Message 27 May 2012

Message—27 May 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday we spent most of our time preparing for the four zone conferences held during the week.  The zone conferences were held on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.  They were all held at the Sacred Grove and in the basement of the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center.  Each day we met at the parking lot for the Sacred Grove at 9am.  Many of the missionaries come early so they can visit with each other as well as some like to spend time on their own in the Sacred Grove.  Therefore we had to arrive early enough so we could get the information I needed from the missionaries about their vehicles.  I directed the missionaries to park in the bus parking area where I could do the vehicle inspections; while Sister Jensen asked the missionaries the questions for which I needed answers about their vehicles.  After all the missionaries arrived with their cars I and Sister Jensen  began doing the inspections of the vehicles.  She served as my recorder of information and I checked the vehicles; while she checked to vehicle pouch information in the glove box.  On three of the four days I had the help of Elder and Sister Ellis and on two of the days I had the help of Elder Servoss; they were very helpful.  We only had about an hour and half to do the inspections so we could be finished by the time the missionaries were finished in the Grove so they could drive their vehicles to the Hill Cumorah for the rest of the training to be given.  After we finished with the vehicles we attended the rest of the training given until the zone conferences ended about 4 pm each day.  I prepared and provided about 20 minutes of training about vehicle safety and caring for the vehicles in each meeting.

We were blessed to have Elder Kevin R. Duncan attend the zone conferences on Friday and Saturday and provide some instruction for about an hour both days.  He had been doing a mission tour in a nearby mission and since his two daughters were on school vacation for the long weekend he had arranged for them to meet he and his wife at the church history sites so they could spend some time together there before returning home on Monday.  Elder Duncan is a great teacher and provided some very helpful instruction to help the missionaries be more effective in helping to bring about real growth in the church.

The lunches for three of the days were provided by the Stake Relief Societies for the stake in which the zone was located.  These sisters brought the food from their areas to the Hill Cumorah and fed the missionaries and then cleaned up and returned home.  On Saturday Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss provided the food for the lunch; they did a great job.  Sister Jensen also provided the afternoon snacks during the 15 minute break on three of the days, Sister Servoss also helped on the last day.

The zone leaders in each zone provided some instruction relating to Chapter 5 in PMG on the Book of Mormon.  This was done to initiate the reading, pondering, and praying about the Book of Mormon as a mission.  Beginning today, Sunday, all the missionaries, including us senior couples, will begin reading 5 pages every day from the Book of Mormon as companion study time.  We will all read the same 5 pages together on the same day.  One main objective is to help bring an increased unity to the mission as well as to each companionship.  In addition, this will strengthen our focus on teaching the great value of the Book of Mormon in helping investigators gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel.  When we read the Book of Mormon together last year as a mission, many missionary miracles happened; we hope and pray the same will happen again this year.

President Christianson taught us about “…establishing the church and bringing about real growth…”.  This is information provided by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve.  It was given to President Christianson and all the other mission presidents in our area in an April Mission Presidents Seminar; and was taught to them by Elder Jay Jensen.  The beginning principle of the instruction is Doctrine & Covenants Section 107:33-34 which teaches that the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve have the major responsibility to “…build up the church…”.  The Seventy are to “…act…under the direction of the Twelve…in building up the church…”.  By extension to us, we are to assist in “…building up the church…” under the direction of our priesthood leaders.  The concept of real growth is to help members and converts remain true and faithful to their covenants, enduring to the end, and helping to “…build up the church…”  The church is growing in numbers every year; but there is not a corresponding increase in sacrament meeting attendance and other measures which indicate faithfully enduring to the end of our lives.  In relation to this topic, Elder Duncan taught the two zones he attended how to help bring about real growth by helping members learn how to become more involved in participating in finding, teaching, and retaining investigators.  He had the missionaries participate in describing the “perfect” investigator teaching situation.  The end result was that the investigators were a family; the teaching was to be done by the missionaries in the home of the investigator, with the presence of a member family who were returning to activity in the church after being inactive for a time.  If you think about it for a few minutes you can see the wisdom in this.  The unseen part of this is that the Bishop and the ward council were involved with the missionaries in determining who the family should be, who is returning to activity.  Following each teaching meeting a report should come back to the ward council on how the teaching went and decisions and assignments were made to help both families continue to make progress and bring about real growth in their lives.  This same process is repeated with every investigator family, or individual.  The members of the church, both active and inactive, should become a part of this process, and gather in the non-members and help each other remain faithful to the end.

Friday evening after zone conference we attended a YSA “Gathering in the Grove” fireside which was actually held in the Palmyra Stake Center which is about one fourth mile from the Sacred Grove.  The Speaker was President Christianson; he spoke on the topic of the influence of music in our lives and our choices.  He has written a few books on the topic and was very effective in reaching the YSA to help them see how music can influence their lives in coming to Christ or being led away from Christ.  The concluding event for this YSA weekend activity is a fireside Sunday evening, tonight, at which Alex Boye, of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, will speak and sing.  President Christianson is very good friends with Alex; and he had invited him to the Friday evening fireside along with Alex’s piano accompanist.  President Christianson had him sing a musical number Alex had written with a very spiritual message; it had a very positive and strong effect on the YSA audience to illustrate the power of good music.

This morning we had previously been invited to speak at the sacrament meeting in Warsaw; which is about 15 miles from the Geneseo ward building.  We spoke on the topic of renewing baptism and temple covenants.  Sister Jensen did very well with her talk; but she left me more time than I needed; but the Spirit was there and did some good teaching and we had a very good meeting.  We returned to our Geneseo ward in time to attend our priesthood and Relief Society meetings.  This evening we are going to attend the Alex Boye fireside.

It has been a great week, with long days and short nights; but with great spiritual experiences along the way.  We are so very blessed to be here in this mission and to have the great opportunity to be in special places where the events of the restoration began.  We know Heavenly Father lives, Jesus Christ is His Only Begotten Son, and is the Savior and Redeemer of all of us.  Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration; and President Monson is his ordained successor and holds all the same keys the Prophet Joseph held.  We have living apostles and prophets to lead us in all we should do to become worthy of living with Heavenly Father and His Son.  We have a certain witness that the Book of Mormon is true and will bless our lives as we read it and pray to know and understand what it teaches; and follow those teachings in our daily lives.

