Missionary Work

Short thoughts not mentioned in letter:

The joy of visiting an inactive sister, having such a good visit, giving the Visiting Teaching message, and then she wanted to say the prayer!

Helping someone with Family History who is not a member of the church. So fun to meet him. He restores old homes. 

Visiting a sister in the nursing home for one and a half hours!

Having a successful linger longer that helped members visit with each other!

Teaching a lesson where the spirit was so strong and feeling others excitement at new-found knowledge.

Watching an older brother give his first healing blessing with Dad's help. It was so humble and beautiful, and it was to his x-wife who is going in for surgery. I'm glad they are friends.

Having a great time at Achievement Days!

Being very tired, feeling tempted with discouragement.

Really loving people and wanting to sincerely help.

Having Dad take me out to dinner (could of gotten a picture of this!) to help me feel better. It was actually the best Italian restaurant I've every been to, and we split the meal which is always a deal:) 

Being able to comment on facebook. (Didn't think I would ever say that!)

Talking to my children and sharing in their joy

Loving the Lord for all His goodness to me and my family.

Here are the very few pictures:

We had Achievement Days and I forgot to take pictures. There were four girls (one not a member) and we talked about prayer. Since there is so much wood everywhere, we decorated a piece of wood to help the girls remember prayer.

I made two little Book of Mormon scripture bags for the 5-year old twins in our branch.

First drive on "Old Plank Road" When it was first made, they used old planks of wood to cover the road so it wasn't so muddy. The name stuck. 

This is where the picture of us getting Marion's book will go when we finally get it!

Have a wonderful week, and thank you for the letters.

Short Blog This Week!

Happy Birthday to Kirsten on Sunday and Paul on Wednesday

I used to take pictures that would help me remember the things I did in the past week. Now there are too many things that I can't really take pictures of. It would disrupt the spirit, I am sure, if I paused a lesson and said, "Let me get a picture of this."

So refer to the weekly letter of what we have been doing. Know it has been a week of ups and downs that come with missionary life. I am really getting to love the people individually and want to serve them as the Lord needs them served. Yes, ups and downs on their responses and my ability to do and and say as the Lord would have me do. 

A mission is sure a growing experience, whether young or old.

So, here are the pictures:

Mallory made this a some other pictures and sent them to us. The other pictures are hanging on the front of the fridge, but this is on the side where I can see it when I am sitting in the front room.

Thank you, Mallory, and I love all of you, I beat!

Any one want a fixer upper

These are pictures because we went on a different route.

It is so beautiful

Whoever sat in those two chairs last fall when they were fishing forgot them.

This picture is for the fishers or potential fishers. We are busy fishing for people.

We love these little cemeteries that are everywhere. It's just too cold to explore.

I know this looks like a junk yard, but it is full of all kinds of tractors and farm equipment. As we rounded the corner it covered the side of a small hill. 

This picture is for the 'tractor' kids.

From our kitchen window. There are actually 4 deer, but only two are visible in this picture.

Can you find them?

The first big ship we saw on the Hudson River. It was just today on the way to the library.

I love you all. I hope you enjoy the Family Home Evening Lesson I sent.

Have a wonderful week.

Monday

Last Monday afternoon we went to Sis. Gibson's with the missionaries. She is the from Denmark whose husband had a building named after him at SUU. She also went through all the training and has a room full of Montessori supplies - all to keep her learning up. She had 100 acres up in the hills. She has a beautiful home and she is so gracious, down to earth, and so valiant in the gospel person. We helped her take down her Christmas decorations and we had dinner with her that night. We had dinner with Judy, John (we hadn't met him yet-he's not a member) and their 2 daughters, one of which is doing an internship at the Church History Library. It was wonderful. Judy and John both attended USU and it was great to get to know him.

This is a copy of the picture of the painting that hangs at SUU,

painted by the BRANDON SANDERSON - I didn't know he painted.

Tuesday

We are so busy we don't have a certain P-Day. We just do laundry and cleaning when we get a chance. Here's Dad!

Last night with the Elder's at the Vulcano's home (our investigators). They wanted a picture so I got one of the Elder Cleveland and Elder Brailsford.

Wednesday

Most of the day was spent in transfers. Here we are at the mission home at a church house.

There was plenty of pizza and salad to feed all those Elders & Sisters! We got 2 new Elders. We dropped them off and went straight to the Fuchs home (ham radio operator) about 20 min. away. Had a wonderful time with them. We were very tired by the time we got home that night.

7 missionaries went home and 12 came. I missed the pictures of the new missionaries, but I got a picture of the sign they held!

We have not been in a home where there is not at least one dog. So many of them remind us of Maddie, so this picture if for Tom's family.

We just don't take many pictures of what we do, but read the letter to see what we did. There is a cool '3 Nephite' story in it.

This is Dad this morning at the library. Our connection with you all at home!

I love you all. I have been reading King Benjamin's address.

Chapter 4 of Mosiah starting with verse 6-7. Then he repeats it just in case we missed the point, in verses 9-10.  That whole page. He says what we need to do and then what happens if we do it, and how we change. 

It was incredible. (Sorry, my scriptures are in the car.)

There is a FHE for tonight!

Love you all so much!

2014! Week of December 30

Monday

We spent a lot of today in the library writing, doing our blog, and doing a lot of Family History.

This is Dad going up the steps to the library. The library is the old home of Eleanor Christina Heermance, so it is the Heermance Library

Tuesday

We saw our investigators tonight. More about that in our weekly letter. He was very excited with the Family History we had found about his grandparents. It is so fun to share with people their family. We had a very boring New Year's Eve. We didn't even have 7-Up and Sherbet. What is the world coming to?

Wednesday - Happy New Year's!!!

We had a great New Year thanks to the members of the branch. We picked up the Elders and had a wonderful dinner at 2:00 at the Kosorok's. The chicken was wonderful and the green beans were from their garden and cooked with garlic, which was also grown in their garden. I had three helpings of the beans. He gave me 3 heads of garlic and told me how to grow it. It was great. They have 7 acres of woods and I was going to take a picture, but when we left it was too dark. Will get it this week.

Then the Elder's had a 2nd dinner appointment they had failed to tell us about, but it was with the family we had been doing a little research for. So we took them to that and we showed brother Brittan the family history and he had been doing some. He is very interested in it. They were a fun family to meet as you will see in the following pictures:

He collects hot wheel cars and he hangs them up on the wall of their bedroom. All the walls are covered with these cars. He has over 6,000, but they are not all on the wall.

I thought all our little grandsons would really like this, and everyone. I thought it was amazing, but enough to decorate my bedroom with them.

For all the animal lovers. They also had these cute little guinea pigs. We have not been in a home yet that there are not pets, especially dogs. Everyone has at least one dog. 

Thursday

I keep forgetting to get a picture of our church on Sunday. Every Thursday we have District Meeting, and this week it had snowed a lot. Greenville got 3 times as much snow as we did. I thought this was a good picture of the church with the Elders shoveling the snow. 

It was the last District Meeting before transfers, so we had a pot luck afterwards. We had pizza, chips, pop, and we made blueberry o'cream pie for dessert.

Our first district picture.

The Elders set all their cameras on a timed setting, line them up on the hymnbooks at the front of the table, all run to the chairs and are there for the above picture. It was great. Good to be around the young! 

Friday

We visited more people in our branch and then had dinner with Brother Bulich pictured below. He feeds the missionaries every Friday, and he had invited us. It was good to visit him the night before we went through the temple with him.

Saturday

We felt a little like pioneers. We got up at 5:30 a.m., left for the meeting place to go to the temple at 6:00. We left there at 7:00 and got to the temple at 10:00. We had such a beautiful day at the temple attending multiple session and ended up in the sealing room about 5 that afternoon. We did his parents work that day also, so now he was able to be proxy for his father and have his Dad and Mom sealed to each other. After that, with a little more paper work, he was sealed to his parents.

It was amazing and a reaffirmation to me of just how much Heavenly Father loves all of his children who have ever lived in any time period. We got home at 11:00; tired but very happy.

Brother Bulich in front of the temple at the end of the day.

Boston Temple, located in Belmont, Mass. when we first got there.

Sunday

We had a very busy Sunday with Correlation meeting first and then church. I was sustained as 1st co. in primary, so I taught the lesson to the older primary, 4 girls, and did sharing time. I then slipped into Relief Society to sit with our investigator. Not that I really needed to, they were taking good care of her and answering her questions. I was so excited she had stayed to all three meetings. She had worked all night as a nurse, so she was headed home for a well-deserved nap.

I love you all very much. I feel like we have bombarded you with letters this week, so I will close. I guess you can hope we don't get snowed in too often. Again, it was good to talk to you all over the holidays. I wish we could import you all to sing in Sacrament meeting, I feel like we are practically the only ones singing. And I miss Liz having us do all the verses!