Tom & Darlene Beard

I grew up in the same community where I still live.  I have friends who have mostly lived there too.  Going on a mission, I found that there are people out there that I didn't know I needed as friends.  Now here in Dallas on this mission, I have the great privilege to work with Tom and Darlene Beard.

We've only been here for four weeks and how I love them both.  They have become our new best friends and I'm so grateful for them.  We even get to live in the same apartment complex.

We went out on Saturday and they showed us a place where we would never know to go.  It was so fun.  Tom's GPS wanted to take him a route that didn't make any sense.  He was doing U-turns over and over so I finally turned mine on and we got to where we were going.  We sure had some good laughter during that drive!

We ate at a place called Son of a Butcher.  It was sliders.  We order a smokehouse slider and got a tiny hamburger with a few shreds of brisket on top.  Very disappointing.  Fortunately we didn't pay very much as we knew we were getting sliders.

Still, a very informative and entertaining day!

 

Sports

I have always loved watching and or competing in sport!  If there was a league for over 60 volleyball players, that's where I'd play.  I know I can't keep up with the younger generations.

I give homage to those men and women who blazed the trail for ALL to be able to compete.  I love reading about Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympic games held in Germany when Hitler was trying to rid the world of people and races that he deemed were unworthy to live.  Jesse won four gold medals at those Olympics.  I cannot even begin to think of the thoughts that went through Hitler's mind at watching this amazing black athlete who was a national hero.  I wish there was a way to measure his talent and ability against those today who have training and shoes to aid in their success. 

In 1990 the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to Jesse Owens by President George H. W. Bush.

This medal is the highest civilian award bestowed by the United States Congress.  in 1990, President Bush awarded the medal posthumously to Jesse Owens.  his widow, Ruth accepted the award.  There is no standard design for the Congressional Gold Medal, and each recipient receives a unique medal specifically designed for them by the US Mint.  One side features a bust portrait of the athlete sculpted by the artist T. J. Ferrell and the other shows a relief of Owens in full running stride with the words "determination, dedication, discipline, attitude."

Jim Thorpe, a native American, won two gold medals in the Stockholm, Sweden Olympics.  Another minority man with amazing talents who broke barriers.

Wilma Rudolph was the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games.  She overcame polio as a child and became a world-record-holding champion.

As a woman, I do not recall Title IX being passed, but I'm certainly glad that it was.  I loved being able to compete in sports.  I recall as a freshman in high school joining GAA (girls athletic association).  It did not continue after that.  I don't even remember going to any of their events.  I joined the volleyball team and later in the year the track team.  I didn't have any experience in any of those things but knew that I was athletic.

This statistic says that before Title IX, girls made up 7% of high school athletes, and women were 16% of college athletes.  By 2023, 43% of U.S. high school athletes were girls, while 44% of college athletes were women.

I love those statistics.  Now I shake my head at anyone who thinks that a boy who decides he was born in the wrong body (transgender) has the right to compete as a female.  I watched the news a month ago and felt disgusted as California allowed boys dressed as girls to compete and win at the state track meet. The actual girls had to stand next to him on the podium.  

Satan has gotten a hold of so many minds.  He's confusing people to the point that they do not even know if they are male or female.  I have always known that I am female, a daughter of my parents and more importantly, I daughter of my Heavenly Father!

 

Presidential Pitch

After 9/11, President Bush had the following experience about throwing out the first pitch at a World Series game.  This was game 3 and was in Yankee Stadium.

I recall the days, weeks and months following the terrorist attacks on our country in 2001, the people were united.  There wasn't a huge debate on which political party was right.  We were all focused on being unified.  How far we've come in 25 years.  It's sad.

George W Bush Presidential Library

A beautiful Saturday afternoon was the setting for us to go tour the George W. Bush presidential library.  

As hot as this place is, it sure was cold in that building.  Darlene says she has learned never to go anywhere without a sweater or jacket as Texans LOVE their air conditioning.  It actually felt good to get outside and warm up.

This statue of the two President Bushes is in an enclosed outdoor setting where it is actually warmer.  One of the men working there was sitting out in that area warming up.  He still had his jacket on.

This flag says,

"It is the American story...an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs.  That everyone deserves a chance that no insignificant person was ever born.  And this is my solemn pledge, I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity."

Inaugural Address - January 20, 2001

Pat got to sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.

He also sat in the president's chair in the Situation Room in the basement of the White House.  This room was the exact pieces of furniture (except for the president's chair as they don't want it worn out) that were in the White House. 

The TV screens are on the far side from the president's chair.

So early in President Bush's first term was when 9/11 happened.  This piece that looks like a sculpture is actually twisted metal from that day.  I believe it is from one of the Twin Towers.  This part of the museum gave me all the remembering feelings of that day.  Emotions came to the surface once again as I watched all of the footage from that day and the week following.

Spaghetti Bowl

Living in the Dallas Metro area had been quite an adjustment for us.  There are 8.5 million people living in this immediate area and more are coming all the time.  I see apartment buildings in various stages of building.  To put that in perspective, there are just under 6 million people in the entire state of Wisconsin.

It's no wonder there is so much traffic.  I've seen what I call Spaghetti Bowls of highways built above and below others.  So many roads going in different directions.  

On this Saturday morning the traffic was light.  Usually on our way home from the office at 5pm, we get stuck in slow traffic trying to merge.  Fortunately we don't live more than a few miles away from the office.  These pictures aren't even the worst of the spaghetti bowls!

 

Texas Dallas West

We have just completed our second week in the mission.  We have been learning the tasks along side the Stiloviches who will be moving to the North mission in a month. 

Both of them were gone on Thursday and Friday last week and we were able to handle things just fine.  We've been out to visit a few of the missionary apartments.  I don't think Elder and Sister Stilovich do that.  We moved a companionship of Sisters on Saturday and he had never been to their previous apartment.  It was dark and uninviting.  Their new apartment is bright and cheery!  With the creation of the Dallas North mission on July 1st, we will lose 37 apartments and gain 25.  We plan to visit all of those sooner than later.  We are finding that many of our Elders and Sisters do not let us know when they have a need for repairs until things are really bad.  I'm hoping to change that mentality.

We are really enjoying working with Elder Tom and Sister Darlene Beard.  She is the secretary and he is over the fleet.  I believe they will be our best friends for the next nine or so months.  We're having fun!

MTC Round Two

We began our second round of MTC training on May 4th.  

We were there for one week with Zerin Hoffman from our ward. We ran into him at least once each day.

One of the new things we did this time was meet with teachers who would be instructing us for our specific office training.  The man on the left is Ryan White who served in the Lubbock mission with our mentors the Balls.  

Our district consisting of Elder Wood who will serve in Croatia and the Snows who will serve in the London England mission.  Our afternoon teacher was Brother Brunjes.

The couple we were assigned to teach were the Christensens who went to serve in Kentucky.

Our morning teachers were Brother Kidd and Sister Bautista.

The iconic photo that every missionary needs.

We were able to go to the Mt Timpanogos Temple with 

We attended Sacrament meeting at the MTC and met up with Doug Holyoak.  We met him during our days in City of Joseph. Small world. 

Sister Hartsell was one of our teachers.  She served her mission in Virginia and knows Bennette and Ellen McGraw.

This is our group that were all in the second week of office training. 

We took the bus to the Provo City Center temple.

This is our housing group.

Ryan and his beautiful wife. 

We made friends with Elder and Sister Warnick.  He will be doing housing and she is the finance secretary in the Oklahoma City mission.

While walking to the BYU bookstore I got a call from Mary Warner asking if we were walking down Ninth.  She told me that they just passed us and were headed to the same.  They didn't know there was a distribution in the basement of the bookstore. 

The McKinneys from Kentucky met up with us during our second week in the MTC.  We served with them on the security team during the Nauvoo pageant.

Our experience was great!  Next time we serve a mission we shouldn't need to go back to the MTC to do the Preach My Gospel training since we've now done it twice.