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.

Think they'll make it?

It will take a miracle, and we got it! We are packed and ready to start our trek west. We acheived 99% of the things we needed to accomplish before our departure, managed to maintain a rather civil attitude towards each other and even got to bed at a reasonable time last night.

Monday had some surprises. I'd moved a chunk of money from a local account so the housesitter could use that account. Too enthusiastic. I was overdrawn! AKK! I called the back. Jessie said they hadn't charged me for it. When I went in to pay, Jessie said, "Gwen came by and I heard her ask Kyle, "Have you called Sandy yet?" She told them I was coming in. It's good to have a personal bankers! Also Tom called USAA (he'd called last week and all was okay.) Monday morning, they weren't sure they could cover the rentals if we were out of the country for more than 6 months!!!! Got it straightened out.

Our last obstacle in getting to the MTC seems to be a snow storm approaching Utah and Wyoming.

I hope that it comes as no surprise to any of you that this is the last letter you will be receiving from Mountain Home for several months. We leave Tuesday AM to meet with the Stake President at 10 AM to be set apart as missionaries. Then we drive north to Des Moines (actually Norwalk) to spend the night at Jonathan and Kristy’s new home. Wednesday and Thursday will find us on the plains of interstate 80 heading west to the SL valley; we will stay with Deborah and Ian until after church on Sunday, when Deborah will drive us to Provo. We contacted our previous Mission President and asked if we could spend the night with them, and oh by the way, could you also take us to the MTC (only a couple of blocks from their house) the next morning? Why aren’t we driving ourselves to the MTC you might be asking yourselves? Because Adam will fly into SLC and drive our Toyota home with him which renders us carless (great for the insurance premiums!). So next week’s letter will come to you from Utah.

And what have we done with the last full week at home? LOTS! So far we have managed not to hit the panic button, but the stress levels have been pushing the limits a little. I was busy outside trying to tie up all the loose ends (some of which have been on the ‘to do’ list for a long time). Put the garden to rest (I mowed it and then covered it with tarps); cover the wood piles; organize the barn; clean out the garage (okay, so I only worked at cleaning it, at least it is more organized now). On Monday a friend came over and we did some preventive maintenance on the Model A; sure goes quicker with two. This is the friend that will be driving it in our absence every month. On Tuesday, Chuck came over and helped repair the fence lines that had suffered storm damage last February. Again, the work went quickly because he knew what he was doing, and we got the fences fixed.

I managed to burn my last pile of wood (from the storm damage of Feb) for the year on Wednesday, just prior to the rains of that night. And then it rained for about 36 hours, delivering another 1.7 inches of rain. Thursday Sandy and I installed two kitchen cabinets and countertop in the Midway duplex, our last official rental home related task. Friday, about 2 AM, the MS Foxes arrived at the house. While they came mainly to take the truck home with them on Saturday, they were a big help in finishing some other projects needing doing. Kera was a big help in the kitchen, preparing veggies, baking cookies and such for our farewell we hosted at the house that evening. The grandchildren had a great time running around the yard and playing in the tree house. The collective brain power envisioned a way to make the zip line more child user friendly (we cut the railing, hinged it on one side so that it is now a gate). Whenever anyone wants to use the zip line, all they do is unlatch the gate, grab the line, climb onto the seat and off they go. No climbing up on the railing anymore and most of the children do not need any assistance to ride the line. Katie in particular had a great time.

Miranda and Dan drove over from Tulsa in time for dinner, which we barely finished before it was time to set up for our farewell. Over the next three hours, we had over 60 people stop by to visit and enjoy the edible goodies we had prepared for them. It was fun to just be able to visit with friends. Even though it was getting dark, most of the children headed to the tree house to play before coming it. The zip line is a great attraction. Three hours is almost too long; by the half way point I was getting tired. Fortunately, most of the guests had come by that time, so it was a slower pace. Today at church, many offered their regrets for not attending; several had just forgotten and a couple had sick children.

Andy and Kera took off Saturday morning; since I didn’t get any phone calls, I assume the truck got them to Vicksburg. Sandy and I finally attacked the growing mound of things we need (or want) to take to Kenya and started packing. While we borrowed suitcases of the maximum allowable before you pay more sizes, we hit the max gross weight before maxing out the volume. So we downsized and managed to get three of the four check -in bags mostly packed and at the correct weight (just under the 50 pound limit). And it looks like we have ample room to take some “nice to have” stuff too. We even managed to get four bags of chocolate chips packed!

We had some great speakers at church today – and we were not them. Not sure if the bishop’s counselor just forgot about us or what, but it was one less thing to have to do in an already busy week. Before they left, we did get Miranda and Dan to help move the beds from downstairs; we would have gotten them to help move the refrigerator downstairs, but the water shut off for the ice maker is stuck in the open position. While the plumber is here tomorrow fixing the leaky water filter, I will get him to resolve this problem too.

The rental home snafu of the week: We had a young couple with two young children living in one of our rentals for almost a year; they were very neat and their yard was always mowed. A month or so ago they broke up; he was going to stay in the house until the end of November when their year was up, so that their deposit could be refunded. She moved into another rental managed by Full Circle Properties. The property manager planned to move the refunded deposit from the first house over to her house at the end of November. Well, turns out she packed up and went back to Connecticut after living in the second rental less than a month. Did I mention, that the second house she rented was one of ours as well? So now we have two empties and only one deposit refunded to us. The joys of rentals!

Yesterday the Mission President called and talked to us; since I wasn’t home for most of the call, I will let Sandy tell you what he had to say. (Sandy’s turn) We will be in Kisumu which is on Lake Victoria. They have just started a branch there and there’s another branch about 2 hours north-west on the border of Uganda. The church has a policy of growing from “centers of strength.” That is, they don’t do an island of members here, and an island there—they grow an area strong with a ward, then expand outward to adjoining areas and build branches, then wards there. Kisumu is 6 hours from Nairobi which is the current center of strength and the stake center. Our job is to build up these little branches into “centers of strength”— to see that the people learn the gospel principles and live them, such that others can join and learn and grow. People are eager to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it’s hard to leave behind traditions that are not in harmony with gospel teachings. We will be helping with leadership and member support. I expect we will be teaching missionary lessons or English lessons as well. There are two other young missionary companionships there. We will live in an apartment attached to the place they have been holding church. The weather is a little warmer than Nairobi. It will be a fantastic opportunity.

We really have been working like mad to get ready. The downstairs is ready for Beth… well, almost. I need to take down the sewing machine. The freezer and refrigerator are nearly cleaned out. Perishable foods have been distributed. We have all the powers of attorney’s signed and sent to insurance, banks, stock brokers, etc. We’ve disconnected our subscriptions. We’ve made lists of phone numbers of business, investment, and insurance people we may need. We finished our Tyhpoid dosages. We organized our clothes and hemmed most of my dresses that needed it.

We got on Voipyour Life.com – a phone service that will allow us to keep our Arkansas phone #, so that people can call it and it will ring in Kenya. But it’s possible our internet connection won’t be fast enough for that. So Dan M. helped put Skype on our computer. We encourage you to put Skype on your computers, too. It’s not so convenient, but if we are both on the computer at the same time and you have a microphone that attaches to the computer, we can talk with each other for free. We have ordered a few things we decided we couldn’t live without—CD’s, bras, mp3 player, Essential oil Desk Reference on CD (vs. a 4# book) and I was eying a camcorder the other day. We have enough essential oils to last for a goodly while. Now I’m afraid they’ll think we’re selling them and charge us duty on them as we go into Kenya.

I think we will be ready to leave on Tuesday! Phew! Earlier this week I wasn’t sure.

Last minute Prep

It is a beautiful, sunny day in Arkansas! That is a significant milestone since it has either been cloudy or rainy for at least the past ten days, and for the sun to be out more than a few minutes is worthy of recognition! But we didn’t let the weather get us down; we managed to keep busy.

Arg! There just seems to be so much to accomplish as we prepare to depart the area for 18 months. In addition to all the mission related things, we still have household things to attend to. The grass keeps growing (remember all that rain), the car needs servicing, etc. And while we have lists of things to do, there are other, equally important items that magical appear on the radar scope that demands attention. By 7:30 Tuesday, 27 Oct it won’t matter anymore; that is when we need to leave and start the trek west. We have a 10 o’clock appointment with the stake president in Springfield that day to get set apart as missionaries. We plan to then drive north to Jonathan and Kristy’s new house near DesMoines for the night and then head west to Deborah and Ian’s house by Thursday night.

What we thought would be a quick visit with our attorney Monday morning to wrap up some last minute items, to include a power of attorney (PoA) in the event one was needed, turned into over a 90 minute production. And then as Sandy was taking copies of the PoA to various places, we learned that they don’t work if your assets are in a trust. So we are back at the drawing board trying to resolve that particular issue and think we have found a work around for the area we were concerned about. During a break in the rain, I was able to get part of the pasture bush hogged and more of the never ending falling limbs cleaned up and burned.

Tuesday I drove Grandma to the Tulsa airport for her evening flight home. Miranda was able to get off work early and we rendezvoused at a McDonalds for ice cream sundaes and a short visit. We got Grandma to the airport in time for her flight. I marveled at her ability to still be able to travel and be in such good spirits. She is an amazing lady and we certainly enjoyed her time with us! I spent the night with Miranda and Dan.

Wednesday Dan and I tackled his list of ‘to dos’; the major one being the rain gutters that drain uphill. Yes I know that they really don’t drain uphill, but the gutter installer must have thought so since that is the way they were originally installed – and that is why there were creating a problem for them. Fortunately, the problem was not as severe as the one Jonathan and Kristy encountered at their old home. There were two runs of over 25 feet each that needed adjusting. A previous owner had recognized the problem on the gutter in back and had merely drilled a couple of drain holes for the water to run out. In order to get the water to run the correct way, it was necessary to raise one end almost an inch and drop the other end about two inches. How can someone install gutters with almost a three inch error and not recognize their error? Anyway, we took a break for dinner and finished up the last ‘to do’ about 9 pm. Because of the volume of rain, their yard was extremely soggy; when we finished outside, the parts we had trod on the most almost looked like a muddy bog; water proof shoes were most beneficial.

I drove home Thursday morning to arrive in time for a 1:30 closing at the bank. Sandy had orchestrated a couple of loans to: a. pay for some of the St Louis property we are investing in; b. to refinance an existing loan with an ARM to a conventional loan. With all the new laws requiring first born children and a ream of paperwork with any loan, that little evolution took 90 minutes. Then we went to another bank to discuss how to handle certain transactions in our absence and invite them to our farewell (this next Friday); this bank always has cookies out and I have let my preference for chocolate chip cookies be known (nicely, of course). So when they saw me coming, the lady was heading to the back room to get some for us! I am going to miss the friendliness of our community.

Friday Sandy was up and headed to St Louis early in the morning, but that is her story. I spent the afternoon bush hogging the rest of the pasture and moving many of the cut up sections of the multiple tree trunks to one location. I finally realized that it would be easier to move the log splitter than for me to move all those logs. I also managed to box up some of our things downstairs which will be stored upstairs in our absence.

Saturday, a crew from church came and we split up the four trees that had been previously cut, but were too tough to split by hand (at least by my hand). One family even showed up; the five year old had a great time ‘helping’ while his 9 and 11 year old sisters helped stack the wood. We had at least three others splitting the wood with the aid of mauls and wedges. The hydraulic log splitter was manned by two or three others, but my observations were that two guys with mauls could accomplish almost as much as two guys with the log splitter. We added another 50 feet (4 foot high) to our already growing wood pile. And in three hours it was all done. Sandy came home in time to help me tarp or cover most of the wood piles. I then proceeded to beat more weeds into submission. I still have some storm clean up to complete to retain the fence integrity before we leave, but the remaining down limbs will have to wait until our return.

We were stressing over sufficient luggage of the correct size when Miranda and Dan saved the day; they had three suitcases the correct size. Now comes the fun part of seeing if we can get all of our stuff into them and still met the weight requirements.

Sandy’s St. Louis trip: I left early Friday Morning and arrived in St. Louis about noon. Spent an hour at the bank getting an LLC account set up. Then went with Peter to see the 2 duplexes we’d bought. One set was nearly ready to rent. The other was full of workmen. The first looks great. Nice fixtures, good paint, lovely laminate floor on the down unit. We looked at another possible unit, and Peter drove me through the Soulard and Benton Park areas—lovely renovated neighborhoods. Then I went with Kevan, another realtor, to a small 800 sq ft house. We met Matt, another contractor, to discuss this as a possibility. The weather was a biting 46 degrees with smatterings of rain and gusts of winds.

I attended an evening session at the temple and talked with Tom about investment choices. Went back to the temple Saturday morning. I love the temple! It’s so restful. I had wanted to see more properties, but both realtors were busy. I had the lock code for the Jules house and went to check it out again. A large house with attractive possibilities. I drove around the neighborhood. Well kept up. That’s my favorite for a last purchase. Had a quiet Burger King lunch. (I know, with all the fantastic eating places in St. Louis, why Burger King? I suppose if I say cheap and predictable, it also describes much of my personality. Left St. Louis about 12:30 and Mrs. Polifax (the book on tape) and I had a nice journey home.

News from October 11th

Oct 11, 2009 news

We started this week in Connecticut. We had such fun with Kristy and Isabelle, Miriam, David, and Emily. They are sweet kids. Kristy drove us to the train station on Monday. This trip we decided to save money and go coach. It was a good try to experience life in the coach section. We had several people around us not willing to spend the extra $300-400 for a meal and a flat bed… well, and a private car. It was okay. The leg room was good. The seats did recline and a leg rest came up. However, it was not all that comfortable. Since the train shakes and rocks all night and I don’t sleep well on the bed, I assumed I’d just get somewhat less sleep. And I was right. We did get to see some spectacular scenery.We began our trip in summer, entered fall, and enjoyed the changing leaves. We relaxed and read. Tom got bored and vowed to never take a train ride without a good book. We arrived in Chicago about 9:30 the next morning.

We schlepped our luggage the 3 blocks to the Chicago Metra and had a comfortable hour and 45 minute ride north to Waukegan where Wendy met us with our car. We took her home, then headed south again—crossing some of the very roads we’d crossed going north. Still, Wendy was so gracious in storing our car for us while we were gone and Tom was great taking us to the train station when we started.

We drove south to St. Louis being entertained by rain and fantastic clouds. We managed to get in the wrong lane in one of Chicago’s turnpikes and blew through the toll booth designated for I-Pass. We got a form at the next toll booth so we could pay the $.80 on line. We stopped to buy new windshield wipers and arrived in St. Louis in time to pick up Mom from the airport. We had dinner at a little Italian place. We had asked people at the airport where to eat, but couldn’t find the Olive Garden until after we finished dinner. The next day Mom traipsed with us as we looked at the two properties we had in the midst of rehabilitation and the one that we’d put an offer in on. Peter was doing a good job with the renovations. The paint, flooring and fixtures looked good. They have some people interested in the rentals when they are done. We left St. Louis about noon and headed home.

We stopped in West Plains at Aldis for some food and arrived before dark. Thursday we recovered and waded through mail. It was so nice to have Mom here! She cooks! We went to the Advocates for the Elderly meeting and to a small art display. Friday Tom went to the Temple and drove the van with 7 passengers. It was ward temple day and there were about 50 from our ward there. Mom and I packed some things from the shelves and kitchen down stairs. We had over 2” of rain from Thursday night to Friday. When I went to put the chickens in, Bosca, the neighbor’s dog ran away, leaving a dead Charlotte. Only Lucy remains. I went to talk to the neighbor on Saturday. She’s sorry. Me, too.

Saturday Tom bush hogged and burned debris. Mom cut some rhubarb and we made a pie. I have a list of about a thousand things to do and this week I managed to get through a lot of them. I’ve been trying to get all our finances on line. I think now I have all our stocks and bank statements. Insurance is in the process.

Sunday was a good day. We finally figured out the email on our laptop (The freebee Outlook conked. It was only a trial.) And Tom put in addresses. Now all the mail is going to the laptop. However it’s not hooked up to the printer. Sometimes we can email things to the other computer, sometimes not. Church was good. Fast and Testimony. And the lesson in Gospel Principles was on fasting, too.

It's really great to have mom here. We will be sorry when she has to go home.

Fun with Foxlings

We had fun with the grands. Tom read stories. Isabelle is a great reader! When she reads the scriptures, she can read almost every word of the Book of Mormon.

Miriam is a cute kid and generally helpful.

Emily was a sweetie. I loved it that she'd come running to me.

David is such a happy child. He has an charming smile.