Tom and Debbie's Mission Blog: September 2023

We are truly blessed with all that the Lord allows us to do. In the summer months, we have the opportunity to do more things with family and this year was no exception. In the last two months, we enjoyed our normal family get togethers with our extended family and our direct posterity. In addition, we completed our second and third tending opportunity of the summer with grandkids while our children enjoyed some overdue and well deserved time together. We love this one-on- one time with our grandchildren as we get to know them in a much more personal way.

In August, we were privileged to be able to participate in our grandson's Home MTC which he did in our home. Again, we got to know him in a much more personal way and ended up with a much greater appreciation for his goodness and diligence. The month also included the sudden passing of Debbie's oldest brother Doug and the birth of a new grandson. Liam, the son of Giovanna and Leo Santos, was born on the day of Doug's funeral. We are witnesses of the hand of the Lord as one chosen spirit returned.home and another embarks on his mortal journey.

With our missionary grandson, another grandson arriving, and our dear brother, departed

Let's start and share some of our July family get-togethers:

We held our annual Extended Rueckert Family Reunion on July 15. This was our first since my mother passed away. We were pleased to see around 50 participate. My brother Dan drove up from California with his family and spent a few days in our home. Our nephew, Joshua Rueckert, flew in from Brazil as he finished his mission and our niece, Halle, returned from a trip to Ghana, just the night before. We were surprised to see Mike's wife, Kendra, who returned from a summer job in the mountains. We enjoyed a lunch, croquet, frisbee golf, and a lot of conversation. It is good to get together with each of them. I really enjoy visiting with our nieces and nephews who we seldom see otherwise.

Cousins and second cousins enjoying a game of croquet

The next day, we were able to get together again at Rob's house after his son, Joshua, reported on his mission. It is wonderful to see how much Joshua grew on his mission. He has become an amazing man, ready to move forward in righteousness.

July 24th Barbecue with our own posterity:

On July 24th we decided to invite our posterity to our condo for a barbecue. Over the space of 4 hours, we had around 30 of our family participate. We enjoy time with our children and grandchildren and the kids love to be with their cousins.

The patio was well utilized with the younger crowd

Baptisms for the Dead with the grandchildren:

On July 19th we enjoyed doing baptisms for the dead with 6 of our grandchildren. This was our last time with Joseph before he left on his mission.

One year memory of my mother:

We got up to the cemetery to remember my mother one year after she passed away. We had planted new Sharon Rose Bushes by her window from a gift certificate from Debbie's sister and family. They finally began to bloom. Every time we see these flowers, we remember my mother. It has been a busy year since her passing. We still miss her, but are happy for the joy that is in heaven.

Photo taken on July 28, 2023

One of the rose bushes by her window, just starting to bloom

Our July was full of joy with family, but we knew that our August calendar was already full with plans to care for grandchildren and Joseph's mission preparations. Little did we know that it would get fuller.

Caring for Grandkids

Gina's family in New Braunfels, TX:

Several months ago we convinced our daughter Gina to leave for a few days with her husband Danny, celebrating 10 years of marriage. She had not been alone with him since their first child was born, almost 9 years ago. Last year they moved to Texas, so this required a trip to Texas. We were excited to spend time with their five children. We had some reservations if her twins, now two years old, would adapt to us, since they don't know us very well. We felt that our time spent with her three older children would go very well.

We arrived on Wednesday, August 9 and were picked up at the airport by Gina. We proceeded to their home, got reacquainted with their children and then Gina and Danny left. To our great surprise and relief, there were no issues with any of her children, including the twins. They all behaved wonderfully and we consider our visit to be a cherished memory. We stayed until Saturday afternoon, so we were able to have three nightime routines, many meals and a lot of time to spend with each of the children building relationships. The temperatures were well over 100 degrees, so we mostly stayed indoors. The following are a few of our experiences and special memories:

Danny and Gina have a tall swimming pool on their patio. The first day, all five children enjoyed time together in the pool. It was outside, but in the shade, so it was bearable. They absolutely love being in the water, so we were off to a good start.

Danny had left this inflatable pool all ready for our arrival.

