Message—30 December 2012

 

Dear Family & Friends,

Believe it or not this will be the last blog message from us for the year 2012; my how the months have flown by so quickly.  The next message will be the first in the year 2013.  We have had a great Christmas week this past week.  On Monday we had mission office staff meeting at 9am and then after the meeting we helped make arrangements to get all the last minute Christmas packages and mail for the missionaries delivered to them.  The AP’s, President Christianson, and the zone leaders delivered these packages to the missionaries’ apartments so they would have them for their Christmas day.   Sister Jensen did a superb job of keeping track of all the Christmas mail for the missionaries as it was received during the month of December and made sure it was all delivered as quickly as possible.  After we finished what we needed to do at the office, President told us to take the rest of the day off; so we left for our home around 1:30pm.  Then at 3:30 pm we took the Servoss’s with us to the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center to have Christmas Eve dinner with the rest of the senior missionary site couples.  We had a nice dinner and a few musical presentations from the senior missionaries; then President and Sister Christianson shared a few thoughts with us.  When we finished and cleaned up we went back home and spent the evening together and watched a few Christmas movies; then we went to bed.

Christmas day we spent together doing a variety of things that we needed to do.  We were able to talk on the phone with, or face time with, all of our children and receive a report on how their Christmas went.  It was a fine day for us.  The Lockport Elders called and told me they had slid off the road into a ditch of water.  They had called a member who asked a friend of his to bring his tow truck and pull them out of the ditch.  The car was still drivable so they drove it home.

Wednesday we spent in the office.  I obtained the needed information from the Lockport Elders to complete the accident report.  They sent me pictures of the damage to the car so I could forward them to the Insurance Co. that handles all the Church insurance claims.  Wednesday about 4pm it started snowing and continued snowing all night.  The next morning, Thursday, there was over 12 inches of snow on the ground plus some drifts that were even deeper.  Thursday morning Elder Servoss and I used snow shovels and a snow blower provided by the FM shop to clean off the driveway and the sidewalks so we could get to the car and drive slowly to the office on snow packed and slick roads.  When we got to the office a backhoe with a wide snowplow attached to the front bucket was in the process of pushing the snow off the parking lot around the church.  We had to find snow shovels and clean off the sidewalk before our wives could get in to the office.  This is the first major snow storm of the winter.  It continued snowing very light off and on Thursday and also on Friday and Saturday most of the day.  We only received about an additional 5 inches of snow altogether on these three days.  The site training meeting normally held on Wednesday evening was cancelled due to the snow storm; so we stayed home all three nights.  Friday afternoon and evening we helped the Servoss’s get the monthly Mission’s Glad Tidings newsletter printed, folded, and put in envelopes and sealed and addressed and stamped so they could get in the mail by Friday night.  It took us until 6:30 to get them all done.  Saturday we had to go do some shopping for food even though it was still snowing.  We then spent the rest of the day working on some projects at home.

Today, Sunday, we had great church meetings.  In Sacrament Meeting, after the sacrament was administered; the speakers were President and Sister Broadbent.  President Broadbent is the new First Counselor in the Palmyra Temple Presidency and his wife is an assistant matron.  They had been serving a mission at the Oakland Temple Visitors Center.  They were called to be in the Palmyra Temple Presidency before they were released from their mission; so they only had about a week at their home before coming here to NY to begin their new assignment.  We had been invited by the Elliott’s in our ward, to stay after our meeting block and have dinner with them in the church along with the missionaries and Dan Cornell who rides to church and back home with us.  Dan lives in West Bloomfield, and we drive right by his home so we stop and give him a ride to church and then take him back home on our way home.  He is great person and has had a lot of challenges in the last year or so; but he is doing much better.  When we arrived home I shoveled some more snow off the walks and the driveway.  The snow storms have cleared out and left a blue sky; and the big bright beautiful sun came out and softened a little of the packed snow so I could get it moved before it turns to ice.  Now that the snow storms are over we have a very cold polar air mass that is making it very cold, especially with the 15-20 mph wind chill factor.

We learned that Effie Thomas, our neighbor up the road from our home in Provo, passed away last week.  We will miss her; she is a wonderful lady and has been of service to others in many unseen ways.  She has also been a great example of living the gospel and she has taught her children how they should live their lives.  Our lives are better for having been blessed to associate with Effie and her family.

Since the month of January is only two days away we want to express a happy birthday to Josie on January 3^rd, and Lynne on the 19^th.  They are the only two of our children and their families who have a birthday in January.  We hope you both have a wonderful birthday.  We hope all of you have a wonderful year in 2013 that it will be filled with blessings and experiences and opportunities to be of service to others and to each other.