We extend our love and best wishes to each of the following on their birthdays this month.  Our daughter Jana on June 3^rd, Shalee on June 5^th, Brandon on June 13^th, Bailey on June 20^th, and Robyn and Braxton on June 28^th, and we also wish Kamri a happy first birthday, we think on June 28^th but we might be wrong on the day.  We hope you each have a wonderful day and a great year ahead.

Most all of the farmers here in NY have their crops planted and growing; they are now praying for rain to water them so they will grow.  There is very little irrigation here in NY, so almost all of the farmers are totally dependent on the Lord for bringing rain for their crops.

May you each be blessed with all the blessings and help you need to guide, protect, and sustain you in all your needs.  We love each of you, and pray for you in your individual needs.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 20 May 2012

Message—20 May 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

There was more than plenty to do this past week.  We did accomplish many of the things we had to do, but some things are still left to do this week.  Sister Jensen helped with a number of projects in the office, and also caught up on her own projects.  We had a few missionary transfers the first of the week on account of the decision was made to have Elder Bowman return home to take care of getting his diabetes under control.  There were only 4 or 5 companionships affected by these transfers.  Elder and Sister Ellis were assigned to find a few additional apartments; one for two Elders who needed to move out of the apartment they have been living in; and a couple of new ones for senior couples who will be arriving in the mission soon.  They are doing a great job with the apartment issues since they took over what our assignment was last year.

I spent most of my time during the week getting some vehicles ready to be sold.  Some needed mechanical work done on them; and a few needed to still have a good interior cleaning done on them.  By Friday I finally got 3 of the 4 ready to sell.  I have one more to get ready this week; it has been in use for the last week or so by a Senior couple who had major repair expenses needed on the vehicle in which they drove to the mission.  Instead of fixing the old car they came in, they decided to buy a newer vehicle; so they will return the mission vehicle on Monday.  I also worked on some things related to getting ready for zone conferences to be held this coming week.  Our internet access was unavailable Thursday afternoon and Friday; so we learned how dependent we are on internet access; it is a major part of allowing us to do our office work.

The zone conferences this week will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and Saturday.  They will begin at 9am in the Sacred Grove; and after two hours there we will move to the basement of the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center for the rest of the time until 4pm.  During the morning I will have to try and get the vehicles all inspected quick enough so the missionaries can drive from the Grove to the Hill for the rest of the meeting.

Wednesday evening we attended the Site Training meeting at the Hill Cumorah.  Sister Chatterton and Sister Hatch did some training and provided some examples of how to naturally include teaching and testifying of Christ in the tours that are given by the missionaries.  Thursday evening we did not have Institute so we were able to stay at home and rest a bit.  Friday evening right after we left the office we went to the Apple Computer Store in the Eastview Mall and attended a workshop on how to make better use of our I-Pad’s and I-Phone’s; it was a very helpful training for us.

Saturday we did the needed “home work”, washing, cleaning, and etc.  Then we drove to Romulus NY which is about 6 miles south of the Peter Whitmer Home in Fayette.  There a number of Amish families who live in the area around Romulus.  We used the video camera to take some video clips of what we saw.  We saw the Seneca Lake which is the eastern boundary of our mission; there is also a church owned camp site at the North end of Seneca Lake; similar to MIA Shalom in Utah; except it is only at an elevation of about 500 feet.  We saw several Amish farmers out working their land getting ready to plant and planting with horse drawn farm equipment.  It brought back some memories of our youth for both of us.  These Amish usually have either Belgian horses or Mules.  The ones we saw were all Belgians; except for two of the farmers were also using one of their buggy pulling horses along with the Belgian’s.  They do this to allow the better trained Belgian’s to teach the younger horses how to calm down and work and not be so jumpy and flighty.  There is a great lesson in this example; we youth can learn from those who are older and more steady and experienced.  On our way back home we stopped at the Peter Whitmer Farm and I took some video segments of the visitor’s center there and also the log home.  I was all alone in the log home taking the video shots; it was a great experience to be in this sacred place all by myself.  Sister Jensen was wore out and chose to stay in the visitor’s center and visit with Sister Jeff’s from Castle Dale UT.  I visited with Elder Jeff’s for a few minutes.  He told me he has become friends with an Amish farmer in Romulus who has helped him with cutting some leather to use to braid 8 sets of bridles and reigns.  The Amis fellow has also made a set of harnesses for Elder Jeff’s.  Elder Jeff’s has also negotiated with an Amish farmer in Indiana to get a set of Belgian horses for his ranch in Castle Dale.  The Jeff’s will return home from their mission in September.

Today we attended church in Geneseo and had very good instruction in all the meetings.  I was asked to help pass the sacrament due to a shortage of Aaronic Priesthood youth.  This was a nice experience and reminded me of the opportunities to help with the Sacrament in my youth.  After the meetings, we drove to Leicester NY and visited with the Boyd Family, who are members of the Geneseo Ward, but they do not attend meetings; they still live the rest of the gospel principles.  They used to operate a small dairy farm in the Bliss NY area, by Arcade.  He sold the farm there and the cows and most of his farm equipment and bought a smaller, 34 acre, farm in Leicester.  We had a good visit with them and learned about their family and their church service in previous years.  We also talked a lot about farming and lessons to learn from working on them.  He told us about a variety of sweet corn, named “Got to Have it”; which he said is even sweeter and has larger kernels than the milk and honey kind we grow at home.  We are going to try and find some of this variety when we get home and grow some.

We are looking forward to being at the zone conferences this week and serving there and learning from the instruction we might get to hear.  We are so greatly blessed to be in this mission and experience first-hand the places where the restoration events began and took place.  We know the gospel is true, the church is really the Church of Jesus Christ, and it is perfectly true.  We should not allow negative things about the people in the church keep us from receiving the blessings of living the gospel.  The gospel doctrine and ordinances are the only way to become qualified to live for eternity with Heavenly Father and the Savior and our ancestors and our own families.

We express our great love for each of you and pray for your well-being and your peace and happiness in living the gospel.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 13 May 2012

Message—13 May 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

I will begin with expressing love and appreciation for all the MOTHERS!  We are so very grateful for our own mothers who, with our fathers, gave us life; with the mothers doing nearly all the work to get us here.  Our mothers are both wonderful women with testimonies of the gospel and patience and persistence to teach those gospel principles to us by word and especially by example.  We are who we are primarily through the love, nurturing, teaching, and guidance given to us in learning to use our agency to choose to do what is in harmony with the gospel and its doctrines and ordinances and covenants.  We are also grateful to the mothers of our grandchildren for all they have done and continue to do to be good mothers.  We also appreciate the many other good mothers who have been a good influence in our lives in many ways.  I am particularly thankful and indebted to my wonderful wife for being the mother of our own eight children; and the grandmother of our now 28 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren.  Maxine has been a powerful and kind and patient help meet and a great support to me in all the years we have been together.  In today’s vernacular she is awesome, and I love her dearly and eternally.  We hope all the mothers have a wonderful day today and every day.

Sister Jensen had a very demanding week.  She helped prepare food for a number of training meetings during the week.  Thursday evening we had a meeting with all of the MLS Senior Missionary Couples in the home of President and Sister Christianson.  Sister Jensen helped with that meal as well. There were 10 couples plus the President and his wife who attended.  We had a good dinner followed by some training given by President Christianson.  He taught us some principles on how to help establish the church in our areas and help the church grow.  The focus was on helping the members in the wards and branches where we serve to be fully converted and to understand how the church should function and also how to find and accept investigators and help them to understand church procedures and terminology and how to balance the church meetings and activities so it helps families to be strengthened and prepared to receive temple ordinances and blessings.  The training was very helpful.

Saturday we spent several hours at the Hill Cumorah and in the Sacred Grove.  The trees are now mostly in full leaf and the undergrowth is growing well so it makes good pictures.  I mostly did videos of the places we walked; but we also did take a few photos as well.  I have videos of the majority of the so called “witness trees”; meaning these trees were growing at the time Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son and also Moroni on the Hill.  These places are special and have a peaceful sacred feeling present which brings peace to those who visit them.  Last Sunday evening you may have taken time to listen to the CES Fireside talk by Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Quorum of the Seventy.  He showed some videos of some of the same trees I videoed; and taught some great lessons using the trees as examples.

Later in the day, on Saturday, we met Elder and Sister Jones in Henrietta and had a Mother’s Day dinner with them at the Longhorn Steak House.  The food was good, but the company was even better.  The Jones’s have done much to help the Warsaw Branch in the time they have been there.  They are good faithful people with experience in the church and testimonies to help others grow.  They will be returning to Utah in August; we hate to see them go; but their circumstances require that they return.  We have become good friends with them.

Last weekend one of our young missionaries, Elder Bowman, spent his time in the hospital.  The President followed promptings of the Spirit and got him to a doctor who did blood sugar levels and sent him immediately to the Emergency Room at just the right time to save his life.  He was starting into a diabetic coma when he arrived at the hospital.  Blood sugar levels are normally in the 80 to 120 range; Elder Bowman’s level was at 595.  When the President called the Missionary Health Dept. to get permission to take him to emergency; he told the nurse there what the blood sugar levels were and he could hear her gasp.  When she spoke again she said get him to the emergency room right now; which he already was.  Those who attended him were able to stabilize him and keep him from having serious problems.  He is now working on trying to learn how to manage diabetes; but he will likely have to return home to get his diabetes under control and learn the dieting habits he will have to learn.  He had to return home last year for knee surgery for several months; before returning here to the mission.  Some missionaries just have tough experiences to deal with as missionaries.  Some of our missionaries have difficult family circumstances at home; and it is just a miracle that they are here serving as missionaries; but they have the faith and are obedient and are doing great things as missionaries.

Today we had great meetings in church.  I was substituting for our Gospel Essentials teacher, who is our Ward Mission Leader.  The lesson was on the gathering of Israel; we had a good discussion and hopefully the class members learned something useful.  After our 3 hour block of meetings, we had a baptism service for Junea Duvall, a 9 year old young man; whom the McVea’s taught and prepared for baptism before they went home.  The family waited until May to do the baptism so his grandparents and other family could attend.  Michael Headley is a grandfather, and the father of Junea’s mother, Anna.  He lives in St George UT. We are going to continue the efforts of the McVea’s to teach the father and try to help him convert himself spiritually; so he can be baptized.  The McVea’s did a short video message which was shown at the baptism service in which they shared some thoughts and also their testimonies.  It was a great service.

Congratulations to Aaron and Bryce who are graduating from high school this month.  We hope they do well completing the requirements to graduate.  Aaron is graduating with a 4.0 and one year early; he has been taking some AP classes.  We are happy that Lynne is recovering from giving birth to Dylan; and that Dylan is doing well, and Shadyn is helping Lynne with Dylan after he gets home from school.  We hope you all have a great month of May and that all those in school complete the requirements for the grades they are in.  We hope Mckinzi continues doing well in her new job; and in taking care of Kamri.  We also hope Jason does well in his new job and enjoys doing the work.  We hope Britt continues to do well in his programs.  We wish Austin and Josie well as Austin begins a new job tomorrow in Ely NV.

We share our witness that Heavenly Father lives, Jesus is the Christ; the Book of Mormon is true and will bless our lives as we read and prayerfully ponder its truths.  Joseph Smith is a prophet and Thomas S. Monson is his ordained successor.  We are so blessed to be serving a mission here in NY; we have great experiences and have had our testimonies strengthened and expanded.

We love and pray for each of you!!

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 6 May 2012

Message—6 May 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

We had some great experiences this past week.  Monday 8 new missionaries arrived in the mission; 6 Elders and 2 Sisters.  Two of the Elders were unexpected surprises; they were sent to our mission while awaiting visas for South American countries.  They were both assigned to work in areas where we have missionaries who teach Spanish speaking people; they were assigned as a “threesome” meaning three missionaries together.  One is Elder Adair, we already have an Elder Adair; they both met each other and decided they were not related.  The other one is Elder Wilson; we already have an Elder Wilson also, we do not yet know if they are related since they have not met each other.  One of the other new missionaries is Elder Olsson from Sweden; he speaks English well but he does have a Swedish accent.  These new missionaries will be great and have good success.  Monday evening we met at the President’s home and provided our new missionary orientation instruction to the new ones.

On Tuesday the missionaries involved in the transfers required to make a place for the new missionaries to serve, met at the Kreag Rd. Chapel.  The President there announced the companions the new missionaries would serve with.  We had mail and other items for many of the missionaries.  I had three new Toyota Corolla’s to assign to three companionships and had to take the three older cars to the mission office so I can start getting them ready to sell.  It was nice to have the transfers on May 1^st so the miles record keeping procedures were much easier.  On Wednesday another new Toyota Corolla was switched with a companionship of Sisters who live within a half mile of the mission office; so it was easy to make that change.

On Wednesday Elder Swanner and Sister Carver completed their mission and returned home.  Elder Swanner had served in Brockport while we lived there and we came to be very close.  He has made great progress and positive changes in his life while he has served as a missionary.  Sister Carver was one of the Site Training Sisters for several months.  Sister Chatterton and Sister Hatch are now the Site Training Sisters.  Elder Larson will return home on May 9^th, a few weeks early, so he will be able to start his college classes on time.

Wednesday evening we attend the Site Training Meeting at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center.  Sister Chatterton and Sister Hatch shared a new video the Church has made, the title is “God’s Plan”; it is about families being together forever.  It is a very powerful video.  While we were viewing the video several of the young Sister missionaries were very touched by the Spirit.  One Sister just really sobbed for the rest of the meeting.  You have to understand that some of the missionaries who come have some very heart wrenching family messes at home.  This sister is one of those who come from a family life that is far from ideal.  At this point in time the video is only available at church visitor centers; if you get a chance to see it please do it.

Thursday evening we taught the Institute Lesson in the Geneseo Ward; it was on 3 Nephi Chapters 11-14; which is the beginning of the Savior’s appearance to those who were still alive after all the destruction that took place when the Savior was crucified.  Two young ladies in the ward attended; Jill and Caitlin.  They are both finishing their college classes this coming week and taking finals and graduating.  Our discussion was great and the Spirit was there to help us learn together.  The Elders assigned to the ward came late and also participated in the lesson.  One of things we did was compared the differences in wording between the accounts of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and the equivalent Sermon given at the temple in the land Bountiful among the Nephites and Lamanites.  If you have not done this before it is a great teaching and learning experience.

Sister Jensen was busy every day this week helping Sister Servoss and Sister Christianson with meals and snacks for the new missionaries on Monday, on Tuesday they fixed dinner for the missionaries going home.  Wednesday they had a day off of fixing food.  Thursday she helped with the snacks for the training of the new missionaries and their companions.  On Friday she helped with the food for the Zone Leader Council meeting which was from to 9am-4pm.  They fixed snacks and lunch for those attending.  I kept busy all week with issues related to the new car switches, and other repairs needed and getting the monthly car reports collected and processed.

Friday evening we drove to Warsaw for a baptism of Bert, who Elder and Sister Jones, a senior missionary couple serving there, had taught and helped prepare for baptism.  It was a great baptism service.  The Jones’s have made a great contribution to the Warsaw ward while they have been here.  The first counselor in the Branch Presidency, Art Crater; told me the Jones’s had helped find and account for over 30 branch members.  They either found the people or found where they had moved to and helped the clerk update the membership records.

Saturday we had a P-Day and did things around the house that needed to be done and did some shopping.  I helped Elder Servoss build a hand rail going up the stairs into his attic.  On Monday May 14^th the senior couples, including the Site Couples, are coming to the Servoss’s for a FHE.  He and I will coordinate to take the couples in small groups to see the baptism site of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and other early Mendon Saints; the Tomlinson Inn, and the Boughton Hill Cemetery; and the John Young Home here where we live.

Sunday, today, we had a great Fast & Testimony meeting.  One young man, about 7 years old, shared a very powerful message and testimony.  It was short, but very powerful.  He said he had learned that following the Savior is like a river.  If we stay in the calm water where it is safe and we can see the Savior on the shore, we will be blessed and helped to do what is right.  If we get out in the swift water it is like being in Satan’s area and we will be carried away from the Savior.  That just about sums up Heavenly Father’s plan for us doesn’t it.  I am continually amazed at the spiritual perception of our youth.  Jill and Caitlin both shared their testimonies; they were both converted last year while attending Geneseo College.  Jill shared her experience for a class she is taking in which she had to make a piece of jewelry, she chose to make a ring for her boyfriend who is coming to see her this week and propose marriage to her.  She had made what she thought was a serious mistake and was about to give up and risk failing the class.  Then she decided to pray for help, which she said she have done earlier; thinking that Heavenly Father was so busy with all the hard problems of everyone else that he may not have time to help her.  She used her faith and prayed for help with fixing the ring.  After praying for help the inspiration came to her to make a matching piece like she thought she had ruined so they both looked the same.  Heavenly Father helped her do this right; and so the ring turned out beautiful and unique.  She says I relearned that prayers are answered even if they seem to be for a small thing.  She also said it reminded her that the atonement can fix any mistake we make if we repent and change our attitude and do our best to do what is right.

This evening we are going to watch the CES Fireside here at our place with Elder and Sister Servos and Sister Crook and Sister Jones (one of the new sister missionaries who came this week).  Elder Marlin K. Jensen is the speaker, and he has some video clips he will use that were taken at the historic sites last month.  Some of our missionaries will be included in the video clips.

We very much appreciate all who are helping take care of our home and yard for us.  We know it is not convenient for you to do things for us, but you will be blessed in many ways as you serve us.  We were very pleased and delighted to learn that Britt had completed his GED requirements this past week, congratulations; and keep doing the good things you have been doing.  We are very grateful that Lynne was able to give birth to Dylan Joseph Watkins, our last grandchild, number 28, on May 3^rd, also Megan’s birthday.  All went well and we hope Lynne will regain her strength soon; and that Dylan will continue to grow and develop and become the person Heavenly Father sent him to the earth to become.  We are also happy that Olivia’s surgery went well last Tuesday; we hope she will continue to recover and do well.  We love you all and pray for you by name, and for your specific needs each day.  May you all be blessed with the help Heavenly Father knows you need to enable you to do all you are required to do.

We love you,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 29 April 2012

Message—29April 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

In our Monday Office Staff meeting last week the theme of the thought was that Heavenly Father loves us.  When I think about all of my experiences in life as well as the experiences of other people I know and have read about in the scriptures as well as in history; there are innumerable evidences that Heavenly Father does in fact really love us.  There will never be any doubt in my mind of His great love for us.  First and foremost He has provided His Son, our Savior and Redeemer who has blessed us with the atonement and the resurrection and a knowledge of the great and eternal plan of eternal life, exaltation, and happiness available to all of us.  Regardless of how many difficulties, or challenges, or trials we experience, Heavenly Father will always and forever love us and do all He can to help us, help ourselves, become prepared and worthy to return to be with Him.

Monday evening we went to the Joseph Smith Farm Welcome Center, at the Sacred Grove, to attend a Family Home Evening with the Senior Couples who serve at the Church History Sites.  The speaker for the evening was Norman White, after he joined the church he was called by those who worked with him, Norman the Mormon; he did not join the church until some years after the events below took place.  In his younger years he purchased a farm six miles south of the Peter Whitmer Farm near Romulus NY.  A narrow lane leading to some of his fields was too narrow for the new hay swather he had purchased.  He asked his neighbor George to use his D-8 Cat to widen the lane by pushing over some trees.  After widening the lane Norman asked George to push over an old building that was too infested with rats to use as a granary.  George drove the D-8 Cat to the building and was going to push the building in to a pile so it could be burned.  When the Cat hit the building the engine died.  It took quite a while to get it started again, but when he did get it started he tried to push the building over again, but he could not get any traction with the tracks, so he got off the Cat and told Norman we will have to do this another day, I have to get to a meeting.  For some reason George never came back to push the building over.  In looking more carefully at the building, Norman discovered the building was actually a solid log cabin with shingles on the outside walls and lath and plaster on the inside walls.  He looked at the abstract to his deed for the farm and learned the building had been built to be “Brown’s Tavern”.  It had been built around 1830.  Sometime later Norman was called by a student from Cornell University who was part of a study group who were studying old log cabins and they would like to look at this log building which had not been pushed over.  Norman finally gave permission for them to come and so they did.  He told them they could tear off shingles or the plaster walls because he was going to have the building pushed over and burned.  For the next six to eight weeks the students came with their tools and equipment and did their study.  The students told Norman they hated to see the log building destroyed because of its historic value.  While this was going on the LDS Church was in the process of rebuilding the Peter Whitmer log home in Fayette; and they were in need of some additional logs to finish the project.  Near the end of the Cornell students study, the students brought Karl Butler to see the log cabin; he represented the LDS Church.  Karl told Norman the Church was looking for some logs from a log cabin that was built around 1830 to use in rebuilding a log cabin at the Peter Whitmer Farm 6 miles away.  Norman said they could have the logs but they would have to take all of them or none.  Karl agreed to take the whole building.  The top three rows of logs above the doors and windows of the rebuilt Peter Whitmer log home came from Norman White’s log building.  These events all took place in 1979 and early 1980.  As you all know, President Kimball was at the Peter Whitmer log home on April 6^th 1980 to dedicate this rebuilt home as part of the Visitors Center there.  This was part of the General Conference that year.  There is a lot more to the story of Norman’s life and conversion to the church and the events and experiences in his life after he joined the church.  I will share them at a later time.

We went to the Wednesday evening Site Training meeting at the Hill Cumorah.  We all participated in a version of the Jeopardy game; using the information in the Joseph Smith Farm Site Training Manual for questions.  It was an interesting and fun evening.  Sister Carver, one of the Site Trainers, shared her testimony with us, since she is completing her mission and going home this Wednesday May 2^nd.  She has been an excellent missionary and has a great testimony and knowledge of the gospel.

Thursday evening we went to Geneseo and taught the Institute class; only one student, Caitlin Pembroke, attended.  Elder Davis and Elder Pratt also attended; Elder Pratt is the Elder I have told you about before who has only about 10 inches of arms all above the elbow.  We had a great discussion about 3 Nephi chapters 1-10.  These are the events that occurred at the time of the birth of the Savior; and the events just before the Savior came to the Nephites.

Friday I was blessed to complete all the details and paperwork to sell two Toyota Corolla’s to Ajay and Kalyan.  They came with their new license plates and I gave them the keys and they took the cars and left.  These are the first vehicles I have processed on my own; all the way through to the final sale.  I learned a lot in the process.  Sister Jensen and I and the Servoss’s worked together to get the monthly Mission Newsletter printed and collated and folded and put in envelopes and either mailed or delivered to the missionaries.  Friday evening we were able to stay home and enjoy the evening together alone, relaxing and resting.

Saturday we did our grocery shopping for things we needed for us and also for the items Sister Jensen needs for her food assignments for this next week for new missionaries coming on Monday, and missionary transfers on Tuesday, and a few missionaries going home on Wednesday.  Elder Swanner and Sister Carver are going home on Wednesday, and Elder Larson goes home the following week.  Elder Swanner served in Brockport for about half of the time we were there; so we know him well.  His Utah home is in Far West, which is northwest of Ogden.

Today, Sunday, we attended church in the Geneseo Ward; it was our ward conference.  We had the Stake Presidency and other stake leaders there to be with and teach us.  The Bishop and the Stake President were the speakers in Sacrament Meeting.  They both spoke on the topic of the blessings of the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  Three of the stake leaders were from the Brockport ward, so we were able to visit with them a few minutes.  The Elder’s had brought an investigator family to church; Spring and her children.  The missionaries have been teaching her off and on for about 16 months; multiple sets of missionaries have taught her.  We had a good lesson in the Gospel Principles Sunday School class with Spring.  The teacher is Chris Erickson, and he is also the Ward Mission Leader and is a good teacher.  Spring had several questions which were answered in a way she understood better.

For the month of May we wish a happy birthday to each of those who have a birthday this month.  May 3^rd is Megan’s birthday, Shayden’s is on May 11^th, Hayden’s is on May 23^rd, and Chandler’s is on May 24^th.  We hope you have a wonderful day and remember that we love you and will be thinking of you on your birthday.  We are anxiously and patiently waiting for Lynne to have her baby boy, Dylan any day.  We surely hope all will be well with both of them and that Dylan will be welcomed and loved by his family, including all of the extended family.  We hope Jason will be blessed to find a new job quickly.  We hope all the grandchildren will finish their school work in May with good grades.  We congratulate Aaron on his high school graduation one year early and with honors; that is a great accomplishment, Aaron; we wish you all the best in pursuing more education.  We also congratulate Mckinzi on finishing her Medical Assistant requirements and also finishing her externship and also being blessed to find a job in a medical office; we are very happy for you Mckinzi.

We express our love and sympathy to Julia Hansen’s family with her passing to the Spirit world this past week to be reunited with Walt.  Thank you to April for attending the viewing and funeral for us.  Julia and Walt Hansen have been a great influence for good in our lives.  They have set examples for us which have motivated us to follow their examples.  They have also mentored us in many ways, including helping us learn how to serve in the church and how to teach our children.  They have been great neighbors to us.  We hope we live good enough to see them again in the next life.

We continue to pray for Jerry Miller and Richard Bradford and their families with challenges they are going through.  We express our love to you and promise you Heavenly Father will bless and comfort you in the way He knows you need to be blessed.  He will also bless and help their families and provide love and support and encouragement to continue in your lives to do all that is required of you.

Please know that we love each of you dearly and pray for you and are very grateful to each of you for the good influence you have been and continue to be in our lives.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine

Message 22 April 2012

Message—22 April 2012 

Dear Family & Friends, 

We really are blessed to be a part of the weekly office staff meetings where we have an opportunity to be taught and encouraged by President Christianson and his wife.  They are a great example to us and always have spiritual messages to share with us and teach us.  Even though it was my turn to provide a spiritual thought, which I did, President always expands on what is shared so we can see and learn even more than what we learn on our own to prepare to give the thoughts we share.  Monday evening we actually were blessed to have a FHE together.  Tuesday and Wednesday we were involved with trying to catch up on our work in the office.  On Wednesday I started the process of negotiating with some young men from India to sell two Toyota Corollas' which the mission has for sale.  I do pretty good at understanding their accent when I talk with them in person, but I struggle a bit when I talk with them on the phone.  One of them wanted the silver colored Corolla, but his wife talked him into buying the red one instead.  Then a friend decided he wanted to buy the silver one; and we got through the process far enough that I received the check to pay for the silver car.  I sent the check and the accompanying paper work by overnight mail to Salt Lake; the Fleet Administration Office people will send the signed title to the car back to me overnight on Monday, tomorrow, so I will have the title on Tuesday.  The other guy who wants the red Corolla will bring the check for that car tomorrow and I will get it sent to Salt Lake so I can get the title back for this car.  I will then have only a Mazda left to sell.  In the next week or so we will receive 3 more new 2012 Toyota Corolla’s; so I will then have to sell the 3 cars these new ones replace.  This is a never ending process to keep the cars serviced, maintained, and sold. 

Wednesday evening we attended the Site Training meeting at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center.  We go to these meetings instead of a district meeting like we did when we were in Brockport.  We also go to deliver mail which had been received in the Mission Office, to the young Sister missionaries, who also attend these meetings.  This mail includes packages sent to the missionaries from family and friends at home.  These packages and mail always make the sisters happy.  In some cases the mail is from a certain young man back home, and we can see the sparkle in their eyes when this is the case. 

Thursday after we left the office we drove to Geneseo to attend the Institute class we help teach twice a month.  Brother Don Gammon taught the lesson on the entire book of Helaman in the Book of Mormon.  This coming Thursday it is our turn to teach the lesson on 3 Nephi chapters 1-10.  The two students who have been attending Institute are both graduating from Geneseo College on May 12^th.  They are both then going to their homes for the summer.  Then one is going to do a master’s degree at the Univ. of Virginia; and the other one is going to move to Utah to get a job teaching school and also make connections with a missionary who served his mission here in NY; whom she has been writing.  She will likely marry him and then help support him while he gets his college degrees. 

Friday afternoon one of the districts in the Palmyra North Zone; which includes the area where the Mission Office is located, had their district meeting in the office.  We stayed until they were finished and then ate some dinner we had brought from home.  We then went to the Chapel on Westfall Rd. which is the stake center for the Rochester Stake.  President Russell Osguthorpe, the General Sunday School President of the Church came to provide some instruction on how to be better teachers.  The meeting was for all adults in all three stakes in our Mission; the Rochester Stake, the Buffalo Stake, and the Palmyra Stake.  About 400 people attended.  The meeting was scheduled to begin at 7:30pm.  All three stake presidents attended, and also Elder David Cook who has been our Area 70 for the last 5 years attended, and he also presided.  He was released in General Conference this month; and his actual release date is May 1^st; so this was probably his last assigned meeting.  President Osguthorpe’s plane was delayed in arriving, so he was not present when the meeting began at 7:30.  President Cary Jensen of the Rochester Stake conducted the meeting and we began on time.  President Osguthorpe had texted President Jensen that he would be there as quickly as he could.  The Rochester Airport is only about 5 miles from the chapel, so once his plane landed; it did not take him very long to get to the chapel.  After the song and prayer, Elder Cook took some time and shared some experiences he has had in his life to illustrate teaching which was not so good and also contrasted that with some excellent teaching.  As a priest age young man growing up in Utah he had some Priest Quorum Advisors who spent most of the class time trying to play games and make things fun for the priests.  Elder Cook said he does not remember any of the lessons they tried to teach.  The Bishop then called an older High Priest to be the Priest Quorum Advisor.  The first day they met in the quorum meeting; this good brother told them he was there to teach them the gospel and how to magnify their priesthood; and he would like all of them to benefit from this teaching.  He said if any of you do not want to stay and learn, you are invited to go find your mother in Relief Society and sit by them so you will not distract those who stay to learn.  They all stayed; and this good High Priest teacher taught them the gospel and how to magnify their priesthood.  In a short time the boys all began going to his home after they got bored trying to cause mischief.  They had their fun outside of church time.  All but one of those boys, including Elder Cook, went on missions and were married in the temple.  His point was teaching gospel doctrine in church meetings will do far more good than entertaining or having fun in a church class. 

Pres. Osguthorpe arrived about 8pm and took over when Elder Cook finished.  He began by inviting people to ask questions about teaching; and while he did this a couple of people helped set up his computer and a projector so he could use his PowerPoint Presentation.  He answered some good questions which helped to get people involved in the meeting.  He then provided some of the instruction he had prepared.  He really taught by the Spirit and provided some great examples and gave some good resources to help teachers do better teaching.  His primary message was to learn to teach for conversion, teach so people will change.  He said please do not feel that you are required to teach everything in a lesson; teach what the Spirit directs and what will help people change for the better.  The youth are our future so we must do better at teaching them so they can rise and shine forth and accomplish what will be required of them.  Learn to make good use of the information on the websites the Church has provided; including the “Teaching the Gospel” website.  There will be a transition to using digital resources more and more in the Church.  Pres. Osguthorpe was in a meeting with youth and he asked them what they expected from Church lessons.  Their answer was they wanted to be challenged not lectured to.  He used some video clips from a talk by President Uchtdorf to illustrate how to teach correctly.  There are three steps in the example; 1) teach a key doctrine of the gospel, 2) invite people to action using the doctrine, 3) describe and testify of the promised blessings for changing.  In three words the concept is KNOW—DO—BECOME!  Before giving his summary and sharing his testimony, he did something different.  He asked each person to turn to someone next to them and explain what one principle they had learned and how they were going to use it in their teaching.  He then asked a few people to share what they had said.  Pres. Osguthorpe presented a very excellent training session. 

Saturday was Sister Jensen’s birthday and also our 46^th anniversary.  Saturday morning we went to the Palmyra Temple and did an endowment session; then we went to a nice restaurant and had a good dinner.  We then went home and did our P-Day work; washing and cleaning.  In the evening we mostly spent our time learning how to make better use of our I-Pad’s.  I have an I-Pad 2 and for her birthday I gave Sister Jensen one of the new I-Pad 3’s.  We downloaded church related resources and learned how to use them somewhat. 

Today, Sunday, we attended church in the Geneseo Ward and had very good meetings.  We attended the missionary coordination meeting right after the meeting block.  I helped Elder Pratt put some new windshield wiper blades on their truck; I had brought them for them from the Office supplies I have for vehicles.  We came home and had a great dinner, which my children would love to have been present to enjoy, it was like the normal dinner we had when they were living at home.  We then drove to the Peter Whitmer Farm to get some information and pictures and the accident report from some Sister Missionaries about a minor accident they had yesterday.  Here it is the end of another Sunday and another week of our mission. 

We are patiently and anxiously waiting for our daughter Lynne to call us and report that her new son, Dylan has arrived; he is expected to be born this week; Lynne sure hopes he is.  This will be our 28^th and last grandchild; this makes 19 boys, and only 9 girls, but they are certainly the most beautiful girls I know.  In the future we will continue to await more great-grandchildren.  We were saddened to hear the bad news about Jerry Miller and Richard Bradford, in our ward at home in Provo.  We pray for them and their families that they might all be comforted and strengthened through these challenges.  We also learned that Norm Erickson’s cancer has returned and we continue to pray for him that he will be able to endure and be comforted and blessed.

We express our great appreciation and love for each of you and pray daily for you to receive the blessings you need to sustain and help you in all you have to deal with each day.  Our lives have been blessed by our associations with each of you. 

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard and Maxine

Message 15 April 2012

Message—15 April 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

On Monday morning, April 9^th, we had a very good staff meeting; in addition to the business of the meeting, President shared the spiritual thought and we had a great discussion about his message on the atonement of Jesus Christ.  We usually also learn about some of the great experiences the missionaries are having in finding and teaching people they are led to find.  There were two new missionaries who arrived in the mission on Monday who both do ASL.  They came between the normal transfer arrivals because ASL missionaries are in the MTC for 9 weeks. We also had one missionary arrive last week from Mexico; Elder Vazquez, he had been in the MTC in Mexico but had a difficult time getting his visa to come to New York.  He is an older missionary, 25, who has been working several years to earn enough money to go on a mission for both he and his brother.  His brother is also on a mission.  He had a successful business related to tourists who come to Cabot San Lucas.  He sold the business in order to pay for his mission and also for his brother.  He was assigned to serve in the Mexico North Mission while he was working on getting his visa.  He prayed for Heavenly Father to help him find someone at the embassy who understood about missionaries for the LDS Church to help him get the visa.  On his first visit to the embassy in Northern Mexico the man who did the first interview was asking him questions about why he wanted to serve a mission and Elder Vazquez was feeling he was not going to have success in getting the visa.  The man then said he was a member of the LDS church and he would do all he could to get his visa approved.  He then had to meet with the Consul who was a lady; before he went he prayed for help that the Consul would approve his visa request; this was on a Wednesday.  When he entered her office and sat down, the lady saw his name tag and asked are you Carlos Vazquez who helped me at Cabot San Lucas last year while I was there?  He said he did have a business there at the time; and she said you were so helpful and kind to me.  I will see that your visa is approved and available for you on Monday.  The Lord truly is involved in the details of our lives.  It is so amazing to me how the Lord put in motion all the events that had to happen at the right time preceding Elder Vazquez getting his visa approved in less than two weeks, when it usually takes months.  Heavenly Father and the Savior love us so much and are so good to us.  We will see this is true if we will pause, be still, and see His hand in our lives.

The President tried a different sequence in providing the orientation for these three new missionaries.  Instead of doing the orientation Monday evening, he had us do it Tuesday morning after he had taken them to the Sacred Grove and the Hill Cumorah.  Doing the orientation Monday evening, which we normally have done, after the missionaries had been up since 2am to get to the airport and then travel all day and try to stay awake in the evening after a good dinner made it difficult for the missionaries to stay awake and listen.  It worked much better to do the orientation Tuesday afternoon.  We will continue with this schedule from now on.  After the office staff did their orientation the President had the rest of the afternoon to do some training and teaching before sending the new missionaries with their companions to their assigned areas.

Monday evening we joined the Senior Couples at the Historic sites for a tour of some museums in Palmyra.  We met at the Alling Coverlet Museum, which is right behind and to the west of the Grandin Building.  The Palmyra Historic Society has some control over the museums, and two of their officers gave all of us missionaries an evening special viewing and tour.  The Alling Museum is one of the few museums that specializes in collecting quilted bed coverlets.  They have also included a number of other historical items which citizens of Palmyra have donated over the years.  They include some items made by Indians from Western New York.  We also went to two other museums on Market Street, which is just east of the Grandin Building.  One was the Historic Palmyra Museum.  In here they have displays in every room of the building which was once a store, a boarding house, and a residence.  There is a room with Mormon related items in it; one with dolls of various kinds, one with women’s period clothing, one with toys from the 1800’s including a 7foot long toboggan, and one with war mementos from Palmyra citizens who were in all the wars from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War.  The main floor has a collection of printing presses from the 1800’s.  There is a room with hand tools of all kinds, and there is a room with information about the grandparents of Winston Churchill who came from Palmyra.  There is a display about Ira Lackey, the whaler and owner of the "Morning Star," the first boat to send missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the South Pacific, Ira was from Palmyra.  The other museum we visited is the William S. Phelps General Store.  As far as is known he is not related to our LDS, William W. Phelps.  The store has been preserved so it looks just like it looked in the 1940’s; including the shelves being stocked with the goods that were available for sale back then.  I recognized many of the brand names on items on the shelves, and have some pictures of them.  There is a door on the north of the store which opened to a ramp which went to the wharf along the Erie Canal so that goods could be brought in from the boats on the Erie Canal.

Tuesday evening we worked together with the Servoss’s to get the food ready for the Special Training meetings on Wednesday.  We provided 13 pineapples, about 10, 3 pound containers of strawberries, and 10, 3 pound containers of grapes and mixed them together.  Then at the meetings we cut up some bananas to add to the mixture; and also provided bottled water and 13 dozen Bruegger’s bagels of various types (we bought the bagels we did not make them).  The Rochester and Buffalo Zones met Wednesday morning from 8am to 12 noon in Batavia.  The Palmyra North and Palmyra South Zones met Wednesday afternoon from 2pm to 6pm in Canandaigua.  The Servoss’s went to the Batavia meeting and took care of setting out the food we had prepared.  We took care of the Mission Office during the morning while the Servoss’s were in Batavia.  The Servoss’s got to the Mission Office in time for us to get to Canandaigua; and we set the food out for the missionaries during their break.  By doing this we were able to hear most of the training the President provided.  He is such a great teacher.  One idea he talked about was an answer to a missionary question about the anti-Mormon people.  The LDS Church is the only church which has a major organization dedicated to trying to drive people from the church and they have a publishing company that prints nothing but anti-Mormon literature.  Why do they target our Church, because it is the true church and Satan wants to do all he and his followers can do to destroy the church.  The primary focus they have is to promulgate negative things about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  By doing this they hope to have people lose their testimony of these two foundation doctrines of the church.  The Book of Mormon is the Second Witness of Jesus Christ; and Joseph Smith is translator of this book of scripture and is the Lord’s prophet of this dispensation, and there are living prophets and apostles on the earth today.  Through these prophets revelation comes and the Priesthood Keys are administered.   If the Anti’s can succeed in destroying the Book of Mormon and living prophets, then the priesthood keys go away with it; and the priesthood is the one power Satan can never have; so he wants to keep us from having the blessings of the priesthood.  Since this is what Satan wants to destroy, then prophets, the Book of Mormon and the Priesthood should be the major focus we have in our lives, because they are the means of saving us from Satan’s power.

Thursday evening we were on our way to Geneseo to attend Institute, when we received a call that Brother Gammon had cancelled Institute for that night.  He had his secretary call the students and the missionaries so they knew.  This made it possible for us to arrive home in time to have dinner at the Servoss’s with a new senior couple, Elder and Sister Nielsen, from New Port Beach California.  They are here for a 6 month mission and have been assigned to serve in the Freedom NY area and help the branch there.  They are great people and will be a great help to the branch.  We visited with them for a few hours after dinner then walked across the street to our home and went to bed.  Friday morning Sister Jensen arose early and prepared a very tasty quiche breakfast to share with the Servoss’s, the Nielsen’s and the Ellis’s, who also came for breakfast.  After breakfast we went to the office and the Ellis’s led the way for the Nielsen’s to their apartment in Freedom.  The Ellis’s were then prompted by the Spirit to find a nice apartment in the Collins area, for another couple, the Jeppsen’s, who will be here next month to serve in that area.

Friday evening we stayed home and rested a little.  Saturday morning we slept in for an hour to 7am.  We spent most of the day, from 10 am to about 4pm with the Servoss’s.  We rode together in our car and drove to Lyndonville, NY to shop at two Amish operated stores.  One was a General Store type place which included bolts of fabric which kept Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss occupied.  We then went to Yoder’s Country Store; which sell’s primarily food items.  We then drove up to Lake Ontario and stopped at a large boat harbor with a lighthouse replica and the look and feel of a small fishing village, including many people along the harbor fishing.  We drove along the Lake Ontario Sea Way, which is a four lane divided highway that parallels the Lake.  You can see the lake in many places.  When we got near Rochester we went South on highway 390 and returned home.  We spent the evening taking it easy.  The week was long and tiring but we were very busy serving in a variety of ways and were blessed to accomplish what was needed.

Today we went to church in the Geneseo ward and had very good meetings; the sacrament meeting talks were about the atonement.  We stopped in Lima to check on a referral the missionaries had received from the Elders in Greece NY, that was quite a distance from their apartment, but it was just off the road we travel to return home.  It turned out that the address was incomplete.  The address was an apartment complex with 8 buildings with 8 apartments in each building which was 64 apartments.  We had no apartment number so we will have the Elders drive to this place one day and have them tract through the apartments and see if the person lives there; if not maybe they will find someone else who is interested in being taught.  We call these referrals, bogus.  Some people provide false information just to get rid of the missionaries.

We express our love and appreciation to each of you.  Our lives have been very blessed by your examples, your kindnesses, your help, your love, and your prayers.  We pray for all of you each day and we know you are being blessed in many ways.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine