Elder and Sister Vann

This is our first complete week in the field!  Sometimes it seems like we have been here much longer.  We were quite busy but are still getting used to a schedule of sorts.  It all depends on how many appointments/visits we get set up for each day.   The Walmart in Gillette Monday, we went to Gillette to get groceries and other needed items.  Prices are quite high here in town.  Gillette is about 70-80 minutes away and is where our Stake Center is.  Monday is the usual Preparation Day (P-Day) for missionaries, not sure when ours is.  We saw 3 of the 4 sets of Gillette Elders at Walmart.  We had quite a cart full since we are starting from scratch.   Stopped here on the way to Gillette.  Great restroom! According to this, Upton is the "Best town on earth." We have 3 towns in our ward boundaries: Morcroft, Upton, and Newcastle.  We pass through Morcroft and Upton to get to Gillette. On the way back from W...

  We finally made it to Newcastle Wyoming yesterday.   Love that Wyoming wind! We left Fort Collins, Colorado, Saturday morning.  We weren't happy having a little room in our already packed car, so we made one last stop at Costco.  It's one of the closest to Newcastle.  We stocked up on paper products, meats, and of course, a rotisserie chicken.  Walt did great on that choice - it was our dinner last night. It was soooo windy on the way there.  Thus the great hair in the above picture.  There were signs about a high wind advisory - 50 plus mph.  It was like wrestling the steering wheel for 2 hours.  Thank goodness is subsided half way through the trip.  By then we were just driving in the middle of no where, with an occasional town ranging from a population of 4 - 600 or so.  Newcastle is huge in comparison - 3,500.   We arrived in Newcastle around 3 pm and were greeted with some mule deer. ...

A stone I saw at "Bear Heaven" gift shop in Illinois Usually I do this blog on Sundays, but this week we might not have internet for a week or so.  We also already have lots of pictures and adventures to share. Monday was spent packing our car and preparing our home for departure.  Bless Walt's heart, he was able to fit everything in the car and car top carrier.  We never seem to travel light.  We like to be prepared!  We were also able to have all of our grandchildren come by on Monday for good-byes.  It will be hard to not see them.  We will also miss our children :).  The Lord will bless us all.  We have been promised that. Leaving our home! West Virginia Rest stop Tuesday we made our way through Maryland, West Virginia and then to Kentucky.  We spent the night in Lexington.  It was supposed to only be a 7 hour drive, but with stops, it took a bit longer.  At least we had some fun along the way.  We took ...

We can't believe we are finally off to the MTC! Us with Kate at the airport to fly to Utah Walt, Me and Kate at MTC - Sunday Eve On Sunday evening, Walt and I entered the MTC      (Mission Training Center).  It was an amazing   experience!  Our group is referred to as "Senior Couples."  Walt and I got a lot of comments how we didn't seem to qualify due to our youthful looks and actually age.  Senior couples usually don't go until they have retired (age 65 or older).  Walt's careful planning for retirement allowed us to get started early. Serving a mission for the Lord has been in our plans for years.  Our group was a record setting one.  There were 144 missionaries in our group;  71 couples and 2 sisters.  Because we were such a large group, there were not enough accommodations for all of us.  There were about 15 couples (including us) who stayed at the nearby Courtyard Hotel.  At first we felt slighted, bu...