Message—2 December 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday we made preparations for taking care of the events that accompany a transfer week.  We had four new missionaries arriving Monday afternoon, one Sister and three Elders.  Then on Tuesday was the transfer meeting for all those involved in the missionary transfers.  Sister Jensen always helps with preparing the evening meals for the newly arriving missionaries; and also with the dinner Tuesday evening for those missionaries who are returning home on Wednesday morning.  She also helps with the refreshments on the Friday of transfer week when the new missionaries and their companions are trained by the President from 12 noon until 2pm.  Sister Jensen gets quite a lot of practice with food preparations for a variety of missionary related events.

On Tuesday the transfer meeting is at 12 noon; this gives the President and Sister Christianson time to take the new missionaries to the Sacred Grove in Palmyra where they have an opportunity to have a spiritual experience in the Sacred Grove and prepare for the rest of their mission to testify of what happened to Joseph Smith when he saw Heavenly Father and the Savior.  The missionaries here in our mission have the unique opportunity to be in the place where the restoration began.  All the missionaries in the rest of the world testify of the first vision to everyone they teach; our missionaries also have the blessing of being in the place where the vision occurred.  Immediately after the transfer meeting we spent some time providing some orientation and instruction to the new missionaries.  The three office couples share with the new missionaries, information about what help we can provide for them.  Sister Jensen tells them about referrals, and baptism record information they need to provide when the have baptisms. She also explains about how their mail will best be handled to insure they get their mail as soon as possible.  I spend some time on the policies and procedures related to the vehicles they are privileged to drive; and their responsibilities to take care of the vehicles.  I help them to provide all the information needed so they can be approved by the President to drive church vehicles.

Wednesday I was informed that two new vehicles were ready for me to pick up from an automobile dealer to replace older vehicles that I need to get ready to be sold.  One of the vehicles was a new Chevrolet Traverse for President and Sister Christianson to drive.  I made arrangements with the person at the dealership to get the vehicles on Friday morning.  On Monday and Tuesday I took two cars to a car repair shop to have some work done to get it ready to be sold.  On Thursday I took these same two cars to have an interior detail cleaning done on them so they would look very nice to any interested buyers.  On Thursday I also had a couple of guys come to the Office and do some work on a Toyota that is for sale, to buff out as many of the scratches in it as they could get out.  They did a pretty good job and made it look much better for the person who is interested in buying it.  On Friday afternoon I went to pick up the two cars that had the interior detailing done on them.  In other words, this was a week full of taking care of a variety of vehicle issues; there were a number of other issues besides these few.

Wednesday evening we attended the Site Training meeting at the Hill Cumorah so we could take the mail to the missionaries who come to this meeting.  It is always good to also learn from the instruction that is given.  Thursday evening we went to Geneseo to attend the Institute meeting; Brother Gammon did the teaching but we also come to all of the meetings.  Next Thursday it is my turn to teach the lesson again.

Most of this week Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss have been working on decorating a Christmas tree in the office.  It is a small artificial tree, but they are making paper ornaments, each with a small picture of each of the missionaries on it.  They will then hang these on the tree along with a few other things.  We will then use the tree at the Missionary Christmas meeting later in the month.  The Rochester and Buffalo Zones will meet on December 18^th, and the two Palmyra Zones will meet on December 19^th; both will be at the Kreag Road church where the mission office is located.

Saturday morning we took the other new Chevrolet Cruze that came on Friday to the sisters who live in Newark, which is just east of Palmyra.  We met them at the Book of Mormon Publishing Site in the Grandin Building.  They were very happy to get a new vehicle.  Neither of the sisters had ever driven a new vehicle; so they were quite excited to have this one.  Saturday afternoon we attended a Christmas Concert at the church in Pittsford, which is where the mission office is located.  The two wards who meet in this building had invited the members of the United Church of Pittsford and the Perinton Presbyterian Church and their two choirs to participate in the concert with the two ward choirs.  These two choirs were very good and a number of their members came to hear them.  This is the first time members from other churches had participated in such an event here in this area.  In addition to the concert there were also some nativity sets on display that had been made by various people.  They also had refreshments; it appeared to be a great event, we hope it can become a regular event in the coming years.  There is a Greater Rochester Area Ecumenical Council composed of the church leaders in a number of Christian Churches and they have included one of our stake presidents in the council.  Some good things have happened through our being a part of this group.

Today was our Fast and Testimony Meeting at church.  There was a good spirit present.  In Sunday School the Elders had an investigator attend with them, he has been about three times now.  He had some questions after the lesson which we talked about with him.  The Elders hope he will continue working towards a baptism date this month.  We are looking forward to viewing the First Presidency Christmas Devotional this evening; our two Elders in our ward are going to come to our home to see it with us.

Today is my fathers’ birthday, he would be 107.  Tuesday, the 4^th, is my brother Alma’s birthday day he would be 79.  We also remember Sister Jensen’s fathers’ birthday on November 23^rd, he would be 113.  I expect they will be having a great day where ever they are.  We express our love and deep sympathy to Annette Bates and her family as Jim’s funeral was held yesterday.  Jim is a great man in my judgment; he will be missed by Annette and the family.  We pray for their comfort and peace through the atonement of the Savior.  We love you Annette, and also your very good children and their families; may you feel the love of Heavenly Father and His loving arms around you.

