Reply to Elder Wardrop from G&G Brown

Hello Elder Wardrop:

Wow! You are certainly being bold and "opening your mouth". You will be a terrific missionary. Hopefully you will be able to find people who are not bums and not drunk. I know you will. How exciting that you will soon be in your real mission territory. We pray that the people there are seeking the truth and have open hearts.

We are here in Tonga for 2 more months. The big moment came on Tuesday, September 25th. Our Temple here is finished and we started the Open House for the VIP's. At 8:00 AM the KING arrived, also the Queen Mother and the Princess. No one could believe that the KING was up and dressed in an expensive suit and sober. (He is not LDS) We had a short Devotional and the KING spoke for about 6 minutes. It was a first for him and it was a great talk. Our area President, Spencer Condie also spoke.

We were quite worried that no one would come because it had rained all night and was still blasting down with terrible winds. I think it was a typhoon. We pled with the Lord, but the rain and wind never stopped all day. But big crowds of VIP's came and told us that the Tongans believe that when the Lord sends rain on a special occasion it means the Lord is blessing them with His great love. And since it hadn't rained in several months, the Tongans knew this really was a great event to bring all this rain. The rain kept up all week. We still set attendance records.

During the first 5 full days of Open House, we have had 12,562 visitors and 475 missionary referrals (all want the missionaries and have listed their preferred day and time). Our mission president, President McMurray is "dancing in the streets" he is so happy. These numbers are amazing because there are only 60,000 people on the entire island. We have 3 weeks to get them all here to the Temple. It is a very exciting time. Your Grandpa is responsible for everything about the Temple, except the actual physical building. He has done an amazing job and everyone here from the King on down think he is a miracle worker. AND HE IS!

We love our mission and we know you do too. I pray that there will be 475 people in Brasil who are looking for YOU and ready to listen and feel the spirit. GO FOR IT! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!

All our love,

Elder and Sister Brown

Gratitude to Jimmy

I got Jimmy's e-mail address from Lon & Shery and thought those who would like to express their gratitude to him for the many things he has been doing for Lon & Sheryl could send him a note.

jlotg@126.com

~Tami Wardrop

Note from Travis

Dear Mom-

That stinks that the food isn't good. So I love you so much and I already miss you real bad.

We built a little fort made out of wood but it doesn't have any nails. We built a fire pit and the house is small so you can only sit down. It has bricks at the bottom and bricks on one side and the rest is wood.

So I hope you feel better soon and again I love you so much.

Love,

Travis

Note from Westin

Mom-

I love you. I wish you were at home.

How is it having the number 1 doctor in China? I think it is fun and really cool that you are in China. I wish we were there too. That would be really cool.

I learned a magic trick from Aunt Holly. I can change water to different colors. I will show it to you when you get home.

I love you.

Westin

Note from Packer Brown

Dear Aunt Sheryl-

We are making a fort outside. It is very big. We are watching High School Musical 2 and 1. I'm sorry the food isn't good.

We love you.

Packer

Note from Holland Brown

Dear Aunt Sheryl-

I'm glad you have the #1 doctor. I'm having lots of fun having Travis and Westin sleep at my house. We got in the hot tub yesterday while it was snowing. It was so fun.

Love,

Holland

Sheryl & Lon are in China

We are here at the hospital in Chengdu. All is well! We just read about the fast and we are so grateful! Thank you for your love and concern! We feel loved!

They have told us that we will probably be here for 2 1/2 to 3 months. So far they have been doing tests on me and have also started me on some Chinese herbal stuff. (Not too tasty!) They will probably begin the stem cell procedure in 2 weeks.

The doctors and nurses here are so kind and good to us. They want us to be comfortable and happy with everything. They treat us like we're family. Our friends from the states, Jimmy and Jau Fang, have been here with us to make the transition very easy for us. There's no way we could've ever done it without them. We will be eternally grateful for their kindness. They arrived 2 weeks prior to our arrival to make sure everything was set for us.

We feel very blessed to be able to do stem cell transplant. We feel we are in the right place although the hospital is old. This doctor has had a lot of success with this procedure. We believe he's the #1 doctor in stem cell transplant in all of China.

The biggest adjustment is the food, but Lon brought an entire suit case full of food from Costco! Panda Express and P F Chang's is nothing like the food here!

We feel so grateful for your prayers and fasting. We love you all so much!

Love, Lon and Sheryl

Note from Sheryl (September 29, 2007)

Love from the Murphys

Thanks so much for including us in your family "Blog" for Sheryl and Lon and family. We love all of you guys very dearly, and want to be able to keep up with their progress. We also hope and pray for Sheryl's return to full health. We may not fully understand what the Chinese are doing in the health field; however, we need to understand that they have been doing it for literally Thousands of years. That in and of it's self is a pretty good resume.

~Clint & Linda Murphy

Fast for Sheryl

I'm sure that each of you are searching the Internet to learn more about scleroderma and stem cell transplants. The link below is very positive and likely one that most of you have already found.

http://www.sclero.org/support/stories/english/t-u/toni/a-to-z.html

We'll continue to hope and pray and fast and pray for Sheryl and for her doctors and for Lon and the entire family. Because of General Conference, this Sunday will be Fast Day in Tonga and I suppose throughout most of the world. Please join us in fasting for Sheryl.

~David Brown

We Love You!

Sheryl -- we all love you very much! We will be praying for you every day. We are all full of faith that you AND your family will be blessed during these next few months.
~ Mark, Holly, Packer, Holland, Cannon & Harper

Where in the world is Chengdu?

Sheryl and Lon are off to Chengdu, China. Here are some interesting tidbits about Chengdu...

~ Home of the Giant Panda (the world's largest Panda reserve)

~ Great Sichuan Style Chinese food (avoid restaurants with dog carcasses in the front window -- that alerts potential patrons that dog is served on the menu)

~ Inhabited for over 5000 years all the way back to China's Bronze Age

~ Was the capital of several ancient kingdoms and the home of many different Dynasties.

~ The 5th most populous city in China

~ The main gateway to Tibet

~ Home to golden monkeys and golden langurs (not to be confused with a liger -- for you Napolean Dynamite fans)

~ The birthplace of paper money

~ The LA Times labled Chengdu as "China's Party City" in 2006 because of the number of tea houses, bars, and the people's ability to "enjoy life"

~ The home for our incredible Sister, Mom, Aunt, Daughter and Friend...Sheryl...for the next few months (and her amazing husband Lon!)