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