Message 26 September 2011

Message—26 September 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday morning at 8am we attended the Mission Office Staff meeting at the Mission Office.  After it was finished we drove to Lockport to see if an apartment in a member’s home would be appropriate for the Elders there to move in to.  The apartment was the upstairs of a home Dale and Cindy Ricks just bought and moved into.  The apartment was very nice and would be a fine place for the Elders to live.  Dale Ricks is a great-grandson of the Brother Ricks that the Ricks College (now BYU Idaho) in Rexburg Idaho was named after.  Their children are all out of the home.  Cindy works as a teacher of English for students in Asian countries through an online program.  She uses Skype so the students and Cindy can see each other.  With the time differences she teaches the first class at 4pm and the other one at 8pm.  She uses the method of teaching where the students learn what to say in certain common situations.  One of the resources she uses is some of the pamphlets the missionaries use.  She has them use the copies on Mormon.org.  She doesn’t teach the doctrine, she just uses them as a way to help the students learn what to say in certain situations.

We also went to Cheektowaga to look at a possible apartment for missionaries that may be moved to work in that part of the Buffalo area.  Then on Tuesday we drove to Arcade NY, we in the mission call it the Freedom area.  This is the area Warren Cowdery was sent to be the presiding high priest as recorded in D & C 106.  President Christianson asked us to go and see if we could find a different apartment for the Elders there.  The Elders found the apartment and we went to see if it met the standards required.  We are still trying to negotiate to get them into this apartment.

Wednesday we had time to visit some inactive members in our ward.  The people we went to see live in the Albion area which is about the most distant area of our ward boundaries, it is northwest of Brockport about 20 miles.  We were invited to have dinner with one of the families, and then another family, the West’s, who are one of the solid foundation families in the ward, also invited us to have dinner with them while we were out in their area.  So we had two dinners in less than two hours.  One family was the Long’s, a husband and wife; they both have serious health problems that prevent them from sitting through church meetings.  They both shared their conversion experiences with us.  Ann, the wife, has a very deep voice for a woman, and she also has problems with anxiety and depression.  She said when the Elders were teaching her they invited her to visit the Church Historic Sites with them.  When she was at the Sacred Grove, the Elders invited her to find a place to sit down and pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon was true.  The Elders said they would go to another place in the Grove and let her pray alone.  She felt the power of the Spirit tell her yes to both questions.  She also felt so peaceful that when the Elder’s returned she told them how peaceful it was to be in the Grove.  She then told them to go back to her home and get her tent and sleeping bag and her gun and bring them back to her; she wanted to stay there and enjoy the peace and if she had to, she would use the gun to keep people from making her leave.  She was not serious about using the gun, but she did say that was the first time in years she had been relieved of her problems.  Two weeks later she was baptized.

Thursday afternoon we visited another member in the Albion area.  The mother is a member, the husband is not.  The mother would like to have her 9 year old son baptized and the father is OK with doing that but he would like to hear the lessons along with his son.  We are waiting for the mother to let us know when the husband will be available to participate in the lessons.

After our District meeting which was held on Friday, we stopped at a fast food place named “Five Guys”.  The owner of this restaurant is a member of the LDS Church and has told all of his employees that when LDS missionaries come in to eat there, they are to eat for free.  The employees always treat the missionaries very well.

Saturday morning we had another turn at the Ward Family History Center from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.  No one came to use the facilities so we spent some time learning how to use some of the resources that are available.  We found a website that has pictures of head stones from various cemeteries.  We found Uncle Leon Mather’s headstone as well as some others of both of our families.  We did some searching for some of Maxine’s ancestors.  We went backward on one line and got back to 1145 AD.  We also had a good visit with a wonderful brother who takes care of seeing the building is cleaned and ready for Sunday meetings.  He had a very difficult life as a youth; he was taken to three different foster homes in one day.  Finding his wife and marrying her, and also finding the gospel saved his life.

Sunday in Fast meeting one of the investigators, Casey a 16 year old young lady the Elders are teaching here in the ward, was brave enough to share her testimony.  She said she knows the Book of Mormon is true among other things.  She and her mother took the Elders to the Church History sites on Saturday and spent all day and part of the evening before they returned home.  We hope the mother will allow her daughter to be baptized, she surely wants to be.  In her testimony, Casey used the phrase “I guess I am an honorary member until my mother lets me be baptized”.

We hope Craig has a great birthday on Wednesday.  We hope Caulter recovers from his motorbike accident he experienced yesterday.  He was wearing his helmet which prevented more serious injuries.  He does have a bad concussion and a variety of bumps and bruises and will be sore for a few days; but the Emergency doctors could not see any broken bones in the x-rays.  We hope Tyler continues to do well in his military training.

We continue to pray for all of you and express our love and appreciation for each of you; and for your prayers in our behalf.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message 19 September 2011

Message—19 September 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

After the Zone Conference last Monday we were able to spend some time during the rest of the week trying to contact some of the inactive members of the Brockport Ward.  A number of the people we called had phone numbers which were no longer in service so we did not make contact with them.   We did arrange to meet with a few of the members this coming Wednesday.  We spent some time catching up on our records concerning the apartments.

On Wednesday evening I went with some of the ward members to the Palmyra Temple to do baptisms for the dead.  There were eight Melchizedek Priesthood brethren to do the baptisms and confirmations and also serve as recorders and witnesses.  There were two sisters to help with the process.  There were 4 young women and 5 young men.  I served as a witness for the baptisms.  One of the brethren who did some of the baptisms has some health problems and has to have an oxygen tank part of the time each day.  He is a very faithful good brother and serves as a temple worker two days a week.  In order to do the baptisms we had his oxygen tank just outside of the glass around the font and handed his oxygen tube over to him in the font and he very effectively performed the baptisms.  He was able to also remove the oxygen tube and he was able to serve as a proxy to be baptized in behalf of some deceased people.  We had a great experience together.  Before we started the baptisms and confirmations a member of the temple presidency shared a few thoughts with us.  He shared an experience with us where he received mercy from someone else.  He then related that as we serve as proxies in the temple for those who have died in the past we help them to reach a point in their lives in the spirit world where they can receive the blessings of the mercy of the Lord through his atonement.  Another thought shared was that in the temple we will be able to experience seeing how close the bridge is between the mortal world and the world of spirits.  The work of the temple really does bring us closer to those in the world of spirits than any other place.

Our son-in-law, Chris is in Texas fighting some of the fires they are having problems with in that state.  We also have another son-in-law who is fighting fires in Oregon.  We pray for their safety and safe return.  We hope those with sicknesses will recover soon and be able to continue in their busy lives.  We hope all of our families and friends receive the blessings they need in their lives to handle all the trials and challenges life brings to them.  We continue to pray for all of you and we trust in the Lord to answer your prayers and help you through the rough times.

We are nearing the end of reading the Book of Mormon together during the time between the last transfer which was the last of August and the next transfer which will be the first week of October.  We are just finishing reading the Book of Ether.  As we have read and prayed and discussed what we read, our testimonies of the truth of the Book of Mormon have been increased.  We have learned additional truths and doctrines which we have not previously learned in the times we have read the Book of Mormon.  This is always true, each time we read the Book of Mormon and pray for inspiration we will be blessed to learn more new truths and doctrines and learn more about the Savior and all he has done for us.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message--13 September 2011

Message—13 September 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

Sorry that I am a day late getting the blog message done this week.  Yesterday was a long day that started at 6 am and ended a little after 11pm, and we were not at home with access to the computer until after 10 pm.  We had to do our Book of Mormon reading between 10pm to 11pm before we could go to bed.  So the blog message did not get done until today.

What were we doing during all that time you might ask?  Well we will tell you.  Monday and Tuesday (yesterday & today) were zone conferences for the whole mission, which were organized to take place by request from Elder Marcus Nash of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  He is in our mission by assignment from Elder Packer to do a mission tour.  He arrived Sunday with his wife Shelley and spent the rest of the day with President and Sister Christianson.  The zone conference yesterday was for the Buffalo and Rochester zones, which includes us; then today was for the Palmyra North and South Zones.  It takes about forty minutes for us to drive to the Westfall Chapel where the meeting was to be held, so we left home shortly after 8am.   We were instructed to be in our seats by 9am sitting quietly reading scriptures and listening to the prelude music and preparing to receive the instruction to be given and try to be in tune with the Spirit.  Elder Nash started an hour earlier at 8 am interviewing some of the missionaries.  Elder and Sister Nash and President and Sister Christianson came into the chapel at 9:20am, we were each invited to go up to the front one row at a time to shake hands with all four of them.  When our turn came we introduced ourselves by name and elder Nash said he was privileged to serve with two Jensen’s in his assignments; Elder Jay Jensen and Elder Marlin Jensen.  We told him Elder Jay Jensen was my brother and he said then I need to give you an “abrazo”, Spanish for embrace or hug.  I asked him to share the “abrazo” with Elder Jensen when he returned, and he said he would.  He said he loved Elder Jay Jensen.  After all the missionaries had shook hands with Elder Nash we began the zone conference meeting.  Sister Christianson and President Christianson gave us instruction and their testimony for about 15 to 20 minutes each.  Then Sister Nash gave us instruction and a testimony for about 30 minutes.  Then Elder Nash began his instruction and took about an hour.  He said that what he hoped would happen in this training and what he prayed would happen was to have the Spirit rain down upon us; and that is what occurred.  There was a great outpouring of the Spirit all day.  We then had a lunch together.  We were invited to sit at the table with President and Sister Christianson and Elder and Sister Nash and were able to visit with Elder and Sister Nash.  Then we returned to the chapel and Elder Nash gave more instruction for about an hour and a half.  He is an awesome teacher and had much participation from the missionaries.  There was excellent instruction under the guidance of the Spirit.  After the conference we had some items to give to some of the missionaries for their apartments.  We then went to the mission office to take care of a few items and then drove to Palmyra and had dinner.  Then we drove to the Hill Cumorah and started on our Book of Mormon reading for the day, we only read two chapters, then visited on the phone with Lynne for a few minutes.  We then attended a meeting at 7pm for all the missionary couples, including those who serve at the Church History Visitor sites, which was held in the theater at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center.  In this meeting President and Sister Christianson and Sister Nash gave five minute testimonies, and then Elder Nash took about an hour.  To begin with he asked if anyone had questions they would like to ask.  In response to the first three questions his answer was I do not know.  He did talk about the factors and issues related to the questions but he repeated he did not know the answer.  In response to one question he shared several experiences from his last assignment as Area President in the South America Northwest Area.  It was a great meeting; it ended at 8:30pm.  We then had some refreshments and made connections with Elder and Sister Whipple to give them some things for them to give to the missionaries who had the zone conference today.  Elder and Sister Shepard completed their mission as of today and were starting their drive home today.  They wanted to take some group pictures with everyone in front of the Christus Statue in the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center, so we did that also.   It is about an hour to drive to Palmyra, or back home; we left a little after 9pm and got home about 10pm and then read our seven chapters from the Book of Mormon.  It was a very long day, but it was filled with the Spirit and was more than worth the time spent.  Our testimonies and knowledge of the gospel continue to grow and be strengthened each day.  We know Heavenly Father and the Savior live and love us all and are closer than we might think in helping us in our lives with all the trials and challenges.  We look forward to hearing from the prophet and the apostles in the upcoming General Conference.  Joseph Smith was and is a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true and has the power to lead us to the Savior if we will read it and pray to know it is true.

Last Saturday President and Sister Christianson invited the members of the mission office staff (ten of us), including Sister Evertsen and Sister Price who are in their last month of their mission; to go with them to see Niagara Falls.  The President drove us and we had a great experience together, including getting lost a time or two.  We also rode on the Maid of the Mist boat which takes you right up next to the Horseshoe Falls.  After leaving the Niagara Falls Park area there was a Perry’s Ice Cream (they make ice cream that is as good as BYU Creamery Ice Cream) near the entrance to the park.  We all decided that since our mothers and grandmothers were not with us we would have an ice cream dessert before we went and had dinner; so we did.  The president then took us to eat at Duff’s restaurant a few miles from downtown Buffalo.  That will likely not mean anything to you, but this is a restaurant which is the 2^nd place in the USA to start selling Buffalo Wings.  We all know buffalo do not have wings; but that is what they called chicken wings with unique sauces and since they were first made in the city of Buffalo they coined the name Buffalo wings.  Two of the hottest sauces have the names of “suicidal sauce” and “death sauce”, in other words the sauces are very hot and spicy.  Other restaurants try to imitate the Buffalo wings, but they originated at the Anchor Bar.  The Anchor Bar in downtown Buffalo is the original place where Buffalo Wings were first cooked and sold, but it is in a pretty scary part of Buffalo, so the President took us to Duff’s instead of the Anchor Bar.  Duff’s brags about having President Obama and his family come and eat at their place last year.

The rest of last week we spent almost every day going to check on missionary apartments.  On Thursday we rode with Elder and Sister Whipple, who live at the Peter Whitmer Farm, to do their final apartment checks at the apartments in the South part of our mission, in Wayland, Hornell, Wellsville, Bath, Penn Yan, Shortsville, and Geneva..  The Whipple’s complete their mission this month and will return home.  Since we have never been to these apartments we went with them so we could see them and see how to find them so we could take Elder and Sister Jeff’s on their first trip to check on these apartments next month after missionary transfers the first week of October.

We hope Chris stays safe while fighting the fires in Texas.  If Brandon is sent on a fire in the next week or so we hope he stays safe also.  We were happy to hear from April that Olivia’s surgery on her ears to insert tubes was successful.  Her eardrum in one ear is 5 times thicker than it should be, so that is why she is not hearing very well.  The doctors have prescribed some medicine to help the eardrum get thinner so the sounds will not be distorted and muffled for Olivia.  The medicine and the tubes to drain the fluids in her ear should help her to hear much better and she will hopefully be able to start talking.  We hope all goes well for Tyler in his military training at Fort Sill, OK.  Kendra’s sister, Rhonda, will be having more surgery and treatments for her cancer; we hope and pray all goes well for her and that the cancer will go into remission.  We hope Jana and her family all get over the flu and sickness they picked up the first week of school.  We hope all goes well for Norm with treating his tumors.  We hope the new great grandchildren both grow and develop and will be strong and healthy and happy.  We also hope the mothers recover well and can love and care of the babies as needed.  We hope Travis continues to get the help he needs to continue recovering.  We hope Justin continues to do well with his work and being a new father.  We hope Britt will do well at completing his GED, and that he will also do well with his new job.

We love you all and hope all is well with each of you.  We appreciate your thoughts and prayers for us and messages you send.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 5 September 2011

Message—5 September 2011

At the Mission Office Staff Meeting last Monday President Christianson asked for all of us to help him with planning for some upcoming training meetings.  On September 12^th and 13^th Elder Marcus Nash of the First Quorum of Seventy will be in our mission to meet with all the missionaries and provide some instruction.  Two of the Mission Zones will meet on the 12^th, and the other two Zones will meet on the 13^th.  The other meeting to be held is a Mission Presidents Seminar for 22 missions in the North America North East Area, for which Elder Jay Jensen is the   President and he will be in attendance along with some other General Authorities.    The Seminar is to be held on October 19^th to the 22^nd.  This is only for the Mission Presidents and their wife, we missionaries are not invited.  The President is hosting the seminar in our mission; and part of the training will include having those who come, visit at the Church History Sites.  There are some behind the scenes things the President has asked the office staff to help with.  There may be a chance we will get to visit with Elder and Sister Jensen for a few minutes.

On Tuesday we drove to the missionary Apartment which is next to the Niagara River Gorge.  We helped the Elders who live in this apartment get things cleaned up that had been left by previous Elders.  We also checked another apartment in the Buffalo area.  We then went to deliver a few things to Elders in the town of Lancaster which is Southeast of Buffalo.  On the way to the apartment we saw a sign in front of a funeral home.  The name on the sign was spelled A-m-i-g-o-n-e Funeral Home.  I suspect it is an Italian name, but we got a laugh out of it by changing the name to Am I Gone.  A little farther along the same road we saw a sign that said “Free puppy socializing Mondays from 2-4pm”.  Then a little farther along this same road was sign that read “Now Hiring CUSTOMERS”.  Apparently people on this street have a sense of humor.

On Wednesday evening we were invited to attend a Site Training meeting at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center.  As part of the meeting, Robert (Bob) Parrott was invited to provide some historical information about the property that was once owned by the Joseph Smith Sen. family members, including the farm Hyrum purchased which was adjacent to his father’s farm.  Bob grew up on a farm adjacent to the farm Hyrum owned and spent a considerable amount of time in his life learning about the history of the Smith farms.  He did not join the church until about 10 years ago.  He shared a lot of interesting information with us.

On Friday and Saturday we spent both days checking the apartments in the Palmyra area.  On Saturday we did the apartments in Batavia, Warsaw, and Geneseo.  While in Warsaw we also delivered a few items to Elder and Sister   Jones for their apartment.

We have been greatly blessed as we have read the Book of Mormon.  We are learning more and more and our testimony is being strengthened.  We are being blessed to make connections with more and more scriptures.  We are also being blessed to see how the scriptures center on the Savior and his life and atonement and resurrection and the central role he has in Heavenly Father’s great eternal plan of redemption and happiness.  We know Heavenly Father lives and answers prayers and loves all of us.  Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer.  Joseph Smith did see the Father and the Son and was called by them to be the prophet through whom the gospel and the church were restored to bless our lives.  President Monson is the Lord’s prophet in our day.  The Book of Mormon is true and contains the full gospel of Jesus Christ.  We know and witness these things are true.

We express congratulations to Adrianne and Justin on the birth of their new baby boy.  He was born on Saturday September 3^rd and weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 19 inches tall; his name is Brodie.  We also express congratulations to Chris and Lynne who announced Lynne is pregnant and will have a baby in April.  We express our love to all of you.  We are grateful for each of you and for the many blessings we have received by having you in our family and also as friends.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine