Anna's Blog: February 2021

Good morning Brothers and Sisters! You have heard about "Red Eyed Flights"! ... This is going to be one of my "Red Eyed Talks! Brother Clements asked me to talk in Sacrament Meeting today and give my Missionary Report... fortunately, Sister Breeding insisted on keeping a Missionary Log... or I would be standing here with a blank page in front of me. We began our Missionary Service on Dec. 9th, 2019 by reporting to the Provo, Utah MTC. There were a number of Senior Missionaries (35 - 50 couples) in our group and they were going to various places throughout the world in their assignments. Sister Breeding and I were to be assigned as Senior Missionaries for our own Salt Lake Jordan North Stake. Here are some of the Highlights I have selected from Sister Breeding's Missionary Journal. Most of our time at the MTC was spent reviewing principles of the gospel...some in small groups of three or four couples... and at times with the all of us Senior Missionaries combined. We returned home from the MTC on Dec. 14, 2019 and Elder Breeding sent emails to our Stake Bishops - letting them know we were available to help. Bishop Thompson of the 1st. Ward responded, letting us know when their Ward Council met on Sundays. On Wednesdays we met with President Higginson and the young missionaries assigned to our Stake.Wed. Dec. 25th. 2019: All of our Utah clan were here except Kristen, (our granddaughter who is currently serving as a Missionary in Oregon - we did get to talk to her) Daniela, Charles and their families. Our house was Noisy, Loud, Chaotic... like a mad house - but lots of fun. Let me note: Anna told us this was going to be "our last Christmas." How prophetic! Sun. - Jan. 12th: We attended the Spanish Branch to see if there might be something we could do to help them with their missionary work. It seems as though they have plenty of missionaries of their own... at least four sets, I'm pretty sure they don't need us. It was nice visiting the Branch... Brother Tobar said he would get an interpreter for us the next time we came to visit. We then attended the 1st. Ward Sacrament Meeting and bumped into Sister Blake (and sat with her)... she will be moving from our ward to the 1st. Ward in Feb. 2020.Thu. Jan. 16th. We went to the Jordan River this morning. Made a visit with Pat Butler in the afternoon. We took her some beads for her craft works and invited her to dinner on Sunday. But she told us that she is still home bound and will be for a little longer. Sister Butler said she would come over for dinner when she is able to get out again and would bring her own food - because she has a gluten problem. Wed. Feb. 12th. We had our meeting with President Higginson and our fellow missionaries in our Stake this morning. This afternoon we met with David Ogden of the 6th. Ward and spent an hour with him. He was a little down. We plan on going to his ward with him next Sunday. David is in training to drive one of the Trax Trains and will have to wait and see how to fit our visits into his in the next couple of weeks. We also met a couple of women who live in David's basement. They invited us into their apartment and we got to see their three large dogs. Sat. Feb. 15th. We went to Michael's this morning to get some small flower to put on my jars of jam (for gifts)... then dropped off some clothing at DI and bought some books while we were there.

We then went to visit some folks in the 1st. Ward. We tried to visit Linda Stone (again)... she was not home. We did get to visit Bob and Jean Sloan. Bob is 96 and Jean is 91 years old... they were great! Bob told us about his experiences in the Navy during WWII. I was especially interested in this couple because of their last name... my Grandma Vilora was a Slone... different spelling and I guess there is no close relationship).Tue. Feb. 18th. We visited David Ogden, told him of some of our life experiences and talked about faith. His training program doesn't have him on a set schedule... but he will let us know when we might visit with him again in the next week or so. We also visited Heather Robinson (downstairs) for a few minutes at her door. We gave her a jar of jam and asked if there was something we could do for her. She said they are OK. Thu. Feb. 20th. We went to the Jordan River Temple for an endowment session this morning. This afternoon I worked on something about the Book of Mormon for our next visit with David Ogden. Sun. Feb. 23rd. We attended Sacrament Meeting, R.S. and Priesthood Meeting in the 5th. Ward this morning at 9:00 A.M. but we don't have any specific assignment there. While we were in the Bangerter Building, we stayed for the 6th. Ward Meetings that started at 11:30 A.M. to support David Ogden. While there, we saw Heather Robinson and her husband (who live in David Ogden's basement). Heather is expecting a baby girl soon and said she didn't have anything ready for the baby yet. Mon. Feb. 24th. This was one busy day! I did the normal laundry & ironing, made a cake to take to the Carter FHE tonight. I went to Sister Jenny Roemmich's house and picked up some baby clothes she had posted for give-away (I got these things for Heather Robinson in the 6th. Ward). The clothes were for babies up to 6 months old... and some crib sheets and blankets were in the bags. I called Sister Robinson and she was so excited... because she didn't have anything yet. I plan on taking them over to her later this week. Tue. Feb. 25th. What a day... our first Zone Meeting. In the morning we reviewed some scriptures and watched a video on Driver's Safety (for the young Missionaries). In the afternoon we were favored by a visit from the Brother who was Art Director for the "Book of Mormon" video project. He presented various photos and told stories of scenes, events and actors who took part in the filming of those videos. He played the role of Moroni in the videos. After his presentation, the young Missionaries got to look at various items used in the videos... the Liahona, Laban's Sword and Brest Plate, etc. It was FANTASTIC!!!Wed. Feb. 26th. We had a meeting with President Higginson this morning. After the meeting we took the baby clothes over to Heather Robinson. She said, "Now I will not have to worry about clothes!" Fri. Feb. 28th. We had a District Meeting today and we picked up the Sister Missionaries on our way there. One of the Sister Missionaries questioned why Alma baptized himself at the Waters of Mormon... and was Jesus married. Elder Breeding told her that these items are discussed in Joseph Fielding Smith's "Answers to Gospel Questions." Tue. Mar. 10th. We visited Sister Thorn... she hasn't been to church for a while. She said a screw broke in her implant, so he is having to start all over with the dental work. We invited her to our Ward Relief Society Meeting tonight, but she said she had to baby sit one of her grandchildren. Fri. Mar. 13th. We picked up the Sister Missionaries on our way to our weekly District Meeting at the Mission Home. Later in the day, we got a call from Brother Summers, our Senior Missionary Group Leader, he gave us instructions

that were given the Mission President this afternoon. We are not to attend any District Zone Conferences with the young missionaries and make no appointments or visits until further notice (due to the virus)... We will see what comes next. Wed. Mar. 18th. What a day! Not only are we being told to avoid the Corona Virus but this morning we had a magnitude 5.7 earthquake here in Salt Lake... the first earthquake I have ever felt. I thought a car was coming through our living room... then we realized it was an earthquake. Things were falling off the mantle and shelves... a little scary. I checked on some folks and others called to check on us. We have had several tremors throughout the day. Sun. Mar. 28th. I talked with Sister Carter today... turns out that she is celebrating a birthday for both her and Michael today. They are doing well, except not really liking this virus thing... having people advised to stay inside. She told me the children are enjoying the riddles I have been mailing each week. I have been working on a FHE lesson on Service for next week (it's almost ready). My lesson will suggest they serve other members of the family (being as they currently should avoid outside contacts) but they can help each other with homework, dishes, etc. Fri. May 15th. My companion sent our Stake Bishops a list (printout from Brother Merrill, Jordan North Stake Clerk) of Part Member Families (as President McBeth had suggested) and asked them to review the list with their Ward Council to see if any of these folks should be added to their "List of Best to Work With." He also told them of the additional Missionaries our SLCW Mission will have added due to the virus (Missionaries are returning to the States from other countries). Our Mission force is expected to double in the next few months. Tue. Jul. 28th. Sue (Don's Sister-in-Law) called to tell us that Wesley (Don's Brother) had passed away this morning at about 3:30 AM. He had the virus... in addition to cancer in both lungs and a lot of other ailments. There will not be a gravesite service. Sun. Aug. 9th. We had to have Church via internet again today but were told that our Ward will be able to have "In Person" meetings again starting Sunday, Aug. 23rd. and we will be looking forward to being with our fellow ward members. Wed. Sep. 9th. The Power Outage took out our telephone and internet. We were supposed to have a Zoom meeting with President Higginson today... if it happened, we missed it. We called the Power Company Information Line and were told that our power might be out until early Friday morning. Fri. Nov. 6th. Sister Breeding has been ill for the past two or three days and spending a lot of time in bed with her heated bean bag and 1/2 cup of water. She thought she might have the virus... I called IHC to see what the rules were for getting a test made. We had to call the Medical Provider and get approval to stand in line for the saliva sample or nose swab... and then it would take one or two days for the results to come back. We got the test authorized and completed... then came back home. Somehow all the kids knew what was going on and Donna showed up at our door just before dark and suggested we make a trip to IHC to see if they would admit Sister Breeding. The IHC folks told us it would be four hours before they could know if she would be admitted... Donna and I waited in the car for a long time, and then these folks told us to go on home...and that Sister Breeding would most likely be admitted. Sat. Nov. 7th. Donna called IHC and got access to their patient information. One of the things it told us was that the virus test came back positive. Sister Breeding seemed somewhat better this morning. Donna spent the day sanitizing everything in the house to make any possible virus go away. Sister Breeding's Companion sent a note to Bishop Myler, President Higginson and the Mission Office to let them know that Sister Breeding had been tested positive to the virus and is currently hospitalized at IHC. --- Note: Sister Breeding made no notes after Nov. 5th.---

Mon. Nov. 9th. Sister Breeding was moved to the Intensive Care Unit at IHC because she was having trouble breathing. Thu. Nov. 19th. Our son, John, met me at IHC this evening and we got permission to give Sister Breeding a Priesthood Blessing. After the blessing, she said, "I'm coming home tomorrow morning!" Interesting, this message was loud and clear. Fri. Nov. 20th. I arrived at IHC early in the morning and told the IHC folks that Anna wanted to come home this morning. They let me know that there are certain steps in the process of releasing patients... Hospice must visit the home and set up a bed before the ambulance can transport her... and she would probably be released at about 4:30 P.M. I stayed in the room with Anna all day. I didn't let her know that she was to be taken home until about noon... at that time I said, "They tell me it will be about 4:30 P.M. before the ambulance will be here to take you home... the regulations prevent you being sent home before Hospice goes in and sets up a bed for you." At 4:30 P.M. these folks were at the door of her room, moved her to the ambulance and took her home. Our daughters, Donna (from Erda) and Daniela (from Hawaii) were both able to be with their mother for her last hours. The Death Certificate shows her as having passed away at 8:56 P.M. on Nov. 20, 2020. Cause of death: CoVid 19 Infection... other significant conditions: Hypertension, Stage II Kidney Disease. How thankful we are for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of "The Plan of Salvation." I leave these thoughts with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!