Message—28 October 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday after our mission office staff meeting we had lunch together with President & Sister Christianson, the President’s mother who came to visit him for a few days along with Misha (I am not sure of the spelling) who is a niece of the President’s.  We also had the Servoss’s and the Ellis’s; and Sister Christianson’s sister Tina and her new husband Jim Archibald.  Tina was the financial secretary and was single, a widow, in the mission office when we first arrived on our mission in 2011.  Jim is a very fine person.  The President’s mother, who is 91 years old, wanted to come and see the President one more time before he gets released next June just in case she does not live to see him return.  We had a good visit together.

Monday and Tuesday evenings we spent working on the Institute lesson for Thursday evening.  Wednesday and Thursday were both Specialized Training days; with the President doing most of the instruction.  The Rochester and Buffalo zones met together in the church in Batavia.  The meetings went from 9am to 3:30pm with a 10 minute break in the morning and a break for lunch.  Thursday the two Palmyra zones met in the church in Canandaigua.  Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss prepared the food for the lunch and Elder Servoss and I and some other senior couples also helped with setting up and cleaning up and anything else we were assigned.  The Ellis’s helped a lot on Wednesday and other couples helped on Thursday.  President Christianson provided some instruction before lunch time concerning the Abrahamic Covenant and the scattering and gathering of Israel.  He also included some great teachings about the symbolism of many of the events in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his 12 sons who are the origin of the 12 tribes of Israel.  The President also related how the Book of Mormon was written, recorded, and later translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith so that there would be a book of scripture which would not only testify of the truth of the Bible, but it would also clarify and provide additional scripture to help with convincing the descendants of the House of Israel of their connection to the 12 tribes of Israel and help gather them back into the covering of the Abrahamic Covenant so the Lord’s promise to Abraham can be fulfilled.  Once we understand that the purpose of our missionary efforts is to help Heavenly Father gather Israel and restore the promised priesthood blessings to them it will enable us to better understand what our missionary purpose is.  On Thursday evening in the Institute lesson it turned out that the parables in Matthew chapter 13 are also related to the gathering of Israel.  The first parable in Matthew 13 refers to the Savior’s efforts to establish his church and gospel to begin the gathering of Israel.  The parable of the wheat and the tares refers to our day and the missionary effort to gather the wheat first, which is more clearly explained in Doctrine and Covenants section 86, then the tares can be put in bundles and burned.  The tares are a weed with the name of Bearded Darnel; which looks exactly like wheat when it is young and growing.  You cannot tell wheat from the darnel until the plants begin to grow their seeds.  While the two plants are young and growing, their roots intertwine together; so if you could identify the darnel, which you cannot, and tried to pull it out of the wheat, you would also pull up the wheat and it would also be destroyed.  That is why the Savior told his servants to let them grow to maturity so you could tell by the seeds which was bearded darnel and which was wheat, “ye shall know them by their fruit…”.  At this stage you could then remove the wheat and save it; then the rest of the wheat plant and the darnel could be put in bundles and burned and no wheat would be lost.  That is what missionary work is about is gathering in the wheat, the House of Israel, from wherever in the world they are now scattered.  The parable of the mustard seed is included to provide some instruction to tell us that the small mustard seed grows a large tree which provides a place for the birds of the air to land.  The birds of the air represent the angels of heaven who are participating with us to help in the gathering of Israel; not only by missionary work as given in Doctrine & Covenants 84:88, but they also help in family history efforts to also save our dead including the house of Israel.  For we with out them and they without us cannot be saved, see Doctrine and Covenants 128:18.  The Prophet Joseph Smith in his “Teachings” on page 98, refers to the mustard seed as representing the Book of Mormon.  It came forth out of the ground and is accounted by most as being the least of all seeds (books); but “…behold it branching forth, yea, even towering, with lofty branches…until it, like the mustard seed, becomes the greatest of all herbs.  And it is truth, and it has sprouted and come forth out of the earth, and righteous ness begins to look down from heaven, and God is sending down His powers, gifts and angels, to lodge in the branches thereof.”  The Prophet Joseph Smith also explains on page 100 of his “Teachings” that the leaven in Mathew 13:33 refers to the “…three witnesses. Behold, how much this is like the parable!  It is fast leavening the lump, and will soon leaven the whole.”  Chapter 5 in the book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon also is relevant to this discussion.  Now add the announcement by President Monson about lowering the age at which missionaries may apply for missions and then read in Doctrine and Covenants 88:70-73 where we are told by the Lord that He will send laborers and elders to care for the flocks and “Behold I will hasten my work in its time.”  Also in Isaiah 60:22, read the whole verse, but notice the footnote in 22c which would read “…I the Lord will hasten it in my time.”   We are now living to see prophecy fulfilled right before our eyes.  We were greatly blessed with two days of learning about gathering Israel, both from the training and from the institute lesson.

