MTC Third Time Around

Attending the MTC for the third time has been marvelous - it just keeps getting better. We are honored to be on our way to Rio de Janeiro Brazil and to have had another opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best people on the planet, both senior missionaries and the MTC teachers and leaders.

Brazil is a big country and our mission is only a very small piece of it, but probably one of the most beautiful pieces on earth. What a blessing to contemplate living and serving there.

We arrived at the MTC Monday morning, October 1st, and got checked in. Jan Unter gave us the ride and we were right on time. It was a beautiful clear day.

We had a room assigned to us on the MTC campus in building S2 along with other Senior Couples. On the first floor of this building there is a BYU bookstore, a mail room, general services where we paid for our meals. 

On the second floor was the health clinic where Elder Broderick had to get a hepatitis booster shot.

On the second day of our training we were organized into missionary districts with a morning teacher, Helaman Coca, a Brazilian who served in Boston Massachusetts, and has just started his studies at BYU and his teaching at the MTC,

and Spencer Lau who was our afternoon teacher. He served in the Paris France mission and is a pre-med student.

The members of our district include, as we are lined up in the photo above,

• Elder and Sister Broderick: Elder Broderick was assigned to serve as the district leader
• Sister Jorgensen: a widow who lived nearby and will serve in the the Salt Lake Headquarters mission in either the family or church history libraries
• Sister Jensen: also a widow from Utah valley who will serve in that same mission
• Elder and Sister Millet: from Washington state and preparing for their third mission, this one to be in the Rome Italy mission
• Elder and Sister Pack: from Utah and also preparing for their third mission, this one in a small branch of the church in New Hampshire, close to where Sister Pack grew up

During the months before entering the MTC we had studied Portuguese with coaches, volunteers, and tutors. Janet was most faithful in her efforts to study and learn. She loved Márjorie Dutra, her Brazilian tutor. Márjorie was so helpful and patient.

When we got to the MTC, Janet made contact with Márjorie so we could meet her. She agreed to meet us for lunch in the MTC cafeteria. As a tutor or professor of Portuguese she had access to the MTC facilities. 

We were delighted to meet up with Márjorie, share lunch, visit in Portuguese and English, and also meet one of the coaches who had helped us plan our study and schedule volunteers to speak with us. Jorge Morales stands next to Márjorie in the photo above.

One of the highlights of the new MTC are the 12 murals in the new training building, placed throughout the building to invite missionaries to contemplate great scriptural personalities and events in context of their missionary service. Above you can see one dedicated to the sons of Mosiah as they began their missionary service to the Lamanites. Note the scriptural quote and question for pondering.

Here is one that depicts Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail. Each was produced by a combination of photography, painting, and computer simulations, then back lit with light to enhance the contrast and presentation.

Alma the Younger teaches much about the power of fasting and prayer, a power we must all tap into as we serve the Master.

If you have read our blog on our service in Portugal, you may remember a Sister Schill. Emily Schill was in our first district in Alverca Portugal and one of the wonderful young missionaries we were privileged to work with.

Emily has been teaching at the MTC since she returned from Portugal and will graduate in December.

We shared lunch with her and enjoyed, once again, her enthusiasm and joy in life!






When we arrived at the MTC we received our passport WITH our Brazilian visa and travel itinerary. We finished our training on Friday afternoon at 3:30 but we would not fly out until Monday afternoon. We could have stayed at the MTC but a much better option was to spend Conference Weekend with Jan and Jane in Riverton. They picked us up and we had a wonderful weekend watching all sessions of Conference including shouting for joy when the Cape Verde Temple was announced!! 

Our last visit was with Louann Finch. Janet and Louann have many joint memories -- she was chorister in Relief Society when I was the pianist and we sat together every week. We bonded when working together on Prop 8 passing out flyers in her housing development. She loves visits! She moved to Utah soon after we moved to Oregon. She chastised us for leaving -- but, then things worked out for her to be closer to her daughter and family as well. 

So, between sessions, we had to go visit her! She lived about 3 miles away from Jane and Jan. She is happy there, but misses California -- her home for her entire 86 years!!

Monday morning came! Time to leave. Jan took us to the airport in plenty of time for our 2:15 flight. It was time to Do what we had been taught! 

We invite all to come to Christ!! He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our all. It is only through Him that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. That is our mission -- to invite others to feel His love and keep His commandments! 

Brazil - Here we come

We couldn't even think about serving a full time mission anywhere without the complete support of our wonderful family, our kids and grandkids. In the photo above we have all gathered in Kings Canyon National Park in California to celebrate being an eternal family.

This gathering took place the end of July, 2017. Soon after that gathering we began thinking about and making tentative plans for another mission. As that plan developed, we began to think seriously about selling out of California and moving closer to family.

Portugal, represented by this ceramic tile picture, an azulejo, was still fresh in our minds. It was a marvelous experience where we felt like we were able to make a difference for members and missionaries.

Where would the Lord send us this time?

Before we would know, we needed to act in faith and determine what to do with our house in Danville that we loved so much and loved being able to share with family and friends.

Even so, it felt right to prepare it for sale and move on to where we would be closer to family and would enjoy their support for care of our home while away.

In January of this year we began searching for a realtor to help with the sale of our home. That selection led to a timeline for preparing the home and putting it on the market. 

It was a new year and would be a new market which might be cooler than the year before, prices may have peaked, or it could continue to be hot and fast.

With the realtor and stager we agreed to raise the living room floor, repaint the interior, touch up the exterior, install new garage doors, install new carpets, replace and update ceiling fixtures, and finish the retaining wall replacement. We didn't have time to do most of the work ourselves, so we hired various contractors and the projects ticked off. 

New retaining wall under construction

By late February we had it on the market. It took about four weeks to get a contract, but it was one we felt very good about, even with major contingencies. 






It was also time to go house shopping in the Portland area. We set up our visit with a realtor in Hillsboro, drove up, and went shopping. Here is what we found on the first day:

Home on Ashmont Street in Hillsboro we found first day

We signed a contract to buy it that same week and went home. Almost immediately we drove to Arizona to celebrate Janet's birthday and have some time with Dennis' Mom and family in Arizona to support her move to an independent living center. 

When we arrived home from that trip we found the letter from Salt Lake City with our mission call waiting for us. That evening we were able to open it and share the contents with all our kids. Here is what it said:

We were called to serve in Brazil, in the Rio de Janeiro South mission, a new mission in that famous city with the assignment of Member, Leader Support (MLS). We would serve for 18 months starting October 1st.

Our mission call immediately placed new demands upon us: getting all the documents gathered and sent in for our Brazilian visa applications. Janet did a superb job shepherding the process.

Now we just needed to have our buyer remove the contingencies, move forward with the financing on the Ashmont house, and move them both to closing. 

In the mean time we needed to get our things ready to move, and then take three weeks off for a trip to the Holy Land that we had scheduled nearly a year earlier before we had made any of these mission and moving plans.

Mount of the Beatitudes over looking the Sea of Galilee

It was a wonderful trip that we enjoyed with Dennis' sister Amy Johnson and her husband Gregg. What a blessing to set aside all the turbulence in our life and focus on the land made holy by our Savior and Redeemer. We felt great joy in getting acquainted with the country where Christ lived and ministered. 

While visiting Egypt we were blessed with divine helping handling some finances for the purchase of our Hillsboro home.

When we returned home from Israel and Egypt, we had just a few days to catch up on things then the Ashmont house closed. Our visa applications were on their way and we got to work on packing before we took off on another trip.

This one was to Michigan to join our son Adam as he baptized his second son Daniel.  It was a wonderful trip and our final opportunity to spend time with our two Michigan sons and their families before heading off to Brazil. 

We enjoy time with each one separately, but our visits always provide time for both to get together. And when that happens, we will always find places to get out and enjoy our wonderful world, such as the wetlands along the shore of Lake Huron.

Home from that trip, we closed on our Danville home and turned it over to the Noguera family. 

We both felt like there was a higher power directing this transaction.

Now it was time to get serious about packing and making final plans for our move to Oregon. 

We had help from our Danville ward family and our daughter Sarah and granddaughter Anna for the final boxing and packing the moving truck. 

Dave Viera hauling boxes
to the truck

Moving is so much work and more than a little nerve wracking to get all the pieces to fit together. We felt so blessed with the help from so many and some sadness in saying goodbye to great friends and companions for many years of life and family raising.

We were greeted in Oregon by three of our kids and their families. Sarah drove up with us with her van packed with things we would need to live with until the Ashmont house was ready for us to move in. 

We enjoyed a Memorial Day weekend with the group, and counted the blessing of finally having family nearby to share these holidays. Such experiences confirmed the wisdom and inspiration of our decision to make this move.

Oregon family gathered at the Jacksons for a Memorial Day celebration

Now the countdown to Brazil was on. Our mission would begin October 1st, the day we were to enter the MTC in Provo, UT. 

We enjoyed the summer with a trip to Crater Lake with many of the Oregon family.

We had one major house project to complete before we left and the rains began: repair and repaint the large deck that made up our back yard at the Ashmont house. It was a grueling few weeks of scraping, replacing damaged wood, tightening up banisters, prepping all the wood and repainting. Thanks much to Elizabeth and Jeremy for their great help on this project. 

When done it look 100% better and ready, we expect, to be serviceable for a few years to come. We dearly enjoy the view of the green space from this deck:

Our new life in Oregon has been filled with family time, berry time, gardening time, and grandkid time. Here are some of our favorite photos of these wonderful days:

Backyard dinner with Spencer and family in Sherwood

Strawberry harvest shared with Clayton

Sharing family history with the older grand kids

Root beer floats in Grandma's Kitchen

Garden big enough for all the family to help and enjoy

Dinner with the Suchanskis
on the upper deck

Squash harvest and a pretty girl

Our move into the Ashmont house became even more interesting when we accepted an offer from Jeremy and Elizabeth to live in the house while we were serving in Brazil. The fast sale of their two homes meant they could move in mid summer time. 

Now we had two households to shoehorn into one house. It was beyond chaotic for a few weeks, but gradually things found a place. It was a great blessing to have a basement for storage. The basement had been partly finished and not only provided storage space, but also a play area for grandkids and a sewing room for Janet. A "dungeon" crawlspace area off the basement was also set up for more storage. That storage space is now completely full. 

It was fun to make the most of the garage for some work space and lots of storage. It has taken time to make this all work, but we now have a cozy home for four until we leave it just for them. 

In early September we began a final trip to make contact with family and friends in Utah and Arizona prior to out departure to Brazil. We began in Farmington Utah where we shared a dinner with Janet's sister Karen, her husband Neal, and daughter Kristen.

From there we met up with Dennis' cousin Chuck Broderick in Salt Lake City. They treated us to a day at the Swiss Days in Midway Utah. In this photo you can see the fair and the rest of the family that joined us: Chuck's wife Cindy and their two kids Angela and Shawn.

Our next stop was in Cedar City to see a new baby, McKay, son of Victoria and Peter (not present for the visit). Victoria is a step-granddaughter, daughter of Jeremy Suchanski. Peter is a pre-med student at Southern Utah University. They have been married just over a year and have begun their family with McKay.

It was also a pleasant surprise to meet up with Victoria's brother Christian who had just moved down from Provo to begin high school. His mom will be moving down soon. We had gotten to know Christian from previous visits to Hillsboro.

From Cedar City we made our way to Janet's Mother Anna Adams home in St. George. Anna will be 94 this December. Her granddaughter Debbie Washburn has been living with her, but Debbie will be marrying Clinton in this photo the end of September and moving out. We were delighted to enjoy a great visit with Debbie and meet Clinton.

Janet's sister Carolyn and husband Berk live near by in St. George and we always love to get with those two who started their married life and family just ahead of us but in the same place, BYU.

A big treat for us during this phase of our trip was to spend time over two days with our son from North Carolina, Sam and his wife Kat (for Katherine). They were out celebrating their 8th wedding anniversary in the area around St. George. What a joy to get caught up with them on their work, their trip earlier this year to Iceland, and attend church and a theater production of Prince of Egypt.

Next on our itinerary was a visit in Phoenix with Dennis' Mom Joyce Broderick. We shared most of a day visiting about family history, reminiscing over family stories, and enjoying life at her retirement center. Joyce will be 91 this December.

While in Phoenix we stayed with Dennis' sister Rachel Gardner and relished the association and great morning hike with this active family.

The timing of this part of our trip was to join with all of Dennis' siblings for a weekend in a large vacation rental home in Flagstaff. See the full group above which included Joyce and all but one spouse.

One reason we delayed our departure date was to be able to get together with this group. We had seen many of them over the past year, but Sarah and Van Rowse had just returned from their missionary service in the Malaga Spain mission. We had a very narrow window to make this happen, and it was completely worth it.

Here we are with the returned missionaries at the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon, a family favorite recreational spot.

Our drive home from Arizona took us back to Danville for a visit with some of our Danville neighbors and our good Danville friend, Linda Viera. Here is a photo of Linda with her family taken at the last ward Halloween party:

Another reason we postponed the beginning of our service in Brazil was to celebrate our eldest granddaughter Anna Jackson's 12th birthday and take her to the temple to perform baptisms for her ancestors. With nearly all eligible adults, we gathered at the temple with family names ready for temple baptisms, including some that Anna and Janet had researched together on the Adams side. 

What a glorious day it was to serve together as a family group. Karl and I worked together in the font and in confirmations. We provided saving ordinances for over 100 ancestors on both Karl and Sarah's side of Anna's family tree.

Dennis & Janet have made Portland their temple as frequent patrons and ordinance workers. Isn't it a gem?

Now we couldn't find any more excuses for postponing our departure for our mission, so here we go...

We gathered up the family for our setting apart by our stake president, President Fotheringham on the far right. A big thank you to all of them for their support.

Next, we had opportunity to say some final goodbyes before we left Hillsboro:

Janet presented to daughter Sarah a counted cross stitch she had dedicated significant time to over the past months.

We had an enjoyable day with Clayton and his family to do soccer practice and say goodbye.

Then we packed our bags and flew off, to Utah for final visits with family we love there. 

Jane picked us up at the airport and we stayed with her and Jan for the final days before entering the MTC.

The Unters invited their three Utah kids and other nieces and nephews with their families to a wonderful get together to strengthen family ties. We were honored by their presence.

Here is a group photo without any of the little kids, their children, who were enjoying the time as much or more than we were.

Before the night was over we were joined by the Huntleys who have recently moved to Utah for a new job. It was great to see them too.

The next day, Saturday, was reserved for a family wedding. There we had one more good visit with Janet's Mother, Anna Adams...

Her sisters who had gathered for the wedding...

And the bride and groom: Clinton and Deborah. Deborah is Janet's niece, sister Ilene's youngest daughter.

The final, final gathering was with two of our young missionary friends from Portugal, Abby Harper Rowley and Josh Bethers with his wife Natisha. We had served for about 9 months with Sister Harper and are grateful for her love and encouragement as we prepare for yet another missionary adventure.







We enjoyed a delightful evening with these three and several others of Abby's family and friends. We wish them all the best with school, future jobs, and family.

Now it's just Brazil - Here we come!