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