Message—8 November 2011
Dear Family & Friends,
On Halloween night we attended a social for all the senior couples in the mission at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center in the basement. We shared an organized potluck dinner and then had some entertainment by a few of the couples. Elder McVea did some magic tricks and also did his famous chicken dance; he is awesome at doing it. One senior elder played his guitar and sang some old 1950’s songs. Another senior elder quoted some cowboy poetry. It was a fun social.
Tuesday we drove down to Hornell to check to see if an apartment the Elders there had found would be suitable for them. The apartment they are currently living in is way too small for them to be able to meet their needs, and also has some other problems. After seeing the new apartment, it was a great improvement over the one they are now in. When Elder Bryson saw how much larger the bathroom was he was as excited as a young boy on Christmas morning. We will be going down to Hornell on November 12th to help move them in to the new apartment.
On Wednesday I helped our two Elders here in Brockport some other ward members, move a member and her family from one old home into another old home. The member, Sister Newbould, had rented a U-Haul truck to help us move her belongings. On the way back from our second trip to the new home, I made a wrong turn and got lost. I had to stop at a house and ask for directions to get back to the old house where our car was parked, so we could get to a 6pm appointment the Elders and us both had. We had left some boxes in the truck on our trip back to get the rest of things. Elder Swanner and Elder Olsen rode in the back of the truck to keep the boxes in the back from tipping over; I had left the roll up door in the back of the truck up a little bit so they would have some light and air. While riding in the back, the Elders found a toy truck. They tied a string on to the truck and let it out on to the road. At first it did fine then as we picked up speed the string broke and the truck went off the side of the road. The Elders then started throwing a Frisbee around inside the back of the truck. It got away from them and rolled out the back and was rolling along the road on its edge. A car that was following the truck tried to dodge the frisbee and ended up screeching to a stop, but no one was hurt and no damage was done to the car. Sometimes elders have too much fun on their missions.
Wednesday evening we went with the elders to have dinner with a wonderful member couple, Lee and Loraine Arrington. The elders have been helping Lee, during their 4 hours a week service time, put in a winding rock sidewalk from their driveway to the front door. Lee is a very talented person. He does beautiful woodwork of many kinds. He can weld and do many other things. He has offered to give me some instructions on doing lathe work, and building a bowl or something on my P-Day. We had a lovely dinner and visit and shared some gospel messages with the Arrington’s.
Thursday we went to the mission office and spent the morning helping with some projects. We also went to the storage units where we keep furniture and other supplies for the missionary apartments. We did some reorganizing and helped the AP’s get some things they needed to give to some of the zone leaders to take to some missionaries.
On Friday we drove down to the far South of our mission to the town of Wellsville to help the two Elders there move into a different apartment across the street from where they were living. The reason for doing this was so the apartment owner could do some work on the old apartment and fix it up. The new apartment was nicer than where they have been living. Elder Wilson and Elder Caldwell are two of the most obedient missionaries in the mission. They have been greatly blessed in finding people to teach; and they have had baptisms as well.
Saturday we finally had P-Day so we could get the wash done, and the apartment cleaned up. It was very helpful to have this time to take care of things that we have had to let go for 2 weeks.
Sunday was a wonderful day at church. We had a great Fast & Testimony meeting. The elders had two investigators who attended for the 2nd week in a row. One of the recent converts, Sidney, was asked to help teach the Primary Sunbeam class. We gave her a ride to church and she was nervous about doing this before the meeting. After the meetings were over Sidney said she had a great spiritual experience with the children. She said they knew all the answers to the questions in the lesson. Sunday evening we had the elders; Marin and Sidney two recent converts who attend College; and two of Marin’s roommates, Stephanie and Yazzini, who are not members, come to dinner. They then stayed to see the CES Fireside broadcast with President Packer as the speaker. We had a great experience together and Stephanie and Yazzini felt the power of the Spirit from President Packers talk. Stephanie is a music major at the Roberts Wesleyan College; and she was asked by the Primary President to play the piano next week at Primary as a substitute for the person who usually plays the piano. She accepted and is excited to do it.
Today after the Mission Office Staff meeting we went to the Mission Presidents home and rearranged the load of furniture and other things in an enclosed trailer at the president’s home. Some of these things will be needed by a new senior couple who will be arriving in the mission next week. We were given an assignment by the president to find an apartment for this new senior missionary couple, and get it furnished for them. They will be working with the ASL Branch in the Rochester Stake. We also drove a new car, a Toyota Corolla, back to our apartment with us for the elders here. There old car, a Mazda, has over 49000 miles on it and is being replaced.
We express our sincere sympathy and love for Josh and April and Josh’s family at the passing of Josh’s brother, Kelly. We pray for Susan, Kelly’s mother, and all of her family that the peace and comfort provided by the Savior and his atonement will sustain and support them and help them to carry on in their lives with faith and hope in Heavenly Father’s eternal plan. Kelly’s funeral was today, Josh was asked to speak at the funeral. I was able to help Josh last Thursday, find some sources to help him with preparing his talk. We have not heard a report on how the funeral was. We will be praying for Olivia as she goes through the challenges of getting a hearing aid and learning to leave it in her ear. Her right ear is the one that needs some assistance to enable her to hear. We continue to pray for Norm Erickson that he can get his heart to function right so he can go through the treatments needed to help him have his cancer go into remission. We hope Austin continues to recover from the serious infection he has had; and also that he will not have any problems in the future from this infection and immunity problems.
We share our testimony of the truths of the restoration and the fullness of the gospel which has come through the prophets of this dispensation from Joseph Smith to President Monson. We know and witness the Book of Mormon is a very powerful testimony of our Savior, Jesus the Christ. We know Heavenly Father lives and is very much involved in the details of our lives and answers prayers according to His wisdom and timing. We also know the Savior lives and provided the atonement so we can repent; and he also suffered death and was resurrected and we will all be resurrected also. The gospel is perfectly true and correct. We are very grateful to be serving as missionaries. We love you all and pray for your well-being and happiness.
Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine
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