Message 30 January 2012

Message—30 January 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Tuesday morning we left our apartment about 9 am to drive to Lancaster, which is south and east of Buffalo.  We had called Friday and Monday to make arrangements to see some apartments in the Lancaster area to find an appropriate apartment for Elder and Sister Wood to live in.  They will be arriving in the mission next week.  We picked up the elders who are assigned to the Lancaster area to go with us to help us determine if the apartments we were going to see were in their area or outside of it.  We went to 5 different apartment complexes.  Two of them were very run down and would not be appropriate to live in.  The other three were nice apartments and would have been alright; but one had some odd application procedures which we have learned create problems for us in the future, so we did not choose it.  Of the other two apartments we chose the nicer one, cleaner and better maintained, and also a little farther off main roads so it would be quieter.  We obtained the needed application information to take back with us for Elder Servoss in the mission office to do all the application process.  We called Pres. Christianson to get his approval to rent the chosen apartment; he asked us to call Elder and Sister Wood to be sure the rent and utilities amount was within their budget, which they said was fine for them.  We took the elders to buy them lunch at a nice restaurant.  We enjoy visiting with the elders over lunch and finding out more about them and how their missionary work is going.  They told us they have a family with 10 children and their parents whom they are teaching.  They teach this large family in the home of a member couple who have 7 children.  So when they meet each time there are 17 children and 6 adults in one home; and it is difficult to teach, but they are having great success.  The investigator family have been coming to church every week and eager to learn more about the gospel.  The 10 children range in age from 18 down to an infant.  When the time for baptism comes, there will be the parents and 5 children of baptism age.  After lunch we drove back to the mission office to give the apartment application information to Elder Servoss so he could call and make arrangements to hold the apartment for us while the application process was completed.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we spent the day in the mission office learning more about our new office assignments.  We had a number of problems and other things come up to help us experience things we will need to know.  When we arrived on Wednesday we learned three new vehicles had been picked up from car dealers on Tuesday while we were gone.  All three are 2012 Chevy Colorado pickups with 4 wheel drive.  I helped Elder McVea do all the processing and preparations to prepare these trucks to go out to replace three older Chevy Colorado’s with over 50,000 miles on them.  Then on Thursday we picked up four more new 2012 Subaru Legacy’s with all-wheel drive.  The four wheel drive vehicles are assigned to areas in the south areas of our mission because these areas have a lot more snow and there are some dirt roads and steeper hills on which the missionaries have to drive.  Sister Jensen also met with Sister Christianson to plan ahead for meetings for transfers this next week and also for some upcoming training and zone conference meetings in February; including food that will be needed.

President Christianson came in to the office on Thursday and let us know that the elders who speak Spanish and teach people who speak Spanish needed to be moved into a different apartment.  The Elders called and told us they had found two apartments for us to come and look at to see if they would be appropriate for them; and also that they had made an appointment to see them at 12:30 pm on Friday.  So during our lunch on Friday we went to see these two apartments with the elders.  The first one we went to was a great improvement over the one they currently live in.  We also went to the second apartment but the owners did not want to have the church, a third party, paying rent; so we called the Pres. and obtained his approval to proceed with the first apartment.  We obtained the application information and took it back to Elder Servoss and he began doing what he does so well to secure the apartment for the mission.

On Friday morning we also had the privilege to meet Elder and Sister Ellis who just arrived in the mission Thursday evening.  They are from Friendwood Texas, just south of Houston a little ways.  They are a great couple and will be taking over our apartment assignment.  We were able visit with them a little and make arrangements to have them come and attend our Brockport ward church meetings on Sunday; then stay and have lunch and visit with us after church.  Elder Ellis is related to President Christianson through their mother’s side of their families.

Saturday we had a P-day and got a number of things done that needed to be taken care of, such as washing the clothes, cleaning our apartment, and doing some grocery shopping.  Sister Jensen also got her hair done.  I went to Brother Arrington’s and worked on my wooden bowl project some more with Lee’s help.  He has so much knowledge and experience; I would love to learn more of what he knows.  I was able to get most of the lathe work and sanding done; there is still some more sanding to do.

