Farewell and Open House - August 20, 2017

Prior to leaving on our mission, we were asked to speak in our Sacrament Meeting.  The subject given to George and me was about Family History--the importance of family history (me) and for George, the importance of keeping a record of your life.  Since we had been in Utah just a couple of weeks before for our grandson, Parker's homecoming from his mission to Pennsylvania Philadelphia, and for our other grandson, Kade's farewell to Ecuador Quito North, we had just seen our entire family who had flown in for these events.

 Our seven children

All of our grandchildren, minus our grandson, Elder Carter Copeland, who is serving in Scotland/Ireland Mission

So wonderful to have the entire Copeland family together.

  Therefore, we weren't able to have many of our family members in attendance in Washington, but we so appreciated having Kent and Natalie's family, plus two families that have meant a lot to us in the area since moving to Washington:  the Andersons and the Weavers who came to Richland to hear our farewell speeches.  Afterwards, Kent and Natalie hosted a wonderful open house at their home in Sunnyside.

  

President George and Sister Evelyn Johnson, who were just released as the Columbia River Temple President and Matron, also, attended.  We served with them as volunteers in the temple for the past two years and enjoyed that time so much.

  

It truly was a perfect day!

Area Auditor Training in SLC - August 10 and 11, 2017

George and I were excited to attend a two-day training session at the Mormon Church Office Building in Salt Lake City for what we would be doing on our mission in Moscow.  We stayed at the City Creek Marriott, so we were nice and close to Temple Square and absolutely loved being to walk all around the area.

 Church Office Building where are training meetings were held.

The grounds at Temple Square were absolutely beautiful!

We paused to listen to the piano player in the Joseph Smith Building.

On Thursday evening, we attended the practice of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square.  They all work so hard for 2 1/2 hours each Thursday evening getting ready for their Sunday broadcast, which they have been doing for 89 years!

We loved going into the Tabernacle where tours are given in practically every language imaginable.  Here a young lady missionary is giving the tour in Italian.

We loved going over to City Creek to look around.

It was so pleasant to just sit and watch the fountain that did musical shows with the water.

  One evening, Kyle, Kim, and Brady came downtown and we all went for dinner, did a little shopping for some school shoes for Brady, and had a treat afterwards.  We loved having them come and had such a great time with them!

This was a peek out our window--nothing too exciting if you look at the foreground, but in the background you can see the temple spire with the Angel Moroni and, also, the Assembly Hall to the left.  It was actually very beautiful, especially at night.

The training was so helpful, the city was so beautiful, and yes, we packed our two days with lots of beautiful experiences!  Yes, this made it even more real--we are going to Moscow, Russia, in just a little over a month and will be there 23 months, serving as volunteers for the Mormon Church!  We are really looking forward to this call!

The Call

In July of 2017, George and I were very surprised when we saw that someone from the Mormon Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City had made a telephone call to our number, but we had missed the telephone call.  Upon returning the call, we found that the Church Auditing Department was wanting to know if we would be available to work as volunteers in Eastern Europe, with headquarters in Moscow, Russia, for a period of 23 months.  Our jaws literally dropped!  But, we both agreed that we have been so  very blessed, how could we refuse this opportunity to serve the Lord and help the people in Eastern Europe.  

A few weeks later, the official call came in a special letter that was signed by the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. We would be leaving on September 25, arriving in Moscow on September 26th.  We had so much to do to get ready--so much paperwork for Visas, so many shots to get that we felt like pin cushions, our brand new car to be sold, and our brand new home to be rented!  But the Lord helped us through all of this, and we knew we could accomplish what He had asked of us if we just continued to work and follow His guidance.