Missionary Moments #27, March 8, 2015

It is amazing to see the time flying by as we enter the 7th month of our mission.  This week I finally figured out how to keep our work in the right report which shows how many pictures we actually take from week to week.  The weather is starting to warm up and yesterday it was a warm 27 degrees!  I can smell the grass growing underneath all of this snow and can't wait to see what Spring looks like in New England.  On Friday night we were invited to dinner with the senior couples in our mission.  We ate at the Mission President's home and had a wonderful Italian meal.  Sister Stoker is an amazing cook.  While there we met with about 8 missionary couples who are serving in various capacities throughout the mission.  Most of them are in small branches helping to support the branch they are in.  We also have a couple that does that as well as the wife serving as the mission nurse.  We met Christian's moms cousin and her husband who are serving in the mission office.  Another interesting couple we met is related to grandpa all the way back to the Israel Putnam line.  Such a small world!  On Saturday morning we were able to attend a mission wide conference which was so amazing for many reasons.  We started with a mission picture in the cultural hall and then moved into the chapel for a two hour meeting with Elder Hallstrom, one of the Presidents of the 70s, Bishop Causse from the Presiding Bishopric of the Church, and Brother Bennett who serves as the Area Seventy to the New England states.  Sister and President Stoker started the meeting by bearing their testimonies and then we heard from the others.  Amazing experience.  In our mission we have 184 missionaries serving right now and that doesn't include the senior couples.  Everyone of them were so engaged with what they were being taught and the Spirit in the meeting was strong.  Elder Hallstrom asked those sisters who came out to serve at 18 to raise their hands.  Two thirds of the sisters raised their hand.  He told us that since President Monson announced the change in age to 19 for sisters that the number of sisters serving has gone from 13% to 30%.  He then asked the Elders to raise their hands if they came out when they were 18.  More than half raised their hands.  Elder Hallstrom then said, now you can see the result of prophetic counsel.  He told the missionaries that the efforts they make on their mission will establish what each of them can be.  He also reminded the missionaries that their mission should not be the high point of feeling the Spirit and encouraged each of us not to lose the ability to be taught by the Spirit.  He said, we ask you to have one convert on your mission, we want that convert to be YOU. Very profound and I believe we all felt the impact of his words.  I wish I could have shared even more that we heard by Bishop Causse and Brother Bennett because they were also such great teachers.  The meeting seemed to be over before it began and we sadly left to resume the work ahead of us.  We are so grateful for this opportunity and it has been a wonderful experience for both of us.  I realized last night that this month, (March 5th) I have been a member of the church for 55 years.  So very grateful for our new neighbors who shared the gospel message with our family.  So proud of my parents for being humble enough to accept the message that was shared.  So thankful for all the people who shared their testimonies with me while I developed one of my own.  Especially grateful to an older brother who lead our family when we weren't strong enough to do it on our own.  Thank you Buddy!  Have a great week everyone. 

The Wednesday Letters

You will need to get your tissues ready if you decide to read this book.  After reading some intense books I decided I would like to enjoy some light reading but found that it wasn't the case.  The story begins as a husband and wife die during the same night.  The rest of the story tells of the three children who discover some interesting facts about their father and mother that they didn't know. Great story about forgiveness and is worth your time.  Jason F. Wright made the story come alive and the time I spent reading was definitely not wasted.  As I was reading I came upon this sentence in the book, "I feel like I'm sleeping in a history book."  I loved that because I feel like I'm living among some of the greatest history of our nation and I just can't get enough.

Rise and Shout....!

Seems like just a few years ago you were
starting Kindergarten.

Congratulations to Perry.  He received his acceptance to Brigham Young University in Provo.  So proud of you grandson.  You always work hard and do your best and now you can enjoy accomplishing a goal you had set for yourself.  So glad your roommate will be your cousin Nick--what a dream team!  I hope you will work hard and have a great time while you are there.  Still trying to grasp the concept that you are old enough to be a college student.  Go Cougars!

Happy Birthday Bruce!

It is hard to believe that you are now eleven years old. You have been the spoon in the family who stirs everything up and makes sure everyone is well blended.  You have embraced life in your unique way and kept all of us on our toes.  You have been an athlete and a winner in the swimming pool.  In fact I suspect you could do most any sport and excel at it because of your determination.  I have always loved watching you whenever we went anywhere because you are the first to extend yourself to others and your ability to make friends is amazing.  This ability will make you a great missionary some day.  You love reading fantasy and adventure books.  You are now a Boy Scout working on merit badges and I look forward to watching you become an Eagle Scout.  You are what we use to describe as a "bodily-kinestetic" learner who has to be learning by doing.  That might be building stilts, digging a trench in the garden, or hanging the teeter totter from the monkey bars with a rope!  I look forward to seeing what you will be doing in the coming years.  I suspect it will be very impressive!  Happy Birthday Bruce!