Sunday we had the Brockport Elder’s ride to church with us in a snow storm with the roads very icy and slick.  We met Elder & Sister Ellis at the church.  Sister Ellis was talking with Casey Reichert, the 16 year old young lady who was baptized last October.  Their conversion experiences are very similar so they are already having a good connection.  Sister Ellis said she will make sure she keeps in close contact with Casey and help her through her trials with her mother.  During the last meeting of our block, we had a combined meeting with the priesthood and relief society and also included the youth.  The topic we discussed was concerning our ward mission plan and how the members can be a major part of the finding and preparing of people to be taught the gospel.  Sister Jensen and I shared some ideas and thoughts, for about 10 minutes, on how to listen to people and let the Spirit direct your words as to what you should say to share the gospel.  After the meetings we had the Ellis’s follow us to our apartment and have some lunch with us and we then shared with them some of the general information about what their apartment assignment entails.  We left our apartment about 4pm and drove to Mendon NY.  We, both the Ellis’s and ourselves, had been invited by Elder & Sister McVea to meet in the home where Elder & Sister Servoss live, which is across the road; to have dinner with both of these couples along with two other older couples.  The other two couples are Elder and Sister Morely and Bob & Eileen Haven, who are not members.  The Morely’s will be having their 60^th wedding anniversary next month and are in the same ward as the McVea’s.  They also were the missionary service couple who took care of the apartments before we arrived in the mission.  They helped us learn how to do our assignment with the apartments.  The Haven’s live about a mile through the farm fields, from the Servoss’s.  The homes where the Servoss’s and McVea’s live are two parts of the original home where Brigham Young’s father, John Young lived with his family.  Brigham lived in this home at the time Samuel Smith, the Prophet Joseph’s brother, gave the first copy of the Book of Mormon to Phineas Young, who was Brigham’s brother.  Phineas was a lay preacher and read the book twice in two weeks and was converted; and started preaching from it to his congregation.  This same copy of the Book of Mormon was then given to Fannie Young, a sister of Phineas and Brigham.  She read it and was converted the first time she read it.    Fannie gave the copy to Brigham who read and studied it for two years before he was converted.  The original home at some point was divided in to two homes, one stayed on the north side of the road, and the other was moved to the south side of the road.  Eileen Haven had lived in both of these homes at different times of her younger life.  After dinner, we all visited in smaller groups.  Sister Jensen visited with some of the Sisters.  I visited with Elder Morely, and tried to hear some of what Eileen shared about the Young’s home, but I missed most of it.  Elder and Sister Morely served a mission at Martin’s Cove.  He was the first senior missionary to present the Ephraim Hanks story to the groups at martin’s Cove.  Elder Morely and Elder McVea had made a very good quality sign, with more description than the previous sign, to be placed at the site where Brigham Young and Phineas Young and Heber C. Kimball and about 60 other people were baptized into the church.  Bob Haven has been the self-appointed care taker of the old sign; and had asked Elder McVea to make a better sign to put at the site.  For about 35 years or so, Bob would take the old sign down and take it to his home every fall before the hunting season began so it would not get shot.  He then replaced it the next spring after the snow melted.  The site where the baptisms took place is also where Brigham and his first wife Miriam lived and operated a saw mill and furniture making business.  They lived in a one room area above the saw mill.  The stream ran beneath the home and mill and the water was used to turn the water wheel that ran the saw.  We plan to make visits to Bob and Eileen after we move to the home where the McVea’s live.  We are greatly blessed to have the chance to be in some of these special church history sites; there is a special spirit in these places.  Our testimonies are reinforced through these experiences.

Since this message is so long already, I will wait until next week to share an experience the Ellis’s experienced in getting here to the mission.  The Lord is truly in the details of our lives in many ways; sometimes we do not recognize them all, but we know and recognize HE IS THERE daily in our lives.

For the month of February we hope the following will have wonderful birthdays: Jay Jensen on the 5^th, Madison will be 4 on the 18^th, Landon will be 9 on the 20^th, and Colby will be 13 on the 24^th.  Bless Chris and Lynne’s hearts, they are now parents of a teenager; what wonderful experiences are ahead.  We hope you all survive the rest of the winter, which is one third gone now.  We had about 5 inches of snow over the weekend.  Our Elders built a 9 foot tall snowman on our sidewalk by the front porch while we were not at home last night.  They had a missionary tie on him and was going to call him Elder J, but they did not get that far; then the snowman tipped over during the night.

We love each of you and pray for your success and well-being and protection.  We are very grateful to have each of you in our family and as friends.  Blessings to all of you.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 23 January 2012

Message—23 January 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Since the last Blog message was a day late, this Blog message will begin with Wednesday January 18^th, last week.  Wednesday we attended our district meeting, it was held at our apartment.  We only have the zone leaders and the district leader and his companion in our district, just the six of us; so it is easy for us to fit in our apartment.  Elder Hulse is our district leader and he had prepared some helpful ideas in helping us change from the people we were before our missions, to become more like Jesus Christ so we can be more effective and successful in finding and teaching those people who the Lord has prepared to hear the gospel from us.  This is a good process that would benefit any of us.  Evaluating our past behavior and attitudes and characteristics and then comparing them to the example of the Savior can help us see things we need to change and how to make the changes needed.  This process sometimes includes repentance, and a change of heart, so we can improve.

Thursday and Friday we spent the day in the mission office.  Elder McVea had me help him with getting some vehicles ready to be sold, which had been replaced by new vehicles.  We also put together the right information for 4 vehicles to be picked up and taken to an automobile auction down on the Pennsylvania and New York border.  The church is going to try this method out here in our area as an experiment to see if it is successful and provides sufficient income to justify doing it in the future.  In the past the vehicle coordinator has been responsible to try to sell the vehicles.  We first try to sell the vehicles to church members by asking the Bishops to put a flyer on their ward bulletin boards.  We also advertise on some local classified advertisement web sites.  We have had the four cars we sent to the auction available for sale for over three months and not one offer to buy one; that is why the church is trying the auction option.

Saturday I went to Brother Arrington’s for a couple of hours to work on the bowl I started last week on his lathe.  I got it shaped the way I want and got the lid to fit on the bowl.  Next I will get it smoothed up and start sanding it.  Lee is helping me learn a number of very helpful techniques and skills to use the lathe.  He also has given me some good suggestions on tools and some other useful things to help with projects.  The rest of the day Saturday we got the clothes washed and dried and some shopping and other things done to be ready for Sunday.

Sunday we had very good church meetings.  All three of the speakers in sacrament meeting spoke on the topic of faith.  A priest age young man, Mitchell Pate, spoke first and shared some examples of faith from the Book of Mormon, mostly the 2000 stripling warriors.  The next speaker was Elder Preisendorf.  He talked about some of the verses in Alma 44 and Alma 48 that refer to the faith of the Nephites in their wars as they were led by Moroni.  The third speaker was Cory McNeese, one of the older Elders in the ward.  He shared his experiences that led to his going on a mission.  When he filled out his missionary recommendation papers, one of the questions was “If you were called to a foreign mission which mission would you choose”; there were three boxes, and he put Australia in all three boxes.  When he received his mission call envelope he delayed opening the envelope for several days, until his father finally talked him into opening it.  He said I knew where I was going before I opened it; and I was right; I was called to the Brisbane Australia Mission.  His mission experiences changed his life and helped him build a faith based firm foundation for the rest of his life.  He has been a police officer in Rochester for the last 20 years.  He also said his faith is not near as strong as the youth who get up early every morning during the week and attend seminary.  Then, without saying her name, he referred to Casey Reichhart who was baptized a few months ago, who started attending seminary before she was baptized, and she is the only member of her family who is a member.  Her mother is being quite negative about the church right now, so Casey is feeling a little alone.  We set up a subscription to the New Era for her, and the last issue had a full page picture of the Savior in it, and at the bottom of the page it said “You Are Never Alone”.  This was a very reassuring and comforting message just for her.  Since the two Elders who baptized her have moved we have been trying to provide some support and encouragement and listening hearts and ears to help her through the struggles she has.  Casey is trying to get her mother to let her go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead next month with the youth in the ward.  We had the Elders take a copy of the issue of the Ensign, that was about temples, to Casey last week, and she left it in plain sight where her mother could see it.  Casey could tell her mother had looked through it.  We are hoping her mother can see the wonderful positive effect the gospel is having on Casey and will begin to soften her heart towards the church.

