Farewell to the Hartford Connecticut Mission

It's July 1st 2008 so the day has finally come for President and Sister Johnson to say goodbye to 60 Pioneer drive - their home for the past 3 years. We visited 3 times during their mission, the mission home and mission life is all Samantha and Sophie know of Grandma's and Papa Van's lives. We feel so blessed and proud (in a good sense of the word, I hope) to have had Deldon's dad serve as mission president. We know they have devoted themselves 110% to their work there. How blessed have been the missionaries that have had the privilege of serving under them. We loved all our visits, and enjoyed the mission spirit, it reminded us of our own missions and of the need to do better in our missionary efforts back home. Last time we visited we attended a stake conference for Rhode Island just 48 hours after we flew in. We both didn't care much for the drive and staying in a hotel with 2 jet lagged kids, only to then sit through a 2 hour meeting trying to keep them quiet. We figured it's not our stake conference, we don't need to hear what they have to say - oh how wrong we were!!! Amazingly Samantha did really well and Sophie slept so we were able to hear the talks....unbelievable! Every talk seemed especially tailored to us. I have read many of Van's talks through email and have been really touch and impressed by his understanding of gospel principles and how they apply to our lives. But this day I was able to sit in the hall and listen over the speaker system when he spoke of a man (his father, Deldon's grandfather, and my children's great grandfather) and his dedication to doing his home teaching. I was so thankful to realize the kind of family they are descended from. We came away from that Thanksgiving visit to Connecticut spiritually filled. Congratulations Van and Barbara, rest up well for the next week because things are about to get get really crazy when the Johnson clan descends on Palmyra. Thank you so much for this church history tour, it is a wonderful gift for all the family and we can hardly stand the wait!