APM Reunion with The Hamiltons - Oct. 3, 2008
President and Sister Hamilton are coming to Salt Lake City, UT to unite the bond shared with return missionaries from 1995-1998. This is the first real reunion this era has had with the Hamiltons. Please plan now to attend to rekindle the friendships and bond we share as Australia Perth Missionaries.
Originally, we planned... to do two events – a lunch for families to bring kids and an evening dinner for adults only. We’ve decided to make it just one evening event and for it to be more of a social outing with light finger foods, favorite Australian treats and desserts.
When: Friday, October 3 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Church house located at 1208 W. 12400 S. Riverton, UT 84065
Directions: From I-15, take the Draper 12300 S. Exit and head west. Go to 1300 W. (Temple Drive) and turn right. The second right will be 12400 S. Go down a couple blocks and you will see the church on your left.
Please help to inform old companions and friends from the mission by passing on this email and calling them to encourage them to attend. We want no one lost or unaware of this reunion.
PICTURE DVD: In addition, we are building a DVD showing pictures from the mission and current pictures. The Australian missionaries are hosting a reunion as well and will be making one for it in September. We want to swap DVDs and show both at the reunion. TO DO THIS WE NEED ALL OF YOU TO SUBMIT 1-2 MISSION PHOTOS AND ONE CURRENT FAMILY PHOTO. Please send photos to Brandon Savage at bwsavage at gmail dot com no later than August 17, 2008.
Out-of-State Travelers: Those traveling from out-of-state or southern Utah – we will have babysitters available at the church in the nursery (this is not for locals; you can get your own babysitter). In addition, if you need assistance with accommodations please contact Nate McDonald at 801-808-0810 or nate2263 at yahoo dot com.
For any additional questions please call Nate McDonald at 801-808-0810 or nate2263 at yahoo dot com.
Read More......
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Finally... a reunion?
From Elder Brandon W. Savage:
I don't know about the rest of you, but I always wondered why we hadn't had a mission reunion... After I returned home in February of 1998, I went back to school at BYU. I got married in '99, and we ended up sticking around in Utah after we both graduated from college. For the last 10 years, around general conference time (April & October), I would always look in the Deseret News in the Mission Reunion section and see if we were going to have a reunion. Every year... nothing.
After a few years...I started seeing reunions for Pres. Robinson, and even attended one and saw a few familiar faces, but I never saw one with the name "Hamilton", and I started to wonder why.
I'll be honest, I have done a terrible job of keeping in touch with people from my mission. That includes converts, companions, etc. Living in Utah, I would occasionally bump into some APMers here and there, and the conversation would always steer to "When are we going to have a reunion?" Nobody seemed to know.
In early 07, we moved from Provo to Northern California for a job opportunity. Flash forward to Monday, October 1st, 2007... I received an email from Sis. Hamilton (as many of you might have). It basically said, "We're coming this weekend, let's have a reunion! It'll be this Sunday!" My first thought was... "It figures, I finally move away from Utah, and *now* they have a reunion!!" My second thought was, "I *really* want to be there."
I talked to my wife, and I bought some last-minute tickets and flew in to Salt Lake City Sunday morning. As I walked to the Conference Center to attend the afternoon session, I heard somebody shout out, "Elder Savage!" I turned to look and saw Pres. and Sis. Hamilton. We hugged and talked briefly. It was so great to see them! We parted ways, until later that evening, when I arrived at Elder Parker's parents house for the reunion.
I don't remember everything that happened that night, but it was one of the stronger spiritual experiences I had had in the last few years. There were 25-35 people there (including spouses), most who had lived locally and had heard about the reunion at the last minute. Some were calling former companions from the reunion encouraging them to come. A few, like myself and Elder Crotts, had traveled from a bit farther away.
After mingling for a while, Pres. Hamilton had us all sit down in one room and basically told us the following:
He had just spent the previous night at his first missionary reunion (after 25 years, I believe?). Like many things, Pres. Hamilton had modeled himself after Pres. Opie. Pres. Opie had felt that missionary reunions were entirely up to the missionaries to organize and he didn't see a lot of value in them... until the previous night. Pres. Hamilton had followed that example, and that was one of the reasons we hadn't had a reunion. He then tearfully explained to us that he had been wrong to do so... he realized from some personal experiences the previous night that we have an obligation to reach out to our brothers and sisters from the APM. He said that we would have another reunion whenever and wherever we wanted, and we should do whatever was necessary to get everyone there we possibly could. He shared the story of an APMer (that most of us know) who has strayed from the strait and narrow. He knew that we needed to reach out to our fellow missionaries *and* the converts we met and taught.
Anyways, I wanted to try to explain why we haven't had a reunion before, and hopefully help each of you stir a desire to attend the reunion this year. I hope this blog can become a place where we can come together and help identify and locate all of the missing missionaries from the APM (see right sidebar). In addition, we can hopefully share stories, pictures, thoughts, memories, from our missions in anticipation of this October. I would like to keep track of who is still "missing" and who is planning on attending.
My first challenge to each of you who read this: Take a second, and write down a list of all the companions you served with. Now, go to http://www.mission.net/australia/perth/ and create an account if you haven't already. List all of your companions. Enter your contact information. This will be the best place to maintain your info for the benefit of others. (Especially since Nathan McDonald and I won't have to track it... :) )
We'll see you in October!
Read More......
I don't know about the rest of you, but I always wondered why we hadn't had a mission reunion... After I returned home in February of 1998, I went back to school at BYU. I got married in '99, and we ended up sticking around in Utah after we both graduated from college. For the last 10 years, around general conference time (April & October), I would always look in the Deseret News in the Mission Reunion section and see if we were going to have a reunion. Every year... nothing.
After a few years...I started seeing reunions for Pres. Robinson, and even attended one and saw a few familiar faces, but I never saw one with the name "Hamilton", and I started to wonder why.
I'll be honest, I have done a terrible job of keeping in touch with people from my mission. That includes converts, companions, etc. Living in Utah, I would occasionally bump into some APMers here and there, and the conversation would always steer to "When are we going to have a reunion?" Nobody seemed to know.
In early 07, we moved from Provo to Northern California for a job opportunity. Flash forward to Monday, October 1st, 2007... I received an email from Sis. Hamilton (as many of you might have). It basically said, "We're coming this weekend, let's have a reunion! It'll be this Sunday!" My first thought was... "It figures, I finally move away from Utah, and *now* they have a reunion!!" My second thought was, "I *really* want to be there."
I talked to my wife, and I bought some last-minute tickets and flew in to Salt Lake City Sunday morning. As I walked to the Conference Center to attend the afternoon session, I heard somebody shout out, "Elder Savage!" I turned to look and saw Pres. and Sis. Hamilton. We hugged and talked briefly. It was so great to see them! We parted ways, until later that evening, when I arrived at Elder Parker's parents house for the reunion.
I don't remember everything that happened that night, but it was one of the stronger spiritual experiences I had had in the last few years. There were 25-35 people there (including spouses), most who had lived locally and had heard about the reunion at the last minute. Some were calling former companions from the reunion encouraging them to come. A few, like myself and Elder Crotts, had traveled from a bit farther away.
After mingling for a while, Pres. Hamilton had us all sit down in one room and basically told us the following:
He had just spent the previous night at his first missionary reunion (after 25 years, I believe?). Like many things, Pres. Hamilton had modeled himself after Pres. Opie. Pres. Opie had felt that missionary reunions were entirely up to the missionaries to organize and he didn't see a lot of value in them... until the previous night. Pres. Hamilton had followed that example, and that was one of the reasons we hadn't had a reunion. He then tearfully explained to us that he had been wrong to do so... he realized from some personal experiences the previous night that we have an obligation to reach out to our brothers and sisters from the APM. He said that we would have another reunion whenever and wherever we wanted, and we should do whatever was necessary to get everyone there we possibly could. He shared the story of an APMer (that most of us know) who has strayed from the strait and narrow. He knew that we needed to reach out to our fellow missionaries *and* the converts we met and taught.
Anyways, I wanted to try to explain why we haven't had a reunion before, and hopefully help each of you stir a desire to attend the reunion this year. I hope this blog can become a place where we can come together and help identify and locate all of the missing missionaries from the APM (see right sidebar). In addition, we can hopefully share stories, pictures, thoughts, memories, from our missions in anticipation of this October. I would like to keep track of who is still "missing" and who is planning on attending.
My first challenge to each of you who read this: Take a second, and write down a list of all the companions you served with. Now, go to http://www.mission.net/australia/perth/ and create an account if you haven't already. List all of your companions. Enter your contact information. This will be the best place to maintain your info for the benefit of others. (Especially since Nathan McDonald and I won't have to track it... :) )
We'll see you in October!
Read More......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)