This was probably the only time and/or place that Debbie left the house for three days

They are all excellent in posing for photos

The pool was deep enough for the older kids to swim immersed in the water

Rylee and Quinn were full of smiles most of the trip

After dinner, we moved into our game playing mode. The older kids were ready and anxious to play games. For three days, they never tired of playing games. They had their own games that were on their list. We brought a belated Christmas gift (game) that we had not received before sending our Christmas box last year. We also brought our selection of 6 card games that we had used with Jared's kids a few months earlier. They loved all of them. We finally decided to leave the 6 card games that we had brought since they loved them so much.

Our Christmas present game was a success. When we weren't playing it together, Grant spent hours occupied by himself while his brother and sister played other games.

I love Blokus and so did they

Go Fish was our first card game, but not our last

War became a favorite, often going on for a long time

These were the games that we played for 3 days. They never got tired of playing.

While we played games with the older children, the twins were really good about playing together or having time with Oma while Opa played with the older kids. It worked amazingly well.

Rylee and Quinn enjoyed time with Oma while Opa played with the older kids

The twins also played very well together most of the time

We found that the twins love to follow their siblings, especially Grant. Whatever he does, they want to join in

Oma also brought her other treats for the kids, including the punch balls, which were a big hit throughout the time we were there:

Everyone enjoyed the Punch Balls, especially the twins

Gina has her kids on a great routine. The twins have a set nap time. They all get up at 7:30 am and watch TV while we get ready. They have set times for meals and bedtime. This all made caring for these great kids pretty easy. It also helped us keep track of who Rylee and Quinn were, because they know where to sit at the table and which crib and bottles are theirs. If we were in doubt, they reminded us. During our bedtime routines, we were able to enjoy Come Follow Me videos and discussions with the older children. This is one of the activities that brings great joy to our hearts.

Each has their own seat at the table. Quinn sat by Debbie and Rylee sat by me for each meal

Bedtime routines include reading stories and then praying with each child individually, some of our favorite memories.

On Thursday, while the twins were napping, I took the three older kids to the neighborhood swimming pool. Gina cautioned us to not try to take all five at once. These kids love the pool! Addie had some of her friends come to the pool and she swims quite well. Hudson and Grant love the water, but mostly swim with water wings. However, they love to take them off and jump in the pool. This is when they needed my full attention. I only let one of them take their wings off at a time.

These three love the water and seem to have no fears

Hudson and Grant jump into the water over and over again

Hudson was an absolute dare devil

This photo of Grant jumping in looks like he is walking on the water!

Addie with her friend and her older sister

After several hours, they finally agreed to go back home

On Friday we needed to go to the store and buy a few things. I took Hudson and Grant with me so they could spend a few dollars that they had saved. Grant picked up a few clearance toys and was happy. Hudson could not find a dinosaur for the three dollars that he had and agreed to go home and order one on Amazon. That was until he saw the machine where you pay a dollar to try and pick up a stuffed animal out of the machine, which is next to impossible. While I was trying to talk him out of it, he put his dollar bill into the machine. After being unsuccessful in capturing a toy, he decided to try two more times, again without success. When we arrived back home, he went to his room sad, because he had lost all of his money. This was one of those learning moments. As we talked about it, he decided that he could teach his son from his lesson. I agreed to order an inexpensive toy on Amazon for him if he got more money from his mom for cleaning his room. It was a tough lesson, but he handled it very well. Another meaningful teaching moment.

After almost a near perfect time with the twins, Rylee had a meltdown just an hour before her parent got home on Saturday. She wanted to open her water bottle on her own, but was not able to do it. After crying for a half hour, her parents arrived home and she was okay again. We are grateful for this opportunity to spend meaningful time with these beautiful grandchildren. We were also glad to come home and have some time to ourselves again! Gina and Danny had a good time with only a few phone calls from us during the three days and nights.

As Gina took us to the airport, she stopped and let us visit what is the largest Buc-ees store in Texas, the second largest in the world. We got to experience a little bit of Texas!

In front of the largest Buc-ees store in Texas, right in New Braunfels, TX

Inside of this gigantic convenience store

Caring for Serenity while Michael and Kari took a quick trip to Mount Rushmore:

Our tending assignment for Serenity was a little different. First of all, it was only for one child. Secondly, we picked her up from school on Friday afternoon and brought her to our condo until Sunday night. This was also the weekend of our stake conference, so we arranged for her to stay with her cousin Evelyn for Saturday night and Sunday Church while we attended our stake conference meetings. Therefore, the responsibility was a bit easier, but we still tried our best to make it a meaningful experience. It also so happened that this was during the viewing for Debbie's brother on Sunday night. Kari came and stayed on Sunday night and she and Serenity attended the funeral on Monday. We still got to have a bedtime routine with her for two of the nights and enjoy meals together. She was a wonderful guest. The following were some of the activities that we participated in with Serenity during these days:

We still played games with Serenity. On this memory game, she got 10 matches while Oma and Opa got 10 matches combined. She is really good at the Memory Game.

Serenity still received and enjoyed her Punch Ball

Opa and Serenity went for a walk to the temple on Saturday morning. We happened to get there right after a wedding.

We love the temple and love having our granddaughter with us at the temple

Oma spent some time playing Legos with Serenity and built this temple out of the Lego blocks

Serenity got to know some of her second cousins during the Sunday night viewing

In Between the Grandchildren assignments - Home MTC in our home for Elder Joseph Digerness:

The day after we got home from Gina's in Texas we attended the missionary talk given by Elder Joseph Digerness and his setting apart that same evening. We loved his talk which shared his feelings about the difficult times when his father left the Church and the family and how his faith grew as he had to step up in the home. We were very proud grandparents on this special day.

Joseph Digerness right after his talk

Elder Digerness right after being set apart in his home later that day

The next day Elder Digerness started his Home MTC in our home. Each day we would pick him up in the morning and his mother would pick him up in the evenings to take him home. We were busy with our missionary responsibilities on the computers upstairs and he was busy with his MTC training using a computer downstairs. We would meet for breaks and/or meals when our times matched. What a joy it was to have him with us during these special days.

Elder Digerness doing his Home MTC in our downstairs

He met his companions and district in meetings each morning and afternoon

Each day at noon, he had larger gatherings with over 600 missionaries that had started their Home MTC that week.

Each day he would come up during breaks and have a bag of chips or a cookie. He also ate two pounds of lunch meat for his lunches during his time in our MTC. Missionaries certainly know how to eat.

On Thursday, he had a P-Day but still had his noon meeting. He stayed home preparing to move out of his room and came to our home for the noon meeting. I was serving in the temple that day, so Elder Digerness and Debbie came to the temple to perform initiatory ordinances and an endowment on his P-Day. We had gone to the temple with Joseph right before we went to Texas, but this time we were able to be with him, just the three of us. What a blessing this was. He also went again the next week on Tuesday, the day before going to the MTC. Each day he did 5 initiatory ordinances and an endowment session.

On Tuesday, we worked together to make sure that he had plenty of family names to do baptisms, initiatories, endowments and child to parent sealings while in the MTC. I thought that I could teach him a few things about Family Search. By the time we were through, he taught me quite a few things that I didn't know from what I thought was a novice in Family History work. This young generation learns fast, especially in technology related tasks.

Our special day in the temple with our missionary grandson

Finally on Wednesday morning of the second week, we picked Elder Digerness up and brought him to our home for the last time before heading to the MTC. He had already said good bye to his siblings and his mother who were all at school. We stopped and had a lunch with him, topped off with ice cream from the BYU creamery and then dropped him off at the MTC. Photos follow:

In front of the Olive Garden, his last lunch with his grandparents

Photo taken by the missionary that was waiting for him in the parking garage

And then he was gone, onto the greatest adventure of his life

I must confess that before this experience I have wondered about the purpose of having 9 days of Home MTC before entering the Provo MTC. My rebellious mind would ask why not send him directly to the Provo MTC. As I watched how hard he worked, how much he progressed in those few days and how ready he was to take the next step in Provo, I repented of my doubting heart. For us this was a marvelous time to see him serving as a full-time missionary and excited to continue onto the MTC without hesitation. He already knew his district and companions. In fact he had been studying with them on-line each day from his home. Whenever I doubt about practices in the Church, I always find that I was in the wrong. Certainly, this was a marvelous experience. The next day we received the following photo on his P-Day:

Elder Digerness with his companions in front of the Provo Temple

The passing of Debbie's brother Doug:

While Elder Digerness was serving in our home, Debbie's uncle, Doug, was in a tragic bicycle accident. We were learning about this and spending time in the hospital on Sunday and on Tuesday night while Joseph was home during his MTC week. Doug's funeral was held the following Monday. The following is the entry in my first email to Elder Digerness, written on Tuesday, August 29.. It tells the rest of the story:

Yesterday we held the funeral for Oma’s brother, Doug. All went very well with lots of love and many nieces and nephews that we haven’t seen for a long time. From our side, Aunt Kari (and Serenity), Jacob, Sam and Moroni were there with us. Most of their cousins were there for either the viewing on Sunday or on Monday morning. This funeral certainly was a celebration of Doug’s life and his marvelous example to others. Doug was always very committed to his Savior Jesus Christ. His life reflected that devotion. We know that he was well received on the other side. The last time that I and you and Oma saw Doug was in the temple, doing what he did so consistently, serving as proxy for his ancestors in these amazing temple ordinances. This was just two days before his accident. Your Uncle Jacob sent the following text to your Oma, “With all the temple work he was able to do, I can only imagine how wonderful of a welcome he will receive on the other side!” We agree!

Let me share a few of the highlights of these last two days that were very memorable to me. Some of these came from his son, Nate, who spoke at his funeral.

· We learned in these last few days how much Doug loved riding his bike. He especially loved riding downhill at high speeds. At the time of his accident, he was going downhill, probably at a high speed. We can only imagine how much he was enjoying himself before the accident.

· Doug loved to look into the sky. He had his own telescope and loved to see the creations of God throughout the universe. In his later years, he has had a hard time looking up at the sky because of arthritis in his neck. When he was found, he was laying on his bike with his head facing the sky. In his last mortal view, it appears that he was gazing into the sky, perhaps enjoying this last view of the heavens before departing the earth. The following is a photo that was taken by those who found his body. It is a pretty amazing position for someone who had just broken his neck and at that moment had no pulse.

Photo taken by one of those who rescued Doug at the accident site

· He was miraculously found, we think within 5 to 10 minutes of his accident, by two Good Samaritans who immediately called 911 and began compression CPR. Within minutes the Fire Department showed up and continued the CPR until his heart started beating again. This by itself was a miracle. But then we wondered why this miracle, since he never recovered and his brain was no longer functional. The reason why was that he was an organ donor. He signed up as an organ donor many, many years ago. He kept his body in excellent condition and so his organs were valuable. With his eyes, kidneys, liver and other organs, he was able to help 8 or more other individuals. In his death, he was serving others in a critical way. In fact, as he was taken to the operating room to remove his organs, he was escorted by an Honor Walk in the hospital, celebrating this remarkable service to others.

· As we participated in the viewing on Sunday night, we saw the president and matron of the Jordan River Temple come in. I went and talked to them, wondering if they visited all of the viewings of temple workers who pass away. The president told me that Doug was the temple worker who had trained him in performing the initiatory ordinances. Wow, this speaks wonders of one of those whose life he had touched.

· Some of Doug’s children live away from Utah and are not active in the Church and there has been some estrangement from the family. During these last few days, we saw many, many expressions of love between siblings. Those who are active in the gospel gave wonderful tributes to their father, including bearing witness of his goodness and his testimony. Personally, I felt the spirit very strongly. I imagine this also did much good for all of the children.

The following is the last photograph of Doug with his siblings, one month before his death. This was right after we performed family sealings in the temple together for about two hours. The second is his four siblings with his casket.

Photo taken after dinner on July 22, 2023, right after our family temple sealing session

Photo taken on August 28, 2023 right after the funeral

Some of the other photos taken during the viewings and funeral of Arthur Douglas Moeller:

Debbie and her Sister LuAnn with their step mother, Hannie, at the viewing

Debbie with the photo of Doug and the flowers purchased by his siblings

Doug's family giving their last respects right before closing the casket, incredible love shown between each of them!

One Navy officer playing taps on the bugle while the other saluted Doug's casket

Annetta receiving the flag from his casket

Doug's wife and children by the casket at the cemetery

Photo with my good friend George Rausch. We were both brothers in law to Doug Moeller. We are both temple ordinance workers and both used Doug as a substitute for us often. In fact, Doug substituted for me the week that we were in Texas.

Two more photos from the cemetery. Kari lived her dream of sitting in a Corvette Stingray which belongs to her Uncle Tom Moeller. We can't miss the expression on Kari's face:

Kari in the Corvette

Look at her face!

Birth of our grandson, Liam Santos:

While leaving the cemetery, we called our daughter, Giovanna, whose baby was due that day and got no answer. In the middle of that night we received the text announcing the birth of little Liam, which happened about the same time that we were calling. On that very same day, we lost one treasured family member and received another one directly from heaven.

Photo of Liam that we received that night

Leo and Giovanna with little Liam

Liam with his grandma

Liam with his grandpa

The next day, August 29, Debbie had her long awaited electrocardiogram. After 8 months of treatment, it was time to evaluate how her heart is doing. Personally, I was fascinated at the ability to see the details of the heart pumping. We will be going back to the cardiologist to see the official results this week, but the testing was amazing. The last time they did this was in the hospital when Debbie was admitted. That was during the night when I had gone home to sleep.

I don't know what all these photos mean, but they measure the pumping ability of the heart, to the lungs and to the body. They can measure everything. We will understand just a little bit more when we visit with the cardiologist.

In the middle of all of our August activities, our Church Service Mission also got busier. While in Texas, we had a launching meeting with a team of the temple department. They wanted the missionaries to do interviews with 45 temple leadership, sealers, shift coordinators and ordinance workers, around the world. We blocked out our personal commitments on our calendar and they scheduled many interviews for us. We haven't worked this hard for some time. Many of the interviews were scheduled while Joseph was doing his Home MTC. Some were late at night, others were early in the morning. Some had to be rescheduled, in a few cases we did not connect. Generally they took about an hour with another half hour or so to put the information into the computer..

The most official photo of our missionary team with our employee leaders. We meet with this group each week multiple times. Together we love to tackle big jobs.

We really loved this assignment. In total we completed 24 interviews with 22 different temples. This included temples in Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Spain, Hong Kong, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, DR Congo, Cape Verde, England, Puerto Rico and throughout the U.S. In Brazil, I was able to hold interviews with 5 individuals from 4 different temples. Each was amazing as we talked to dedicated individuals who consecrate a good share of their lives to the Lord and his work in the temples.

I just wanted to share one as an example. This was with a young adult from Cape Verde. She had served a mission in Brazil where she received her endowment. She served close to the temple in São Paulo and loved it. After her mission, she moved from her island to the island of Santiago where the new temple would be dedicated. She was in the first group of temple workers in the Praia Cape Verde Temple. She serves every Saturday morning and is in the temple almost every day, either as a patron or a substitute ordinance worker. At the end of her interview she shared the following story, which was very inspiring:

Before the temple was dedicated, she started doing her own family history. She prepared the information for her grandmother in Family Search and sent it to the temple to have the work done. When the temple was dedicated, she was not able to access the ordinance on-line because it had already been assigned to a temple. One day when she was tired and stressed, the Spirit told her to go to the temple right away. She obeyed. When she received her new name, the name she received to be proxy for was the name of her grandmother that she had previously shared with the temple. She knew that the Lord had spoken to her to go to the temple and understood her needs and desires. This greatly increased her testimony of the Lord's involvement in the work for the dead and in His love for her.

New Residences:

For some time I have been working with Moroni and his finances. It has been difficult for him to pay the market value of rent with his income. As we tried to find solutions, we finally decided to purchase a mobile home in a trailer park. It has three bedrooms, so we invited Abraham to also live in this trailer home. I have felt led by the spirit in this process, especially when we added Abraham to the plans. We closed on this mobile home on August 25, right before we went to pick up Serenity in Cache Valley. Abe and Moroni both moved in within a day or two.

Our new mobile home in Sherwood Forest

Our Son, Dan, and his family bought a new home in Hyrum, Utah and closed on August 30. He is the third sibling living in Cache Valley. Three of his siblings were able to help him move and had this wonderful photo taken in the front of his new home.

Four siblings together, there now living in Cache Valley

Dan and Amy and their kids on the porch of their new home

Other Grandchildren activities:

Early in July, our granddaughter Evelyn asked us to take her to the Museum of Natural History where she had a free pass. Of course, our passes were not free, but it was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with this beautiful granddaughter. The following are a few photos of that fun day:

Evelyn with the dinosaurs and her grandparents. Which is which?

Oma and Evelyn putting together pottery

One more selfie in the museum

We were also invited to a special concert of four madrigal choirs at a Catholic Church. Our grandson, Joshua, sang in the group from Hillcrest High School.