Message—30 September 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday in mission office staff meeting we were blessed to be taught by President Christianson.  He is a great teacher; he knows and uses relevant scriptures to teach the doctrines and principles of the gospel.  Although he could quote many of the scriptures, he opens the scriptures to the right chapter and verse and has us read them so we learn more.  After the staff meeting we had our interview with the President.  The President interviews all of the missionaries, young and old, during each transfer period, which is 6 weeks.  He includes us senior MLS and office couples and also the senior couples who serve at the church history sites, the senior couples who are serving FM missions, and we have three couples who serve at the Seneca Falls Girls Camp whom he also interviews.  The information he learns from the interviews provides some help in making decisions about transfers for the young missionaries.  The senior couples are blessed to keep the same companions and usually serve in the same place and do not usually get moved.  The final decision on all transfers is done after much prayer and receiving a confirmation by the Holy Ghost.

Monday afternoon two missionaries, who are serving together in Bath NY, brought their 2012 Subaru Legacy up to the Subaru Dealer in Victor, near the mission office, to have some warranty work done on the car.  While we were waiting for the work to be done on the car, we took the two Elders to dinner at a restaurant.  We were not able to get the vehicle until it was too late for them to drive back to Bath; so we had them spend the night with us.  Sister Jensen spoiled them with a great breakfast Tuesday morning before they returned to Bath.

Tuesday evening we spent some time working on our Institute lesson and were able to go to bed earlier than usual so we were able to get a good nights’ rest.

Wednesday I worked on following up on getting approval to proceed with getting some accident repairs scheduled to be done.  In the evening we went to the Hill Cumorah for the Site Training meeting.  We had some mail for some of the sisters, and I had a few items to take care of on some vehicles for the sisters.  We arrived home about 9:30 pm very tired but very blessed.  After arriving home, I received a phone call from two Elders who reported that while their car was parked in a parking lot and they were teaching the owner of a Tailor Shop; a lady had backed into their car and caused some minor damage.  She had the police come and do a police report and the officer left a note with the driver exchange information telling the Elders to call the police station.  Since another vehicle was involved it is required that I report the accident to the Church Insurance Agent.

Thursday after we left the mission office we went to Geneseo to get things ready for our Institute lesson.  Jon and Marisa were the only ones who came to Institute; Alex had to work late, and the others who should have come did not make it.  We had a good discussion and lesson about the Savior in the pre-mortal world and also about his birth on earth and the related events.  We learned a couple of new things from the lesson.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph her espoused husband were cousins and so both of their earthly lineages follow the same line.  There are 42 generations from Abraham to Joseph & Mary.  Since Heavenly Father is the father of Jesus there is only one generation between Jesus and his Father.

Friday morning we drove to Geneva NY to get the report of the accident which happened Wednesday night; and to also take pictures of the damage to send to the insurance.  Geneva is a town which has one of the NY State Agricultural Experiment Stations, including a college.  While working in the BYU Library I remember receiving several series of research reports published by researchers who had done their work at the Geneva Experiment Station.  Friday evening we were invited to have dinner across the street at the Servoss’s along with the young Elder’s and Sisters who serve in our area.

Saturday morning we left a little after 8:30 am and drove to Amherst NY, which is in the Buffalo area, to attend the baptism of Bill Bernacke who Sister Brown and Sister Schank have been teaching.  He is a wonderful older gentleman who has accepted the gospel with enthusiasm.  The Sisters had invited us to come to the baptism.  President Miner, who is President Christianson’s 2^nd Counselor in the Mission Presidency, performed the baptism.  It was a great baptism service.  We left after it was over so we could get to Brockport as close to 12 noon as possible to drop off some mail for Elder Perkins, whose birthday is today, Sunday.  It is the first time we have been back to Brockport since we moved from there last February.  There were some people demonstrating on all four corners of the main intersection in Brockport which is where Rte. 31 and Rte. 19 cross.  We learned later Saturday night on the news that a young female Brockport College student had been murdered by her boyfriend the night before.  It is a very sad thing to have that kind of thing happen.  The police found the boy friend and arrested him within a few hours.  That was the reason for those who were demonstrating with religious signs about the Savior providing comfort and peace.  We then drove to the mission office to meet Brother Schroeder and his son Michael and a friend of theirs.  They wanted to see and drive one of the vehicles that is for sale from the mission.  They made an offer a little lower than what our asking price is so I will have to ask the fleet manager on Monday if he will accept the lower price.  Saturday evening we watched the General Relief Society meeting by way of internet on my computer and then projected through our TV.  The messages were all very spiritually enriching.  The Spirit was very much present for all of the meeting.

Today we had good church meetings.  Since it was Fast Sunday in our ward we were blessed to hear some great testimonies.  We had a good discussion in our Sunday School class about the Church at the time of Christ.  I had been asked to help with a Primary activity at the beginning of the 3^rd hour.  The Primary Presidency had devised a fun activity to help the children learn some of the songs for their Primary Presentation next month.  It was great to be back in Primary again; I love to be where the children are because they have the Spirit with them.

As we have been doing some traveling this week we have noticed that some of the leaves on the trees are starting to change to fall colors.  The maple trees are starting to have the leaves on their outer branches turn red, some of the trees are turning various shades of yellow; and some of the sumac bushes are starting to turn their brilliant red.  Some of the other trees, shrubs, and bushes are also starting to change colors.  It is really very pretty to see all these colors begin to change.  Heavenly Father and the Savior did a superb job of giving beauty and variety to the creations around us; we really do live in a beautiful world.  Elder Servoss and I stayed up a little late on Friday night to watch the BYU and Hawaii football game; BYU won 47 to 0.  I noticed from some of the camera shots of the Provo Mountains that the colors have changed there also.  My Fleet Manager told me the other day on the phone that it had snowed about 6 inches in the Utah mountains Tuesday or Wednesday, fall is truly here.

As near as I can discover there is only one birthday in our immediate family in October, and that is Laurie on October 28^th.  Laurie, we are very pleased you are a member of our family; we love you and hope you have a wonderful day on your birthday.  We hope all of you have a great month in October.  Those of you who are hunters we hope you have success in your hunting activities and are kept safe.  We love all of you very much and we hope you will do things which are spiritually strengthening to make each other happy.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

 

Message--23 September 2012

 

Dear Family & Friends,

This past week has been one in which we have been greatly blessed in multiple ways.  Monday and Tuesday were Mission Conference days.  On Monday the missionaries (including senior couples) in the Buffalo and Rochester Zones met together in the chapel in Batavia with Elder Anthony Perkins and his wife and also President and Sister Christianson.  Elder Perkins, of the First Quorum of 70, was assigned President Packer to do several mission tours in a row, with our mission being the next to last one.  On Tuesday we met together with the missionaries in the Palmyra North and Palmyra South Zones in the Palmyra Stake Center with Elder & Sister Perkins and President and Sister Christianson.  We attended both days because we had been assigned to provide lunch and snacks for the morning and afternoon breaks for all who attended.  We were blessed to hear a lot of the instruction that was given by Elder Perkins, Sister Perkins, Sister Christianson, and President Christianson, and then again by Elder Perkins.  We missed some of the instruction while we set out the snacks for the morning break; then again while set up the lunch and cleaned up after the lunch.  We had good help from some of the senior couples to get the lunch made and set out.  We missed a few minutes again to put out the snacks for the afternoon break.  The instruction was basically the same both days, but there were some differences in the Tuesday meeting.  Elder Perkins began the meeting both days to prepare us for the instruction we would receive during the rest of the day by sharing a concept taught by Elder Bednar.  Elder Perkins said Elder Bednar had said he wished we could change the way we refer to our meetings from the usual Sacrament Meeting, Priesthood Meeting, Relief Society Meeting, and etc. and start using the phrase “Revelatory Experience”.  That is what should happen any time we meet together to receive instruction.  In order for that to happen we each need to read our scriptures daily during the week, and pray and ponder and determine some questions for which we would like to receive answers, and write them down.  Then pray before going to the “Revelatory Experience” for the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the answers to our questions.  Then we need to pay attention and listen for the Spirit to reveal to us the answers for the questions we have written.  Elder Perkins then invited all of us to take a few minutes and write two questions for which we would like to have answers; one question related to our proselyting work and one related to our personal lives.  At the end of the day Elder Perkins asked us to raise our hands if we had received answers to our questions; almost everyone raised their hands.  He then said if we did yet receive our answers that we should continue praying and pondering and listening and the answer would come in the Lord’s wisdom and timing.  At the end of the meetings about 20 minutes or so was allowed for the missionaries to share their testimonies.  Several of the missionaries stated in their testimonies that they had received answers early in the day others ahd received answers later.  Another concept Elder Perkins taught also came from Elder Bednar in an address he gave last Christmas Day in a sacrament service in the Provo MTC on Christmas day in 2011.  Among other things he taught was that while we are met together to be taught we should listen for what the Holy Spirit teaches us personally.  If we try to write down everything that is being taught that is like writing the Large Plates of Nephi.  We will have spent our time and effort recording a history of what took place, but missing what the Spirit could have taught us.  When we do this type of note taking we usually do not remember what we wrote, nor do we ever go back and read them, and usually we cannot find where we wrote the notes.  We should instead record the Small Plates, the things taught by the Spirit, that will be of eternal worth to us.  The focus of the instruction both days was on how to effectively teach the commandments to investigators in ways that will help them to accept the invitation to live the commandment.  We should teach the what, why, and how, of the commandment with our witness of the why and also a witness of the promised blessings for keeping the commandment.  He used the law of tithing as the example.  The other point of emphasis was on how making and keeping commitments opens the way for receiving the witness of the Holy Ghost to know the truth and power of the commandments; and how they can bless us and lead us to receiving the blessings that will help bring us to Heavenly Father and the Savior.  Both days of instruction were very helpful and strengthening to the missionaries and to us personally.  Sister Jensen was totally exhausted after several days of planning and doing the work to help provide the food for these two meetings; but she is faithful and diligent to complete whatever she is assigned to do; she is awesome example of obedience and service.

Wednesday we spent the day catching up on the things which we did not get done while we were out of the office all day Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday evening we attended the Site Training meeting at the Hill Cumorah.  Sister Hatch and Sister Madsen used their training time to let us see the first half of Elder Bednar’s 2011 Christmas Day address in the Provo MTC.  We arrived home about 10pm and were very tired but grateful for the blessings and experiences and opportunities of the previous three days.

Thursday after we left the mission office we drove to Geneseo and had some dinner; then went to the chapel to get things ready for our first night of our Institute class for the fall semester.  We only had two young men attend the class.  Brother Don Gammon came and provided the instruction for the class.  Don teaches two Thursdays a month and we teach the other weeks when he cannot attend.  Don is the Western New York Regional CES Coordinator; he covers the area from Buffalo to the Finger Lakes area and then North to the Watertown area; so he does a lot of traveling to these other areas.  He is a good teacher and is very helpful to us.  We are going to study the New Testament this year and we are going to teach the lessons using the harmonized method.  This means we take each of the events of the life of Christ, beginning with his birth and before, and then going through the rest of the events in his life in chronological order.  This means we examine what each of the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John had to say, if anything, about each event.  We will cover the rest of the books of the New Testament in the next semester beginning in January 2013.  We are looking forward to learning the New Testament using this method.  We are still trying to make connections with a few more LDS students who are attending the Geneseo College to invite them to attend Institute.

Friday we were able to mostly get caught up on all of our mission office responsibilities.  There were two vehicle accidents the week before which I am still trying to follow up on to get approval from the insurance to have the vehicles repaired.  The lady in the insurance office assigned to take care of these two accidents made an interesting comment.  She told me she would love to have one day in which all the missionaries in the church were not allowed to drive their vehicles so all the insurance agents could maybe get caught up on the accidents they already have to take care of; before any new ones were reported.  I think there is a message in this comment for all missionaries to be obedient and careful to help reduce the number of accidents that occur.

Saturday the 22^nd of September, we drove to the Joseph Smith Farm in Palmyra to meet with President and Sister Christianson and the AP’s and four other missionaries and two other senior couples.  You may remember that September 22, 1827 was the night Joseph Smith had Emma go with him in a borrowed wagon at midnight to receive the gold plates from Moroni; so this was the 185^th anniversary of that event.  President Christianson had offered to take anyone who wished to go with him on a walk from the Joseph Smith Farm to the Hill Cumorah.  We suppose Joseph would have taken the most direct route a wagon could travel to get to the Hill.  Since there was some rain Saturday morning, so the fields and woods were very wet.  Also most of the property between the Farm and the Hill are now private property; and because Highway 21 now has so much traffic and the road is narrow and the speed limit is 55mph, we chose to take a different route that was a little longer walk, but much safer for the group.  Before we left we had prayer together, and in the prayer we petioned that the rain would not hamper our time together; our prayer was answered; there was a little mist for a few minutes now and then but no serious rain.  From the Farm we went south down Stafford Road then left on a road which went over to Route 21 just south of the Hill Cumorah property, this was about a 3 mile walk.  The President showed us along the way where Porter Rockwell had lived, and also where the school house was in which Oliver Cowdery had taught school before serving as the scribe for Joseph to help with the translation of the Book of Mormon. An LDS family now lives in this old rock building that was built about the same time as the Martin Harris home.  When we reached the Hill we stopped for a short rest and a drink of water.  The President then took us on some trails along the west side of the Hill and pointed out some places which had church history importance.  The Hill Cumorah is a drumlin which is a ridge on the east side of where an ice flow had carved out a small valley between two ridges.  We then went along a trail just inside the edge of the trees on which Bob Parrott has put in some signs to inform people of the various kinds of trees which are in the original forest on the south portion of the Hill.  The North part of the Hill was completely bare from the 1830’s until the late 1930’s when Willard Bean was able to help the church purchase all the property of the Hill Cumorah.  When the church owned the property Willard was able to obtain from the Forest Service 70,000 trees for free.  He was able to find help, which included some missionaries, to assist him in planting the trees on the part of the Hill which was bare.  The more southern part of the Hill has had some of the same old forest trees that were there when Moroni first met Joseph Smith on the Hill. This means some of these old trees were present when Moroni came to teach Joseph Smith.  We then circled back along the Hill through the old forest and the President pointed out some interesting things about the old forest.  He also shared with us some thoughts he had about how hard and lonely it must have been for Mormon and Moroni to watch all of their Nephite people be destroyed before their eyes.  Then Moroni ran for his life and wandered around alone for over 35 years, before he placed the gold plates in the box on the west side of the Hill, not far from the top.  How happy and delighted Moroni must have been to finally, in 1823-1827, show Joseph where the plates were and instruct him on all that he was to do in the coming years.  After the translation was complete, Moroni then met him and took the plates back to keep them safe until the time is right to have the sealed portion of the plates made available to us.  We had a great four hours together, and I learned a lot.  Saturday evening I worked on preparing a talk for our sacrament service on Sunday.  Bishop Powell had asked me to speak on the topic of how to prepare for sacrament meeting.

Today we attended church in Geneseo and I gave the message the Spirit prompted me to prepare and deliver.  It was a good meeting.  I learned later after High Priest Group Meeting from Brother Rob Baldwin, first counselor in the Bishopric, that he had promised a person in the ward earlier in the week that if they would attend sacrament meeting that they would a receive a message especially for them through the Spirit.  This person told Rob after the sacrament meeting today that they had indeed received the very message about the sacrament for which they had been seeking.  So Elder Bednar’s instruction is correct if we prepare and listen we will have a revelatory experience; including having the Spirit help the person doing the speaking to prepare and deliver what others need to learn from the message given.  This was indeed a great learning experience for me.

This afternoon we went for a little ride and took a few pictures on the video camera of the soybean fields and some other vegetable farm scenes.  We also took some video of a few of the maple trees which are beginning to show a little red.  The temperature was cooler than it has been; it was in the 60’s when we started and in the 50’s by the time we arrived back home in less than one hour.  Fall is in the air here.

We express our love for each of you and hope and pray all is well with you and your families.  May you be blessed in all the ways that will benefit you and help you to live in harmony with the teachings of the Savior.  We share our witness that Heavenly Father and the Savior live and love us and will help us if we ask in faith; and then obey what the Holy Spirit tells us to do.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message 16 September 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday morning we had mission office staff meeting, the first one in the new mission office in the church on Kreag Rd.  We always have great meetings with the President to teach us.  We made final plans for the week of September 17^th for the mission tour being presided over by Elder Anthony Perkins of the First Quorum of 70.  President and Sister Christianson were to drive to Toronto on Sunday the 16^th, right after our 10 am Rochester Stake Conference to pick up Elder and Sister Perkins and bring them to the mission home.  Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss were assigned to prepare a meal for when they all arrive at the mission home Sunday evening.  Then on Monday and Tuesday September 17^th and 18^th from 9am to 4pm; we are to have our missionaries meet with Elder Perkins, two zones each day; the Rochester and Buffalo zones on Monday in Batavia, and the two Palmyra Zones on Tuesday at the Palmyra Stake Center.  Sister Jensen and Servoss are preparing the food for lunch and also snacks for the morning and afternoon breaks for those who will attend.  This will be a busy week for us.

Last Monday, the 10^th, after our day in the mission office; we went to the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center for the first Family Home evening of the fall and winter, with the Senior Site Couples.  We had a potluck dinner together then we had three new site couples; the Muir’s, the Hansen’s, and the Yearsley’s, who just arrived to start their mission this week, tell us about themselves.  Then we had two couples who are returning home on Thursday, the Beckman’s and the Jeffs, share some thoughts with us about their missionary service.  Elder Jeffs does cowboy poetry, and he had written a poem about his missionary service using cowboy expressions, it was very touching.  Elder & Sister Jeffs are from Castledale UT where they have a large ranch with around 650cattle and enough horses to take care of the cattle.  The ending of his poem had the phrase “…I hope when I cross that great divide that the Savior will give me a riding assignment…”; I hope he gets his wish.  President and Sister Christianson shared a few thoughts and their testimonies with us.

Tuesday I was blessed to have two people want to purchase mission vehicles which have been for sale for quite some time.  I was able to make connections with these people to get the cashier’s checks to pay for the vehicles.  I then completed the needed paperwork and put it all in an envelope and sent it by overnight express to Salt Lake to the Fleet Management Office so they could send the titles to the vehicles back to the people who bought them so they could get the vehicles registered in their names.  Tuesday right after we left the mission office we hurried home and Sister Jensen fixed some of her famous carrots and also some sliced apples and we went across the street to the Servoss’s and had dinner with them and with three young sister missionaries who serve in the Henrietta area.  Sister McManama, Sister Meister (from Australia), and Sister Park (from Korea) are serving together as a threesome.  The Servoss’s had invited them to dinner and to see the church history sites in the Mendon area where we live.  Sister Servoss had prepared a fine meal and then Elder Servoss and I took the three sisters to see the Brigham Young Baptism site, the Tomlinson Inn, and the Boughton Hill Cemetery.

Wednesday after our day in the mission office, we went to the Hill Cumorah again for the regular weekly Site Training Meeting.  We go to this meeting, even though we are not site missionaries, so we can take the mail that has been received in the mission office for the young sister missionaries.  We also take missionary teaching supplies and sometimes other things needed by the missionaries or by the site couples.  Sister Hatch and Sister Madsen, young sister missionaries, are the site trainers; they provided some instruction and answered some questions about a new resource called Connect, which enables the missionaries to keep track of the progress being made with following up on referrals which have been received at any of the historic sites.  Connect is managed from the Provo MTC and it is sort of like an electronic and online Area Book, which most missionaries have in print, to keep track of who has been contacted in their area and who has been taught or what the status is of those people the missionaries have spoken to.  It was helpful information for Sister Jensen since she is a part of the referral process.  She checks the Referral Manager Database daily to see if new referrals have arrived which need to be forwarded to the missionaries for them to contact the person being referred.  She then follows up to get a report from the missionaries about what happened when the called on the people.

Thursday we actually were able to spend the evening at our home and do some things we needed to do here.  We also were able to relax just a little; until I received a call about 9:30pm from two Elders who had just been in an accident with their truck.  They had hit the passenger side doors of another vehicle being driven by some young ladies.  Fortunately no one was injured, so I just need to take care of reporting the accident to the insurance company and following through the process to get the truck fixed.  The insurance company will take care of working things out with the owners of the other vehicle.

