Week 3...Greetings from Camp Hill

Hi Family…

Hope all is well.  I am loving the mission. The first few days were rough trying to get into the swing of things. I was really kind of homesick without having any contact for a week, not knowing the status of home.  But now that you have my address you can start sending me stuff.  I suggest not using Dear Elder anymore unless you can find a spot to put my direct address because when stuff goes to the mission office it takes forever to get here. 

We helped move a family on Saturday.  They are moving to Orem and they were way nice.  I hope you were able to see the broadcast on Sunday, I would love to know some of your thoughts on it.  I loved it.  I loved how they really pushed for the members to get involved.  That is what is really needed out here.  Also, now I know what dad feels like going to meetings all day on Sunday.  Yesterday I went to ward council and met with the ward mission leader.  Holy cow, ward council was murder not knowing anyone and being brand new and not knowing what was going on. 

 Also I have pretty much been fed by members every night.  The food has been good and normal.  So take every opportunity you get to feed the missionaries at home because it really makes life a whole lot easier at night.  Also, really try and think of people you can send them to when they ask because that also makes life easier for them to find people and as you learned last night that really is your job. 

Well the picture thing did not work.  So I am going to have to mail them home so I will do that later.  Just remember to mail me a card back so I can get more pics.  Remember for next week I will be on around 9ish so I would love to have little chat sessions with you. 

Well, I got to go I will try and get pictures to you next week.  Love you and I would love to get more letters and packages.  Tell everyone that I love them and want to hear from them. 

Love,

Elder Muir
xoxoxo

We came up with a system to make the most efficient use of his computer time.  I will be sending my letters to him with the info from home in the mail so he doesn't have to use his computer time to read my letters, also he will get letters more often (not just on Mondays at the computer).  I will email all of my questions to him and then he will just reply and answer the questions and hopefully add some more info.  So far, so good :)  We will see how it goes.

• Tell us about Elder "J"...where is he from, how long has he been serving and how are things going with him?  Elder J is from Pleasant Grove but went to Am. Fork High School.  He has been out for about 7 months and has really loved it.  He apparently lives over behind the temple kind of by Andrea, but he didn't think he knew them.  He has been good… very nice and helpful with the training.
•  
• Sis. B said that one of her favorite sister missionaries is in your district...Sister A, have you met her? Where is she from?  Yes, she is in my district, she gives us rides everywhere.  She is from Bountiful.  She is super nice
•  So when you left the mission home on Tuesday how did you get to Camp Hill, did Elder J drive on his own or did you carpool with others? How long did it take? Sis. B said that it's about 31/2 to 4 hours east of Pittsburgh.  We drove and it was Elder Johnson and me, but it was with someone heading to Lancaster. Yes, the drive was about 4 hours
• Do you have a car or do you walk?  Unfortunately we walk everywhere.  Apparently our mission has one of the biggest car fleets and of course I end up in a walk area for the first 3 months (all summer long).  Don't worry we may get bikes from ward members but I will keep you posted.  The Sisters in our area give us a ride to church and other far away places, thank goodness!  So we pretty much spend most of our day walking.  Friday I probably walked somewhere between 10 and 15 miles, I think that is the most I have ever walked in a day.  Very tiring and lots of blisters L 
• Do you like the borough or town of Camp Hill? I understand it's kind of like a suburb of Harrisburg and that you are right on the river. Sounds pretty, Bro. Barton said that it's a very affluent/nice area.  Yes, I like Camp Hill.  Like you said pretty much a suburb of Harrisburg, which is about 10 minutes away driving. 
• So you're apartment looks nice, how is it? Do just the 2 of you live there or do other elders live with you? If there are more elders, who are they and where are they from?  Yes, the apartment is nice, it meets the needs of what we need.
• How were the B's and your mission president? Probably hard to tell because you weren't with them too long. Do you have to email your mission presidents each week?  Yes, I email him each week and like you said I didn't talk with him much but from what I saw he seemed nice
• When you got to the mission home where did you all take your nap and where did you all sleep? Lots of people for one house, did the sisters and elders separate? How did you get from the airport?  Well the AP's and mission president came with some vans and a trailer for luggage.  Yes we napped, all of the elders stayed downstairs in the basement on bunks and mattresses and that is where we stayed the night.  Some sisters stayed up stairs and the rest either went to members or the B's or the other couples house in the office.
• How's the weather/humidity where you are?  Really hot and supposedly humid, but can't really feel much.  It’s better than Mexico’s humidity. 
• What are the highlights and lowlights of your week?  Highs were probably church and watching the broadcast.  Low was probably walking really far on Friday.  I have had a cold for the last few days.  I think the stress got me sick and also we visited a family that was just getting over colds, finally starting to feel better though.  Elder J kind of has a cold too.
• Are you teaching anyone right now and how did the first week go?  No we are not really teaching anyone right now.  Not really any new investigators and haven't done much tracting.  That is because tracting is not the most effective thing.  Really, it comes down to members like the broadcast said.  We try to contact a lot of  less actives, but can't really get in contact with them.  There is the M family, a less active family from Africa.  We will visit them about once a week.  They are trying to come back to church as much as possible.  Unforunately, they live like 1 hr 45 min. away walking so that takes up most of the day. 
• I'm assuming Monday is your Pday.  Yes,  it is.
• What/who can we specifically pray for to help you and Elder J?  Just to be able to find people and have success because right now it is very slow. 
• What were your first impressions of Pittsburgh?   Pittsburgh is awesome even though I did not see much of it. 
• What about your church? How was the ward? How far do you have to go? Dad said that he thought it was about 25 minutes away. How was your first Sunday?   The church is about 15 minutes away driving, so the sisters will pick us up and take us each Sunday.  The ward is a pretty big ward with lots of young people.  My first Sunday was good,  lots of nice people.   

For Elder Muir's address...email Kristen @ muirutah@yahoo.com

 

Please send me letters, I loving hearing from you other than on pday

Home Sweet Home...Camp Hill, PA

I thought it would be a long dry spell (at least a week) before I got any new information or an email from Elder Muir.  Of course, it wasn't long before I got another text from my friend telling me to check my email.  We took a quick overnight trip to Vernal (yes Vernal) to go to the temple and drive around Dinosaur National Monument.  I was totally bummed that I didn't have a computer to check my email but Dave saved the day with his Samsung tablet and we were able to get a Birdseye view of Elder Muir's new living quarters.  Below is the email and pics that she sent.

 

Hi,

I realized today that the apartment Elder Muir went to was one of the new ones I found last transfer so I had some pictures of it.  I always have the moving Elders take pictures when they move things in so I can get an idea of what the apartment was like since I never see them.

Don't get too excited, they are just random pictures with all the stuff lying around but you get the idea.  It's actually a dang nice apartment, better than most of them.  Anyway thought it would be fun for his mom to see where he is living.

Also, realized today that one of my all time favorite sister missionaries is in his District, Sister Andreason, she is awesome and will be a good friend to him.
 

See ya,

Sis. B

 

All is Well...Safe Arrival in Pittsburgh

We knew Elder Muir and his missionary posse would arrive in Pittsburgh around 9:00 am; however, we didn't receive word until Monday night that he had arrived safely.  Monday night we got a short but sweet confirmation that our son had arrived in Pittsburgh.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Hi Muir family,
Just a quick note to let you know your missionary arrived safe and sound.
We are so excited to have him here with us in PA.
Thanks for sharing him with us for a little while.

Much love,
Sister Topham

Tuesday I received another text to check my email and our sweet guardian angel sent another email with insider info and photos.  It feels like we are looking into the future when we hear from her.  We know things before Elder Muir even tells us and this mom is not complaining.  Loved, loved, loved see the pictures of our missionary and seeing his smile.  The smile tells me he's happy and excited to serve.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Finally, I'm getting back to you.  So we met Zach today.  He said to me, "So I bet your glad to finally meet me since you have heard so much about me lately" and it sure was nice.  He is a great guy.    He got a great companion, Elder "J".  He's a very low key, calm kind of guy and so nice.  He is going to a place called Camp Hill which is a long ways from Pittsburgh (about a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive) so we probably won't see him again until he gets transferred.

We got some great pictures to send along to his mom so she can see he is all smiles.  The one at the table is pretty blurry but it's good enough to see him. He was the one that suggested we take one with us so his mom could see who we were.  Anyway, he was in great spirits and I'm sure he will be just fine.

Have a wonderful night.

Love ya,

Sis B

 

 At the church in Pittsburgh helping set up/take down for the meetings

 

 

 Jimmy John's lunch as promised by Sister B

 

 

Elder Muir with Bro. & Sis. B (insider informants)

 

Elder Muir and his new companion, Elder "J"

One Call That's All

So Father's Day ended up having an extra perk...we got a phone call from our missionary.  After we got home from gma's & gpa's for dinner we still had some time to pass before we got our call.  We went on a leisure walk and returned home to wait and wait. 

About 10:15 pm I got a text from a sister in our ward that I should check my email. Some of you know that we have insider information in Elder Muir's mission.  A couple in our ward has a brother & sister in law who are serving in the mission office.  The sister in our ward keeps us up to date on the info in the mission.  She talked with her sis in law the night that Elder Muir was supposed to call and she sent her this info about what would happen when the missionaries arrived in Pittsburgh on Monday morning.

 

Below is the email from the sister missionary in the office...

 

OK so Zach is right, they fly all night and arrive here BEAT.  They take them to the mission home and the Mission President's wife feeds them breakfast (including Sis Buehner’s amazingly wonderful cinnamon rolls) and then they let them have a much deserved NAP.  After that they take them all to the Overlook of Pittsburgh that you saw in my blog and then they are off to the church for meetings and dinner.  After that it's back the mission home for interviews, which with this many missionaries will probably go until after midnight, then they are off to bed.  They have about 6 bunk beds at the mission home along with blow up mattresses.  Also there are a few bedrooms up stairs that they usually give to the Sister missionaries, but lately there have been too many to sleep there so they bring a few of them over to our house and the other office couple to spend the night.  

Next morning they have breakfast at 7:30 am and then out by 8:15 am to go back to the church for meetings that go from 9:00 am to 12, then they stop for lunch, which is Jimmy Johns box lunches (which yours truly has arranged for).  After lunch the mission President and the AP's have another one hour meeting and make final changes as to where everyone is going.  They have already decided on it last week but sometimes after he interviews some of them he changes his mind.  Then at 2:00 they meet in the Chapel and he announces where everyone is going and who their companion is, when he announces it they just get up, hug each other and then they are out of there.

I have looked on the list and have seen where Zach is going (that is if Pres. Topham doesn't change his mind.)  I’ll email you tomorrow after everything is finalized.  I'm sure I will get to talk to him so I'll make sure he knows that all Buehners are weird, but some of us are pretty nice.

 

We were lucky that we got the email right before we talked to our missionary.  The call finally came around 10:30 pm  and it was the BEST!!!  He sounded FABULOUS and so happy.  We talked for 30 minutes and none of us even cried...YAY!  He's so happy and said that he's learned so many things and grown so much.  He said he's done and accomplished things that he never thought were possible.  We recorded the conversation so if you want to hear it let us know.  Words can't even express how grateful we are that he is doing well.  We are definitely already seeing many blessings & miracles and feel so blessed to have a missionary during this historic wave of missionaries.