Sunday evening we and the elders had been invited to a member’s home for dinner.  Sister Johnson and her 14 year old daughter Bianca live in Albion alone, so we took the elders with us so they would not be alone with these two sisters.  We had a fine meal and afterwards, Sister Johnson brought out an old game of Seek which had cards with scripture questions on them.  We went through some of them and tried to help Bianca give the answers to some.  She is usually quite shy but she started opening up and participating more with us and her mother; so I think we did some good.  We attended the Centennial of Seminary fireside last night with Casey.  President Packer gave an awesome message to all the youth that will bless their lives forever if they will follow his counsel; the same will happen to any of us.  I truly love to listen to President Packer, he is so filled with wisdom and a knowledge of the gospel and all its doctrines; and can teach by the Spirit so well.  I hope his instruction is made available to read and study more carefully.

Today we went to the mission office for staff meeting and spent most of the day there learning more about our new assignments.  About noon an older man brought seven other older retired men with him to pick up the four vehicles which were to be taken to the auction.  These retired men earn a little extra money by helping to drive the cars to the auction.  It is far cheaper to drive the cars to the auction, only 110 miles away from Rochester, than to pay the expense of having them picked up on a car carrier rig and taken to the auction.  Near the end of the day we learned that one of the elder’s vehicles would have to stay in the repair shop here in Rochester for another day, so we took an extra vehicle which is not yet ready to be sold to the Elders whose vehicle needed to stay in the repair shop.  These elders live clear down in Arcade NY, so they will have this car until they can make a trip back up to get the one being fixed.  We also had to get a few things for two other elders in the south part of Rochester.

We just keep moving along and try to do whatever is needed when asked to do so.  There is a fairly constant need to be flexible and respond to the needs of the missionaries to keep them safe and healthy and provided with what they need to do the missionary work and service they were called to do.  We love our mission experiences and are so grateful to be here and have a chance to be of service.

We hope all of you are well and happy, and safe and warm, and have what you need to provide for yourselves.  We know Heavenly Father lives and loves us and we know His Only Begotten Son is the Savior and Redeemer.  We know the gospel is true and will safely lead us back to be with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ; if we will follow the example he set for us.  Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration, and Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today.  The Book of Mormon is absolutely true and filled with powerful spiritual messages to bless us.

We love and appreciate each of you.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 17 January 2012

Message—17 January 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Our day yesterday was too long to get this message done last night, so I am doing it one day late on Tuesday night.   We spent most of last week at the mission office being trained more in what our responsibilities will be and how to do them when we change assignments at the end of February.  We are both making good progress in learning what we will need to know, but we have more to learn.  There have been some normal things happen that we will do often; and there have been some things happen that are a little unusual as well so we have had a chance to learn how to handle some things that are less common.  I think I have explained to what our assignment will change.  Sister Jensen will be the Referral Secretary and I will be the Vehicle Coordinator.  These two assignments mean we will be in the Mission Office every day from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday.  Our P-Day will change to Saturday’s.  We are looking forward to having the privilege to live in the John Young Home in Mendon NY.  It is only about 15-20 minutes from the Mission Office.  The Mission Office Staff begins each day with a short 10 minute devotional.  We sing a hymn, have a prayer, and then one person shares a thought.  Since we are still living in Brockport, it takes us about 45 minutes to drive to the office in the morning.  This means we get up at 6am so we have time for getting ready, eating and reading our scriptures together before leaving soon after 8am.  It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get home at night in the 5pm commute traffic.  When we move at the end of February we will be assigned to help in a different ward; we do not yet know for sure which ward the President wants us to help.  Sometime around January 28^th, Elder and Sister Ellis from Texas will arrive in the mission; and President Christianson is going to have them take over our current assignment with coordinating apartment needs and issues.  They will be living in an apartment near Palmyra until we move; then they will move in our Brockport apartment and help with the Brockport ward.  We will spend the time needed to teach them what we know about apartments.  A week or so later Elder and Sister Wood from North Ogden will be arriving in the mission.  The Wood’s are best friends with my sister Ruth.  We are working on trying to find an apartment for them to live in.

Last Wednesday evening we attended the Site Meeting.  This is a weekly meeting the senior couples who serve at the historic sites attends to coordinate with each other and receive training and information needed to be more effective in the presentations given at the sites.  The young sister missionaries also attend this meeting.  Elder and Sister Lenker have been the Site Directors for the last 18 months, which means they are like a mini mission president and wife.  They supervise and coordinate with President Christianson and the senior missionaries and the younger sister missionaries who serve at the sites to give tours and answer questions from those who visit the sites.  Site meeting last Wednesday evening included some time to let Elder and Sister Lenker share their testimonies and appreciation for being able to serve here in this mission.  Some tributes to the Lenker’s were shared.  The Lenker’s have done a great job in their service.  The new Site Directors are Elder and Sister Searle.  He and his wife were the Mission President and wife in the New York City North mission from 2006 to 2009.  After being home for a little over one and one half years they were called to be the Site Directors, again living in NY.  Most of the Site Directors have previously served as mission presidents.  Elder Searle was a CEO for Citi Bank during his work life.  He and his wife lived in California during this time.  He flew to NY many, many times.  When Citi Bank asked him to move to NY he said no, so they gave him a nice retirement package and he told them goodbye.  Then President Monson asked him to be a mission president in the NY City North mission.  His first response was yes, then he added, last year I could have moved to NY and made a lot more money.  We sat by the Searle’s and President and Sister Christianson at a potluck dinner held last night (Monday) for the Site Couples to have a chance to meet the Searle’s; they just arrived on Saturday.  I asked Elder Searle if he was related to Don Searle who used to live in Provo in our home ward.  He said they are a distant relative but he cannot remember how.

Last Thursday evening we were invited, along with Elder Hulse and Elder Preisendorf, to have dinner with a member couple, the Arrington’s.  Lee is a first cousin to Leonard Arrington, a well-known church historian; I knew him at BYU.  He donated a very large collection of books from England and Europe published in the 1800’s; including some science books which I had the assignment to review and decide whether to add them to the BYU collection.  Lee is a wonderful person, and so is his wife.  He is very knowledgeable about many things, and also has good common sense, which is a rare combination.  He is very patient to help a person learn what he knows; if they want to learn.  He was kind enough to invite me to come and spend two hours on our Saturday P-Day, so he could help me learn how to operate a wood lathe.  He was very patient with me and helped me learn a number of skills and helpful information about the tools to use and how to use them and how to operate a lathe safely.  I am making a wooden bowl with a lid.  He has some health problems and is not always able to attend church, but he is the same type of personality as George Carter, Mac Carter, or John Finlayson.

Sunday was our Brockport Ward Conference.  The Stake Presidency was in attendance.  It was a great meeting with good messages from our recently sustained Bishop and the Stake President, Cary Jensen.  After the block of meetings I was able to visit with the second counselor in the Stake Presidency who is Bentley Hutchings who grew up in Springville.  He is a son of Jay and Loni’s friends.  He is a great person and we enjoyed our visit together.  After the meetings we held our missionary coordination meeting with the Ward Mission Leader.  We were given an assignment to prepare a 5-8 minute presentation to be given at a combined meeting on the last Sunday of January.  It will include the adults and also the young men and young women.  The purpose of the meeting is to help the members learn what they can do and how to do what is needed to invite more of their friends and acquaintances to let the missionaries come to their homes and teach them about the gospel and the church.  Anne told me in a recent email that the missionaries in Fremont CA do not go tracting, the members keep them busy teaching with referrals.  That is what we would love to see happen here in NY.

Monday, yesterday, we spent the day in the mission office.  We had staff meeting with President & Sister Christianson at 10 am; they had to leave about 11:30am.  Then at the end of the day we went to the Joseph Smith Welcome Center, which is next to the Sacred Grove, for the meeting and dinner to welcome and meet Elder and Sister Searle.  We left our apartment about 8:30 am and arrived back at the apartment at 10 pm.  This morning we went to help Sister Green and Sister Sultanian do some things at their apartment to help them get reorganized after having three missionaries in the apartment.  Elder Swanner and Elder Adair came to help do the lifting and moving for us.  We then spent the rest of the day at the mission office.  We arrived back at the apartment a little after 5:30pm.  That is the reason I did not get this blog message done until tonight.

President Christianson shared a little bit of an experience he had last week.  A young man in his upper 20’s has just returned from the Vatican Seminary where he learned all kinds of intellectual stuff which catholic clergy are taught.  He is here in our mission doing sort of an intern assignment, before he can be given his own Catholic Church assignment.  Our young missionaries had met him and they were not able to answer questions he had, so they offered to have President Christianson come and visit with him.  President said that for every scripture they discussed the young man had some philosophical or language explanation to change the meaning of what the scripture said.  President told the young man it appears that you have a lot of intellectual knowledge; do you have a spiritual understanding of what you have learned?  His answer was intellectual knowledge replaces spiritual knowledge.  President then said I would always choose knowledge from a living prophet over intellectual knowledge.  A week or so ago the younger Elders asked the Catholic Priest who is helping the young man with his intern training; do you have a spiritual conviction of the things you teach.  His answer was no.  It is sad that spiritual conviction is no longer important in some Christian churches.

We love you all so much.  We appreciate you and miss you and pray for you that Heavenly Father will continue to guide you, protect you, and bless and guide you in all you do.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 9 January 2012

Message—9 January 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Tuesday we spent some time in the morning updating the apartment records and organizing the apartment information so things will be up to date at the end of January when a new senior couple, Elder and Sister Ellis from Texas, will be arriving to take over our apartment assignment.  We will take as much time as needed to help the new couple learn what they need to know to fulfill this assignment we have had since we arrived in NY last March.

Tuesday, about noon, we arrived at the Mission Office and picked up the check to pay for the Fairport apartment.  About 1:30 pm we met Elder Swanner and Elder Adair and the zone leaders, Elder Cox and Elder Morrison, who drive a Chev Colorado pickup, at the storage shed where we keep the extra apartment furnishings.  We sorted through what was available to select the items that will be needed in the new Fairport apartment.  We had the items set outside the storage shed ready to be loaded into the trailer that the AP’s were supposed to bring at 2pm.  Due to miscommunication the AP’s did not come at 2pm, they were waiting for us to call them and tell them whether we were really going to move or not.  While we were waiting, it started snowing on some of the apartment furniture, so we quickly found something to cover the furniture.  About 3 pm we called the AP’s and discovered the communication problem, so they quickly got in their truck and brought the trailer to the storage shed.  By the time they arrived the snow had quit; so we loaded everything in the trailer and the two trucks.  We then drove to the new apartment and got everything put in the apartment.  The Elders and the Zone Leaders stayed and helped put everything away.  The AP’s and ourselves left to take care of other things.

On Wednesday we attended our district meeting with the missionaries in the district.  In the afternoon we met Elder Swanner and Elder Adair to purchase some items they needed for their new apartment.

On Thursday and Friday we spent all day in the Mission Office to be trained by Elder and Sister McVea in our new responsibilities which we will have beginning at the end of February or maybe a little sooner.  When Elder and Sister McVea finish their mission near the end of February, Sister Jensen and I will be the other Mission Office Couple along with Elder and Sister Servoss.  Sister Jensen will be responsible for the mail that comes to the office and getting it to the right place and to the right missionaries.  She will also take care of baptism and confirmation records so the information gets to the right places, including having membership records made.  She will also take care of the referral record keeping; and some other miscellaneous assignments.  I will be the vehicle coordinator, more commonly called the “car czar” in our mission; that means I keep track of where the “cars are”; a little pun.  This involves insuring the cars and trucks we have are properly maintained and serviced, repaired when needed, accidents reported, and coordinate with the Fleet Administration Office in Salt Lake to replace older vehicles as they determine it is time to replace them.  There are a lot of records to keep related to all the vehicles.

Saturday we had our P-Day.  Sister Jensen washed our clothes etc., and I vacuumed and mopped and did some other cleaning projects.  We did some grocery shopping. Then we spent a quiet evening together and rested.

Sunday we had a wonderful Fast & Testimony meeting.  In the afternoon, I took the Elders to visit a less active family in Hilton; their last name is McKeebe.  The parents have four children, two boys and twin girls.  The wife has grandparents in Salina UT, she was an Allred from that area.  They are both working on finding jobs in Utah so they can move back to that area.  The husband has been a police officer in Rochester for 20 plus years; and is now doing security at the Veterans Administration office.  He also has a pilot’s license and would like to get into wild land fire surveillance from aircraft.  The wife is an Information Technology expert.  Sunday at 8pm our time, we had the Elders, two recent converts, and an investigator whose name is Yazzinia (Yasi) all come to our home to watch the CES Fireside so we could hear Elder Jensen’s address on the “Unspeakable Gift of the Holy Ghost”.  The instruction he gave is awesome.  The Elder’s had just taught a lesson to the investigator about the Holy Ghost, so Elder Jensen’s instruction was very helpful to Yasi.  Today in our office staff meeting President Christianson said he was also very impressed with what Elder Jensen shared.  He said some of what was shared will help him in a meeting he has this week with a Jewish person.

Today, Monday, we spent the day at the mission office, for staff meeting and also for training with the McVea’s.

After hearing Elder Jensen’s discourse I have been thinking and pondering about it quite a lot.  One idea that came to me I will share with you.  Since the Holy Ghost is “THE” teacher; meaning whatever truth we learn comes through the Holy Ghost; we should take advantage of any opportunity to learn from the Holy Ghost.  Sometimes we complain about getting up on Sunday and getting ready for church.  People in our mission complain about having to drive 10 to 20 miles to get to church.  I had the thought that if we knew a member of the first presidency or quorum of twelve were going to be in our Sunday meeting I think the majority of us would make the time and put forth the effort to be in our meetings.  It seems to me that we are not understanding that every Sunday in our meetings we have the opportunity to hear or feel messages from the Holy Ghost (through those who teach by his influence) who is a member of the Godhead.  The Holy Ghost is the person who tells the prophets and apostles what to say and teach.  The Holy Ghost is also the source and the power by which WE can receive messages of eternal worth.  The Holy Ghost only teaches what Heavenly Father and the Savior would teach; should we not be willing to take time to attend our meetings each Sunday to hear what our Heavenly Father and the Savior want us to learn.  Three to four, or even more, hours is not much time out of our lives to avail ourselves of the opportunity to learn from the Holy Ghost.  Obviously, we can also learn from the Holy Ghost all during the week in many other settings, not just in church meetings on Sunday.  The other great blessing of sacrament meeting is to have the privilege, after repenting, to take the sacrament and allow the atonement to purify us so we can be forgiven and be more worthy to have the Holy Ghost be with us during the week.  Through our personal or family prayers, and in our home evenings, and in our daily scripture study we can also be taught by the Holy Ghost.  What a powerful gift and opportunity we have to learn from the person who represents the Father and the Son.  I know we can be blessed by the Holy Ghost every day of our lives; he is always available to help, guide, and teach us.  I know the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost live and love us and will bless us as we allow them to, through our faithful obedience and repentance and service to others.

We express our love and appreciation to each of you.  Each one has blessed our lives in many important ways.  Your kindnesses, prayers, thoughts, service, and love have helped in many ways to enable us to become who we are.  We pray for you each day and know you are being blessed in many ways; we hope you recognize the true source of your blessings.

Love,

Mom, & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 2 January 2012

Message—2 January 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Tuesday, December 27^th, we made a trip to the Storage Sheds and picked up some items which we took with us to the transfers so we could deliver them to missionaries who needed them.  The transfer meeting was at 12pm at the chapel on Kreag Rd in Fairport NY.  The president changed to this chapel so the missionaries would know where to find it for future meetings which will be held there.  After the missionaries had all left the chapel with their new companions, we took Elder Swanner and Elder Adair with us and went to see some apartments both they and we had found.  We also went with these same elders to see some additional apartments on Wednesday.  After seeing all the apartments we narrowed the choices down to the two best for the best price and in the best location.  We then called the Mission President and asked him for a decision on which apartment he would prefer the missionaries live in.  His answer was to pursue trying to get the apartment we found which is located over a garage at a nice home in the eastern part of Fairport.  We provided the information needed by Elder Servoss to take care of the paperwork needed to get a lease agreement signed and arrange for making the first payment to the owner.  It took until Tuesday morning, January 3^rd, (I know this due to a conversation with elder Servoss today) to get all the paperwork done and a check to pay the owner made out and signed by the President.

On Thursday we took our two new elders, Elder Hulse and Elder Preisendorf, to our first district meeting with them and the new zone leaders, Elder Campbell and Elder Wilson.  The meeting was held at the chapel in Greece.  Elder Hulse is the new district leader, he is from Terreton Idaho (sometimes called Mud Lake); this is west of Rexburg somewhere.  Dave will probably know exactly where it is.  Due to the large number of companionships that were involved in last week’s transfers, both of our previous elders were transferred out and the two new elders moved in.  They are both good missionaries and we are enjoying getting better acquainted with them.  Elder Preisendorf is from North Lehi, northeast of the Lehi Block Company where they make bricks etc.  He has a lot of musical talents.

On Friday I took the elder’s to visit with an inactive member who lived in Hilton NY.  He is a photojournalist who is self-employed and does work for a variety of people or companies or publishers.  He grew up in Salt Lake and has been a member of the church all of his life.  We did not get the details from him about a first marriage, but he has remarried an Italian lady from here in western NY who is a strong catholic.  He does a lot of traveling and moves fairly often; this is the main reason he is inactive.  He moves more often than his membership and that is how he has become inactive.  He went on a mission to the British Mission (London area) in 1969, so he and I had some similar stories to share, since I went on my mission to the North British mission in 1963-1965, with the last 6months in the British South mission which is west of London.  He shared a lot of stories about his photojournalism projects.  The condo in which he lives, has one of the major streams of water that flows in to Lake Ontario right behind his condo.  He said he went out fishing one day last year in this stream when the salmon were going upstream to spawn, and he caught a 42 pound salmon in the stream and took pictures of it for one of his projects.

Saturday we had a P-Day and got the wash done and the apartment cleaned up for Sunday and a new year.  Saturday afternoon my brothers and sisters and their spouses, except for Anne who stayed in California, gathered at Jay & Loni’s home and had a nice dinner and some visiting etc.  While they were together, they tried to connect with us by Skype; but we were not able to make connections. So we just talked a few minutes on the phone.  I love my family members very much and appreciate their kindnesses and their good examples; I have learned much from each of you.  We had been invited to a Senior missionary couple New Year’s Eve dinner and party at the Hill Cumorah Visitor Center; but we decided not to go.  We did not want to risk being in the New Year’s Eve traffic to return home late at night.  We stayed at our apartment and enjoyed a peaceful evening together all by ourselves.

It is hard to believe that 2011 has gone, and we are now in 2012.  Time really does fly “… on wings of lightning, we cannot call it back…”.  One more month and we will be on the downhill side of our two years here in this wonderful mission.  We become more convinced each week that the work of the Lord is divinely guided and facilitated.  He really is “…able to do His own work..” (2 Ne 27:20-21) , but he is patient and kind and loving and allows us to help in small ways; so we can have experiences to help us learn what we need to learn.  He blesses us so abundantly along our daily journeys.  I think we do not always recognize how much we are blessed by Heavenly Father and the Savior and the Holy Ghost.  I sure do not take much credit for what is accomplished as I try to be helpful.  Heavenly Father magnifies our efforts far beyond what we actually do.  We love our Father in Heaven and His only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ; and we are so thankful for the help and guidance of the Holy Ghost in our lives.  We know this is the true church and that we have prophets and apostles who are inspired to teach and lead us in the correct ways.  King Benjamin is absolutely right, the more good we do the more blessings we receive; we will never be able to repay the Father and the Son for our blessings; and the promised blessings awaiting us as we follow the gospel plan and teachings and revelations provided in scriptures and through current revelation.  The atonement and resurrection are the greatest gifts available to us.  We work at repenting every day and strive to keep the covenants we have made and serve Heavenly Father and our King and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, and our fellow men.

We hope Josie has a wonderful birthday tomorrow, January 3^rd; and Lynne on January 19^th.  We talked with Josie and Austin tonight and wished Josie a happy birthday tomorrow.  We hope all those in school will be ready for another year of learning and growing and adding to their knowledge and understanding as school resumes this week.  As we always told our children, school is enjoyable and rewarding and even fun if you will attend all of your classes, and do the assignments given on time, and hand them in with your name written on the assignment.  As you take your classes try to learn what subjects you like and which ones you do not like as well.  This will help you decide later on, what type of work you want to do to make a living for you and your family when you get older.  Learning what subjects you do not like will help you decide what you do want to do during your adult life.

We express our love and appreciation to all of you for the good you have brought in to our lives.  We are grateful for your thoughts and prayers for us.  Please know we also pray for each of you as well.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine