Barbara Henry 1959

Good evening my dear family and friends.  I didn't get to my blogging yesterday but here I am on Monday evening.  It has once again been a wonderful week.  It amazes me how fast the time is passing by.  It seems it is Monday and we are having our special Monday devotional and then almost immediately it is Friday and we are finishing up the week and looking forward to the weekend.  Of course the weekend passes like lightening and it is Monday again.  On June 1st I will have been out on this mission for 4 months.  What have you done with the last four months?

I feel so sad and empathetic for President Thomas Monson who lost his beloved wife this week.  They had been married for a very long time.  He will be so lonely without her.  I know!  Even with lots of people around all the time it won't fill the loneliness of loosing your eternal companion.  The funeral will be at noon on Thursday in the Tabernacle.  My thoughts and prayers have been and will continue to be with President Monson and his family.

Today's Monday devotional has been one I have long dreaded.  All missionaries are required to give a three minute biography of their life.  Today was my day! I was the fourth speaker.  I am going to publish my talk here on my blog.  It is a very succinct few paragraphs of 72 years of life.  I hope it won't bore my readers but this blog is a part of my mission journal and I think it should be included here.

 

Winkie Family following temple sealing 1981

Barbara Winkie – 3 minute profile for May 20, 2013

Good morning, I am Barbara Winkie.  I was born in Rochester New York and was raised by a great, single parent, mom.  I have 3 siblings that I am close to but who are not members.  After graduating high school I worked as a long distance telephone operator.  The day before my 20^th birthday I was on the 2^nd day of a 48 hour Grayhound bus trip from Florida.  There was a layover and bus change in Scranton, PA.  My seat mate on this bus was a nice looking young soldier.  We married 3 months later.  He loved to tell people how we met and delighted in adding “and Barbara was a pick-up.”

Don served for 26 years in the United States Army and we moved a lot.  Two sons were born a year apart during my first tour in Germany.  Another son was born in Virginia and a 4^th son was born in New York just before Don went on his 2^nd tour to Vietnam.  While on a two year assignment to Korea our family was enlarged when we adopted 3 little girls.  How blessed we were.   Don always liked to get a rise out of people when he would say that our children were 2 Krauts, a Yank, a Reb and 3 Gooks.  We were a military family and were proud of it. 

Don and I were married in a Lutheran Church and on our 10^th anniversary we renewed our vows in a Methodist Church.   Four years before we adopted our daughters we were stationed in Germany for our last tour.  We had been married for 15 years and life was good but it was about to get better.  I borrowed a book from our library called “The Restored Church” donated by the LDS Chaplain that served the needs of the 96 families in our little housing area.  That book converted our family.  Soon we were baptized and exactly a year later all 6 of us were sealed for time and eternity in the House of the Lord in Bern, Switzerland.  Now we were REALLY married.  The girls were sealed to us in the Washington, DC temple.  When Don retired from the Army we moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico. We were there for 9 years and it is where I went to college.   We moved to Missouri in 1993,

Our family fulfilled a long held dream when we purchased our 80 acre farm in Caldwell County Missouri.  When people asked Don what he was going to raise on our farm he would say “grandchildren.”  We made many memories with our 32 grandchildren and 14 greats.  We also raised meat goats and at one time we had about 500 breeding does.  Our eldest son has named his new restaurant in Pennsylvania “Eighty Acres” in honor of his dad. 

Through the years  my husband sustained and supported me in the many leadership and teaching callings I have had.  Most of that time he was a ward or branch clerk and did it all.  When he died two years ago, just 7 weeks before our 50^th anniversary, our children and friends all said that the Lord must have needed a dependable clerk.  Don embraced computer technology way back to the Commodore 64 from Radio Shack.  We always had a PC in our home.  When I graduated in 1988 Don gave me my first laptop.  It really came in handy when I returned to the university 2 years later for my Masters in Social Work.  Countless times I called Don at work and he would walk me through my newest computer glitch.  A good friend, who is now the mission president in Greece, told me that Don would serve this mission with me.  Every day when I turn on my computer Don is with me.    I think he continues to give me prompts in my work in Data Quality. 

I love this church and I know that the work we do is so vital to Heavenly Father’s and Jesus’ plan.  I love my mission and am so grateful to be able to serve in the “Happiest Zone” in the mission.  In Jesus’name, Amen.

That's it for this week.  I have been very busy with my work in the Data Quality Zone.  I do wish I could explain in detail what a special week it was.  It truly was!  Just know that I am doing the Lord's work like all missionaries but I just can't talk about it.  Too sacred.  Not secret but confidential.  

Oh, I must mention that I had two grandchildren, Miranda and Jonny, who graduated high school this week. Jonny is planning on serving a mission and Miranda has already enrolled in Avilla College.  I am so proud of them.  Both of them are brilliant students and the sky is the limit for what they can do.  My granddaughter, Reanna's husband, Zach, graduated from college since last I wrote.  He managed to support a wife and 4 daughters while he worked hard for his degree.  I am very proud of him.  He has already been accepted into graduate school.  My granddaughter, Jessica, will soon have her first baby.  His name is Kai and is due in June.  She will be a super mom.  Grandson, Michael Ivan, a Marine in California was married on May 11th.  I welcome Vicky in the family and pray they will always be as happy as they are now.  I love all my grandchildren so much.  Hugs and kisses to you all.  Have a wonderful week everyone.  "Upward and Onward now!  Sister Winkie

The Arthur Henry family

It has been two weeks since I have written and I don't know where to start.  On May 3rd I went to the Draper, Utah temple for the marriage of my nephew, Tyler.  His bride is Megan and it was a wonderful affair.  Tyler is the stepson of my brother, Arthur Henry.  Yes, my maiden name was Henry.  There was a lovely luncheon after the picture session outside the temple..  It was a truly beautiful day.  Enjoyed being with family.  On Saturday Art, Maurine and two of the out-of-town wedding visitors came to Salt Lake City to tour Temple Square.  I joined them for lunch at the Lion House and a walking tour of Temple Square.  I took them to my office and showed them around.  It was nice to have family visit me here in SLC.

Emily Henry

The beautiful young lady is Art's daughter, Emily.  She  sang a surprise song for the bride and groom.  She has a lovely trained voice.  She is only 15 and does a professional job.  The groom is in the grey suit.  The kid on the left is 17 and is about 6'6" and is Art's son.

On Sunday I attended Music and the Spoken Word with my monthly activity group.  It was a beautiful program (of course) and afterward we went to the North Visitor's Center to hear a presentation about the Christus statue given by Elder Jay Schvaneveldt who served a mission in Denmark.  I asked Elder Schvaneveldt for a copy of his talk and I will include it here.  I think it is very interesting.

This is my activity group - Elder Schvaneveldt is in the light grey suit

I am having trouble with the cutting, copying and pasting.  I am sorry for the spacing but I don't know how to fix it.  I apologize for the cropping of the head of the Christus but the photographer did it to get all the group in the shot.  It is a truly beautiful statue.

On April 30th we attended a program put on by the young sisters on Temple Square.  It was called "Sounds of Music from Around the World.  There are 191 young Sister Missionaries, representing over 40 different languages.  They are amazingly talented young women and the whole production was mesmerizing.  I especially loved the two grand pianos arranged facing each other with two pianist on each keyboard.  They played The Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa.  It was like dueling pianos and each trying to out perform the other.  I just loved it and so did the audience.  They came to their feet clapping, whistling and cheering.  Wow, I can see and hear it now in my memory.  The young women sang, danced, played violins and the piano.  They began the program by marching in carrying flags of their respective countries and singing "Called to Serve."  It brought tears to every-ones eyes.  Of course all this fun also included 35-40 hours a week at my desk in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  I am so busy learning my new project and doing my special Monday project.  They are very intense using all the computer skills I have and constantly learning new ones.  I will be a whiz when I come back home

I will have a couple occupying my home in Missouri for a few months.  They sold their home in Kansas City and are looking for a new one.  They probably will only be there for the summer.  It is great timing because they are Steve and Stacy Hansen and Steve has been the principal lawn mower at my place for several years.  He is son, Wade's best friend and I call him one of my sons.  Stacy and Steve will take good care of my place.  I have decided I really miss the beautiful sunrises and sunsets at my farm.  I don't think I have seen either one since I moved to Utah.  Well that is all for now.  I will try to not skip anymore weeks but sometimes it just can't be helped.  I keep in great health and continue to absolutely love my mission, my work and all my new friends.  Life is so good.  I hope all of my readers this week are happy and healthy, too.

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