Fort Wingate Army Depot

Fort Wingate was a large army depot which was shut down in the 1980s.  It has 22,000 acres.  We drove through the gate and found cars from about six different states but no people.  Even found a building with 51 on it.  It felt like we were in some outer space movie.  We did find a man on a four wheeler who told us what was going on.  The land is being prepared to go back to the Navajos.  There are inspectors going out looking for bombs and decommissioning them.  They have emptied the bunkers out but there are bombs scattered throughout the property.  He speculated the bunkers may be turned into housing for the Indians. The bunkers are very large and well built.  It was a ghost town.

Checking Out the Country

We drove up the mountain behind our new home.  Along the side of the road was this small burial site.  There are no buildings or towns nearby.  Someone cared enough to make a special place for a loved one to be buried.

New Mexico Sights As We Drive

 New Mexico has had an abundance of rain this year.  Everything was green.

On Our Way to New Mexico

We have finished our training at the MTC and are heading to New Mexico.  Elder Boyter has his cowboy hat on and ready to go to work.

MTC Senior Missionaries

There were 86 senior missionaries that came in the week we did.  This is just a small group of us.  Amazing people.

Visiting With Our Singapore Returned Missionaries

 Sister Madison Lenhart was home about a week when we went to dinner with her and her family.

Elder Jacob Wadsworth came home the same day as Madison.  We were able to go to his homecoming with Elder and Sister Schallenberg.

Payson Temple

Saturday morning while at the MTC we were able to go to the Payson Temple, the first week they were open, with Bob and Nan French.  It is a beautiful temple.  Very special day with good friends.

Baptism Can Be Dangerous

This is a picture of a baptism in Africa.  If you look close, you can see the men on the left with axes ready to save the people being baptized.  There were many interesting pictures from around the world that showed missionaries working in different countries.

Sister Missionaries in Prayer

Elder Boyter took a picture of one of the pictures hanging in the hall of the MTC.  We sent the picture to our children.  After Sabrina saw the picture she said that the taller blond sister missionary is her husband's, CG, cousin.  His cousin is best friends to the artist's daughter.  Small world.

Tradition

One of the traditions of being at the MTC is to stand in front of the large map and have your picture taken pointing at the location you are going to.  This time we are going to New Mexico to serve among the Navajo Indians.

President Erickson

President Erickson met with us at 8:30 am on Sunday morning to set us apart for our mission to the Farmington, New Mexico Mission.

Tender Mercy

We left David's home to get set apart in Rexburg on Sunday morning.   As we came to the intersection we were almost hit by a large pickup truck who ran a stop sign.  The top picture shows our skid marks.  The second picture shows the stop sign that the truck missed.  You can see the stop sign is mostly covered with a tree branch.  We were so close to hitting the truck that we thought we had.  We got out and checked and found a small scratch on the license plate frame.  He kept going with no outward appearance that he knew we were there.  We felt it was a tender mercy that God was aware of us and protected us.

Set Apart for the Farmington, New Mexico Mission

Jared and David's family were able to join us when we were set apart for our mission by President Erickson.

Alex, Chloe, Michael, Jack, Brooklyn,James, MacKenzie above.  Below: Annie Laurie, David, Elder Boyter, Sister Boyter, Jared and Nichole.

Last Night Out

Annie Laurie, David, Brent, Marie, Nichole and Jared