Happy birthday to the Marines this Tuesday (wonder if they will serve me cake on British Airways?).

This is the last letter we anticipate writing from the US for a long time, and we aren’t sure when the next edition will be sent from our future home in Kenya. We did want to communicate one last time before we hit the road in the morning.

Here we are in the obligatory new MTC pose.

This past week has been one spiritual feast after another. I have a better understanding of the verses in 3 Nephi referring to the Savior’s visit anciently to the inhabitants of America: “…so great and marvelous were the words (and in our case, experiences)…that they cannot be written, nor can they be uttered by man”. I will attempt to give an abbreviated insight into some of those experiences in my limited way.

Monday we arrived at the MTC, received a quick orientation, learned that we needed a polio and tetanus booster, and checked into our rooms. We were excited to see Sue and Steve here. After lunch, we were asked to introduce ourselves, state where we were from and what mission we were serving in. It was fun to watch the reactions when I introduced Sandy and myself, and stated that Steve and I were brothers and the wives were sisters! We got asked a lot of questions because of that. And it was great to have them here at the same time. Several of the young missionaries noticed our names and were curious if we were related; Steve always said, “Yes. This is my dad,” pointing to Tom. It was fun to explain how we ended up here together. According to my count, we had 27 couples and one single sister. Here is a list of the places they are going: US-11; Europe-1; Germany-1; Chile-1; England-3; Canada-2; Guam-1; Puerto Rico-1; Poland-1; Ghana-1; Ukraine-1; Hawaii-1; Swizerland-1; Kenya-1; and don’t know about the last one. They are doing a variety of assignments. We have learned to love these people even though we only spent a week with them.

Here is Elder Fox studying in our room.

Throughout the week we received instruction in how to prepare lessons based on the ‘Preach My Gospel’ book, present those lessons to a volunteer ‘investigator’, and other items related to senior missionaries. By day’s end, we were exhausted, the spiritual highs left us physically drained. Similar to turning the proverbial fire hydrant on aimed into your mouth. I particularly enjoyed meal time; sure the food was great (and yes I did gain some weight), but it was great to sit next to the young sisters and elders and visit with them. They are so excited to be serving missions and are enthusiastic about learning a language and going throughout the world. We met missionaries going to the Tulsa Oklahoma Mission (the one we live in) and told them to look for Dan and Miranda if they are in Broken Arrow. And since we anticipate purchasing another mission vehicle on our return and the likely place to do that would be in that mission, I counseled them to drive their cars carefully, it just might be the one we buy! I saw an unusual name and found out he was the grandson of a Marine I knew back in the 70’s. We found missionaries going to the same mission Dan McClellan had served in and got names of some of his converts to give them so they can check on them. There are more stories and testimonies to be told than allowed; so just know, it has been an inspirationally filled week that has fired us up for the coming months!

Here are Sue and Steve... Excuse me, Elder and Sister Fox with alphorns practicing with the temple in the background.

Our former mission president had invited us to a stake conference this weekend. We attended the Saturday evening session and were able to hear him speak as well as Elder Ballard. It was another spiritually uplifting evening.

Today we attended normal meetings with the missionaries; amazing how well organized the MTC is to ensure we all have a place to attend and feel needed. This afternoon we are repacking our suitcases, ever mindful of the 50 pound weight limit.

We leave the MTC about 10 am tomorrow and drive to the SLC airport. Deborah with her two little ones will meet us at the airport for a last farewell – and to deliver the camera she purchased for us since we didn’t have the time. From LAX we fly to London, arriving mid-day and leave about 22 hours later. We will arrive in Kenya Wednesday about 930 pm. We are excited to be on our way.

We think we will have only occasional email access for the next 3 weeks or so. And when we do, it will probably be sloooowww. So PEASE don’t send us a lot of pictures or videos. The cute passalong messages with photos and attachments… we probably won't be able to open.

The Trek West

We left Mountain Home Tuesday and met the Stake President and got set apart. Awesome blessings. We were blessed with safety in travel and safety in Kenya among many other things. Here we are in missionary attire. Then we changed and drove to Iowa to visit Jonathan and Kristy and family. We had such fun seeing them and their new home. It's lovely. We got to celebrate Miriam's birthday.

Wednesday we set off for Cheyenne. There was a storm warning. We hit snow, ice and blowing wind for the last 3 hours before we got to Cheyenne. Crummy driving, but by the end, we had the road to ourselves. Good thing we were only going to Cheyennee - the road continuing west was closed. Tom did an excellent job of driving and I think angels were round about us. While it was dark, the lights illuminated the snow and it was lovely. We arrived in Cheyenne about 9:15 and went to a comfortable room at the Warren AFB. The next day the base was closed down. No food. So we ventured into town and came across an Olive Garden. We bought lunch and then took out a meal for dinner. The snow kept falling, the wind blowing, and Hwy 80 west was closed. We spent another night there and hoped to get out Friday. We kept checking wyoroads.com and calling their number-- still closed. We went looking for art supplies. We'd gotten an email that we would be in our apartment after dark and would need to have things to do. This is the base art place... No supplies. Note the icicles. Note also the blue skies... and the roads were STILL closed. Found a Michael's and got watercolor paper, also found an IHOP for lunch. The waitress there had commuted to Laramie for a year and knew the road well. She said it should be open later today and follow the 35 mile speed limit and don't use cruise control, and the worst 15 mile stretch is before the summit. She was right on all accounts.

A late checkout was the same cost as another night's stay, so we kept our room. We checked weather again and again as we played on the computer, watched TV, paced the room, and waited for the roads to open. At 4:05pm we checked. ROADS CLEAR! By 4:20 we were on the road.


The first 3-4 hours were REALLY slow. We were in a caravan with hundreds of trucks lead by a pickup with blinking lights. Even at 12-35 mph with the blowing snow and the ice, sometimes one could hardly see the trucks ahead. It felt like a camel caravan in a sand storm-- just occasional humps ahead. Tom did an excellent job of driving! At times we listened to Gregor the Overlander series to keep us entertained. After Rawlins the roads improved, but we still called it quits about 11pm at Rock Springs.

We got up Saturday morning and finally made it to Salt Lake City! Joy! It was so good to see Deborah, Ian, Sarah and Steven. Adam was there, too. Tom and Adam went to the distribution center, and Deborah and I went to Deseret Industries. I got a black skirt and some books to read for the trip over. In the afternoon, Ian and Adam went shooting, Deborah and I went house hunting, and Tom stayed home and babysat.

Today church was great. Tonight we go to the Lunds-- our old Mission President's-- for the night and they will take us to the MTC tomorrow.