We are so very grateful to each of you for your love and prayers in our behalf.  We have been greatly blessed and we gratefully recognize the hand of Heavenly Father in our lives and our efforts to be of service to Him and His Son Jesus Christ in helping in our small way in the work of gathering Israel.  We have a more powerful witness each day that He lives, and loves us all, and He will help us to do whatever we need to do, through the power of the atonement of the Savior, to become more faithful and obedient to His teachings so we might receive all the blessings He has promised us.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—25 November 2012

Well here is the message for the last Sunday in November this year; another month has almost disappeared.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we were in the mission office taking care of our assignments there.  Part of the time we were doing what needs to be done to get ready for transfers this coming week.  A few missionaries completed their missions and returned to their homes on Wednesday in time to be with their families for Thanksgiving.  Sister Jensen helped with fixing a dinner for these missionaries on Tuesday evening.  I worked on getting three cars inspected to see what needs to be done to get them ready to be sold.  On Wednesday we took our car to get two new tires on it; the old ones were worn out and needed to be replaced before winter begins.

Wednesday evening we attended the Site Training meeting so we could deliver mail to the young sister missionaries.  These sisters are always excited to get mail from anyone.  Some get more mail than others but they are always very happy to hear from anyone they know, especially from home.  The training that was given was concerning a major campaign by the church during this Christmas time to share a message about Christ to as many people as possible between November 26^th and December 26th.  A revised Mormon.org website will officially be available tomorrow, November 26^th which is focused on Christmas messages related to Christ.  The URL is Mormon.org/christmas  All the members are invited to share Christ centered messages with their friends, relatives, or anyone else.  There will be free downloadable Christmas music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, there will be options to receive a free bible, or to see some of the Bible Videos the church has been producing in the last two years about the life of Christ.  There are options to have missionaries deliver free DVD’s and a Christmas message about Christ.  There will also be free electronic Christmas Cards that can be sent to anyone to whom you would like to send one.  Members can create their own messages about Christ which can be approved and posted on the website.  The church is doing a lot of advertising about the new website.  In addition to sharing a Christ centered message, the church is hoping that there will be many referrals for missionaries to follow up on and invite people to learn the gospel and come unto Christ.  This effort is being done on the heels of a year of media attention about the church during the political campaigns of the year.  It is hoped that there will be some good success in inviting people to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and receive the blessings that come from the gospel.

Thursday we joined with a number of senior couples at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center in the large basement for a Thanksgiving dinner.  We really enjoyed being with these good people.  President and Sister Christianson attended also and shared a Thanksgiving message after the dinner.

Friday we had arranged to meet with Sister Hausauer and Sister Raines at 8:20am to get their car and take it to the Subaru dealer and have the headliner replaced since it had come loose and been sagging.  We left the car at the Subaru dealer for them to do the needed work under warranty; then the sisters picked up the car late in the afternoon after they completed their site assignment.  Sister Brown and Sister Park gave them a ride to the site they were assigned and then gave them a ride back to get their car.  We then spent the rest of the morning at the mission office hoping that the mail would be delivered before we had to leave.  The mail never came by the time we had to leave at about 1pm.  We left the office and picked up clothes from the cleaners and went home and had some lunch.  We then drove to Romulus to pick up a couple of items we needed.  We stopped at the Whitmer Farm to take care of an item on one of the mission cars.  After we arrived home and had dinner we spent the evening watching a Christmas movie and we also watched an old classic movie, “My Fair Lady”.

Saturday we did our home work to get ready for Sunday; then we went and bought a few items we needed from a couple of stores.  In the afternoon we remodeled our 6 foot high Christmas tree to be a 5 foot Christmas tree so it would fit in our small bay window and then we set it up and decorated it.  We also put a Christmas wreath on the front door.  Many people in New York do a lot of decorations outside their house for Christmas; and some of the homes have already set up their decorations.

Today in our church meetings we were blessed to hear some good instruction and be taught by the Spirit.  We are always so grateful to be able to partake of the Sacrament to allow the atonement of Jesus Christ to help us be forgiven of our mistakes we have repented of during the week; and be made clean and worthy to have the Holy Ghost with us during the coming week.  Brother Elliott was the first speaker in Sacrament meeting and had been assigned to speak on the topic of work.  He did very well and shared some great principles about the importance of and the value of work in our lives.  Work is required of everyone in our mortal lives.  Not only does work enable us to provide for ourselves and our families; but work also teaches us so many additional eternal principles and doctrines.  In our Sunday School lesson we talked about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit; they are many and varied and are all a source of providing Spiritual help and direction in our lives and the lives of our families and others.  The teachings for our times lesson was from President Uchtdorf’s October General Conference talk on Regrets and Resolutions.  We had a great Sabbath day.

Since there are birthdays beginning on December 1^st we will extend our birthday best wishes for the month of December in this blog message so we do not miss anyone.  We offer our hope that each of those with birthdays this month will have a great day and recognize the great blessings they have in their lives.  Happy Birthday to Josh on December 1^st, Alli on December 10^th, Jada on December 18^th, Colton on December 15^th, Olivia on December 19^th, and Kristine on December 22^nd.  We hope you each have a wonderful birthday in addition to and separate from having a wonderful Christmas Day.

 

We hope you each had a great Thanksgiving day and stopped to express gratitude for all the wonderful and marvelous blessings provided by a living, loving, and kind Heavenly Father and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  We are so greatly blessed to live in America among the beautiful creations provided by Heavenly Father and to also have freedom to live our lives in harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We truly have blessings un-numbered.  We express our great love for each of you and we are very thankful for the influence for good you are in our life.  Thank you for being who you are and thank you for all you do for us; we love you now and forever.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—18 November 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

It was very nice to have a more normal week this past week after having had 4 zone conferences the week before.  Monday morning we had a good mission office staff meeting; we are always blessed to learn spiritual things from each other and particularly from President Christianson.    Monday evening we attended the senior couple’s family home evening at the Joseph Smith Farm Welcome Center.  Elder and Sister Poulson led a discussion where we shared scriptures relative to how to have a happy and successful marriage relationship.  Elder Poulson (first name is Lynn) grew up in Duchesne Utah, Sister Jensen knows him and his family, and Sister Poulson (Julie Gividen before marriage) grew up in Mapleton Utah.  Elder Poulson taught Sociology classes at Snow College including some marriage classes.  While they were going to BYU to college they lived in Mapleton in the little white home just East of where Collin Allen lives, Collin’s mother owned this home when she was alive.  After a good discussion we had some fresh apple cider and some donuts; we had a good evening together.

