Merry Christmas!!!

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Merry Christmas from the Goodales: John & Michelle, Justin & Julia, Christopher & Brooke, Brianna, Andrew, Mark and Steven 

All of us but Justin & Julia when we went ziplining in Whistler, BC, Canada on July 15, 2013.

Merry Christmas from the Goodales! There never seem to be dull moments for our family, and 2013 proved to be no different. With missionary departures, non-stop travel, PTA to attend to, church callings, sports and everything going on, we feel richly blessed!

I (John) continue to travel like crazy, finishing up the year with 269 days on the road (206 overseas), banking about 600,000 miles on various airlines. I focused on fewer countries this year, hitting only 15 (I believe it was 19 last year). However, in 2014 Australia, New Zealand and India fall under my Asia “umbrella” and I’ll need to spread my wings a bit. The Unity Technologies Asia team numbers 75 today (up from 6 two years ago) across four offices and I love working with them.

After graduating from BSU with degrees in Social Work and French in December 2012, Michelle continued studying for her licensing exams, which she passed this year, and she’s now a licensed Social Worker. She’s also been the PTA President at our Middle School, the Scout Advancement Chair in our Boy Scout troop, and the Relief Society Activities Chair in our ward. She’s also the head wrangler of Dakota (more on that later), which probably keeps her busier than anything! And finally Chief Operations Officer at our crazy household, and I’d put her up against any Fortune 500 COO!

Justin’s wife Julia finished her Russian program at the DLI (Defense Language Institute) in Monterey, CA this Spring and they moved to the Boise area. We love having them nearby! Justin was working in a full-time National Guard position in the area until he was furloughed out of that, and is looking at re-classing in the military. We’ll be sad when they relocate out of the area this coming year.

Christopher and his wife Brooke still live in nearby Star, ID and we love having them nearby, too. Brooke is going to school studying early childhood education and enjoying that, and Christopher continues to work full-time at Gowen Field with the National Guard, on the Apache (helicopter) avionics. They have a veritable farmload of pets that are fun, and we love spending a lot of time with them.

Brianna continued her studies at Utah State University earlier this year and absolutely loved it there! She spent her summer working as a counselor for EFY (Especially For Youth, a program with the LDS church) in Provo and Atlanta. Then on August 28, 2013, she reported to the Missionary Training Center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Provo, UT to prepare for full-time missionary service as a missionary in the Argentina Neuquén Mission. She has been in Argentina now since the second week of October and she is working hard and loving it! Brianna's mission blog is here (see hyperlink).

Andrew graduated from high school in May, and he also was called to missionary service. He entered the Provo MTC on September 4th (a week after Brianna), and they did get a chance to see each other there. Andrew is serving in the Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission and he’s loving it out there, too. While Brianna is learning Spanish and her e-mails home are getting increasingly difficult to understand, we fear that Andrew may pick up some strange foreign tongue out in the Midwest, too! Andrew's mission blog is here (see hyperlink).

Mark is a junior in high school and doing very well there. He’s involved with Student Counsel, NHS and sportsmed loving being busy, and enjoying that. He loves playing lacrosse, which is really just an excuse to run around with sticks and hit people. Mark and I had the chance to go to Japan in the Spring (2013) and had a really great time (continuing the tradition of Dad taking each kid to Japan when he/she turns 16). I’m also taking him to Korea with me over New Years at the end of 2013, and that should be good for the Seoul.

Steven is now in 8th grade in middle school and doing well there. I started 2013 by taking him to Korea with me, so I guess that’s become somewhat of a tradition.  They just shadow me at work there while on Christmas break. Steven got to sit in with me while I both fired someone and hired someone, so that’s kind of interesting.

We grew our immediate family by one this past year, as well. We adopted a lovable furball (no, I was already part of the family). Our “Dakota” is a super energetic little puppy of St. Bernard breed and weighs in at about 100 pounds these days. She and Shadow (our older huskey/malamute mix) get along great and are best friends.

We had some more fun exploring this great planet again this past year, as well. We took a family vacation to Whistler, British BC, Canada in July and really had a great time. The kids went bungee jump-ing and we went white water rafting, ATV riding, zip lining and had all kinds of fun!

Then this summer Michelle and I went to Asia. It’s hard to believe that with all of my time in Asia, I had only taken Michelle there with me once (Japan back in the mid-90s) in 25+ years of marriage (though I had been there several times with our kids). We went on a bit of a grand tour, spending nearly two weeks running around Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul and Jeju Island (also in Korea). It was so awesome sharing part of my world with her!

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and may you enjoy the many blessings of life.

Sappyness

The last couple of weeks have been pretty emotional ones for the Goodale family, with a lot of "sappy" tears shed. So let me explain: "SAPPY" is the word that I have invented that combines "sad" and "happy" (Sad + hAPPY = SAPPY, but mostly happy). That being said, now that those couple of weeks are behind us and good-byes are said, I think we've transformed to Super hAPPY. :-)

Brianna and Andrew on May 30, 2013,
shortly after receiving their mission calls.

     We've been sad to bid temporary farewell to our daughter Brianna and our son Andrew as they departed to serve full-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yet we've been so happy for them because we know that they will have incredible experiences in their missionary service. Brianna is called to serve in the Argentina Neuquén Mission, and Andrew is called to serve in the Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission. Brianna will be learning Spanish, while Andrew will be learning English words like bubblah and pop (though a bubblah serving pop would be pretty cool).
     I (John Goodale, Dad) served a mission for the church in the Japan Nagoya Mission from 1985 to 1987, and Michelle (my wife and their mother) served a mission for the church in the France Paris Mission in 1986 to 1987 (I should scan and post pics some time!). Their older brother Justin also served a mission in the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission from 2008 to 2010. Missionary service is incredibly hard work with all kinds of challenges, but is also incredibly rewarding. We know they will have amazing experiences, and we are super excited for them! We know they will be amazing missionaries!

Brianna and Andrew in the MTC, September 4, 2013.

     Why do we serve missions? The Savior taught His disciples, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19). As followers of Jesus Christ, members of His Church are enthusiastic about proclaiming the good news of His restored gospel to all who are willing to listen. Carlos E. Asay, a Church leader, said, “(There is) a marvelous phenomenon which occurs among men (and women) when the light of the gospel illuminates their lives. Almost instinctively, it seems, the light of truth sparks a desire to share. When our minds are expanded by new knowledge, we want others to know; when our spirits are elevated by heavenly influence, we want others to feel; and when our lives are filled with goodness, we want others, particularly those whom we love, to enjoy similar experiences.”
     Andrew and Brianna have answered the call to so dedicate their lives over the next 24 and 18 months, respectively. They will be teaching about Jesus Christ and about his Gospel. They will be serving others. It will be a full-time, dedicated effort and their only "job." They will have one day "off" per week when they do laundry, go shopping, write home and such other weekly preparation. They won't even call home, except for Mother's Day and Christmas. Hence we'll miss them. However, we know they are engaged in a great cause, and we know they'll be having some great experiences!
     The church has 15 Missionary Training Centers (MTCs) all over the world, to prepare missionaries to serve in 405 missions throughout the world. They teach dozens of languages, and often times the Spanish-speaking missionaries report to one of the Latin American MTCs to learn Spanish. However, as Argentina visas take a while to process, Brianna entered the MTC in Provo on September 4th and will be there for roughly six weeks while hopefully her visa gets processed. If her visa is not ready by the time she completes her MTC training, she could be temporarily assigned to any mission in the U.S. while she awaits that visa processing. Andrew reported to the MTC on September 4th.
     But... I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. Let me get back to the last couple of sappy weeks, leading up to them both reporting for their missionary service.

After church on August 25, 2013.

     The weekend of August 24-25 I had a company management offsite meeting in Seattle, so I was popping in and out of Boise all weekend - it made for some crazy flight schedules. Saturday night, August 24th, we had an open house for Brianna and Andrew at our home, where family and friends came by to wish them well. The following afternoon they both spoke at our sacrament meeting services at church. Their assigned topic was the importance of the 10 Commandments and they gave great talks. Quite a few family members and friends attended the church services, and it was wonderful to have such great support; I've included a picture here of many whom attended.
     At our home Sunday evening, August 25th, Brianna was set apart by our Stake President as a full-time missionary for the church. Many tears of happiness (sappyness) were shed as we shared that experience. Our Stake President challenged Brianna to remember five things throughout the course of her mission, too sacred to shared here publicly. Some pretty cool stuff, though, that we have documented separately.

     On Monday, August 26th, I bounded back for Seattle while Brianna, Andrew and Michelle said good-bye to Boise and started driving toward Provo. Brianna has been going to Utah State University in Logan, Utah and Monday night they had an open house for her at her old apartment. It was fun for her to see her old roommates and a bunch of friends from LDV (Latter-day Voices, a singing group from the LDS Institute of Religion at Utah State, of which Brianna was a member).
     Tuesday began a wonderful day of visiting LDS temples in Utah. Michelle, Brianna and Andrew started with Brigham City in the morning, and I joined them later after I flew in from Seattle. Together we then all visited the temples in Bountiful and Salt Lake City. Pictured here are the four of us at the SLC temple.
     Tuesday night, our oldest son Justin and his wife Julia were able to meet us in Salt Lake City and we all had dinner together at the Cheesecake Factory (yum!).

THE BIG DAY (Sister Goodale)

     Female missionaries are referred to as "Sister..." in the church, or "Hermana..." in Spanish, and Hermana Goodale's report day was Wednesday, August 28th. After a yummy breakfast at IHOP and some very last-minute shopping at Wal-Mart, we arrived at the MTC at about noon. Her report time was at 1pm, so we had an opportunity to stroll the grounds of the neighboring Provo temple a bit. Here is a picture of us there. It's a preview for Andrew, as he'll be reporting exactly a week later.
     Michelle, Andrew and I drove home Wednesday afternoon, and the reality soon hit that Andrew would be leaving a week later. Of course, tough guy Dad was all weepy, Andrew still needed to pack up his room, and little brother Mark realized even more that his best friend was about to leave. Andrew and Mark are super close, share the same room, and do everything together. It's starting to get pretty hard on Mark; even Mark is getting sappy.
     Andrew was set apart as a full-time missionary, again by our Stake President in our home, on Sunday, September 1st. Roughly the same advice was given along with some new stuff that was unique to Andrew.

THE BIG DAY (Elder Goodale)
     Male missionaries are referred to as "Elder..." in the church, and Elder Goodale's report day was Wednesday, September 4th. We drove down to Sandy, Utah the night before, and before checking in to our hotel, met up with and had dinner with Nelly Bateman and her family. Nelly was a missionary with Michelle in France and they have kept in touch over the years. What's fun is that her husband served in the Milwaukee mission a couple of decades ago, so it was kind of fun to get his perspective of the area.
     Andrew's report time was 12:45pm, and we had time beforehand to take some pictures, as well. I took this picture here as we were pulling in to the MTC; as you can see, Andrew is all smiles. Andrew and Mark had just said their good-byes and slugged each other in the shoulder - touching. :-)  You can see that Mark is a bit weepy here, but man it was me who was the wreck! Man I'm gonna miss him!!! I'm going to miss both Brianna and Andrew!!!
     Andrew's time in the MTC will be very short. Not learning a foreign language (questionable at best... we hear that the locals don't put an "l" in "Milwaukee" for example), he's there only two weeks. We don't have travel details yet, but we believe he heads out of the MTC on September 17th.
     Brianna, having spent two months in Tijuana last summer, already has a jump on Spanish, but will be in the MTC for about six weeks. She will be heading out of there around October 8th.

Christopher, Steven, Brianna, Andrew and Mark
(Justin was in Utah on assignment with the Army).
August 25, 2013, at Brianna's setting apart as a missionary.

     Michelle and I are so proud of our children and the great young people that they have become. Not just Brianna and Andrew, but all of them. We are amazingly blessed!!!

SOME LINKS
Here are some additional links that you may or may not find interesting:

• Brianna's profile on Mormon.org: click here. Be warned: One of my non-Mormon friends told me this made her cry. :-)
• Set of 176 pictures on Flickr from these last two "SAPPY" weeks and of Andrew & Brianna right after they received their mission calls: click here.
• Slideshow I put together of Andrew growing up: click here.
• Slideshow I put together of Brianna growing up: click here.
• Wikipedia link on Neuquén: click here.
• The LDS church in Argentina (stats): click here.
• The LDS church in Wisconsin (stats): click here.
• Information on the missionary program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: click here. This is a good site on how the missionary program is run, how elders and sisters are called, what they do each day, and so on.
• Brianna's blog (with some of her letters/pictures sent home): click here.
• Andrew's missionary blog (with some of his letters/pictures sent home): click here.

The Deadbeat Blogger

I've been a deadbeat blogger. Maybe it's because I've spent 189 days on the road this year, trending toward 276 for the full year. Maybe it's because I've flown 440,753 miles. Maybe it's because I've been to 13 different countries so far this year. Maybe it's because Facebook is just so incredibly easy to post to and Blogger is not. Or maybe it's simply because I'm just lazy. But sorry folks; I haven't posted here in forever. I will make an empty promise here to try to do better. Meanwhile, with easy and constant access to Facebook from my phone, I'm still pretty active over there.