Well, I haven't forgotten how to hem a dress. Several wonderful sisters helped me hem temple dresses, jackets and other clothes so that I could get ready for my mission. Thanks to you all for your help.  One of my temple dresses was still too long as I spend my day in a chair at a desk, so when I would stand I would step on it. So last night and today, I worked on hemming my dress. I sewed the hem in by hand! Grateful that sewing isn't something I have forgotten due to stroke etc. Thanks again to all who helped me get ready.  God lives, He hears and answers our prayers and He helps so that we can help ourselves sometimes.  Oh, and a husband isn't a seamstress!!! But mine was a great help.   Have a great day, we go to the temple shortly.

This is a very late journal entry starting Tuesday, Feb 28, the day we finally take off from Salt Lake headed to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Tuesday- Feb 28th:
We left the house finally about noon- heading for St. George, Utah. We got one house away when I told Craig to stop.- I had to find my cell phone. Back in the house Meredith, Natalie & Ethan are watching. Ethan's question to mom, Meredith, when we stopped, and the car door opened- "Is Canada only one house away?"-- Cell phone is found, and off we go- we are on our way.  Now we make it to 21st South and Bangarter when Craig realizes that he had forgot to pack his good black shoes- so we turn around and head back to Meredith's again. I also remember of a bag that is needed along with my winter boots. We get home to surprised family members, we grab the missing items and stuff them into an already packed car and we leave once more!  This all took about an hour! So we are already an hour behind on our schedule! But travel is good and we make it to Paul and Martha Carroll's in Richfield, Utah in good time. There is some snow but roads are clear. Our visit with Paul and Martha is short but very sweet and all to soon we are back in the car headed to St George, Utah. We soon discover that we left behind the anniversary book the children had made us at the Carroll's, so its turn around once more and retrace our steps. Book back in hand we head out again. Again we see God's blessings as we travel, Outside of Cedar City, Utah we see large black storm clouds between us and St. George. Yet as we near them they break apart and all of us on the road travel on in safety. Those storm clouds ended up in the Salt Lake Valley area which got really snowed on that night.  We arrive at Jerry and Jeri Jo Cox's around 7:15 pm, tired and hungry. The tank of gas was all but gone, but we did get good mileage- we travel 370 miles on that tank of gas.
Jeri Jo has made a delicious minestrone soup that we all enjoy. We talk and visit and reminisce about the past until after 11pm, I'm exhausted but was so very happy to spend even this short time with my foster brother and his wonderful wife.

Wednesday- Feb 29th:
We are up bright and early 6:00 am for me and Craig shortly thereafter. A quick shower and breakfast, reload up the car, get gas and we are on the road again. We didn't forget anything and don't have to backtrack for anything! We are headed to Albuquerque, NM.

By 10:00 we are in Flagstaff, AZ. We have passed the Vermillion Cliffs and some beautiful scenery. We grab a quick bite and get gas. Our elevation at one point was over 7,200 feet- a definite difference from Salt Lake City. Most of our travel has been on 2-lane roads today, but now we rejoin  a freeway.
Late that night we pull into the Holiday Inn Hotel in Albuquerque, NM. We grab a bite, and go to bed. My feet are badly swollen from inactivity- just sitting all day in the car. We resolve to stop more often and give me a chance to walk around for a few minutes. I also find that with effort I can put my feet up on the dashboard of the car, that seems to help also.

Wednesday, March 1:
Its up early and get ready to go, our goal is to get to Kansas, Oklahoma to Ray and Roberta Crabtree's.
 We delay our start just a little as we find the Albuquerque Temple. It is so lovely below a cloudless blue sky. We walk inside and talk to the brother at the recommend desk. There are 3 stakes in the city, and more in the surrounding areas.  As we travel we check in with family at home on our cell phones. Then its Oklahoma bound for us!

