Can you believe it?  We are really missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, called to serve in the South Dakota Rapid City Mission at the Mormon Handcart Historic Sites in Wyoming.  We are assigned to serve at Sixth Crossing for six months.

Elder & Sister Baker

We arrived at the Missionary Training Center in Provo on March 31, and began a new chapter in our lives.

 This is the Chapel just north of the MTC where the couple missionaries attended all their classes.

 Our district with morning instructor Bro Lee; Elder & Sister Bashaw; Bakers; Rollins; & Broadhead; and instructor Bro Rowe.

 Afternoon instructor - Sister Yazzie

 Friday night we made the opportunity to attend the Draper Temple.  That was something we had wanted to do for a long time.

Saturday, April 5, we visited with Mindy's family 
 Here was our view every morning as we left our room at the MTC & walked across the parking lot to our classes.

 Monday, April 7, all the couple missionaries serving at visitor centers or historic sites, went to Salt Lake for a tour of the Visitor's Center on Temple Square.

 The cute sister missionary from Switzerland telling us about the model of the temple.

 Handcart site here we come.

 What a nice picture!  Isn't he good-looking?  Surrounded by all the gorgeous flowers & the fragrance was so sweet.

 Glen & Laurel provided us with some fun entertainment  - we will wear these during class when we can't keep our eyes open.  Thanks, Glen & Laurel.

We are learning a lot and our hearts have been touched by the spirit during our training these past few days!  Love being surrounded by the other missionaries and feeling of their strength & desires to serve.

Here are some of our activities for our last week at home, ending March 30.  We enjoyed special visits from friends & relatives and got out & enjoyed ourselves while still trying to get packed & ready for our mission.

Riding 4-wheelers out in the Hurricane sand dunes and into Sand Hollow State Park with Paul & Pilar Baird & Ken & Kathy Smith.

Attended the St. George Temple with Doug & Jolene Jacobson.

We went for a drive up the mountains west of St. George to the radio/tv/cell phone towers.

 Thanks for coming and helping us have a good time.
On Sunday, March 31, we gathered for some family time and got some pictures - sorry my camera wasn't out to get everyone's pictures.

 

 We love you all !!

 Here's our train all ready to pull out first thing on Monday, March 31, 2014.  Truck, 5th wheel & Jeep - we look like a convoy!

 Everyone drives a white vehicle - Our truck, Jason's van, Brad's van, & Adam's Suburban.

With a great send-off from our family, we are on our way!  Thanks & love you all!

We enjoyed a visit from Mindy's family during their Spring break and we did the Temple Quarry Trail hike.

We played with them for a whole week, but they were anxious to head back home.
Our Lincoln has been a faithful wonderful car with a quiet smooth ride, so it was a sad day when we decided to sell it & get something more practical for our current needs.   Who would have thought we would be sporting around in a Jeep Liberty?

Phil has had a premonition about the Cypress Trees lining the south side of our house, so determined to have them removed before they were the cause of any fire or damages to our property.  The place is really going to be different without them.

Before

 During

 Wow!  What a difference.

Happy Birthday, Phil!  We continued the b-day tradition of hiking up Q Mountain here in Quartzsite, AZ.  Our good friends, Dee & Glen Stephenson, invited us to join them on the hike last year as Glen has made this hike every year on his birthday (also on Feb 14) for the past 15 years or so.  Hope we can still be hiking as well as Glen does at age 82.

 Phil strikes a pose.

Yes, Grumpa got his nose buttered! 

We appreciate all the b-day wishes, calls, texts, cards, mail; etc.  Love hearing from you all!  

Feels almost like summer weather here these past few days with temps reaching into the 80's.  All our daisies are in full bloom.  Our place looks really bright.

Keep smiling!