renewal

Last week we attended four zone conferences. We love zone conferences since we get to see all our missionaries and get our batteries re-charged by the inspiring words of our mission president, his wife, and others. Each morning, while Elder Ellis (Carl, Grandpa, or Dad) helped check the mission cars, I was setting up my missionary "shop", with all the clothes missionaries going home give to us. I don't know how we packed it all in our car.   The missionaries were excited to select clothes they needed (wish I had taken a photo of that).  We managed to get rid of 2/3 of everything. Most of the  leftovers went to Goodwill today.

And here is part of a  talk by our awesome mission president, Jack Christianson ---

After one zone conference, we stopped off at the Sacred Grove to enjoy the summer beauty.

The beauty continues as we walk out of the grove.

Walking down the path towards the Joseph Smith Log home, we see the beautiful Palmyra Temple.

Summer is is full bloom at the Smith log home.

We finished up the day at the Hill Cumorah, where we hiked through the ancient part of the forest to the 240 year old sugar maple tree (a "witness" tree) that our mission president calls the "Moroni" tree.

We feel so blessed to be serving a mission in such a beautiful place that has such significance in our church's history -- the cradle of the Restoration. There is a very strong spirit in these special places. Our love  for the Savior grows even stronger with each day. This is a wonderful opportunity to be of service to show gratitude in a small way for all He has blessed us with.

Moroni tree and I

(And where else would I want to do a photo shoot with a tree?)

"from there to here..."

As we travel throughout the mission, checking missionary apartments, taking care of problems, etc., we see some amusing things in the apartments.  Or as Dr. Seuss would say, "From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere."

You should have seen our reaction, when we entered the bedroom of one apartment and saw this.

Here's what greets us at the Lyons apartment.

The door-to-door sales man is surprised when two young guys open the door to this apartment.

These missionaries take their "fun" seriously on P-Days (every Monday they have some down time -- to do laundry, housecleaning, and relaxation.)

Looks like climbing your family tree can be a lot of fun.

(or maybe, they have insomnia)

Going into the kitchen, we find --

Then it's onto a sisters missionary apartment, where we see .... is it left-over Christmas candy?

And how funny is this!

"Gregorio" joined Elder Schow for his last district meeting/ farewell luncheon at our place.

It was very sad to say "Good-bye" to the both of them, especially since Elder Schow refused to leave Gregorio with us. Now they are both home in Canada.  We miss you Elder Schow!

There is always something to smile about as we travel about the mission. When we got home after a very long day of checking apartments, we were greeted by this from our own very sweet sister missionaries who now live across the way from us.

Farewells

All good things come to an end, including Hill Cumorah Pageant. How we enjoyed the nights we served in the information booth, and the nights we attended (two of which we were able to bring several people for whom it was a first time event and an introduction to our church).

Before the start of the last performance, we were treated to testimonies given by some of the directors of  Pageant.

from left to right: Brent Hanson -- the artistic director, the choreographer, and the battle master (in charge of war scenes)

Cast members greeted audience members for the final time on closing night.

Cast members lined up for a final time before marching onto the huge stage.

Right after Pageant ended, we had a few more farewells, as several missionaries headed back home.

We hated saying "good-bye" to Elder Wilson, an awesome Elder who had been in our district. A very talented singer, he'll be majoring in music theatre at BYU. (Hello Broadway).

We also hated saying "good-bye" to our awesome zone leader, Elder Stoker. He has always set such a good example for all of us and has taught us so much.

I started a new tradition of "farewell"luncheons at our place for missionaries "dying"(finishing up) in our district.

We weren't sad to say "Good-bye" and good riddance to this old sofa that the elders had fun demolishing with a baseball bat before shoving it out the window of an apartment we closed down in Hornell.  We are sad to be saying farewell to the missionary behind the sofa, Elder Campbell, who is going home next week. He is one of the Assistants to the Mission President and has helped us with many a move in and move out.

This week, we said farewells to a few wonderful senior missionary couples, at a barbecue in Palmyra for senior the couples.

Elder and Sister Jones (from Utah) have done wonders in the small Warsaw branch. They will be greatly missed! But we'll see them again in Texas. Elder Jones comes to Galveston a lot on business.

Serving out here together, we all become like family. We have such love in our hearts for all the young elders and sisters,  the senior missionaries and mission president and his wife, who have left their homes and families to serve the Lord and help bring the blessings of His Gospel to the people of New York.