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