Winter Whites (and Blues)

On a snowy day a few weeks ago, we were doing apartment checks in the Buffalo area of our mission, and decided to see what Niagara Falls looks like in the winter. 

 It was such an amazing white winter wonderland, that we didn't mind the frigid temperatures.

 Last month, we finally got to see our first ice hockey game at Brockport College. I love the sound of the hockey stick hitting the puck and the sight of it flying over the white ice.
                           


Carl loved getting dressed in whites to perform JoAnne's baptism. Sister Torres and Hawkes taught this wonderful woman about the restored Gospel, and we enjoyed getting to know her when we had her over for dinner in our missionary apartment. We felt an instant bond of friendship with her.

 

I love the whiteness and warmth of the temple on a cold winter day. 

Palmyra Temple

  We are loving the whiteness of winter here in upstate New York, however there is such a thing as winter blues.

Winter blues are things like driving through a fast approaching snow storm (Nemo)...

(If it weren't for a zone meeting, we wouldn't have even ventured out.)

 

.... and for this Texan to have to shovel snow for the first time in his life.

We feel the winter blues when dear friends finish  their missionary service and leave to go home. These two very wonderful couples have served with us on the mission office staff since we arrived here last January, and have welcomed us with open arms.

Elder and Sister Servoss left in January, heading back home to Utah. This was their 2nd mission, the first one was in the Netherlands, where Elder Servoss served when he was a young man.  We miss you!

 One week later, Elder and Sister Jensen also headed home to Utah, leaving more broken hearts in the mission. We miss you!  It is really hard to go into the office each Monday for our staff meetings, and not see them there.  The only consolation is that we will see them (and the McVea's -- another dear office couple) when we are in Utah.

very busy, but it's all good!

Since President Monson announced at October Conference that young men could start serving missions at age 18 (formerly age 19) and young women at age 19 (formerly age 21), the amount of applications has skyrocketed phenomenally. Here is our first larger group of missionaries who came in mid January.

Here they are! Fresh from the MTC. They are sitting next to their trainers. Along with the two other mission office  staff couples, we helped orientate them regarding the practical aspects of their missionary service -- cars, housing, finances, etc.

We are very busy gearing up for two even larger groups arriving in February and March.  After Christmas, Carl and I hit the ground running (just before Christmas, we had found a nice apartment for a new senior missionary couple in the tiny town of Medina), to find 6 new missionary apartments for the February group. We planned on two weeks to do so, knowing that we also needed time to find furnishings and household supplies for all these apartments. With the help of the Lord, all the apartments were found in the needed areas. At the end of a long day of searching for a place in a rather expensive area (Victor, NY), we "stumbled" upon this gem.

The owner had just put it up for rent, a newly renovated 2nd floor apartment -- ceramic tile floors, new carpeting, new kitchen cabinets and appliances--immaculate throughout. And the best part, for only $500, a really good deal since the cheapest apartment we could find in that city was almost $800.

The missionaries will really like this very large bathroom, with a walk-in shower and an old timey tub.

  

 

Wish us luck as we are continuing to shop for all the furnishings, etc., getting ready for a week of zone meetings in the middle of the moves, and moving (thankfully with the help of the Assistants to the President and other strong young Elders) all the stuff into the 6 new places in less than two weeks time.

It was a very good Christmas

We thought we'd be spending Christmas in our missionary apartment, skyping with grandkids. Much to our surprise, we ended spending Christmas Eve and Christmas day with family. Carl's brother Billy and his wife Carol (who live in Pennsylvania) invited us to spend Christmas with them and Carol's sister's family in Bainbridge, N Y.
Carol's sister and her husband (Elaine and Phillip Sherman) live in 200 year old farmhouse on an 80 acre farm in Bainbridge, a 3 hour drive from us.  We were warmly welcomed and felt right at home with these wonderful folks.

Christmas eve was very cozy, visiting and catching up by the fire.

Christmas was everywhere, in every nook and cranny of the cozy farm house.

   

Yummy meals came out of this wonderful  kitchen.

 

 

Elaine and Philip are volunteer caretakers of the church sites in Bainbridge.  So Christmas morning found us in some places that are special in church history. Here we are at the Josiah Stowell home, built in 1810. While working for Josiah Stowell, Joseph Smith met Emma Hale, proposed to her in this house, and spent his honeymoon there.

 From left to right: Billy & Carol Ellis, life size statue of Joseph Smith (by B.J. Bawden), me, Elaine & Phillip Sherman

Upper right:   parlor where Joseph Smith proposed to Lucy.  Lower middle:  stairway that was revealed when a wall was knocked down during the restoration.All the floor boards also are the original. Lower right:  death masks of Hyrum and Joseph Smith. The sculptor Bee Jay Bawden used the death mask along with Joseph Smith's skeletal measurements to create an accurate likeness for the statue shown in previous photo.

We also visited the site of the first branch of the church, in nearby Colesville. The early saints met in a barn across the street from the Joseph Knight home, pictured below.

 
 

On the left are some artifacts that were found, while the Shermans worked in the basement of the Knight home, digging out piles of dirt and stabilizing the foundation with an inner brick wall. On the top left is a mallet, and remnants of a child's shoe.

The Sherman's have done so much in helping with the restoration of these sights. As a token of appreciation, they were presented with these replicas of the sculptures created by  Dee Jay Bawden, who has created many bronze sculptures  for the Church.



It was hard saying "good-bye" to  our brother and sister-in-law and their family, which now have become part of our extended family. We truly had a wonderful time, and hope to see them again before we head back to Texas next December.