March2-3
We arrived late that night on the 1st. Ray and Roberta meet us to guide us into the very rural area where they live. The area is called the Illinois River Ranch. It's beautiful to be in the back woods. They have raccoons, squirrels, a bear and other assorted animals nearby.  We enjoy not traveling for a couple of days. It's been a few years since we have all seen each other and we talk and catch up for 2 days. We are out of contact with family at home, by phone, during this time, but we have prepared them for that. On Saturday, we empty the back seat of the car and Ray and Craig repack, its so very much better.

Sunday, March 4th
Ray and Roberta lead us out of the Illinois River Ranch and back to paved roads and we are on the road again. We drive to Littlerock, Arkansas where we stop to attend Sacrament Meeting. Its a beautiful sunny, windy day. Its nice to see something as familiar as an LDS Chapel. This is the Benton Ward, and today is their Ward Conference. The meeting was wonderful. The talks by their Bishop and Stake President are timely and very spiritual.  Afterwards lots of folks, including the Stake President come to see who the new missionaries are. When we tell that we are on the way to our mission, traveling from Utah, the #1 response is- "If you're going to Canada, what are you doing in Arkansas?"  But we are very glad for the opportunity to have met with some truly wonderful Saints.
After Sacrament Meeting, we bid farewell and head for Bowling Green, Kentucky and Dian (Tune) Lopez.  Once more we arrive in the dark, but have a wonderful visit with Dian, and her 2 daughters. Dian puts us up for the night.

Monday, March 5th
Our itinerary for today is to get to Columbus, Ohio. We are headed to visit a dear Facebook friend. We are taking her a CD by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  It turns out that she is sick, but we make it a very short visit. Judy, you are the best. We spend the night here.

Tuesday, March 6th
We head to Kirtland, Ohio. We are anxious to see the temple grounds and the LDS Church visitor sites. One of the couple's we met in the MTC is here and we hope to say hi.  We miss the Riches's but enjoy so very much our time in Kirtland. The Temple is not our Church's right now but you can feel the spirit of the area, all the sacrifices that were made to build the first modern day temple. Then we head to Erie, Pennsylvania to see Craig's last uncle- Uncle Don Polyagi. He is very sick and suffering from lung cancer. We have been praying to get to see him once more. When he sees us enter his room at the care facility he is at, he is visibly moved and cries. He can't believe that we would travel all this way to see him. We meet one of his sisters, and some of his nieces- wonderful folks.  Our visit was meant to be very short, but Don seems to need us there, so we spend over 6 hours there with him. He is visibly shaken after a meeting with a hospice company that his sisters have found. He doesn't trust this company and is very upset.  As we visit with him we mention that Craig hold's the priesthood and that he is able to give him a blessing if he desires. He agrees. The blessing given promises peace and love.
When night falls we finally leave for our hotel. We leave Uncle Don with heavy, grateful hearts and we know that he is in God's hands.

Wednesday, March 7th
We head for Afton, New York to visit Phil's parents, the Gregory's. We had planned to spend the night there, but that feel through. They have a lovely house and we enjoy our visit. Then we head back into Pennsylvania for lunch at Wilkes-Barre with Betty Jean Hastings. What a woman, we love her immediately. She is a distant cousin, and has helped Craig alot with his genealogy. We eat a really nice Chinese Buffet, the food was delicious and the washbi was hot!  We had fun taking pictures with her, and even recruited a strange to help with the pictures. She is alone in life, and we wish we were closer in distance.  We now head for Saratoga Springs, NY and for David and Teresa Swick's. They are also cousins of Craigs. But we have visited here a couple times. They live in a lovely community. They even have a couple of horses now. Craig and I pay them, the horses,  a visit on Thursday and feed them some carrots. Teresa cooks a delicious lasagna that we enjoy that night first night.

Thursday- March 8th
 A quiet relaxing day.

Friday- March 9th
 Another quiet day with some genealogy time also. We help David with his computer running some scans to help it become faster.

