Where did August go? Hello September and Andy and KayLynn!

Wow! August has been pretty busy.  Along with finding the last of the 4 new apartments needed in the mission, we had two weeks of zone conferences.  Carl and I do a little presentation on missionary housing after zone conference lunches. Carl's presentation is on the serious side, while mine is silly.  It's fun giving out award certificates for 100% apartments (we give them a score each month when we inspect their apartments). We have a drawing -- all apartments scoring 95 and above for the quarter -- are entered.  The missionaries in the winning apartment get  McDonald's gift cards. The silly part is the little housecleaning "tutorial" I give. This month, they all learned how to dust (and even got a free microfiber dust cloth).

                                      Here are the props I used this month.

 Many missionary apartments have this

                                      warning sign by their front door.

 

 

In the morning of all the zone conferences, Carl is busy with Elder Willyerd (the mission "car czar"), helping inspect the mission autos, and select the cleanest car, which earns the "golden plates".

 

For the remainder of the month, we had a grand total of 40 apartments to check, which is 11 more than usual, since the senior missionary couple who checks those went home. Their replacement just arrived, thank goodness!  We have 7 other senior couples helping to check apartments. Our mission covers a huge geographical area.

 

It was so sweet for one pair of our  Elders to do this for us.

(of course, they got a 100!)

 

When September rolled around, Andy and KayLynn visited us for a few days. They couldn't have come at a better time. It was a very badly needed break, and filled our hearts with joy.

KayLynn looked so cute pregnant with our little grandbaby# 14, who is due in January.

Here's a peek at the places we took them to.

 

After visiting all the historic Church sites in Palmyra, we ended up in Fayette, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, at the Peter Whitmer Farm.

 

 

It was labor day, so we relaxed on the shores of Lake Seneca, which is close to Fayette

.

 

 

The next day, we went to the Palmyra Temple. Nothing beats being in the temple with family.

 

 

 

Wednesday was a perfect day to visit Niagara Falls. Here we are at the place where the force of the water coming down from the Falls and entering the Niagara River, has created a Gorge.

 

 

When we were at Niagara Falls, waiting in line to get on the Maid of the Mist, who should we meet, but DEXTER -- look closely at his name tag! (I haven't a clue who Dexter is, but I guess he's an infamous T.V. character). Dexter was so excited to see his newfound friend, Andy, that we sort of got V.I.P. treatment.

I think I prefer the real Dexter to the T.V. Dexter (based on Andy's T shirt).

 

The Maid of the Mist was an awesome boat ride. Boy, did we get drenched.

In case you're wondering who the weirdo is --it's me!

 

It was good to get out of those blue plastic rain ponchos. (It was an electrifying experience for Andy!)

 

 

 

 

The final day, we took in some of the tourist spots in nearby Rochester. (And had a yummy lunch at the Cheesecake Factory) ----

 

We were part of a group, with a grand total of 6, including us, on a cruise of the Eerie Canal on a replica of an original packet boat, the "Sam Patch". During the summer, this canal boat is packed.

Our tour guide has done documentaries on T.V. about the Eerie Canal.

 

 

Rochester is the home of the once thriving Eastman Kodak Company. We really enjoying seeing the mansion of the founder, George Eastman. Here is Carl in the Museum of Photography, which is an extension of the mansion.  There were all kinds of old, historical cameras, and photo exhibits.

 

 

This is our favorite room in the mansion, where George Eastman liked to eat breakfast, while listening to his own private organ recital. The organ, shipped in from Europe, is hidden behind some plants (on the right). 

 

The mansion is surrounded by magnificent gardens

 

 

Then it was on to "High Falls", right in the middle of the city of  Rochester.

 

 

We finished up the day at Lake Ontario, which is close to the town of  Brockport, where we live.

Thanks for coming to visit us Andy and KayLynn! We had so much fun.  Now it's back to work.

 

We are in the final weeks of our mission, with slightly more than 8 weeks to go. Our replacement couple gets here the end of Oct. After training them and probably  attending our last zone conferences in November, we're good to go -- a bit earlier than the projected Dec. 16 release date. Hard to believe. The time has literally flown by.

Hill Cumorah Pageant -- 2013

Lots of people came to town during the two weeks of the Hill Cumorah Pageant, in Palmyra, New York (part of our mission).

Vernon Law, 1960 World Series Champion and baseball Hall of Famer, was in town during Pageant and was the guest speaker at a fireside in Rochester on Sunday night. He spoke of "how living the Gospel of Jesus Christ has helped me realize my dreams".

 

Vernon Law being presented an original 1960 baseball program
by Elder Snarr, the senior missionary who made this event happen.

 

 The next day, we picked son Philip up from the airport, and attended the first annual "Mormon Night", baseball game in Batavia, home of the "Muckdogs", where Vernon Law threw out the first pitch.  Philip rooted for the "Tri-City Valley Cats", a farm team for the Houston Astros, who won the game. The only other people rooting for the opposing team, was a family from Buffalo, who -- oddly enough-- were Astro fans. We had a fun visit with them and invited them to Pageant.

The next night we took Philip to the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  He was a toddler the last time he saw it.

Carl and I attended Pageant almost every night and were amazed to run into so many people we hadn't seen for a while.

One of our first surprises was in literally running into our daughter-in-law Nicole's parents, Michael and Rochelle. Last time we saw them was at Jeremy and Nicole's wedding.

 

 

 

We ran into some folks from our home ward in Friendswood, Texas.  These two couples were in the cast.

Lydia and Dick Rowan

David and Ingrid Frey

Another surprise was running good friends we haven't seen for a few years, Marta Bourgeois (Rudy there also, but not pictured), and Eileen Peterson, a member of our Texas ward.

Marta, Eileen, Carl and I (Rudy B. was there too, but not in photo)

We were also delighted to see Shelli Horman, from our home ward, who flew in from Texas with her husband and children.

 
One of the biggest surprises was running into Steve Robinson (whom we have known since he was a boy) and his wife Sara and their young children. Steve had just gotten a job with Corning, which is in our mission. They didn't expect to see anyone they knew at the Pageant in Palmyra, and were totally shocked to see us.

It was so much fun to see some of our former missionaries, who came back for Pageant with their families. They were surprised that we were still here (a 23 month mission is a long time!)

"Elder" Caldwell

"Elder" Hoffman

"Elder" Anderson, who was one week shy of getting married.

Sadly, one of the Pageant performances got cancelled, due to lightning storms which were a threat the entire evening. It was very disappointing for many people, who had come from great distances. We worked at one of the information booths that night, and got to visit with a few of the cast members while waiting for final word on the cancellation of the show.

Jordan Davis, a member of our Brockport ward, Carl, and another cast member

"Nephi", who is portrayed by a recently returned missionary.

It's been such a treat for Carl and I to have attended the Hill Cumorah Pageant for two years in a row. This amazing production portrays scenes from the Book of Mormon -- from Lehi and his family leaving Jerusalem, arriving in a promised land, and showing Christ's visit to these people, his "other sheep", following his resurrection.
.

Changes in our mission

On July 1, we said our final farewell to President and Sister Christianson. It was very sad. I am forcing a smile for this picture.  Carl and I have worked with the Christiansons for 18 months, most of our mission.

From left to right:  Elder and Sister Willyerd, Pres. and Sister Christianson, Carl and I,
Sister Allred, and Sister Harris (who is Sister Christianson's sister).
One of the blessings of serving a  mission has been working with such
great senior missionaries. We sure do love them.

It was a privilege to greet the new mission president, Arthur Francis, and his family, who had just flown in from the airport, and were picked up by the Christiansons. On the way to the mission home, they dropped by the office to meet us.

 

Here they are with their boys (the 4th one is out of the picture). What a change for these boys, who have left all their friends and familiar surroundings to come out for 3 years to the New York Rochester Mission.  These boys, who are part of a family of 7 boys and 1 girl, range in age from 9 to 16 yrs. old. In case you are wondering, President Francis is 6' 7" and his wife is 6'.  We look like a bunch of pygmies next to them.

This is the office where we meet every Monday morning for staff meeting.

so sad to say good-bye to our mission president

Tomorrow is the last day of a 3 year mission for President and Sister Christianson. Tomorrow afternoon, they will be picking up the new president and his wife (President and Sister Francis) at the airport. After spending a few hours with them, the Christianson's will head off to a hotel and then fly home to Utah early Tuesday morning.

 All of us in the New York Rochester Mission love them so much and will miss this dynamic duo!

 

On June 18, the entire mission gathered at the Hill Cumorah study shelter for President Christianson's last transfer day.  Emotions were very tender. Testimonies were shared by departing missionaries and President and Sister Christianson.  The Spirit was strong.

 

 

We also assembled for a huge group picture at the Hill Cumorah.

It was quite a task.

Check out "face book" for the finished product. Copyright laws prohibit me from posting it on my blog.  Carl and I are on the front row, to the far right, standing up (on the face book photo).

 

This Monday we had our last staff meeting with President and Sister Christianson. Carl and I  have been so blessed to have had 18 months of inspirational weekly staff meetings with the Christianson's (along with two other office couples, who are also senior missionaries). We dressed very casually since we headed to the mission home after the meeting to help deep clean the home.

Sister Christianson removing photos, from the office bulletin board, of her and her husband
with groups of new missionaries

President Christianson gathering the last of his personal desk items 

 

 

It seems strange to think that tomorrow afternoon, we will be greeting President and Sister Francis,  and saying "good-bye" to Jack and Melanie Christianson. They have given it their all these past three years and have been valiant in their testimony of the Savior and have had a huge positive impact on the young missionaries who are their main responsibility. We all desire to be better people for having known them.

Good times with old folks and young folks

A few weeks ago, a group of us senior missionaries took a day trip.

Here we are on the banks of the Susquehanna River, in Harmony, Pennsylvania.

This is a very important Church historic site and where the Aaronic Priesthood was restored.

Before taking off to see other historic church sites in this area, we enjoyed sitting on the banks of the river, where several knowledgeable men spoke to us.  

 

The couple on the very far left (standing up) are Elder and Sister Searle,
 the awesome Site Directors for all the historic places in Palmyra.
 They formerly served  as mission president of the New York City Mission.
 How we admire them and all these other wonderful senior couples
 that we had so much fun spending the day with.

On this trip, it was great to meet up with Elaine Sherman, an extended family member whom we spent Christmas with. Elaine and her husband are the volunteer caretakers/tour guides of the  historic sites in Colesville (near Harmony), the site of one of the earliest branches of the church in New York in the 1800's.

 

 

It's nice to get together with other senior couples, but we seem to spend most of our time with the junior missionaries.  We recently went to the Palmyra Temple with our Brockport District, an awesome group of young missionaries, whom we call our "Brockport sons and daughters".



Our "sons", Elders Hill,,Gurr, Wilcox, and Kelly (who is one of our first 18 yr. olds
 to enter the mission field).

Our lovely "daughters"--Sisters Gillespie, Johnson & Johnson



Every time Elder Wilcox is with Elder Ellis,
 he gives him the biggest bear hug, lifting him
 off the ground. Sadly, (but luckily for Elder Ellis' back) he just got
 transferred to the small town of Bath.

 

Since January, we have been spending so much time obtaining and setting up so many new apartments for the large influx of new missionaries. It's been a lot of work, but the reward is seeing the smiling faces of these sweet sister missionaries, who are so appreciative of the comfy new beds in their new apartment in the small country town of  Dansville. The third sister (in green shirt) is a "visa waiter", who will be heading off to Brazil. She has to sleep on an air mattress, since she is here only temporarily, and the bedroom is too small for a third regular sized bed.

Recently, we have spent 6 awesome days in zone meetings with all of our missionaries, young and old.  Sadly, it was President Christianson's last zone meeting.  The Christiansons will complete their 3 years of service on July 1. They are very dear to us and everyone in this mission.  How we cherish our close association with them. In the mornings, we all met in the Sacred Grove, followed by tours of the Grandin Building, where the Book of Mormon was first printed in 1830.  How fortunate Carl and I are to be serving our mission  here in the " Cradle of the Restoration". It has been an amazing experience.


We ended the early morning portion of zone conference in the Sacred Grove, with our mission president pointing out some of the centuries old trees, that were standing at the time of the First Vision, when Joseph Smith entered these woods to pray.

President is telling us about his favorite tree,
 which recently had to be cut down for safety reasons.
 When President Christianson's father died, he couldn't leave the mission,
 and while his wife went back home to attend the funeral, he took solace in the Grove.
 While there, he noticed this ancient, decaying tree, which had a new tree growing up from the
roots of the parent tree.
 He calls these two trees, one of which is dead and the other alive, the "Jack trees" -- Little Jack (Pres. Christianson's first name) and Big Jack (his deceased father's first name.)

 

Here President is telling us about the "Apostle" tree, a 400 year old ironwood tree,
 which at one time had a total of 12 branches.
 This tree is badly decayed inside, and probably won't be standing for too much longer.

We are amazed at how quickly these 23 months are flying by. We are entering the home stretch now, with barely 6 months left til we go home.  Now that things may be slowing down a bit for us, I plan on posting more than just once a month. Stay tuned.