Presidential Library #6

Yesterday we traveled in four states to reach our sixth presidential library.  I admit the states are pretty small!  We loved visiting Franklin D. Roosevelt's library which was started in 1939.  I can't say that I liked this more than the others we have visited because each is so unique to the person and perspective is different in each one.  For us the experience left us with a profound respect for our parents who experienced every aspect of this time in history.  We have felt the impact of their experiences as we grew up in their homes.  I can honestly say to our grandchildren that their great grandparents were amazing people and they provided a worthy legacies for each of them.  With the combination of technology and great record keeping we enjoyed many glimpses into such a difficult period of time in our history and it is safe to say they came out the victors.  May we have the courage to stand for principles as they were willing to stand for theirs.  Driving through Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York was wonderful.  Even covered in snow it was beautiful and the familiar names of towns like Worcester (Woo-ster), Hartford, Poughkeepsie,  came to life for us as we saw their downtown areas so old and yet so alive with history.  We were a little more than excited when we came upon a Sonic Burger where we stopped and had a great lunch before heading to the library.  You have to understand that all we ever see is Burger King, Wendy's, and McDonalds!  It was a great day and has us excited to begin doing even more exploring before our remaining year ends.

This was the entrance to the library.  You have two choices.  You can tour their home and you can go into the Presidential Library.  We had planned to tour the house but spend so much time in the library that we missed the home tour.  

Franklin and Eleanor outside the visitors center.  

This is the actual library.  The building was started in 1939 and the actual library where he use to work is still there.  It was full of his books he used during that time as well as one of his wheelchairs that people very seldom saw.  The displays for the years he was in office were very well done and worth seeing.

This is their Hyde Park Home.  We had planned to go inside but missed the tour.  He said shortly before he died that he would love to go back to his home by the Hudson River.  He contributed much to the world and our country during his tenure as President.  Much for good and some that has not been as good but I believe he was made for that great and important time in history.  

Sonic Burger

You probably can't understand the delight I felt when we came upon this Sonic Burger in Poughkeepsie, New York, but having a choice that didn't involve McDonalds, Wendy's or Burger King was so exciting.  I enjoyed my first New York "Dawg"  and tater tots with a cherry flavored diet coke and Scott feasted on Chicken Strips and onion rings with a strawberry lemonade.  It was a feast!

Missionary Moments #26, March 1, 2015

This has been a great week for us.  Because folders are in we were able to work consistently every day this week and reached our goal of taking over 10,000 pictures when we left work on Friday.  On top of that we are finishing up earlier than we use to.  We have talked about doing more but with dad's sore neck and my wimpy back we decided to not push our luck.  The weather seems to be getting a little milder and we enjoyed several days with the temperature in the high 20s.  Yesterday we decided it was time to have a big adventure so we drove down to Hyde Park in New York and enjoyed an afternoon at the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidential library.  It was a surprisingly emotional experience for both of us since both of our parents had experienced much of what they showed in the library.  Since he was President for three terms much history took place and the library did a great job of portraying the various aspects of the depression era and World War II.  I was reminded many times as we wandered through each exhibit that Heavenly Father had and has a purpose for everything that happens in our lives. The real challenge is coming to an understanding of what that may be for each of us.  I believe one of the best things Scott and I have been able to experience is visiting the various presidential libraries in the last ten years.  We plan to stop at the Gerald Ford library in Michigan on our way home from our mission and after seeing Ben and Becky and family we are going to drive down to see Bill Clinton's and our three Texas presidents libraries before heading west.  That will leave Jimmy Carter for another time.  Next week we are attending a Mission Conference in Exeter, NH which the Area Seventy, and a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric will speak to us. We are really looking forward to that!  Our mission has been so much more than we had expected and we are so grateful for this opportunity.  I think sometimes we have to learn things about ourselves and this mission has shown us many things--both good and bad that we need to work on so we can accomplish much in the time we remain here.  That is a great blessing! So proud of all of you for being so supportive to us while we serve.  People are always so shocked when they find out we have left 20 grandkids behind but they don't understand that we brought all 20 with us!