The Next Adventure

In November of 2017 we opened our mission call in Mesa, AZ with Kaci, Bill, Rex and Olivia, and Mike, Jessica, Griffin, Ella and Taegan were on Face Time.  We were assigned to Rome, Italy with a Military Affairs assignment at Signoella Naval Air Station on the Island of Sicily.  Interestingly enough, exactly where Mike had served some 25 years earlier.  When Mike was in Italy there were four missions and Mike was assigned to the Catania mission. What does all of that mean? We would spend the next few months defining that question.

 Immediately we knew we wanted to visit our family before we entered the MTC. Taipei was the complicated one because we needed to turn in our passports on December 5, 2017 as we met face to face with the Italian Consulate for an interview for our Italian Visa. 

We needed to go to Taipei right now! We spent the week after Thanksgiving with Garrett, Cindi and Charlie;

 

An Early Christmas with Bill, Kaci, Karli, Rex, Olivia and Ralph in Mesa, AZ! 

 

Christmas week with Jeff, Ashley, Marley, Cade, Carter, Hudson and Crosby in Newport Beach California;

 

And New Years week with Mike, Jessica, Griffin, Ella, Taegan and Roxy in Colorado Springs! While we were with Mike, Craig took advantage of some expert Italian tutoring!

 

We have an amazing family; they are blessings in our life.  It is going to be so hard to leave and know we can’t pop in for a quick visit or attend an event they are involved in.  Thank goodness for Face Time we can still see their faces and hear about what is going on in their lives.  I am excited to see what changes happen in 18 months.  We have been  greatly blessed!

 Bill dropped us off at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, AZ Monday morning January 8, 2018 at 6:30 AM.  We began our journey to begin our MTC preparations to go to the Rome Italy Mission assigned to Military Relations. We have spent one week with 2,000 18 and 19 year old young men and women and about 200 senor citizens! I know for sure that it has been a week of amazing experiences with an extraordinary conglomerate cross-section of a wide spectrum of adults both young and old!