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.

happenings in Palmyra

After flying back to New York, we hopped out of bed early the next morning to participate in a big Erie Canal Bike ride, starting at Buffalo and ending in Albany. Unlike some others, who rode for the entire 6 day-500 mile trip,we just rode a wimpy 20 miles, from Fairport to Palmyra. Carl had fixed up some bikes we found at the mission home. Our "team" was very small, just us and Elder Servoss, his grandson, and two of the young men missionaries.

It was lots of fun, even when Elder Servoss' bike got a flat. We had a fun visit with a good Samaritan who stopped and patched up the tube. (We had forgotten to bring our patch kit.)

The bike ride was also very scenic, as we rode alongside the Erie Canal.

This past week also marked the start of the Hill Cumorah Pageant where, on dress rehearsal night,  we were so happy to see  two of our former missionaries, who recently finished their missions and came back as members of the cast.

Elder Swaner is a Nephite warrior, while Elder Hulse is Alma.

Pageant is even more amazing now, in its 75th year, than it was when we last attended, about 20 years ago,with 8 kids in tow.

We loved the special effects. This boat ends up sailing in a storm, complete with thunder, lightning, wind and rain. The passengers are thrown about and the sail ends up shredded and torn.

The cast of 750 people, from all over the country, do an incredible job. They have less than a week to rehearse.

It's off to pageant again tonight, bringing with us some new friends who have never been to Pageant before and who know little about our church. Tomorrow night we help man the information booth, as we did last week.  It  is so much fun, meeting people from all over.

a quick get-away

We took a very quick 2 day trip to Utah to attend the temple sealing (marriage for all time and eternity) of Andy and KayLynn.

It was a very beautiful experience in the Manti Temple. It meant a lot to be there for our wonderful son and his beautiful wife, who have accomplished a very important goal they set for themselves.

Most of this group is KayLynn's family. Carl and I were joined by Jeremy and his lovely wife, Nicole, representing our side of the family (in back of us and to the left).

In the afternoon, we all gathered at KayLynn's parents' house for a delicious lunch, and a fun time visiting.

It was great being able to reconnect with a very small part of our family (due to shortage of time,we were sad to be unable to see other family -- Carl's sister and nephew in northern part Utah.)

Love these two wonderful sons and their awesome wives (as well as all our other ones in Texas and Minnesota).

In the very short time we were there, we got to do a few quick things in the Provo area, where we stayed with Jeremy and Nicole at their place.

A quick hike up to Bridal Veil Falls was followed by a quick game of croquette at the park.

We even squeezed in a bike ride along the Provo River. We rode on Jeremy and Nicole's bikes while they used their long boards.

At the end of the day, there is nothing like a sunset over the Rocky Mountains, and the warm feeling in our hearts from being with loved ones. Like Dorothy going back to Kansas, we blinked our eyes once, and we were back in New York, rising early the next morning to participate in a bike ride along the Erie Canal.

staying strong

Here's where Elder Ellis and I go for a run at least three times a week. The track at Brockport College is very well cushioned and easy on our old joints.

On July 9, this addition to the Brockport College sports complex will be complete. During cold weather we will be able to run on the new indoor track.

Besides finding opportunities to maintain physical strength, we are especially grateful for opportunities we have to grow in spiritual strength. Our current mission challenge is to read 5 pages of the Book of Mormon each day.  This book, which is a strong witness of Jesus Christ and contains the fullness of his Gospel, strengthens us everyday.

The strength of men and machines have been assembling the stage for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Here's what we saw yesterday.

And here's Elder Ellis rehearsing for his role in the pageant.

 Just kidding!  We will be manning an information booth (before and after the show) on opening night, Fri. July 13, and then again on Thursday, the 19th.  So if any of our friends are in town for pageant--y'all better stop by and say "hi" to us. 

Discoveries

Brother Baxter, an archaeologist, and his wife visited our staff meeting this week to give a very interesting presentation. In the 1982, the LDS Church Historical Department joined forces with BYU's Religious Studies Center to do an archaeological dig on the Joseph Smith log home site. Brother Baxter, who was working on his Masters degree, was part of that team. He related how they were able to pin point the site of the original log home . The original log home had deteriorated over time, so it was burned to the ground about the time of the Civil War . The  site was plowed over and used for farming until 1982. Today, an exact replica of the log home stands on the original site, and is visited by tens of thousands of people each year. When you stand in the upper bedroom where Joseph Smith slept, you are in the exact air space where the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith on Sept. 21, 1823.

In the process of doing the archaeological work, lots of artifacts were found in the root cellar that was under the Smith's kitchen. Items found were broken dishware from the period, glass, buttons, a gold bead, brass straight pins that Lucy would have used in her textile work, a military button of the period, knives, forks, spoons, and fragments of brick from the fireplace and chimney. These artifacts are in Salt Lake in safe storage. Brother Baxter brought out a few of them to show us.

It was neat to hold these discoveries in my hand

Another exciting discovery was to see the weekly progress in setting up for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It is exciting to find opportunities to invite people we come into contact with to Pageant. A furniture salesman we deal with is excited to go. We try to give out as many Pageant pass along cards as we can. This year is the 75th anniversary of Pageant, and some extra things will be added to the already spectacular event.


The towers for lights, etc., have been put into place, and all the flowers are in full bloom.

We  had a discovery of another kind, a reminder that there is opposition in all things.  We discovered the source of one of our missionary sister's extensive bites on her legs.  A nest of infamous bed bugs was found by Elder Ellis within the box springs of her mattress! The apartment management was great and responded immediately. We spent 7 hours in that apartment on Friday preparing it for the exterminator, while the sisters bagged up every single item of clothing and linens and hauled them off to the laundromat to very washed and dried at very high temperatures. The beds and sofa were discarded in a special garbage dumpster. Our wonderful Assistants to the President hauled off the furniture. I'm sure they felt itchy for days after. We do, every time we think of it.

Here we are, the next day. Our wonderful zone leaders, Elder Stoker and Worsham, are loading their truck with new bedding and sofa for the apartment, which was thoroughly sprayed earlier that day. (The sister missionaries stayed at the mission home two nights.)


To make sure the mattresses are secure in the truck, Elder Ellis (former Scout Master) is reviewing Boy Scout knots with Elder Worsham.  We can see how Scouting helps young men prepare for missions.

Elder Worsham re-learning the sheet bend knot!

Hopefully, there won't be too many more unpleasant discoveries, as we inspect missionary apartments! (and we thought dirty toilets were the worst)
 P.S.: a word of caution to friends and family staying in hotels as they vacation this summer -- check the Internet to see what you can do to protect yourselves against this nasty bug.

To end on a more positive note, we also discovered that our son, Mark, was in the MTC with and served in the same mission (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania), as the young actor whom Elder Ellis met at the Chill and Grill last week in Palmyra --the one who portrays Jesus Christ in the new church Bible videos which can be seen on www.lds.org. It's a small world in the Church!

getting ready for pageant

The afternoon sun made a pretty reflection on the outside windows of the celestial room of the Palmyra Temple. Every time we attend the temple, our spiritual batteries get recharged.

While at the temple, we like to head over to the nearby Sacred Grove or the Hill Cumorah. At the Hill, we found preparations have begun for the physical set-up for the Hill Cumorah Pageant which starts July 13.

A collection of older Pageant costumes was on display at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center.


Donny Osmond wore this one back in 1987.

Even before Pageant starts, tourists are starting to pour into Palmyra to visit the historic and sacred sites. Glenn Beck was here last week. Elder Ellis got to visit with the young man who plays the part of Jesus in the Church's new Bible video series.  He was here last week touring with his family before going back to Utah, to film 35 more segments. Elder Ellis was treating our two Elders to ice creams at the" Chill and Grill" before our Stake Priesthood Meeting, which was held at the Hill Cumorah, when he visited with this young man, who was there with his family. He recognized him from the day before, when we saw him leaving the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center, and  a sister missionary pointed him out to us. Elder Ellis was impressed with how very kind and loving he is. We have a wonderful picture of him with his arm around Elder Ellis. He doesn't want pictures of him or his name posted on blogs. But you can check him out on the home page of www.lds.org, where you can see the latest film.

A favorite place to catch a bite to eat is the "Chill and Grill", a modest roadside stand on Palmyra Road, that serves bigger than Texas size ice cream cones. Here we are, enjoying our "kiddie"size ice cream cones (mine is half of a kiddie size). A "small" ice cream cone has 4 scoops! "Chill and Grill" was a favorite of Donny Osmond.

Another great happening this week, was grandson Aiden's 8th birthday (that means he'll be getting baptized).  On the way home from district meeting, our Elders wished Aiden "happy birthday" and sang him a very original birthday song. Aiden, here are Elders Garcia and Schow when they were talking to you.

And here are these sweet Elders (they live close by, in our apartment complex),  on Father's Day, when they came over to wish Elder Ellis "happy Father's Day". They presented him with a card, as well as a present. Each of them gave him one of their ties, autographed with their names on the back.

Cares of the world

Unlike the younger missionaries, senior missionaries can't lay aside all the cares of the world, like paying bills and fixing cars.  The auto shop wanted over $600 to put on new brake pads, so Elder Ellis did it himself  for only  $50. 

Elder Ellis did the work in Mendon, in a garage that is on the property that was once owned by Brigham Young's father, John Young.

While he worked, I sat under a tree, enjoying the cool breezes and catching up on my journal.
When the work was done, we enjoyed eating our little lunch  on the porch of the John Young home, where Elder and Sister Servoss reside.

On the road back and forth to Mendon, we ran into a bit of traffic, due to the LPGA ladies golf tournament.

horse used for traffic control

Our main mission assignment for the week was setting up the apartment we had recently found for an incoming senior missionary couple (moving in the furniture, putting up curtains, etc.) It was a lovely 2 hour drive to Wellsville, which is way down in the southern tier of the mission, right on the Pennsylvania border.

We didn't get home til after midnight, but here's the result.

The apartment is on the second floor of this old New York house

My favorite is this fancy chair we got for only $29 (originally over $200) at the furniture clearnance center of the store we have a partnership with. Some of the bedroom furniture (dresser and night stand)  didn't make it in on time, so we"ll be back in a week.