Today I said good bye to more of my dearest friends ever–Debbie Young, Melissa Clark, Wendy Barton and I met in our new DfG digs in north Orem, where we have been moving things from our homes, into beautiful new work rooms.   There are a lot of things about walking away for 3 years that are Not Easy.  This was one.  We finished our MTC training Sunday and had one last day at home before we leave in the morning.  Of course I had to go see the progress being made at Building Q.  It’s going to be fabulous!

Below is the workroom, set up with dozens of sewing machines and sergers.  In the next day or two these shelves will be filled with projects we need help with.  These women are absolutely amazing.  It’s hard to believe all that has happened in the last two years, especially in the last 6 months since we formed Days for Girls Utah.  We have each been working around the clock, every day of the week, trying to keep up with the demand.  We’re helping with about 40 girls camps this summer, which is huge.  Thousands of young women are up in the mountains cutting, tracing, and assembling kits.  The work is already coming back to us in truckloads.  We are grateful for these selfless young women and their leaders.

Now we will have a permanent space where people can come to us to help.  We’ll be opening our rooms in Building Q next week, starting on Wednesday and Thursday, July 8 and 9 from 10:00 to 2:00, evenings by appointment.  We are so excited.  We hope to see many of our friends each week.

In the last 6 weeks, we’ve sent out about 6000 kits.  We are sending 900 kits to Kenya this week.  They’ll go to our dear friend Naomi who visited us here in March.  Other kits have gone to Ghana, Rwanda, Guatemala, Liberia, Honduras, India, Nepal, Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Haiti, Uganda and Thailand.  That’s 23 countries receiving our Utah kits in the last 6 weeks!  Absolutely Amazing!

Here are our friends in Switzerland, who held their first big event last week.  Katharina Odavic, our dear Swiss friend helped to organize this event in St. Gallen Stake.         

And the photos below came in today from Ghana!  Dear Bernice delivered kits at Kumasi, Oniwaa International school. Look how many girls’ lives changed today!   Tomorrow morning we get in a car and drive to Washington.   Leaving this is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  It tears my heart out to walk away from it all.  I’ll be watching from there, as the joy continues to spread here.  I’ve packed enough supplies to teach the missionaries in our mission about Days for Girls and help them become involved in the communities where they serve.  It’s going to be fun.   Our first big DfG event is already on the calendar!

So, I’m off to start a new adventure.  A wonderful adventure.   It’s going to be a whole new world of goodness.  I’ll be looking in on DfG Utah as often as I am able.  Thanks to all who have been a part of my life here the last couple of years.  It’s been amazing.

See you in Washington!