Mission letters and pictures have moved to a new blog address

Hi family and friends:

Danielle's mom here

I know Danielle has many, many family members and friends who have been following Danielle's mission experiences off and on as time permits during her mission and many times before because she seems to have great life experiences.

I had technical difficulties with Danielle's mission post that I could not solve, so I moved all the mission posts to a new blog site. Her pre mission adventures are still on this site. Just scroll down to the archive dates at the bottom to go back to pre mission adventures.

When I moved the mission posts to the new blog address, Danielle asked me to privatize the new mission blog. She wants ALL her family and friends to have access to her letters.

Please feel free to email me at mclainkathy@msn.com to have me send you an invite to access the new blog via the email you tell me you want to use. You can view presently with any email address, but the invite says eventually you need a gmail address for access. I am not using the new version of "blogger," so if the message in the invite is correct you should be able to view it with any email account--gmail or non gmail, but I thought I would add the caution just in case.

Don't hesitate to ask! It is not bother.

Look forward to your email. Kathy

Dear Elder? Who Knew?

Monday night we discovered that we are the most out of it family of a MTC missonary. You can go to a website called dearelder.com. You click on the MTC link and write an email to Danielle. The organization prints the email and has it delivered free of charge to Danielle's mailbox at the MTC on the same day--a cross between email and mail. You need her MTC address which is posted on the right side of the blog. So while all the other missionaries at the MTC have been receiving daily email from their family, we have been sending letters by snail mail. You can write to Danielle. Just don't email anything after December 6, 2011. They will not forward it. I liked the card I sent even though she probably got it a week late.

No letter yet . . .

Tuesday, November 22, 2011. Deidre called me on Sunday night and said that she was calling me because she couldn’t text Danielle. Universally our family feels that Danielle will do well at the MTC, and we are used to her being gone somewhere—BYU, London, Boston, but we are all surprised how much we are connected to each other without realizing it.

Just the simple act of calling or texting is such a part of our relationship with Danielle that waiting for the first email or letter and missing the contact has made us all more aware of how much we value Danielle as part of our life. Truly each of us in our own way—Deidre, Kim, Brooke, and Von have counted time differently this week with Danielle gone.

Mission Beginnings . . . MTC

Danielle entered the Provo MTC today—Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at about 12:25. She left our Peoria, AZ home at 4:50 this morning to catch a plane. Her bags were packed and weighed—one was 49 pounds and the other weighed 50.5 pounds. She has packed and repacked them to meet the weight requirements. It has been a comedy to see what would go and what would stay. The required mosquito repellant stayed as did the ace bandage, the cold medicine, and her favorite brown shoes.

This missionary journey started after college graduation when Danielle returned home to prepare for her Boston internship at the JFK birth home as a history interpreter for the National Park Service. Danielle has always wanted to serve a mission, and after deep contemplation, she decided to serve, preparing her mission papers and squeezing in all of her medical visits in less than 2 weeks.

By the time she arrives at the wooden Indian statue outside customs at the Vancouver International Airport, she will have logged 12,300 flight miles in 6.5 months to prepare for a mission. She has moved from Provo back to Peoria, Arizona, logged 2 trips to Boston, dropped into Utah to see loved ones, landed one final time in Phoenix and returned to Salt Lake, driving 50 minutes south to Provo to do what she really wants to do.

She has completed her internship, taken multiple tests to obtain teaching certificates in two states, filled out mountains of papers, and completed 3 more classes for her Arizona credentials all while working full-time.

In this whirlwind, she worked for a nearly home-bound Bostonian ward member on her days off, served as the compassionate service leader in her ward, visited as many New England history sites as possible, spent time delighting in her cute and crazy nephews and dear sister Deidre, throwing in a hurricane flood clean up day in Vermont, spent time with her friend Jamie Gu—a newcomer to the LDS church, and other friends in her Boston ward. And now tonight, she rests her head at 10:30 pm in the Provo Mission Training Center, doing what she really, really wants to do—talk to others about the role of Christ in her life.

Setting Apart

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Danielle was set apart Tuesday evening November 15, 2011 in our home. The stake president—David Williams—and our bishop—Erik Brewer came to our home about 9:15. The stake president read a beautiful passage from Alma 13:24-26 about angels declaring the joyful news of the coming of the Savior, telling her that she was one of these messengers. She received a beautiful blessing and was set apart as a missionary for the LDS church in a priesthood blessing administered by the stake president, joined by Bishop Brewer and Von.

Danielle's Sacrament Talk & Open House

November 13, 2011

Sunday began with rain, but here in Arizona despite the weather, we rejoice in any drop of moisture.

Danielle wore her black and white polka dot dress with a perfect bow at her waist and her graduation pearls.

She had a tearful beginning to a spiritual, well prepared talk. She quickly composed herself, delivering a beautiful message about how the spirit had taught her throughout her life and how the spirit can be used to teach others. She related the trials that Rose Kennedy endured—the tragic loss of 3 children. She explained the Rose Kennedy claimed in her later life that her faith in God allowed her to endure. While Danielle’s JFK colleague doubted Mrs. Kennedy’s claim, Danielle believed Rose Kennedy’s claim and wanted to bear testimony to the healing power of faith, yet the spirit constrained her from doing so.

She related that while she was in high school that she often claimed in family situations that “life wasn’t fair,” but that Von had told her in a great teaching moment that “if life were fair, horses would ride half the time.” The spirit taught her through this silly saying that life was not always fair, allowing her to better deal with life’s inequities.

She then related her wonderful relationship with a Chinese student that she met in Boston. Jamie Gu was sick. She met LDS missionaries and embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ. Danielle related that life wasn’t fair for Jamie, but as she embraced the gospel and Christ entered her life, He healed the inequities in her life. Danielle was articulate, used powerful examples, and spoke with the spirit

Sunday evening Danielle visited with many friends and neighbors in our home.

Our favorite visitor at the open house was the J.J. Lemoine’s clone lovingly crafted by Bro. and Sister Lemoine. We were flattered that even though Brother J.J. Lemoine is faithfully serving his mission in Finland that we could pretend for just a minute that he too sampled the great food at Danielle’s open house.

You had to be there to understand how lifelike cardboard Elder Lemoine looked. We were so glad that all the Lemoine family made it Danielle’s open house—if only in our dreams.

Sand Castles

I went to the Sand Castle competition on Revere Beach after a long day of work. Deidre went last year and I felt that I needed to see this very exciting place. I got Genevieve a girl from work to come with me she is from the west as well. Most of our coworkers are from New England. So they made fun of us a lot when we assumed the beach was named after Paul Revere. As a history nerd I thought it was a great guess. Good thing I brought Genevieve along, because she took most of the pictures. We had a great time looking at all of the sculptures, including my personal favorite a TURTLE! The people who make these sculptures come from all over the world to compete. Everyone in the competition worked on the castle above. The door to the castle even opens up!

I soon found out the Genevieve loves the great outdoors. She knows everything about sea shells that I don't know. We strolled down the beach, while Genevieve collected lots of good souvenirs and I ate my favorite KETTLE CORN. I love the salty sweet taste mixed all together. Beware if you agree to share a bag with me you must eat fast because I can eat it faster.