Friday we had some good rain storms which are badly needed; we have had a very dry summer.  The fruit crops had a severe loss this year, somewhere in the area of a 70% loss.  Other crops have survived and done fairly well.  Most of the corn is about 2 feet short of normal; but much of the corn is grown for grain and not silage, so the shorter corn is not so serious for grain corn.  The soybeans have done fairly well also; they are in the process of turning from green to yellow and to brown which is the normal process for soybeans.  They are not harvested until usually around the first part of  November or even later.  Farmers who raise soybeans tell me they try to harvest soybeans the day before it is too late to get them.  Friday on the way home from the office we went to BJ’s, which is sort of like a Sam’s’ Club; and picked up 14 chickens which had been ordered for the lunch at the two mission conferences on Monday and Tuesday.  We took them home and I found us some dinner while Sister Jensen started tearing off the meat from the 14 chickens.  We finished with the chickens about 10pm and put them in containers in the fridge.  Saturday we went a few places to find the rest of the things we needed for the Sunday evening dinner for Elder Perkins and the others who would be meeting with him; and also some things for Monday and Tuesday.  We spent the afternoon working on preparing some of the things for the coming mission tour meetings.

At 5:30 Saturday, we received a call from our Geneseo Elders that they needed a ride to the Saturday evening session of our Rochester Stake Conference.  We met them in Avon and took them with us to the stake conference meeting.  We were blessed to have Elder Eric Kopischke of the First Quorum of 70 as our visiting authority for the Stake Conference.  The meeting was, as every Saturday evening Stake Conference  meeting is, very spiritually strengthening.  One sister has only had a couple of lessons taught by the Elders, but she was brave enough to stand and share her feelings about how she has been so blessed to learn about how to pray and talk with God and feel peace in her life for the first time.  President and Sister Christianson shared a few thoughts and their testimonies about trying to have unity between the missionaries and the members to help bring people to Christ.  Elder Kopischke is a great teacher.  He shared some feelings about what he had learned from the talks given in the meeting before he began.  He talked about how everything on earth is connected to the unseen world, both pre-mortal and from the Spirit World.  He also talked about families and how central and important they are to Heavenly Father and to us.  He taught about how we need to teach our children and each other; but we cannot take away the agency of others.  We can love and teach and pray for our families and for others; but we have to allow them to use their agency; and still love them and pray for them.  We have to allow Heavenly Father and the Savior to help people come to them; and we can also be among those through whom the prayers of parents can be answered, by reaching out to love and help others when the Spirit directs us to do so.

This morning we attended the Sunday morning session of Stake Conference.  Again there were good messages and testimonies shared.  One sister who had not been active for over 25 years spoke.  She is currently serving as the Stake Young Women Camp Director.  Her husband is not a member, he loves to have the missionaries come to his home and provide dinner for them and talk with them, as long as they do not talk about the gospel.  Several years ago while she was not active, she was taking care of her father before he died.  One day as she was caring for her father, she asked her father, after you die and I die, will you come and visit me in the Telestial Kingdom?  Her father answered, NO.  She then said but dad I love you and I know you love me; won’t you come and visit me in the Telestial Kingdom, because that is where I am going to end up.  He said again, NO, but I will see you in the Celestial Kingdom; you have to try to prepare to go to the Celestial Kingdom so I can see you there.  She promised to try.  After her father died; one Sunday morning she was laying bed, and her husband came in and said are you going to church today?  She answered, no I do not feel like going.  He said to her, you promised your dad you would try to be where he is.  She asked him are you going with me, he said no, I did not promise him I would try, you did.  She got out of bed and went to church, and has been going since then.  Her husband still does not go with her, but he does support her.  He has had some health problems the last two years.  Earlier this year she asked him one day to go for a ride with him to the Seneca Falls Young Women Camp and help her set up some things for the Stake Young Women Camp.  He got in the car and went with her.  He has spent most of his life rebuilding old cars and is very handy at doing a lot of things, so he went and helped her.  While they were at the camp, they were talking with Elder and Sister Hansen, who are a senior missionary couple serving at the Young Women Camp.  Elder Hansen and the ladies husband talked about restoring cars and got to be comfortable with each other.  When Elder Hansen learned the husband was going to have surgery he asked him if he wanted a priesthood blessing.  The lady had not warned Elder Hansen not to talk about the church; so she was a little worried about what her husband would say.  She was totally surprised when he said yes he would like a blessing.  She asked her husband later, why he said yes.  He said, I believe in Christ, so it does not matter who gives me the blessing because the blessing will come from Christ.  The lady, her husband and the Hansen’s went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant together in July.  The husband said he really enjoyed the pageant, he knew all the prophets that were talked about in the pageant including Joseph Smith.  Again the wife was surprised, but very happy.  It is amazing how the hand of the Lord is so intertwined in our lives to help us come unto him if we just make an effort to try, he will help us find him.

President Sherwood is the Temple President in the Palmyra Temple; he is being released and replaced in November.  Elder Kopischke asked him to share his testimony.  President Sherwood said his son had asked him to submit his resume for going to help do some work in Africa, after he is released.  As he looked through his resume of two pages, he decided to reduce it to one page.  Then as he pondered about what kind of resume we should prepare for returning to Heavenly Father; he decided we should have a totally different resume.  Our education, our college degrees, our positions and titles in the world, our possessions, or our positions or titles in the church will not be important to Heavenly Father and the Savior.  What we need is a family group sheet, filled out with all the relevant names of ourselves, our families, and our ancestors and then also include all the ordinances both we and our families have received.  Families are forever when we are sealed together through temple ordinances; all the stuff and things of the world we have will stay here.

Elder Kopischke used Matthew 11:28-30 to teach us about how the atonement can help us give up our burdens and let the Savior and the atonement give us rest and peace.  We come unto the Savior through repentance, forgiving others and ourselves, and learning from the experiences of life and the trials and challenges which we have.  As we do this we can learn of Christ and his gospel of peace.  The doctrine of conferences is perfectly true; they can help us learn what we need to know and do to return with our families to Heavenly Father and the Savior.  We know and testify these teachings are all true and are the only way to be truly happy now and in the life to come.

We love you all so very much; you are all special and wonderful to us.  We will love you all forever and we continue to pray and hope all is well and will continue to be well in your lives.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message 9 September 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday was like an extra P-Day due to the Labor Day Holiday.  The President decided we did not need to have the Mission Office open on Monday; but we still had plenty to do since it was the day 9 new missionaries arrived in the mission.  Sister Jensen had to be at the Mission Home by 2:30 pm to help prepare dinner for the 9 new missionaries and the AP’s and the President and his wife.  Before going she had to do some food preparation to get ready to take with her.  I took her to the Mission Home and then went to the Mission Office and did some things I needed to do to be ready for the New Missionary Orientation meeting at 6pm that evening.  I went back to the Mission Home a little before 6pm to get things set up for my part of the new missionary orientation meeting.  After the orientation meeting we went home and had our home evening and went to bed.

Tuesday morning we spent our time getting ready for the missionary transfer meeting at noon.  With the 9 new missionaries, 5 Elders and 4 Sisters, to be assigned to a training companion and other companion changes that needed to be made as well we had about two thirds or more of the missionaries in the mission  come for the transfer meeting.  These meetings are now held at the Kreag Rd. church where the mission office is now located.  With the parking lot around the church being repaved this past week, there were some challenges in getting all the vehicles the missionaries drove, into the parking lot and out of the way of the asphalt paving crew and equipment.  I had to talk with the missionary companions who were having changes in who the designated drivers were to be and make sure they knew who was to be the driver and remind them of the responsibilities of a designated driver.  I also had a few vehicle repair issues to take care of.  I had Elder Hunt, who is from Winnemucca NV, who is a great auto mechanic, help me with one of the repairs; he is a fine missionary.  He has used his mechanic abilities a number of times to be of service to people who were having vehicle or lawnmower problems.  While he was repairing something his companion taught a lesson to the people or gave them a Book of Mormon; they have had return appointments to teach more to some of the people they have helped.  After transfer meeting I had July vehicle reports to process and record.  Due to the holiday weekend and no mail for 3 days, most of the reports arrived in the Tuesday mail delivery.  Sister Jensen had to process the 3 day accumulation of the mail on Tuesday.

Sister Jensen went and helped with providing food for the last meal for the 3 missionaries going home on Wednesday morning.  The 3 going home all have last names beginning with the letter “C”; Sister Coreia, Sister Crook, and Elder Cox.  Sister Jensen also discovered on Tuesday that some of the computer issues we thought we had fixed were still a problem, so I spent some of my time trying to have the Church Computer Technology people help guide me through what to do in order to fix the problems.  We had to wait until Thursday afternoon for Brother Hales to come and fix a few of the problems.  By Friday we think we had almost all of Sister Jensen’s computer problems cured, we hope they stay cured.

Wednesday we were able to get caught up on a lot of our work that has been delayed for one reason or another.  Wednesday evening we went to the GVB YSA opening social for Institute.  It was held at Buckman Park, which is about one fourth mile from the church on Westfall Rd.  We only stayed long enough to eat then we drove to the Hill Cumorah for the Wednesday evening site training meeting that is held every week.  We attend this meeting as often as we can since we are not able to attend a weekly district meeting the missionaries have in the day time.  It turned out that I was asked by one of the companionships of sister missionaries to replace their windshield wiper blades.  I have some in our office supplies so I brought the right size with us so I could install them.  It turned out that the right adapter piece was not in the package with the new blades, so I was not able to replace the wiper blades after all.  I told the sisters to stop at an auto shop we use in their area and have them install new blades for them.

Thursday we were able to solve some more of the computer problems Sister Jensen has been having; and then Brother Hales came and he took care of most of the rest of the computer problems for her.  I received all but one of the late vehicle reports for July and got them taken care of.  Sister Jensen also helped with some food for the new missionaries and their trainers who came to the Kreag Rd. church to be trained by the President.  Thursday evening Sister Jensen worked on preparing some food for Friday to feed the 12 people who come to the Zone Leader Council meeting which was held Friday from 10am to 3pm.

Friday with help from the Church Tech. Support people we were able to solve a few more problems with Sister Jensen’s computer and also do some catching up on our normal work.  Friday afternoon we had Scott from ICS Telecom come and help us with the final steps of setting up our new telephone system.  Scott had set up a lot of the system the week before; but Friday at noon our previous phone number which was supplied by a different phone company, was finally released for us to begin using it again with the new phone system.  Scott was very helpful and patient with us and we have our phone system pretty well operating as it should.  There are a still a few things we need to do to get some of the functions set up but at least we have our phone number back in service, so people can now call us again.  We also had to change our fax number so we have to let our vendors and others know of this change.  Friday after we left the mission office we drove to Palmyra to take care a minor car repair problem for two sister missionaries living in the White House which is about one fourth mile from the Palmyra Temple.

Saturday morning I drove to Geneseo and picked up the Elders and took them to Chris Elliott’s place in Nunda to help fix the breakfast for the fathers and sons campout.  We did not sleep over with them but we just went to help with the breakfast.  Elder Maisey cooked the bacon, and Elder Stoddard and I took care of the pancakes.  When I arrived back home we did some home work things and went to Chase’s Vegetable and produce shop at his farm in Macedon and we also went to Wal-Mart for a few things.

Friday evening and Saturday we received text messages and phone calls about how well Shaun’s surgery went on Friday.  Shaun even felt well enough, and bored enough, to call us a few times and visit with us.  He is doing quite well and may be able to go home on Monday.  Our prayers in his behalf have been answered; thank you so much for all who included him in your prayers.  His prognosis is looking good so far.

Today we had great church meetings.  The speakers in Sacrament meeting spoke about the value of scriptures and the blessings that come from studying them daily.  One speaker said if we choose not to read the scriptures one day, we better be careful to choose a day when we do not need the blessings and help that come from the Lord; because we may not receive the needed blessings that would otherwise come from reading, pondering, and praying about the scriptures on that day.  I need all the blessings and help I can get, and we have learned that taking time for the scriptures every day is a great source of strength and power to get through each day with the help of the Lord and the Holy Spirit.  Our Gospel Essentials class in Sunday School was on the Priesthood.  A quote from President Mckay said that the one major unique thing our church has that is not in any other church is “divine authority”.  Authority from the Lord is the source of the ordinances and covenants which bring to us the blessings we need now and also the eternal blessings that will come in the future.  We are hoping to be able to see the CES Fireside broadcast tonight.  The speaker is Elder Holland, he always provides powerful truths and doctrines to bless our lives.

We know and testify that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored through divine authority from Jesus Christ given to his Prophets in this dispensation of time.  Joseph Smith was the first of these prophets and the Book of Mormon is absolutely true and provides the full gospel of Jesus Christ.  This church is true, we have living prophets, seers and revelators, who are apostles of the Savior; they do receive revelation to teach and help us live the way that will enable us to return to Heavenly Father and the Savior with our families sealed to us for eternity.  We love you all and are so thankful for all the blessings we receive because of our relationship and associations with you.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message 2 September 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

In the blog message last week I told you that we were moving in to our new mission office on Monday 27 August; and that is what we did on Monday.  President and Sister Christianson met the Servoss’s and us and also the Ellis’s came to help.  We also had 10 other Elders come to help with the muscle work; and they brought 2 trucks to help haul things.  The AP’s brought their truck and also an enclosed trailer.  We also had two other pickups that we are trying to sell, with which we hauled things.  In addition we also had help all day from Sister Torres and Sister Hausauer; then we had help for a few hours each from Sister Hess and Sister Earl, and also from Sister Crook and Sister Jones.  We had many of our office things already in boxes so the Elders started taking those boxes out to the trucks.  A couple of the Elder’s (Hoffman particularly) disconnected the computers and printers, and copy machine; and they put them in the back seat of 5 cars we have for sale so they would be well cushioned while being taken to the new office about one mile away from the old office in one of the LDS Churches which had a vacant Stake Office suite which was remodeled to accommodate our needs.  After we got as many boxes loaded as we could two of the trucks were taken over to the new office where Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss were waiting to show the elders where to put the boxes.  We loaded the rest of the things in the other trucks and sent them over as well.  We then loaded the desks and credenzas and some other furniture into the trailer.  It was necessary to make a second trip back with the trailer to get the desk and credenza and transfer board in the President’s office and bring it to the new office.  We then spent the rest of the day getting things out of the boxes and putting them where they were supposed to be.  Elder Hoffman also had his companion help him get the computers and printers set up on our desks and tables.  Some of the sister’s helped with filing things in the file drawers and also doing some dusting and cleaning as we put things away.  With the help of our missionaries we were able to get most of the things put where they should be by 5pm when the missionaries had to leave and go get ready to take care of their missionary teaching appointments they had scheduled for the evening.

While we were moving in there were some guys outside in the church parking lot working on totally replacing the asphalt.  They were digging up the old asphalt and hauling off some of the gravel and then doing some trenches to lay wiring in and also some conduit in separate trenches for storm drains.  They will then put down a layer of heavy plastic and new slag; then replace all of the asphalt.  Tuesday morning we discovered that a backhoe had accidently cut through a large conduit which had the phone wires and Internet lines for the church.  So we did not have the land line to one of our phones and we did not have internet for our computers or for our new phone system which had been installed on Monday.  It took until about noon to get the phone land line and the internet restored.  Two guys from the FM came on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to hang pictures, the President’s transfer board, and a variey of other things to get us all set up.  After the phone line and internet were restored we discovered that Sister Jensen’s computer would not connect to internet.  One of the FM guys, Allan, talked with the Salt Lake Global Tech Support guys and they had Allan try a number of options for over an hour but had no success in making internet work on Sister Jensen’s computer.  It was determined that we needed to try re-imaging the computer with Windows 7 and see if that would solve the problem; or have the Missionary Department send us a new computer.  The computer still had Windows XP running on it.  The other three of us had internet on our computers.  I called the Missionary Department Tuesday afternoon and the technical support person there made the decision to first try re-imaging the computer with Windows 7.  So I contacted the Stake Computer Specialist, Brother Hales from Brockport, who we knew well from when we lived there last year.  Bless his heart, he came and spent Wednesday afternoon and evening saving all of the computer files on Sister Jensen’s computer; then he started the process of installing Windows 7.  He came again Thursday morning and stayed into the afternoon and finished getting Windows 7 running and he also restored the programs and files on to the computer.  By late afternoon the computer was functioning properly with Windows 7.  Unfortunately Windows 7 is different from Windows XP so Sister Jensen got frustrated trying to figure out how to do things a different way than she already knew; but she is making good progress in learning how to do what she needs to do, but in different ways.  By the end of the week we were able to get everything organized and were able to go about doing our work pretty much like we were before the move.  One additional detail is still left to do; our new phone system is installed but our previous phone number has not yet been released by the previous phone company so the new company can get it installed to work on our phones as it should.  We are temporarily using a land line phone number that used to be in the old stake offices, but was not yet removed.  The only problem is no one knows this new phone number.  I sent a mass text to all the missionaries so they know to call the temporary number until we get the new phone company to be able to set up the previous main office number.  When that number is set up the new phone company will come and teach us how to use all the functions of the new phone system which is internet based.

Wednesday evening we taught the Institute lesson to the YSA’s in the GV Branch; we taught the last three chapters of Moroni in the Book Mormon.  We had the largest group of YSA’s we have had during all of August.  They all contributed and we had the Spirit help us learn some good principles and doctrines.  One great principle I learned came to me while teaching from Moroni 10:31.  This verse includes the phrase “…strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever…” (read the rest of the verse and it helps even more to understand what I am going to share).  As the class was commenting on how to strengthen the stakes the impression came to me that the answer is connected to Moroni 6:4.  In order to be nourished by the good word of God so we can be kept in the right way we have to have help.  The thought then came to me that the way this is done is to not only attend our church meetings; but we also need to do effective home teaching and visiting teaching.  As we each faithfully fulfill these two callings, including returning and reporting on our visits; we would find that each person would have a minimum of 6 to 7 people nourishing them.  There would be the two home teachers, the two visiting teachers, the priesthood leader and the Relief Society President; then by extension the Bishop would also be able to provide help with his priesthood keys, because he would know about each person in each family through the home and visiting teachers.  Ponder on this process for a little time and you will begin to see how home and visiting teachers can provide such great blessings to the families they teach; and these blessings will also become part of the families of the home and visiting teachers as well.   These principles increase my testimony of how essential and powerful home and visiting teaching is to help in strengthening the stakes and enlarging the borders of the church.  As we become more effective at home and visiting teaching the success of missionary efforts would increase and help to enlarge the borders of the church to include more of our brothers and sisters in the area in which we live.

Friday evening we went with the Servoss’s down to Dansville with the intention of seeing a hot air balloon festival.  When we arrived we met up with Elder and Sister Best who serve in Wellsville and they are related to the Servoss’s.  Unfortunately the wind was too gusty and strong to safely have the balloons in the air.  So we 3 couples just had dinner together and returned home.

Saturday we took care of some errands and some shopping and came back home and did some home work.  We wrote a letter to send to each of the YSA Institute age youth in the Geneseo Ward to invite them to attend Institute this year.  We got the letters all made and addressed and in the envelopes and put stamps on them; then we mailed them Sunday morning on the way to Church in Geneseo.  Elder and Sister Jeppessen who serve in the Cattaraugus area came to spend Saturday night at our home so they could be to the Palmyra Stake Center for church by 9am Sunday morning to meet up with their son who came over from the area near New York City.  Today we attended our Fast and Testimony meeting and had some good spiritual testimonies; and also some good lessons in our other meetings.  President and Sister Christianson attended Sacrament Meeting in our Geneseo Ward.

For the month of September we express our love and best wishes to those who will have birthdays.  Brody and Bryce both have birthdays on September 3rd, Dana’s birthday is September 5^th, Caitlyn’s is on September 25^th, and Craig’s is on September 28^th.  We hope you each have a wonderful day and that you will not feel older, unless you want to.

We love each one of you and we appreciate our relationship and association with you.  We thank you for your kindnesses to each other and to us, and also thank you for your prayers for us.  We invite all who are willing, to include Shaun in your prayers this week as he has his surgery on Friday; we pray that the surgery will be successful in helping him be healed, and that his recovery will be complete and without any complications.

Love and blessings to all of you,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard