Week 10....and the time is flying by!!!
Dearest Children, Grandchildren, Family and Friends!!
This week has flown by but it has been a good one. Dad posted most of the pics this week but I have a few. Here are some that I forgot to post last week. A little over a week ago, we went walking in the early morning and this is what 91% humidity looks like:
The sun trying to peak through. A closeup view
Same scene from further away. Notice the towers set up for the pageant.
Here is a scene we saw today after a downpour. Here it will pour down rain for a few minutes and then the sun will come out only to start it all over again. LOVE this area, truly!! Never a dull moment in the weather!
Monday was a sweet day!! I worked in the baptistry all day. The first patrons that came were a missionary couple who brought with them a fairly recent convert who was doing work for her mother...the baptism, initiatory and endowment. There was such a sweet spirit and she was so happy!! The next group that came was a family of eight kids, four of whom were going to be baptized, with their parents. They were on a trip to all of the church sites and several temples before their oldest left on his mission to Chile. The last was a group of sisters, two sister missionaries, two sisters from the ward and a brand new convert who was there for the first time to do baptisms for the dead. They were from Rochester. The Rochester mission has a push to get new converts into the temple with their family names as soon as possible after their own baptisms. On Saturday, the mission had a three-stake temple trip with new converts. The stake presidents as well as the mission president were there with them. So great!!
Also on Monday we had another FHE program, this one with Brother Bob Parrott. Richard told a lot about it but a couple of things that he didn't mention were that in all of the years that the Smith Farm was in the hands of non-members, many of whom were violently opposed to the Church, there was a 13-acre piece of forest that was never cut down even though the trees all around were. The last owner told the person buying the land for the Church that he "could never bring himself to cut down that grove". Just that morning, I had heard our Temple president address the people being baptized and say that the Sacred Grove was the first temple of this dispensation. As I listened to Brother Parrott, that pierced my mind and I thought, "Of course, the Lord would protect one of His temples." As I walk in the Grove, I have the same feelings as when I enter a temple. It isn't an intensely spiritual feeling, just one of peace, joy, a feeling of being home. I was so touched by this humble, gentle man and his love for the Grove and the things growing there. He has deep reverence for it. I was also touched by the great opportunity we have had here of learning so many things in the FHEs....how can we be so blessed!?!
I really, really like my new schedule!! It is easier to rest in between our shifts...the only back-to-back one we have is Saturday but we are able to rest...and go to bed early....Friday night. We started it on Wednesday. Thursday, we went to a beautiful place called Watkins Glen that has lots of water falls. Richard posted the pics on his post because he was the one who took them and went on the hike. I just couldn't do all the stairs!! I stayed behind with two other Sister missionaries and we had a delightful time talking. Several of the elders were worried about it...that we would be missing out by not seeing the beautiful sights. Hmmm.....don't the elders understand that we sisters get so much enjoyment out of just talking?!? Here is what we saw and you tell me if we didn't see some beautiful sights!!
Saturday was a long day but I had a wonderful experience in a sealing session. It was one that our shift coordinators had to put together because patrons didn't show up. I was asked to go. At one point, I was acting as a daughter and the sealer stopped and was rather distressed because he couldn't pronounce a name and said he couldn't spell it because he didn't recognize one of the characters. He had the witnesses look but they couldn't help him. When he turned it around, I immediately recognized the character because I had seen it in my German research. I said, "It's Prussian. That's a double S. My family was from Prussia." He said, "What are the chances..." and became visibly touched. I said, "There are no coincidences." How humbled I felt! He was finally able to say the words of the ordinance and I felt this sweet daughter close. I felt such a connection with her from the same country where my ancestors had come. So very sweet!!! Another reminder that we are simply not in charge of this work....but how grateful I am to be a part of it!!!! How are we so blessed to be here?!?!?
Today we had another great day at the branch!! I love our little Sunday School class. We challenged them last week to write down any questions that they had and we would answer them this week. They came with several questions and we started there. It was amazing to me that several parts of the lesson we had prepared answered those questions so we were able to put those parts in. We ran out of time....again....before all the questions were answered so we told them to bring them back next week and to write down more. These are great kids. Today we had the grandson of an investigator there. I could see that he was so interested and touched by the lesson. He was excited to think that a boy his age could hold the Priesthood and bless the lives of other people. He was very disappointed when his grandmother said he had to go home and couldn't attend Priesthood meeting with Richard. She asked him if he wanted to come back and he very enthusiastically said, "Yes!"
In Relief Society we talked about Sister Jones talk "A Sin-Resistant Generation" or something like that. I was so impressed again with that and challenge each of you to read it again. Satan is trying so hard to drag down the youth that we all need to innoculate them against the evils of this day and give them the tools they need to get back to Heavenly Father.
After the meetings, we went to dinner at the home of a ward member with the other Senior missionary couple and several others as well as an investigator. It was fun!!! This sweet branch is in my heart!!! How I will miss them when we have to go.....NOT going think about THAT!!!!
Well, dear ones, I will close for another week....can't believe it is the last week of June!! It will be a busy one....but more about that next week!
Love you all dearly....miss you!!!
Grandma/Mom/Sandy oxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxx
This week has flown by but it has been a good one. Dad posted most of the pics this week but I have a few. Here are some that I forgot to post last week. A little over a week ago, we went walking in the early morning and this is what 91% humidity looks like:
Here is a scene we saw today after a downpour. Here it will pour down rain for a few minutes and then the sun will come out only to start it all over again. LOVE this area, truly!! Never a dull moment in the weather!
Monday was a sweet day!! I worked in the baptistry all day. The first patrons that came were a missionary couple who brought with them a fairly recent convert who was doing work for her mother...the baptism, initiatory and endowment. There was such a sweet spirit and she was so happy!! The next group that came was a family of eight kids, four of whom were going to be baptized, with their parents. They were on a trip to all of the church sites and several temples before their oldest left on his mission to Chile. The last was a group of sisters, two sister missionaries, two sisters from the ward and a brand new convert who was there for the first time to do baptisms for the dead. They were from Rochester. The Rochester mission has a push to get new converts into the temple with their family names as soon as possible after their own baptisms. On Saturday, the mission had a three-stake temple trip with new converts. The stake presidents as well as the mission president were there with them. So great!!
Also on Monday we had another FHE program, this one with Brother Bob Parrott. Richard told a lot about it but a couple of things that he didn't mention were that in all of the years that the Smith Farm was in the hands of non-members, many of whom were violently opposed to the Church, there was a 13-acre piece of forest that was never cut down even though the trees all around were. The last owner told the person buying the land for the Church that he "could never bring himself to cut down that grove". Just that morning, I had heard our Temple president address the people being baptized and say that the Sacred Grove was the first temple of this dispensation. As I listened to Brother Parrott, that pierced my mind and I thought, "Of course, the Lord would protect one of His temples." As I walk in the Grove, I have the same feelings as when I enter a temple. It isn't an intensely spiritual feeling, just one of peace, joy, a feeling of being home. I was so touched by this humble, gentle man and his love for the Grove and the things growing there. He has deep reverence for it. I was also touched by the great opportunity we have had here of learning so many things in the FHEs....how can we be so blessed!?!
I really, really like my new schedule!! It is easier to rest in between our shifts...the only back-to-back one we have is Saturday but we are able to rest...and go to bed early....Friday night. We started it on Wednesday. Thursday, we went to a beautiful place called Watkins Glen that has lots of water falls. Richard posted the pics on his post because he was the one who took them and went on the hike. I just couldn't do all the stairs!! I stayed behind with two other Sister missionaries and we had a delightful time talking. Several of the elders were worried about it...that we would be missing out by not seeing the beautiful sights. Hmmm.....don't the elders understand that we sisters get so much enjoyment out of just talking?!? Here is what we saw and you tell me if we didn't see some beautiful sights!!
Saturday was a long day but I had a wonderful experience in a sealing session. It was one that our shift coordinators had to put together because patrons didn't show up. I was asked to go. At one point, I was acting as a daughter and the sealer stopped and was rather distressed because he couldn't pronounce a name and said he couldn't spell it because he didn't recognize one of the characters. He had the witnesses look but they couldn't help him. When he turned it around, I immediately recognized the character because I had seen it in my German research. I said, "It's Prussian. That's a double S. My family was from Prussia." He said, "What are the chances..." and became visibly touched. I said, "There are no coincidences." How humbled I felt! He was finally able to say the words of the ordinance and I felt this sweet daughter close. I felt such a connection with her from the same country where my ancestors had come. So very sweet!!! Another reminder that we are simply not in charge of this work....but how grateful I am to be a part of it!!!! How are we so blessed to be here?!?!?
Today we had another great day at the branch!! I love our little Sunday School class. We challenged them last week to write down any questions that they had and we would answer them this week. They came with several questions and we started there. It was amazing to me that several parts of the lesson we had prepared answered those questions so we were able to put those parts in. We ran out of time....again....before all the questions were answered so we told them to bring them back next week and to write down more. These are great kids. Today we had the grandson of an investigator there. I could see that he was so interested and touched by the lesson. He was excited to think that a boy his age could hold the Priesthood and bless the lives of other people. He was very disappointed when his grandmother said he had to go home and couldn't attend Priesthood meeting with Richard. She asked him if he wanted to come back and he very enthusiastically said, "Yes!"
In Relief Society we talked about Sister Jones talk "A Sin-Resistant Generation" or something like that. I was so impressed again with that and challenge each of you to read it again. Satan is trying so hard to drag down the youth that we all need to innoculate them against the evils of this day and give them the tools they need to get back to Heavenly Father.
After the meetings, we went to dinner at the home of a ward member with the other Senior missionary couple and several others as well as an investigator. It was fun!!! This sweet branch is in my heart!!! How I will miss them when we have to go.....NOT going think about THAT!!!!
Well, dear ones, I will close for another week....can't believe it is the last week of June!! It will be a busy one....but more about that next week!
Love you all dearly....miss you!!!
Grandma/Mom/Sandy oxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxx
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