New Temple

A new Temple was announced today by President Monson. It will be built in Payson Utah where I live. It is practically down the street from me. We are so excited and are blessed by this.



This is the property it will be built on.

Talk I gave in Sacrament Meeting on The progress of Camerons Mission

Good Morning Brother’s and Sisters,

The last time I got up in front of sacrament meeting Cameron was 9 years old. I had bourne my testimony when Cameron was baptized. Because Cameron didn’t get baptized until he was 9 he was considered a convert so as a family we took the missionary lessons and now Cameron is giving those same lessons to other families.

When Cameron’s Mission call came we were so excited for him. He was called to Jacksonville Florida which includes part of Georgia. Cameron was so excited to see President Monson’s actual signature, that the next day he framed it. He left on April 8^th of 2009 and that was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do was to say goodbye to him at the MTC.

Over the past 9 months we have been lucky to be able to E-mail once a week. He has 30 minutes to read and respond and sometimes if we are lucky Cameron and I could be on the computer at the same time and have a real live conversation. It only last a couple minutes but it is so special, we have been able to speak with him on Mothers Day and just recently on Christmas, It is a blessing that there is so much communication.

Cameron had been in Florida maybe a month. I was turning channels on the T.V and went past the weather channel and something caught my eye. There was a news man standing at the shoreline of a beach with waves pounding and down below words scrolling it said something like “Jacksonville Beach, Florida, huge storm pounding beach”. Ok so being the worry wart that I am and a first time missionary mom I called the Mission office and talked to Sister Bishop the mission office secretary. I needed to know that he was Ok, I was especially worried about him bike tracting in this storm or any storm. Sister Bishop reassured me that he was fine that she just saw him a couple of days ago and that she had recognized his name and that she remembered him. She told me that it rains almost every day some days harder then others and that it is refreshing rain and that most of the missionaries enjoy being out in it. Not to worry. A couple of days later we received a letter in the mail with pictures from Cameron. One of the pictures was Cameron and his companion arm over shoulders with thumbs up drenched from head to toe with these big wide eyed smiles and on the back of the picture it says” just got done bike tracting in the rain. I knew that the lord was already inspiring Cameron, to put me at ease and I then knew he was in great hands.

Cameron tells us that Jacksonville is one of the hardest working missions. December 14^th 2009 Cameron writes, “So we have our mission goal to baptize 1050 people for the year, this has been very stressful for the leaders, for they always talk about it and stress it. But as of right now, we have 25 people scheduled to be confirmed this week, that means that we just need 18 more baptisms until we reach our goal. This number, 1050 is the Highest this Mission has done, ever. In fact, currently, we have done the most ever, we just want 1050. It truly is exciting.” Well near the end of the month they were up to 1078 and still going. He then writes Jan 4 2010 “We have received our new official year’s goal. It’s 3050. 1300 Baptisms and 1750 less active reactivations. Yup, that means that we are working with less actives and the ward members this year, it’s very exiting. I have been waiting for this for a while now. I really think that this will by my strong point.” I can tell that Cameron is growing so much and knows how important this work is.

Cameron has had some great successes; these next conversions are in his words. I will start off with Margaret and Gina. 7/6/09 He writes We have a Baptism scheduled this Saturday for two people. We are really thinking that they will get baptized on this date, they are ready. Their names are Margret and Gina. Gina is the 14 year old Daughter to Margret. They are both Catholic, but just don’t feel like it’s the church for them. Gina already knows that this Church is true, but Margret I think is still holding on to her previous relations with the Catholic Church. Then she said she looked into Islam!! Where did that come from?? That’s what Elder Thacker and I were thinking. I mean, Catholics at least have the Jesus Christ is our savior down, but Islam is WAY off! So we had a good talk with her yesterday, she kept talking about how she still likes some things in the catholic church, but doesn’t believe in everything, and the same with Islam, so we invited President Newman to teach her, because he is a convert from the Catholic Church, so he just told her "Margret, let go of everything you are holding on to about those past religions, because they dont have the full truth ok." The spirit was so strong in her house. It was so sweet.7/13/09 Ok, so check this out, Margaret and Gina were both Baptized on Friday, the 10th. They were then confirmed in Sacrament meeting Yesterday, and I confirmed Margaret. Oh man that was scary! I have never done that before, but she wanted me to, so I did it. They are both solid members now. I am so happy for them.

11/2/2009 We did find another really cool person though! Her name is Penny. She was able to come to church too! It was so great to see her there. On Saturday we were able to teach her a little bit, when I noticed something in a flower pot next to me. It was a plant with one large leaf and two smaller leaves on each side of it, after looking at it for a while, I thought to myself, "Wow, that sure does look like Marijuana" Before we left, I asked penny, "Hey, do you mind if I take this plant?" She replied" "Yes! You can’t have that; do you know what that is?" I said "Yes, its something that you shouldn’t have, plus its illegal too." This was after we went over the words of wisdom with her; she said that she wasn’t doing any drugs. she claimed that it was her husbands, so she didn’t want him to get mad if we took it. So we kept it there. The next day Elder Kohler who is Cameron’s Companion and Elder Frampton who lives in the same apartment went over to her house to pick her up for church, while she was still in the house; Elder Frampton sees it and says "Is that the plant?" Elder Kholer says yes. So Elder Frampton plucks the plant and crumbles it up and buries it in the ground! She didn’t notice till after church when she called us up saying "Do you know what happened to that one plant?" Elder Kohler is on the phone, he says "What plant?" "You know, the one plant that you guys were talking about, its gone" "Oh, you mean the ONE plant, yeah, its gone?" "Yes, do you know what happened to it?" "Well, I didn’t touch it, so no" "Oh, ok, well do you know when I can sign up for the thanksgiving basket?" She completely changed the subject to what Elder Kohler and her were talking about earlier. So we now don’t believe it to be hers, which is good. And it’s good that its gone now. So that was pretty exiting! Ok I didn’t even know Cameron knew what a Marijuana plant looked like.

This last story is one he told us on Christmas. It is the story of a woman named Linda. .. As it turns out Linda had already been taught the discussions 2 years prior but felt pressured to be baptized. This made her and her husband feel uneasy and so they stopped the lessons. So 2 years later Cameron knocks on her door and was able to make an appointment and leave her a Book of Mormon.

Cameron describes “During the first lesson she just soaked it up. A light bulb clicked on and she was so excited. You could really feel the spirit” Linda loves the feeling she gets when going to our church.

Linda’s family and Pastor are very much against the Mormons They filled her with false doctrine and “antied’ her away. As Cameron put it. The day of the 2^nd lesson came, Linda had doubts again. Her Pastor had been there and confused her. Telling her that the Mormons are evil. She felt confused and conflicted, but they went ahead with lesson #2 anyway. Again she soaked it up and she felt the spirit. They challenged her to be baptized. Her and her Husband agreed and set a date.

As the baptism date approached, they get a phone call from Linda. Once again her family and Pastor had tried to save her from the evil Mormons. She was confused and was considering calling off the baptism. They dropped everything and rushed to her house. Cameron’s companion got a bit stern with her saying.” Linda How do you feel when we come and teach you and when you read the book of Mormon and go to church” She replies in tears “I feel Good” How do you feel after talking to your pastor? “I feel bad” They ask “What can we do?” Linda replies “I need another lesson, so we teach lesson #3. During the lesson you could feel the darkness leave and was replaced with a feeling of the spirit.

Finally!! The day had come for her baptism. Linda is confined to a wheel chair and can’t really walk. The next concern was how they would get her into the font.

They asked. “Linda do you believe god will allow you to be baptized? You have to have faith.” She replied “yes” She received a blessing and was able to walk unassisted into the font. But After the baptism she could not walk and had to be lifted out of the font and back into her wheelchair.

Cameron believes that he witnessed a miracle that day.

Cameron has so many wonderful experiences, to many to mention but he tells us that he loves his mission (except for the Humidity.) He has a lot more to do before he is ready to come home. We are so blessed and thankful for his sacrifice. We can hear the change in his voice and his love for the gospel. He makes us want to be better members, to do better in our lives and to learn more about the gospel, to attend the Temple more where we feel closer to him and our savior. He wanted me to tell you “It makes me feel great knowing that people care for me and are wondering how I am doing, you can tell them that I am doing great,” Keep the letters coming!!

I mailed Cameron a Missionary Joke-Poem that I would like to read it’s called The Way It Is.

THE WAY IT IS

THE MISSION PRESIDENT:
Leaps tall buildings in a single bound,
Is more powerful than a locomotive,
Is faster than a speeding bullet,
Walks on water,
Associates with God.

THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT:
Leaps short buildings in a single bound,
Is more powerful than a switch engine,
Is just as fast as a speeding bullet,
Walks on water if the sea is calm,
Talks with God.

THE ZONE LEADER:
Leaps short buildings with a running start and favorable winds,
Is almost as powerful as a switch engine,
Is faster than a decelerating bullet,
Walks on water in an indoor swimming pool,
Talks with God if special request is approved.

THE DISTRICT LEADER:
Barely clears a mud hut,
Loses tug-of-war with locomotives,
Can fire a speeding bullet,
Swims well,
Is occasionally addressed by God.

THE SENIOR COMPANION:
Makes high marks on the wall when trying to leap tall buildings,
Is run over by locomotives,
Can sometimes handle a gun without inflicting self-injury,
Dog paddles,
Talks to animals.

THE JUNIOR COMPANION:
Runs into buildings,
Recognizes locomotives 2 out of 3 times,
Is not issued ammunition,
Can stay afloat with a life jacket,
Talks to walls.

THE GREENIE:
Falls over doorsteps when trying to enter buildings.
Says, "Look at the choo-choo!"
Wets himself with a water pistol,
Plays in mud puddles,
Mumbles to himself.

THE RETURNED MISSIONARY:
Lifts buildings and walks under them,
Kicks locomotives off the tracks,
Catches speeding bullets with his teeth and eats them,
Freezes water in a single glance,
Knows God.

I would like to leave these words with you in the name of Jesus Christ A-men

Christmas at the Clowards 2009

This Christmas was a very exciting Christmas. I could not wait for this day to arrive. Not because of Christmas Presents or Santa but because Cameron was calling us on this day and he did about 8:30 in the morning we talked for a few hours and found out he had the phone all day so we hung up knowing we could talk to him later on. He was able to call and talk to some of his friends and his Grand Mother and any family members that were there. I know he delivered the best present. So after we hung up we did the opening of the gifts.

Our Christmas Calender.


Our Tree

The stockings were hung, no Chimney though.


Opening gifts.

Christmas Fiesta with Glenns Family

We were invited to a Christmas dinner given by Carmen and Carl Glenn's Nephew and his wife. It was great to see everyone in one place. Winn and Susan came in from California as did Meredith and Mike. Shanna and Cameron and family came in from Colorado and the rest of us are Utahns. There was a theme to this Christmas dinner. We had a Mexican Christmas Dinner and boy was it good. Cameron my son who is on his mission was also there by phone call. He was able to talk to most everyone. This was a great ending to a wonderful Christmas.

Carmen our Hostess


Carl our Host


Adam/Katy/Glenn/Susan Mingling


Katy and Meredeth hanging decorations

Winn decorating tables


The finger foods before dinner very nice table indeed.


Shanna helping prepare, those taco shells were awesome. I'm hungry now.


Say Cheese..


Good Father/Daughter Conversation

OK, so there are three Birthdays we were celebrating. Carmen's Sister's Birthday was on Christmas Day, Cameron's is also on Christmas Day but he was not there in person (by phone) because he is on his mission and Susan was having her B-Day the next Day on the 26th. So Carmen had her sister blow out the candles. Happy Birthday!!

What would a Mexican Christmas Dinner be without a Pinata

So Fun

The spoils of their labors (and fun)

Glenn and Me, Susan (Glenn's Sister and her husband Winn.


Group photo here we all are together.
Feliz Navidad Everyone....

The USS Midway Aircraft Carrier.

John, my Mom and myself spent the day after Thanksgiving touring the USS Midway. I wish we could have seen everything but there was no time to do it all. The tour was fascinating and just neat. I recommend it to those who live in San Diego or are visiting. Our Military are amazing and what they do to protect our country.




Plane in the Hanger. The outside opening leads to the elevator that would take it up to the flight deck. The elevator has been turned into eating patio.


Ok I had to take a picture.

This is where the Enlisted men sleep. There is no way I could sleep in those tiny bunks. I mean they are small.

Top Gun Briefing Room. Cool ( No Tom Cruise though)

These people are having Lunch on the Flight Deck Elevator. If airplanes need to be serviced the elevator takes them down to the hanger and when they are ready to go back to service the elevator takes them back up again.

Flight Deck

Radio Messaging Processing Room
The Island this is where the ship is navagated and where the Captains chair is.
Steep Steps on our way up to the Island
Another view of the Island
These photo's were taken from the Island

Captain is Speaking Shhhh

Thankgiving in San Diego.

Spending Thanksgiving in Sunny San Diego was just great. Lot's of family and great food, I couldn't have asked for a better day.
This is my moms backyard now. It's a little different then when I grew up there, Ok a lot different. The structure in the backround is San Diego State University's parking garage and classroom building. Those I remember.
Me and Glenn

More of moms backyard.
I am loving the planter boxes. I will be making some of these for my garden. Ok Glenn will.
Beautiful Thanksgiving settings

Glenn and Jeremy and his daughter Audrey waiting to eat.

Ren, Tegan (Cute Baby), Mom, Carey. Visiting while Turkey is just about done. Can't wait to eat.

Uncle Bud, Aunt Bunny, Joy. They know how to pose for a picture.

Mom and Joy cooking and getting dinner on the table. Carey is that you helping?

Hey Mandy and Bunny smile, or I guess I should smile too.

Mandy my cousin is recording a message to Cameron with her husband Freddy and her mom and baby listening. I know Cameron will love all the messages from family.
Ren and sleepy Tegan.
Aaron and our sister Anna.
The kids were having so much fun with Susan's dog Bing he was the center of attention.
My complements to all the chef's in this family. It was amazing.

Here is our family photo. We were still missing about 20 people. Emily and her family, Lily and her family, John's 3 other daughters and their family's, Jessica and her Husband and Nathan and of course Cameron. We missed all of you who could not attend.

We had a blast. Oh I am sorry if I gave anyone my cold. Sorry Mom. Love you all.