New Assignments

We had another great week in the temple meeting new workers and renewing old friends from before.

Susan was asked by the Temple Matron to tat a new altar cloth. She has been working all week developing the pattern and that is now complete. The picture below is 4 squares with a border. The finished altar cloth will be 12 rows of 5 squares each. She is now ready to begin to tat the real thing. She is excited.

Saturday morning we met with the Utica mission president, President Bullock and his wife. They counseled with us on the status of their branches and where they could possibly use us. Together we concluded the most likely match was with the Ogdensburg Branch about 50 miles northeast of Watertown on the St Lawrence seaway. He is now going to discuss this with District and Branch Presidents and get back to us with an assignment. We are awaiting that anxiously.

We decided to go up to the branch yesterday even without an assignment. We went with the Guthries who are also awaiting an assignment. It was a 3-1/2 hour drive one way from Palmyra. What a delightful visit it was. We forgot to take the camera so there are no pictures. The Sacrament meeting was primarly the Branch President and his wife, Elder and Sister Johnson saying goodbye. They are senior missionaries whose time has come due. They have been there for their entire mission and have done a great work. It was special to hear their comments and feel the love from the branch members. There was about 20 people in attendance and that is pretty typical. That included 3 couple missionary pairs and a couple visiting from Cedar City, UT(The Esplins). The Esplins live around the corner from Linda and Dale Edwards. Small world eh?

The Johnsons live in a nice home right on the seaway. Two sister missionaries share the missionary home with them. Elder and Sister Johnson go home in a week and a half and that is one of the reasons they need us there. Sister Johnson invited us to dinner so we were able to spend some time with them and learn about the branch. We are fairly confident that one of the two couples will be assigned there. Maybe both.

It was a beautiful drive. The leaves are starting to change. But it was all day long. We left at 6am and got back at 6pm.

Last Monday we went to dinner with Mike and Amber. She still likes him. We gave Sandy the phone number and email for Amber so she can communicate the family reunion information. If any of you want to contact her, see Sandy or email us.

Have a great week and we hope to hear from you.

First Week in Palmyra

We have completed our first full week in the temple. We are a part of 6 shifts.
Tuesday & Thursday-Morning & evening
Wednesday & Friday-Evening

On Tuesday and Thursday we have a 3 hour break between the shifts where we can eat and take a nap.

Monday we were set apart in the morning. We then were able to spend a couple of hours visiting with Mike and Amber in the afternoon. They seem to be doing well. We were able to get to know Amber and her family better. Did you all know she is a cake decorator. She and some family members have been doing very interesting work. Go to facebook and look for shambercakes. It was fun seeing their work. We are going to eat dinner with them tomorrow.

Monday evening we had a family home evening with all the temple missionaries. Presdent Strassberg, in the temple presidency discussed the meaning of words. He taught Latin in Buffalo and had a very interesting way to taking the words back to their Latin origins and was able to demonstrate nuances of meaning in our gospel language, redemption, repentance, atonement, etc. It was very interesting and faith promoting, but you needed to be there to understand.

It is different working on almost all the shifts. You get to know almost everyone who works in the temple. We already have known many, but there are many new ones also. Tuesday night we had the opportunity to run a session in the baptistry. That brought back a lot of memories and was fun.

Saturday we spent most the day wandering around Palmyra Canal Days festival with Elder and Sister Guthries from Colorado. We had lunch with them and it was a fun day. The streets were blocked, there was an antique car show, and many booths. In the afternoon there was a parade.

This week in the temple reminded us of a scene from A Christmas Carol in which the ghost of Christmas past was showing Feziwigs Christmas party to Schrooge. The ghost said to Schooge, "This was not a big deal for Feziwig to put this party on. He didn't spend much. But the people were so happy." Schooge said "That isn't the point. He had the power to make us happy or miserable under his employment, and to make our work pleasant or a drudgery. He was a good man to work for." How much more joyful it is to be working for the Lord in the temple than for Feziwig. He makes our work in the temple full of indescribable joy.

Our temple president observed how we can tell it is all worth it. When you see a couple run into the temple, harried, late and frustrated. Carrying the cares of the world on their shoulders. Then two hours later seeing them walk out slowly out holding hands. At peace with the world. They have been able to cut through the problems of the world and see again what live is all about.

We hope all of you are going regularly to the temple. You may get tired of hearing this from us, but too bad. We all need the peace and truths available there. We testify to you that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the power of the Savior is real. He will bless you through your families as you lead them back to him. We love you all.

We Are Here!

Thursday September 2, 2010 Mom gave us a beautiful fairwell party where we said good bye to family and friends in Provo.

Friday morning we started our trip east to New York. We spent Saturday and Sunday with our kids and grandkids in Colorado Springs.

We traveled 2 days more to West Lafayette, Indiana and spent all day Wednesday with Maryle and Jared.

We then traveled to Palmyra arriving Thursday night.

Friday and Saturday we spent finding a place to live and moving in. We have an apartment in Pitsford that becomes available Nov 1. We needed to find a place for the 6 weeks before then. We ended up arranging with Pres. Dan Hare of the Pageant presidency to use a pageant trailer in Zion's camp.

Here is our home for the next 6 weeks.

From standing in the middle of the trailer, this is the kitchen and livingroom area including the computer 'Room'.
Looking the other way, this is the bathroom and bedroom. That's it.

We spent Friday night in the trailer with no heat and no hot water. Saturday Paul Rowe came over and helped us fix that. We are beginning to feel right at home.

Tomorrow morning we will be setapart as Palmyra Temple Ordinance workers and our first shift will be Tuesday morning. Next Sunday we expect to hear about our assignment to a branch. Today we went to church at Palmyra and Fairport and renewed some marvelous friendships.

We got in touch with Mike today. He is working today, but thinks he and Amber can get with us tomorow afternoon. We are looking forward to that.

We have been overwhelmed by how the Lord has helped us get here, moved in, ready to go to work. We know without a doubt that the Lord wants us here and we are anxious to begin doing his work. What a joy to be in his service. We hope all of you are feeling that same joy in your lives.