Saturday, March 10th


We bid farewell and head for Burlington, Vermont. We have a short stop in Moriah Center, New York.
We visit Barbara Urban, another distant cousin that has helped Craig with genealogy.  After a short visit and some pictures we head for Burlington again. Once in town the first stop is at Dakin Farm for some maple sugar candy and some of the wonderful Vermont Cheddar and Smoked Cob cheeses. We are staying with President Fife. His wife is in Florida taking a special class.  We learn about eating vegan and Craig and President Fife talk about their time in the then Burlington Branch now a ward.

Sunday- March 11th
Eating at Al's is not eating vegan, but its ohh so tasty. We go there several times during our time in Burlington. We go to church here. The ward has really changed but still a few old-timers that remember Craig.  Turns out the he is the first member to join the church there and then serve as a full-time missionary from there also. So he is quite the celebrity.

Monday-March 12th
It's time to visit cemeteries. I will put flowers on his parents graves today, something I have wanted to do for so very many years. With the directions we have been given we really do find his parents headstone. It requires some clean up, which we gladly do, then we go in search of flowers, and later that day we put flowers on their headstone. Some of the Edwards' are buried in the  Greenmount or Ethan Allen Cemetry. Here we find markers that are overgrown and need care. We spent some time looking for Craig's great grandparents- Henry Richardson Edwards and Asenath Wetherell Edwards. We wander around for 15-30 minutes. I finally feel prompted to stop beside a grave marker that is totally covered in moss. With a little work we soon realize that this is the lost marker. We are ecstatic!
We spend time cleaning markers and getting pictures and feel so good when the job is done.
In the afternoon we go to visit Wilbur and Edie Clark. We have a wonderful visit and catch up on each other's families. Craig and Wilbur worked together at IBM. Then we go pay a visit with Lyle Remmick. He and Craig were in school together. His wife has passed away and he is in the process of moving out of his house into a senior housing facility and we are so grateful that we touch base with him.

Tuesday, March 13th-
 We head for Randolph, Vermont to visit Craig's cousin Al Daubenschmidt. He is all grown up and run's an Italian Pizza etc restraurant. We have lunch there and the food is wonderful. They are suprised and happy to see us after such a long time. Al's wife, Lisa, is the cook and a terrific one at that.  Going too and from their restraurant we see evidence of the immense flooding that Vermont experienced last year.  After lunch we head for Stockbridge to visit Barbara Green another distant relative for Craig. Her house is wonderful and she has a gorgeous large white poodle. Our visit is short but we are glad to see her.

Wednesday, March 14th
 We bid a farewell to Burlington and President Fife- he is so wonderful and was such a gracious host to us.  We head to Concord, New Hampshire. Juanita Martin and her mother Virginia are here. We have a short visit with these sweet ladies. Virginia was so leary to let us take her picture, she had falling recently and her face was black and blue. Juanita helped Craig with some of his genealogy also.  Sure wish we had had more time, they really need help taking care of the state of their trailer, I hope they get it.

Thursday, March 15th
Today finds us at the Boston Temple. Its so beautiful, its steeple is unlike any we have seen on a temple. We are able to go in and do a session, the celestial room is so beautiful and one we will always remember.  We visit with the temple President and his Matron, and tell them how we had gotten a phone call to come there, but that we had already accepted the call to Halifax.  They want to kidnap us, heheheheh. We are staying with Joany's son Kenny. What a wonderful person.  He takes us out on some sightseeing. We are interested in the John Adams plantation, and interestingly enough we find out that back in Salt Lake our granddaughter Mallory was doing a report on  President John Adam's wife Abigail. They are happy to get the pictures we took. That night, Kenny and Kristi, his sister, take us out to a fabulous Chinese Restraunt. They have such a big selection its hard to choose, but it was all delicious and a wonderful evening.

Friday, March 16th
We hug Kenny and thank him for letting us stay and we head for Bangor, Maine. We spend the night here and Craig's cousins  Bonnie and Dave Dunaway meet us at the hotel and then take us out to Captain Nicks for a fish dinner. The Lobster stew was wonderful and the whole meal great. They have several grandchildren with them and we enjoy them so very much. Our journey is almost over, its been long but so full of wonderful memories- so very worth all the hours of car travel.

Saturday, March 17th
Top of the morning, its St Patrick's Day!  We leave Bangor, Maine and head for the Canadian border. We get to the border crossing by about 10:30 am. We spend an hour or more waiting to see an immigration officer about getting our Visas. By the time we finally get the needed documentation and cross over, it is about 1:00 pm (we cross a time zone again also). Our cell phones are not working throughout our drive in New Brunswick we have no contact with family or with mission folks. Finally we cross into Nova Scotia. At one point, Craig looks at me and says, " Someone is praying for us! I can feel it, they are praying for our safe arrival.  Within a very short time we get cell phone coverage again. First call is to President and Sister Robinson to let them know where we are. They are going to feed us dinner so we go to their place first.  They are so very happy to see us and are such wonderful people.  We are able to contact all most all of the children and let them know that we have arrived safely.  Dinner is a mashed potato casserole with scallops Craig is in heaven!!! After dinner they lead us by car to the apartment and to meet Elder and Sister Bauer. We will share the apartment for the next 2 weeks and they train us in our new job duties. We are so tired and ready for bed. Trip is over, but the adventure has just begun.

It was a good weekend. Saturday at the temple was stressful, but there were blessings too. I didn't fall, but while Craig was officiating on a session President Veinot got sick and passed out. The brethern got him out of the session room, and with rest and water/juice he was fine by the end of the day. Church on Sunday was wonderful. Its so wonderful seems Sacrament is introduction to what Sunday School and Relief Society expand on. We were invited over to the Pillings for our first at member's house dinner. They have a wonderful family. Their oldest son is preparing to leave on a mission to Paris, France. At the same time the family is preparing to move back to Edmonton, Alberta. Dinner was delicious. We came home and had a wonderful Skype conversation with Amy and her children.  Shauna's cat has had 5 baby kittens-one for each of her children to hold and love!!! It was a stressful, long night it sounds like in her household when mommy kitty went into labor.  We are loving the availability of the haddock here, we can get it very reasonably priced and are enjoying it 2-3 times a week. It's a very nice, tender white fish. We had a beautiful spring week, I even got out and did some walking last week. We are glad to be here, we see God's blessings all around us with these wonderful Nova Scotians. Please know that we know that God hears and answers our prayers, he sustains and strengthens us through our trials, he sent His Son to atone for our sins and to overcome physical death-- we shall live again.

March 7th finds us headed to Palmyra, New York. Spring hasn't really come to New York yet, but we are glad to be here. When we drive up to the temple, it's gates are locked. A lovely sister on a bike rides up and opens the gates and says to us, "Welcome to the temple and we'll see you this evening when the temple is open." We have no plans at this point in the day of being here that night. We stop to visit Elder and Sister Shumway who live next to the temple grounds. They were in the MTC with us and are serving a temple mission here.  It turns out that Phil's parents will not be able to put us up tonight so our itinerary has a hiccup!!!  We go back to the Shumway's and they invite us to spend the night with them and to come do a session at the temple. It turns out that the sister that unlocked the gates to the temple is the temple matron! She and her husband know our temple President and Matron up in Halifax. We find our temple clothes in our car and spend the day touring. It's been a long time since we have been to the sacred grove probably since shortly after our marriage.

Mar 7th, 2012- Palmyra New York Temple

Eating area inside the Joseph Smith family home that has been restored.

The awe inspiring Sacred Grove.

It may not be spring, but a special spirit is here no matter the season. There is even wooden benches where you can stop and meditate and contemplate your relationship with God and his children

The Visitors Center- wonderful missionaries, seniors and sisters

The Angel Moroni statue atop the Hill Cumorah- site of the Hill Cumorah pageant each year. We call our children and bear testimony that God hears and answers prayers- ours, theirs and the Prophet Joseph Smith!

Hill Cumorah Visitors Center- March 7th, 2012

All the stained glass windows of the temple are of trees to represent the Sacred grove. It is so very lovely to see at night all lite up.

Back to our cross-country trip and pictures. After Ohio we head to Erie, PA.  It is Mar 6th. Craig's last remaining Uncle Don is battling lung cancer and we really want to see him.  When we arrive at the care facility where he is he breaks down and cries. He can't believe that we would come this all this way to see him.  We had planned on just a short visit, but he seems to need much more. We stay for over 6 hours visiting with him, and some of his family. We eat a meal with him, and really enjoy our time there. At one point he has an evaluation with a company about going into hospice care. He comes from this evaluation quite upset, he doesn't trust this company and is very stressed.  As we visit with him we let him know that Craig can give him a priesthood blessing to help him find some peace. This sweet man who was raised Catholic agrees. He is promised peace and love, and we are all at peace afterword. Night falls and we leave to find a place to spend the night.  Don is on our mind's and we know that we must continue our trip, we leave him in God's hands.  It turns out that after our visit he health continued to fail and one week later he passes from this life to the next.  We know that Craig's parents, his wife Jeanne and others met this humble, great man and we will miss him greatly.

Uncle Don, a visiting niece, and Craig- Erie, PA Mar 6, 2012

Craig and I with Uncle Don. We love you and miss you Don!

The Columbus, Ohio LDS Temple- Mar 6, 2012

The Kirtland Temple- Mar 6, 2012

Sign about the temple from the Community of Christ Church- Mar 6, 2012

We stop in at the LDS Church Visitor's Center, and enjoy a visit with the Senior couples serving there.

We visit a facebook friend- Judy Della Flora in Columbus. We leave her a CD by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Even though she was sick, we enjoyed a short visit. Such a wonderful person. We spend the night in Columbus. Before we leave the area, we find and take pictures of the Columbus, Ohio LDS Temple. Then we head for Kirtland, Ohio. It was a very moving experience. Although the temple is no longer a dedicated temple, on its grounds you can feel of the spirit of Saints and what the sacrifices they made to build this first temple. We stopped in at the LDS Visitor's Center hoping to the Elder and Sister Rich- they were in the MTC. They were at a different site to far away for our time constraints. Then its back on the road again, we are headed to Erie, Pennsylvania

Sunday, March 3rd finds us back on the road. the part of Arkansas we see is lovely.  We stop in Little Rock to attend their Sacrament Meeting. It is a lovely ward. We happened to be there for their Ward Conference. The talks were wonderful and we were spiritual feed.  Of course when folks realized that we were from Utah and going to Nova Scotia--- the next question was, "Well, what are you doing in Arkansas? Then its back on the road to get to Bowling Green, Kentucky to spend the night at Dian (Lopez) Tune. It was just wonderful to see her and her girls and grandchildren. Thanks Dian you are the best.

Tree-lined free-way in Arkansas- Mar 4th

The wonderful ward where we attended Sacrament Meeting

We found some snow in Tennessee, but the roads were clear, we are heading to Columbus, Ohio-Mar 5, 2012

Further on down the road its miles and miles of farm land waiting on spring for crops to be planted.

The Illinois River- Oklahoma- Mar 3, 2012

Amanda and her hubby Mar 2, 2012

Roberta doing one of her favorite things- cooking- Mar 2, 2012

The back woods of Oklahoma- they had to lead us in! Mar 2, 2012

Ray and daughter Amanda- Mar 2, 2012

Ray and Roberta's home- Illinois River Ranch, Oklahoma- Mar 2, 2012

After several days of 10-12 hours of driving, it was nice to take a few days off and visit with our dear friends Ray and Roberta Crabtree and their daughter Amanda. They have a lovely place, even if it is in the middle of nowhere. Supposedly there is bear, cougar and foxes  and racoons as there neighbors!

Interesting day in the temple today, I was in the office alone when I tripped over one of the plastic mats on the floor. Alright girls, before you panic read on- especially you Jaralynn and Meredith. I bumped my head, getting a bruise on my forehead, and bruising on my left thigh, but I AM OKAY! One of our sealer's walked into the office seconds after the fall and got me some help. They sent us home so I could rest. I took a 4 hour nap and am feeling much better now.

Trials come our way, that is a part of life. Thank goodness that Heavenly Father helps us through our trials, and strengthens our faith.

 It has been a long driving day,- Charlotte in Oklahoma- Mar 1, 2012

Entering Texas- Mar 1, 2012

Craig outside the Albuquerque Temple- Mar 1, 2012

The Albuquerque, New Mexico Temple- beautiful early morning sky- Mar 1, 2012

Moe cliffs, these are brown and white- Also Feb 29, 2010

Okay, I will finally start posting some of the pictures of our trip across country on our way to Halifax:

The beautiful Vermillion Cliffs of Arizona- Feb 29, 2012

Is it Easter or Christmas?

Happy Easter to friends and family!  This is outside my window when I woke up this morning in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia! Well, looks like I get to wear snow boots to church today!  

Elder and Sister Baures beging the feast- with them Sister Vince Vincent and SisterHeather Devlin

Going home cake

Sister Baures and Heather Devlin

This has been Elder and Sister Baures last week in the missionfield as our trainers. They leave tomorrow morning for their trip back to Wisconsin. So there have been activities all week for them. They have been terrific trainers, we have learned from the masters. We will miss them so very much. Monday night was our FHE group's get-together.  These pictures are of them and the cake we shared that evening. We were priviledged to attend a short meeting Friday evening at the temple. It was The Presidency and the Matrons, the Baures and us. The Temple presidency and Matrons thanked the Baures for the great job they had done and presented them with a lovely framed picture of the temple so that they would never forget their time here. Testimonies were born, it was a beautiful experience.

Very long day! We arose at 4:30, yes children, your dad actually got up at 4:30 am without a groan or complaint! We were at the temple at 6:00 am, and we got home like 20 minutes ago about 9:00 pm! Tomorrow is the last day with our trainers. They leave on Monday morning for home (Wisconsin). We start at 7:00 am tomorrow and will get home around 3:30 pm. It's such a wonderful experience, and we are learning and growing- we give thanks to all of you that remember us in your prayers and thanks to a loving Heavenly Father. We had extra sessions for Good Friday. We did over a thousand ordinances today! That may be a hole in the bucket in Utah temples, but for here it was a great day. It was amazing to see all the workers and patrons that were there all day also for a chance to do work for their family. It was like the "Day of Sacrifice" that we have had in Utah several times. 

 

 

This is for April 4th

 

Just wanted all to know that we have been in Nova Scotia for a few weeks now. The weather is very cool, but it is a lovely place. Our training in the temple continues this week, then we will be on our own. Craig is being trained as an assistant recorder, and I am being trained as the office assistant. We will be the only people in the office. In addition, we have to do the scheduling of the workers for each session. Boy, all those who have served as co-ordinators at Oquirrh Mountain, I have a new found respect for you. We do a new schedule for each day's schedule because the workers vary so much. I haven't decided if planning for a group of 40 workers is any easier than trying to plan for 10-12! We only get to do ordinance work occasionally as one of us has to be in the office at all times.

 Our trip out here went so very well. We were able to see lots of family and friends. We stopped in Erie, PA to Craig's last remaining uncle. He was sick with lung cancer. It really touched him that we would plan our trip so that we could stop and see him. We had only planned a short visit, but we spent over 6 hours with him, and stayed that night in a hotel. The highlight was when he was very upset about his family trying to get him into a hospice program. He agreed to Craig giving him a priesthood blessing (He was raised Catholic). There was no blessing of health, but one of peace. After we left he went downhill fast and passed away one week later. We are so grateful for the time we spent with him. We also got to do a session at Palmyra and Boston temples on our trip out. We stopped one Sunday for church in Little Rock, Arkansas. You should have seen the Stake President's face when we stated that we were on the way to a mission in Halifax, Nova Scotia.I think he thought we were lost.

We keep you all in our prayers. We miss your smiles and your hugs. We are so glad that we are where we are and our family is definitely receiving blessings.

We sure enjoyed conference and learned so very much. I think my next poem will be about the "Song of Faith."

love,

Elder and Sister Edwards