So, the next morning after Christmas, hoping to make it back to Brockport in advance of a big snow storm, we said our farewells.

And good-bye to Nora, a very smart and sweet Australian cattle dog, whose deceased father is depicted by our sister-in-law, Carol, who is a very talented artist.

P.S.: we got to Skype with grandkids after Christmas.

rejoice!

Christmas greetings from the New York Rochester Mission



(left to right) Us, Elder and Sister Servoss, Elder and Sister Jensen, and (seated) our wonderful Mission President
and his wife, the Christianson's.

What a blessing it's been to meet every Monday morning  with these tremendous folks. 
Along with planning and coordinating all the details of running a mission,
 we are strengthened spiritually as our mission president shares with us
 his testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, his tremendous knowledge
 of the scriptures (he can pull any scripture out of his head) , and his many insightful thoughts.

This week we had our Christmas Zone meetings. Each day ended with
 musical presentations by the missionaries, a movie and testimonies.

One of our missionaries, Elder Goedel, a former national hoop dancing champion,
 was able to perform a dance taught to him by his father.

 

 

 

 

 

 He starts off with just one hoop, and  gradually adds more hoops, until he is dancing with all 8.
The dance is very intricate and graceful,
 representing the growth of a fledgling into a mighty eagle.

These young missionaries emerge from their missions as mighty men and women of God.
 Jesus Christ gives us wings to soar like an eagle.

So, wishing all of our family and friends a joyous Christmas.

 Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers sent our way this year.

 And, y'all -- looks like we're in for a white Christmas!

 

 view from our bedroom window this morning

 

 

 

beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We had a bit of snow the first weekend of December, just enough to get us in the mood to set up a few decorations in our missionary apartment.

(Can you spot our Texas car shivering in the cold?)

We took a break, on Dec. 5, from our busy schedule to celebrate my 65th birthday (officially an "old lady" now).  Got my Medicare card. Now just need to get a cane and I'm ready for anything life throws at me.

We celebrated at The Village Inn, which was a resting place for weary travelers and was built in 1824, in the town of Albion, on Ridge Road, formerly an Indian trail. The main dining room where we sat, once served as a carriage shed with a dance floor above.

If that wasn't enough excitement, the following weekend, the Jensens (another couple on the mission office staff) invited us to accompany them to Kirtland, Ohio, where we drove a  mission van and  traded it out for a brand new one (the new car smell was intoxicating).
Were we in for a treat!  Historic Kirtland was alive with the Christmas spirit! The church's Historic Kirtland Visitors Center took our breath away with the most magnificent display of 700 nativities from all over the world.

huge olive tree wood nativity made in Israel

Another weekend, we were treated to a most glorious performance of Handel's Messiah, performed by the Rochester Chamber Orchestra and featuring world renowned opera singers.

Hochstein Performance Hall, Rochester, N. Y., an award winning concert hall, built in 1890 as a Presbyterian Church sanctuary

There's nothing like music to bring in the Christmas spirit. Don't forget to get your free download of the best ever Christmas music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is sooo beautiful, it sends your spirit soaring. Click HERE.

 

thankful!

There is much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. Just a year ago, our precious little one was on the heart transplant list at Texas Children's Hospital. She was being kept alive by the  Berlin Heart pumping device.  Her future was uncertain. Many prayers were said. Many tears were shed.  We were on a huge emotional roller coaster. Our faith in God sustained us through the darkest days.

 

Now, we give thanks to the Lord that he has chosen to prolong Dahlia's  life here on earth, and to the generosity of a donor family who looked beyond their grief to give the gift of life.

Dahlia , 1 year old

spooks, storms, and spiders

Pumpkin carving with our missionaries.

                                Sister Torres, Elder Jones, Elder Ellis, Elder Perkins

Sister Wall, who was feeling under the weather, cuddled up in her blanket while  we were carving our pumpkins.

Shortly after setting our pumpkins out on the front porch, we hunkered down and waited for  hurricane Sandy to head our way.  Schools were closed and the missionaries were told to stay in. That night, the winds were howling, but we never did lose electricity, and we were spared the devastation that hit New York City and other coastal areas. 

On Halloween, our district meeting was held in the morning at our apartment. The Elders were very sneaky and played a Halloween prank on us after we left to run a mission errand. When we got home, both Carl and I were in our laundry room putting  some clothes in the washing machine. As soon as we lifted up the lid, we let out blood curdling screams, and jumped a mile. I thought a monster spider was living in our washing machine.

Now we've got to think of a way to get even with Elder Ivie and Worsham.  They are the rascals who trick us with their fake chipmunk whenever we do their apartment check. First, it was on the window sill, along with some real chipmunk poop (a little critter had snuck in through a crack). Next month, it was hiding in the vacuum cleaner, in the part Carl opens to change the bag. Last month, the chipmunk flew out of the microwave when we checked it, totally shocking us and  causing quite a funny reaction. They had fastened the chipmunk by a string to the inside of the microwave door. To get even, I left a fake mouse in their bathtub, along with some potatoes chips. They reluctantly admitted that it startled one of them,, who had taken off his glasses to take a shower.  So, as you can see, it is an ongoing battle. ( Never a dull moment in our mission assignment.)

On Halloween night, the missionaries were told to stay indoors, so we had our two sets of missionaries over for a little Halloween supper -- hot dogs,baked beans, carrot salad, yummy New York apple cider and Tim Horton's donuts.  A few cute little trick or treaters came by, and reminded us of our cute little grandkids who were doing the same back home in Texas and in Minnesota.