Wednesday evening we attended the site meeting at the Hill Cunmorah Visitors Center.  We were blessed to hear a good presentation by Ted Gilbert concerning the reconstruction of the Frame Home on the Joseph Smith farm.  Ted was the architect for this project and worked closely with Don Enders of the Church Historical Department.  Ted shared some very interesting details and historical information about this home which was originally started by Alvin Smith, Joseph’s oldest brother.  Alvin died before the home was built, before his death he asked Joseph Smith Jr. to finish the home for their parents, which he and the family did.  The goal of this reconstruction was to have the home look like it did when it was originally built.  After the Smith family moved to Kirtland several other people bought the home and the farm through the years and did a lot of remodeling of the home and adding on to the home.  When the Church purchased the home in 1907 it remained like it had been remodeled to look like until President Hinckley gave instructions to have it restored to what it originally looked like.  In the process of dismantling the home a number of items were found which were identified to be owned by the Smith Family, and we saw pictures of these items.  Ted is not a member of the Church but through this project he has learned a lot about the church and particularly about the Smith Family.  Ted’s presentation and the answers he gave to questions were very interesting and informative.  There was divine help and guidance and protection involved in the process of the restoration of the frame home and the barn, and the building of the Cooper Shop.

Thursday morning we attended a Specialized Training meeting at the Peter Whitmer Farm.  President Christianson had received instruction to explain and teach the missionaries about the Church’s coming Christmas Media Campaign; so he used this training meeting to teach us about the campaign.  Beginning November 26^th the Mormon.org website will come up in a totally redesigned format.  It will have information and links providing information and media about Jesus Christ and His central focus in the doctrine and teachings of the Church.  The missionaries will all need to respond immediately to any requests for information or free video’s that will be offered.  The church is hoping to capitalize on the attention the church has received this past year with Mitt Romney and the church during the election campaigns.  We are exercising faith that this effort will enable more people to learn the truth about the church and assist the Lord in helping us find more of those people who are prepared to receive the gospel.  We invite you all to look at the web site on November 26^th and look through all the good things you will find there; including an option to create your own Christmas Cards.  We also invite you to use the website to help you and your families and friends focus more on Christ and let his life bless our lives. We attended the morning session with two of the zones, and then went to the mission office in the afternoon so the Servoss’s could attend the afternoon session with the other two zones.  We also took with us to the Whitmer Farm the snacks for the break in the morning and the afternoon.  The President did training from 9-11am then had a short break for the missionaries to have the snacks we brought; then the missionaries were divided in to two groups and given a tour of the Whitmer Farm Visitors Center and the replica of the Whitmer Family home.  The tours were done by some of our Sister Missionaries who give these tours every day.  Some of you will remember that in 1980 President Kimball dedicated the newly built chapel and the restored log home that are located on this site.  This was done during a session of General Conference which was held on April 6^th.  A number of very significant events occurred on April 6^th and also some other important events at this site.  The birth of Jesus Christ was on April 6^th, the church was organized at this site on April 6^th 1830, the US Constitution was signed on April 6^th; the Book of Mormon translation was completed at the Whitmer home; the three witnesses saw the Angel Moroni and the gold plates near the Whitmer home, and Mary Whitmer also saw Moroni and the gold plates by the barn at the Whitmer farm.  The farm is located in a very remote part of the Fayette area.  In Doctrine & Covenants section1 verse 30 is the phrase “…might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness…”.  The Whitmer Farm is definitely a very obscure place in New York, there is nothing but woods and fields for about one half mile or more in every direction.  From this obscure place the church began to roll forth to fill the whole earth as Daniel prophesied.  We have been greatly blessed to be in this mission to see, experience and feel the power of the Holy Spirit at the places where the restoration began; it is truly blessing our lives and our testimony.

Thursday evening was supposed to be Institute in Geneseo, but Thursday afternoon I received a phone call from Don Gammon informing me that he would not be able to teach the Institute class that evening.  He and I talked a week ago and he told me he would be able to teach the lesson on the 15^th so I had not prepared to teach the lesson.  Don decided that we should cancel the class so we sent text messages to the YSA members of the class; so we did not have to go to Geneseo Thursday night.

Friday we were able to spend the day at the mission office and mostly get caught up on all our work.  I had my monthly meeting with President Christianson and the AP’s about the vehicles.  On the way home from the office I had a phone call from my Fleet Manager, Joe, in Salt Lake.  He is an awesome person I really appreciate all he does to help me with vehicle issues.  There will definitely be some changes coming with where and how vehicles are used with the large increase in the number of missionaries who will begin to arrive in our missions after the first of the year.  It will be interesting and exciting to see what begins to happen with the gathering of Israel by the missionaries and the members working in unity and harmony together.  The members will have to become more involved with missionary service.  We cannot view missionary work as a responsibility of just the missionaries; we as members must begin to be more involved in finding people to be taught, helping with the teaching, helping with getting missionaries where they need to be; and especially accepting, loving, helping, and nurturing investigators and new members as they are baptized and confirmed.  We as members will have to be far more involved and helpful in learning how to live the gospel and serve in the church and help them become fully converted and keep their covenants and prepare for temple ordinances and blessings.  We will also need to mentor the new converts to become future leaders in the church.

Saturday we were blessed to have a real P-Day and accomplish some things that have been waiting for us to get done.  We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at a nice restaurant and enjoy a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie.

Today we were blessed to attend Sacrament and our other meetings.  Taking the Sacrament is a great blessing to help us through the repentance process and prepare us to have the Holy Spirit with us this coming week.  The speakers in Sacrament meeting shared some personal examples how the Holy Ghost can provide inspiration and revelation to each of us personally.  The Gospel Essentials class was also about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how he can help us every day in our lives as we have our daily experiences and challenges.  We had a “munch and mingle” after our meetings.  That is where we all bring some kind of food to share with other and then visit and get to know each other better while we eat.

We hope each of you have a great Thanksgiving week and that you are able to spend time with family and enjoy some good food and share your feelings of gratitude for the countless blessings Heavenly Father has given us.  He is truly so good and kind to us in so many ways.  We are so greatly blessed to live in America and have the light of the gospel and the love of the Savior and be the recipients of the blessings of His Atonement.  We know Heavenly Father lives as does His Son Jesus Christ.  After the Atonement, the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift of our Heavenly Father to each of us.  By the power of the Holy Ghost we know the Book of Mormon is perfectly true and brings positive and powerful blessings to each of us.  Joseph Smith is the Prophet of this last dispensation and President Monson is our prophet today.  We have true scriptures to bless our lives and teach us how to become worthy to return to Heavenly Father and live together as families forever.  We express our great love for each of you and hope and pray you will be blessed with gratitude during this Thanksgiving week.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—11 November 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Wow, what a busy wonderful week we had this past week.  We had 4 zone conferences; maybe our last full zone conference week.  The zone conferences were on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; this gave President and Sister Christianson Thursday to have a break and prepare for the last two conferences.  The zone conferences were held in church buildings; Tuesday was at the Rochester Westfall Rd Chapel, Wednesday was at the Palmyra Chapel, Friday was at the chapel in Canadaigua, and Saturday was at the Amherst chapel in the Buffalo area.   In addition to doing the vehicle inspections in the morning, we were also blessed to receive spiritual instruction from President and Sister Christianson and the zone leaders and the Assistants’ to the President during the rest of the day until about 3pm.  It also provided us Thursday to catch up on things that needed to be done in the office.  Monday we spent the day in the office getting everything ready for the zone conferences.  There were vehicle inspection forms to print and organize by zone, and the supplies for the vehicles to collect and load in the car, and I also had some PowerPoint’s to finish creating and putting on my MAC to use in my vehicle safety instruction at each zone conference.  Sister Jensen had mail to sort and organize by zone so we could take it with us to deliver to the missionaries in each zone; she had to do this each of the other days late in the afternoon when we returned to the mission office before going home.  With Sister Jensen’s help and the help of Elder Ellis and Elder Servoss we were able to do the vehicle inspections in about 2 hours each of the four days.  We had to get up a little earlier so we could leave in time to get to the location for each zone conference by 8:30 am so we could get the needed information about their vehicle from each missionary companionship, before they went in the church.

Sister Christianson taught us about prayer and how to make it more effective in our lives to do what Heavenly Father in His great love and wisdom wants us to do; rather than try to tell Him what we think He should do.  President Christianson taught us about 20 or more scriptures to help us learn and know and remember that we can do all things through Christ and  the help of the Holy Ghost and the atonement and example of Christ.  He used the example of Dick and Rick Hoyt to help us see that with the right attitude we CAN do anything through faith and work and love.  If you want to know about Dick and Rick Hoyt go to the following URL and read the story first, then watch the video clip; it is a powerful message.  http://bsix12.com/teamhoyt/?goback=%2Egde_4311521_member_95870902

Thursday evening we went to Geneseo for our Institute class.  We stopped to get something to eat before the class.  While we were eating a call from two missionaries came on my mission cell phone.  The Elders had been to the Seneca Lake Girls Camp most of the day doing some service work for the camp manager, Brother Brienholt.  While working they had lost the keys to their mission vehicle some place.  Brother Brienholt had been helping them search for a few hours and it was now dark so they finally gave up looking and called me to see if I could help them.  They were supposed to be to zone conference the next day in Canandaigua with their older vehicle to trade it for a new Chev Cruze we had received to replace their older Malibu.  We have a standard practice of keeping the extra key that comes with a new vehicle in the mission office in the vehicle file folder; just for such events.  Thursday night was Brother Gammon’s turn to teach the lesson; he called me just after the Elders did to tell me he would be a little late getting to Institute.  I told the two Elders without a key that I would go to the office in Pittsford and get the extra key and bring it to them.  Brother Brienholt was kind enough to bring them half way to meet us with the key.  When Brother Gammon arrived, I told him we needed to leave to take care of the car issue so he was happy to take over the class and we left to go get the key and take it Canandaigua to meet with Brother Brienholt and the Elders.  We arrived back home about the same time we would have arrived if we had stayed for Institute and drove home.  The next day, Friday, the Elders who lost their keys arrived with a very clean car as they had been requested by me to do earlier in the week.  They received their new car, and Elder Servoss drove the old one back to the office for me so it would be there for me next week to get ready to be sold.

Friday the Assistants drove two Chev Colorado pickups to the zone conference so I could trade them for an older Chev Malibu which I need to get ready to sell.  The other pickup was given to Sister Missionaries who serve way out in Waterloo, who have been riding bikes.  With winter coming President and I thought we should let them drive this pickup so they were safer from the winter weather and slick roads.  The Assistants were late getting to the zone conference because they had to stop and put air in the tires of one of the pickups.  They also had forgotten they did not have an E-Z Pass to drive on the I-90 freeway, but they did not remember until after they had driven through the toll booth gate; so they had to stop and walk in to the office to get a pass ticket so they could drive on the I-90.  Only one of the Assistants had cash to pay the cost of the toll when they got off I-90 in Canadaigua so the one Elder had to pay for both pickups which took extra time.  I think the message of these problems is that Satan puts obstacles in our way to hinder doing what we planned to do; but the Lord always provides a way to overcome the obstacles and still accomplish what is needed.

Saturday after the Buffalo Zone Conference we drove home and did our “home” work cleaning and doing the wash and getting ready for Sunday.  I did not remember until Sunday morning that I had been assigned to teach the High Priest Quorum lesson in Priesthood.  So I spent the time needed to prepare to teach this lesson.  We had a good Sacrament meeting, especially being privileged to take the sacrament.  The speakers for the meeting were a missionary couple who help with the Church Addiction Recovery Program in our Rochester Stake.  My sister Kathy and her husband Paul, as well as the Andreasons’ in our Sunset Stake at home will know all about this great program.  Carol and Tom will also appreciate the blessings of this program in the life of their son.  They missionary couple did a great job teaching the doctrine related to this program.  The missionaries in our Geneseo ward had an investigator come to church the second time in a row and he stayed for Sunday School this time.  They are hoping he will continue with learning the lessons and reading the Book of Mormon and praying so he will be converted and want to be baptized.

I am a day late learning about my cousin Keith passing away earlier last week.  Jay spoke at his funeral graveside service yesterday.  I am confident all went well.  I would love to hear from anyone about how Sharon is doing and any details you want to share about the service for Keith. That leaves Sharon as the only remaining child of Uncle Verl and Aunt Jane.  We are all getting a little older.  I have great memories about living next to Uncle Verl and his family; including seeing Keith outside almost every day during baseball season each year batting rocks out into Dallas Holley’s field.  Verl and Keith and Grandpa Jensen would listen to or watch on TV as many baseball games as they could in which the NY Yankees played; all three were great Yankee fans.  Since this is Veterans day I express my appreciation to Keith for serving in the Marines to do his part in keeping us a free nation.  We both have been so blessed in our lives to have so many great family and relatives and friends who have had a positive influence in our lives; Heavenly Father has been so good to us and we are most grateful to Him for His blessings and kindnesses.

One more comment; the elections are now over and the counsel of the First Presidency to remember to pray for President Obama and the other leaders of our country that they will make correct decisions that will preserve our freedoms.  We hope also we can maintain our opportunities to live the gospel and help the gospel message spread to all who will accept it.  We know the gospel is true and that we have living prophets and apostles who are inspired by Heavenly Father in all they need to do.  We just need to develop the attitude to be obedient to the scriptures and teachings of modern prophets, seers and revelators.

We love you all so very much and pray for blessings upon each of you and your families.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday morning we began the day with our mission office staff meeting.  After covering the planning for upcoming zone conferences and other details we discussed the possible storms and other weather related to Hurricane Sandy which was approaching the Eastern Seaboard and northeastern states.  Based on what was forecast the President had us send messages by text and email to all of our missionaries and the parents of the missionaries. We told all the missionaries to be in their apartments by 5pm and to stay there until 5pm Monday unless they were notified by the President to do otherwise.  The parents of the missionaries were informed of what the President told the missionaries, and that all the missionaries were safe and would remain safe.  We would let the parents know any additional information as it became available.  In the afternoon, I had to make a trip to Macedon and had Elder Servoss go with me to pick up two new Chev Cruze cars from the McClouth Chev Dealer; which are assigned to our mission to replace older cars that have around 50,000 miles on them.  After getting the new cars back to the mission office we were instructed to leave the office early so we would be home before 5pm.  After arriving home we had the news on the TV to keep informed about the hurricane and its progress and what we needed to ready for.  About 8pm the TV, which is a cable service, went dead so we watched a church video and went to bed.  The wind started blowing fairly serious about 7pm and continued through the night.  There was also rain along with the wind.

Tuesday morning we were working on some things that we needed to do here at home.  About 9am President called and said the storm had and would mostly miss our area so we could all return to our mission assignments.  He said he had contacted all the missionaries and told them to return to work.  Some people who live in homes along Lake Ontario and Lake Erie had been told to evacuate Monday night due to expected high waves along the lake shore.  There was some water damage to some of the homes closest to the lakes.  There were also some trees and tree limbs which were broken or blown over in the Penfield and Webster areas which caused some power outages to about 2,000 homes.  There were some trees in scattered areas that also were blown over or broken off.  The power was restored to all the homes by Friday and Saturday.  That is about the extent of the damage we received in our area.  As you no doubt saw on the news the New York City and New Jersey areas received the majority of the damage from the storms and waves.  These areas are still having major issues with transportation, getting gasoline, and food and water.  On the news last night they said 80% of the subways NY City were back in service and progress was being made each day to help get things going again as much as possible.  Rats were a major issue in some of the areas where there was water in the homes and buildings.  The expected damage was not as widespread as it could have been; but for those without homes, food and water it is a very serious situation.

Wednesday evening those who normally attend site meeting decided they would go to the temple, since it will be closed the next two weeks for its annual cleaning.  Since Sister Jensen was not completely over her cold we decided to stay home and not share her cold with others.  We spent Tuesday and Wednesday evenings preparing out Institute lesson for Thursday evening.  Wednesday I received a phone call from the vehicle coordinator in the Utica mission.  He asked me if I would be willing to drive to the town of Leroy and remove a TIWI from a Toyota that two of his missionaries had wrecked; and send it to the mission office in Utica.  He gave me the address and other information I would need; and we left about 3pm and went to Leroy to a business named CoPart.  CoPart buys wrecked vehicles and uses all the parts they can save and sells them to Collision Repair shops or to recycle places.  We were able to get the TIWI and took it home with us and then sent it to the Utica mission office on Friday.  About now you are asking what is a TIWI?  It is a box about 5” by 5” and about 1” thick which is mounted in the center of the windshield of a church vehicle behind the rear view mirror.  A cable then is placed under the molding around the windshield and extends down under the dash board and plugs in to a device that provides power.  It contains a number of electronic parts which includes a GPS and a transmitter which provides information to someone in Salt Lake who can see exactly where each church vehicle is, what speed it is traveling, and some other information.  This is an experiment that is being done in a few selected missions to determine if it will be helpful in keeping track of where missionaries are and how fast they are traveling and where they are traveling to.  If any problems arise Salt Lake calls the Vehicle Coordinator in the mission where the vehicle is assigned and describes what the TIWI is reporting and the Vehicle Coordinator can then call the missionaries on the cell phone they carry and see what help is needed or what problems need to be  addressed.  Our mission does not have any TWI’s; the missions which do have them are trying to work out the problems with it before a decision is made to use them in more missions.

Thursday after our office work was done, we drove to Geneseo to be ready for Institute.  It turned out that none of the YSA’s came; we did have one older sister come who has just retired from teaching at a university.  She has a home in Florida also and spends the winters there; then she will come back to NY in the spring.

Friday the President held zone leader council in the church building where the mission office is located.  I was invited to attend the all-day meeting for a few minutes to discuss a few issues about vehicles in the mission.

Saturday we drove to Romulus NY to talk with an Amish Harness Maker who lives there.  He is going to make two bridles for me so I can give them to someone else.  I explained what I wanted and had some pictures to help him better see what I need.  Levi is the name of the guy who owns the business; he is a fine gentleman and is an awesome leather worker.  He does a lot of harnesses for most of the other Amish farmers in the area to use on their buggy and wagon horses, mules, and draft horses.  His wife also has a quilt shop next to the harness shop and she and her daughters make some very fine quilts and other sewing items.  Saturday evening we were happy to set our clocks back an hour and get an extra hour of sleep.

Today in our fast and testimony meeting we had a number of people share great testimonies and the Spirit was very much present.  Our two missionaries had a new investigator attend with them.  He had completed a referral for himself and the Elders were well received by him earlier in the week as they began teaching him.  The missionaries are hopeful that he will accept the gospel and be baptized.  I taught the Gospel Principles lesson in Sunday School so the man, who usually teaches, who is our ward mission leader, could meet with the Bishop concerning some issues.  This morning and then after church, Sister Jensen prepared some food for a dinner the President was having at his home with some senior missionary couples who will be going home this week.  Since we have zone conferences this coming week, Sunday evening was the only time the President had available to have the couples come to his home for dinner.  We then went to help serve the food and clean up after the dinner.  We just finished watching the CES Devotional with Bishop Causse, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric.  His address was very good and we highly recommend all of the teenagers and YSA age youth take the time to watch the devotional.  It is available on the lds.org website.

We are so blessed every day in all we do.  Heavenly Father is so good and kind to us and the Holy Ghost helps out in many instances each day.  Our prayers are answered daily according to the wisdom and timing of Heavenly Father.  We receive every blessing He knows will be for our good.  We are so grateful for the atonement of the Savior and for the possibility of repentance to help us become worthy to have the Spirit help us.  We are safe and happy and we are having so many marvelous experiences and we are receiving so much help from the Holy Spirit.  We love being missionaries and highly recommend the experience to any and all who can possibly serve.  A mission will change your life for the better forever; and your service will bless so many other people as well.

Blessings and love to all of you,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—28 October 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday after our mission office staff meeting we had lunch together with President & Sister Christianson, the President’s mother who came to visit him for a few days along with Misha (I am not sure of the spelling) who is a niece of the President’s.  We also had the Servoss’s and the Ellis’s; and Sister Christianson’s sister Tina and her new husband Jim Archibald.  Tina was the financial secretary and was single, a widow, in the mission office when we first arrived on our mission in 2011.  Jim is a very fine person.  The President’s mother, who is 91 years old, wanted to come and see the President one more time before he gets released next June just in case she does not live to see him return.  We had a good visit together.

Monday and Tuesday evenings we spent working on the Institute lesson for Thursday evening.  Wednesday and Thursday were both Specialized Training days; with the President doing most of the instruction.  The Rochester and Buffalo zones met together in the church in Batavia.  The meetings went from 9am to 3:30pm with a 10 minute break in the morning and a break for lunch.  Thursday the two Palmyra zones met in the church in Canandaigua.  Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss prepared the food for the lunch and Elder Servoss and I and some other senior couples also helped with setting up and cleaning up and anything else we were assigned.  The Ellis’s helped a lot on Wednesday and other couples helped on Thursday.  President Christianson provided some instruction before lunch time concerning the Abrahamic Covenant and the scattering and gathering of Israel.  He also included some great teachings about the symbolism of many of the events in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his 12 sons who are the origin of the 12 tribes of Israel.  The President also related how the Book of Mormon was written, recorded, and later translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith so that there would be a book of scripture which would not only testify of the truth of the Bible, but it would also clarify and provide additional scripture to help with convincing the descendants of the House of Israel of their connection to the 12 tribes of Israel and help gather them back into the covering of the Abrahamic Covenant so the Lord’s promise to Abraham can be fulfilled.  Once we understand that the purpose of our missionary efforts is to help Heavenly Father gather Israel and restore the promised priesthood blessings to them it will enable us to better understand what our missionary purpose is.  On Thursday evening in the Institute lesson it turned out that the parables in Matthew chapter 13 are also related to the gathering of Israel.  The first parable in Matthew 13 refers to the Savior’s efforts to establish his church and gospel to begin the gathering of Israel.  The parable of the wheat and the tares refers to our day and the missionary effort to gather the wheat first, which is more clearly explained in Doctrine and Covenants section 86, then the tares can be put in bundles and burned.  The tares are a weed with the name of Bearded Darnel; which looks exactly like wheat when it is young and growing.  You cannot tell wheat from the darnel until the plants begin to grow their seeds.  While the two plants are young and growing, their roots intertwine together; so if you could identify the darnel, which you cannot, and tried to pull it out of the wheat, you would also pull up the wheat and it would also be destroyed.  That is why the Savior told his servants to let them grow to maturity so you could tell by the seeds which was bearded darnel and which was wheat, “ye shall know them by their fruit…”.  At this stage you could then remove the wheat and save it; then the rest of the wheat plant and the darnel could be put in bundles and burned and no wheat would be lost.  That is what missionary work is about is gathering in the wheat, the House of Israel, from wherever in the world they are now scattered.  The parable of the mustard seed is included to provide some instruction to tell us that the small mustard seed grows a large tree which provides a place for the birds of the air to land.  The birds of the air represent the angels of heaven who are participating with us to help in the gathering of Israel; not only by missionary work as given in Doctrine & Covenants 84:88, but they also help in family history efforts to also save our dead including the house of Israel.  For we with out them and they without us cannot be saved, see Doctrine and Covenants 128:18.  The Prophet Joseph Smith in his “Teachings” on page 98, refers to the mustard seed as representing the Book of Mormon.  It came forth out of the ground and is accounted by most as being the least of all seeds (books); but “…behold it branching forth, yea, even towering, with lofty branches…until it, like the mustard seed, becomes the greatest of all herbs.  And it is truth, and it has sprouted and come forth out of the earth, and righteous ness begins to look down from heaven, and God is sending down His powers, gifts and angels, to lodge in the branches thereof.”  The Prophet Joseph Smith also explains on page 100 of his “Teachings” that the leaven in Mathew 13:33 refers to the “…three witnesses. Behold, how much this is like the parable!  It is fast leavening the lump, and will soon leaven the whole.”  Chapter 5 in the book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon also is relevant to this discussion.  Now add the announcement by President Monson about lowering the age at which missionaries may apply for missions and then read in Doctrine and Covenants 88:70-73 where we are told by the Lord that He will send laborers and elders to care for the flocks and “Behold I will hasten my work in its time.”  Also in Isaiah 60:22, read the whole verse, but notice the footnote in 22c which would read “…I the Lord will hasten it in my time.”   We are now living to see prophecy fulfilled right before our eyes.  We were greatly blessed with two days of learning about gathering Israel, both from the training and from the institute lesson.

Friday Sister Jensen did not feel well so she stayed home and I went to the mission office to try and make up for being out of the office for two days.  I was blessed by the Lord to have a man come with his mother and decide to purchase one of our vehicles that is for sale; so now I only have three more to sell.  Friday evening we rested up a bit.  Saturday I did some shopping and vacuumed and mopped and did a few other things.

Today in our church meetings the primary children and their wonderful leaders presented their annual primary presentation on the topic of “Choose the Right”.  They did very well and they taught us good lessons and the Spirit was very much present.  The other lessons were also very helpful and lifted everyone.

Since next Sunday will be in November, we extend today, our best wishes for wonderful birthdays during the month for each of the following.  Adrianne’s birthday is November 11^th, Braden on November 12^th, Caulter on November 15^th, and Kendra on November 18^th; we hope each of you have a wonderful day and are blessed in any way needed.  We love each of you and pray for you every time we pray and trust that Heavenly Father will answer your own prayers as well as our prayers.  Our testimony and knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His atonement and resurrection is increased every day.  We know the Savior lives and directs his Prophet Thomas S. Monson and the quorum of 12 apostles in guiding the church according to His will and wisdom and timing.  We are so greatly blessed to be here and have the marvelous experiences we have.

Love forever,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard

Message—21 October 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

On Monday we both spent the day with Ruth and April at the Joseph Smith Farm and Sacred Grove and also at the Hill Cumorah.  We went through the Sacred Grove together first.  We spent several hours there where I shared with them the information I have learned from President Christianson and from Bob Parrott.  We took quite a few pictures and I did some videos of many of the places.  We had a great spiritual time together.  When we finished in the Grove we went to what is called the Welcome Center, which is a building which has a large room where people gather and are divided into small groups and then the young sister missionaries take the groups to the Joseph Smith Log Home, the Frame home which was started by Alvin Smith and then finished by the rest of the family after he died in November 1823.  By the Frame home is a barn and a cooper shop.  We were blessed to have Sister Butters take us to these places and share the history and sacred events that occurred there and she also shared her testimony along the way.  We also had another couple join us in our group and we had a great experience with Sister Butters.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Hill Cumorah.  We first went up on the Hill itself and took some pictures for April to take home and show Hayden she had really been on the Hill.  April and I then went on some trails in the old forest area on the South half of the Hill.  Some of these trees have been there since before Moroni showed Joseph Smith where the gold plates were buried.  We then went to the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center where Sister Hatch, one of the Site Trainers shared her testimony with us and then she let us see one of the videos that are available to see in the large auditorium.  We watched the one that tells about the life of Joseph Smith.  We then went to our home and had dinner and shared the evening together.

Tuesday was transfer day; with 6 new missionaries who had arrived on Monday and all the changes in missionary companionships that it takes to assign these 6 new missionaries.  These 6 missionaries were not able to land at the Rochester Airport on Monday as they should have because they winds at the airport were to high; so their plane had to land in Syracuse, about a hundred miles east of us.  President Christianson then took the van and the trailer and drove to Syracuse to pick up the missionaries and their luggage.  They did not arrive at the mission home in Rochester until very late Monday night.  New missionaries have to get up at about 2:30 am at the MTC in Provo in order to be at the SLC airport for a 5:30 am flight to Rochester.  By the time they arrived at the mission home Monday night they had been up for about 20 hours.  About two thirds of the missionaries were affected by the transfers.  Transfer day is always very busy for us so we had to be at the transfer meeting and the things we have to do afterwards; so we gave April the keys to our car and set the GPS for them and sent her and Ruth to go to a session at the Palmyra Temple.  Unfortunately, April did not get off at the right exit so they did not arrive at the temple in time to be in the 9:30 am session.  They did take pictures of the outside of the temple.  April and Ruth then drove up to the town of Palmyra and walked up and down the main street and visited as many shops as they wanted to.  They then spent some time at the mission office getting as many missionaries as they could to sign in the blank pages in front of their Book of Mormon we gave them.  Ruth and April asked the missionaries to sign their name, where their home is, and their favorite scripture.  Ruth and April had also had the sister missionaries at the church history sites sign in their Book of Mormon.  Sister Jensen and I had to spend some time in the afternoon providing training for the new missionaries to help them know important things to help them with the policies and procedures in the mission.  After we finished with the training we went to our home; and while Sister Jensen and Ruth worked on preparing some dinner, I took April to see the Brigham Young Baptism Site.  April and I then came back to our home and picked up Ruth and took her with us to see the Tomlinson Inn and the Tomlinson Corners Cemetery on Boughton Hill Road.  While at the cemetery I shared the experience of Heber C. Kimball and his wife Vilate seeing the “Vision of the Night Sky” while at the cemetery on the night of September 22 1827.  Brigham Young also saw the same thing from about 40 miles northeast at Port Byron where he and Miriam lived.  This was the night the Prophet Joseph Smith received the gold plates from Moroni.  This same experience was reported on the next night and was also seen by other people in the Mendon area.  None of these people knew about the restoration events until a few years later; but they remembered seeing what they saw.

Wednesday morning we drove to Lyndonville to an Amish store so Ruth and April could get a few things they wanted.  We then took a scenic route back along Lake Ontario on the Sea Breeze Parkway.  We then had lunch at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Henrietta; then took April and Ruth to the Rochester Airport so they could get on their flight back home.  We then returned to the mission office to catch up on some things we did not get done while April and Ruth were with us.  Wednesday evening we went to the Site Training meeting at the Hill Cumorah to take some mail to the sister missionaries.  We had picked up a vehicle that had been repaired and drove it to the Site Meeting to return to the sisters who drive it; we then rode home with the Servoss’s.

Thursday we spent the day taking care of office things and I spent a little time preparing to teach the Institute lesson for Thursday evening in Geneseo.  Thursday afternoon while working in the office, I proctored a placement test for Elder Hole which he had to complete in order to attend Weber State University when he goes home in a few months.  We only had one young man come to Institute, but the two Geneseo elders also came so it was a better meeting with two extra people there.

Friday morning we went to the office at 8am so Elder Hole could finish his placement test.  A little after 10 am I had my MARC meeting with President Christianson and the AP’s.  This meeting is to coordinate and plan issues dealing with the vehicles.  We spent a little longer in this meeting because President Christianson had to have additional information to include in a report he had to submit to Elder Hallstrom by the end of the day on Friday.  In the evening we relaxed and rested a bit.

Saturday morning we left home about 8:30 am with the Servoss’s for a short trip to Corning NY, about 90 miles from Mendon.  President Christianson had given us permission to go to Corning which is outside our mission boundary a little ways.  The purpose in our going was to go through the Corning Museum of Glass.  This is a museum built and provided by the Corning Glass Co. to tell about the history of glass from the Egyptian Dynasty period to the present.  They have a number of galleries and demonstrations; including a place where you can pay to have the opportunity to do your own glass blowing project.  The cost for making your own glass item was more than we wanted to spend so we did not do that; but we did watch two glass blowing demonstrations.  It was very interesting.  We also watched a demonstration about the properties of glass and how glass is made more resistant to breaking. We attended a very interesting presentation about the development of fiber optics.  Three men from the Corning Glass Co. were the ones who worked out the problems with making and using fiber optics for transmitting information. One strand of fiber optic glass can carry one million times more information ten times farther than a six foot diameter copper wire bundle.  Vince was our instructor and he demonstrated how the light travels through the fiber optic strand, which is just a little larger diameter than a single strand of human hair.  The fiber optic strand is made of glass.  The light waves carrying the information follows the fiber optic strand and never goes astray.  The fiber optic strand has the capacity to withstand 600 pounds of pull against it.  It could be used as fishing line to catch large fish up to 600 pounds; except you cannot tie knots in it.  It was a very educational experience we enjoyed very much.  On the way to and from Corning we were blessed to see the beautiful fall colors in the leaves on the trees and shrubs.  We took many pictures of all the colorful scenery on the hills and in the valleys.  Heavenly Father is a superb artist who has provided the beautiful colors we see in nature.

Today we attended church in our Geneseo ward and had great meetings.  A returned missionary, Dallon Schultz, and his father who is on the stake high council both spoke to us in sacrament meeting.  After the meetings were over we stayed for what is termed “much and mingle”; which means every family brings something to share for a meal and it is set out for all to enjoy while visiting with each other.  Then we stayed for the baptism of a child of a couple the Elders have been teaching.  The mother is not a member of the church, but the father is and the young girl, Hayden, was baptized.  The missionaries hope that while teaching the new member lessons to Hayden the mother will get a testimony and choose to be baptized.

We express our love and gratitude to each of you for the great influence for good you are in our lives.  You are all awesome people and we are so thankful Heavenly Father blessed us to have you as part of our lives.  May you each be blessed according to your faith and prayers and needs.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine & Richard