Friday Sister Jensen did not feel well so she stayed home and I went to the mission office to try and make up for being out of the office for two days.  I was blessed by the Lord to have a man come with his mother and decide to purchase one of our vehicles that is for sale; so now I only have three more to sell.  Friday evening we rested up a bit.  Saturday I did some shopping and vacuumed and mopped and did a few other things.

Today in our church meetings the primary children and their wonderful leaders presented their annual primary presentation on the topic of “Choose the Right”.  They did very well and they taught us good lessons and the Spirit was very much present.  The other lessons were also very helpful and lifted everyone.

Since next Sunday will be in November, we extend today, our best wishes for wonderful birthdays during the month for each of the following.  Adrianne’s birthday is November 11^th, Braden on November 12^th, Caulter on November 15^th, and Kendra on November 18^th; we hope each of you have a wonderful day and are blessed in any way needed.  We love each of you and pray for you every time we pray and trust that Heavenly Father will answer your own prayers as well as our prayers.  Our testimony and knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His atonement and resurrection is increased every day.  We know the Savior lives and directs his Prophet Thomas S. Monson and the quorum of 12 apostles in guiding the church according to His will and wisdom and timing.  We are so greatly blessed to be here and have the marvelous experiences we have.

Love forever,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—21 October 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

On Monday we both spent the day with Ruth and April at the Joseph Smith Farm and Sacred Grove and also at the Hill Cumorah.  We went through the Sacred Grove together first.  We spent several hours there where I shared with them the information I have learned from President Christianson and from Bob Parrott.  We took quite a few pictures and I did some videos of many of the places.  We had a great spiritual time together.  When we finished in the Grove we went to what is called the Welcome Center, which is a building which has a large room where people gather and are divided into small groups and then the young sister missionaries take the groups to the Joseph Smith Log Home, the Frame home which was started by Alvin Smith and then finished by the rest of the family after he died in November 1823.  By the Frame home is a barn and a cooper shop.  We were blessed to have Sister Butters take us to these places and share the history and sacred events that occurred there and she also shared her testimony along the way.  We also had another couple join us in our group and we had a great experience with Sister Butters.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Hill Cumorah.  We first went up on the Hill itself and took some pictures for April to take home and show Hayden she had really been on the Hill.  April and I then went on some trails in the old forest area on the South half of the Hill.  Some of these trees have been there since before Moroni showed Joseph Smith where the gold plates were buried.  We then went to the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center where Sister Hatch, one of the Site Trainers shared her testimony with us and then she let us see one of the videos that are available to see in the large auditorium.  We watched the one that tells about the life of Joseph Smith.  We then went to our home and had dinner and shared the evening together.

