard to know how to do an interview for 15 minutes.  I ask them how they are coming with English and then I start asking them questions, holding up objects and seeing if they know the names for objects like; bottle, tape, pencil, stapler, or desk.  If they are really good I will ask them what a pencil eraser is and they will say, 'rubber'.  I'll say, 'Yes, that's right, and another name for it is eraser.'  Then I will write it out on a piece of paper so they can see the word.   When Sister Liu, from China came in I asked her if she could write to the side of the English words how you would write that in chinese.  I was amazed at how quickly she could put all these little marks in different places - almost making a little picture.  That was my wonderful discovery with her.

I will do the same thing with the French Elders.  I will ask them how they write the name of the object in French.  They are teaching me at the same time I am teaching them.  If we can't figure something out then I will ask Siri on my iPhone what a particular English word is in French.  Then I will show the word to the missionary and he will say, 'Oh, yes!'

President Thatcher's Chinese lesson with Sister Liu 

Sister Liu (China), Sister Malaki (Samoa), Sister Tarati (French Polynesia),
Sister Chaves (Manaus,Brazil), Sister Fonseca (Brazil)

Since most of our time last week was spent at the MTC we had little time to visit our investigators or do much of President Thatcher's favorite activity - tracking.   But when President and Sister Howes returned on Wednesday President Thatcher wasted no time hitting the sidewalks again and I followed along in his wake.  We first stopped at Natasha's home.  She is the lady we met with the daughter with  Cerebral Palsy.  She couldn't meet with us so we went tracting - still on Cluthe Crescent.

Two young women let us into the first house we knocked at.  We told them we would only take 5 minutes to show them a little video about Jesus.  We pulled out our ace in the hole - one of the Children's Bible Videos and played it.  They, like everyone we show them to, loved it.  Older people in the house were calling for them to come, so we left but the girl in the bright yellow sweater told us that God would surely bless us for sharing such a wonderful message and wished us well.

There were three girls doing backbends on the front lawn of a home next door.  They were interested in the funny way we talked.  President Thatcher told them we were from America and that made them very excited.  "Are you really from America?" they asked. They doubted us at first and then asked,

"Have you ever been to Disneyland?"

That brought a smile to President Thatcher who reassured them that Sister Thatcher had been to Disneyland many, many times.  They were in awe and thought that we must be very rich.   I even pulled up some pictures of us at Disneyland as proof of our claim.

 Do you grandchildren, who are able to go to that 'Happiest Place On Earth',  appreciate your very good fortune.  Disneyland must seem like an impossible dream to these children.  We were instant friends.  Disneyland can do that.  How could we tell these children that it is the people we love that make us rich not the places we go, and that they are rich too, because they have families.  They could be richer still if they only knew how to make those families 'Forever Families'.  They sat with us on their lawn and watched a little video with us.

Two of our three new friends - not sure which is which but the names were
Gabby, Preses, and Dezeary

Next on our tracting beat we stopped at a home where a man was sitting outside on a chair next to the steps to the home.  There were beautiful, gigantic pink roses blooming in the yard surrounded by  orange blooms of some variety.   The man was from Samoa and was here visiting his family and grandchildren.  He was very welcoming to us, as so many here are.  His name is Sione Lewer and he told us that half of his extended family were Mormon, the other half Catholic.  It just depended on which side of the island they were from.  He told us he loves to read the Bible and had been enjoying visits from some Elders.  They had given him a Book of Mormon and he had read a little.  We asked if he could understand it better if it were in Samoan and he said that he definitely could.  We retrieved a Samoan Book of Mormon from our trunk along with a couple Samoan pamphlets.  He said he loves to read and was genuinely appreciative.

That was the extent of our tracking this week.  But wasn't it fun?  We are always happy we have gone. We feel better in our hearts when we do.  We feel like missionaries should feel.  Tracting, though scary for me, is an adventure with President Thatcher.

We passed out two more copies of the Book of Mormon at Botany Town Center.

Elder Thatcher at Botany Town Center - he is having a woman make a Book Pack for him to wear under his suit
that will allow him to always have some copies of the Book of Mormon at the ready

The first one to a nice man running a Gold buying machine who noticed our name tags and began talking about the Church.  He had been to Temple Square in Salt Lake City and seemed much impressed with the church.  He has a passion for family history and Elder Thatcher taught him why the church is so involved in Family History.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet on Family History.  His name is Keith Prohl.

The second copy went to the son of a Chinese woman who has done some altering on President Thatcher's suits at her shop, 'The Sewing Bee'.  She told us she was Christian but to teach her son who was there manning the desk.  He had been born on Christmas Day so she thought he should become a Christian.  He seemed quite surly to us but after visiting for a moment he told us that he was not totally a non-believer.  He said he has read the Bible cover to cover 10 times.  We told him if he loved the Bible he would for sure love the Book of Mormon.  We will take a Cantonese copy back to his mother tomorrow.

These are examples of the fun you can have as missionaries with just a little bit of time to spend and a smile on your face for those around you.

We also attended the 1 year birthday party for little Waimarie Edmonds.  She is the youngest of the Edmonds family that we have home evening with most Mondays.  It is kind of like what Naiko and those from the Marshall Islands do to celebrate the 1st birthday of a child.  They throw a big bash.  The Edmonds rented 'Inflatable World' where all the children could play and held a big dinner there as well.  It was filled with family.  They treated us like special guests and asked Elder Thatcher to say the blessing on the food.   The cake was a masterpiece.  There was a table laid with gifts for all the children attending and the food was amazing.  It must have taken so much preparation and lots of money as well.  Little Waimarie didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

Waimarie's cake

Georeah, who was so excited to see us, by the table with presents for the attending children

part of the group - there were enough that it reminded us of a Thatcher family gathering

Keala w/ Waimarie, Georeah and the two of us

This will be a short Blog today.  We have been so grateful this week to hear from Lorraine about Aaron's scans.
"Aaron's dr  says Aaron's scans show dramatic amazing response!!  He added an antibody 6 weeks ago and hat combined with the chemo he started on in April has done wonders.  If we had gone by what dr Akerley wanted to do Aaron would be short over a year of life and counting.  That dr is on my black list!"

We love Lorraine's fighting spunk.  It keeps us all going.

Birthday Shout outs to the following - if you send birthday pics well post them on the blog

Jen Thatcher - October 29
Steven Hadfield - November 4
Lindy Ellis - November 9
Thatcher Ellis - November 11
Max Hadfield - November 15
Emily Thatcher (Jeff and Amy's) November 21
Cody Mark Bayles  - November 24

We miss you all more than we can say. We hold you gently and fiercely at once in our hearts.

Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
Elder and Sister Thatcher

Happy Haunting

We attended District Meeting yesterday morning.  It was Halloween and I commented to the missionaries there that I liked their costumes and found it sweet that they all dressed up like Mormon Missionaries for Halloween.  One of the missionaries, Elder Black from Adelaide Australia (incidentally President Howes had been his home teacher) told me that on the last day of school back home, a day they call 'Muck Up Day' when  everyone dresses up, he chose to dress up like a missionary.  He was the one member in his whole school and he said, 'I got a lot of flack from other students, but hey,  I did give away two copies of the Book of Mormon.'

I thought that was pretty good.  It also gave me an idea.  What if after classes we let the missionaries trick or treat at our office doors in the MTC.  They knock on the door and practice their best door approach and then get a treat.   I asked Sister Gasu, the manager of the MTC what she thought and she liked the idea.   President Thatcher and I loaded up on candy, President and Sister Briggs did the same and came to help man two of the doors.  There are four offices in the lobby here.  We were set.

It was fun. The door approaches ranged from very good to very touching because of the missionaries trying so hard to speak English.  All did well.

Elder Taunauta and Elder Kenyon teach President Briggs  

Sisters Liu, Tarati, and Fonseca give President Thatcher their door approach

We love seeing how all of you are celebrating back home.  Thanks for the pictures

Sam (Batman), Jonny (Dumbo), Tommy(who looks like he is worried about being made into pumpkin pie) and Ben (Lone Ranger)

Caption on Picture sent from Katie, "I see some resemblance to his Uncle Paul . . .
they both have blue eyes."

Always cleverly costumed are the Farmington Thatchers
Ella makes a darling Ty baby, Lily an enchanting witch and
Brig, you will see is that cute man from the game 'Operation"

great detail with the spiders on cheek and hand

She is only going to grow in value for any of you Ty beanie baby collectors

Kaitlin did her own make-up - impressively scary!

Emma makes a lovely Belle

June is a darling Dory

(Will) And look at this happy bouncing tiger

The Hadfields are always fun on Halloween

Andrew straight from 'Tangled'

Luke, Henry and Eva or is it ____,_______, and _______?

I'm guessing Steven is Gandalph but both he and Will look like a couple of Lord of the Rings Dwarfs to me

Princess Leia was a twin as well

 Claire - Even the Aggies in the family love this BYU Cheerleader

Grace looks good enough to eat

Millie - Is this Bee making honey?

Ty - Cute little Stinker!

Looks like Liesel, Anne, and Heidi got a ride Trick or Treating

A generous Halloween Haul

Surely you recognize our ever thin stick-man - Kyle - his personality
shines through

sadly Gideon was not feeling well enough to dress up for Trick
or Treating but he did enjoy pumpkins this year

No pictures from the Ellis family but we have it on good authority that Thatcher wore a Harry Potter cape, Lindy was a ballerina and a pirate, Jett was a bunny, and Silvie was Belle.

The mysterious Mark Thatcher family sent no pictures but we can imagine they were creatively attired for the evening.

And the Happy Haunting Howell family has yet to send pictures of their fun.

It looked like a fun Halloween for all of you. I remember how tired that holiday left me as a mother.  Luckily the children would share some of their candy with me to build up my lost energy.   It must be a tiring day for the little ones as well, as this final picture of cute little June attests.  Just keep sleeping little dory (June) . . . just keep sleeping. . .

tired little Dory