Dear Family & Friends,
Another week has flown by on wings of lightning. Monday and Tuesday were fairly normal days in the mission office. Sister Jensen has kept busy with following up with the missionaries on contacting referrals they were given to see what the outcome of their visits was. Some of the missionaries have found some people who are very interested in learning about the gospel. One man who speaks only Spanish has sent 2 self-referrals to have someone bring a Spanish Book of Mormon and teach him about the church. He lives in Batavia; the Batavia missionaries tried to contact him by texting in English but he replied he cannot speak or text in English. President Christianson has authorized the Elders who speak and teach in Spanish in Rochester, to travel out of their normal area to go down to Batavia and teach him. The 2 sister missionaries who were just moved to Brockport, where we were first assigned, followed up to contact two referrals and they both invited the sisters to come and teach them. Our missionaries are being blessed with some success from the pageant referrals. Tuesday evening Sister Jensen prepared some food for having lunch together after our mission office staff meeting Wednesday morning. The staff meeting was changed from the normal Monday time to Wednesday due to some issues the President had to take care of on Monday and Tuesday. Also on Wednesday after the lunch the President interviewed the couples who work in the office. He is a great president and is dedicated to doing all he can to help the work move forward.
Wednesday evening we taught the GVB (Genesee Valley Branch) Institute at 7:30pm in the building they meet in which is on Culver Road in Rochester. We had only 8 people attend, but we had a good discussion about Ether Chapter 6-15. In Chapter 6 verses4-8 are a few great lessons for our earth life. In verse 4 it states “…when they had prepared…”; not before they prepared but after; sometimes we go forth not prepared and things do not always turn out quite so well. If we prepare first, including spiritual preparation, things go better for us. At the end of verse 4 it says when they had done all the things to prepare, then they got aboard the barges “…and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.” This is a great lesson to learn; after preparing, then set forth to do whatever it is we are supposed to do. The last phrase has great significance; that is “…commending ourselves to the Lord…”. To me that means trust Him, put our full faith in Him, and rely upon Him to help us complete what we are supposed to do. The people of Jared had no way to steer the barges, they were totally and completely in the Hands of the Lord to get them across the great waters safely; and they trusted He would do just that. In verse 5 it says the Lord caused a furious wind to blow towards the promised land. While there was a furious wind and they were often buried beneath the waves, they had prepared the barges so they were “…tight like unto a dish…”; therefore the water did not get in the barges to cause any harm to them. With correct preparation we can safely travel through our adversity and trials without being harmed, either physically or spiritually. The other great lesson here is that for the 344 days they were in the barges being driven by the furious wind, and often being buried under the water; they were carefully being guided to the correct destination. Our lives are like that, we have adversity and trials all along the way; but if we totally trust the Lord we will be guided to the correct destination by Him, including learning from the adversity; but not destroyed by the adversity. What a wonderful and wise and loving Heavenly Father we have to trust in and have faith in and allow Him to get us where He wants us to be; if we will allow Him to do so. The YSA had great comments to go along with the lesson; we had a good institute class.
Thursday afternoon we drove to Batavia and met up with Elder and Sister Jones who have been serving in Warsaw for the last year; they leave tomorrow to return to their home in Utah after completing a very effective and successful mission. They are great people and have made great contributions to the Warsaw Branch. A recent convert, Sister Strang, were with the Jones’s and she led us to the town of Akron NY to visit the Perry Ice Cream Company Plant. Brother Strang is a good friend with one of the company executives and he had arranged for us to have a tour of their ice cream making plant. Roseann was our tour guide and we were able to see most of the process of how their ice cream is made and packaged. They distribute ice cream products in NY, PA, Virginia and Southern Vermont. It was very interesting to see this; and Sister Strang was happy to be with us. Her and her husband were both baptized into the church a few weeks ago; the Jones’s worked with them for almost the entire year they have been here. Brother Strang’s son was able to perform the baptism for both of them so it was a great day in their lives. We then went to a restaurant in Batavia for our last dinner with the Jones’s before they return home to Utah.
Friday morning early, Sister Jensen prepared some food to help feed those who would be coming to the President’s home for Zone Leader Council. This Zone Leader Council group includes the President and his wife, the four zone leaders, the young sister Site Trainers, Sister Chatterton and Sister Hatch right now, and Elder and Sister Searle who are the Site Directors over all the senior couples and young sisters who serve at the historic sites. They have this meeting on the first Friday of each month from 9am to 4pm. Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss help Sister Christianson with feeding these people lunch and providing snacks for them during their two breaks.
Saturday was our P-Day so we took care of our “home” work including cleaning the house and preparing for this next week. Today, Sunday, we attended our church meetings in Geneseo. We had a great Fast and Testimony Sacrament meeting and good lessons in our other meetings. In the Gospel Principles class the teacher was finally successful in getting an investigator to say the closing prayer; he did just fine. In the High Priest Group meeting our lesson was chapter 11 of Preach My Gospel; which is about making and keeping commitments. These principles not only apply to missionary work but they also apply to our own personal lives, our families, and our work lives as well. Making commitments and keeping them is how we make changes in our lives to improve in any area we choose to work on.
We have been informed that Casey and her mother, from Brockport NY, made it safely to Utah and they are enjoying their visits to all the places they have planned to go. Kristine is inviting them to go to the Castle Valley Pageant with them; this would be a great experience for them, so we hope they go. Thank you to all who are helping in any way at home with all the challenges each of you are having. We pray for you and you are frequently in our thoughts during the day and night.
We express our love for those who have birthdays this month and hope you have a great day on your special birthday. We are two days late wishing Mckinzi a happy birthday, but we heard you had a good day. We wish a Happy Birthday to Britt on Aug 16th, Wyatt on Aug 18th, Aaron on Aug 20th, and to Chris on Aug 26th. We will all be praying for Shaun on Aug 22nd that his surgery will be successful in enabling him to be healed; and that his recovery will be quick and complete. We also pray for Bailey to have her problem correctly diagnosed and corrected. We love each of you and are so grateful for all you do for us, including praying for us. We likewise pray for each of you.
Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard
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