We know the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is perfectly and absolutely true; and it is the only way we can be happy and prepare to live with Heavenly Father and the Savior forever together as families.  As we build our lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ we will have the help of the Holy Ghost to guide us in our lives to make choices with our agency that will help us learn to follow the example of the Savior.  As we make and keep the covenants included in the eternal plan of Heavenly Father we will have more joy and happiness and we will be blessed to become who Heavenly Father and Jesus know we can become.  As we do these things together as a family we will help our families become prepared to receive ALL that Heavenly Father can give us.  Our lives in mortality are for the purpose of becoming like the Savior; and this is process not an event.  Reading, pondering, and praying about truths and doctrines in the Book of Mormon will be the most helpful way to hold on to the rod which is the word of God, and to also keep our feet on the path that leads to eternal life and exaltation.  Listening to and following the teachings of our living prophets and apostles will also be of eternal value to us.  We know these things are true and testify to all of you that this is the path that leads to true joy and happiness in this life and in the life after death.  We express our love to each of you and pray for you and your families.

Love,

Mom & dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—23 December 2012

 

Dear Family & Friends,

Since I did the blog message last Monday night, I will begin this message with Tuesday.  Tuesday and Wednesday we helped with the Christmas Devotionals for the missionaries.  Tuesday the missionaries in the Rochester and Buffalo Zones came to the church on Kreag Rd. in Pittsford where the mission office is located.  All the young missionaries came and the MLS senior couples from the two zones; and also some of the Senior Couples who are assigned to the church History Sites.  On Wednesday all the missionaries from the Palmyra North and Palmyra South Zones came, along with the MLS Senior Couples from these two zones; and also the Senior Site Couples who could not come on Tuesday.  The Senior Site Couples took care of being at the historic sites so the young sister missionaries could come to the Christmas Devotionals.  Sister Jensen and I had to be to the Mission Office by 8:15am both days so we could get the gas credit cards for their vehicles, which expire at the end of the month, and give them new cards with which to buy gas for their vehicles.  We did this as the missionaries first arrived before they came into the church.  The meeting began at 9am with the AP’s conducting and President Christianson presiding and Sister Christianson also was there.  On Tuesday one of the Elders was sick and stayed at the Presidents house with his companion tending to his needs.  Late that night the sick Elder had to go to the Hospital emergency room because he was so dehydrated; he returned home about 2:30am.  In each meeting, the AP’s gave some instruction first, followed by President taking some time to begin the instruction planned for the morning.  After President spoke briefly he had Sister Christianson give some instruction; she is always well prepared and teaches by the Spirit.  President then took the rest of the morning to provide instruction.  He is a very expert teacher and he knows the scriptures very well and uses them to teach great spiritual messages and doctrines to help us become better missionaries.  Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss had prepared what was needed for food for lunch.  They had prepared all the items to have a Hawaiian Haystack lunch.  The missionaries helped set up the tables and chairs in the cultural hall before the meetings began, and some senior sisters helped with decorating the tables.  At about 11am some Senior Sisters helped get the food ready to put in the cultural hall and set the tables etc.  Shortly after 12 noon President broke for lunch and we office couples and a few others set the food out for the missionaries to serve themselves and sit at tables and enjoy the food.  Elder Ellis, Elder Servoss, and I brought out ice cream and the Sisters brought out the cookies and some topping for the ice cream; then we 3 old Elder’s scooped the ice cream into the bowls and let the missionaries add what they wanted to their own ice cream.

After lunch we took pictures of the missionaries from each of the zones.  On Tuesday after the lunch and the pictures we stayed in the cultural hall and were privileged to watch Elder Goedel do an Indian Hoop Dance.  He was taught by his father how to do the hoop dance; and Elder Goedel is a world Champion Class Hoop Dancer.  He was in full costume and I made a video of him doing the dance; he is really awesome.  Everyone then went into the chapel and missionaries from each of the zones shared some of their talents with Christmas related music and songs.  Elder Hunt has been here on his mission for about 6 months and he started learning how to play the harmonica after he arrived in the mission.  He did a great job playing Silent Night on the harmonica.  Before he began, he said to all of us “I am not very good at this, but since you are all missionaries I know you will love me anyway.”  After the Christmas music we watched a movie that had to do with Christmas and the gifts the Savior has given us; we learned some great principles about the life of the Savior and what he has given to us.  Following the movie a number of missionaries shared their testimonies of the gospel.  The meeting ended about 4pm.  Following the meeting many of the missionaries came into the office to get supplies, and report on referrals to Sister Jensen and a few had some vehicle questions for me.  Tuesday after the meeting I had two Elders stay and take driving instruction tests.  One elder did the upgrade test so he could be approved to drive; and the other Elder took the Van driving test so he could be certified to drive the mission van.  They both passed their test.  It was almost 6pm before we left the office to go home.  Sister Jensen was too tired to fix us a dinner so I fixed dinner by taking us out to a restaurant to eat before we went home.

On Wednesday we did about the same thing as on Tuesday.  The Wednesday missionaries did not get to see Elder Goedel do the hoop dance.  A few additional things we did was take the new Dodge Caravan we received a few weeks ago to a place in Macedon to have a receiver hitch mounted on the rear of the vehicle so we could put a hitch mounted bike rack in the receiver so the Sister Missionaries who drive the van could carry their bikes when needed.  Then at 4pm we took the two sisters who drive the van to an appointment they had; then while they were at their appointment, we went to Macedon to get the van and pay for the work, and bring it back to give to the sisters to drive to Site Meeting at 7pm at the Hill Cumorah.  It was 6:30 pm before we got the van back to the sisters; so we skipped dinner and went to the Site Meeting for the special training that had been planned.  We arrived home after 9pm very tired, and went to bed so we could get enough rest to work at the office on Thursday.

Thursday and Friday we spent catching up on office work that did not get done on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Friday I had my monthly MARC meeting with President and the AP’s which is about issues related to the vehicles.

Saturday we stayed home and had a real P-Day for a change.  I did make a trip to the office to send a text message to the missionaries to caution them about driving in the snow storm going on and to slow down since the roads are slick.  We received about 6 inches of snow Friday night and Saturday, the first snow storm of the winter, and it was on the first day of the Winter Solstice.  I actually got to shovel some snow off the walks and from in front of the garage.  The snow is half melted on Sunday; but it is supposed to snow again about every other day this week, a few inches each time.

Today, Sunday, we attended church and were blessed to receive good messages and we were also privileged to take the sacrament to renew our covenants so we could try to do better this week.  Tuesday is Christmas Day, we pray that each of you will have a wonderful Christmas and that the real Spirit of Christmas will touch your lives and bless you with peace and love and joy in the gifts of the Savior to each of us.

We are so greatly blessed to be serving in this special mission with the wonderful people who are here.  Each single missionary and all the senior couples are serving here by divine design.  We have been blessed in so many powerful ways through our associations with the missionaries, the members, and the people of NY.  A week ago I went to get something for dinner for Sister Jensen; I went to Wendy’s to get her a salad.  While standing in line waiting to order, the man behind me asked me if I had driven all the way from Utah, he had noticed the Utah license plate and my name tag and connected the two pieces together.  I told him I had, and that I would get to drive back home as well.  He then told me he had just been to BYU a week or so ago.  He said he was an author of a wonderful Christmas story entitled “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey”.  He said a BYU Theatre Professor had obtained permission from the authors to make a play based on the book; and the professor had invited him to attend the opening night performance which he had made into sort of a musical.  He said he met some wonderful people at BYU who treated him very kindly.  He said he also went to Salt Lake City and had never met so many nice people in one place.  I do not know all of the details of his visit, but he was impressed by his experience.  I asked him if his book was for sale and if so where I could buy a copy.  He said it was available from Amazon, so when I got back to the office with Sister Jensen’s lunch I looked online and found a copy was available to purchase, so I ordered a copy.  When I read about the details of the book on the Amazon website I discovered that I had just been talking with the well-known illustrator of books, P. J. Lynch.  He is a very fine person and I appreciated the chance to meet him.  We read the book together Saturday evening; it is a very well written story with a great message.  The author of the story is Susan Wojciechowski, and as I said P. J. Lynch is the illustrator.  At the end of the book, Susan states that this did not require a lot of handwritten drafts and edits.  She states: “I have only a few pages of computer-printed text.  I truly believe a power beyond me guided my hand.”  P. J .Lynch states “I can’t say whether my work on the book was inspired in the same mystical way that Susan’s was, but it is true to say that as I painted, I had no doubts—and that is very unusual for me.”  Read it if you can find a copy.

We love each of you and we pray for your well-being and happiness, and that you will receive the blessings you need in your life to help you have the light of Christ in your life always.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—17 December 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Due to there being so many things to do yesterday on Sunday, I did not have time to do the blog message for last week until tonight.  All of this past week Sister Jensen has been very involved in keeping track of all the Christmas mail and packages coming for the missionaries.  She has to keep a tracking sheet for all the packages that come through the USPS, through FedEx, and also through UPS.  Some of the packages she can forward on directly to the missionary apartments; but some she cannot forward.  Those that cannot be forwarded she calls the AP’s, the President, or the Zone Leaders to see if they will be going to the right area to take the packages with them and deliver them to the right missionary.  She also does all she can to see that the missionaries get regular mail by forwarding or sending with someone traveling to the right area of the mission.   She has been making separate piles for each of the zones so she can keep items until tomorrow and Wednesday when all the missionaries will be coming to the Christmas Gathering.  Two zones come tomorrow and the other two zones will come on Wednesday.  There are a number of things for each of the missionaries to take home to their apartments for Christmas.  In addition to the gifts for the missionaries we have some other mission related items for them to pick up and take with them.  Sister Jensen helped me get new vehicle gas credit cards ready to exchange with each companionship for their old card.  The old cards all expire on December 31^st, so they have to have the new cards to start using.  Sister Christianson also has new missionary medical cards for each of the missionaries to receive.

President and Sister Christianson are giving each missionary a book President wrote about the doctrines of the Book of Mormon.  A Senior Missionary Elder was given a tree which blew down a few weeks ago due to the high winds we had from Hurricane Sandy.  The tree was on the Hill Cumorah, and when Bob Parrott, the forest manager for the Church History sites, found the tree he gave it to Elder Poulson who is a FM Missionary.  On his own time, Elder Poulson used the saws and other tools in the FM Shop to cut the branches into elliptical pieces about one fourth inch thick; and then sanded them and put a clear stain on each piece.  Each missionary has, or will receive one of the pieces.  We were given a piece last week at Site Meeting, like I described, and also a second piece a little larger made for a paper weight.  The pieces are very beautiful.

Wednesday evening after Site Meeting I had to do some vehicle trading with two Sister Missionary companionships.  Sister Earl and Sister Adams brought the Toyota Corolla they had been driving and I gave it to Sister Larsen and Sister Aiello to drive.  I had brought the new Dodge Caravan that we picked up at Kirtland with us; and that is the vehicle I gave to Sister Earl and Sister Adams to drive.  The Chevrolet Colorado pickup Sister Larsen and Sister Aiello had been driving; Sister Jensen and I drove home to take the next day to give to Elder Olsson and Elder Guzik in the Buffalo area.  Elder Teichert and Elder Bird gave Elder Olsson and Elder Guzik a ride to meet us in Batavia at 9am Thursday morning.  Sister Jensen drove our car and followed me to Batavia.  After giving the truck to them we then drove our car to the Mission Office to do our days’ work there.  Before we left for Batavia we took Elder and Sister Servoss to the Mission Office because their car was having the transmission repaired, so they did not have a vehicle.  Later on Thursday afternoon I gave Elder Servoss a ride to get his car back from the transmission repair shop in Ontario NY; just east of Webster.  When we went there we drove on Route 104 (Ridge Road) and we passed what is called the Xerox Area.  This is the main offices and production facilities for the Xerox Corporation.  The Area is about a half mile long and about another half mile deep.  Then Thursday evening we drove to Geneseo for the last Institute class for this semester.  We will have a break from now until January 10^th before we have the next class.

Friday afternoon I received an unexpected but great blessing to have a phone call from the Phoenix weather man (that is who he said he was), but I recognized his voice immediately as President Taylor.  It was a great blessing to spend some time visiting with him in person.  He and Sister Taylor are doing an awesome job of being the Phoenix Mission President and faithful wife; she is also a great teacher.  President Taylor has a special place in my heart and life.  We made plans for us to attend the Mesa Temple Easter Program in March next year and stop to visit with them while we are there.  We are looking forward to this.  Friday evening we went to the Geneseo Ward Christmas party.  They had a good meal and then a Christmas Program.  The theme of the program was the 12 Gifts of Christ; which he has given us.  Sister Jensen and I had been asked to do the gift of “renewal”; which is actually the gift of the atonement which enables us to repent and change and be renewed.  So that is what we talked about.  Sister Jensen gave an abridged version of “The Mansion” by Henry VanDyke.  I then shared a few thoughts about the story and how it relates to Christ and Christmas and repentance and having a change of heart.

Saturday we were able to do some shopping for groceries and also did some cleaning and straightening up.  In the afternoon we went to the West Fall Chapel to attend the baptismal service for Yessinia and Brianna.  These two young ladies, college students at the John Wesleyan College, had been first contacted by Elder Swanner and Elder Olsen when we were in Brockport last year.  These Elders had invited Yessie and Stephanie, another friend, to the baptism service for Casey Reichert last October on the day of the Brockport Halloween Ward Party; and they came and stayed to the ward party. These two Elders had arranged with us to bring Yessie and Stephanie to watch a CES Devotional and then also the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last year.  These young ladies had attended church in the Brockport ward three Sundays during November last year.  Yessie and Stephanie had been touched by the Spirit at all these meetings; but unfortunately, Elder Swanner and Elder Olsen left Brockport soon after these visits to church and our home in Brockport.  We kept trying to get the next missionaries to continue teaching these young ladies but it just did not happen.  Sister Jensen kept in contact with them through texting.  In August this year we were able to get the AP’s, who are assigned to the YSA Branch, called the GVB (Genesee Valley Branch).  This is the Branch Yessie and Stephanie and Yessie’s friend Brianna should attend.  These two Elder’s, one is Elder Hole who is a nephew of DeeAnn Jenkins in our ward in Provo, the other is Elder Harris, started teaching Yessie and Brianna in August.  Stephanie lost interest along the way so she was not taught again.  When the Elder’s taught them a week before Thanksgiving, Yessie and Brianna accepted the invitation to baptized on December 15^th.  However they were afraid to tell their parents and family.  Elder Hole and Elder Harris asked me to join them in talking with Yessie and Brianna the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to help give them courage and support to tell their parents and family.  With the help of the Holy Ghost we were able to say the right things to help them.  They texted us on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, and told us that their parents and grandparents accepted their choice and decision to be baptized.  Prayers are answered.  Brianna’s mother and grandparents came to her baptism last Saturday; they drove up from Pennsylvania, a three hour drive, one way.  It was a great baptism service with a strong presence of the Spirit, and a number of GVB members and missionaries who also came.

Sunday after out Church meetings we stayed for the Munch and Mingle; this is a phrase which means all the adults bring some kind of food to share and we all share it.  Afterwards, we took Elder Maisey and Elder Southwick to call on some referrals in the far edges of the ward boundaries.  After this we came home about 5:30pm and had a little more to eat.  Then at 6:45 pm Elder Maisey and Elder Southwick arrived at our home and we took them up to the Westfall Chapel to attend a Rochester Stake Christmas Concert.  David Cook did the narration for the concert.  The stake choir, who has been practicing for over a month, sang beautifully a number of Christmas hymns and other classical Christmas music.  The congregation was invited to join in some of the numbers.  Yessie and Brianna came to the concert so we were able to see them again after the concert.  They had someone take a picture of us with them.  We were also blessed to visit with some of the Brockport ward members who were in attendance.  We arrived at our home about 9:30pm.  Now you know why I did not get a blog message done yesterday.

This morning we left a little early so we could get some things in the mail before going to the Mission Office to get ready for our 10am staff meeting.  After the staff meeting I had to take care of some vehicle issues for the President.  I had a wonderful surprise after the staff meeting; Annette called me and Anne was there with her; so through speaker phone technology, I was able to visit with them for little bit of time, before I had to leave.  Annette is a very spiritually strong woman; she is very much like her mother and grandmothers.  I would have liked to have visited longer, but I could not; I will call and visit another time from here at home, after the zone conferences this week.  Today Sister Jensen received several mail deliveries of more Christmas mail and packages which she had to record and sort in to zones to be ready to give them out tomorrow.  Then at 4pm Sister Jensen and I took Elder Servoss with us to Macedon to pick up two new Chevy Cruze’s which are for some of our additional missionaries who will be arriving in January and February.  Then this evening after we finally left the Mission Office we went to Palmyra to the Joseph Smith Farm for their annual Christmas Family Home Evening.  We did not stay very long because Sister Jensen had some things to do at home in order to be ready for the Christmas Gathering meeting tomorrow.  While she has been doing those projects, I have put this blog message together.

We express our love and appreciation to each of you and we want you to know you all have a special place in our heart.  We will love you forever.  Thank you for all you have done and continue to do to bless our lives.

Love,

Mom & dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

 

Message—9 December 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

This was a very interesting week with more to do than we had time in which to do what was needed.  Sister Jensen had a few missionary related meals to help prepare and also helped in planning for the upcoming Christmas Missionary meetings on December 18^th and 19^th.  The Christmas mail and packages for the missionaries are beginning to arrive so there was plenty of mail to get forwarded or arrange to have delivered where it was supposed to go.  Following up on what happened as missionaries called on referrals is a continual effort.  I had a variety of vehicle issues to take care of.  I had to get six vehicles ready to be sold; three of them still had some repair work to get done, and also these same three had to have an interior detail cleaning done on them.  I was also coordinating with a college student who is an LDS member who wants to buy one of the vehicles we have for sale.  I also had to arrange to have a vehicle that will not be needed until the next transfer, to be made available to trade for another vehicle that needed to be ready to be sold and taken to the Cleveland Mission to be traded for a new vehicle that was delivered there by mistake.  These things only took a paragraph to summarize but it took all the time we had and more to get it all done.

Monday at noon after our office staff meeting with President and Sister Christianson, Sister Jensen had helped prepare some food for a lunch we all had together.  We had also invited some of the people who had been in our old office building at Perinton Hills, whom we had not seen since we moved out at the end of August.  Only one of the people came but we enjoyed visiting with him.  Later in the week on Friday, Frank came to see us; he had been our next door office friend at Perinton Hills.  Monday evening we attended the Senior Site Couples Family Home Evening.  Elder Smellie shared with us a video of an address given by the wife of Brother Eldred G. Smith in 2007 at a similar gathering of the missionary couples who were serving at the Cove Fort Utah visitor’s site.  The video included also the address given by Brother Smith; but our site missionaries had seen this part at a previous family home evening which we were notable to attend.  Sister Smith shared some family history information from the Hyrum Smith family organization about Hyrum and his life.  The Smith’s had brought with them the actual clothes worn by Hyrum, including the holes from the bullets and evidence of the blood stains, at the time of the martyrdom and also his watch which had been hit by a bullet at the time of the martyrdom.  It was very interesting to hear from her.  Eldred G. Smith is still alive; he had his 105^th birthday this year.  For those who do not know who he is, Brother Smith was the Patriarch to the Church from about 1947 until 1976.  During those years Brother Smith gave over 15,000 patriarchal blessings, mostly to people in countries outside of North America where there were no patriarchs.   At one of the general conferences in 1976 this calling was eliminated.  Up until that time he had always been sustained as a prophet, seer, and revelator along with the first presidency and the quorum of 12 apostles.  Since that time Brother Smith has been a true and faithful member of the church.  He is a great grand-son of Hyrum Smith through his son John.

Tuesday evening we were blessed to be able to stay home for the evening.  Wednesday afternoon I had Sister Thomas and Sister Klepinger bring their car to the office.  Sister Thomas came to meet up with President and Sister Christianson so she could spend the evening with them before going to the airport Thursday morning to catch a plane to meet up with her brother who was also returning home from his mission in Italy.  They then returned to their home together.  Sister Klepinger then joined another Sister Companionship to make a threesome until the next transfer in January.  Sister Thomas has been an awesome missionary here.  Wednesday evening we took the car Sister Thomas brought to the office, with us to the Hill Cumorah for the Site Training meeting.  After the meeting we exchanged the car, a Toyota Corolla, for the Dodge Caravan that Sister Earl and Sister Adams had been driving in Seneca Falls.  We then drove the van home so I could take it on Thursday to get an interior detail cleaning done so it would be ready to drive to Ohio to meet the Vehicle Coordinator, Elder Jacklin, from the Cleveland Mission to exchange for a new 2013 Dodge Caravan that had been delivered to his mission by mistake.  I had called and made arrangements to meet Elder Jacklin at the Kirtland Church Visitors Center at 11am on Saturday.

Sister Jensen and I and a few others were fairly busy during the week taking 3 cars to have repairs done and new tires put on them, and also getting an interior detail cleaning done on them.  I also had the President’s old 2011 Chev Traverse to get an interior detail cleaning done for it so it would be ready to be sold.  Finally by Friday about noon I had all 4 vehicles cleaned and ready to be sold, and the Caravan ready to be taken to Kirtland.  Elder Bringhurst, Elder Rawe, and Elder Garcia went with me to get the Caravan from the Detail Shop on Friday at 11am.  By the time we returned it was time for lunch, so I bought lunch for all four of us, and then took the Elders back to get their pickup so they could be to a 1pm appointment.  Elder Garcia is completing his mission next week and will return home on December 12^th.

Thursday evening we went to Geneseo to teach the Institute lesson.  We had only one person come, Alex, who was sustained today in Sacrament meeting as the new Ward Mission Leader, replacing Chris Elliott who has been a great Ward Mission Leader.  Alex is a fine young man and he will be blessed to do well as the Mission Leader.

Friday morning Sister Jensen helped prepare the food for feeding those who were coming to attend the all-day Zone Leader Council.  Then at about 10 am Sister Jensen went with Sister Servoss to go prepare and serve the meal to those who came to the Zone Leader Council, which is about 16 people.  They also stayed and cleaned up after the dinner.  We left the Mission Office shortly after 4pm to take our car home and get the things we needed to take with us to Kirtland.  On the way home we received a call that the Zone Leaders from Buffalo had come to the Mission Office to pick up a car that was supposed to be there for them to drive back to Buffalo.  They had ridden back from Buffalo on Thursday evening with President Christianson and spent the night at the mission home so they would be ready for Zone Leader Council on Friday morning at 9am.  They had me very confused because I knew nothing about having the car from Henrietta available for them to take with them.  When I got home I called President Christianson to find out what was supposed to be done.  He was busy in an interview so I talked with Sister Christianson and one of the AP’s to find out what they knew about this situation.  It turned out that they were really expecting to get the car from Webster, which is the same one I had been told by President to give to the Seneca Falls Sisters to drive while I was getting their van replaced by the new one I was going to get from Kirtland on Saturday.  So I called Elder Olsson and Elder Teichert, the zone leaders, and explained that there was not a car for them to take back to Buffalo.  After I got this explained to them I told them to stay at the Mission Office and we would come and get them and take them to Buffalo with us since that is the direction we would be going to get the van from Kirtland.  We had previously arranged with President Christianson to take Elder and Sister Ellis with us to Kirtland.  So we picked up Elder Olsson and Elder Teichert at the Mission Office and then drove to Brockport, to the same apartment we lived in for the first year of our mission.  There we picked up Elder and Sister Ellis and set off for Buffalo.  We stopped the Elders off at their apartment in Williamsville, a suburb in Eastern Buffalo.  We then drove to Erie Pennsylvania where we had reserved motel rooms for both us and the Ellis’s.  We got up early and headed for Kirtland Ohio, arriving about 9:30am.  We then spent the time until 11am looking at a special nativity display in the Main Visitors Center and the old School House next to it.  There were some awesome nativity sets on display; some of them from various parts of the world.  One in particular took up an entire corner of the main lobby of the Visitor’s Center.  The entire set was made of Olive Wood from Jerusalem, including the platform it was on, and the shelter and all of the figures, which were each about 18 inches to 2 feet tall; it was very beautiful.  The International Nativity sets were in the old School House.  While we were looking at these, Elder and Sister Jacklin walked in.  I did not know who Elder Jacklin was since I had never met him.  But he walked up to me and told me who he was and I shook his hand.  His wife then walked up to me and put her arms around me and gave me a big hug.  I was rather surprised at this until I looked in to her face; and there standing in front of me was Eileen Cloward Jacklin.  The same Eileen Cloward I had grown up with in Mapleton; Arlen Cloward’s daughter; and a grand-daughter of Charles and Olive Whiting.  Marv and Jay and I think Neil worked in the timber business that Arlen Cloward had at the time we were growing up.  Eileen is one year younger than I am; she recognized me right off, but it took me a few seconds longer.  When I recognized her we gave each other another hug, with her husband’s permission and even though hugging ladies is not permitted by mission rules, this time as reunited long lost friends.  It was a great reunion for us, we visited for 5 or 10 minutes then we finally introduced everyone in our group to each other.  Elder Jacklin and I then took care of exchanging keys and information about the vans.   The Jacklin’s stayed for a while and went through the first part of the Visitors Center tour with us, which the Ellis’s had never seen.  Elder Edmund was the Kirtland Site Director whom we had met last Spring when we went to Kirtland to get a Chev Colorado from the Cleveland FM Office; and we met him again on Saturday.  He had asked Elder and Sister Polis to give us a more detailed site tour than most people get.  After seeing the introductory film the Jacklin’s had to leave to go take care of some other assignments.  Eileen said she and her husband were currently the only senior couple in the mission office, so they were doing the work of 3 couples, how I do not know, but the Lord was blessing them.  They did have 2 Sister Missionaries helping them with some of the things in the office.  They will get another senior couple to help in February.  They will be receiving 60 new missionaries by February; Eileen will need to find new apartments for many of them. After saying a teary eyed farewell to the Jacklin’s, they left.  Elder and Sister Polis then spent the next two hours with us and shared some additional spiritually touching facts and information about the Kirtland area.  We were very blessed to see and hear all we did experience.  Elder & Sister Polis were so kind and informative; it was really a special visit.  It was too late to make a trip to the John Johnson Home; so the Ellis’s chose to spend some time seeing the Kirtland Temple and Visitor’s Center operated by the Community of Christ Church.  We were blessed to have Dave Cool as our tour guide.  As a young boy he had grown up in Kirtland and had lived in the home North of the Kirtland Temple where Joseph and Emma Smith had lived at one time.  He has been living in Kirtland for quite a few years with his family.  He told us he and his wife were the second to last couple to be married in the Kirtland Temple before marriages were no longer done in the temple.  He knew a lot of the history of the Kirtland area and he was very kind and shared many details with us and answered all of our questions about the history of the temple and the Kirtland area.  We also stopped at the Isaac Morley home and took some pictures.  We then tried to find a place to eat before starting home, but our GPS’s were not too helpful; so we started for home on I-90, hoping we would see a place to eat along the I-90.  When we reached Geneva Ohio we found a very nice restaurant and did not have to wait for a table, so we went in and had a fine dinner.  We then headed for home and took the Ellis’s back to their apartment in Brockport and then we made it home about 10:30 pm.  The distance traveled altogether was about 650 miles; but by going two thirds of the way Friday night it was not such a long trip.  We were greatly blessed with safety and with a good spiritual experience as well as a reunion with Eileen Cloward.

Our church meetings today were also very good with spiritual messages and good associations with members; and particularly being blessed to take the sacrament.  This next week is also going to be filled with many assignments, but we look forward to the blessings that await us.  We love each of you more than you know.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—2 December 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday we made preparations for taking care of the events that accompany a transfer week.  We had four new missionaries arriving Monday afternoon, one Sister and three Elders.  Then on Tuesday was the transfer meeting for all those involved in the missionary transfers.  Sister Jensen always helps with preparing the evening meals for the newly arriving missionaries; and also with the dinner Tuesday evening for those missionaries who are returning home on Wednesday morning.  She also helps with the refreshments on the Friday of transfer week when the new missionaries and their companions are trained by the President from 12 noon until 2pm.  Sister Jensen gets quite a lot of practice with food preparations for a variety of missionary related events.

On Tuesday the transfer meeting is at 12 noon; this gives the President and Sister Christianson time to take the new missionaries to the Sacred Grove in Palmyra where they have an opportunity to have a spiritual experience in the Sacred Grove and prepare for the rest of their mission to testify of what happened to Joseph Smith when he saw Heavenly Father and the Savior.  The missionaries here in our mission have the unique opportunity to be in the place where the restoration began.  All the missionaries in the rest of the world testify of the first vision to everyone they teach; our missionaries also have the blessing of being in the place where the vision occurred.  Immediately after the transfer meeting we spent some time providing some orientation and instruction to the new missionaries.  The three office couples share with the new missionaries, information about what help we can provide for them.  Sister Jensen tells them about referrals, and baptism record information they need to provide when the have baptisms. She also explains about how their mail will best be handled to insure they get their mail as soon as possible.  I spend some time on the policies and procedures related to the vehicles they are privileged to drive; and their responsibilities to take care of the vehicles.  I help them to provide all the information needed so they can be approved by the President to drive church vehicles.

Wednesday I was informed that two new vehicles were ready for me to pick up from an automobile dealer to replace older vehicles that I need to get ready to be sold.  One of the vehicles was a new Chevrolet Traverse for President and Sister Christianson to drive.  I made arrangements with the person at the dealership to get the vehicles on Friday morning.  On Monday and Tuesday I took two cars to a car repair shop to have some work done to get it ready to be sold.  On Thursday I took these same two cars to have an interior detail cleaning done on them so they would look very nice to any interested buyers.  On Thursday I also had a couple of guys come to the Office and do some work on a Toyota that is for sale, to buff out as many of the scratches in it as they could get out.  They did a pretty good job and made it look much better for the person who is interested in buying it.  On Friday afternoon I went to pick up the two cars that had the interior detailing done on them.  In other words, this was a week full of taking care of a variety of vehicle issues; there were a number of other issues besides these few.

Wednesday evening we attended the Site Training meeting at the Hill Cumorah so we could take the mail to the missionaries who come to this meeting.  It is always good to also learn from the instruction that is given.  Thursday evening we went to Geneseo to attend the Institute meeting; Brother Gammon did the teaching but we also come to all of the meetings.  Next Thursday it is my turn to teach the lesson again.

Most of this week Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss have been working on decorating a Christmas tree in the office.  It is a small artificial tree, but they are making paper ornaments, each with a small picture of each of the missionaries on it.  They will then hang these on the tree along with a few other things.  We will then use the tree at the Missionary Christmas meeting later in the month.  The Rochester and Buffalo Zones will meet on December 18^th, and the two Palmyra Zones will meet on December 19^th; both will be at the Kreag Road church where the mission office is located.

Saturday morning we took the other new Chevrolet Cruze that came on Friday to the sisters who live in Newark, which is just east of Palmyra.  We met them at the Book of Mormon Publishing Site in the Grandin Building.  They were very happy to get a new vehicle.  Neither of the sisters had ever driven a new vehicle; so they were quite excited to have this one.  Saturday afternoon we attended a Christmas Concert at the church in Pittsford, which is where the mission office is located.  The two wards who meet in this building had invited the members of the United Church of Pittsford and the Perinton Presbyterian Church and their two choirs to participate in the concert with the two ward choirs.  These two choirs were very good and a number of their members came to hear them.  This is the first time members from other churches had participated in such an event here in this area.  In addition to the concert there were also some nativity sets on display that had been made by various people.  They also had refreshments; it appeared to be a great event, we hope it can become a regular event in the coming years.  There is a Greater Rochester Area Ecumenical Council composed of the church leaders in a number of Christian Churches and they have included one of our stake presidents in the council.  Some good things have happened through our being a part of this group.

Today was our Fast and Testimony Meeting at church.  There was a good spirit present.  In Sunday School the Elders had an investigator attend with them, he has been about three times now.  He had some questions after the lesson which we talked about with him.  The Elders hope he will continue working towards a baptism date this month.  We are looking forward to viewing the First Presidency Christmas Devotional this evening; our two Elders in our ward are going to come to our home to see it with us.

Today is my fathers’ birthday, he would be 107.  Tuesday, the 4^th, is my brother Alma’s birthday day he would be 79.  We also remember Sister Jensen’s fathers’ birthday on November 23^rd, he would be 113.  I expect they will be having a great day where ever they are.  We express our love and deep sympathy to Annette Bates and her family as Jim’s funeral was held yesterday.  Jim is a great man in my judgment; he will be missed by Annette and the family.  We pray for their comfort and peace through the atonement of the Savior.  We love you Annette, and also your very good children and their families; may you feel the love of Heavenly Father and His loving arms around you.

We are so very grateful to each of you for your love and prayers in our behalf.  We have been greatly blessed and we gratefully recognize the hand of Heavenly Father in our lives and our efforts to be of service to Him and His Son Jesus Christ in helping in our small way in the work of gathering Israel.  We have a more powerful witness each day that He lives, and loves us all, and He will help us to do whatever we need to do, through the power of the atonement of the Savior, to become more faithful and obedient to His teachings so we might receive all the blessings He has promised us.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard