We Love Baptisms

This is Allen with his father, grandfather, best friend and best friends mom.  He was our 8 year old baptism.  He was so excited and brought a great spirit of enthusiasm.

This is President Burke, our branch president.  As you can see he baptized Allen.

This is Donya and Lizzie with Donya's sister, husband and daughter.  We also see the Jamestown Elders.  Her sisters husband baptized Donya and Lizzie.

Here we are with Donya and Lizzie.

Here we are with the Jamestown Elders.



The baptisms on Saturday went very well.  The weather was marginal, several inches of blowing snow but everyone made it there just fine.  Sunday we were able to confirm all three as members of the church.  In our Gospel Essentials class, we gave a lesson on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which they had just received.  We also had all the youth in the class so it was big.  Sister Sherwood taught the Relief Society lesson also, so we were very grateful the weather did not prevent us from getting to the branch for the weekend.

Next weekend will be our last one in Fredonia.  After church there is going to be a "Linger Longer" and then we will leave from there to go to Detroit that night and spend some time with our daughter, her husband and three grandchildren.  We will then head for home via Colorado Springs where we will stop and play with some more grandchildren.  We have very mixed feelings about leaving this mission.  It has been wonderful and entirely too short, and we will really miss the friends we have made here.  But it will be so good to be back home with family and friends there.

We love you all and will see you soon.

Another Great Missionary Weekend

Sunday we had another fun day in Fredonia.  Before Sacrament meeting Melissa and her son, Allen came up to us wanting to set up a time later in the day for us to come teach Allen.  Allen told us he really wanted to be baptized.  They couldn't meet with us until 4:00 and they live 30 minutes south of Fredonia.  Since her other committment was in Fredonia and we were wanting to avoid and extra hour of driving, we had the inspiration to suggest we meet with them in the  Branch President's home.  The Burkes were willing and President Burke sat down with us as we began teaching Allen. We had a delightful time with him and were amazed about how much he remembered from his limited primary experience.  When we were finished with our lesson, we turned to the Branch President and said, "We think he is ready to talk to the Branch President, what do you think?"  He said "I think so too.  We need to set up an appointment with him for a baptismal interview".  Allen asked who was the Branch President, as he was excited to get everything done so he could be baptized. President Burke said, "I guess that would be me!  Lets go talk."  He took Allen into the next room where he has his home office and they talked for a few minutes.  Then the office door flew open and Allen came running out to his mother shouting, "I passed!"  It was so fun.  Then President Burke asked him who he wanted to baptize him and he immediately responded, "My Mom!"  We then taught him about the necessity that it be done by someone holding the proper priesthood authority and he then asked President Burke if he would do it.
He is going to be baptized this coming Saturday with our other two investigators.  We are so excited.

Donya and Lizzie were both sick with the flu this week-end so we weren't able to visit with them.  However as we checked in with them last night to finish up  the preparations for them, they were both much better and  are also eager to be baptized.  Donya's brother-in-law will baptize them and she asked Paul last night if he would confirm them. So things are moving right along.

Noel was in our Gospel Essentials class this week.  She said she had an appointment with the Jamestown Elders for Tuesday evening (last night) so we didn't try to teach her this weekend.  The Elders called us last night to report that they had taught the plan of salvation and that she has committed to baptism for the 1st week in March.  She will be coming to observe the baptism on Saturday.

We have enjoyed so much serving in the Fredonia Branch.  It has been a thrill to be a part of these good people accepting the gospel and preparing for baptism.  We are so grateful for this experience.  Our temple president told us when he set us apart at the beginning of our mission, that even though it was a temple mission what we would remember most would be our experinces in the branch.  This has proven true.  Our experiences in the temple have been wonderful.  Our love for Heavenly Father has grown so deeply from our serving there each day.  But the joy we feel from helping these dear people in Fredonia learn about the gospel has been overwhelming.  We wish this mission didn't have to end, but we are ready to be coming  home.  Our mission has been perfect.  Hard, challenging, and perfect.

Great Missionary Weekend

New College Investigator
Last week-end we gave a ride to one of our college freshmen from Palmyra down to Fredonia.  School was starting again for them on that Monday, after their Christmas break.  He had been bringing his girlfriend out to church for about a month before the break, and we have been teaching her in the gospel essentials class.  We were thinking that she might be ready to start the missionary lessons if she was still interested in coming out to church.  We challenged him to ask her if she wanted to learn more about the church.  He was a little hesitant because he wasn't sure how she would respond, but agreed to ask her. 

This Sunday at church, he told us that she had said yes.    We  had an appointment to teach an 8 year old son of a member of the branch as well as her finace right after church.  That fell through because the son was ill yesterday.  The missionaries from Jamestown had come up to help us teach them, so we thought that if Noel was willing, we could give her the lesson instead.  Her boyfriend had an appointment with the branch president right after church, so she was just going to be sitting around waiting for him anyway.  She was happy to have something to do while she waited.  So we all went into a classroom  and we turned it over to the Elders.   It is fun to watch the young missionaries teach.  They have prepared so well and are very good at it.  They also know to bear testimony often and bring a great spirit.  She was ready, and is feeling the spirit as she learns.  It was a great first discussion and we finished about the same time Jeff finished his interview.  The branch president was getting him started on submitting his mission papers and he came out of the interview with a "Preach My Gospel" in his hand.  It was great!

  That make the 8th person we have been able to teach while in the Fredonia Branch.  We had six investigators and one recently activated member in our Gospel Essentials class yesterday.  If Melissa and her fiance had been there as well, we would have had to find a bigger room.  How blessed we have been!  And oh, how we will hate leaving Fredonia with so many good things happening now!

Baptismal Date Set


Later on we met with the mother and daughter we have been teaching, and finished the lessons with them.  The Elders came with us to their home also.  They had taught them last Thursday at her sister's home in Jamestown and were back to help plan a baptism.  We set a baptismal date for Feb. 11 at 3:30pm. They are excited to be baptized. Her sister and brother-in-law will come and be a part of it. They have set a great example for this family and that is why they are ready for baptism.
We are most grateful that we are getting the Jamestown Elders involved so that they can continue with these good people when we are gone.

Special Day In The Temple

It Does Snow In Upstate New York
We had our first real snow storm last week.  We had about 6-9 inches over a 3 day period and actually had to delay going to the branch until Sunday morning because of lake effect snow at the branch.  It made our weekend very unproductive.  We were not able to visit anyone.  Until this week it has been the least snow here in many years.  We were 30 inches of snowfall behind the normal year.

Special Day In The Temple
This morning was a special day.  Normally the temple is closed Monday in the winter.  Today we had scheduled two families coming in around 9am to the baptistry.  We were able to do many family files there and had a great time with fathers and grandfathers doing the baptisms for their families.  A father baptized his wife and 3 children.  The grandfather baptized his 2 grandsons.

We also had an endowment session with about 33 people from a single ward in the district.  They were all soldiers and their wives from Ft Drum, east of Watertown.  Of course they were all young couples and there was a tremedous spirit with them.  Many of their spouses are currently deployed and most of them have been deployed in the Middle East multiple times.  It was an thrill and an honor to have them in the temple.

When the President schedules special sessions like this, it is the temple missionaries that staff the temple.  There were none of the local ordinance workers.  We have 6 temple missionary couples and it is just enough to do this kind of a day. None of us felt it was a sacrifice to lose our day off.  It was a priviledge to be there.  Much more fun than doing laundry.

A Great Missionary Weekend

This was a great missionary weekend.  We taught Donya and her daughter the third missionary lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We taught faith, repentance, baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost and committed them to baptism.  They will be deciding on the date this week.  Donya has a sister who is a member in another ward.  Her sister's husband will be baptizing them.  Her married daughter, who is living with them, with her husband and two children, is also interested in coming out to church.  We will be teaching the fourth lesson next weekend.

We taught a mother, and her boyfriend in our Gospel Essentials class and are going to start teaching the boyfriend and her 8 year old son the lessons.  The mother is a member of the Branch and is semi-active.  She works every other weekend as a nurse and comes sporadically on her off weekends.  Her son enjoys Primary and wants to be baptized but hasn't attended enough to understand the gospel basics.  She told her boyfriend that she won't marry him unless he joins the Church so he is somewhat interested in learning more about the Gospel as well.  He participated well in the class and seems open to learning more.  She works next weekend so we won't begin teaching them until the following week.

Our young college kids are on Christmas break for two more weeks.  We miss them.  We want to get started teaching one of their friends when they get back.  She has been ou to church for a number of weeks and has expressed a lot of interest.

We hope you all had a marvelous Christmas with your families and look forward to seeing you again in a couple of months.  It looks like we will be leaving here for home on Feb 19.  We will spend time in Detroit and Colorado Springs on the way home.  We should be home about the 25th or 26th.  We are concerned about leaving the branch.  There is so much that needs to be done and so little time.  We trust our replacements will be ready to go to work.  It will be very hard leaving.

Christmas Gifts

We know you are all busily taking care of the last minute details in your preparations for Christmas, but we hope you will pause for a few minutes and contemplate the wonders and joys of Christmas.  Being far from home at Christmas time has given us the freedom and time to ponder and really appreciate the greatest Christmas gift of all.  We would like to share some of these thoughts with you.

Mary wrapped the very first Christmas gift.  She didn't use flashy paper and brightly colored ribbons, only simple swaddling clothes.  This gift wasn't put under a Christmas tree, but was lovingly and gently laid in a manger.  This, the greatest and most magnificent gift of all was given by our loving Heavenly Father to all of his children for all time and has made eternity possible for all of us.  Oh how we ought to rejoice and celebrate, and fall on our knees in gratitude and praise to our Heavenly Father for giving us that gift so long ago.

Now in a day and age where that birth is often dismissed as a fable or folk lore and Santa Claus has taken the prime focus point of Christmas, we want to reaffirm to you our knowledge that it was real.  The Savior of the world really was born in a lowly cattle stall, witnessed by shepherds and heralded by angels.  The truths He taught and the price He paid give us life and hope for the future. 

Paul was asked to speak Christmas day in the Fredonia Branch and as he asked me to proof-read his talk, I knew we needed to share it with all of you, too.

Believing Christ

When President Burke asked me to speak today, he indicated his disappointment that he could not be with us today. He was planning on speaking and his intended topic was “Believing Christ”. As I accepted the assignment, my thoughts immediately went to a book that I read 15 years ago or so. We have it in our library at home, Believing Christ by Stephen Robinson. In this book brother Robinson explores the importance “believing Christ” not just “believing in Christ”. I assumed that this is the theme that President Burke was pondering. I guess it doesn't matter what theme President Burke was pondering, it is what I have pondered that I would like to discuss with you.

We live in a time when some of our fellow “Christians” question whether we are “Christian”. I sense that many of us in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints become frustrated when they question our claim to the title “Christian”. I would suggest to you that we have a much more important question that we need to answer, personally, in our lives. “Do We Believe Jesus Christ?”.

Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is a time when we can focus on what that means to each of us. We celebrate his humble, yet glorious birth. The humble surroundings and conditions of his birth, and the glorious manifestations that accompanied his birth.

Who was this babe in Bethlehem? He was none other than the Son of God. The Firstborn of our Father in Heaven in our existence prior to this earth life. He was and is God, the Son. We worshiped Him there. Why? Because He was God, the Son. Because He was perfect to that point and because He was willing to implement Our Fathers Plan of Happiness on our behalf.

Our Heavenly Father wanted us each to have all the blessings that He enjoys. He knew what it would take to make that happen. We needed to come and experience a mortal life. We needed to learn the principles that bring true happiness. We needed to demonstrate obedience to those principles before He could give us all that He has. We needed to become like He was. In order to return to Him we needed to be “Perfect” for “No unclean thing can enter the presence of God”. In the New Testament, book of Matthew chapter 5 we read at the end of the sermon on the mount.

