Message—15 April 2012
Dear Family and Friends,
On Monday morning, April 9th, we had a very good staff meeting; in addition to the business of the meeting, President shared the spiritual thought and we had a great discussion about his message on the atonement of Jesus Christ. We usually also learn about some of the great experiences the missionaries are having in finding and teaching people they are led to find. There were two new missionaries who arrived in the mission on Monday who both do ASL. They came between the normal transfer arrivals because ASL missionaries are in the MTC for 9 weeks. We also had one missionary arrive last week from Mexico; Elder Vazquez, he had been in the MTC in Mexico but had a difficult time getting his visa to come to New York. He is an older missionary, 25, who has been working several years to earn enough money to go on a mission for both he and his brother. His brother is also on a mission. He had a successful business related to tourists who come to Cabot San Lucas. He sold the business in order to pay for his mission and also for his brother. He was assigned to serve in the Mexico North Mission while he was working on getting his visa. He prayed for Heavenly Father to help him find someone at the embassy who understood about missionaries for the LDS Church to help him get the visa. On his first visit to the embassy in Northern Mexico the man who did the first interview was asking him questions about why he wanted to serve a mission and Elder Vazquez was feeling he was not going to have success in getting the visa. The man then said he was a member of the LDS church and he would do all he could to get his visa approved. He then had to meet with the Consul who was a lady; before he went he prayed for help that the Consul would approve his visa request; this was on a Wednesday. When he entered her office and sat down, the lady saw his name tag and asked are you Carlos Vazquez who helped me at Cabot San Lucas last year while I was there? He said he did have a business there at the time; and she said you were so helpful and kind to me. I will see that your visa is approved and available for you on Monday. The Lord truly is involved in the details of our lives. It is so amazing to me how the Lord put in motion all the events that had to happen at the right time preceding Elder Vazquez getting his visa approved in less than two weeks, when it usually takes months. Heavenly Father and the Savior love us so much and are so good to us. We will see this is true if we will pause, be still, and see His hand in our lives.
The President tried a different sequence in providing the orientation for these three new missionaries. Instead of doing the orientation Monday evening, he had us do it Tuesday morning after he had taken them to the Sacred Grove and the Hill Cumorah. Doing the orientation Monday evening, which we normally have done, after the missionaries had been up since 2am to get to the airport and then travel all day and try to stay awake in the evening after a good dinner made it difficult for the missionaries to stay awake and listen. It worked much better to do the orientation Tuesday afternoon. We will continue with this schedule from now on. After the office staff did their orientation the President had the rest of the afternoon to do some training and teaching before sending the new missionaries with their companions to their assigned areas.
Monday evening we joined the Senior Couples at the Historic sites for a tour of some museums in Palmyra. We met at the Alling Coverlet Museum, which is right behind and to the west of the Grandin Building. The Palmyra Historic Society has some control over the museums, and two of their officers gave all of us missionaries an evening special viewing and tour. The Alling Museum is one of the few museums that specializes in collecting quilted bed coverlets. They have also included a number of other historical items which citizens of Palmyra have donated over the years. They include some items made by Indians from Western New York. We also went to two other museums on Market Street, which is just east of the Grandin Building. One was the Historic Palmyra Museum. In here they have displays in every room of the building which was once a store, a boarding house, and a residence. There is a room with Mormon related items in it; one with dolls of various kinds, one with women’s period clothing, one with toys from the 1800’s including a 7foot long toboggan, and one with war mementos from Palmyra citizens who were in all the wars from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War. The main floor has a collection of printing presses from the 1800’s. There is a room with hand tools of all kinds, and there is a room with information about the grandparents of Winston Churchill who came from Palmyra. There is a display about Ira Lackey, the whaler and owner of the "Morning Star," the first boat to send missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the South Pacific, Ira was from Palmyra. The other museum we visited is the William S. Phelps General Store. As far as is known he is not related to our LDS, William W. Phelps. The store has been preserved so it looks just like it looked in the 1940’s; including the shelves being stocked with the goods that were available for sale back then. I recognized many of the brand names on items on the shelves, and have some pictures of them. There is a door on the north of the store which opened to a ramp which went to the wharf along the Erie Canal so that goods could be brought in from the boats on the Erie Canal.
Tuesday evening we worked together with the Servoss’s to get the food ready for the Special Training meetings on Wednesday. We provided 13 pineapples, about 10, 3 pound containers of strawberries, and 10, 3 pound containers of grapes and mixed them together. Then at the meetings we cut up some bananas to add to the mixture; and also provided bottled water and 13 dozen Bruegger’s bagels of various types (we bought the bagels we did not make them). The Rochester and Buffalo Zones met Wednesday morning from 8am to 12 noon in Batavia. The Palmyra North and Palmyra South Zones met Wednesday afternoon from 2pm to 6pm in Canandaigua. The Servoss’s went to the Batavia meeting and took care of setting out the food we had prepared. We took care of the Mission Office during the morning while the Servoss’s were in Batavia. The Servoss’s got to the Mission Office in time for us to get to Canandaigua; and we set the food out for the missionaries during their break. By doing this we were able to hear most of the training the President provided. He is such a great teacher. One idea he talked about was an answer to a missionary question about the anti-Mormon people. The LDS Church is the only church which has a major organization dedicated to trying to drive people from the church and they have a publishing company that prints nothing but anti-Mormon literature. Why do they target our Church, because it is the true church and Satan wants to do all he and his followers can do to destroy the church. The primary focus they have is to promulgate negative things about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. By doing this they hope to have people lose their testimony of these two foundation doctrines of the church. The Book of Mormon is the Second Witness of Jesus Christ; and Joseph Smith is translator of this book of scripture and is the Lord’s prophet of this dispensation, and there are living prophets and apostles on the earth today. Through these prophets revelation comes and the Priesthood Keys are administered. If the Anti’s can succeed in destroying the Book of Mormon and living prophets, then the priesthood keys go away with it; and the priesthood is the one power Satan can never have; so he wants to keep us from having the blessings of the priesthood. Since this is what Satan wants to destroy, then prophets, the Book of Mormon and the Priesthood should be the major focus we have in our lives, because they are the means of saving us from Satan’s power.
Thursday evening we were on our way to Geneseo to attend Institute, when we received a call that Brother Gammon had cancelled Institute for that night. He had his secretary call the students and the missionaries so they knew. This made it possible for us to arrive home in time to have dinner at the Servoss’s with a new senior couple, Elder and Sister Nielsen, from New Port Beach California. They are here for a 6 month mission and have been assigned to serve in the Freedom NY area and help the branch there. They are great people and will be a great help to the branch. We visited with them for a few hours after dinner then walked across the street to our home and went to bed. Friday morning Sister Jensen arose early and prepared a very tasty quiche breakfast to share with the Servoss’s, the Nielsen’s and the Ellis’s, who also came for breakfast. After breakfast we went to the office and the Ellis’s led the way for the Nielsen’s to their apartment in Freedom. The Ellis’s were then prompted by the Spirit to find a nice apartment in the Collins area, for another couple, the Jeppsen’s, who will be here next month to serve in that area.
Friday evening we stayed home and rested a little. Saturday morning we slept in for an hour to 7am. We spent most of the day, from 10 am to about 4pm with the Servoss’s. We rode together in our car and drove to Lyndonville, NY to shop at two Amish operated stores. One was a General Store type place which included bolts of fabric which kept Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss occupied. We then went to Yoder’s Country Store; which sell’s primarily food items. We then drove up to Lake Ontario and stopped at a large boat harbor with a lighthouse replica and the look and feel of a small fishing village, including many people along the harbor fishing. We drove along the Lake Ontario Sea Way, which is a four lane divided highway that parallels the Lake. You can see the lake in many places. When we got near Rochester we went South on highway 390 and returned home. We spent the evening taking it easy. The week was long and tiring but we were very busy serving in a variety of ways and were blessed to accomplish what was needed.
Today we went to church in the Geneseo ward and had very good meetings; the sacrament meeting talks were about the atonement. We stopped in Lima to check on a referral the missionaries had received from the Elders in Greece NY, that was quite a distance from their apartment, but it was just off the road we travel to return home. It turned out that the address was incomplete. The address was an apartment complex with 8 buildings with 8 apartments in each building which was 64 apartments. We had no apartment number so we will have the Elders drive to this place one day and have them tract through the apartments and see if the person lives there; if not maybe they will find someone else who is interested in being taught. We call these referrals, bogus. Some people provide false information just to get rid of the missionaries.
We express our love and appreciation to each of you. Our lives have been very blessed by your examples, your kindnesses, your help, your love, and your prayers. We pray for all of you each day and we know you are being blessed in many ways.
Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine
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