MADDIE HAS HER MISSIONARY FAREWELL

 Dear Family,

Sunday Maddie had her missionary farewell in Cheryl's ward in Holliday.She had a lot of family support with Suz and Scott, Emily and John, Cathy and Pete, John and Kaley, Mike and Rayanne, and Rebecca and Paul and with all their kids.  Our Family alone took up the first three rows of benches.

The Huntsman family was there in force as well with Jon and Karen and several of Paul's brothers and sisters with their families.  The Bishop hoped they would use the Sacrament meeting attendance on that Sunday when computing budget allowance.

Maddie gave a great talk that she composed herself.  She exuded a great spirit and was enthusiastic about her call to Scotland and Ireland.  She thanked her extended family and mentioned she had 122 first cousins and lots of uncles and aunts.  She spoke of missionary work and bore her testimony to the Restoration of the Gospel in the sweetest way.   Annabelle  played the piano performing a merely of church hymns and that was great as well.  Her grandpa, Jon, gave the main talk and spoke of the atonement.

We took some pictures afterward

Here she is with Opa.  Maddie is so easy to love.  She will be set apart on Tuesday and leaves for the Preston England MTC on Wednesday

Mother and daughter look so much alike.  Cheryl will sorely miss Maddie who has been a great help with all the driving to various practices and she has specialized in fixing her little sisters hair.

Here she is with proud parents Cheryl and Paul.  After church, Cheryl and Paul put on a reception which was very much like a ward dinner as the two families (Wirthlin and Huntsman) and most of the ward went over to their home on Cottonwood lane for the goodies.  I'll bet there were 150 there.

Cheryl organized a lot of help and support for this.  Becca came all the way from St. George to make Bagels with Cathy and Suz. Karen brought all the fresh fruit.  Others picked up fresh quiches at Dans and there was this enormous and delicious spread.  Many stayed and chatted for a long time and it was a wonderful celebrating Maddie and her mission call.

Here she is with both sets of grandparents.  (never stand at the end of a line when using a wide angle lens as all will be wider than usual!)  It was a joyous and happy event.  Maddie's great grandfather, Elder Haight, was a mission president in Scotland and Maddie also carries some Scottish blood through Mom's Mc Intyre line (spelled the way they did in Scotland)

Maddie, the family loves you and wishes you all the best on your mission.

Love, Opa and Oma

JOHNNY GETS HIS MASTERS DEGREE AND OTHER NEWS

Dear Family,

Emily has certainly had a lot of action lately.  Natalie off to a mission, Josh returning from his mission, Jake turning in his mission application and then Johnny getting his masters at BYU.

Johnny has had a lot of firsts in the family; first to go on a mission, first to get married among the grandchildren and now first to get an advanced degree. His wife, Jenna also got her bachelors and they walked together.

Johnny earned his masters in Chemical Engineering and Jenna got a BA in Neuroscience.  They are going to Europe for a trip and then they will move downstairs in our home and join the basement ward for the summer.  Then off to Baltimore where Johnny will pursue a Phd in Bio-engineering taking joint classes with the medical students. Jenna plans to get a masters in neuroscience
as well.

Emily gave us the choice of attending the BYU convocation with all its headaches of parking etc. or come to a family barbecue in their honor and we picked the latter.  It was a nice event with Jenna's parents there as well all the way from West Virginia. We want to congratulate Johnny and Jenna for their accomplishments.

In the meantime Dr. Doug has been over in China.  He has trained a few vascular surgeons in performing the carotid endarterectomy surgery (where you clean out the Carotid artery in the neck to prevent stroke) and he returns each year to attend conferences and give lectures. This time he was joined by Douglas before he leaves on his mission to Peru and by Rachel who is taking Chinese language at BYU.  I wonder if they speak the same Chinese in China that she is learning at BYU.  It will be a great trip for them

Lots of action in the family!

Love, Opa

JOSH COMES BACK FROM HIS MISSION

Dear Family,

Josh returned from his mission to Texas.  Here he is with Emily wearing his great Texas tie in front of goodies  for the Sunday brunch Emily and John had for family and friends.

