God's Amazing Creations: People, Trees, Flowers

We've discovered a fun place to take our visitors: a HUGE Ficus tree, over 150 years old, in Anaheim. When Amy's family came to visit, we told them we wanted to show them a tree (the kids weren't very excited at the prospect!), but when we got there, they were amazed, as you can see.

Another wonderful thing about Southern California is the year-round blooming flora. The newest showing its glory everywhere around here is bushes and bushes filled with these beautiful Hibiscus! It makes Signe want to pick one and put it in her hair!
Gary's back condition is improving, thanks to his swimming 20 lengths a day in the cold water of the swimming pool. The cold cuts down the inflammation, and the strokes are great exercise.

Last week we took our next-door neighbor out to dinner. She not only had befriended us when we first moved into Portofino, but she informed us about the Orange Mormon Choir, and was ushering the night of our performance March 31, exclaiming how wonderful it was (even though she is not LDS). We went to a nice restaurant of her choice -- in Orange. It turns out that she is an environmental activist and is helping collect hair to make booms to soak up the oil spill in the Gulf. She also knows a lot about green building and tries to educate everyone she can.

Both Sides of Health

We've not had much to say on the blog in the last couple of weeks; or maybe it was because we were so busy that everything since the last time has been anti-climactic. Our activities have been pretty routine lately, so we have felt no need to be repetitious here.

Gary has been busy giving priesthood blessings lately, especially to five of the sister missionaries who haven't felt well. Two weeks ago, however, an LDS worker at the University of California at Irvine hospital called the mission office and asked if someone could come right away to administer a blessing to a 27-year old man who had been in a bad accident and who had coded twice already that day. Signe dropped Gary off there. This poor man had more tubes and machines hooked up to him than I knew possible, and although he was still in a coma, Gary gave him a blessing, partly including his mother and father and family who were there in the ICU. The parents pulled the plug on him 6 days later. Gary said the administration was the most unusual he has been a part of, since it was more spirit communicating with spirit.

But now on the other side of the coin, these past two weeks have been spent trying to get Gary feeling better. Three times in his life he has been told he would never walk again: the first time as a child when he contracted polio, the second when his back was broken in a car accident in 1963, and in 2007 following an operation on his spine. So Gary feels like he his back is operating on borrowed time. He is therefore not surprised that his scoliosis is so bad in the lumbar that it is pinching the nerves on his right side, causing not only incredible pain but some immobility. Thanks to Signe and our chiropractor, Dr. Francis, traction and adjustments are being made to Gary's back so that he won't lose any more mobility and so that the pain can be lessened enough so that he won't have to take any more pain killers. He is grateful and accepting of whatever, but he could use your prayers.

69th Grandchild and 5 Generations

This is a picture of 5 generations of Slangerups: Wanda Lorraine Wiley Slangerup, Signe Marie Slangerup Hale Gillum, MaryJane Hale Clark Hansen, Camilla Gwendolyn Clark Smith and Adrienne Smith. It was taken on the occasion of Signe's Mom's 91st birthday in March this year.

Also, a fun side-note: in Signe's 69th birth year, our 69th grandchild was born, and on her 70th , we'll welcome our 70th! (Karl & Ana's 7th boy!)

Music and Family

Wednesday night, March 31, is a night which will easily remain in our memories as our most exciting and inspiring musical performance of our lives -- the capstone of over 50 years of singing and playing during our lives. The Orange County Mormon Chorale and Orchestra (OCMCO) performed Brett Stewart's "Messiah in America," a really fine oratorio based on scriptures in 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. We sang to two audiences of 2000 people each and received immediate standing ovations and several curtain calls. (We even gave an encore at the end of the second performance.) The music is 'our own' version of Handel's Messiah, yet our son Karl, who was there with his family, said that it was "hands down the best musical experience of his life, including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and performances of Handel's Messiah." And our neighbor, who is a docent at Segerstrom Hall and who has heard hundreds of fine musical groups, was impressed enough to give us a Bravo card and the tulips you see in several photos here (at 11:30 at night!). She later gave us both hugs.

Karl and Ana and their children were here for 4 days, the 9 of them sprawled all over our apartment. It was good to be with them so much. Saturday night we went to Downtown Disney with them, walking through the delightful shops and listening to three different kinds of musical groups. We ended the evening by watching the Disneyland fireworks from the top of the parking structure, where Signe took a picture of Ana and Minnie with Minnie Mouse! The highlight of the fireworks were two displays of silver and blue angels, heralding Easter in the morning.

Karl and the family returned to Utah on Sunday morning, and Joe and Judith and their family arrived from Utah to spend some time here and stay with Michelle West in Anaheim Hills. We were invited to an Easter buffet at her house, watching conference in the afternoon. Just before leaving for our apartment in Santa Ana, with Rachel and Ruth with us for the night, we felt the porch rock and roll beneath our feet, making us sway as if we were drunk. It turned out to be the edge of the 7.2 earthquake that hit Baja California and was the strongest they've had here in Southern California since 1995. (Even the water in the pool sloshed from south to north!)

The week before, we were allowed by the Missionary Department in Salt Lake to travel to Utah for the weekend. Earlier Gary had been slated to be part of the 100th birthday celebration of Hugh Nibley, but since that fizzled, we ended up in Park City for Signe's mother's 91st birthday and the taking of a 5-generation photo of Wanda Slangerup, Signe, MaryJane, Cami and Addi. During an earlier segment of the party Signe was proud to see her violin pupils Jonathan, Benjamin, Andrew and Gideon play pieces for their great grandma. (Signe discovered that SKYPE is really useful for teaching lessons and keeping them current on their progress.) The rest of the time with the family was really compressed, and we were delighted to be able to participate in Dallin Bradford's ordination to the office of Teacher Saturday night. We left Mapleton for California at 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning to beat the Las Vegas to Los Angeles gambling crowd on Interstate 15.

Works of Art

Signe and the others senior sisters design a bulletin board for the office each month. This month's we thought was a work of art, featuring all the Prophets of the Restoration and a little note attached to each picture of what they were each especially known for.

Next, the most amazing tree we've ever seen is right in the front yard of our Ward building. It is called a "Coral Tree," and, as you can see, is covered with thorns. Spring has sprung around Orange County, and flowers are EVERYWHERE! Lilies (the Easter kind) grow wild, along with innumerable other varieties. Signe keeps the camera in her purse, so it is handy when we see a stunning site, which happens on a daily basis.

"The earth it did sha-ay-ayke!" Although Gary slept through it, Signe was rudely awakened by a 4.4 magnitude earthquake a few minutes after 4 on Tuesday morning. She felt a jolt, and then the bed shook for about 15 seconds. Later we discovered that when we asked the elders about it, invariably one elder felt the earthquake while the other one slept! Little damage, no injuries, but it makes some people in California nervous. Each missionary (including us) has his or her own Survival Kit, should a bigger one hit.

The car that was in an accident last week? The Church's insurance company told Gary this week that they are declaring the car totaled because of the extensive damage. We are so grateful that the four elders were protected!

Temple Tours on Saturday: many missionaries and investigators showed up for both the English and the Spanish sessions. During cookies and punch time Gary was able to talk to a highly educated man from Hungary. We hope he was touched by the Spirit. Then at 5 we represented the mission president at one of the twelve baptisms we had this weekend: this one in Costa Mesa. The person being baptized was a wonderful older lady by the name of Rebecca. The service was very nice.

And believe it or not, six weeks are over and another transfer happens tomorrow. This month we've received five new sister missionaries (including 2 of them ASL for the Deaf Branch) and one elder. One of the new sisters is a good friend of one of Gary's graduate students from BYU.

Two Weeks of Surprises

The weeks keep whizzing by! We can hardly believe that we're about at the half-way point of our mission. We've gotten so used to the wonderful people, the nice weather, the flowers all year-round, and the constant surprises, that we are very grateful we didn't let this opportunity pass us by. We don't fret about the future, because we know that whatever happens down the road is God's plan for us. The dreams and blessings have been more than overflowing.

Besides our health and participation in the Orange County Mormon Choir and Orchestra, Signe has had the opportunity to give health advice and some healing massages to our mission president's wife. President and Sister Watrous were very grateful for this added blessing to the mission.

Surprises with people: a few days ago we stopped at Taco Bell for a take out. Gary went in to the store to get our goodies. While he was waiting for his order, a young man who looked like a gang member (with the gang hair, tatoos and all) happened to be sitting nearby. He noticed Gary's name tag and asked him if he were a minister. After Gary responded that he was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the man asked where we worked out of and what we did (he knows the building). Then he confessed that he was having a light supper while he waited to go to a traffic school class at Santa Ana College across the street for his DUI conviction. Apparently he hit some yellow barriers on the freeway, totalling his car, but suffering only a minor injury. But this woke him up to a possible future that he didn't want. He also related the story of a beautiful 21-year old girl in his class who was DUI and killed someone with her car: 20 years behind bars! So sad. Anyway, he told Gary he wanted to change his life. Gary told him about the mormon.org website and about the Gospel in a nutshell -- and then they parted as friends, handshakes and all. Sometimes it pays to be courageous and bold!

In another instance, a man from India asked the mission president for a Book of Mormon in Hindi. Gary was happy to provide it.

Surprise 2: Gary sold two cars last Monday: one to a gentleman in Long Beach and another to a young family in Yorba Linda. Selling used cars is not his cup of tea, but he managed to do all of the paperwork correctly. But you couldn't pay him to be a used car salesman! Only 6 cars to go.

Surprise 3: After many weeks without a car accident with the missionaries, our number was up. Four elders were stopping at a fast food place in Santa Ana when they were struck from behind and sideswiped by a BMW with three teenaged boys in it. Despite over $3000 worth of damage to the missionary Mazda 3, there were no injuries (thankfully). It was the first accident Gary actually went out to investigate.

Surprise 4, related to Surprise 3: This one happened at 5 a.m . Saturday morning. As we've told you before our bedroom window opens out to a busy six-lane city street. Well, we were awakened by an awful crash, the immediate presence of a police cruiser (and later 3 more, plus fire truck and ambulance), and 12 feet of a housing development wall demolished across the street. Apparently two men fairly flew over the Santa Ana River bridge a block west of us with police chasing them and another one waiting down by our window at the Bristol St. intersection. In order to prevent a serious injury or fatality if the irresponsible driver got to the busy intersection (even at 5 a.m.), the police car did a 'pit bull manuever,' where he tapped the left front bumper of the speeding Ford Explorer, spinning him around so that he demolished part of the block wall, and came to rest on the sidewalk on top of a 'No Parking' sign. Again, no one was injured, but we could easily see the dejected and humbled faces of two handcuffed men sitting on the curb while charges were pressed and the debris was cleaned up. Needless to say, it was not possible to get back to sleep before we had to drive down to Newport Beach for our 4-hour rehearsal with the Orange County Mormon Choir & Orchestra. (What wonderful music: the best and most challenging either of us has performed.)

Today (Sunday) we relaxed, enjoyed our meetings, and felt the wonderful sunshiney weather out on the porch. We feel exceedingly blessed. We are also grateful that Gary's testimony at mormonscholarstestify.org was received so well by family members, colleagues, and friends on Facebook. Signe was actually the most instrumental in encouraging Gary to finish it and post it. We also felt blessed to help an elder get his military ID card renewed. In order to do so, President Watrous had us leave the mission and take the elder and his companion to Los Alamitos Army Air Field, on the way to Long Beach. Both elders were grateful for this little adventure west of the mission boundaries! And we were glad to help them.

Sorry, folks! It's been an incredibly busy two weeks. We're often so exhausted from work at the office (even during weekends) that we feel like doing nothing but vegetating!

Most of you know that Gary has built a lot of models during his life. This F/A-18E Super Hornet is the Navy's newest carrier jet, which he assembled and painted during the last 7 months -- as a stress reliever. But he had a purpose for building this particular model. It so happens that President Skaggs, who is a counselor in the mission presidency, is one of the designers of the real F/A-18 right here in Southern California. So at the March 23 departure dinner Gary will be presenting it to Pres. Skaggs as a token of their friendship and common interests. Gary has even been comparing the model to many pictures on the Internet to make sure everything is painted accurately.

The photo below is another kind of craft: tile-laying.

Signe went with Gary to the auto-repair shop that the mission utilizes, called Solesbee's. This is a picture of the in-laid tile logo at the entrance. This is the most amazing tile work we have ever seen; it's hard to see in this picture, but the logo is actually tiny laser-cut tiles pieced together and set into the rest of the tiles. The owner said the craftsman was so skilled, he didn't once crack or break a tile. Even those narrow, curved pieces at each end of the oval are cut into the big tile, leaving the entire rest of the tile intact!Kat, Steve & Artha, Lisa and Signe will really appreciate this, having done their fair share of intricate tile work.

Yesterday was an incredible day: virtually and in reality! On our 40-minute drive down to Newport Beach for our 4-hour joint rehearsal of the choir and orchestra for "Messiah in America" we were deluged with one of the fiercest rainstorms either of us has been in. And as we listened to the radio we not only heard about the rain, the flash flood watches, and the mud-slide warnings, but also of tsunami warnings from the awful 8.8 earthquake in Chile. Then we sang and played the exciting music in the chorus "There Arose a Great Storm" and felt like we were really in one, as the rain pounded the building on the outside. World-class music.

Two weeks ago we were happy to share some of the weekend with our family again. MaryJane (our oldest daughter) was in town to visit Keely (our oldest granddaughter), and all of us were invited to have dinner at Michelle West's home in Anaheim Hills Sunday. (Signe's niece.) It was a wonderful sharing time.

Last Sunday Gary gave a fireside to 80 young single adults in Irvine. He had entitled it, "Between Wow! and Whoa!: Embracing Opposition in All Things." One of the leaders present said he knew of several young people in the congregation who really needed his talk. The theme had to do with the growth we can receive from adversities.

Finally, last night we attended yet another baptism (one of 15 this weekend) -- this one in the Anaheim Stake Center. The young lady was very happy, and the ward was very warm in their welcoming her into the ward: especially the exuberance of the Tongan relief society president!

Once again we are grateful for all of the blessings from this mission. Signe has been a godsend for Sister Watrous, who benefits greatly from her massages.