Message 26 December 2011

Message—26 December 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

Since the last message was late; done on Tuesday, this message will begin with Wednesday the 21^st.  We drove to Palmyra and met Sister Tirrell and Sister Fetuli at the White House apartment at 1pm.  The sister’s had made a spaghetti dinner for us.  We enjoyed the good food and visiting with the sister’s.  The AP’s and the Zone Leaders also met us there at 1:30pm.  We then loaded all of the furniture and belongings from the garage of the White House, into the trucks and trailer.  It was raining a little, but nothing serious.  We managed to get everything in one trip.  We then went to Farmington where their new apartment is located.  We moved all their items into the new apartment and helped them get everything organized.  We arrived home about 9pm.  The AP’s and the zone leaders were a great help.  We are more impressed with the faith and devotion and obedience of these great missionaries; we enjoy associating with them.  We can see the wisdom of  Heavenly Father in using younger missionaries to help accomplish His work.  They are at the right age and stage in their lives to be moldable to do what they are inspired to do.  They also have the desire, energy, and enthusiasm to do what is required.

On Thursday we spent the day checking the apartments in the Rochester Zone; there were 8 apartments.  We also checked the apartment of the Elders who live in our same apartment complex here in Brockport.  This completed the apartment checks for this month.  This made it so all the apartments were ready for the transfers for this next week.  One of the apartments was not as clean as it should have been, so we told the elders they needed to clean what was not done and we would return on Tuesday morning before transfers to check the apartment again.  Friday morning we drove to the Kenmore apartment in Buffalo to re-check it to be sure it was clean for the coming transfers.  The apartment was very clean and looked great; far better than the first check.  Elder Garcia, at this apartment, is a very talented young man.  He had done a pen drawing of a farm shed and an attached vertical corn silo, with fields and some trees in the background; it was very well done.  He asked us to take it with us to give to Elder and Sister Jones, who are serving in Warsaw, as a Christmas gift.  We have made arrangements to get it to them tomorrow, Tuesday, with an elder who is being transferred to Warsaw.  Friday afternoon we did some shopping on the way home so we would have what we needed for the Christmas weekend.

On Saturday we had a P-Day and did the washing and cleaned the apartment so Santa would feel welcome.  We talked with our daughter, Lynne, on the phone and had a short conversation with our grandson, Shadyn.  I told him maybe Santa would not find me since we were living in New York.  He said, “...trust me Grandpa; Santa will always know where you are”.  Sure enough, Christmas morning there were some presents from Santa under our small Christmas tree; so Shadyn was correct.  Saturday afternoon we drove to Palmyra to the Hill Cumorah Visitor Center to join with the other Senior Couples for a Christmas Eve dinner and some other activities.  We sang some Christmas songs and did an interesting way of sharing presents.  We had all brought one inexpensive gift; when we arrived we placed our present on one of the chairs in a circle of chairs.  We had a dinner of ham and potatoes and some other good food.  After the dinner, we all moved to the circle of chairs and picked up the presents under the chair we chose to sit on.  Sister Lenker then read a story about Mr. and Mrs. Right doing a variety of things.  As she read the two page story, every time she used the word “right” we were to pass the present we held, one person to the right; every time she said the word left we passed the present we held, one person to the left.  At the end of the story, whatever present we held we opened and kept.  It was an interesting way to move the presents around and involve everyone in the process.  It was a nice event together.

Sunday morning we attended our sacrament meeting.  Most important we partook of the sacrament on the day we recognize the birth of Christ, who is the center of the sacrament.  It is such a marvelous blessing to be able to weekly prepare for our sacrament meetings by repenting and becoming worthy of being forgiven of our sins and mistakes during the previous week.  By repenting we can come ready to allow the atonement to cleanse us by taking the sacrament.  After partaking of the sacrament; some ward members had put together a narration about the birth of the Savior and interspersed it with some Christmas hymns done by a number of different people, and included some songs for the congregation to join in singing.  It was a very good service and the Spirit was present.  Sunday afternoon and evening we received some phone calls from some of our family; and we were able to visit with April and Josh’s family by using Skype.  It was fun to see the excitement of the grandchildren with gifts they received.  Christmas does indeed include a special peace and power of the Holy Spirit that touches our lives in important and special ways.

Monday we attended our mission office staff meeting.  We were asked by President Christianson to find an apartment in the area of Fairport for two Elders to begin working in that area again after it had been closed earlier in the year.  With the transfers taking place tomorrow, one of our Brockport elders, Elder Swanner, will be one of the missionaries moving to Fairport; his companion will be Elder Adair.  Our other Brockport elder, Elder Olsen, will be going to Warsaw to serve with Elder Bowman.  We spent time after the meeting trying to find an apartment in Fairport; we were blessed to find 2 possible apartments and made appointments to go see them tomorrow.  Twelve new missionaries arrived in the mission today; so we attended the new missionary orientation meeting tonight at 6pm; and presented our instruction about taking care of their apartments and keeping them organized and clean so the Holy ghost will feel welcome to be there.

We thank everyone who helped to provide the pictures of each of the grandchildren; we have hung them across the top of the drapes over our sliding glass door in our living room so we can look at them anytime we want.  We also thank Dana and Shaun for sending us the picture taken at the family reunion last summer and the banner that was signed by those who came to the reunion.  We thank our children for the gifts they sent to use, we appreciate each one.  We also express appreciation for each of you who sent us a Christmas card and/or letter; we are very appreciative of each message and thought you shared.  We hope you all have a safe and enjoyable holiday week.

We express our love and appreciation to each of you and we feel the power and influence of your thoughts and prayers in our behalf.  We know the Savior lives and loves us and will help us in our lives to choose to follow Him.  We know this work is true and divinely guided.  We know we have living prophets and apostles who are so faithful, diligent, and focused on doing all the Lord inspires them to do.  Obeying all of their instruction and counsel will bless our lives eternally.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 20 December 2011

Message—20 December 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week was very busy for us.  On Tuesday we attended a missionary and Christmas training meeting with the Buffalo and Rochester Zones at the chapel in Amherst.  We helped the Servoss’s and McVea’s with the snacks and lunch.  Monday evening Sister Jensen, with a little help from me, took the meat off of 12 roasted chickens that were bought from Wegman’s, to use for the chicken salad sandwiches for the lunch on Tuesday.  Sister Jensen also prepared the other ingredients to go in the chicken salad.  Tuesday morning, early, Sister Jensen mixed all of the ingredients together to make the sandwiches.  We left for Amherst about 7:45am and arrived about 10 minutes before 9am.  We helped the McVea’s and Elder Servoss get the snacks and tables and decorations organized for the day.  We attended the training until about 11am then the McVea’s, the Jensen’s, and Elder Servoss and Sister Moses and Sister Jones came and helped in the serving area to make the sandwiches and get the lunch ready for the missionaries and President & Sister Christianson.  After the lunch we provided ice cream and all the topping items for the missionaries to make their own ice cream sundaes.  Then we cleaned up and attended the rest of the training until about 4:30.  We then helped gather up the food items left over and decide who was going bring what for the same training to be held on Wednesday for the two Palmyra Zones.  The McVea’s took the meat off of six more chickens Tuesday evening so there would be plenty for the lunch on Wednesday.  Wednesday morning we left home about 7:45 am to get to the Palmyra Stake Center before 9am.  It turned out that there was enough chicken salad left from Tuesday to feed all the missionaries on Wednesday.  Since we did not need the meat from the chickens the McVea’s did, they put the meat in the freezer to use for some other lunches for missionaries going home this week and new missionaries arriving on December 26^th.

Sister and President Christianson provided the training both days.  They both taught us about Christ and His life and all He has done for us to bless our lives as we follow Him and His example.  They taught us about His matchless gifts to us.  The President let us watch a movie entitled the “Ultimate Gift”.  He then compared the gifts talked about in the movie with the gifts the Savior has given us.  As missionaries, and church members, we should now offer to our brothers and sisters in our communities and other places we go, the opportunity to learn about these gifts available to them.  As we learn to follow the example of Jesus Christ, we will also be learning to be like our Heavenly Father, because all the Savior has ever done is to follow the example of His Father.

Thursday we had a P-Day so we could get some clothes washed and take care of other things we needed to accomplish.  We also rested some from three long days, and get ready for two more long days.

Friday we checked the apartments in the Palmyra North Zone.  This took all of the daylight hours.  We installed new carbon monoxide detectors in all of the apartments we check this month, because the ones currently there have been installed for longer than the warranty specifies.  On Saturday we checked the three apartments in the Buffalo Zone which we are assigned.  Then Saturday evening we attended our ward Christmas dinner.  We had a great evening with the members who were there.

Monday we went to the Mission Office to help while Sister McVea and Sister Servoss went to help Sister Christianson with a lunch for the missionaries who were to fly home on Tuesday so they would be with their families for Christmas.  The new missionaries will be coming on December 26^th.  After we finished helping in the office, we went back to our apartment and picked up a few things and then drove back to the Westfall chapel and picked up Elder Swanner and Elder Olsen and took them to the Joseph Smith Farm Visitor Center.  For Family Home evening last night the senor missionary couples provided some special Christmas presentations at the Joseph Smith Log Home and the Smith Frame Home.  Members from all of the stakes in the area had been invited to come.  Then also in the visitor center some of the missionaries sang some Christmas songs and had the people who came, join in singing some of the songs.  There were also some children’s games in the lower level of the visitor center.  Cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate were also provided.  There were a lot of people who attended.  Many of the people went to the log home and frame home and the barn by the frame home and there were some senior missionaries in each place who were telling stories about the birth of Jesus; and also about Christmas in the Smith home in the 1800’s.  We also went to Farmington and delivered a rent check for an apartment into which two sister missionaries will be moving on Wednesday.  We also picked up the keys to get into the apartment on Wednesday.  We did not get home until 10 pm, so I did not get the blog message done until tonight.

Today, Tuesday, we had our district meeting at our apartment.  Sister Jensen fixed a nice dinner for the elders for a Christmas gift.  After the dinner we also had some missionary training given by the zone leaders.  They had us listen to some instruction given by Elder Bednar at the Provo MTC earlier this year.  The topic was about how to be a Preach My Gospel missionary; it was very excellent instruction, followed by a powerful testimony of the Savior.  After the district meeting we went to check the apartments in Geneseo, Warsaw, and Battavia.

We are pleased to learn that Lynne and Chris will be having a baby boy in April; we were hoping for a girl, but we are just as happy it is a boy.  We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas together with your families.  We also hope you take time to remember the Savior and recognize the peace and love and blessings that come through his gifts to us.

We love you all,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 12 December 2011

Message—12 December 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

This past week we were blessed with the opportunity of having time to get caught up on a number of things that have had to be set aside for a while.  We had some apartment records that needed to be updated and filed; and copies of some of the apartment record forms made for President Christianson; and variety of other projects to complete.

Thursday we attended our District Meeting at the chapel in Greece NY; and Sister Christianson attended the meeting with us.  President Christianson was not well enough to come with her.  We had a very good meeting.

Saturday evening we were invited to dinner at Brother and Sister Petranek’s home.  Brother Petranek was the first counselor in the Bishopric up until a month ago.  He is now our Ward Mission Leader.  We had a great visit with the Petranek’s and learned a lot from each other which will be helpful as we continue trying to work in unity to do more missionary work with the help of the members.

Sunday evening we had a District Meeting to organize and prepare a short missionary related skit for our Christmas Training meeting on Tuesday in the chapel in Amherst NY.  We will be meeting together with the Buffalo Zone from 9am to 3pm Tuesday.  We will also be attending the Palmyra North and South Zones on Wednesday, also from 9am to 3pm.

In our mission office staff meeting today we were asked by the President to find a new apartment in the town of Fairport.  We were able to find a few possibilities after the meeting and will be following up to determine which one to rent.

While we were at the Petranek’s, a question was asked by Sister Petranek about the Nicean and Athanassian creeds and how confusing they are in describing the nature of Heavenly Father , Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.  We shared with them part of the instruction President Christianson gave in our last zone conference about Heavenly Father.  We asked Sister Petranek how she felt when she read the words of the two creeds.  Then we read the words of Joseph Smith concerning the first vision, and also verse 22 in Doctrine and Covenants Section 130; then we asked her how she felt after reading those words.  The statements in the creeds are confusing and make no sense; the words of Joseph Smith and the verse in the Doctrine and Covenants lead you to feel like they are true and perfectly logical.  This is a good example of how we can know the truth of anything in any circumstance.  Just like it explains in Moroni 7:15-19, we can know what is right and good and what is not good or evil.

We have been told that all those who attended the family Christmas party last Saturday had an enjoyable time together; including a visit from the real Santa Claus.  We were thinking of you and missed being with you; but we were able to talk for a few minutes with some of you on the phone and we heard your Merry Christmas wish to us.  We are anxious to hear from Lynne and Chris whether they will be having a girl or boy in April.  We hope Olivia continues to hear well with her hearing aid and will begin learning to talk.

We love you all and pray for you daily, and we appreciate your prayers for us.  We hope you enjoy the coming days leading up to Christmas and feel the love and peace of Jesus the Christ.  We know He lives and has given us the greatest gift possible; the atonement and the promise of the resurrection, and perfect example to follow.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 5 December 2011

Message—5 December 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

Tuesday we arose at 5:30am so we would be ready to leave the apartment by 7am to drive to Canandaigua for the Palmyra South Zone Conference to begin at 9am.  We needed to arrive by 8:30am to help with getting the missionaries to park their cars where we wanted them so we could do the inspections of the cars easier.  We arrived a little late because I did not follow the directions from the GPS, and took the long way to get there, so we did not arrive until 8:50am instead of 8:30 am.  There is a chapel there in this town in which we met for the conference.  My main assignment for each of the zone conferences was to help Elder McVea with inspecting each of the vehicles the missionaries use.  The church has a very well organized system and procedures to see that the vehicles used in the missions are well cared for.  Part of the process is to have the vehicles inspected at each zone conference.  This provides the information needed so if any repairs are needed they can be done.  Also this inspection was used to see that the vehicles are prepared and safe for winter driving.  This takes several hours, so Elder McVea and I did not have the chance to hear the training the missionaries were given in the morning session of the zone conference.  Sister Jensen provided some training and instruction for the missionaries to help them in taking better care of their apartments.  After dong this training she came outside and helped us with recording the information from each inspection on the form that is provided by the church.  Sister McVea was in the Mission Office each day of the week along with Sister Servoss.  Elder Servoss came with Elder McVea and he helped us with the inspections for as much of the time as he could.  He also coordinated with the missionaries each day to give them new cell phones to replace their old ones; and to insure the phone information was transferred from the old phone to the new one.  We were able to get all of these things done in the morning time.  In the afternoon session Elder McVea did some vehicle safety training, and then we were able to hear the training provided in the afternoon from President Christianson.  We were blessed to not have rain on Tuesday or Wednesday, but Wednesday was quite cold, in the upper 30’s.

The major topic for the training was concerning faith in Jesus Christ, faith to find the people the Lord has prepared to receive the gospel, and praying with faith to help us do what the Lord wants us to do.  The instruction was provided by the AP’s, Zone Leaders, and President Christianson.  President Christianson’s counselors and the Stake Presidents in each zone also took some time.  The instruction was accompanied by the influence of the Holy Ghost and was very influential and motivating.  Part of the training given by the President was given to him by Elder Jensen of the Presidency of the Seventy.  Elder Jensen had asked that this training be given.  He said we sometimes do not include the importance and power of Heavenly Father in the eternal plan provided by Him, and taught to us in our pre-mortal life by Him.  Understanding more about the Father helps to strengthen our knowledge and testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  The other part of the training was based on the last talk given by Elder Bruce R. McKonkie who was one of the 12 apostles.  His talk was given in the April 1985 General Conference.  He was dying of cancer but the Lord strengthened him sufficiently to give this profound address entitled “The Purifying Power of Gethsemane”.  This is one of the most powerful testimonies of Christ and the atonement and resurrection he has provided that has ever been given.  I remember seeing and hearing this talk when it was given in 1985 and it made a permanent impression of me of the truth and reality of the Redeemer of us all.

On Wednesday the Palmyra North Zone Conference was held at the Palmyra chapel across the road from the Palmyra Temple which is less than one fourth of a mile from the Sacred Grove.  We also had to arise at 5:30 am so we could leave by 7:15 am to get to the Palmyra chapel by 8:30 am.  This day was very similar to the Tuesday zone conference including the vehicle inspections and the training which was given.  Wednesday afternoon we spent a few hours in Farmington NY trying to find an apartment for the two sister missionaries we had moved out of an apartment in Shortsville the week before.  We were led by the Lord to find an apartment that will be much better for the sisters than was the previous one they had.

Thursday we were able to have a P-Day so we could get the laundry done and the apartment cleaned and spend some time catching up on what we did not get done the previous two days.  Included in the activities of the day was a trip to Wal-Mart to get me some thermals so I could keep warm at the other two zone conferences; they were very helpful on Friday and Saturday.

Friday was the Rochester Zone conference which was at the chapel on Westfall Rd. in Brighton NY, which is only about a 25 minute drive from our apartment.  The first hour of our vehicle inspections there was no rain; but then it started to give us a light rain mixed with some snowflakes, but mostly it was sleet.  We got somewhat wet, but not soaked clear through.  For this day we had a young man help us with the inspections.  He is a member of the Rochester Stake and is waiting for his mission call to come.  Elder McVea and I did the inspection steps and Kenny did the recording of the information for us.  On the last few cars Elder Servoss came and helped also; so we could do two cars at a time.

Saturday the Buffalo Zone conference was held in a chapel in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo, East of the city.  The day started off at freezing, 32degrees; but by the time we were done the temperature was up to the low 50’s.  The vehicle inspections went quite fast because Sister McVea and Sister Servoss were both able to come to the conference since the Mission Office is not open on Saturday’s.  Sister Jensen and Elder Servoss also helped out.  With all the help we had, we were able to inspect two cars at a time.

Sunday was our Fast & Testimony Meeting.  The testimonies shared were filled with the Spirit and very uplifting.  In the evening, at 8pm our time, we had invited Casey Reichhart to come to our apartment to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional with us.  You may remember she was baptized about a month ago here in our Brockport Ward.  She is doing very well and has been attending early morning seminary.  The seminary instructor is Jeremy Browne; his wife Brooke is a granddaughter of Arnold Wilson from Mapleton.  Arnold was my Scout master when I was in the scout age.  Jeremy has been a professor here at the Brockport College; but he has recently been hired to work and teach at BYU Provo.  They will be moving on December 13^th; and Jeremy will begin at BYU in January.  Brooke is one of our organists in the ward, and Jeremy has also been the Sunday School President.  They will both be missed; but this is what Jeremy has been hoping for since he graduated from BYU about 10 years ago.  They have twin boys named Isaac and Asher who are full of “vim, vigor, and vitality”; or as my mother used say “wim, wigor, and witality”.

Today, Monday, we attended the mission office staff meeting and then helped do some things at the mission office for the rest of the day.

We hope Chris gets home safe from the fire he was sent to in southern California.  Last week they had Santa Ana winds that were over 100 mph; and they had all the fire fighters in the state on red alert.  There were trees blown over and many homes without power.  Chris was sent as a leader of a strike team to work on a fire there.  We heard there were winds over 100 mph in the Centerville Utah area that has done a lot of damage and caused many homes to be without power.  We hope these people affected can be provided for and that they will somehow have a Christmas.

We hope our family has a wonderful Christmas gathering this Saturday at our home.  Please take time to share the story of the birth of Jesus from Luke 2:1-19 to help remember the real reason for Christmas.  We hope Norm and Rhonda continue to do well in keeping their cancer under control.

We love you all and think of you and pray for each of you and your families.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard