Hello everyone, It has been a relaxing day as we went to church with mom and then to my sister, Diane's for a quick supper. We had a busy week and were glad to have a day of rest.

We start early in the morning and take a bus to SLC for a tour of welfare square, the Humanitarian centre etc. We will be having lunch at the Joseph smith Memorial Centre with Glenn L. Rudd. (He wrote: Pure Religion -- about the church's humanitarian services over the years). We will get training on the bus while riding there and back. Tues., Wed., and Thurs. we continue with our Welfare training at the MTC. Then we are done and we will have Friday to pack up and get organized for our flight to Zimbabwe on Saturday. We fly to chicago -- London -- Johanesburg -- Zimbabwe.

One thing we are realizing is how much they need senior missionaries. I am surprised a little at some of the couples that are being sent to 3rd world countries. They seem too old to be doing that sort of thing but they are eager to serve. It seems that once they have served one mission they want to continue serving. (I think because they know how badly they are needed!). The promised blessings for serving will be well worth it. (Read D & C Chapter 31).

We met with the welfare couples yesterday morning for a preview of our week to come. There are 14 couples going to all sorts of places. They ask for people to tell about miracles that had happened in their lives as they prepared to come on their missions. There were a lot. One couple, originally from Tonga but now living in SLC, told about how he had gone to the Dr. and has his blood checked. His blood sugar was REALLY REALLY high. He went to his bishop and told the bishop he needed him to heal him because he needed to serve this mission. The bishop gave him a blessing and he went back the next day to have his blood checked again and it was down to 8.1 and by the time they left it was even much lower than that. I guess that just shows again the faith that those people have. They are going to New Guinea. Others are going to Hong Kong, Ukraine, Moscow, Italy, England, Malaysia, Beiging, Argentina, Africa SE area, Japan, Australia, Vietnam, Columbia, Indonesia, WINNIPEG, as well as other places in North America.

We were given some instruction yesterday on safety and how to keep clean from germs, etc. etc. They talked about bathroom facilities or NOT!! (I think we have ok facilities in our living quarters. They suggested we should always take a little toilet paper with us as it is seldom there when you need it as the people just would steal it. We need to have a little bottle of rubbing alcohol with us to clean our hands as people there do their bathroom stuff etc. etc. and don't wash their hands -- and then want to shake our hands. Anyway - it could kind of gross you out -- we just have to be careful. We also went for our meeting with two other couple about malaria pills and they gave us some so that we can start taking them 2 days before we leave. There is also something else we can get that we can spray on our clothes and bedsheets every 6 weeks or so to keep bugs away. YIKES!! It's enough to make me want to stay home.
However, we will carry on and probably hear a lot more this week that might worry us. O well - it is where the Lord wants us right now!!!

We spent a day in SLC for training about the Perpetual Education Fund. It was really interesting. I guess we will always be on the lookout for possible candidates. Most of our past week was spent studying the 'Preach My gospel' book and practising discussions, etc. We learned a lot and we were getting better at it. We realize how little we know - but "we know enough" as was talked about at the past Gen. conference.

This is going to be an experience of a life time. Please keep us in your prayers.

Love from the Bullocks