August 25, 2008 by sbald1.

Our trip back to Idaho this past week end was wonderful. We are able to attend the Rexburg Idaho Temple. What a marvelous opportunity to be in the House of the Lord. One of the most difficult times about leaving Rexburg two years ago was to leave our temple.  And, now, what a blessing to return and worship in the temple. It was a blessing to participate in the dedication of the Twin Falls Temple during the week end.

Another highlight of the visit was participating in the ordination of my brother, Paul, to be a High Priest. What a blessing to be able to stand in and performthe ordination! Although mom was unable to attend, I could sense that both her and dad were pleased with the proceedings. When we returned back to mom’s place, Patricia asked her if she had received a priesthood blessing since breaking her arm. She said no but would like one. We explained to mom that there were six worthy priesthood holders there (Paul, me, LuDell, Bob, Clay, and Kathryn’s husband) and either one would be happy to pronounce the blessing. She said, “Well, I’d like the new one with all the stuff to do it!” We knew she wanted Paul so be the voice. He did a wonderful, spiritual blessing. Mom ended up having a pretty good day after being a little light headed when we returned from Stake Conference and from the ordination.

We were able to visit with family and friends. We were delivering a walking stick to Bill Griffeth who was attending Wood Badge at Krupp Scout Hollow. It is hard to describe the feeling of home that came over me as we met with the Wood Badge course and presented the walking stick to Bill.

Saturday, August 23, we went to Island Park to find some walking sticks and to have a picnic with Stephen and Jodi and their kids. At our first stop, Lily got out of the car and was bitten by a wasp! I was able to get nine walking stick blanks. I plan to carve one for Lily and put a bee on the stick! Olivia’s birthday is coming up. She found a stick just her size; now all that is left is to carve it. And, Grant’s birthday is coming up on September 3, so he needs a new walking stick. Lots to do. I wonder how I got anything done while teaching school.

Speaking of school, this past week has been really hard not being at school. I suppose the focus needs to be on our mission and our service in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.

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July 31, 2008 by sbald1.

What an awesome family! Watching the family play at Seven Peaks in Provo was great time. We could be old and sit in the shade, get nervous when we weren’t sure where one of the kids were, or have our heart almost stop when Eric made Grace go with him on the Bomerrang! Can’t wait to see all of Michelle’s pictures to add with Stephen’s.  After our fun at Seven Peaks we met at Stephen and Patricia’s home in Orem where Stephen/Grandpa and Scott cooked Dutch Oven spuds, barbeque chicken and cobbler/cake. The cobbler was served with ice cream or whipped cream. The adult women, including Ashley, had a breakfast at IHOP and a pedicure while the men watched the kids. We traded places when all the guys went golfing near the Utah Lake. Oh, in the middle of the day we attended the Beattie Reunion that was held in Sandy, near Brian and Michelle’s home. Thanks to Brad and Amy for allowing all of us come to their home, after golfing and letter boxing, for some good food, great conversation, and pictures.

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July 3, 2008 by Stephen Baldwin.

Last Sunday we visited one of the wards in our stake. The ward meets in our building. We noticed a young couple and a distinguished looking lady sitting on the stand. I couldn’t see the lady’s face, just thinking it was a lady who would be speaking. When the counselor gave his greeting and welcomed visitors he recognized Sister Julie Beck, General Relief Society President - that was the lady. I then had to move so I could see her. She was there to witness the blessing of a grand child - her son is the Elder’s Quorum president in the ward. Sister Beck shared her testimony - it was a blessing to have been in the Timpview 3rd Ward. We had a nice conversation with Brother Beck after Sacrament meeting - he noticed our name tags. We were able to met Sister Beck and shake her hand.

July 3, 1890 is the date when Idaho became the 43rd state. This date is also the birthday of my younger brother, Lynn. It is easy to get a little homesick on a day when we think of home. Patricia even signed us up for an online version of the Rexburg Standard Journal! We could spend a lot of time reading the paper. I’m sure she will read every article.

We spent the morning at the LDS Employment Resource Services Center in Provo, still in the MTC-phase of our mission. Today we had some instruction of Safety matters and a tour of the DI building, learning where all of the exits are, as well as being encouraged to look for un-safe things and be ready to report them. It was supposed to only take about 15 minutes but the missionary took about an hour and half, maybe spending about 10 minutes on safety. The rest of the time he was sharing stories and articles, basically giving us his philosophy of how he coaches candidates. We spent some of our time, unsupervised, reviewing the Job Openings and Scholarship handouts. We had arranged for a young man (a junior in high school) to come in. We coached him, and his mom, by checking up to see that he was making progress in applying for scholarships. We helped him submit an application for a scholarship and encouraged him to write a couple of essays and up-date his Master Application. He will be coming back in a couple of weeks for some additonal help

We delivered a walking stick to one of my students who lives in Highland. No one was home when we got there so I left the stick leaning against the front door. Hopefully, she will notice and get it before someone else comes along and likes it! I miss seeing the students.

We had Abby come over for a couple of hours this afternoon so Amy and Bridget could go shopping with less worries. Brad and Dallen came by to pick her up; they had been golfing to help Dallen get ready for try-outs next Tuesday.

I have a large University of Phoenix class - 21 students! It is too large and will really tax me over the next six weeks.

Patricia is going to Boise for a couple days next week - leaving on a late flight Sunday evening and returning on Thursday afternoon. I will be spening Monday - Thursday in Heber Valley attending a school workshop about science assessments. I can’t pass up the opportunity to get three credits at no cost! Besides, I need to get enough credits to qualify for renewing my Idaho teaching certificate, since it expires on September 1. This workshop was already arranged before we received our mission call. It’s hard to not being doing our missionary work for that week, but I think we’ll make it up when we get back together on Thursday.

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June 30, 2008 by Stephen Baldwin.

We were asked to furnish a picture and scripture for a missionary plaque that will hang on the Bulletin Board in our ward! What an honor to be listed with the young people from our ward who are serving as missionaries! Being asked to do this had us searching through the scriptures and trying to remember scriptures that have had an impact upon us. I suppose it wouldn’t matter much which scripture was chosen, but we decided to use Alma 40:16-17: “And they went forth whithersoever they were led by the Spirit of the Lord, … And it came to pass that they Lord began to bless them, …” The scripture seemed to encapsulate what has led us to where we are today. Sometimes, the Spirit seems to direct us to do something that seems out of charachter, like selling a home we had lived in for 35+ years and leaving our home. There are some pretty deep roots which cause homesickness for home. I miss Rexburg, the people, friends, comforts, Cedar Badge and Scouting. Yes, we miss our family in Rexburg, but we will miss our family in Utah when it comes time to go home. We know we are where we are supposed to be and that we will be blessed for acting upon the promptings of the Spirit. I miss the students from Mountainville Academy, but get to hear from them through email and phone calls. We love the people of our ward and are gaining a love for the people of the Orem Timpview Stake. We feel a sense of love and wanting to help people we haven’t even met yet.

We are learning that being ordinance workers in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple requires a dependence upon the Lord, especially to learn our assignment. We depend upon the Lord for all we have and the temple is helping me to re-learn that. I know I cannot help others if I try to learn the words of the covenants by myself.

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June 26, 2008 by Stephen Baldwin.

Today we went to the Employment Resources Services center from 8:30 AM - 2:00 PM. It was a long day but we accomplished much. We sat in on while our trainer, Brother Goodworth, coached a recently baptized member and college graduate. We learned  a lot, but I think the greatest thing we learned was a stronger compassion for someone who is genuinely trying hard to be self-reliant.

We were able to meet with Sister Fulton, one of the other missionaries from our stake, to divide up the wards in our stake. We will work with five of the 10 wards, our own included. This was a fruitful meeting.

I also showed one of the veteran missionaries how to delete files from the desk top of a computer and helped her log into the Provident Living website! When she tried to log in the program wasn’t opening the way she was used to it. The program she used was using Firefox to access the Internet and it wouldn’t open the files properly. So I showed her how to find Internet Explorer and use it - it worked!

 When we finished the meeting with Sister Fulton we headed to Sandy to visit Michelle and her family. We had asked Michelle to take our missionary pictures. Our bishop has asked us to furnish a picture and favorite scripture so one of those missionary plaques can be put up with the rest of the missionaries from our ward.

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June 25, 2008 by Patricia Baldwin.

With lots of information coming in, I’m hoping it’s truly being stored in our brains somewhere for future use and we will be able to retrieve it when needed!  We have a great teacher.  We know we are doing what the Lord wants us to be doing.

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June 25, 2008 by Stephen Baldwin.

Yesterday’s experience watching our president, Brother Stevenson, (actually he is the director of the the LDS Employment Resource Services Center in Provo and is paid church employee) counsel with a young man about scholarships, we got to thinking about our own grand children and their prospects of going to college. We thought of Ashley, Carter, and Dallen probably because the young man had just completed his Sophmore year in high school and has already secured a $2000 scholarship. He is working and applying for additional scholarships, hoping to secure enough to pay his way through school and provide some spending money while attending school. His homework is to submit on application for a scholarship each day until he reaches his goal. He has a list of over 70 possible scholarships and is working to increase that list to 150+. I could see Ashley, Carter, and Dallen doing the same thing. The resources are available and it would give a “Wow!” to you. Here are some possible places to start: www.Finaid.org ; www.petersons.com ; and www.FastWeb.com . The young man I was telling you about started with FastWeb.com and is now expanding using the other resources mentioned. From one of the handouts we will be using:

Follow these simple instructions to find the web sites.

1. Type www.ldsjobs.org in the address bar of your Internet browser. Press enter.
2. Click on “Find Jobs and Other Opportunities”
3. Click on “Financial Aid (Educational)” Leave the country on “United States”. click “Next”
4. Click on the type of funding you want. then, click on “Next”
5. Click on each of the “All States. . .” and “UT”. Then, click “Search” (Search each one separately)

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June 22, 2008 by Stephen Baldwin.

It is hard to believe that we have been on a mission for a week. It has been a week of study and learning. There are so many things to learn about our sevice at the Provo Employment Resource Center and being stake employment specialists. Our testimony of the Lord’s work has strengthened our testimony and resolve to serve. The focus of our mission is to “perfect the saints,” whereas the focus of Elder and Sister Parker’s mission is to “proclaim the gospel” and the focus of Elder and Sister Watt’s (Max and Serena) mission is to “redeem the dead.” All three missions are to lead souls unto Christ. We have been taught, this past week, 90% of all we need to be successful missionaries; now we practice to become more comfortable with the work. We have called people and set up appointments; yet, we have much more to do for our stake. We have appointments set up for this coming week to check on the people’s progress and to counsel them about being successful in finding and securing job or improving their job. Our first mission (zone and district) meetings will be this Thursday. There is another missionary couple from our stake, so this week we will divide up our large stake so we can be more focused and serviceable.

I still taking time to carve walking sticks for friends who have made a difference in other people’s lives. My friend has been an excellent student and a kind friend. We were on our way to serve in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple when we delivered the walking stick. We have been asked to wear our missionary tags when we go anywhere to do church things; and, we can, if we choose, to wear our missionary tags any time we want - even when working in the yard!

I am excited to hear about Grant soon to earn his Arrow of Light - time for a new walking stick! It looks like I need to carve one for our first grand son to become an Eagle Scout - Carter earned his Eagle Scout rank not long ago.

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June 20, 2008 by Stephen Baldwin.

Jodi, Lexie, Mason, Lily, and I hike to the Y just east of the BYU campus. We were hiking during the hot time of the day. All though it was a hard hike for me, everyone seemed to get along just great. Mason chased four lizards and had a great time. Lily said she was hiking for her dad - Stephen had hike the Y with her last summer but carried her most of the way. I guess it was Lily’s way of saying Happy Father’s Day to Stephen.

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June 20, 2008 by Stephen Baldwin.

We have completed our first week of the mission. It was an awesome learning opportunity; our learning curve was very steep! We are learning so many new things and our testimony continues to grow. We are doing what we know is the right thing to do. I’ll write more later.

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