Message—25 November 2012

Well here is the message for the last Sunday in November this year; another month has almost disappeared.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we were in the mission office taking care of our assignments there.  Part of the time we were doing what needs to be done to get ready for transfers this coming week.  A few missionaries completed their missions and returned to their homes on Wednesday in time to be with their families for Thanksgiving.  Sister Jensen helped with fixing a dinner for these missionaries on Tuesday evening.  I worked on getting three cars inspected to see what needs to be done to get them ready to be sold.  On Wednesday we took our car to get two new tires on it; the old ones were worn out and needed to be replaced before winter begins.

Wednesday evening we attended the Site Training meeting so we could deliver mail to the young sister missionaries.  These sisters are always excited to get mail from anyone.  Some get more mail than others but they are always very happy to hear from anyone they know, especially from home.  The training that was given was concerning a major campaign by the church during this Christmas time to share a message about Christ to as many people as possible between November 26^th and December 26th.  A revised Mormon.org website will officially be available tomorrow, November 26^th which is focused on Christmas messages related to Christ.  The URL is Mormon.org/christmas  All the members are invited to share Christ centered messages with their friends, relatives, or anyone else.  There will be free downloadable Christmas music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, there will be options to receive a free bible, or to see some of the Bible Videos the church has been producing in the last two years about the life of Christ.  There are options to have missionaries deliver free DVD’s and a Christmas message about Christ.  There will also be free electronic Christmas Cards that can be sent to anyone to whom you would like to send one.  Members can create their own messages about Christ which can be approved and posted on the website.  The church is doing a lot of advertising about the new website.  In addition to sharing a Christ centered message, the church is hoping that there will be many referrals for missionaries to follow up on and invite people to learn the gospel and come unto Christ.  This effort is being done on the heels of a year of media attention about the church during the political campaigns of the year.  It is hoped that there will be some good success in inviting people to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and receive the blessings that come from the gospel.

Thursday we joined with a number of senior couples at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center in the large basement for a Thanksgiving dinner.  We really enjoyed being with these good people.  President and Sister Christianson attended also and shared a Thanksgiving message after the dinner.

Friday we had arranged to meet with Sister Hausauer and Sister Raines at 8:20am to get their car and take it to the Subaru dealer and have the headliner replaced since it had come loose and been sagging.  We left the car at the Subaru dealer for them to do the needed work under warranty; then the sisters picked up the car late in the afternoon after they completed their site assignment.  Sister Brown and Sister Park gave them a ride to the site they were assigned and then gave them a ride back to get their car.  We then spent the rest of the morning at the mission office hoping that the mail would be delivered before we had to leave.  The mail never came by the time we had to leave at about 1pm.  We left the office and picked up clothes from the cleaners and went home and had some lunch.  We then drove to Romulus to pick up a couple of items we needed.  We stopped at the Whitmer Farm to take care of an item on one of the mission cars.  After we arrived home and had dinner we spent the evening watching a Christmas movie and we also watched an old classic movie, “My Fair Lady”.

Saturday we did our home work to get ready for Sunday; then we went and bought a few items we needed from a couple of stores.  In the afternoon we remodeled our 6 foot high Christmas tree to be a 5 foot Christmas tree so it would fit in our small bay window and then we set it up and decorated it.  We also put a Christmas wreath on the front door.  Many people in New York do a lot of decorations outside their house for Christmas; and some of the homes have already set up their decorations.

Today in our church meetings we were blessed to hear some good instruction and be taught by the Spirit.  We are always so grateful to be able to partake of the Sacrament to allow the atonement of Jesus Christ to help us be forgiven of our mistakes we have repented of during the week; and be made clean and worthy to have the Holy Ghost with us during the coming week.  Brother Elliott was the first speaker in Sacrament meeting and had been assigned to speak on the topic of work.  He did very well and shared some great principles about the importance of and the value of work in our lives.  Work is required of everyone in our mortal lives.  Not only does work enable us to provide for ourselves and our families; but work also teaches us so many additional eternal principles and doctrines.  In our Sunday School lesson we talked about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit; they are many and varied and are all a source of providing Spiritual help and direction in our lives and the lives of our families and others.  The teachings for our times lesson was from President Uchtdorf’s October General Conference talk on Regrets and Resolutions.  We had a great Sabbath day.

Since there are birthdays beginning on December 1^st we will extend our birthday best wishes for the month of December in this blog message so we do not miss anyone.  We offer our hope that each of those with birthdays this month will have a great day and recognize the great blessings they have in their lives.  Happy Birthday to Josh on December 1^st, Alli on December 10^th, Jada on December 18^th, Colton on December 15^th, Olivia on December 19^th, and Kristine on December 22^nd.  We hope you each have a wonderful birthday in addition to and separate from having a wonderful Christmas Day.

 

We hope you each had a great Thanksgiving day and stopped to express gratitude for all the wonderful and marvelous blessings provided by a living, loving, and kind Heavenly Father and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  We are so greatly blessed to live in America among the beautiful creations provided by Heavenly Father and to also have freedom to live our lives in harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We truly have blessings un-numbered.  We express our great love for each of you and we are very thankful for the influence for good you are in our life.  Thank you for being who you are and thank you for all you do for us; we love you now and forever.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—18 November 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

It was very nice to have a more normal week this past week after having had 4 zone conferences the week before.  Monday morning we had a good mission office staff meeting; we are always blessed to learn spiritual things from each other and particularly from President Christianson.    Monday evening we attended the senior couple’s family home evening at the Joseph Smith Farm Welcome Center.  Elder and Sister Poulson led a discussion where we shared scriptures relative to how to have a happy and successful marriage relationship.  Elder Poulson (first name is Lynn) grew up in Duchesne Utah, Sister Jensen knows him and his family, and Sister Poulson (Julie Gividen before marriage) grew up in Mapleton Utah.  Elder Poulson taught Sociology classes at Snow College including some marriage classes.  While they were going to BYU to college they lived in Mapleton in the little white home just East of where Collin Allen lives, Collin’s mother owned this home when she was alive.  After a good discussion we had some fresh apple cider and some donuts; we had a good evening together.

Wednesday evening we attended the site meeting at the Hill Cunmorah Visitors Center.  We were blessed to hear a good presentation by Ted Gilbert concerning the reconstruction of the Frame Home on the Joseph Smith farm.  Ted was the architect for this project and worked closely with Don Enders of the Church Historical Department.  Ted shared some very interesting details and historical information about this home which was originally started by Alvin Smith, Joseph’s oldest brother.  Alvin died before the home was built, before his death he asked Joseph Smith Jr. to finish the home for their parents, which he and the family did.  The goal of this reconstruction was to have the home look like it did when it was originally built.  After the Smith family moved to Kirtland several other people bought the home and the farm through the years and did a lot of remodeling of the home and adding on to the home.  When the Church purchased the home in 1907 it remained like it had been remodeled to look like until President Hinckley gave instructions to have it restored to what it originally looked like.  In the process of dismantling the home a number of items were found which were identified to be owned by the Smith Family, and we saw pictures of these items.  Ted is not a member of the Church but through this project he has learned a lot about the church and particularly about the Smith Family.  Ted’s presentation and the answers he gave to questions were very interesting and informative.  There was divine help and guidance and protection involved in the process of the restoration of the frame home and the barn, and the building of the Cooper Shop.

Thursday morning we attended a Specialized Training meeting at the Peter Whitmer Farm.  President Christianson had received instruction to explain and teach the missionaries about the Church’s coming Christmas Media Campaign; so he used this training meeting to teach us about the campaign.  Beginning November 26^th the Mormon.org website will come up in a totally redesigned format.  It will have information and links providing information and media about Jesus Christ and His central focus in the doctrine and teachings of the Church.  The missionaries will all need to respond immediately to any requests for information or free video’s that will be offered.  The church is hoping to capitalize on the attention the church has received this past year with Mitt Romney and the church during the election campaigns.  We are exercising faith that this effort will enable more people to learn the truth about the church and assist the Lord in helping us find more of those people who are prepared to receive the gospel.  We invite you all to look at the web site on November 26^th and look through all the good things you will find there; including an option to create your own Christmas Cards.  We also invite you to use the website to help you and your families and friends focus more on Christ and let his life bless our lives. We attended the morning session with two of the zones, and then went to the mission office in the afternoon so the Servoss’s could attend the afternoon session with the other two zones.  We also took with us to the Whitmer Farm the snacks for the break in the morning and the afternoon.  The President did training from 9-11am then had a short break for the missionaries to have the snacks we brought; then the missionaries were divided in to two groups and given a tour of the Whitmer Farm Visitors Center and the replica of the Whitmer Family home.  The tours were done by some of our Sister Missionaries who give these tours every day.  Some of you will remember that in 1980 President Kimball dedicated the newly built chapel and the restored log home that are located on this site.  This was done during a session of General Conference which was held on April 6^th.  A number of very significant events occurred on April 6^th and also some other important events at this site.  The birth of Jesus Christ was on April 6^th, the church was organized at this site on April 6^th 1830, the US Constitution was signed on April 6^th; the Book of Mormon translation was completed at the Whitmer home; the three witnesses saw the Angel Moroni and the gold plates near the Whitmer home, and Mary Whitmer also saw Moroni and the gold plates by the barn at the Whitmer farm.  The farm is located in a very remote part of the Fayette area.  In Doctrine & Covenants section1 verse 30 is the phrase “…might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness…”.  The Whitmer Farm is definitely a very obscure place in New York, there is nothing but woods and fields for about one half mile or more in every direction.  From this obscure place the church began to roll forth to fill the whole earth as Daniel prophesied.  We have been greatly blessed to be in this mission to see, experience and feel the power of the Holy Spirit at the places where the restoration began; it is truly blessing our lives and our testimony.

Thursday evening was supposed to be Institute in Geneseo, but Thursday afternoon I received a phone call from Don Gammon informing me that he would not be able to teach the Institute class that evening.  He and I talked a week ago and he told me he would be able to teach the lesson on the 15^th so I had not prepared to teach the lesson.  Don decided that we should cancel the class so we sent text messages to the YSA members of the class; so we did not have to go to Geneseo Thursday night.

Friday we were able to spend the day at the mission office and mostly get caught up on all our work.  I had my monthly meeting with President Christianson and the AP’s about the vehicles.  On the way home from the office I had a phone call from my Fleet Manager, Joe, in Salt Lake.  He is an awesome person I really appreciate all he does to help me with vehicle issues.  There will definitely be some changes coming with where and how vehicles are used with the large increase in the number of missionaries who will begin to arrive in our missions after the first of the year.  It will be interesting and exciting to see what begins to happen with the gathering of Israel by the missionaries and the members working in unity and harmony together.  The members will have to become more involved with missionary service.  We cannot view missionary work as a responsibility of just the missionaries; we as members must begin to be more involved in finding people to be taught, helping with the teaching, helping with getting missionaries where they need to be; and especially accepting, loving, helping, and nurturing investigators and new members as they are baptized and confirmed.  We as members will have to be far more involved and helpful in learning how to live the gospel and serve in the church and help them become fully converted and keep their covenants and prepare for temple ordinances and blessings.  We will also need to mentor the new converts to become future leaders in the church.

Saturday we were blessed to have a real P-Day and accomplish some things that have been waiting for us to get done.  We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at a nice restaurant and enjoy a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie.

Today we were blessed to attend Sacrament and our other meetings.  Taking the Sacrament is a great blessing to help us through the repentance process and prepare us to have the Holy Spirit with us this coming week.  The speakers in Sacrament meeting shared some personal examples how the Holy Ghost can provide inspiration and revelation to each of us personally.  The Gospel Essentials class was also about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how he can help us every day in our lives as we have our daily experiences and challenges.  We had a “munch and mingle” after our meetings.  That is where we all bring some kind of food to share with other and then visit and get to know each other better while we eat.

We hope each of you have a great Thanksgiving week and that you are able to spend time with family and enjoy some good food and share your feelings of gratitude for the countless blessings Heavenly Father has given us.  He is truly so good and kind to us in so many ways.  We are so greatly blessed to live in America and have the light of the gospel and the love of the Savior and be the recipients of the blessings of His Atonement.  We know Heavenly Father lives as does His Son Jesus Christ.  After the Atonement, the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift of our Heavenly Father to each of us.  By the power of the Holy Ghost we know the Book of Mormon is perfectly true and brings positive and powerful blessings to each of us.  Joseph Smith is the Prophet of this last dispensation and President Monson is our prophet today.  We have true scriptures to bless our lives and teach us how to become worthy to return to Heavenly Father and live together as families forever.  We express our great love for each of you and hope and pray you will be blessed with gratitude during this Thanksgiving week.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—11 November 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Wow, what a busy wonderful week we had this past week.  We had 4 zone conferences; maybe our last full zone conference week.  The zone conferences were on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; this gave President and Sister Christianson Thursday to have a break and prepare for the last two conferences.  The zone conferences were held in church buildings; Tuesday was at the Rochester Westfall Rd Chapel, Wednesday was at the Palmyra Chapel, Friday was at the chapel in Canadaigua, and Saturday was at the Amherst chapel in the Buffalo area.   In addition to doing the vehicle inspections in the morning, we were also blessed to receive spiritual instruction from President and Sister Christianson and the zone leaders and the Assistants’ to the President during the rest of the day until about 3pm.  It also provided us Thursday to catch up on things that needed to be done in the office.  Monday we spent the day in the office getting everything ready for the zone conferences.  There were vehicle inspection forms to print and organize by zone, and the supplies for the vehicles to collect and load in the car, and I also had some PowerPoint’s to finish creating and putting on my MAC to use in my vehicle safety instruction at each zone conference.  Sister Jensen had mail to sort and organize by zone so we could take it with us to deliver to the missionaries in each zone; she had to do this each of the other days late in the afternoon when we returned to the mission office before going home.  With Sister Jensen’s help and the help of Elder Ellis and Elder Servoss we were able to do the vehicle inspections in about 2 hours each of the four days.  We had to get up a little earlier so we could leave in time to get to the location for each zone conference by 8:30 am so we could get the needed information about their vehicle from each missionary companionship, before they went in the church.

Sister Christianson taught us about prayer and how to make it more effective in our lives to do what Heavenly Father in His great love and wisdom wants us to do; rather than try to tell Him what we think He should do.  President Christianson taught us about 20 or more scriptures to help us learn and know and remember that we can do all things through Christ and  the help of the Holy Ghost and the atonement and example of Christ.  He used the example of Dick and Rick Hoyt to help us see that with the right attitude we CAN do anything through faith and work and love.  If you want to know about Dick and Rick Hoyt go to the following URL and read the story first, then watch the video clip; it is a powerful message.  http://bsix12.com/teamhoyt/?goback=%2Egde_4311521_member_95870902

Thursday evening we went to Geneseo for our Institute class.  We stopped to get something to eat before the class.  While we were eating a call from two missionaries came on my mission cell phone.  The Elders had been to the Seneca Lake Girls Camp most of the day doing some service work for the camp manager, Brother Brienholt.  While working they had lost the keys to their mission vehicle some place.  Brother Brienholt had been helping them search for a few hours and it was now dark so they finally gave up looking and called me to see if I could help them.  They were supposed to be to zone conference the next day in Canandaigua with their older vehicle to trade it for a new Chev Cruze we had received to replace their older Malibu.  We have a standard practice of keeping the extra key that comes with a new vehicle in the mission office in the vehicle file folder; just for such events.  Thursday night was Brother Gammon’s turn to teach the lesson; he called me just after the Elders did to tell me he would be a little late getting to Institute.  I told the two Elders without a key that I would go to the office in Pittsford and get the extra key and bring it to them.  Brother Brienholt was kind enough to bring them half way to meet us with the key.  When Brother Gammon arrived, I told him we needed to leave to take care of the car issue so he was happy to take over the class and we left to go get the key and take it Canandaigua to meet with Brother Brienholt and the Elders.  We arrived back home about the same time we would have arrived if we had stayed for Institute and drove home.  The next day, Friday, the Elders who lost their keys arrived with a very clean car as they had been requested by me to do earlier in the week.  They received their new car, and Elder Servoss drove the old one back to the office for me so it would be there for me next week to get ready to be sold.

Friday the Assistants drove two Chev Colorado pickups to the zone conference so I could trade them for an older Chev Malibu which I need to get ready to sell.  The other pickup was given to Sister Missionaries who serve way out in Waterloo, who have been riding bikes.  With winter coming President and I thought we should let them drive this pickup so they were safer from the winter weather and slick roads.  The Assistants were late getting to the zone conference because they had to stop and put air in the tires of one of the pickups.  They also had forgotten they did not have an E-Z Pass to drive on the I-90 freeway, but they did not remember until after they had driven through the toll booth gate; so they had to stop and walk in to the office to get a pass ticket so they could drive on the I-90.  Only one of the Assistants had cash to pay the cost of the toll when they got off I-90 in Canadaigua so the one Elder had to pay for both pickups which took extra time.  I think the message of these problems is that Satan puts obstacles in our way to hinder doing what we planned to do; but the Lord always provides a way to overcome the obstacles and still accomplish what is needed.

Saturday after the Buffalo Zone Conference we drove home and did our “home” work cleaning and doing the wash and getting ready for Sunday.  I did not remember until Sunday morning that I had been assigned to teach the High Priest Quorum lesson in Priesthood.  So I spent the time needed to prepare to teach this lesson.  We had a good Sacrament meeting, especially being privileged to take the sacrament.  The speakers for the meeting were a missionary couple who help with the Church Addiction Recovery Program in our Rochester Stake.  My sister Kathy and her husband Paul, as well as the Andreasons’ in our Sunset Stake at home will know all about this great program.  Carol and Tom will also appreciate the blessings of this program in the life of their son.  They missionary couple did a great job teaching the doctrine related to this program.  The missionaries in our Geneseo ward had an investigator come to church the second time in a row and he stayed for Sunday School this time.  They are hoping he will continue with learning the lessons and reading the Book of Mormon and praying so he will be converted and want to be baptized.

I am a day late learning about my cousin Keith passing away earlier last week.  Jay spoke at his funeral graveside service yesterday.  I am confident all went well.  I would love to hear from anyone about how Sharon is doing and any details you want to share about the service for Keith. That leaves Sharon as the only remaining child of Uncle Verl and Aunt Jane.  We are all getting a little older.  I have great memories about living next to Uncle Verl and his family; including seeing Keith outside almost every day during baseball season each year batting rocks out into Dallas Holley’s field.  Verl and Keith and Grandpa Jensen would listen to or watch on TV as many baseball games as they could in which the NY Yankees played; all three were great Yankee fans.  Since this is Veterans day I express my appreciation to Keith for serving in the Marines to do his part in keeping us a free nation.  We both have been so blessed in our lives to have so many great family and relatives and friends who have had a positive influence in our lives; Heavenly Father has been so good to us and we are most grateful to Him for His blessings and kindnesses.

One more comment; the elections are now over and the counsel of the First Presidency to remember to pray for President Obama and the other leaders of our country that they will make correct decisions that will preserve our freedoms.  We hope also we can maintain our opportunities to live the gospel and help the gospel message spread to all who will accept it.  We know the gospel is true and that we have living prophets and apostles who are inspired by Heavenly Father in all they need to do.  We just need to develop the attitude to be obedient to the scriptures and teachings of modern prophets, seers and revelators.

We love you all so very much and pray for blessings upon each of you and your families.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday morning we began the day with our mission office staff meeting.  After covering the planning for upcoming zone conferences and other details we discussed the possible storms and other weather related to Hurricane Sandy which was approaching the Eastern Seaboard and northeastern states.  Based on what was forecast the President had us send messages by text and email to all of our missionaries and the parents of the missionaries. We told all the missionaries to be in their apartments by 5pm and to stay there until 5pm Monday unless they were notified by the President to do otherwise.  The parents of the missionaries were informed of what the President told the missionaries, and that all the missionaries were safe and would remain safe.  We would let the parents know any additional information as it became available.  In the afternoon, I had to make a trip to Macedon and had Elder Servoss go with me to pick up two new Chev Cruze cars from the McClouth Chev Dealer; which are assigned to our mission to replace older cars that have around 50,000 miles on them.  After getting the new cars back to the mission office we were instructed to leave the office early so we would be home before 5pm.  After arriving home we had the news on the TV to keep informed about the hurricane and its progress and what we needed to ready for.  About 8pm the TV, which is a cable service, went dead so we watched a church video and went to bed.  The wind started blowing fairly serious about 7pm and continued through the night.  There was also rain along with the wind.

Tuesday morning we were working on some things that we needed to do here at home.  About 9am President called and said the storm had and would mostly miss our area so we could all return to our mission assignments.  He said he had contacted all the missionaries and told them to return to work.  Some people who live in homes along Lake Ontario and Lake Erie had been told to evacuate Monday night due to expected high waves along the lake shore.  There was some water damage to some of the homes closest to the lakes.  There were also some trees and tree limbs which were broken or blown over in the Penfield and Webster areas which caused some power outages to about 2,000 homes.  There were some trees in scattered areas that also were blown over or broken off.  The power was restored to all the homes by Friday and Saturday.  That is about the extent of the damage we received in our area.  As you no doubt saw on the news the New York City and New Jersey areas received the majority of the damage from the storms and waves.  These areas are still having major issues with transportation, getting gasoline, and food and water.  On the news last night they said 80% of the subways NY City were back in service and progress was being made each day to help get things going again as much as possible.  Rats were a major issue in some of the areas where there was water in the homes and buildings.  The expected damage was not as widespread as it could have been; but for those without homes, food and water it is a very serious situation.

Wednesday evening those who normally attend site meeting decided they would go to the temple, since it will be closed the next two weeks for its annual cleaning.  Since Sister Jensen was not completely over her cold we decided to stay home and not share her cold with others.  We spent Tuesday and Wednesday evenings preparing out Institute lesson for Thursday evening.  Wednesday I received a phone call from the vehicle coordinator in the Utica mission.  He asked me if I would be willing to drive to the town of Leroy and remove a TIWI from a Toyota that two of his missionaries had wrecked; and send it to the mission office in Utica.  He gave me the address and other information I would need; and we left about 3pm and went to Leroy to a business named CoPart.  CoPart buys wrecked vehicles and uses all the parts they can save and sells them to Collision Repair shops or to recycle places.  We were able to get the TIWI and took it home with us and then sent it to the Utica mission office on Friday.  About now you are asking what is a TIWI?  It is a box about 5” by 5” and about 1” thick which is mounted in the center of the windshield of a church vehicle behind the rear view mirror.  A cable then is placed under the molding around the windshield and extends down under the dash board and plugs in to a device that provides power.  It contains a number of electronic parts which includes a GPS and a transmitter which provides information to someone in Salt Lake who can see exactly where each church vehicle is, what speed it is traveling, and some other information.  This is an experiment that is being done in a few selected missions to determine if it will be helpful in keeping track of where missionaries are and how fast they are traveling and where they are traveling to.  If any problems arise Salt Lake calls the Vehicle Coordinator in the mission where the vehicle is assigned and describes what the TIWI is reporting and the Vehicle Coordinator can then call the missionaries on the cell phone they carry and see what help is needed or what problems need to be  addressed.  Our mission does not have any TWI’s; the missions which do have them are trying to work out the problems with it before a decision is made to use them in more missions.

Thursday after our office work was done, we drove to Geneseo to be ready for Institute.  It turned out that none of the YSA’s came; we did have one older sister come who has just retired from teaching at a university.  She has a home in Florida also and spends the winters there; then she will come back to NY in the spring.

Friday the President held zone leader council in the church building where the mission office is located.  I was invited to attend the all-day meeting for a few minutes to discuss a few issues about vehicles in the mission.

Saturday we drove to Romulus NY to talk with an Amish Harness Maker who lives there.  He is going to make two bridles for me so I can give them to someone else.  I explained what I wanted and had some pictures to help him better see what I need.  Levi is the name of the guy who owns the business; he is a fine gentleman and is an awesome leather worker.  He does a lot of harnesses for most of the other Amish farmers in the area to use on their buggy and wagon horses, mules, and draft horses.  His wife also has a quilt shop next to the harness shop and she and her daughters make some very fine quilts and other sewing items.  Saturday evening we were happy to set our clocks back an hour and get an extra hour of sleep.

Today in our fast and testimony meeting we had a number of people share great testimonies and the Spirit was very much present.  Our two missionaries had a new investigator attend with them.  He had completed a referral for himself and the Elders were well received by him earlier in the week as they began teaching him.  The missionaries are hopeful that he will accept the gospel and be baptized.  I taught the Gospel Principles lesson in Sunday School so the man, who usually teaches, who is our ward mission leader, could meet with the Bishop concerning some issues.  This morning and then after church, Sister Jensen prepared some food for a dinner the President was having at his home with some senior missionary couples who will be going home this week.  Since we have zone conferences this coming week, Sunday evening was the only time the President had available to have the couples come to his home for dinner.  We then went to help serve the food and clean up after the dinner.  We just finished watching the CES Devotional with Bishop Causse, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric.  His address was very good and we highly recommend all of the teenagers and YSA age youth take the time to watch the devotional.  It is available on the lds.org website.

We are so blessed every day in all we do.  Heavenly Father is so good and kind to us and the Holy Ghost helps out in many instances each day.  Our prayers are answered daily according to the wisdom and timing of Heavenly Father.  We receive every blessing He knows will be for our good.  We are so grateful for the atonement of the Savior and for the possibility of repentance to help us become worthy to have the Spirit help us.  We are safe and happy and we are having so many marvelous experiences and we are receiving so much help from the Holy Spirit.  We love being missionaries and highly recommend the experience to any and all who can possibly serve.  A mission will change your life for the better forever; and your service will bless so many other people as well.

Blessings and love to all of you,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard