Utah Salt Lake City Mission - President and Sister Condie

  " For unto us a  child  is  born , unto us a  son  is given: and the  government  shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,  Counsellor , The  mighty   God , The  everlasting  Father, The Prince of  Peace . " Isaiah 9:6 It was the first of three Christmases we will experience here on our mission and was definitely a lot quieter than those celebrated at home. It was nice to have Christmas fall on a Sunday this year. It is so much easier to remember the true meaning when it falls on a Sunday. Our church service was exceptional. They had a full string orchestra from members of the ward - many or most of whom were youth between the ages of 11 and 17. Rachel and her husband Jake came over to open Christmas presents and we then  enjoyed a nice, quiet dinner with them and our two Assistants (two young missionaries that work closely with Anne and I in the mission leadership). After dinner we w...

  The highlight of the past few weeks (and there have been a number of highlights) had to be our youngest daughter's (Rachel's) wedding to Jake Beverley on December 2nd in the Draper Temple. She met him at church and they were friends long before he ever asked her out on a date. Though the weather was cold, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day for a beautiful bride. To make things even more perfect, we were able to be with all of our children and their spouses over the weekend and spend time with them, which was much needed. The night before the wedding, our son Dan and our two other sons-in-law Victor and Kimball went up to Park City to see Tommy Emmanuel in concert. He was his usual brilliant self and it was fun to introduce Victor and Kimball to his genius. If you ever get a chance to see him in concert, it is well worth the time and money. On the mission front, Anne and I were able to attend two different leadership conferences, one with Elder Gerritt W. Gong and anot...

 In honor of Thanksgiving ... These are some of the things for which I am most grateful: My family; A loving Heavenly Father; A merciful and compassionate Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ; The restoration of the church, gospel and priesthood of Jesus Christ on the earth once more; The Book of Mormon; Modern-day prophets and apostles; Covenants that bind us to God; The blessing of serving as a mission president with over 190 wonderful young and senior missionaries; Personal revelation; So many supportive friends; and Health. It was a busy two weeks with transfers taking center stage. We gained 16 new missionaries and lost 18 (12 finishing their missions, 4 receiving their visas and transferring to their permanent assignments elsewhere in the world, 1 going home early for health reasons, and 1 going home temporarily to work through something before returning to the field). It is such a blessing to work with and serve such exceptional young men and women! Thanksgiving dinner was had ...

  We enjoyed a couple weeks full of conferences. It started with stake conference in Green River, Wyoming November 5th and 6th. They kept us busy. We were asked to speak in the Leadership meeting on Saturday afternoon, the youth devotional Sunday morning and the general session also Sunday morning.  Just a couple days later, we started our first mission tour with Elder Hugo E. Martinez and his wife on Tuesday, November 8th. Elder Martinez is a General Authority Seventy and member of the Utah Area Presidency. Elder and Sister Martinez were so gracious, helpful, inspiring. We started our tour with a Zone Conference up in Evanston, Wyoming for our newly created Summit/Wyoming Zone. Following the conference, we were able to enjoy dinner with the Martinezes back in Salt Lake City. That was followed by Zone Conferences in Salt Lake City over the next two days and finished with a Missionary Leadership Council meeting that Friday to conclude the mission tour. The next day, Saturday, N...

  Okay, so “it has been a busy two weeks” is getting redundant. Here are the highlights from the past two weeks: ·        Held our Mission Leadership Council for this transfer cycle ·        Was able to go to dinner one night with my siblings and their spouses ·        Held and attended the monthly Missionary Health Council ·        Attended the monthly Member Leader Service senior missionary meeting ·        Attended the Rose Park zone multi-district council for this transfer cycle ·        Held our final Open House up in Evanston, Wyoming for the Wyoming and Coalville, Utah stake presidents and their wives ·        Attended and spoke at the adult session of the Bridger Valley Stake Conference with Elder Evan A. Schmutz (General Authority Seventy) and his wife ...

Fall is in the air. What a crazy and busy two weeks these last two have been. It is 10:35 p.m. as I write this and I know that if I don’t write now, I’ll miss another week before posting again. But because it is late and so much has happened, I will have to resort to just a bullet point record of the past two weeks: ·         Attended the temple with one of our Zones (all of the missionaries were able to attend a session at the temple last week. ·        Met with Elder Kevin Pearson to renew my temple recommend. ·        Worked to find the will of the Lord regarding this cycle’s transfers. ·        Held temple recommend interviews for missionaries whose recommends had expired and for missionaries who would be returning home on transfer day. ·        Held final interviews for missionaries returning home. ·      ...

  In reviewing my personal journal from this past week, it easily has been the hardest week emotionally for me thus far on our mission. From disobedience on the part of some missionaries, to a bike wreck putting a missionary in the hospital, to an easily avoidable car accident - seemingly all hitting on the same day - I had to apologize to my wife for my bad attitude. Fortunately, the car accident was minor, the missionary in the bike wreck will likely be fully healed in a couple months' time, and I have to remember that the disobedience is coming from 19- to 20-year old young men and young women who have not fully matured mentally and emotionally and, more importantly, the Savior atoned for sin and transgression (disobedience), from the trivial to the most consequential. As hard as those few days were, the week culminated in being able to attend the morning session of General Conference today (Sunday) with many of our missionaries as well as with our daughter Rebecca. What a wonde...