Fun is in bloom here in Orlando Florida!
A view from our patio...
We apologize for the delay, but our computer crashed
and we just got it back from the Geek Squad today!
"Choose good friends. Friends help to determine your future. You will tend to be like them and to be found where they choose to go. Remember the paths we follow in this life leads to the path we follow in the next."
Thomas S. Monson
Guess where we went last Wednesday?
Give up?
Well we had the opportunity to go to Walt Disney World's Epcot Center, thanks to the generosity of our good friends, Brother and Sister Bingham and Brother and Sister Moffitt, two families that are retired or soon to be retired Disney employees that attend the Poinciana Branch where we are currently assigned.
Elder and Sister Gordon agreed to join us at playing hooky from the office and Elder and Sister Nielson graciously offered to hold down the fort for us!
Long story short, we had an amazing time!
The weather was perfect, there were literally no crowds and the longest we had to stand in line was about 10 minutes and that was for lunch!
Spaceship Earth
Beginning March 5th-May 18th the Epcot Center presented the 2014 International Flower and Garden Festival and it is definitely a must see.
Donald, Daisy and Goofy enjoying the first days of spring.
Elder Gordon is the mission vehicle coordinator so I think this picture should probably have a special place in the office, don't you agree?
The Test Track showroom where minutes before we actually created our own virtual concept vehicles and put them through their paces.
Tinker Bell's Butterfly House is definitely a place where a picture is worth
a thousand words...
Another impressive feature of the Flower and Garden Festival were the enchanting topiaries, dazzling gardens and discovering all of our favorite Disney characters in plant form.
Phineas or Ferb?
Mike and Scully's monstrous garden
We found Nemo!
Mary Poppins provided just a spoonful of sugar and Elder Busath was willing to be photographed with the famous crocodile in Peter Pan.
Elder Busath, Winnie the Poo and Piglet too.
For my six kids, Tigger! Just as a sweet reminder of years gone by.
Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella? It seems like they were all once upon a dream.
Beauty and the Beast?
Mrs. Potts (no not Marili) and Chip
There were so many beautiful character topiaries to choose from it was hard to choose just which ones to include. The Lion King, Snow White, Lady and the Tramp, Kermit the Frog...
The World Showcase was also an incredible experience and we learned so much more than we ever knew before about Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom and Canada through film, song and delicious food :)
I even ran in to an adorable 5 year old girl at the United Kingdom exhibit who proudly informed me that she had a cochlear implant too! I was the first adult she had ever met with one. I hope I left a good impression.
But never fear, always aware of who we represent, we actually had the opportunity to be good Samaritans and helped out a street vendor who was having difficulty setting up her kiosk.
Alas we all know there is no virtue in doing only the things you like to do. So after a fun filled day at Epcot we got back to work, doing what we do best, inspecting apartments, picking up donations and trouble shooting where needed.
Lake Nona West at Laver Lane following some much needed remodeling.
More donated furnishings for the senior couple due in July thanks to the charity of the
Hunter's Creek Ward.
We received a text from the Mission President Saturday afternoon advising us that the Lake Nona South Spanish Elders had been evacuated the night before due to a sink hole and he asked us to investigate. Super seniors to the rescue! We hurried over to their location only to discover that the "sink hole" was actually a small divot in the asphalt probably due to a broken water pipe. False alarm!
The next item on our Saturday list of things to do (following the awesome 8 year old baptisms of Cameron Ward, Katie Rucker and Jonas Howse) was to drive to Clermont to drop off a birthday present to Sister Wells, one of our sister missionary's. Her parents, down from Canada, had been in town golfing and had dropped off her gift at the Mission Office. Always a parent, we just couldn't let it sit there indefinitely, and since we were heading to the Leesburg area anyway what was one more stop? Unfortunately we weren't able to find her at home so we did the next best thing and stopped by a baptism that was scheduled that afternoon and found some missionaries that were more than willing to hand deliver the package.
The next stop was a little more sensitive. The Lecanto Sisters, Jamison and Murphy, were having an ongoing problem with their neighbor below. It seems that his bad habit was causing their condo to fill up with smoke, causing headaches and a lingering yucky smell. They tried talking to him with little success so we purchased a couple of fans to create a positive pressure system forcing the offending smoke to go elsewhere.
We are hopeful that it will solve the problem peacefully.
While we were there the sisters came up with a few more "Honey Do" projects for Elder Busath to complete. Smoke detectors needing batteries, air filters needing changing, light bulbs needing to be replaced, broken toilet handles and seats.
We have learned time and time again that material possessions do not make us happy and grateful. The things that provide deep and lasting happiness and gratitude are the things which money cannot buy; our families, the gospel, good friends, our health, our abilities, the love we receive from those around us. Unfortunately these are some of the things we allow ourselves to take for granted. We never know how soon it will be too late.
So thank you for caring enough to check in to see how we are doing.
We are having the time of our lives and are truly grateful to all of you for allowing us to leave our home and family knowing they are in good hands so that we can be here to hasten His work.
Until next time...
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