Blog – Page 34

Missionary Dan Email #2 from Hermiston, Oregon

March 16, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

Daniel (in Mongolia) carefully extracting the sheep's eyeball for consumption

We had transfers here, but I stayed in the same area. We got Elder Kelly from Gilbert, Arizona to replace Elder Seymore. He is a lot of fun and we’ve been getting along great, so Elder Clark is still with me. We had a great new investigator that you could call golden. She had been taught by missionaries before, but couldn’t be baptized. We met with her for the first time and she said she wanted to be baptized and when her kids get old enough that she’d want them to be baptized too. We were excited and are planning on her baptism soon.

We have been doing some tracking and it brought back memories of my Atlanta Georgia Mission when I was in Alabama. Seems that there are less preachers at doors here, but people have very similar responses. That they have their own religion and aren’t interested. It is interesting here though we still take the opportunity to talk to those people and teach them a principle or two at the door. So with my “third” mission I’m getting better at teaching and talking to people.

At the transfer site I met Sara Hewlett’s brother. He was actually companions with Ben Jacobsen’s best friend, Aaron. It was cool to meet one of my best friend’s best friends and also the brother of another friend. They said they both saw me and said, that looks like Dan Willoughby. Then were thinking, no it can’t be because Ben was his friend and I think he said he went to a foreign mission. So we eventually saw each other and talked for awhile. Other than that I don’t know many other missionaries, but I am meeting them.

My president is President Belnap. He actually lives or lived in West Kaysville. He helped me to get nicely adjusted. The ward and branch is great. We work with a lot of less actives and have quite a few investigators. We have a car so we don’t do much walking. It is strange to go from full-time walking to full-time riding.

There isn’t that much wind here at all, it has been really good weather. The biggest change in culture would be simply how big everyone’s house is, paved streets everywhere, landscape, Walmart, etc. The food is all different, everything is different and very modern. All of it is a huge change and took a bit of adjusting. I really miss being in Mongolia, even though it lacked all those things. The people here are very kind and nice, but I will always like being around and talking to Mongolians. I’m not sure of my release date, probably will be the same, who knows now…

Looks like the trip was lots of fun. Don’t forget to send those boxing gloves :). I am going to be sending a box home with some members that are driving to Utah this weekend. They said that they could stop by and drop it off so I took the opportunity. I’ll give them Dad’s cell phone number so if they need to call they can. I’m not sure when they will get there, but don’t open the box when it comes. If I decide to send a bag with it, you can open that, and it will have some Mongolian candy in it for everyone to try.

I know this work is true and that the Lord is guiding me. I am happy to serve Him and do His will no matter where He decides to put me.

Thanks for all the support and love. I love you all.

Elder Willoughby

Photo Credit: Check out the Anderson’s blog with the story of Daniel eating a sheep’s head and eyes.

Elder Daniel Willoughby is serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission. If you want to communicate with Daniel, write in the comments or use one of these addresses.
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Caption Competition #5 Winner

March 14, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

When she takes a break from caption writing, Shauna is tracking the weather.

Judge Jake agreed to pick the winner of Caption Competition #5. Thank you all for the excellent captions. As you know the first prize is an imported 51 gram Fry’s Turkish Delight bar. Because we received funds last week from monies allocated by The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, we were able to purchase two more Turkish Delights to award as second and third place prizes. However, our Recovery fund expenditures did not create any new jobs.

Shauna is this week’s caption winner.

First — “My buddy Atlas (Greek God) wants me to take over holding the world for him when he goes on vacation, so I just thought I would get some practising in.” Shauna
Second — “Paul was told he could only take one rock home with him, now you know why the sandbox is gone…” Sean
Third — “Come help me push this rock down the hill.” Tyler

Shauna watches the weather at Weather Wonderful.
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Save Money for Tough Times

March 14, 2010 by Sharon 2 Comments

My guest writer is Sharon Smith.

Start saving for the "rainy day"

There is a crunch in the American economy and times are hard now. How is it possible to survive in this financial crisis? It is about time that you start saving for the “rainy day”.

Every family has an individual lifestyle to maintain. Here are a few tips, which can help you to save money, without compromising on the living standards.

