Message—20 December 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
Last week was very busy for us. On Tuesday we attended a missionary and Christmas training meeting with the Buffalo and Rochester Zones at the chapel in Amherst. We helped the Servoss’s and McVea’s with the snacks and lunch. Monday evening Sister Jensen, with a little help from me, took the meat off of 12 roasted chickens that were bought from Wegman’s, to use for the chicken salad sandwiches for the lunch on Tuesday. Sister Jensen also prepared the other ingredients to go in the chicken salad. Tuesday morning, early, Sister Jensen mixed all of the ingredients together to make the sandwiches. We left for Amherst about 7:45am and arrived about 10 minutes before 9am. We helped the McVea’s and Elder Servoss get the snacks and tables and decorations organized for the day. We attended the training until about 11am then the McVea’s, the Jensen’s, and Elder Servoss and Sister Moses and Sister Jones came and helped in the serving area to make the sandwiches and get the lunch ready for the missionaries and President & Sister Christianson. After the lunch we provided ice cream and all the topping items for the missionaries to make their own ice cream sundaes. Then we cleaned up and attended the rest of the training until about 4:30. We then helped gather up the food items left over and decide who was going bring what for the same training to be held on Wednesday for the two Palmyra Zones. The McVea’s took the meat off of six more chickens Tuesday evening so there would be plenty for the lunch on Wednesday. Wednesday morning we left home about 7:45 am to get to the Palmyra Stake Center before 9am. It turned out that there was enough chicken salad left from Tuesday to feed all the missionaries on Wednesday. Since we did not need the meat from the chickens the McVea’s did, they put the meat in the freezer to use for some other lunches for missionaries going home this week and new missionaries arriving on December 26th.
Sister and President Christianson provided the training both days. They both taught us about Christ and His life and all He has done for us to bless our lives as we follow Him and His example. They taught us about His matchless gifts to us. The President let us watch a movie entitled the “Ultimate Gift”. He then compared the gifts talked about in the movie with the gifts the Savior has given us. As missionaries, and church members, we should now offer to our brothers and sisters in our communities and other places we go, the opportunity to learn about these gifts available to them. As we learn to follow the example of Jesus Christ, we will also be learning to be like our Heavenly Father, because all the Savior has ever done is to follow the example of His Father.
Thursday we had a P-Day so we could get some clothes washed and take care of other things we needed to accomplish. We also rested some from three long days, and get ready for two more long days.
Friday we checked the apartments in the Palmyra North Zone. This took all of the daylight hours. We installed new carbon monoxide detectors in all of the apartments we check this month, because the ones currently there have been installed for longer than the warranty specifies. On Saturday we checked the three apartments in the Buffalo Zone which we are assigned. Then Saturday evening we attended our ward Christmas dinner. We had a great evening with the members who were there.
Monday we went to the Mission Office to help while Sister McVea and Sister Servoss went to help Sister Christianson with a lunch for the missionaries who were to fly home on Tuesday so they would be with their families for Christmas. The new missionaries will be coming on December 26th. After we finished helping in the office, we went back to our apartment and picked up a few things and then drove back to the Westfall chapel and picked up Elder Swanner and Elder Olsen and took them to the Joseph Smith Farm Visitor Center. For Family Home evening last night the senor missionary couples provided some special Christmas presentations at the Joseph Smith Log Home and the Smith Frame Home. Members from all of the stakes in the area had been invited to come. Then also in the visitor center some of the missionaries sang some Christmas songs and had the people who came, join in singing some of the songs. There were also some children’s games in the lower level of the visitor center. Cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate were also provided. There were a lot of people who attended. Many of the people went to the log home and frame home and the barn by the frame home and there were some senior missionaries in each place who were telling stories about the birth of Jesus; and also about Christmas in the Smith home in the 1800’s. We also went to Farmington and delivered a rent check for an apartment into which two sister missionaries will be moving on Wednesday. We also picked up the keys to get into the apartment on Wednesday. We did not get home until 10 pm, so I did not get the blog message done until tonight.
Today, Tuesday, we had our district meeting at our apartment. Sister Jensen fixed a nice dinner for the elders for a Christmas gift. After the dinner we also had some missionary training given by the zone leaders. They had us listen to some instruction given by Elder Bednar at the Provo MTC earlier this year. The topic was about how to be a Preach My Gospel missionary; it was very excellent instruction, followed by a powerful testimony of the Savior. After the district meeting we went to check the apartments in Geneseo, Warsaw, and Battavia.
We are pleased to learn that Lynne and Chris will be having a baby boy in April; we were hoping for a girl, but we are just as happy it is a boy. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas together with your families. We also hope you take time to remember the Savior and recognize the peace and love and blessings that come through his gifts to us.
We love you all,
Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine
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