The house is empty and the adventure begins

We finished packing up the house and moving the majority of our belongings into one bedroom (packed to the ceiling) and the upstairs storage room.  There are some things in the garage - like Lois' car on dollies (I sold mine - Lois did not want a new car in 18 months).  We did leave some things out.... like the sewing and quilting machine which will be used in our absence.  We also left the furniture in the front room as Mary and Chris only have furniture for the great room. Mary (my sister) and her husband Chris and their 16 year old son Logan are moving into our home to watch over it in our absence. We are very grateful for their assistance. 

We were set apart as full time Senior Missionaries by our Stake President Gary Gessel on Thursday October 17th.  He set us apart individually and gave us each a specific blessing.  We were both blessed with good health and strength. Lois was blessed that she would use all of her many talents.  I was blessed that I would be part of miracles. After the blessings he took us into the High Council Room to greet the rest of the Stake Presidency and the High Council Members. I then took Lois out to dinner at the Olive Garden. We went home to have desert because we had a Chocolate Molten Cake in the freezer. 

Friday morning, my brother Greg and my mother took us to the airport where we said our final goodbyes in Washington.  We processed thru the Airport and got onto our plane for Salt Lake City.  We were nearly the last people to load onto the plane sitting in row 30.  As I walked by the aisle seat about row 26, I looked down to see a name tag on a suit of a handsome young man.  In bold Thai letters was the name of the Church. After we were seated and we determined that the empty seat beside us was really empty. I went forward to invite Elder Susi to sit with us.  He is from Farmington Utah and is returning from Thailand after completing an honorable mission.  It was fun for him and us to share the 2 hour plane ride. Hopefully we made the last two hours of his Mission go by quickly as he has been traveling for over 24 hours.  He was very happy to meet us (the replacements for the office couple in Bangkok Elder and Sister Jones). We talked a lot about his successes and the status of the gospel work in Thailand. He served in many places during his time in Thailand.  He found the most Baptismal success in the Bangkok area.  After we exited the plane we proceeded to the luggage carousels.  On the way we came across Elder Susi’s family standing together with a sign in Thai Script still waiting for him.  I told them that he is here, as we sat next to him, and he is coming (he stopped off at the restroom).  I also told them that we are going to Thailand in three weeks. Sometimes we think that life experiences are coincidences.  But sometimes I think not.  It was a marvelous experience to cross paths with an Elder returning from the very Mission that we are going to serve in.  Tomorrow we begin a week of Language Immersion training before entering the Senior MTC officially for Missionary training on October 28th.