Message 12 August 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday in the mission office staff meeting it was my turn to provide a thought.  I shared some thoughts from Ether chapter 6.  A question was asked about the two additional stones that were prepared to translate what the Jaredites would write later.  This led to President Christianson sharing some thoughts and information he knew about the Urim and Thummim and some related scriptures.  It was a good discussion and we felt the Spirit.

Tuesday two Elders from the Palmyra area came to the office for me to take them to Fred Foti’s Collison Repair shop to see what could be done about repairing the loose front bumper on their car.  We got that fixed and stopped at another repair shop to take care of an engine maintenance light problem.  When we returned to the mission office Elder Olsen asked me a question about what bed bugs look like.  He then also showed me some bites around his ankles and asked if they could be bed bug bites.  I knew they were right off, but we looked on the internet and found some reliable information about bed bugs including pictures of them and what the bites look like.  After seeing the pictures he said I killed one of them on my bed this morning; and then he said my bites look just like some of the ones in the pictures.  I said you definitely have bed bugs in your apartment.  We called Elder and Sister Ellis and had them talk with Elder Olsen and give him instructions on what they needed to do to take care of the problem.  The Ellis’s went to their apartment the next day to help them get things ready for the exterminator to come and spray the apartment.  This is the second missionary apartment we have had with bed bugs.  We sure hope they do not spread to other missionary apartments.  Sister Jensen went with Sister Servoss to help Sister Christianson with providing a last meal for 5 missionaries who went home a few weeks early so they would be able to get ready for attending a university to continue their education.  These missionaries flew home on Wednesday.

Wednesday I and Elder Servoss went over to the church on Kreag Rd. which is about a mile from the office.  The last week of this month we will be moving the mission office into this building.  As we got to the entrance to where the office will be the FM Manager was holding his phone to his ear and saw us coming and said how did you know I was calling you.  We said we did not know but the Spirit did and told us to come.  We were able to solve some issues related to our moving in to the building and we also obtained the information for which we went to obtain.  This helped us put some finishing touches on how to arrange the existing furniture in the office in the Kreag Rd. building.  We have planned with the President and some other missionaries who serve in areas near us, to come and help us get things moved from the current office into the Kreag Rd. building.  We will make the move on August 27^th.  The new office address is given below; be sure you notice the spelling of Kreag (it is pronounced like Craig but spelled as you see it below).  You can put our names above the New York Rochester Mission.

New York Rochester Mission

460 Kreag Rd.
Pittsford, NY 14534

Also on Wednesday evening we taught the Institute lesson for the GVB YSA.  The lesson was on Moroni chapter 1-6.  There are a number of great principles and doctrines taught in these few short chapters.  One principle came to me by the Spirit as I pondered on Moroni 6:4-5.  This verse is obviously related to how to do things in the church; the process is that after we are received unto baptism and are cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost; the people were numbered, their names taken, they were remembered and nourished by the good word of God (scriptures & revelation), to keep them in the right way.  This is absolutely true for how to help baptized members.  I was prompted by a strong Spiritual witness to also make the application of these principles to our own families.  The baptism and cleansing fits in later.  As parents we bring children into our families with God’s help.  We number them, 1^st child, 2^nd child etc. (if we only have one child then we only have one number 1child; each child is number one as we teach them one on one).  We name them, then we remember their name (especially in our prayers), and then we nourish them physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually; including using the scriptures, including those from living prophets.  The object of these efforts is to keep them in the right way so that when the time for baptism comes they will be cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost.  We must then continue to remember and nourish them and help them keep in the right way until they are ready and worthy to receive temple ordinances; then we continue to help them some more.  In verse 5 we are instructed to meet together oft, fast and pray and speak one with another concerning the welfare of our souls.  In addition to church meetings we also meet in family home evening, family prayer, scripture study, meal times, parent and child one on one visits etc.  This is one of those experiences where we can liken the scriptures unto ourselves and by making the application we can receive additional blessings.  We can also use these principles as grandparents with our children and grandchildren.

Thursday and Friday we had fairly normal days in the mission office.  Friday morning I had my monthly MARC meeting with President Christianson and the AP’s.  This meeting is to coordinate matters related to the vehicles and missionaries who drive them.  We council about the number of miles they drive which exceed their allotted number of miles and we also discuss whether we have the vehicles in the right areas.  We have around 46 companionships, but we only have 43 vehicles, so there are 3 companionships without vehicles.

Saturday morning we arose early and drove to the Hill Cumorah Visitor Center for a meeting in the basement room with all the senior missionary site couples and Elder and Sister Searle who are the Site Directors.  The Searle’s had arranged to have Elder Gordon Smith, our new Area Seventy, speak to us at 7:15 am.  Elder Smith was also there to meet with a group of Scouts and their leaders who were having a regional Scout Jamboree.  There were scouts from all over NY and some groups also from Canada.  Elder Smith had spent some time training scout leaders Friday evening.  President Christianson had spoken to the group earlier in the day on Friday.  After speaking to us early Friday morning, Elder Smith then also spoke with the scouts and their leaders at the lowering of the flag ceremony ending the Jamboree.  Also Saturday morning President Larry Gibson, First Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, came to teach the scouts and their leaders.  It was a great experience for those who attended.  Some of the scouts also went to the Palmyra Temple and did baptisms for the dead while they were there.

Elder Smith shared with us an experience he had with then, Elder Uchtdorf, in trying to obtain legal recognition of the church in Italy.  Elder Smith was at the time a US Senator and arranged for he and Elder Uchtdorf to meet with the Italian Minister who was over religious affairs, she was a very knowledgeable woman; and she had asked the assistant minister to also attend the meeting.  Senator Smith introduced Elder Uchtdorf as an apostle in the church.  He then introduced the discussion by referring to some quotes from the NATO Treaty which included the USA and Italy.  He then had Elder Uchtdorf explain the problems our LDS members were experiencing and asked if the church could be legally recognized.  The Minister then asked the Assistant Minister what he thought.  He shared an experience he had the previous year in visiting Utah and Salt Lake City, including the Temple Square.  He said two young Italian Sister Missionaries had given him a tour of Temple Square.  He said he was so positively impressed with the two Italian young ladies and said that he wished there were thousands more of young ladies like them in Italy.  He was confident that the church could help make this happen.  He also said to Senator Smith and Elder Uchtdorf that we would like you to build a temple like the Salt Lake Temple here in Rome.  Legal status was given to the LDS Church and other churches as well.  This was also the beginning of the process to get approval to build the now partly built Rome Temple and related facilities.  The two young Italian missionaries had a great influence in helping this process come to pass.  Never underestimate the power of a good example in the hands of the Lord.

Today we attended our church meetings and had very good instruction from speakers, teachers, and leaders.  The Geneseo Ward has some great members and leaders.  The Ward Mission Leader is very helpful and is a great help to the missionary work in the ward, including getting the members to participate in a variety of ways.

We are in the process of contacting the YSA age group members in the ward and inviting them to attend Institute this fall beginning on September 20^th.  We hope to get some of the YSA to attend.  We are also coordinating with the Senior Couple in the Warsaw Branch to invite their YSA to also come to the Geneseo Ward Institute.  The Warsaw Branch is immediately west of the Geneseo Ward Boundary, only about 20 miles away; so maybe some of them will also come.

If my math is correct, on August 19^th, next Sunday, my wonderful faithful parents will have been sealed for 81 years of their eternal temple marriage.  Oh how greatly blessed I have been to a member of the Ruel and Ethel Jensen family.  Heavenly Father has been so good and kind to me by blessing me with these two obedient, faithful, and loving parents.  I love them so much for all they have done for me, and I hope I can live worthy to be with them in the eternities.

We express our great appreciation to all of you for your prayers in our behalf and in behalf of our children and their families.  We feel the power of your prayers and thank Heavenly Father and the Savior for all they do to bless us.  Please know that we also pray for each of you and your families in your challenges and trials.  We know you will be blessed and sustained and guided in all that is required of you.  As we pray in faith and then live in obedience to the gospel teachings our prayers will be answered according to the love, wisdom, and timing of Heavenly Father.  The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost really do live and love us and guide us in our lives; we know this is true.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message 5 August 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Another week has flown by on wings of lightning.  Monday and Tuesday were fairly normal days in the mission office.  Sister Jensen has kept busy with following up with the missionaries on contacting referrals they were given to see what the outcome of their visits was.  Some of the missionaries have found some people who are very interested in learning about the gospel.  One man who speaks only Spanish has sent 2 self-referrals to have someone bring a Spanish Book of Mormon and teach him about the church.  He lives in Batavia; the Batavia missionaries tried to contact him by texting in English but he replied he cannot speak or text in English.  President Christianson has authorized the Elders who speak and teach in Spanish in Rochester, to travel out of their normal area to go down to Batavia and teach him.  The 2 sister missionaries who were just moved to Brockport, where we were first assigned, followed up to contact two referrals and they both invited the sisters to come and teach them.  Our missionaries are being blessed with some success from the pageant referrals.  Tuesday evening Sister Jensen prepared some food for having lunch together after our mission office staff meeting Wednesday morning.  The staff meeting was changed from the normal Monday time to Wednesday due to some issues the President had to take care of on Monday and Tuesday.  Also on Wednesday after the lunch the President interviewed the couples who work in the office.  He is a great president and is dedicated to doing all he can to help the work move forward.

Wednesday evening we taught the GVB (Genesee Valley Branch) Institute at 7:30pm in the building they meet in which is on Culver Road in Rochester.  We had only 8 people attend, but we had a good discussion about Ether Chapter 6-15.  In Chapter 6 verses4-8 are a few great lessons for our earth life.  In verse 4 it states “…when they had prepared…”; not before they prepared but after; sometimes we go forth not prepared and things do not always turn out quite so well.  If we prepare first, including spiritual preparation, things go better for us.  At the end of verse 4 it says when they had done all the things to prepare, then they got aboard the barges “…and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.”  This is a great lesson to learn; after preparing, then set forth to do whatever it is we are supposed to do.  The last phrase has great significance; that is “…commending ourselves to the Lord…”.  To me that means trust Him, put our full faith in Him, and rely upon Him to help us complete what we are supposed to do.  The people of Jared had no way to steer the barges, they were totally and completely in the Hands of the Lord to get them across the great waters safely; and they trusted He would do just that.  In verse 5 it says the Lord caused a furious wind to blow towards the promised land.  While there was a furious wind and they were often buried beneath the waves, they had prepared the barges so they were “…tight like unto a dish…”; therefore the water did not get in the barges to cause any harm to them.  With correct preparation we can safely travel through our adversity and trials without being harmed, either physically or spiritually.  The other great lesson here is that for the 344 days they were in the barges being driven by the furious wind, and often being buried under the water; they were carefully being guided to the correct destination.  Our lives are like that, we have adversity and trials all along the way; but if we totally trust the Lord we will be guided to the correct destination by Him, including learning from the adversity; but not destroyed by the adversity.  What a wonderful and wise and loving Heavenly Father we have to trust in and have faith in and allow Him to get us where He wants us to be; if we will allow Him to do so.  The YSA had great comments to go along with the lesson; we had a good institute class.

Thursday afternoon we drove to Batavia and met up with Elder and Sister Jones who have been serving in Warsaw for the last year; they leave tomorrow to return to their home in Utah after completing a very effective and successful mission.  They are great people and have made great contributions to the Warsaw Branch.  A recent convert, Sister Strang, were with the Jones’s and she led us to the town of Akron NY to visit the Perry Ice Cream Company Plant.  Brother Strang is a good friend with one of the company executives and he had arranged for us to have a tour of their ice cream making plant.  Roseann was our tour guide and we were able to see most of the process of how their ice cream is made and packaged.  They distribute ice cream products in NY, PA, Virginia and Southern Vermont.  It was very interesting to see this; and Sister Strang was happy to be with us.  Her and her husband were both baptized into the church a few weeks ago; the Jones’s worked with them for almost the entire year they have been here.  Brother Strang’s son was able to perform the baptism for both of them so it was a great day in their lives.  We then went to a restaurant in Batavia for our last dinner with the Jones’s before they return home to Utah.

Friday morning early, Sister Jensen prepared some food to help feed those who would be coming to the President’s home for Zone Leader Council.  This Zone Leader Council group includes the President and his wife, the four zone leaders, the young sister Site Trainers, Sister Chatterton and Sister Hatch right now, and Elder and Sister Searle who are the Site Directors over all the senior couples and young sisters who serve at the historic sites.  They have this meeting on the first Friday of each month from 9am to 4pm.  Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss help Sister Christianson with feeding these people lunch and providing snacks for them during their two breaks.

Saturday was our P-Day so we took care of our “home” work including cleaning the house and preparing for this next week.  Today, Sunday, we attended our church meetings in Geneseo.  We had a great Fast and Testimony Sacrament meeting and good lessons in our other meetings.  In the Gospel Principles class the teacher was finally successful in getting an investigator to say the closing prayer; he did just fine.  In the High Priest Group meeting our lesson was chapter 11 of Preach My Gospel; which is about making and keeping commitments.  These principles not only apply to missionary work but they also apply to our own personal lives, our families, and our work lives as well.  Making commitments and keeping them is how we make changes in our lives to improve in any area we choose to work on.

We have been informed that Casey and her mother, from Brockport NY, made it safely to Utah and they are enjoying their visits to all the places they have planned to go.  Kristine is inviting them to go to the Castle Valley Pageant with them; this would be a great experience for them, so we hope they go.  Thank you to all who are helping in any way at home with all the challenges each of you are having.  We pray for you and you are frequently in our thoughts during the day and night.

We express our love for those who have birthdays this month and hope you have a great day on your special birthday.  We are two days late wishing Mckinzi a happy birthday, but we heard you had a good day.  We wish a Happy Birthday to Britt on Aug 16^th, Wyatt on Aug 18^th, Aaron on Aug 20^th, and to Chris on Aug 26^th.  We will all be praying for Shaun on Aug 22^nd that his surgery will be successful in enabling him to be healed; and that his recovery will be quick and complete.  We also pray for Bailey to have her problem correctly diagnosed and corrected.  We love each of you and are so grateful for all you do for us, including praying for us.  We likewise pray for each of you.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message 29 July 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

This past week was not as physically exhausting as the week before.  We have recovered mostly from our trip to Utah to attend with Austin and Josie being sealed in the Draper Temple and having a family reunion while we were there.  Monday evening we attended the new missionary orientation training at President Christianson’s home.  There were 6 new Elders and 2 new Sisters who arrived in the mission Monday.  We provided our standard training for these 8 new missionaries.  The missionaries seem to just keep getting better and better as each new group comes.  Also on Monday when Sister Jensen checked her computer referral file she found there were 150 new referrals; most of them came through the Pageant, but some also came from other sources.  She also received some additional referrals during the week.  She has to get these sent to the right missionaries, or to the right mission and follow up with the ones within our mission to report what happened.  She kept very busy with all of these during the week.  Some of these people invited the missionaries to return and teach them more about the gospel.  One lady accepted the invitation to be baptized on the first visit.

On Tuesday I went to the Transfer meeting at the Kreag Road Chapel.  With all of the transfers that were made I had a number of new designated drivers to talk with and provide the needed instruction.  I also took the mail that had come to the mission office for the missionaries.  Elder Servoss also gave me the new directories with the changes in companionships for those who needed these directories.  On Wednesday 7 Elders and one Sister returned to their homes after completing an honorable and successful mission.  We will miss these great  missionaries.

Wednesday evening I had accepted a request from the regional CES Director to teach his Institute class that night, and also the next four Wednesday’s while he does some training of Seminary teachers.  There were about 15 YSA youth who attended.  We discussed the first 5 chapters in the Book of Ether; it was a good discussion and meeting.

Thursday I and Sister Jensen got the letter and form printed and mailed so the missionaries can do their July Car Reports.  I hope they will follow through and get the reports done and mailed to me by August 1^st.

Saturday we attended our Geneseo Ward Pioneer Activity.  We did sack races, three-legged races, handcart races, and a tug of war; then we had food and a bake sale that was a silent auction to help provide money for the Young Women to go to their YW Camp.  One of the tug of war pulls was between the missionaries (Elder Maisey, Elder Stoddard, and myself) and all the Primary Children.  We did pretty good to begin with, but they kept adding more children until we lost.  Everyone had fun and it was a good activity.  We then met the Servoss’s at the Henrietta Mall and went to the Amish Stores up in Lyndonville to get some things they have.  We then went to a restaurant to dinner with the Servoss’s and then went home.

Today we had a good day at church; the speakers talked about qualities that our Pioneer ancestors had and how we can apply them in our life.  The talks were good.  After our church meetings we met the Elder’s at their apartment with some lunch we had brought with us which Sister Jensen prepared.  After eating we spent the rest of the afternoon taking the Elders to some referrals which were in the far reaches of the Geneseo Ward area.  All but one of the people let the missionaries talk with them; one couple let the Elders teach a discussion.  The man was very interested in the church doctrines except for the Word of Wisdom.  He said he would be baptized if he did not have to give up his tea, coffee, and wine.  The missionaries may be able to go back and teach more to a few of these people.

We are being greatly blessed as a mission by reading the Book of Mormon together.  There are miracles happening and people being taught and accepting the invitation to repent and be baptized.  We are having more unity and more spiritual blessings come to each companionship, including us senior couples.  Reading, pondering about, and praying about the Book of Mormon really does bring the promised blessings into our homes, and our lives, and our marriages.  Our testimonies of the gospel are being added to every day; we know Heavenly Father, lives and loves us, Jesus Christ is truly our Savior, President Monson is the Lord’s prophet today, the scriptures are true including the Book of Mormon.  We love each of you and pray for you daily.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message 22 July 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Since the last blog message was done on Tuesday, this blog message should be shorter; but because of what we did the rest of the week it may not be any shorter.  Last Tuesday evening we attended the Hill Cumorah Pageant, this time without having an assignment.  We just sat back and relaxed and greatly enjoyed the Pageant.  We knew this would be the last time we would have the opportunity to see the Pageant while we are serving as missionaries.  The Pageant is much like the scriptures; as we read the scriptures we keep learning more from them, even though we have read the words previously.  Each time we have seen the Pageant while serving as missionaries, we have also learned new things we did not notice previously, even though we have seen it.  Prior to the Pageant we attended two presentations given in the basement of the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center.  Since this is the 75^th anniversary of the Pageant; these two presentations were on the topic of the history of the Pageant.  One was a 15 minute video summary of some Pageant milestones.  A number of people who were a part of producing and directing the Pageant provided short comments about some of the miracles of the Pageant.  The second presentation was done by two past presidents of the Pageant, and the costume designer for many of the Pageant costumes.  Charles Whetten was the director and producer of the 1988 completely revised version of the Pageant; he spoke about how the Lord’s hand was very evident in putting this new production together through divine direction.  Orson Scott card wrote a lot of the script for the 1988 Pageant.    Crawford Gates talked about a few experiences he had in writing the music for the 1988 production.  We learned later that the music he wrote has had very few minor changes in it since he wrote it; essentially the same music is still used today.   While he was working on the music; he said he prayed a lot and had done 17 writings of the music but none of them sounded right.  So he asked one of the 12 apostles to give him a blessing to help him; which was done.  In the blessing one phrase stood out to him; he was told he would feel the right music.  This is precisely what happened and he was then able to complete the music and have it sound right.  The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Utah Symphony, and the Mormon Youth Choir performed the music; and it was professionally recorded.  Gail and Jerry Argetsinger were involved in producing the pageant for a number of years; they are both in the University Of Rochester Theater Department.  Gail designed over 3000 of the costumes used in the Pageant.  Gail shared a couple of miraculous experiences in getting the costumes done for the 1988 Pageant.  One was about being led by the Spirit to two unique dress shops in NY where she obtained 50 of the costumes she needed which were already to use as they were; and they matched exactly the type of clothing that would have been worn by people who lived in the time of the people who would have lived when the event took place.  The second one was the miracle of the Goop.  This mixture was used to make cording on a group of costumes.  Gail had the lady who actually placed the Goop on the costumes tell her personal experience in doing this.  The Goop was put in place on the costumes by using a cake decorating squeeze tube.  She placed the Goop on the costumes for the first performance; and as the cast members went out on the stage the temperature was so hot and the humidity so high the Goop melted and ran down the costumes.  The next morning when the lady told Gail they had a problem to fix; Gail asked how much Goop she had left, and she said about one Cool Whip size container full.  Gail asked how much she needed and she said about 2 gallon; but they had not time to get any more.  They prayed together for help to take care of the problem, and Gail left to take care of some other things.  The lady went to work putting the Goop back on the newly cleaned costumes.  She just kept filling up her squeeze tube from the same Cool Whip size container; and after a few hours she had them all done.  At this point it finally dawned on her that the amount of Goop had been enough to do the job; and she still had about as much as she started with.  This second Goop application lasted for the rest of the Pageant, even though it was hot and humid.  Another miracle happened in getting the totally new stage built in time for the Pageant in 1988.  The full new script had not been approved by the First Presidency until the first of the year 1988.  The directors told the crew to save the old stage and store it behind the Hill Cumorah just in case it was needed; a few weeks after that the old stage caught fire and was destroyed.  They had not yet found a stage building company that had time to build a stage.  By divine help Thiokol Chemical Co. near Ogden UT had somehow gained access to some oil well drilling platforms which fit the need for the new stage.  Footings were put in place on which to place the platforms.  When the platforms arrived the legs did not match the footings that were made.  At this point they discovered that the Lord had provided a member of the Cast and Crew who was a professional welder; so they set up a welding fabrication shop area and the welder and some helpers made the right legs to fit the footings.  The stage was finished within just a few days of the Thursday night rehearsal.   These are a few of the miracles of the Pageant; there are many more; they lead me to know that this Pageant is the Lord’s Pageant, not man’s.