Do not waste food. Serve leftovers the next day. This will help in resisting the temptations of eating out.
Tired of wearing the same old clothes? Instead of buying new ones, swap your wardrobe with close friends. This will freshen up your wardrobe to an extent.
In case of errands, plan an efficient route so that all your tasks are done and you save money on gas too.
Looking for some entertainment? Swap DVDs with friends or rent a movie. You can also go for a bargain matinee show.
Prioritize your debts, if any. Pay off bills promptly. This will help you to maintain a positive credit score. Not paying off debts on time would hamper your credit scores. In the long run, if you ever accumulate debt, it will become difficult for you to consolidate debt with a bad credit record.
Try to increase your incomes by pursuing your hobbies, or renting your garage.

There are various ways of saving money. All you need is the knowledge about what and how you are spending on. Once you know that, you will know where to cut your expenses as well. Saving money requires determination as you need to change some old habits, and also reconsideration of your priorities. Once you start saving, it is going to act as a boost. You would want your savings to grow and thus would start saving more.

Photo Credit: argo_72

Greg and Mandy

March 12, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Greg and Mandy

I attended the reception of Greg Dixon and Mandy Tolman tonight. They will be married in the Salt Lake Temple tomorrow and have another reception in Honeyville. Both are returned missionaries, Greg fluent in French and Mandy speaking Spanish. So I asked them if communication was going to be a problem in their marriage. They didn’t answer. :)
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20 Magnificent English Castle Photographs

March 12, 2010 by rickety 3 Comments

I was born in England and lived there for 28 years. High on my list of places to see (and photograph) are castles. Yet I only visited two castles, and neither of those were in England. But the next best thing to being there is to see great photographs of English castles. Of course every castle is not pictured and even some famous ones may be missing.

If you have visited any of these strongholds, tell me all about it. Click on the images for a larger photograph or follow the photo credit links.

Bodiam Castle

Photo Credit: PhillipC

Warwick Castle

Photo Credit: Jim Linwood

Leeds Castle

Photo Credit: mharrsch

Goodrich Castle

Photo Credit: Jelle Drok

Brough Castle

Photo Credit: spratmackrel

Herstmonceux Castle

Photo Credit: antonychammond

Clifford's Tower, York Castle

Photo Credit: lhongchou

Windsor Castle

Photo Credit: Chalkie_CC

Colchester Castle

Photo Credit: mgjefferies

Ludlow Castle

Photo Credit: backseatpilot

Dover Castle

Photo Credit: OliverN5

Bamburgh Castle

Photo Credit: freefotouk

Skipton Castle

Photo Credit: mrs.timpers

Arundel Castle

Photo Credit: MN Photos

Conisbrough Castle

Photo Credit: D-Kav

Pevensey Castle

Photo Credit: neilalderney123

Scotney Castle

Photo Credit: Lincolnian (Brian)

Rochester Castle

Photo Credit: amaidment1980

Lindisfarne Castle

Photo Credit: D-Kav

Nottingham Castle

Photo Credit: D-Kav

These photographs carry a Creative Commons license that permits copying, distribution, and transmission provided that they are not used commercially and attribution is given. Other restrictions may apply, follow the photo credit links for details.
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Return to a Limited Government, Step 5

March 10, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men ~ Alexander Hamilton

Mike Lee is challenging Bob Bennett for his senate seat. Lee’s website clearly defines his stance on a variety of issues, with the emphasis on Five Steps to a Return to Limited Government. I am discussing each of these five steps, examining them on their merits. Previously I discussed Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, and Step 4.

Step 5: End the Era of the Lifetime Politician

Mike Lee’s proposal:

“The runaway growth of the federal government will continue as long as we retain a system that assures the existence of lifetime politicians. A career member of Congress inevitably will come to believe that that body has the answer to all social problems. The Constitution should be amended to limit service in each house of Congress to 12 years.

There are three parts to this proposal:

The system encourages lifetime politicians.
Congress thinks its has all the answers.
An amendment to limit service is needed.

The system that is spoken about here is the U.S. Constitution. It is not easily amended and those that advocate an amendment to solve a problem of the day sound good to the masses. When the amendment goes nowhere then the politician can say that they tried. Advocating amendments is a safe election platform.

It is true that the president of the United States is limited to two terms. The proposed amendment here would limit a senator to two terms also. A representative would have six terms.

One negative is that the people will have one choice taken away, namely that they cannot retain a favorite politician. However, I am not convinced that that would be a big disadvantage.

Summary

My grade for this proposal is 2 out of 5 because it would be highly unlikely to come to pass. Congress would have to start the amendment process and they would have no incentive to do so.

While it sounds great to base some of your platform on passing amendments, the reality is they are highly unlikely to get passed.

What do you the people say?
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Farewell Mongolia

March 10, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

Missionaries bid farewell to Mongolia (Daniel rear, 4th from right)

I received this photograph and email from the mission.

Parents,

We thought you would like to see this photo of your missionary children who left our mission last week to go to other missions. We had a dinner and testimony meeting with the missionaries on the night of their departure. We celebrated the wonderful work they did in Mongolia. They put on a happy face. Thank you so much for the great parental support you have given to our mission through your missionaries. We hope that the visa problem can be resolved so that the elders can return to serve the remainder of their time here.

Since Mongolia has a high incidence of tuberculosis, it is important that your missionary son or daughter has a TB test. It is up to the mission president in the missions where they are serving whether they have the skin test now or at the end of their mission. We just wanted you to be aware of this.

Sister Andersen

Missionary Dan Email #1 from Hermiston, Oregon

March 9, 2010 by rickety 3 Comments

Daniel (left) at Hat Rock State Park with Elders Seymore and Clark

The plane ride took a long time. I got to sleep from Korea to America a bit. I think total flying time was 20 hours. Plus the layovers which added up to around 17 hours. It was good flights with opportunities to share the gospel on the way.

I’ve been very shocked to be back here. Everything is huge and there is stuff everywhere. I’m quite in the culture shock. My companions have been great, asking lots of questions and showing interest. I have two right now. Elder Seymore from Arizona and Elder Clark from Utah.

Daniel was in Salt Lake City for three hours

It has been fun to teach in English, but also very different. Just the things people talk about here is way different. It was interesting hearing words I haven’t heard in forever. The members are awesome. I learned what the meaning of dinner appointment is. We have one every day. We work with one ward and one young single adult branch. Everyone has been very friendly.

So I am in Hermiston, Oregon. I wasn’t jet lagged at all. I don’t know if that’s because I’m used to being tired or that I got to sleep on the plane, but that has been a blessing. Luggage was fine and wasn’t over weight. My Mongolian president was glad to hear I made it safe and is doing all he can to get us back. No I didn’t pay a thing for the phone call.

My new area is a small, warm community. I mean it really is warm here 50 to 60 degrees. I find that I’m kind of cold when it’s warm but the colder it gets the more comfortable I get. That has confused my companions a bit. It is a very safe neighborhood and similar to how the houses are laid out in Kaysville.

Well I got to get going. I think I’ll send some things home next week or so. Once I send that home though I’ll probably need just one suitcase. :) I gave a lot of my clothes to people who needed them in Mongolia. From 11 white shirts to 4 and things like that, just more than I needed.

Sounds like the trip is going well. Thanks for everything. I love you all.

Love, Elder Willoughby

P.S. I can’t seem to get my new pictures to work here, but the one with the sheep’s head is a good one. I’ll talk more about that later. I took a picture in front the Parliament Building. Then flying out of Salt Lake. Yes I went to Salt Lake to get to Washington and was there for three hours. :) Then the picture with my new companions is in front of a state park called Hat Rock. Hope that explains them all. Thanks.

Daniel holding sheep's head

Daniel enjoying a meal

Camels in Mongolia

Mongolian Ger

Daniel outside the Parliament Building in Ulaanbaatar

Elder Daniel Willoughby is serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission. If you want to communicate with Daniel, write in the comments or use one of these addresses.
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Daniel Prepares To Leave Mongolia

March 2, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Daniel (wearing yellow shirt) with Mongolian family

Daniel has to leave Mongolia. He traveled by car from Choibalsan to Ulaanbaatar to catch a plane to Korea.

View from Daniel's apartment

I am OK and alive. The trip took 13 hours. The city is really warm. Most of my group is here and it’s fun to see them. I think I have overspent on buying some things, but if I never come back it’ll be just about right. BatBold, one of the church leaders here, drove for us and he did great. We had some trouble with snow etc. so the trip took a while longer, but it’s all good now.

The pictures: one is from my apartment window. I got a two-pant custom fit suit with way awesome inside material for about $55. It was exciting. One picture has one of my Mongolian shirts. And then one is with three of the people being baptized this Saturday. Left to right: Baatarsvkh, me, Thogtbayar, Bayarcaikhan. It’s sad to leave them, but I’m learning to go where the Lord wants me to go.

Talk to ya later,
Love, Elder Willoughby.

Daniel with Mongolian baptismal candidates

Daniel (second left) with Mongolian converts ready for baptism

Elder Daniel Willoughby is serving in the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission but will be temporarily assigned to Kennewick, Washington. If you want to communicate with Daniel, write in the comments or use one of these addresses.
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