Challis Power

In the quiet morning there is reverence.  Santa in the library.  All the way from Alaska to make our days merry and bright.  Christmas and children:  joy!  It appears that I fell of the edge of the blogging world, but am hanging on barely to tell my few faithful readers farewell and THANK YOU for reading the past fifteen months.    Just under three weeks before our release date.   Emotional.   I think there may be a few tears when the mission sings, “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again,” even though I have been telling myself, “No.”             Things I won’t miss:   library training; library drama; sticking to a prescribed schedule; the inversion; the drive to Wal-Mart; fighting sleep while staring at the computer screen.                    Things I will miss:   Sunday morning wit...

Writing at times seems like “mission impossible,” especially when it comes to recording events that I know I won’t be able to find words to describe.   So a feeble attempt.             I took leave from the mission from December 7 to December 14 and flew to Kansas, using new baby Wesley as my reason for absence.   I did get cuddle time--and pacing time--with him and also time to enjoy my other Kansas kids.   Not enough time.   When it was time to leave, 3-year-old Benson spread himself wide across the door and told me, “Don’t you dare!”    A grandma divided is a mix of happy-sad—always.             The week before Kansas, some of Elder Challis’ siblings joined us for dinner and a walk through the lights.   Cold noses, but warm hearts.   The two of us have discovered that the best time to walk through the lights is at 6 am.   We ...

I hope it’s true that pictures are “worth a thousand words” because I am too tired on a Sunday night for many words.   And looking at the schedule next week, I see there won’t be time to “multiply many words.”                Seven  reasons to give thanks for the week:                 We had company!  Helen Walton spent Sunday afternoon with us. So nice!  We had a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving with the Moon Family, filled with turkey, the best fresh cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin pie—and Turkey Bingo.   We were safe in the snow—and what a beautiful sight it was walking around in huge flakes early Thursday morning. The lights are on in Temple Square. We witnessed the sealing of Elder Challis’ niece in the beautiful Payson Temple. We broke our fast today with Christopher, Melissa, Harrison, Mary, and June.  Then we watched "Prince of Peace" for FHE....

Tis the season of feasting and we started our week with a spiritual feast.   Monday morning devotionals are always inspiring, but this week especially so.   It was presented by the Support Services Zone where well over a hundred missionaries support paid employees with such tasks as creating security cards, organizing interpreters, answering questions from prospective senior couples, supporting humanitarian missionaries, maintaining mineral and water rights on church property, overseeing Church farms and ranches, reaching out to those who in correctional facilities, establishing indexing programs in prisons…to name a few!     Listening, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the job--and magnitude of the blessings.   Especially touching, were the thoughts expressed by the elder who oversees the outreach to correctional facilities.   Blessing broken lives.               Monday evening, our MTC gr...

The past two weeks we’ve put a lot of miles on the Escape, driving back and forth to Utah Valley. Our daughter, Megan, flew in from Anchorage for a week to tend her daughter Challis after ACL surgery.   Rough for Challis and for Megan, but nice for us to have some time with Megan. It was a hard farewell at the end of the week, Megan wondering if Challis could manage on her own—and Challis wondering the same thing.   We’ve seen Challis since and she is doing it!               With Lindsey and Brent, we went to the Timpview musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” which Lindsey choreographed.   My cousin, Grant, and his wife, Tessa, met us there.   It was nice to connect with them and applaud Lindsey’s success.   Even though she’s not teaching fulltime, she still has her toe in the dance world.             More miles on the car were added w...

Some highlights of the week: A veteran missionary at the Library requested that the topic of 10-minute training be about using source linker. Of course, I had to find a record hint in my own family to create the training.      I “randomly” chose a hint which eventually, with some homework (which I try not to do), led to finding a “missing person,” Annie Fullard.   I and others had assumed that Annie and her sister Nellie were the same person.     Once I created Annie in the tree and attached sources, the search engine gave me more about her husband and children.   Maybe not random? Christopher and Melissa joined us at the Mount Timpanogos Temple on Friday evening for a sealing session.   The sealer had a sense of humor:   “You don’t have to have brains to be a sealer—just good hair.”   Even though the other couples in the room were strangers, it didn’t feel like it.   And there were likely other “familiar spirits” with us. ...

  Saturday, until late afternoon, we were enjoying running around in the sunshine.   Then the wind came up and was quite serious about bringing us winter. The next morning, we were looking for coats, heat pads, and wool socks while snowflakes fell.      Sad the brilliant fall colors are mostly faded and carpeting the ground.   Time for Christmas lights—I wish!             The library remains busy, especially with groups.   Some come and stay the entire week.   Elder Challis has many opportunities to help, while I am mostly in the zone office organizing prayer meetings, training and scheduling trainers; making birthday cards and banners.   Who knew organizing missionaries would be practically a full time job?             It was another fun week with family:   playing in a corn box—not a sandbox, but a corn box; ...

We took advantage of a full “temple day” on Thursday and a p-day on Friday to go to Parowan and St. George where we hiked, shoveled rock, visited with family, and   went to the Temple.               We arrived in Parowan on Wednesday in time to hike up the Red Hill above the cemetery, coming down in the almost dark.   Beautiful views of the valley, the canyon and Valentine Peak.               Thursday morning, we were in the Temple.   Glad for the opportunity to be there one more time before it closes.   We stepped into the East Sealing Room where we were sealed 46 years ago. “Sunrise, sunset, swiftly flow the years.”     I also remembered specific places where I was with my grandparents who worked with great love in the Temple for several years.             ...

A pretty great week culminated with the baptism of our grandson, Harrison John Challis on October 12.   He is a good example to his sisters and little cousins who eagerly witnessed—and even to those of “riper years” who were reminded of covenants.   Hank is always quick to show gratitude.             Among family members who gathered were our daughter, Noel, and her husband, Darrin, who had flown out from Kansas to meet Darrin’s new granddaughter.   Wonderful to spend time with them.   After sharing so much time with Noel in Olathe, the separation has been hard.               Mid-week we enjoyed a happy reunion with long-time friends from Olathe, Cory and Chris Wofford. They will soon be on their way to New Zealand to serve a mission.   They will be a blessing to those they serve—the salt of the earth. We enjoyed getting caught up on Olathe ...

Last week I took a break from being Sister Challis at the Library to be Grandma CC in Alpine, caring for Hank (8), Mary (5), and June (2).   Their dad, Christopher, had the opportunity to travel to London to make a presentation for Adobe.   Melissa decided to go along; they tacked on a few days in Switzerland after London. My days with the kids were full of different challenges from those in the Library:   getting kids in the car and dropped off at school; breaking up spats (not too many of those at the Library);   trying to determine what color sippy cup June really wanted;   getting all to bed!       It was a bit like “herding cats,” but I made the exact same observation on a hectic Monday afternoon at the Library during a futile attempt to organize all the prayer meetings for the week.             Conference was wonderful.   We got to attend the Sunday morning session.   I wis...

We were blessed with an abundance of family time last week.   Monday, after mission devotional, we drove to Mapleton, Utah for the graveside service of Mary Challis.   There were several family members in attendance that could not be in Reno for the funeral.   Again, we were touched by the faith and strength of Mary’s children and grandchildren and by that of Elder Challis’, brother Dave—evidence of the Holy Ghost   as Comforter.               Challis siblings were together again on Friday evening to celebrate the birthday of Elder Challis’ sister, Annette.   Together, they pulled up a lot of shared growing-up memories and young parent memories that kept us laughing.   We were in need of “laughter medicine”—the best.             Our grandson, Harrison, is a “high-five-plus-three” and looking forward to his baptism on October 12.   Th...

We had permission to leave mission boundaries to make the seven and half hour drive to Reno on Friday to attend the funeral, Saturday, of Mary Challis, the wife of Elder Challis’ younger brother, Dave.   Mary had been battling lung cancer, she and her family on a roller coaster of hope and despair for two years.   She was only 59.   The word “fun” is over-used, but truly does describe Mary, as was so sweetly portrayed by three of her daughters.   We were blessed to witness the love, faith, and strength in her family.   Mary was “distinct and different in happy ways” and thus her influence was magnified in an “unprecedented way”   (President Nelson, “A Plea to My Sisters).   Her children are evidence of that.             We chose to drive back to SLC after the family dinner in Reno on Saturday, even though we knew we wouldn’t arrive until about midnight.   We wanted to attend Hank a...

Saturday morning, we hiked Grandeur Peak, opting for the longer, but less steep trail from Mill Creek Canyon.   It was still plenty steep with a 2500 feet elevation gain in 3 miles. My regular “hikes” up Capitol Hill did not prepare me. My legs are still sore.   Grandeur Peak is just south of the mouth of Parley’s Canyon (I-80) so the westward view is the wide expanse of the city.   The early inhabitants of the valley would surely be amazed.    To the east, there were layers of mountains and canyons in shadow and light.   Near the lower part of the trail, there are beautiful waterfalls.             Christopher, Melissa, Jaynie and Lindsey joined us for a session in the Salt Lake Temple Saturday evening.   It was good for us to be there together—a spiritual peak.             We missed the choir broadcast this week in favor of Henley’s Prim...

I am changing the lyrics to “Sunshine in My Soul” this morning: “There are clouds in the sky today, and I hope the raindrops fall.”    Maybe i t’s the farm girl in me thinking that it’s been too hot and dry.             On Labor Day, we labored at the library until 5pm.   Surprisingly, we did have patrons there who decided to forego picnics and concerts in favor of hard research—which is no picnic.   I spent most of the day reviewing new training—no picnic there either, just bugs.   After work, we waited for cooler temperatures to hike a couple of miles on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, accessing the section by Hoogle Zoo.   Great view of the city from there, with the added bonus of a stunning sunset.             It turns out our mission president, President Fenn, is not only a Book of Mormon scholar, but also a pizza aficionado. He and Sis...