While I Was Away

Hello Everyone. It’s good to be back. I sure needed the summer to get my heart back together, so thanks for your patience.

Before I give you a run down on the last 3 months, I have some really exciting news!

Sam got his mission call!

I know – can you believe he is old enough already? Actually, at almost 20, he is nearly a year older than most missionaries when they start their missions. I think that extra year was good for him {read good for me to have more time with him}.

He will be serving in the Taiwan Taichung Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He’ll be gone for two years and will be speaking Mandarin Chinese the entire time. He enters the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, UT on November 7. You read that right. Only 6 Saturdays from today!

If you are interested in getting regular updates from him, be sure to visit the new blog we created to keep a record of his pictures and letters. You can sign up for email or RSS feed updates at ElderSamGish.blogspot.com.

Okay – so here is the run down from this past summer:

JUNE

Girls Camp.

• I never think the next camp can ever be as wonderful as the last one. But I am happy that I am always proven wrong.

JULY

Trek!

In a word. Amazing!

• Chase with his Trek Family.

• Crossing the Bog.

• Sacred Inclines

• Strength.

• One heart. One mind.

(See more pictures at Jen Perkes Photography and on You Tube.)

August

Multi-stake Young Women Conference.

2 Days

300 Young Women

1 Incredible Experience

• 1000 tray cards for Hospitals and Nursing Homes and 1500 First Aid kits for local homeless shelters.

• 100 Blankets for Children

Training for our Laurel Class Presidents in our stake with Sister Elaine Dalton.

The highlight for September (in addition to Sam’s call), will be posted later. Here’s a hint: We surprised the boys with a trip just like this one.

Hugs!

Photo credit: Brittany Soucy, Jen Perkes, Heather Van Geisen and Elaine Berndt.