Around the World in 36 Days - Day 1

After we were released from our mission at the St. George FamilySearch Center, we scheduled a 27 day cruise through the middle east, Greece and Italy.  Scott and Marianne Robison, Jackie and Steve Duerden and Carol and John Padilla went with us.  What an adventure, some beautiful experiences and 8000 nautical miles of travel.

The blogs that follow will be about our adventures and where we are in the world.  There is no way I can include all the pictures we took and chronicle all  the adventures we had, but I did keep a little journal that is included.  So let's travel.

March 6, 2019, we left Salt Lake City and flew to Seattle, then on to Tokyo, and arrived around midnight in Singapore.  Flying is almost half the adventure because you don't realize how fast you can travel long distances.  With jet lag plus, we finally arrived at our hotel in Singapore to rest and begin our adventure.

Singapore

March 8

Yum, humid and hot. We bought hop-on hop-off bus tickets and toured Central Mall, had a river tour, walked China Town and took the elevators to floor 57 of the waterfront hotel. A hotel that has three towers connected on top by a cruise ship style building. Wow what a view of the harbor. Then home to the Holiday Inn. In the evening we went to Gardens on the Bay to see the light and music show.  Eight large 60’ trees made of steel and fashioned with orchids danced with lights to music. Much like Theron’s light show. Hot, humid, tired.

 Isn't Theron lovely?

 

March 9

Visited the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest with John and Carol; the others went to other orchid gardens and took a bus ride to different parts of the city. Great day. These were fascinating and air conditioned. Tonight we participated in the Chinese parade right by our hotel. The floats are brought in and parked, then the people go walk up to the floats to see them and the performers. The main float was the one opening the Chinese New Year including fire works.

March 10 - Start of Cruise

We went to one of the Singapore wards, they have a building that is 4 stories high with separate chapels on two floors. At 10, 2 wards meet, one on the second floor the other on the fourth floor. There are 7 wards in Singapore and one stake. We are really in a minority in a country of 5.6 million people.  Returned from Church and traveled to the cruise ship. We had priority boarding and it helped a little, it’s still a process.

This picture is the Singapore skyline from the cruise ship.

Ali is 8 - Baptism

March 2, 2019 our first granddaughter was baptized. We are so proud of her.  What a lively, loving girl she is; and, how beautiful she is.  Marc baptized her at their stake center in Woods Cross.  This was the same place that Marc and Brittney were baptized.

We so thank her parents for teaching her correct principles, teaching her about our savior Jesus Christ and for teaching her how to work.  We are proud of her accomplishments at school and at dance/tumbling.

We love you Ali.

 Our little princess.  Here she is with her great grandparents, Wayne and Deyon Spendlove.  They are 86 and 88 years old.

 Here she is with her grandparents, Theron and Shanna Schaefermeyer

Look at this beautiful family!

January to February, 2019 - Winter Living in Yuma

We are now free to roam around the country, we selected to spend January and most of February in Yuma, Arizona.  We left January 2 and drove to Parker, Arizona, where we met Rich and Wendy Poll, Brett and Lori Simonsen, Mike and Kathyrn Monfredi and new friends Glen and Kristi Davis.

We parked for two weeks along the Colorado River and enjoyed the RZR rides, the trips to Mexico and the company.  The burrows are all over the valley.  One burrow came into camp with a soup can around his front foot.  The guys lassoed him and cut the can off.  He quickly fled, so we don't know if he appreciated the operation.

It's not an adventure unless we try to drive over wild terrain.  To keep the RZR from tipping, one of the guys rode on the side over these rocks.

 These are pictures of a cafe built on an old mine site.  They truck the food in and lots of people each Friday and Saturday.

 The kids gave us a muff pot for Christmas.  It's dandy having hot meals along the trail - bbq little smokies, chicken, meatballs, etc.

 As always, there is a fix'em up project.  Don't you like our redneck jack?

 After two weeks, we left Parker and traveled the rest of the way to Yuma.  This year, we drove around a subdivision that has trailer rental sites.  We had full water, sewer, and electricity for the remainder of our trip.  Oh, so nice to have full utilities.

The snowbird branch did a service project every Friday.  We went to the food pantry and in one picture we packaged sacks of various food products and then for two Fridays we picked private grapefruit trees and then the food pantry distributed these to the needy.  Of course, we were needy and everyone took home a sack or two of fresh grapefruit.

 Watching the Superbowl from our lawn chairs.  We strung our TV out the back window and had a potluck special for eats.

 Took a run out to the military base and saw them take the spy blimp down.

Mission #5 - St George FamilySearch Center

December ended our time at the St George FamilySearch Center.  We were able to meet wonderful people and patrons, teach classes, update computers, design new programs and serve the Lord.

Our new friends are Mike and Linda Merrell who were the directors of the Center.  They are wonderful and provided us with special memories and opportunities as they called us to serve as assistants this past year.

We are leaving for Yuma, Arizona, for a month and a half and then going on a 27-day cruise from Singapore to Rome, Italy.  We plan on serving at the Center upon our return in April.