Tuesday was transfer day; with 6 new missionaries who had arrived on Monday and all the changes in missionary companionships that it takes to assign these 6 new missionaries.  These 6 missionaries were not able to land at the Rochester Airport on Monday as they should have because they winds at the airport were to high; so their plane had to land in Syracuse, about a hundred miles east of us.  President Christianson then took the van and the trailer and drove to Syracuse to pick up the missionaries and their luggage.  They did not arrive at the mission home in Rochester until very late Monday night.  New missionaries have to get up at about 2:30 am at the MTC in Provo in order to be at the SLC airport for a 5:30 am flight to Rochester.  By the time they arrived at the mission home Monday night they had been up for about 20 hours.  About two thirds of the missionaries were affected by the transfers.  Transfer day is always very busy for us so we had to be at the transfer meeting and the things we have to do afterwards; so we gave April the keys to our car and set the GPS for them and sent her and Ruth to go to a session at the Palmyra Temple.  Unfortunately, April did not get off at the right exit so they did not arrive at the temple in time to be in the 9:30 am session.  They did take pictures of the outside of the temple.  April and Ruth then drove up to the town of Palmyra and walked up and down the main street and visited as many shops as they wanted to.  They then spent some time at the mission office getting as many missionaries as they could to sign in the blank pages in front of their Book of Mormon we gave them.  Ruth and April asked the missionaries to sign their name, where their home is, and their favorite scripture.  Ruth and April had also had the sister missionaries at the church history sites sign in their Book of Mormon.  Sister Jensen and I had to spend some time in the afternoon providing training for the new missionaries to help them know important things to help them with the policies and procedures in the mission.  After we finished with the training we went to our home; and while Sister Jensen and Ruth worked on preparing some dinner, I took April to see the Brigham Young Baptism Site.  April and I then came back to our home and picked up Ruth and took her with us to see the Tomlinson Inn and the Tomlinson Corners Cemetery on Boughton Hill Road.  While at the cemetery I shared the experience of Heber C. Kimball and his wife Vilate seeing the “Vision of the Night Sky” while at the cemetery on the night of September 22 1827.  Brigham Young also saw the same thing from about 40 miles northeast at Port Byron where he and Miriam lived.  This was the night the Prophet Joseph Smith received the gold plates from Moroni.  This same experience was reported on the next night and was also seen by other people in the Mendon area.  None of these people knew about the restoration events until a few years later; but they remembered seeing what they saw.

Wednesday morning we drove to Lyndonville to an Amish store so Ruth and April could get a few things they wanted.  We then took a scenic route back along Lake Ontario on the Sea Breeze Parkway.  We then had lunch at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Henrietta; then took April and Ruth to the Rochester Airport so they could get on their flight back home.  We then returned to the mission office to catch up on some things we did not get done while April and Ruth were with us.  Wednesday evening we went to the Site Training meeting at the Hill Cumorah to take some mail to the sister missionaries.  We had picked up a vehicle that had been repaired and drove it to the Site Meeting to return to the sisters who drive it; we then rode home with the Servoss’s.

Thursday we spent the day taking care of office things and I spent a little time preparing to teach the Institute lesson for Thursday evening in Geneseo.  Thursday afternoon while working in the office, I proctored a placement test for Elder Hole which he had to complete in order to attend Weber State University when he goes home in a few months.  We only had one young man come to Institute, but the two Geneseo elders also came so it was a better meeting with two extra people there.

Friday morning we went to the office at 8am so Elder Hole could finish his placement test.  A little after 10 am I had my MARC meeting with President Christianson and the AP’s.  This meeting is to coordinate and plan issues dealing with the vehicles.  We spent a little longer in this meeting because President Christianson had to have additional information to include in a report he had to submit to Elder Hallstrom by the end of the day on Friday.  In the evening we relaxed and rested a bit.

Saturday morning we left home about 8:30 am with the Servoss’s for a short trip to Corning NY, about 90 miles from Mendon.  President Christianson had given us permission to go to Corning which is outside our mission boundary a little ways.  The purpose in our going was to go through the Corning Museum of Glass.  This is a museum built and provided by the Corning Glass Co. to tell about the history of glass from the Egyptian Dynasty period to the present.  They have a number of galleries and demonstrations; including a place where you can pay to have the opportunity to do your own glass blowing project.  The cost for making your own glass item was more than we wanted to spend so we did not do that; but we did watch two glass blowing demonstrations.  It was very interesting.  We also watched a demonstration about the properties of glass and how glass is made more resistant to breaking. We attended a very interesting presentation about the development of fiber optics.  Three men from the Corning Glass Co. were the ones who worked out the problems with making and using fiber optics for transmitting information. One strand of fiber optic glass can carry one million times more information ten times farther than a six foot diameter copper wire bundle.  Vince was our instructor and he demonstrated how the light travels through the fiber optic strand, which is just a little larger diameter than a single strand of human hair.  The fiber optic strand is made of glass.  The light waves carrying the information follows the fiber optic strand and never goes astray.  The fiber optic strand has the capacity to withstand 600 pounds of pull against it.  It could be used as fishing line to catch large fish up to 600 pounds; except you cannot tie knots in it.  It was a very educational experience we enjoyed very much.  On the way to and from Corning we were blessed to see the beautiful fall colors in the leaves on the trees and shrubs.  We took many pictures of all the colorful scenery on the hills and in the valleys.  Heavenly Father is a superb artist who has provided the beautiful colors we see in nature.

Today we attended church in our Geneseo ward and had great meetings.  A returned missionary, Dallon Schultz, and his father who is on the stake high council both spoke to us in sacrament meeting.  After the meetings were over we stayed for what is termed “much and mingle”; which means every family brings something to share for a meal and it is set out for all to enjoy while visiting with each other.  Then we stayed for the baptism of a child of a couple the Elders have been teaching.  The mother is not a member of the church, but the father is and the young girl, Hayden, was baptized.  The missionaries hope that while teaching the new member lessons to Hayden the mother will get a testimony and choose to be baptized.

We express our love and gratitude to each of you for the great influence for good you are in our lives.  You are all awesome people and we are so thankful Heavenly Father blessed us to have you as part of our lives.  May you each be blessed according to your faith and prayers and needs.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message--15 October 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

We were blessed with a good week this past week.  I am one day late with the blog message due to our being blessed with a personal visit from our daughter April, and Maxine’s special friend and neighbor Ruth.  They arrived on Saturday morning and we have taken time to be with them both Saturday and Sunday.  So I am writing our blog message early Monday morning before we spend another day with April and Ruth.

Last Monday and Tuesday evening we took time to work on preparing for the Institute lesson for Thursday evening.  We are greatly blessed to have the opportunity to study and learn from the lessons about the mortal life of our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ.  Elder Bednar shared a quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell which he gave at a training meeting he attended some years ago.  Elder Maxwell said “There would have been no atoning sacrifice without the character of Christ.”  Jesus had personal character traits which enabled him to do all he did including the suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross.  As we develop those same character traits which Christ possessed we can overcome all of our trials and challenges in mortality and become who we should become.  Becoming is a life-long process not an event that happens on one day or even in one week.  We become like Christ one day at a time relying completely on his atoning sacrifice to make up for the natural man behavior which we allow to influence the choices we make with our agency.  We are so blessed and so grateful for the opportunity to learn from the Institute lessons.

On Wednesday our area Fleet Manager from Salt Lake, who has stewardship over all the vehicles in our Northeast North America Area, came to meet with me for his semi-annual visit.  He is a very good man with some years of good experience and knowledge.  I enjoy having him come and provide some good suggestions on how to better take care of the vehicles we have in the mission and also teach the missionaries how to keep safe and take care of the vehicles properly.  After meeting with him all morning we had completed all we needed to do in the office; and he had the rest of the afternoon and evening available to do something else.  Since he has not had the privilege to visit the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette where the church was organized in 1830; we decided to take him to visit this sacred place.  We were blessed to have a good senior missionary provide the tour for our fleet manager.  Then in the evening he wanted to go with us to the Site Training Meeting at the Hill Cumorah which he enjoyed very much.

Thursday evening we went to the Institute class in the Geneseo chapel.  While we were waiting for YSA’s to come we learned that on the 2^nd Thursday of each month the Scout Roundtable meeting for the community is held in our building.  Scouting in most of the rural areas of New York is done under a community organized program and not under the influence of the church like it is in Utah.  We only had one YSA come to Institute; and Brother Gammon came and he taught the lesson instead of us.  We are always happy to have him come and share his knowledge with us.

Friday evening we made preparations for April and Ruth coming to visit us.  Then on Saturday morning we went to the airport to pick up April and Ruth.  We took them to see Niagara Falls since Saturday was a day it was not supposed to rain.  It did sprinkle just a little on us while we were at Niagara Falls, but we had good day together.  We also stopped at a couple of Amish stores on Ridge Road on the way to the falls.  Sunday we went to church in Geneseo, and then drove to the Peter Whitmer Farm in the afternoon where Sister Lee, who is from Hong Kong, provided the tour for us.  Sister Lee has become an awesome missionary.  Then we went to the Martin Harris home, and Alvin Smith’s grave, and then we went to the Grandin Building in Palmyra where the Book of Mormon was published.  Sister Larsen provided a very spiritual tour in the Grandin Building for us.  We have some very special Sister Missionaries in our mission.  While we were in the Grandin Building I met up with Gary Gillum’s son who was there with his family.  He was in the Sunset 13^th ward for a few years while I was in the Stake Presidency.

Sunday evening we had a good visit and shared with April & Ruth some DVD’s we have that are used to do missionary training.  We are so greatly blessed to be in this mission and have such experiences as we are able to have with friends, missionaries, and local members at the historic sites where the early events of the restoration took place.  Our testimonies are strengthened and we see more clearly how divine direction and influence guided the restoration and the people who were a part of it so that everything took place in the order, sequences, and places that made the restoration successful.  We also know that the same loving, patient, wise, and divine guidance comes from Heavenly Father in our own personal lives, and in the lives of our children and their families.  As Elder Maxwell said in another address he gave, “Our lives are intertwined by divine design and there are no coincidences.”  We often do not see the divine influence in our lives on a daily basis; sometimes we do not see the divine help until later in our lives.  We know His divine help is present in our lives on a daily basis.

We love you all and are so blessed to have you as family and friends.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—7 October 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

We have been so greatly blessed in many ways by the goodness and kindness of Heavenly Father.  We have good health, for people our age; we are blessed to be serving as missionaries in this mission where the early events of the restoration of the gospel in this dispensation began.  We are blessed to be assigned to serve in the mission office to help with the work that has to be done to support the President and his wife and the missionaries.  We have many great experiences in our associations with President and Sister Christianson and the missionaries.  We have wonderful family and friends who do so much to take care of things for us at home, as well as pray for us here in New York.  We have been blessed to have good and faithful parents who have taught us and helped us and sacrificed so much for us.  We have been blessed to have brothers and sisters and their families to help us in our lives in many ways.  We have had great church leaders in our lives who have mentored and taught us and nurtured us in the gospel and in how to live good lives.  We have been blessed to work in good places to earn a living and we have been greatly blessed to have so many good people with whom we have worked and learned and had great associations.  We have been blessed in so many other ways as well.  We have been blessed to know and understand the gospel and the eternal plan of Heavenly Father; especially to know of the role of the Savior and Redeemer in providing the atonement and the certain promise of the resurrection.  We have been blessed in more ways than we can count.  We love each of you for your good examples and your love and kindness and help in our lives.  Without you and your influence in our lives we would not be who we are.  We express love and gratitude to each of you.

We have had a busy but good week filled with experiences and opportunities to teach us and help us be of service.  In addition to our daily mission office assignments we had some good experiences in associating with missionaries and members.  On Monday in the mission office staff meeting it was my turn to share the thought.  I used two quotes from a devotional talk given by Elder Maxwell some years ago; a talk which he did not allow to be published.  He said: “…our lives are intertwined by divine design…and there are no coincidences…”  I then shared a few examples of how divine direction was involved in the lives of I and Maxine’s parents; and also an experience of how divine help was a part of my life.  After sharing these thoughts I had to leave the meeting to help answer some questions about some vehicles we have for sale; so I did not hear the President’s comments on my thoughts.  I am more convinced every day that there is indeed divine design in my life and the experiences with which I am blessed.

Wednesday evening we attended the site training meeting at the Hill Cumorah.  Sister Hatch and Sister Madsen shared some ideas on how to make better use of the pass along cards the church has produced to invite people to learn more about the church and the gospel and also include the use of referral cards to give people a chance to use their agency to accept the opportunity to hear about the gospel.  After the meeting I also helped some sister missionaries with questions about their cars.

Thursday evening we went to Geneseo to teach the Institute class.  We only had Elder Maisey and Elder Stoddard and an older ward member who came; none of the YSA people came.  We did have a good class and a good discussion about the beginning of the Savior’s ministry.  One interesting idea that the lesson pointed out is that after the Savior was baptized he went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days.  During those 40 days he communed with His Father and was taught and strengthened so he could accomplish all He would need to do during his ministry.  He was not tempted by Satan during the 40 days; Satan did not come to the Savior until after the 40 days.  Elder Bednar taught in an MTC Sacrament meeting that Satan’s purpose in “tempting” the Savior was to work on Him while he was at His weakest physical point in His life and get Him to not do what He came to do.  All three “temptations” began with the phrase “If thou be the Son of God”.  Christ knew exactly who he was; he had just communed with the Father for 40 days.  Satan could not divert Christ from his mission to be the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind.  We know we are all children of Heavenly Father and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ; we need to always remember who we are and follow the Savior’s example and not be diverted by Satan and his lies and deceit.  Only by following the Savior and the gospel ordinances and covenants can we return to be with the Father and the Son.  As is normally the case, the teacher often learns much more than the students; and that is true for me with teaching these Institute lessons.

Friday was a busy day.  Elder Wilcox and his companion brought their car to get a repair estimate done on their vehicle; they also brought with them an Elder who had been brought to their area the day before to take care of a traffic violation he received in that area a month ago.  In the afternoon we made a trip to the Buffalo area to take care of four things.  We took with us the Elder who had been to Geneva so we could get him back to his area and his companion.  We also had to take some Subaru radiator coolant to the Elders in Lancaster.  We then went and picked up the zone leader and his companion to take them to get their pickup from the repair shop so they would their vehicle back.  We then went to the Elders in Niagara Falls to see what damage had been done to their car as a result of their landlord backing into their car earlier that morning.  I also needed pictures of the car to send to the insurance.  We had seen that the Friday after 5pm traffic was very heavy and backed up so we decided to go home by way of Ridge Road and then down to Batavia and home.  So we did not arrive home until 8:40pm.  We had 3 long days in row; we were tired but happy to be of service.  We had invited Elder Servoss, who is a serious BYU fan, to come over at 10pm and watch the BYU and Utah State football game on our TV.  So we stayed up to see the game and went to bed at 1:30am.

Saturday we watched the morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference; however because of the time zone difference we watched both of them in the afternoon.  I went to the Priesthood session of General Conference with Elder Servoss to the chapel on Kreag Rd. where the mission office is now located. After the meeting I went with Elder to Servoss to the home of the Nebrotski family to have some Perry’s ice cream.  In the Saturday afternoon session my wonderful brother Jay was released from the Presidency of the Quorums of Seventy and also as a general authority and was given Emeritus Status.  Then in the Priesthood session Jay gave the invocation.  Jay has given the last 20 years of his life as a General Authority; and Loni has been very faithful in supporting him in all of his assignments.  He has been the instrument in the Lord’s hands to accomplish much good in the growth of the kingdom.  I love my brother Jay and his wonderful wife Loni.

Today we had Elder Maisey and Elder Stoddard, who are the missionaries in our Geneseo ward, come and see the Sunday General Conference sessions.  We fed them dinner between the sessions.  The General Conference sessions were all absolutely spiritually uplifting.  How wonderful to learn of the lowering of the age at which missionaries can now serve missions; both young men and young women.  The work of gathering scattered Israel must be hastened and this is one way to help that happen.  We will probably finish our mission and return home before we see very many new missionaries.  I am certain that those who are prepared and worthy will be a great strength and addition to helping gather the children of Heavenly Father.  President Christianson here, and President Taylor in Phoenix AZ will see some of these new younger missionaries during their tenure as mission presidents.

I witness to you that the church and gospel are perfectly true, President Monson is indeed the Lord’s prophet on the earth today.  The Book of Mormon is true and can be the means of changing our lives to be like the Savior if we will read it daily, pray and ponder on its truths and obey them.  Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration and all the priesthood keys needed for this dispensation have been restored and are in operation in the world through our prophet, President Monson.

With all our love and appreciation to each of you,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard