Message 17 October 2011

Message—17 October 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

Another week has vanished in little more than a blink of the eye it seems.  After office Staff Meeting on Monday we spent much of the rest of the day taking care of assignments from the President and gathering together things we would need to go check apartments on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Tuesday we checked half of the apartments in the Rochester Zone; then on Wednesday we checked the rest of the apartments in the Rochester Zone, which included apartments in Batavia, Warsaw, and Geneseo.  While traveling to the apartments in these three towns, which are at higher elevations, we were blessed to see some of the handiwork of the Lord in the color changes in the leaves of the trees and shrubs.  We took some pictures of some of the scenes.  We will try to get them added to the Blog in the next week or so, for you to see.

Thursday we attended a Special Training meeting for all the missionaries.  It was held in the chapel at the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette.  This is where the translation of the Book of Mormon was finished by the Prophet Joseph Smith.  It is also where the Three Witnesses saw the Plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated along with the other things shown to them by the Angel Moroni.  Twenty of the sections in the Doctrine and Covenants were also received at Fayette.  One part of the training was related to all the missionaries reading the Book of Mormon in the last six weeks.  Some of the missionaries shared what they learned from reading the Book of Mormon.  About twenty or more missionaries also shared their testimonies of the Book of Mormon.  President Christianson invited us to begin again to read the Book of Mormon only do it slower this time and search for all the verses which refer to, discuss, or witness of the atonement of the Savior.  This meeting was very uplifting, beneficial, and spiritually strengthening.

Friday we checked apartments in Lockport, Niagara, and Buffalo.  One of the apartments in downtown Buffalo was in a high rise building.  The elevator was one of the old types where it does not open automatically, you have to manually pull the outer door open then you also have to manually open a second accordion type mesh door to get in.  You then have to manually close both doors and then when we got to the third floor you have to open both doors again to get out.  This may give some of the older people an idea how old the apartment building is.

Saturday I went to a members place to help with a service project.  Brother DeGraff has about 40 acres of woods (trees, in New York a forest is called the woods); and he has offered to the Bishop whatever quantity of wood may be needed to help any of the families in the ward who heat their homes with wood.  The ward members go to his place each fall and cut down the trees and split them and stack them and cover them so they can dry through the winter and then they can be used the next year.  Brother Degraff and his son and I were the only ones who came.  We worked for a few hours and then the rain and high winds came, which made it unsafe to continue so we quit.  Brother DeGraff is one of my favorite people in the ward; he is just an all-around good person who will do anything for anybody, and he is a faithful home teacher and, honors his priesthood.  I was blessed to have a number of these kinds of people to mentor and teach me in my youth.

Sunday night we attended an awesome performance by some of the Senior Missionaries who serve at the Palmyra Temple.  It was held in the Palmyra Stake Center building across the road from the Palmyra Temple, and just a few hundred yards from the Joseph Smith Home and the Sacred Grove.  The theme was focused on the life of Joseph Smith.  There were three sisters who alternated playing the organ and piano.  There were three men who had put together a short narration, including some quotes, covering the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Some of the hymns of the restoration were played on the piano or organ or together as an organ/piano duet; and there was also one vocal solo.  They used a laptop computer and computer projector to project pictures related to the songs being played or sung.  It was very well done.

We are so greatly blessed to be here serving in this mission.  We have wonderful and powerful experiences which greatly add to our testimonies of the truth of the scriptures and the gospel and all of its doctrines and ordinances.  We know with an absolute certainty that Heavenly Father lives, loves us, and answers our prayers; we are all his children.  Our mortal family lineage goes through hundreds of generations; but we are spirit children of Heavenly Father, so there is only one generation from Him.  We also witness that Jesus Christ lives, and he is the Savior and Redeemer of all the world; his atonement and resurrection are real and will bless us eternally as we use the atonement to help us change and follow Him.  Joseph Smith is the prophet of this last dispensation and was the person through whom the Book of Mormon was translated and made available to bless our lives with its truths.  The Book of Mormon is a powerful witness of the Savior and the fullness of His gospel.  President Monson is the prophet of the Lord, we know he is; and we sustain him and the other prophets, seers, and revelators who serve with him.

We hope all of you are doing as well as you can under the circumstances you each have to deal with in your lives.  We know you all your own bucket of rocks and challenges and trials to deal with.  We pray for all of you and know that as you pray for help from Heavenly Father He will sustain, guide, and comfort you and help you to overcome whatever happens in your life.  We can always trust what Heavenly Father prompts us to do through the Holy Ghost.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine