Fred & Kathy Christmas 2019
Dear Family and Friends,
It is Christmas time again and we love to reconnect with our family and friends. It is a great time for us to stop and reflect on our many blessings and to share with those that mean so much to us. We are blessed to have a testimony of our Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and of his mission here on earth. His great infinite atonement for us provides a way for us to have all that Heavenly Father has. We are grateful to have the fullness of the Gospel restored to the earth and the opportunity that we have to enjoy all the blessings that come to us through the gospel. Our reflection at Christmas time helps us realize the importance of staying in touch with those that matter most to us.
2019 has been a very interesting, busy and exciting year for us. On December 10, 2018 our 15th grandchild, Emily, was born to Michelle and Eric Forbes, and she is such a sweet little girl.
Some of the highlights of 2019 include submitting our mission papers, a trip to Hawaii in February (and seeing Mark and Karolyn, Kathy’s sister and brother in law), fasting and praying about our mission in February while in Hawaii, and travelling across the USA along the Mormon Trail. We had some very rich experiences while on the Mormon trail with both historical experiences and with family and friends along the way. We felt richly rewarded for our efforts. We also spent some fun time in San Diego with Kim and Brent (Kathy’s sister and Brother in law) in November.
We also enjoyed having a family reunion with Fred’s siblings and families and then later with our own children and their families during the summer.
We were so excited when we received our mission call on June 18th, 2019 and to find out that we were called to serve in the New Zealand Wellington Mission as Member & Leader Support missionaries or wherever the mission president needed us to serve. We have since been contacted by our mission president and asked to serve in the Mission Office to assist with the administration of the mission. As office missionaries we will be travelling around the mission somewhat as we work with the various missionaries there. This is the same mission that Fred served in as a 20 year old. Our current mission president in Calgary is from New Zealand and he knows some of the missionaries Fred served with. Fred is very excited to reconnect with those individuals and their families.
It has been a lot of work preparing to go on this 18 month mission as we are to report to the MTC (missionary training centre) in Provo Utah on January 13, 2020. We have been trying to simplify our lives as we have been cleaning out Fred’s old office and getting it ready to sell, clearing out all the excess stuff from Fred’s business life and just eliminating all the excess stuff so that we can fit into our condo. It is becoming much easier for us to go and serve this mission, or our family or wherever the Lord needs us.
It has also been very enriching to spend time with our family and to help our daughter Michelle and her family move back to Calgary in the summertime. They are trying to sell their bakery in Kimberley (anyone want to buy a bakery?) at which time Eric will be able to come to Calgary full time to be with his family. We enjoy having all five of our children living in the same city as us with all 15 of our Grandchildren. We are blessed indeed.
It is also great to spend time with Kathy’s mom, now that she is living so close, and with Kathy’s extended family before we leave on our mission. We have also been able to serve at the temple and to attend the temple with our family to perform some sacred ordinances. We have also loved serving in our Ward, stake and region callings as we have had some very rich and special experiences. In December we had the wonderful opportunity of portraying the innkeeper & his wife as we participated in the live nativity pageant at Heritage Park this year.
It is not that it has all been easy this year, but it has been very rich and rewarding.
We spoke in church this past Sunday and we spoke on service as seniors and as senior missionaries. We had many of our family and friends come and join us and we felt a great appreciation for the friends and family that surround us. We know we will miss them as we serve this mission, but we are grateful for modern technology that will allow us to connect so effectively.
We do plan to update our Blog with posts on a monthly basis and share with you some of the experiences that we are having and some beauties that we will be able to enjoy. It is a week and a half until we fly down to Utah where we will be for a week and a half before we fly down to Wellington New Zealand.
May the Lord bless you and your families, and may you find the joy and happiness that comes from serving one another as the Savior did.
With all our love,
Soon to be Elder and Sister Fred & Kathy Hurdman
PS. We are taking our VOIP phone number with us to New Zealand so it will remain the same at (403) 256-4440. If you call, make sure you check the world clock on your phone so that you know what time it is in Wellington NZ. Currently it is either 20 hours ahead of MST or 4 hours earlier, but tomorrow.