Wednesday evening we went to the airport to get on a plane to fly to Provo to be present for the temple sealing of our grandson Austin and his wife Josie in the Draper Temple on Saturday.  Our flight from Rochester to Atlanta was delayed an hour; and our flight from Atlanta to SLC was also an hour and a half late leaving; but we finally made it SLC about 1:30am; where Jana was waiting to pick us up and take us to our house.  We arrived at about 2:45 am Thursday; that was a 22 hour day for us from Wednesday at 6am to when we arrived at our home.  We went a few days early so we could take care of a few items of business we needed to do; and also our family had arranged to have a family reunion with us on Friday while we were there.  We express our great appreciation to all who helped with the reunion; it was truly an awesome reunion.  We are so pleased and happy that all of our children were able to come while we were there.  We had a very enjoyable few days together.  We were blessed to see and hold our 28^th grandchild for the first time and to also see two of our great grand-children we had not seen or held yet.  We were able to visit for a few minutes with some of our neighbors while we were there.  We met our new neighbor across the road who is a Police Officer and has been very good to keep an eye on our place.  We also visited with our neighbors Ruth Johnson, and Bruce and Linda Gammon, and Harold and Gloria Thomas and their son John; and also Dee Ann Jenkin, who is an aunt to Elder Hole here in our mission.  Saturday was beautiful day and we had a spiritual experience to help Austin and Josie receive their temple ordinances, including being sealed forever.  We were pleased to meet Josie’s family; they are great people.  We were very blessed to also have Jay be available to do the sealing for them, and Loni was with Jay.  Thank you very much Jay for being available to do the sealing for them; The Spirit directed what was said.  Due to poor communication on my part, Jay and Loni were in an earlier endowment session than we and Austin and Josie; I failed to follow a prompting to call Jay on Friday; I feel badly that we missed having them on the same session with us.  There was a powerful felling of the Spirit in the temple with us; some of our parents and family and ancestors from the Spirit world attended with us; I know and felt that is true.  We spent some additional time with some of the family Saturday evening.  This morning we got up 4 am and Josh picked us up and got us to the SLC airport by about 5:30am for our 7 am flight to Atlanta which was a half hour late leaving.  We were blessed to not have too far to walk in the Atlanta airport to get to our flight from Atlanta to Rochester.  We made it to Rochester about 5:30pm; and got to our house about 6:15pm.  Now that this blog message is about done we will get to bed at a decent hour and hopefully be ready for all the responsibilities of tomorrow.

We express our love to each of you for being who you are and living the way do and doing all the good things you do.  Thank you again to our daughters who did much of the work for the reunion; we love you and are so grateful for all you did.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 17 July 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

I am two days late getting the Blog message written, but I will get it done now before the week is over. Monday through Wednesday last week was not very busy for us. We were able to get caught up on a number of things in the office. Sister Jensen had problems with a couple of teeth on Tuesday. We went to a dentist, Dr. G., who is not too far from the mission office, to see what he could do to help her. The dentist has a very unique way of helping patients with teeth problems. The office staff is very helpful and friendly and provides more information about the office and all the treatment options and professional etiquette they use than I have ever seen done by dentist. It turned out that the dentist called a friend who does root canals and made arrangements with him to take care of doing the root canal that very day. This eliminated most of the pain. Then on Wednesday Dr. G. did two crowns to take care of the problems. It just happened that another patient cancelled their appointment for Wednesday morning and so we did not have to wait to do the crowns. We consider it a blessing from divine sources that everything worked out so well and so quickly.

Thursday evening we had an assignment to be at an Information Booth on the North Side of the Hill Cumorah Pageant from 7-9pm and then again for 15 minutes after the pageant ended at about 10:30pm. Thursday evening was the final full dress rehearsal for the Pageant. The cast members are all set apart as missionaries while they are here in the pageant. One of their assignments is to walk around among the audience members, in their costumes, from 7pm until a little after 9pm; when the Pageant is to begin. Their costumes are very warm, and the temperature was close to 90 and the humidity was also about 90%. While doing this they each have programs which they give to the audience members, they also pose for pictures, and they just talk with people and answer questions and if they meet people who are not LDS they try to get in a conversation and share a gospel message with the people about whatever they are interested in. It is a real miracle that the Pageant is done so well. The cast members arrive in NY one week before opening night; and they do not know what part they have or what their assignment will be. They are given their assignment on the day they arrive; and they have just one week, excluding Sunday to learn their parts. The cast members also help place all the stage props in their place during a brief minute or so while the lights are off between each scene. Two members of the cast were missionaries who have recently completed their missions and returned home. They came back for the Pageant; they are Elder Swanner and Elder Hulse, and they were both assigned to
the Brockport ward while we were there last fall. Elder Hulse was assigned the part of Alma in the wilderness baptizing at the Waters of Mormon. Elder Swanner was in two battle scenes and waved one of the large red flags in the final battle between the Lamanites and the Nephites on the Hill Cumorah. Friday night we did not go to the Pageant but we did wait up for a senior missionary couple who spent the night with us at our home. Elder & Sister Best who came up to the Pageant from Wellsville NY; they spent the night with us and then did some other things on Saturday and attended the Pageant again on Saturday night and returned home Saturday night, Sunday morning at 1 am.

Saturday evening we were assigned to be at the South Information Booth for the Pageant. A student, Heather, who worked at the BYU Library for me a few years ago brought her friend, Megan, with her to see the pageant. They both live in American Fork. They had been to other places here in the East this past week and arrived in time to see the Pageant on Saturday night. They stayed with us Saturday night; then went to Sacrament Meeting with us to the Pittsford ward, which is closer than Geneseo. After meeting we spent the rest of the day with Heather and Megan at the sites. During the Pageant week, there are too many people to do the regular tours which are done by the Sister missionaries and the Senior Couples; so I did most of the tour information for Heather and Megan. We were very fortunate that there were not very many people at the sites on Sunday so Heather and Megan were able to hear some of the sister missionaries at the sites. When we got back to our house in Mendon Sunday evening about 6pm; Sister Jensen fixed dinner for us while I took Heather and Megan to see the historic sites in Mendon. When we arrived at the Tomlinson Inn, President and Sister Christianson were just getting ready to leave after showing their grandson and a nephew who came to visit for a week or so. As we got out of our car, Heather said one of the boys had been in her Physics class she taught at Lone Peak High School this past year. How amazing it is that she traveled 3000 miles and met up with one of her students. Heather and Megan were happy to get to meet our mission president. Megan also has a grandfather who is good friends with President Christianson. We had a great chicken dinner prepared by Sister Jensen. We spent the rest of the evening visiting with Heather and Megan; and had prayer together with them and went to bed. They both left Monday morning soon after we left to go to the mission office. Monday evening, we rested up a bit for the rest of our busy week, which we will report on next week.

One thing that has been impressive to me here in NY is that it is very common to see trees which have limbs that have grown from one side of the trunk wrapping around to another side so the limb and its leaves can reach the sunlight needed for
photosynthesis. This sunlight is so essential for trees to survive. It seems to me that if a tree is wise enough to grow towards the light; that we as children of Heavenly Father should also make every effort to grow towards the divine light of Christ and the restored gospel he has restored to the earth. While we were in the Joseph Smith Farm visitor’s center I paid closer attention to a sculpture that is in front of the south window on a table. This sculpture is of the Father and the Son appearing to Joseph Smith. I looked at the backside of the sculpture, and the person who did the sculpture, has Heavenly Father standing on the right and Jesus standing on His left. The Father has His right arm around the shoulders of His Only Begotten Son and His left hand across the front of the Son pointing to Him and introducing Him to Joseph. This little detail greatly touched me; the Father is so pleased with all His Son has done for us that he has His arm around him pulling him close to His side. Oh how I hope someday to have Heavenly Father pleased enough with me to put his arm around me; I just want to do whatever I can to please the Father and the Son.

We love each of you forever; we have been so blessed to have each of you in our family and our circle of friends and neighbors. We pray for each of you every day and trust that our prayers and your prayers will be answered according to the love, wisdom, and timing of Heavenly Father. He lives, and His Son lives and they love us and the Holy Ghost can guide us to them.

Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 8 July 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday in the mission office staff meeting a question was brought up about a website that some investigators are being pestered with by the anti-Mormon groups about polygamy.  President Christianson also told us of the group of gay people who had marched to Ensign Peak in Salt Lake to announce their choice to leave the church.  President had us read together a few scriptures; one of them is in Moses 5:32-33, 36-38.  In verse 32 Cain rose up and killed Abel. In verse 33 Cain gloried in that which he had done, saying “I am free”.  In verses 36 and 37 Cain learns from God what the punishment is for killing Abel.  In verse 38 at the end it states …”my punishment is more than I can bear.”  As you relate this verse to the gay people who left the church; they now think they are free from living the law of chastity.  The day will come when they will think their punishment is more than they can bear.  We are certainly free to make the choices we want to make, but we are not free from the consequences of the choices.  We also read and discussed some of the scriptures both ancient and modern about polygamy.  President shared some information with us to help us understand more about polygamy.  Since the church has not practiced polygamy for over 120 years, why does it matter now?  This is just another of Satan’s efforts to try and keep people from joining the only true church on the earth.  When I was released from the stake presidency a few years ago, Elder Holland was there to take care of the change in the presidency.  In his Sunday morning remarks he made a comparison to us being on the ship with Lehi and his family as they crossed the great waters.  He said we are on the ship with a prophet of God who receives revelation to help us keep safe from Satan’s efforts to lead us away from the true and everlasting gospel.  No matter how rough things get for us; for heaven’s sake, please do not jump ship; you will end up in Satan’s power.  There is nothing outside of the church and revelation from a living prophet which is going to make things better or save us.  The true doctrine of Christ, which is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance through the atonement of Christ, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end of our lives in obedience; is the only way to safely return to Heavenly Father.  We can’t get distracted by the things of the world and the lies and deceit of Satan.  We had a good discussion on these things for a while.

Tuesday we worked on some projects that we needed to get done in the office.  Wednesday, the mission office was closed.  We spent our day trying to keep from getting cooked in the heat and humidity.  We enjoyed our day together.  We went to the Hill Cumorah to deliver some things with the Servoss’s Wednesday morning.  While there I found Steve Phelon, Josh’s boss in Pleasant Grove; and visited with him for a few minutes.  He and his wife accepted a calling to come to the Hill Cumorah Pageant for 5 years in a row to help with setting up the lights and stage for the Pageant, I think this is the fourth year he has come.  He operates the fork lift among some other things as well.  It turns out that Steve’s home in Utah is across the street from Dan and Andrea Bulkley, Jay’s daughter.  He is also close to where Jay lives, and has talked with him a few times.  Also he is good friends with the McVea’s.  We sure meet a lot of people here in NY who know our family and friends in Utah.

Thursday we spent some time making a scale model of the new office we will be moving into by the end of August.  We also made some scale models of the office furniture out of thin foam board.  Then on Friday we spent a little time trying some different arrangements of the furniture in the model of the new office space.  We also did a lot of other office work as well.

Saturday we went to Fayette to attend one baptism, and ended up staying for another baptism.  Earlier in the week Sister Jensen had received a phone call from the mother of one of the Elders, Elder DeLaCruz.  She asked if there was a bakery someplace close to where her son was serving that she could call and have them deliver a birthday cake to him on Saturday, his birthday.  We did not know of any bakery in the area where the Elder is serving; so Sister Jensen said we would be happy to get a cake and have the mother’s message put on it and deliver it to him.  Delivering the cake was our first reason for going to Fayette; but since the Elder and his companion were going to be at the baptism we decided to stay for the baptism as well.  The Servoss’s went with us.  A mother and her 9 year old son were baptized.  After the baptism we took the Elder out to the car and gave him the cake from his mother; he was very happy and grateful.  We learned there was going to be another baptism after the first one; so we stayed for it also.  The second baptism was for a man who had been taught by several sets of missionaries for several months.  He is a very well educated man and had discussions with President Christianson as well.  President Christianson performed the baptism.  The man lives in Buffalo, but he wanted to be baptized at a church history site.  President gave permission for him to be baptized in the chapel at the Peter Whitmer Farm.  We love to attend the baptisms of converts, the spirit is always present.  When we arrived home, we spent some time doing our P-Day work.  In the evening we sat down and read a good book together.

Today we attended our church meetings; at least we attended the Sacrament meeting and Sunday School.  At the end of Sunday School we gave a ride to Elder Davis and Elder Maisey to Warsaw; so Elder Davis could interview a lady there who is going to be baptized on July 21^st.  We were able to visit with Elder and Sister Jones, and Elder Ivie and Elder Hunt, and also with the husband, Bob, of the lady who will be baptized while the interview was done.  The husband is a fine man with a good sense of humor.  He is being a little slower at accepting the gospel, but there is hope he will soon accept the invitation to be baptized.  While there in Warsaw at the church, I also met a young lady in the Warsaw Branch; her last name is Johnson, who has been working in the BYU Library for Roger McFarland shelving books on the 5^th level.  She is hoping to be able to transfer to working at the 5^th floor Humanities Reference Desk this fall.  Her father is in the Branch Presidency.

We express our great love for each of you.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and our hearts.  We have learned much from each of you and we pray for your well-being and your happiness as you go through life’s experiences and challenges.  We know Heavenly Father lives and loves us all and we know he will bless us all as we pray to him for help and are wise enough to do what the Spirit tries to tell us to do.  We pray for Jay and Loni as they make adjustments in their lives; we trust the Lord will continue to bless them for their many years of faithful service in the kingdom.

We love you all,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 1 July 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

On Monday and Tuesday we were blessed to get caught up on some of the projects we needed to complete.  On Wednesday there was a Specialized Training meeting held at which President Christianson taught the missionaries how to make better use of LDS.ORG and MORMON.ORG in their teaching.  As the missionaries teach people in their homes they can take a few minutes at the end and show the people how to find more information about what the missionaries taught them.  Part of the reason for doing this is to help them find correct information about the church and the gospel rather than be influenced by the negative information that other people try to push on them.  One other thing the missionaries do is to get a commitment from those they teach to let them come back and answer questions about negative things they get from other sources.  There is a lot of anti-church literature and information that comes out around this time as the Pageant is presented.  WE attended the morning session which was for the Buffalo and Rochester Zones, which was held in the church in Batavia.  The training was from 8am to 12 noon.  Sister Jensen had spent much of last Saturday making home-made Chex Mix for treats for the training meetings on Wednesday.  Then in the afternoon the training for the two Palmyra Zones was held in the Canandaigua church.  In addition the President also taught the missionaries how to better invite people to accept invitations to do what is required to gain a testimony of the gospel principles and ordinances.

This week was less busy than last week.  We were able to rest a few evenings and get some things done at home as well.  On Saturday we drove to Romulus to pick up some things that an Amish man, Levi, had made for me.    When we arrived at his place, we learned Levi was at an auction a mile away; but his wife said Sam was in the shop and could help me.  I had met Sam a few weeks earlier, he is Levi’s son and is less than three feet tall (his dad is about 6 ft. 5 inches tall); but he acts just like a grown up.  I do not know how old he is, but he is fine boy.  He had to climb up to the counter using two step stools; but he took care of what was needed just fine.  Levi’s wife has a quilt shop and Sister Jensen took some time and walked through it to see what was there.

On the subject of quilts, our daughters put together a nice levi quilt and tied it; it will be used for the family reunion this month.  Jana also pieced together a very nice quilt for her own use; she did a super job, it looks very nice.  She will be getting it quilted soon.

With all the fires going on in the western states Brandon and Chris are keeping busy.  We hope and pray they will be protected and have the wisdom to do the right things at the right time to keep their crews and themselves safe.  There are some very large fires that have done a lot of damage; and the worst of the fire season is still to come.

We had a very good Fast and Testimony meeting today in our Geneseo Ward.  One young lady, Jill, who we taught for a few weeks in Institute earlier this year, shared her testimony.  She is part of the Pageant this year; when it is over she is going to move to Utah and will be getting married in October.  Her sister is being taught here by the missionaries; we hope that continues to be successful.

We have not had any rain here in the area for about two weeks now, and the grass is all starting to turn brown.  Also many of the fields of corn and other crops are starting to curl and look heat stressed.  There is not very much irrigation in NY; they mostly depend on rain to water crops.  We noticed today that some of the vegetable stands are starting to open and have some of this year’s vegetables available.

This week the 700 plus members of this year’s cast for the Pageant will be arriving and they will receive their assignments for what they will be doing.  The cast only has one week to learn their parts and rehearse in small groups; then on Thursday, July 12^th is the final full dress rehearsal.  The opening night of the Pageant is July 13^th.  We drove by the Hill Cumorah yesterday and noticed the towers for the spot lights are all up and part of the stage is erected and most of the tent awnings south of the stage area have been put up.  This is the 75^th anniversary of the Pageant; and one of the members in a ward had some gold colored pins made for the occasion and gave them to the missionaries to wear and keep afterwards.

We wish happy birthdays to each of the following family members during the month of July: Wes on July 9^th, Shaun and Shay on July 10^th, Brad and Tyler on July 14^th, and my sister Kathy on July 16^th.  We want each of you to know we love you and hope you have many more birthdays to come.  We are also very pleased and happy that Austin and Josie are going to the Draper Temple on July 21^st to be sealed together forever.  We hope they have a wonderful day in the temple, and live so they can receive all the eternal blessings promised in a temple sealing.

We love all of you very much and we are so grateful that each of you is part of our family, both immediate family and also for all of our extended family members.  We are greatly blessed to have each of you as part of our family circle and also our circle of friends; you are each awesome!!!

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard