Chino Valley choir visitors

We were blessed this week with the visit from some dear friends from Chino Valley.

Thirteen members of the Chino Valley High School select choir were privileged to sing in the Lincoln Center in Manhattan with a large choir of approximately 300 voices plus a large orchestra. 

We were able to view the performance and sit with our good friend, Dee Wilkins, the Chino a High School choir director. 

We were fortunate to have tickets for seats on the very same row in the Avery Fisher Hall, one of four performance halls in the Lincoln Center complex. 

There were two youth from our Chino Valley Del Rio Ward who sang in the choir. Jade Wilkins and Daniel Shepherd. What a choice memory for them! 

Brother Wilkins and his son, Jade, were also able to join us in the Manhattan Temple on Friday afternoon to do some proxy baptisms. We were able to assist them in the baptistry. Tha was a choice experience for all. 

We love visitors from the West, so come see us when you can!  We are having a great time serving The Lord here 

Our dear sweet Aunt Fern passed away this past week at age 87.  She has been a very big part of our life.  Every time we would travel to Levan, Utah over the years of our marriage to see Linda's parents, Aunt Fern and Uncle Marion would visit us and help us in so many ways.  Our kids truly love Aunt Fern.  She is one of a kind.  For over 70 years (that's right, 70 years), she served as ward organist for the Levan Ward. We don't know of anyone who has served in a church calling for that many years.

She was a great cook, had a great sense of humor, and made you feel that you were her favorite person, whether you were a blood relative or married into the family. She took very good care of her widowed brother, Heber Taylor (Linda's father) for the several years he was in an assisted living facility in Levan, visiting him every day.

She and her husband, Marion, farmed and gardened and enjoyed a beautiful, simple life in Levan for the approximately 65 years of their marriage. She passed away in that same facility where she ministered to Heber for so many years.   Life was sweet and simple for them.  Aunt Fern will truly be missed by so many.

We're learning that, even we are away on a mission, life does not stop back home.  Friends get sick, some pass away.  Some go on missions.  Some graduate from school. Some get married.  Some grow up.  Life is like that, you know.  It does not stop.  We are learning to enjoy each day that we have here on earth.  Our time here is precious.  The Good Lord knows our days, and they shall not be numbered less.  Let's make them count for something good.

Visit from Cindy and Amy

We just concluded a wonderful week.

We had a one week spring break from institute classes.

Two of our lovely daughters, Amy and Cindy, paid us a visit for five days this past week. In addition to a temple session, we also took in the Lion King Broadway musical. It was wonderful.

We also got to see many wonderful sites in Manhattan.

Even though it rained a bit, we had a great time. 

One of the most touching things we did was to visit Ground Zero.  We saw the reflecting pools and viewed the names of the nearly 3000 victims of the terriorist attack on September 11, 2001. 

We enjoyed the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn botanical gardens.

The girls seem to enjoy the subway rides and got pretty good at getting around the city. 

All in all, it was a wonderful week. We love it when our family and friends come to visit us.