Family Historical Sites

Last Sunday we took a stroll down memory lane... mostly MY memory. I was pleased and a bit surprised that I could remember these "family historical sites".

This family home was purchased by my Grandfather, William Clifton Butts. He died when my mother was five years old, but the family held on to this home for years. 922 Baltic. I have several memories of living there when I was about 3. Some of you may have seen a picture of me in the front yard in a "fru fru" dress with my Grandpa Spargur.

Around the corner is Mill Street, where several family members lived. This house belonged to Great Great Aunt Grace. She was my Grandma Spargur's aunt. I remember her as a very nice white haired lady. The back yard was tiered and she had lots and lots of flowers. She would give us money when we came to see her. At first it was a quarter, but later a dollar or two.

If you drive a couple of blocks down Mill street you come to Myrtle White's home, she is my Great Grandmother. I have many fond memories of "Gom Gom". We always visited her and she was always loving and kind. Of course I remember this house being much bigger... .but then maybe I was much littler.

There you have it. A few choice family historical sites. What a choice blessing to have these memories and feel the connection to generations.

Home Sweet Home

What fun to live in this 100+ yr.old house. The glorious mountains near by. Beautiful colorful falling leaves outside. Fat squirrels stopping by to say hello. Touches of family are all around us. Grandma White's swing on the front porch. Aunt Dorothy's art and decorating style. Wooden pieces made by my Father. In my mind I can clearly see my Grandmother sitting by the window in the corner reading her book and glancing out at the neighborhood. Memories of holidays and vacations. Memories that bring such joy. We feel such a sense of connection to family members everyday. This little house is filled with warmth and comfort. The two pictures above show that we have added a few Fairhurst touches. We have already had several dinners here. Over the next couple years, much missionary work will take place here... in this comfortable warm family home.

Mr and Mrs Fred Fairhurst

-8 Beautiful daughters and 7 handsome sons

-18 wonderful grandchildren

-21 homes in 5 states

AND...living on the same block for over 30 years

-Having our parents nearby as we raised our family

-More cars than we can remember ie: 4 vans, 3 station wagons,

several pickup trucks, a Studebaker and a Gremlin

& now...A white 65 Mustang for our retirement years

-Trips to Canada, Puerto Rico, South Africa and to...

San Diego, Boston, Miami & DC- just to name a few

-Many deployment separations followed by joyous reunions

-Year after year of no money left once the bills were paid

...Followed by Years of prosperity

-College tuitions and wedding expenses

-ER visits, stitches, broken bones, flu and rashes

-dogs named Gipper, Striker and Mickey,

a cat named Snowball, 2 turtles, lizards and one ugly rat

-7 wonderful Temple weddings

-5 missionary children and now...

1 Senior Missionary couple

-Tears of Joy ... Tears of Sorrow... Tears of Inspiration

Good friends from our youth and new friends to meet

Hours and hours of church service- and ever being blessed

Add 9 beautiful peach colored roses and...

You have 39 years of love and adventure-

39 years of marriage!

Missionary WORK!

I think we have made it clear that we love our mission. We associate with the best people with whom we share a common purpose. Working in the mission office has really opened my eyes to how much WORK there is in missionary work. Supporting the efforts of over 150 missionaries is a daunting task to say the least. Housing, transportation, medical needs, emotional challenges, bills to pay, meetings to coordinate, training and more... all this goes on 365 days a year. Add to that the fact our mission includes parts of 4 states - well I think you get the picture.

We have taken on the management of the fleet of mission vehicles as an additional duty. It has been challenging but rewarding also. To give you a little feel for what we have been doing pay special attention to the desk in the before and after pictures below.

This picture was taken at the entrance to the MTC. The young lady in the picture was our trainer/teacher for our Preach My Gospel lessons. All the teachers were young returned missionaries. Sister Pinegar served her mission in Italy. She was full of energy and enthusiasm. I can still hear her sweet voice saying..."Elders and Sisters, you are amazing." or "Well done, Elders and Sisters." We were all old enough to be her... well maybe her grandparents. We grew quite attached to her. She acted as if we were her best class ever. Of course I am sure another class of senior couples will begin their training tomorrow and will soon here Sister Pinegar saying.... you are amazing.

Missionary Experience

During our MTC training we had the opportunity to answer the phones in the call center. This is where people call to get free videos, books and other church materials. I tried to think of any reasonable excuse to avoid this "opportunity". On the otherhand, Elder Fairhurst was pretty jazzed about it. We had a brief training, which basically consisted of "put the headset on and if the phone rings push this button and talk". About a dozen from our group were together in one of the call rooms. I sat next to Fred. I could see him intently staring at his phone, trying to make it ring. At the same time I was sending a silent plea to the switchboard - PLEASE don't let my phone ring. Guess whose phone rang. Mine of course. I adjusted the headset and pushed the button, feeling just a little like Lily Tomlin... "one ringy dingy"! Then I spent the next five minutes talking to a man in Texas and his neighbor. Such nice people. They just wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon. I took their info and shared my joy in reading this blessed book of scripture. When I hung up, I turned around to see that everyone was watching me and cheering me on. I did it! What's more I actually enjoyed it. A couple of minutes later Fred's phone rang. He was so excited. Unfortunately it was someone who only spoke Spanish so he had to give the phone to one of our trainers. A young man who just happened to have served a Spanish speaking mission in Colorado Springs of all places. I have a feeling this won't be the last time I have to step out of my comfort zone while we serve this mission. Maybe I will get used to it eventually.

51 New Friends

This is our MTC class. Good looking group- wouldn't you say? What wonderful people! I might be the one hiding behind the plant!

We so enjoyed getting to know them during our first week of training. In this group are couples going to Iceland, France, Mexico, Australia, Marshall Islands, India, Czech Republic, Canada, Switzerland, Kenya, Korea, Ukraine, Germany and Albania. Not to mention... New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Montana, Colorado, Illinois and Arkansas.

These missionaries will perform specific duties in their assigned locations. Such duties as: helping to preserve historic documents, managing humanitarian aid, assisting military families, directing tours of historic sites, managing the perpetual education funds, working with the church education programs and more. They will all be serving others and teaching the word of God. Could there be a finer group with which to associate?

Fifteen missionary couples from our group stayed with us as we received CES training the first three days of the second week. I can only belive there could be few groups like this in the entire world!

These 16 Senior Missionary Couples represent some amazing Stats, especially in today's world. Together they had a combined... 669 years of marriage, 94 children, 261 grandchildren. The missionaries average age? Well no one was telling. But for ONCE the Fairhursts were among the youngsters.

We will ever remember our MTC experiences and will share more in future posts.

The last of the farewell torture tour.

We were able to spend quite a bit of time with DJ and family while we were in Utah. On Sunday, Sept 28th we went to church with them. Afterwards we took a quick picture, hugged everyone and said the last goodbyes of this torture tour. I am quite sure that Kleenex stock is in good shape despite the current economy!

We know that we are blessed for sacrifices we make in service. Elder Fairhurst and I often comment on how little sacrifice we are making. We love living in this cherished family home. We love Colorado. We love our Mission President and his wife. But in the end, the real sacrifice we make is being separated from our family and friends. From Boise, to Forest Grove, to Spokane Valley, to Great Falls, to Orem and Billings... we have left that which we cherish most of all. When our Stake President set me apart as a missionary, he blessed me that the Lord would watch over my family. I trust that to be true. So, though we do miss you all... we feel very close to you as we serve our Savior's children here in CO. We love the phone calls and emails. The pictures and Blog posts. The updates on MyFamily.com. So keep them coming- and come see us when you can.