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Wait a minute! I have to be “Perfect”. I will not be able to do that. Heavenly Father knew that. But His “Perfect” plan accounted for that problem. He needed a Savior for us. One who would be not only “Perfect”, but who then would be willing to pay the price for our sins/mistakes. Jesus Christ, the Fathers firstborn, volunteered to be that Savior. He looked at all of his brothers and sisters and loved us so much that He was willing to make that promise to us and the Father. He would live a “Perfect” life. He then would suffer for all of our sins, so that we could return to the Father.

What a loving oldest brother we have. It is hard to comprehend His love. We could well ask, “What do we have to do to merit this gift, or Grace?”. The answer is there is nothing we can do to Merit it. If we could we wouldn't need it. But He has asked us to have faith in Him. He has asked us to make sacred covenants with Him that we will do “All that we can do”. He will make up the rest.

Can we comprehend the magnitude of those promises He made? What if He failed? What if He made one mistake. He could no longer be our Savior because He would not be “Perfect”. What if He was “Perfect” but could not follow through with the promise to suffer for all our sins? What if it was too much for Him to suffer that much? How could it not be too much for Him to suffer for all of the sins of the world? If He failed in any way, we were all lost. Never to return to Father. These questions, concerns, skepticisms, doubts were so real, that one third of Heavenly Fathers children did not have the Faith to accept Jesus Christ offer to be our Savior. They wanted a risk free alternative and were willing to give up their free agency to get it. In the end they gave up the opportunity to come to earth and receive their body.

We did have enough Faith in Jesus Christ and the Fathers Plan to accept it because we are here. Now back to the question I asked earlier, “Do we believe Jesus Christ?”. We must believe IN Him because we have joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We have been baptized and made covenants with Him to do “All that we can”. But do we really believe Jesus Christ?

I would suggest to you that many of us act as if we do not believe Him. How do we do that? We do not accept fully His promises to us. We believe that while He was “Perfect” and paid for ours and others sins, we do not do enough, or we are not obedient enough to merit being accepted back into the Father's presence. The truth is we can never do enough or be obedient enough to merit this reward. That is why we need the Savior!

So what am I saying? We do not need to be obedient to receive this gift. We do not need to serve others. “Works” are not needed. Only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and I will be saved. Many of our good Christian friends would say “YES, that is all you need.” But let us read Paul's words Romans 6 speaking of those who have faith in Jesus Christ and are under his “grace”

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law(NOTE the Law of Moses), but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Obviously, more is required than faith alone. Matthew 5. The sermon on the mount. The beatitudes.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Oh, so maybe he is going to judge us based on what is in our hearts. What are the desires of my heart?

In D&C 76, speaking of the degrees of glory, and specifically those who will be in celestial glory, we read:

69 These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood.

Just men, made perfect. Not perfect men. What is a just man or woman? Perhaps one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. Perhaps one who is doing the best they can. What is the “best we can do”? Is it being perfect? I would suggest that in some particulars we may become perfect during this life. But in general we will not. Only we and the Father can judge if we are doing the best we can. In the meantime if we are doing the best we can we are “Perfect in Christ”. He makes up the difference and we are perfect now.

Through our lives and in the eternities, as we do our best, He can change us and improve our ability to be perfectly obedient in more and more aspects of our lives,.and we will become sanctified as we do that. In the meantime we can be “Perfect in Christ” now. We can be “Justified” now. If we died today, we can have confidence in the Saviors promises. We can be judged “worthy” to enter the Fathers presence.

So what is the bottom line. What is the Covenant we need to make and keep in order to return to our Heavenly Father. I refer you to the Articles of Faith.

4 We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This opens the gate to the celestial kingdom. You notice as a part of that covenant he gives us a most marvelous gift. The Gift of the Holy Ghost not only provides guidance, knowledge, and inspiration in many ways throughout our lives it also serves as a witness to us of the validity of the covenant. If we are feeling the effects of the Holy Ghost in our lives, we are keeping our part of the covenant. Even when we are not perfect in all we do. Each week we can repent, and covenant again that we will do our best and do better the next week.

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior today, let me read from D&C 128, a letter from the prophet Joseph to the church in 1842. He was speaking of doing baptisms for the dead, but it certainly applies to us in our lives and our baptisms.

22 Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Emmanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.
23 Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!

I think I have enough time to share with you an experience Sister Sherwood and I had some 10 years ago at a family reunion with our family in Colorado. We have these every two years, although we missed the one in Montana this year because we were here on our mission. We have had 9 children, and have 28 grandchildren now. These reunions are organized mayhem, but we love them. That may be the only sacrifice we have made coming on a mission. But our family was greatly blessed by our being here instead of at the reunion so I guess that was not a sacrifice. We just missed them. At the reunion in Colorado, Susan and I made a promise to our children and grandchildren. “We are going to be in the celestial kingdom with our Father in Heaven. We want each of you to be there.” We challenged them to find out for themselves that they were going to be there.

Two years later, our youngest son, Scott, received his mission call to go to Argentina just before we were in the Hill Cumorah pageant that year. While he was in one of his cast team devotionals he made that same promise to his cast team friends. “I am going to be in the celestial kingdom with our Father in Heaven. I want each of you to be there.” We heard about this from several people who were in the meeting and we rejoiced. Two weeks after the pageant was over, Scott drowned while sharing a marvelous day with a friend in Watkins Glen. One week prior to going to the temple and going to the MTC and his mission, he was in paradise, going to that MTC so he could preach in the spirit prison. We know with assurance that he is there because of the promises of our Savior.

I testify to you that I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the World, and my Savior and your Savior. This innocent babe whose birth we celebrate today, fulfilled in every way what He said He would do for us. I know and rejoice in the fact that He won the fight. He was “Perfect” in every sense of the word. He paid for Adam and Eves transgression and has broken the bands of physical death. He was resurrected and we will be resurrected because of Him. Physical death will not be the end of our lives.

He loved us so much that He was able to fulfill the promise that He would pay for our sins. Somehow in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross he took upon himself all of our sins. He felt the guilt that all of our Father's children deserve. He paid the price that all of our Father's children owe to justice. He did this because He loves us. We cannot do enough, or be obedient enough to merit this gift He has given us. But we can accept His gift by making and keeping our baptismal covenants. We can rejoice in our life. We can know with confidence that we will be with Him in our Father's celestial kingdom. We can live without the guilt of our past mistakes, as well as the frustration of our not being able to do everything perfectly now. As we hunger and thirst after righteousness and do our best we can be filled with the spirit and filled with confidence in his promises.

I know his promises are real and true, and rejoice in the knowledge that I will be with my family and you and with the Father and the Son in the resurrection.

I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Weekend in the Branch

CHRISTMAS BAPTISM

This was a great weekend in the branch.  With one of our investigators we have set a date for baptism on Christmas eve or Christmas day.  This will be a great way to celebrate Christmas.  We will see how that one plays out.  He wants to be baptized before a family, his home teacher, moves away on Dec 27.  This week we have to get the district leader to come up from Jamestown, and do the interview.  We then need to get the father ready to perform the baptism.  This is an hispanic family and the two parents struggle with english.  All are baptized except the oldest boy(18 years old).  They have been very faithful in attending since we have been coming to the branch.  The oldest is now ready.  Sunday afternoon, we spent an hour with him reviewing the lesson topics, commandments, etc. to make sure he was ready.

MUSIC FIRESIDE

Sunday evening we had a fireside with our college students.  All but one of them are majoring in music.  The topic was the power of music.  The brother who presented it was a professional musician in his younger years. 

He discussed the power that music has on our spirits both for good and for evil.  It was a very enlightening discussion.  We were very impressed with our young freshmen, how much they understood the issues and how committed they are to being a positive influence.  Two of our non-member college students were there and they contributed greatly to the discussion.  One of them, Becky, has now had all the lessons.  She is faced with the challange of convincing her parents that she should be baptized.  The other, Noel, has come 3 weeks in a row to church, and was at the fireside tonight.  We have given her a Book of Mormon, and hope to begin teaching her when they get back from Christmas break, at the end of January.  We gave both of them the video, "The Birth of Christ", to take home and share with their families for Christmas.  Pray for both of them, that their testimonies will grow and strengthen.  We would love to have some more baptisms before we come home.