Josh has grown on his mission in many ways.  Not as shy now, outgoing and confident.  He had success on his mission.

He gave a talk in Sacrament meeting for about 15 minutes without notes.  I was very proud of him.  Emily drove him up to school at BYU Ricks Idaho the next morning.

There is more missionary activity going on in the family.  Madeline has her farewell this coming Sunday, gets set apart on Tuesday and leaves for the London MTC on Wednesday for her mission to
Ireland and Scotland.  Cheryl has been getting things together in preparation.  Currently Douglas is with Rachel over in China to meet Doug before he starts for his mission to Peru in June.  Jake turned his missionary application papers in so they are in the works.  So proud of all these kids. Emily and John have quite a missionary family!

And of course Natalie is in the Provo MTC learning Portuguese for her mission to Lisbon, Portugal.
She reports the MTC is very crowded and busy.  She is learning fast by all reports.  One definitely has the feeling that missionary work has shifted to a higher gear as we will soon have 80,000 young men and women serving on full time missions.  Great to be able to witness this all.

We go to Spokane again in May for a baptism, then back to Michigan in first part of June for a baptism and a high school graduation as Sarah graduates from Lahser High before heading off to BYU.  I had thought that I was done with high school graduations with the 17 graduations of our own kids.  Now lets see, with 77 grandchildren, I hope to make it to a few more.

Love,

Dad

ELDRED G SMITH PASSES AWAY AT 106

Dear Family,

We went to the funeral of Eldred G. Smith the other day.  He was 106 years old and the oldest man living in Utah at the time.

Here is a photo of him and President Monson on one of his birthdays.  President Monson visited him on his birthday each year after Eldred turned 100.

Eldred Smith was a member of our ward and the most faithful person going to church.  He came to all meetings and stayed the entire time.  Mom and I spoke to him last Sunday. He drove a car up until last year or two.  He was of course the Patriarch to the Church for many years, an office that came down through the Smith family.  He gave over 18,000 blessings and would travel to areas of the world where there were no Patriarchs to give this special blessing.

He gave a great fireside on Joseph Smith and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and came to our home twice to give this fireside.  His family has the clothing wore by Joseph and Hyrum when they were shot in the Carthage jail.  Eldred's history is full of church history and he was a Smith through and through!

When I was ordained a Patriarch, he would always invite me to ride up with him on the little elevator we have in our church building.  It was very slow and he would chat on the way up.  I asked him once how many descendants he had. He was not sure but at the time he had 17 great, great, grandchildren which blew my mind.  He now has 22 great, great, grandchildren.  I liked him because he was so faithful in coming to church even when he became frail.  President Monson paid him tribute at his funeral.  We will miss him but I will always remember his example.

Love, Dad

GREAT BIRTHDAY PARTY

Dear Family,

Well on April 11th, we had my birthday party.  At first nothing was planned but we have this knack of coming up with great celebrations at the drop  of a hat.  We invited all those in the state to come and most were able to come here.  This was a great birthday with the phone going off the hook with calls from family, grandkids, friends and former missionaries.  It was just wonderful!  Even got birthday wishes from the MTC ftom my granddaughter, Sister Natalie Hickey.

We planned to have lobsters and arranged to get them through Harmons saving $92 in shipping costs from Maine.  They were able to get 1 1/2 pound lobsters that were very good.  Some did not like lobster so we also had steak for a real "surf and turf"

We boiled the lobsters and here they are and it was great!

 I received many nice gifts but here you see I am wearing one.  Doug and Kristina bought me a Wolfgang Puck chef's jacket and even embroidered the Austrian flag on the arm.

They also added a name tag!

Doug tried the Google translator and gave them the expression, "I cook with love" and it came out what you read in the picture.  I had to point out that the syntax was a bit funny, parts of verbs were missing etc.  Doug checked with  one of his German patients who corroborated my analysis.

He then said, " I tried Google translator and now I am geburned!

Here is Dr. Doug with steaks on the grill.  Everything turned out fantastic.

To top it all off, Suz, (of Sweets by Suz) made this delicious creamy birthday cake that she learned in Mexico.  John was on a self imposed diet and was off trying to figure the calorie count of the dinner and I think he was short.

This was with the grownups and it was fun to sit and reminisce and also a challenge not to turn it into a personality roast.  It was such a memorable birthday.

Mom's 75th birthday is next year and we will plan a family reunion around it.  Plans are being formulated at this minute. This year has been such a great time with the family with so much going on.  Missionaries leaving, missionaries returning, high school graduations and all the ordinance work that is on going.

We feel blessed and we love you all,

Mom and Dad

PRIESTHOOD MEETING GET TOGETHER

Dear Family, it has been a busy week starting off with April Fools day.  I had a routine visit with the cardiologist and he found my heart rhythm was back in Atrial Fibrillation.  He had me come back to the hospital for cardionversion.  Came back and they stuck in the iv, shaved my chest for the large electrode pads, hooked me up to a 12 lead EKG.  Doug came by quickly and gave me a blessing and had to go.

The nurse PA drew up a big syringe of Propathol and was about to inject it in the IV when another alert nurse noted that I was back in normal sinus rhythm without the cardioversion and the event was over.  I did not say, "April Fools".

Well I was not so sure how things would be at the end of the week so Doug volunteered to have our post General Priesthood meeting gathering of all the men and boys at his house.  The other attraction was that the Michigan Syracuse game was on during the meeting and Doug taped it so that we could watch it later.  We all went to Doug's ward for the meeting;  Mike and Joseph went to the meeting in the conference center and John went with Bently to rather front row seats. No one had a lot of time for dinner preparation so Doug ordered Meiers chicken with all the trimmings and it was great.  Kristina and Catherine made trifle and banana cream pie. Here is the group, back row: Scott, Douglas (mission call to Peru), the Dad, Jon, Mike and John, first row: Doug, Nate, Spence, Tommy, Joseph, Johnny and Jake. Fine group of men and boys.

The boys all took notes during the Priesthood Meeting and we reviewed each talk.  Even Tom took notes and since all listened well, we went to the basement and watched Michigan beat Syracuse.  It was a long day.  We thank Doug and Kristina for hosting this event.  Needless to say, Priesthood meeting was great.

Love, Mom and Dad

MISSIONARY REUNION 2013

Dear Family,

We had our missionary reunion on Friday evening before conference.  Hundreds of these are held throughout the valley on Friday night.  We held it at out home as the numbers are slowly decreasing as they marry or go off to school out of state.  Still we had about 50 -60 arrive including the little children.  It was like one of our routine family get togethers.

It was great to see those who came.  They started at 6:30 with some leaving early to get to another reunion or to other events and people were still coming by until 10:30 PM.  The nice thing is that they stayed for a long time and we had a great chance to visit.  Here is the group.  I had to wear my Bavarian vest for the occasion.

We  have an informal reunion with dinner and general visiting.  I have not felt we should duplicate a church meeting so it is very informal and all were busy visiting and chatting.

I can't show everyone but here is a companion set. Liza and Heidi, formerly Sisters Newren and Hinman, now both Moms.  They are holding Kindereier that Cheryl brought from Switzerland.

Here is the former Elder Guyman with his wife and children.  He had to leave the mission when he totally fractured his ankle playing Fussball on P day.  He had surgery in Utah and his father would report his progress and keep him studying.  Elder Guymon returned to finish his mission and did a nice job.  That little girl looks plenty alert.

Here is the former Sister Becca Storrs who spent a bit of time in Vienna and did a nice job.  Now a practicing nurse and a mom.  It was good to see her as well.

Here is Brett Lameroux and his wife and little girl.  He got out the Evite invitations and helped with the reunion.  He was also a fine missionary and is finished school and is working.  They met in Germany on a study abroad activity after his mission.

I have many other photos but these will do for now.  It is great to meet with these fine young men and women whom we got to know so well and appreciated them so much.  The bonds formed on a mission last for years.  My Missionary group from the Swiss Austrian Mission (1955-1958) still meet together several times a year and there is in addition a reunion at conference.

We celebrate those who are currently serving missions (60,000) and appreciate the work and effort of our missionaries from 2002-2005.  It is wonderful to see them all progressing in  their individual lives.  We even have a few that have gone into medicine.

It was a wonderful evening and we were sorry when it was over.

Love, Mom and Dad

VISIT FROM GERMANY, THE ADLERS FROM BIELEFELD

Dear Family,

General Conference time is the best! Not only for the great messages from Church Leaders, but also it is time for all kinds of visits and reunions,  Sometimes friends we knew in Germany come over and sometimes people whom we have never met come as well.

I received a phone call on Friday, "Is this the Dr. LeRoy Wirthlin?" I detected a slight german accent and my brain shifted automatically to
German,  "Wer spricht?" (who is there?) I asked.  "Hier ist Elder Adler!" 

Well the only Elder Adler I knew was Yannick Adler, my great German AP who was so helpfull at the close of our mission. "Ach Yannick, wo bist du? (where are you).  " No this is the Father from Yannick, Elder Adler".  He is an Area Authority Seventy who came with his wife for the leadership training they receive at General Conference.  He wished to come by.

We were so happy to meet him and his wife both of whom spoke perfect English.  The Dad is a very enthusiastic man and we had a great discussion.  He told us about the missionary work in Germany.  The demographics are always changing there.  The missionaries have had good success among the Spaniards who come to Germany to find work.  They have enough Spanish members to create a Spanish branch. With the new missionary surge, the complement of missionaries for each mission will also be increased.  He told us of  a German speaking branch in South Tirol, that part of Austria that was given to Italy after WWI.  We were not allowed to go down there when I was there.

We spoke of Yannick who is finishing law school in Albany and will take the New York bar exam.  He has a job with a London law firm and will be working in Frankfurt.  It was great to meet his parents.  The Dad  sent me some Siedensticker dress shirts which his company makes.. it is the best shirt.

It was a nice experience to meet and visit with them.  Our Wurst and homemade Sauerkraut passed the test.

Love, Dad

ANOTHER STEP FORWARD FOR MADDIE

Dear Family,

We had a great experience this week by going with Paul, Cheryl and Madeline to the Jordan Temple (where her great uncle, Robert Haight is temple president) as she prepares for her mission. It was a wonderful experience and we are so proud of her.

She leaves the first part of May for the London MTC and her farewell is on April 28th.

Maddie will be great as she and all other sister missionaries exude charm and love for others.

Natalie already in the Provo MTC; Jake is getting his mission application ready so by fall, Emily and John will have two missionaries in the field. That will make four missionaries that they will have turned out!  We are proud of all of them.

The number of missionaries mentioned by President Monson  in the General Conference is very impressive.  65,000 missionaries serving now with another 20,000 who have received calls and another 6000 whose applications are being processed. There have been 58 new missions organized and the missionary compliment is being increased in most missions.  What a great time to go out and what a great time to be a mission president!

This is sos different than when I went on my Mission to Switzerland and Austria in 1955.  The Korean War was going on and there was a universal army draft of young men.  Since I was living in Utah at the time, I was subject to the whims of the Murray Utah Draft Board.

They were tough on the Church and finally allowed only two young men from each ward to go on missions.  Many young men of that era never had the opportunity to serve missions as they got drafted into active Army duty.  When I got back, I received another deferment for Medical School but the Draft  Board caught up with me after my internship and a year of residency so I enlisted in the Navy to have a little determination of where we would go.

One is reminded of the scripture found in Section 88 of the D&C in speaking to those who would travel and preach the Gospel,   " 73 Behold, I will ^ahasten my work in its time."

 In German , the verb for hasten is "Beschleunigen" which is also used to describe acceleration.  When I drove my little Porsche 911 to hustle around to three hospitals in Michigan, I learned about acceleration.  When one revved up the RPM's in second gear and  then slipped it into third gear, one shot forward like being shot out of a slingshot.  One gets the feeling that we are in a higher gear for missionary work in the church today and it is absolutely wonderful! 

Madeline, we love you and are proud of what you are doing and know you will be a great Missionary!

Love, Oma and Opa