Dear Family & Friends,
On Monday and Tuesday we were blessed to get caught up on some of the projects we needed to complete. On Wednesday there was a Specialized Training meeting held at which President Christianson taught the missionaries how to make better use of LDS.ORG and MORMON.ORG in their teaching. As the missionaries teach people in their homes they can take a few minutes at the end and show the people how to find more information about what the missionaries taught them. Part of the reason for doing this is to help them find correct information about the church and the gospel rather than be influenced by the negative information that other people try to push on them. One other thing the missionaries do is to get a commitment from those they teach to let them come back and answer questions about negative things they get from other sources. There is a lot of anti-church literature and information that comes out around this time as the Pageant is presented. WE attended the morning session which was for the Buffalo and Rochester Zones, which was held in the church in Batavia. The training was from 8am to 12 noon. Sister Jensen had spent much of last Saturday making home-made Chex Mix for treats for the training meetings on Wednesday. Then in the afternoon the training for the two Palmyra Zones was held in the Canandaigua church. In addition the President also taught the missionaries how to better invite people to accept invitations to do what is required to gain a testimony of the gospel principles and ordinances.
This week was less busy than last week. We were able to rest a few evenings and get some things done at home as well. On Saturday we drove to Romulus to pick up some things that an Amish man, Levi, had made for me. When we arrived at his place, we learned Levi was at an auction a mile away; but his wife said Sam was in the shop and could help me. I had met Sam a few weeks earlier, he is Levi’s son and is less than three feet tall (his dad is about 6 ft. 5 inches tall); but he acts just like a grown up. I do not know how old he is, but he is fine boy. He had to climb up to the counter using two step stools; but he took care of what was needed just fine. Levi’s wife has a quilt shop and Sister Jensen took some time and walked through it to see what was there.
On the subject of quilts, our daughters put together a nice levi quilt and tied it; it will be used for the family reunion this month. Jana also pieced together a very nice quilt for her own use; she did a super job, it looks very nice. She will be getting it quilted soon.
With all the fires going on in the western states Brandon and Chris are keeping busy. We hope and pray they will be protected and have the wisdom to do the right things at the right time to keep their crews and themselves safe. There are some very large fires that have done a lot of damage; and the worst of the fire season is still to come.
We had a very good Fast and Testimony meeting today in our Geneseo Ward. One young lady, Jill, who we taught for a few weeks in Institute earlier this year, shared her testimony. She is part of the Pageant this year; when it is over she is going to move to Utah and will be getting married in October. Her sister is being taught here by the missionaries; we hope that continues to be successful.
We have not had any rain here in the area for about two weeks now, and the grass is all starting to turn brown. Also many of the fields of corn and other crops are starting to curl and look heat stressed. There is not very much irrigation in NY; they mostly depend on rain to water crops. We noticed today that some of the vegetable stands are starting to open and have some of this year’s vegetables available.
This week the 700 plus members of this year’s cast for the Pageant will be arriving and they will receive their assignments for what they will be doing. The cast only has one week to learn their parts and rehearse in small groups; then on Thursday, July 12th is the final full dress rehearsal. The opening night of the Pageant is July 13th. We drove by the Hill Cumorah yesterday and noticed the towers for the spot lights are all up and part of the stage is erected and most of the tent awnings south of the stage area have been put up. This is the 75th anniversary of the Pageant; and one of the members in a ward had some gold colored pins made for the occasion and gave them to the missionaries to wear and keep afterwards.
We wish happy birthdays to each of the following family members during the month of July: Wes on July 9th, Shaun and Shay on July 10th, Brad and Tyler on July 14th, and my sister Kathy on July 16th. We want each of you to know we love you and hope you have many more birthdays to come. We are also very pleased and happy that Austin and Josie are going to the Draper Temple on July 21st to be sealed together forever. We hope they have a wonderful day in the temple, and live so they can receive all the eternal blessings promised in a temple sealing.
We love all of you very much and we are so grateful that each of you is part of our family, both immediate family and also for all of our extended family members. We are greatly blessed to have each of you as part of our family circle and also our circle of friends; you are each awesome!!!
Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard
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