Final Report for Elder and Sister Macbeth – NEWS FROM CAM - September 28 – October 11, 2017

This is a little report to update you on our whereabouts and activities since we concluded our mission in Anaheim. On Thursday, September 28, we cleaned and packed and bid farewell to some of the great people we’ve come to know and love in what was then the Anaheim 4^th Ward. We had planned on visiting our friends from the Tri-Cities area, the Risenmays, who have been serving for the past nearly 2 years at the Temple in Tijuana before we headed north to our home, so after a short visit with our family in Laguna Niguel we drove down to the border and spent the night.  Friday morning we got up and walked across the border into Mexico, and caught a cab to the Temple. We were early for the 11:00 am session, so we did some initiatory work before the session that the Risenmays officiated. One of their sons and a daughter with their spouses were also there (Allison Cornia Risenmay). After the session, we all went to lunch with them and another missionary couple, the Hales from Las Vegas, in downtown Tijuana.  Then they drove us back across the border. We stopped to visit an old friend from Ricks College (Ahmad Paksima) in San Diego, who gave us a box of his famous rugulach, and took us out to dinner across from the Temple there. Afterwards we drove back to Anaheim to spend our last night there, Saturday morning we did final cleaning, packed up the car and turned in the keys to our apartment. The car was stuffed full worse than when we came down on our mission.

We spent Saturday evening with our son Brad and kids in Laguna Niguel, and listened to a little of the priesthood session of General Conference. On Sunday we enjoyed Conference at Brad’s (Becky was in Nashville) and had a wonderful meal with Becky’s parents and family. On Monday morning we headed north.  Diann noticed that we still had the remote fob that opened the gates at our apartment, so we stopped at the Mission Office and turned it in, and bid farewell to our friends there. Then we headed for Las Vegas and where we went to dinner with Steve and Sherma Heaton (Diann’s sister). Later we drove on to St George and spent the night with Del and Lynette Parson (Diann’s brother). Tuesday morning we stopped in Washington, Utah and visited with Diann’s uncle and aunt, Owen and Jerrie Barker, then on to Hurricane for lunch with my brother Dave and Brenda. There were no more stops required, except for gas, before we got to our daughter’s (Kristina Ito’s) home in Clinton, Utah. We finally got to meet our youngest grandson, Robby. Diann had promised we would spend a week there, so we settled in and had fun visiting with them, playing catch and picking apples from their tree, plus helping with a few little projects around the house. On Saturday morning we all went to the pumpkin patch and corn maze in Ogden, and loaded up a bunch of pumpkins to turn into jack-o-lanterns. We went to Church Sunday morning and left after Sacrament Meeting to meet Brad and Becky and their kids at Temple Square. We had the tour of the Conference Center and walked quickly through Temple Square because Brad’s family was headed back home to California. We all went to Wendy’s for lunch and transferred some our stuff they had brought up in their car for us. Kristina and Bryce headed for home and Diann and I stopped in Layton to visit her cousin Ardella and Terry McMullen. We anxiously awaited news from Anaheim about the Stake and Ward boundary realignment that was finally announced today. Our old 4^th Ward contributed members to each of the four new wards. We hope that everyone there will be happy and successful with the quite radical changes.

Monday was Columbus Day, a federal holiday, so I helped Bryce put shelves into a large closet and stain some of their kitchen chairs. That evening we all had dinner at my sister Carla and Barry Nelson’s in West Jordan, and my other Salt Lake sister Linda and Bob Westover also came over. They had just returned from their trip to Hawaii and told of their adventures there.

Well, that brings us to today, Tuesday. Our plans are to visit with Diann’s cousin Roxanna and Desmond Dickey in Brigham City tomorrow and spend the night with Diann’s sister Jodell and Bob Faris in Nampa. Then finally we’ll be home on Thursday. Our Ward there has already asked us to speak in Sacrament Meeting on October 22, so we’ll be back into the routine of our lives in Washington, but we won’t forget our new friends and experiences of the past 18 months.

With our love to all,

Paul and Diann (Elder and Sister Macbeth, we’re not released until we report to our Stake President)