New Blog for Quito

I have run out of storage space here, so I’ve moved all of Quito North adventures to servinginquito.blogspot.com or just click HERE. We are loving our experiences and the missionaries we are serving with. The work continues. And it is all one work.

God Bless Friends

We have had the opportunity to catch up some friends we haven’t seen in a long time.

We enjoyed an afternoon with the Turners who just returned from their mission to Boston. They served as records preservation missionaries, which means taking images of genealogical records. Although is not an exciting assignment, I really could see us doing that someday. I love doing family history!

How I love Mike and DeeAnne Brown! They were friends of my parents before I was even born. They were in the San Diego 12th Ward many eons ago when my mom was still a new convert. Soon they were fast and forever friends. DeeAnne was my temple escort in Provo when I receive my endowment a week before my wedding in 1989. What wonderful saints!

I didn’t grab a photo of meeting up with Becky when we stopped by for dinner in Saratoga Springs. This photo is from the day when my sister married her brother. I think we were 11-years-old, wearing GunneSax dresses our mothers had sewn out of brown broadcloth. There is a Harry Potter scene that takes me back to this dress.

Anyway, we had a wonderful visit and I got to see her dad, Ted, and reminisce with him about the idyllic childhood we enjoyed. Becky has been through at least 5 of the biggest human stressors in the last year. But she is faithful and trying to keep everything from falling apart. Sometimes life throw things at you so fast, you don’t have a chance to breathe.

Attending the MTC

With winter storms pounding the Wasatch front every weekend, we got caught when we moved from Saratoga Springs to Provo on Sunday afternoon. Since my sister is near the temple, it makes sense to stay with her during our week of MTC. But a looooong slide on I-15 and bumping into the next car was not in our plans. Luckily, there was no damage to either car.

When we woke up on Monday morning it was -2 degrees and would continue to snow the rest of the day.

Bright and cheery on our first day of MLS training. Since we had Preach My Gospel training before our Hong Kong mission, we slipped in halfway through the two-week session.

It’s January 23rd and I’m pointing at Ecuador for the second time. Off to class! This week’s group of MLS missionaries is nearly 70 and we meet every morning for 3 hours of training. Some days we focus on seminaries and institutes. Others we work on family history, self-reliance/welfare, YSA, youth, or other leadership resources. In the afternoon we have smaller groups that help us learn techniques for teaching.

At the end of the week we held a baby shower for our teacher who is expecting twins. It was so fun to hang out with senior missionaries again. These couples are heading to Big Bear, Newport Beach, Detroit, and Richmond, VA. They will provide wonderful, needed service wherever they go.

Tula Sunrise Quilt

I finished piecing my Tula Sunrise Quilt while I was at Jerri’s home. If you haven’t tried English Paper Piecing, you can check out a beginner video about it:

I like this cheap thimble from JoAnne’s, but I’ve also used cut leather glove fingertips and Band-Aids. If you use glue to wrap your papers, you might need one because it hardens the fabric. Usually I hand baste and don’t need one.

The entirety of the quilt is hand-pieced, which is great for traveling or when you have no machine. I finished the interior in Hong Kong. I brought the Tula and Kaffe fabrics from the US, and bought the stripey fabric at the Western Market in Central, Hong Kong.

When you have sewn the papers together, you can start taking them out. For example, the interior papers have been removed in the above picture and the papers remain in all the edge pieces.

After finding some leftover stash in my storage shelf, I was able to piece the four borders without buying anymore fabric. It sure makes a big difference to the quilt. Now, all the papers have been removed. There is a good 1/4″ seam allowance around the edge. Some people enjoy pattern-on-pattern, like me, but others prefer less going on. The more you know what you like, the more you will create pieces that you like.

I was surprised to see these quilts at Katie’s house. Obviously she has toddlers. But the quilt on the right is one she made as a teenager and the one on the left was for Jim by my birthmother. My mom taught me to love fabric, but my birthmother showed me the vision of modern quiltmaking. There is room for everything and everyone in quilting.

Modern Building Blocks

Danika received a book of Moda Modern Building Blocks from a girlfriend and I suggested we do it as a group quilt. So she asked Marnie if she would like to join us and got started! Each week we updated each other on the new blocks we made and by Christmas, the two of them were done.

Here’s Marnie with her masterpiece. She used the original colors Moda planned in the pattern book. It’s amazing that someone as young as Marnie already knows how to piece all of these different blocks.

Danika decided to use high-contrast colors from just one section of the color wheel. We agreed that any of those large blocks would be perfect in a 4-block quilt. Danika is also super young for showing off this amount of skill. She originally considered a dark background and we are all happy she chose white.

Mine was made with Japanese fabrics based on French Art Nouveau prints I purchased in Hong Kong. I had a limited amount of cutting and sewing space, so I had to wait to return to the States before stitching it together.

All of us agreed that it will be awhile before we are able to quilt these. But who cares; it’s the process I love. It doesn’t matter how long it takes.

This is my old Elna, bought in Provo when I was a newlywed in 1989. I gave it to Katie when I bought my new machine, but I seem to use it every time I visit. It’s still an awesome machine.

Howard’s Birthday

We traipsed to Boise to spend the weekend with Howard’s family during his birthday weekend. We were so excited to see the kid and they had grown so much.

Cece is now talking up a storm and telling Grandpa how to tickle her the “right way.” We call her “The Director” because she know how everything is supposed to work.

Of course, they all think Grandpa is a jungle gym. We got to attend church with everyone and celebrate Howard’s birthday with pie and ice cream cake.

We took Howard and Cece to see Aunt Ruth in Nampa. She is Grandpa Roy’s only sister. Here is a picture of them as children.

Aunt Ruth remembers that the photographer gave her a watch to play with so she would sit still. They look so cute!

Salt Lake Touring

We enjoyed an opportunity to meet with Lance Wickman in the Church Office Building at Temple Square. He was so generous to take time out of his busy schedule to meet with us and thank us for our service.

The temple is almost completely covered in scaffolding so it is nearly unrecognizable, so we went to the Church History Museum to see some art. Here are my favorites:

As A Loving Parent by Esther Hi’ilani Candari

All the Colors Inside of Me by Abigale Palmer

Encircled in the Arms of His Love by Amy Bunnell Jones

Roses in Olive Garden by Susan McBride Gilgen

I Remember Those Who Are on the Isles of the Sea by Shelby Stroud

Partake of His Goodness by Julie Yuen Yim

A great big thank you to these artists!

Temple Touring

It is so wonderful to visit the temples in Utah. I haven’t attended the Provo Temple since 1990! It was the temple I was endowed in and still love.

When we walked out the sun was just setting.

We next stopped by the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, which we had never before seen. It reminded me of the Guayaquil Temple in format. The office printed some cards after our session on a fancy printer that spit them out like receipts.

Next we visited the Mount Timpanogas Temple. It is where Katie’s mother-in-law works so we went at a time she would be there. It was enormous! I had forgotten my coat at home, so Paul let me borrow his puffy coat. Unfortunately, after three hours, I went to leave and his coat was gone. Someone had mistakenly took it from the little rack. We decided to get some lunch and check the DI for any interesting clothes.

When we returned to the temple to check, it had been returned! I wonder if the person was shocked at all the Kleenex in the pockets or that it was a man’s coat. It was 25 degrees and I was freezing! So I was very grateful.

Mission Reunion

We had planned for a meet-up with our mission friends and relatives on January 1st, but the snow prevented anyone from moving. So we gave away the pumpkin pies to the neighbors, drank the egg nog, and waited until the next week.

The Sudweeks were kind enough to offer their house since they had just returned from their mission. Since they were speaking in their Provo ward, we all attended and were excited to hear them. Even President Holyoak from the Hong Kong District was in attendance.

I grabbed a photo of Elder Latimer and Elder Ash catching up in the foyer. Although we took many of the assignments from the Latimers (and the Ashes), we had never met the Latimers in person. We were in a quarantine hotel when they left so all our training was on Zoom.

We absolutely loved serving with these wonderful saints. They are all examples of selfless service and commitment to the gospel. Over half of them said they are planning on more missions.

Getting to know Saratoga Springs

For the next few weeks we will be staying with my daughter’s family in the relatively new town of Saratoga Springs, Utah. Before we left for Hong Kong, we toured the area and were surprised at the number of new home sites being developed.

Mount Timpanogas looks so different from the other side of Utah Lake. In the evening you can see the temple lit up in American Fork.

The snow has been falling regularly, but I still like to get out and walk. I will have to imagine I have a dog to go with. I really biffed it on the ice just after taking this picture.

We get to catch up with all the grandkids, which is a delight.

We found out that our MTC dates have been moved back a week so we get more time for tickling.

Bruce loves helping Mom play the pedals on her antique piano. A recent tune-up made it sound beautiful.

The girls just started tumbling class and were able to score these new leotards. They’ve been practicing all over the house and showing off their new skills.

Marnie made this lovely tablerunner for Katie for Christmas. This brightens up this little sheet music box so well!