September 13, 2016

Crazy Time

We have been home now a little over 2 months.  Boy did that time go by fast.
We arrived home on Friday July 8th 2016 in the late afternoon.  We were greeted by a cute sign on the garage door that said, WELCOME HOME.  Entering the house we found beautiful flowers and the home looked amazing. " Thanks Lindsay for watching over it and taking such good care for us."
"Thanks Grant and Kyle for taking care of the yard so faithfully and for putting up with the hand lawn mower Grant."  I know that was a hard job with such a big yard to care for but you did it and didn't even complain. We love you all and appreciate that we could count on you and not worry.

That evening many of the kids and grandchildren came by and we had dinner together extemporaneously.  That was the best!  Lots of tears of happiness and laughing with hugs.
The grandkids changed the most I must say. They are as awesome as we remembered.

Sunday the 10th we spoke in church.  Yes just one day to prepare. It was crazy !!!!  After we had everyone over for food.  I don't know how it all went but I do know that the Spirit helps you when you need inspiration.  We had no time to prepare our talks and we both just spoke from our heart.  Sometimes that is the best way.

We have  fixed a broken laundry room, dishwasher and disposal, worked on the yard and picked fruit from our trees.  Got to go out in our trailer several times. Once to Jordanelle Dam near Heber UT and to Twin Falls Idaho to visit Bob's sisters.  Played with grandkids, golfed and put away stuff.   Bob got to fly his plane and we did all our medical and dental check ups.

We have had time to look back and contemplate the year we spent in Maryland. We miss all the people that touched our life and loved our time and the people we served for the Lord.We may not wear the tags anymore but we still feel it close to our heart. We realize that we were very blessed in so many ways and that miracle happened all the time. We grew closer as a couple and in our love for each other, the scriptures and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We love the missionaries and their desire to be perfectly obedient, study and pray for their investigators, and willingness to help in all circumstances.
They truly are the elect of God.

Missions change your life for the better.  We miss the simpleness of our life in Maryland because we worked on how we could help others and bring them to Christ not on ourselves.  We were so blessed to serve in the Brooklyn Park Branch and the members in our branch are the best.  They serve others without thinking.  They love unconditionally all people and help in ways that I have not witnessed in my life before.  They will forever be in our hearts.

We thanks the Lord for all the tender mercies he showed us while we were gone and for the deepening testimony we have of His Gospel.  The real challenge is to continue to serve those around us and rely on the spirit to guide our thoughts and actions each day.

This is the last entry to our blog.  Thank you to all those who followed our blog and journey.  We hope that you know the love we have for the Gospel of Jesus Christ .  We know for ourselves that it
is true.

Adam and Estelle on the day we took them to the temple for their Endowments

   Blankets made by sister missionaries for children who are in need in Maryland                                                                                                           

                                           Sisters making blankets for our service project

                                         Joe Kasian and Joe Cruz.  Two wonderful members

July1--4th

God Bless America. 

We love this beautiful land we live in and are so grateful for the time we spent in parts where so much of our countries history took place and helped shape this great land that we love. 

We say goodbye to Maryland and so many wonderful friends and missionaries. 

We were given permission to leave a few days early so we could visit the church sites in Palmyra NY and the priesthood restoration sites near the Susquehanna river in PA. Now we are traveling today to Philly PA to spend the 4th of July and see the sights and firework display. 

Tuesday we start our official treck home. We are so thankful we were able to see so many wonderful places where the gospel was restored again on the earth. We saw the Sacred Grove, the Smiths family farm. We visited the Hill Cumorah visitor center and drove to the top of the hill where Angel Moroni statue stands. We were able to visit the Palmyra temple and did  sealings. We were given an amazing tour of the area by the Barneys who are serving a temple mission there. 

They took us to Peter Witmers farm and beautiful visitor center. We learned so many wonderful things about all the miracle during Joseph Smiths time there in their home translating from the plates to give us the Book of Mormon. We visited the the amazing place where the

Book of Mormon was first printed. 

Sunday we visited the priesthood restoration site. 

Today we are driving to Philly PA for the 4th. 

              Sacred Grove

       Priesthood Restoration site

Mission friends we have worked with

                Palmyra sights

           Elder and Sister Barney

Thank you Maryland Baltimore Mission

Thursday, 23 June 2016

Last Tuesday, 14 June, we took Joe Kasian to the hospital for neck surgery.  He had the same thing I had done about 15 years ago.  His however was in two parts: they went through the front of the neck last week and this week they finished the surgery by going through the back of the neck.

Sister Christiansen asked us to help serve lunch for Sisters' Conference on both the 15th and 16th.  Irene directed a service project by having the Sister Missionaries make blankets to donate to Project Linus. 

Through Project Linus over 8,850,385 blankets have been donated to critically ill or needy children in hospitals, shelters, and social service agencies throughout the United States.  After the conferences, 36 more were donated.

   

Following the conference, the Jaccards took us to dinner in Hagerstown, Maryland.  It was a quaint German restaurant with delightful food and an atmosphere to go with it.  Now in Hagerstown there is a renown doughnut shop called Krumpe's Do-nuts and the Jaccards showed us where it is.

Just as the box lid says, "Delicious."  Oh my goodness!  They are better than delicious, they are delightfully delicious!  Yes, they are better than Krispy Kreme and half the price.  You would think that a place like this would be located in a busy commercial area with horrendous traffic, but no, at least on part of it.  The traffic is horrendous, but that is because the place is located on an alley that is 30 feet wide at the most, and in a residential area.  They are open from 7:00 p.m., yes, P.M. till they are gone.  Now most places like this start making doughnuts about 2:00 a.m. and are ready for sale by 5:30 a.m.  People line up here and wait just to be first in line.  Nice, warm, sugary, dough cooked to perfection, with mouth watering characteristics that seem to beckon continuous consumption till the purchased quantity some how disappears!  My, My, My, your only regret comes with the realization that, when you have finished the last bit of the last doughnut, you should have purchased more!

Friday, the 17th, we took Estelle Missouri, to Hershey, PA to pick up her daughter Amber who attends high school there.  On the way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner.

 Sunday, 19 June, Father's Day, was really fun.  The primary kids made all the fathers a wonderfully unique bow tie.  The only problem is, mine didn't last too long.  The Relief Society Sisters also brought potluck for a feast after church.  Wow, that sure made the candy kisses we gave them on Mother's Day just seem like not enough.

 

That evening we took Adam Wommack to Glen Burnie to get a blessing from the Stake Patriarch.  That was truly a wonderful experience for both of us and for Adam.


On Monday the 20th, we went with Don and Susan Black to Old Town Alexandria, VA and then down to Mount Vernon.  Mount Vernon is a beautiful place sitting on a hill above the Potomac River.  His plantation included several hundred acres and the river borders most of it.  It was a beautiful day.  After Mount Vernon we went back to Alexandria and took a boat ride on the Potomac from there to the north edge of Washington DC and back.  About a 2 hour ride.  Beautiful, I highly recommend it.

We found out today that our mission boundaries are changing on July 1, and we will be included in the Washington DC North Mission.

Sunday, June, 12, 2016

TIME FLIES
The first of this new month Bob surprised me a trip to Hershey, PA.  It is 100 miles from where we live.  It was a fun trip and a beautiful day for chocolate.

After our trip to Hershey's factory, on Friday the 3rd, I cut sister Romey's hair for her.  She is 88 years old and such a special sister in the branch.  She had her son cut it and she noticed it wasn't straight. So I offered to come by and fix it. She is as sharp as anyone I know.

We have attended a genealogy class at our stake center and learned some cool new ideas to help us and people in our area find their ancestor. One tender mercy is that I have for the first time found names to take to the temple and I just cried because it felt so wonderful to find a missing daughter and sisters.

Monday, June 6th, we met up with our neighbors from Spanish Fork who drove 6 hours to see us and spend the day in DC.  So fun to see the Branches and spend time in such a beautiful place of history.

We have been blessed so very much this month with teaching opportunities.  We finished our series of Self-Reliant lessons with Sister Bolen.  A long time in the making but she persevered and competed the lessons.  After we finished I taught her how to make homemade bread and her son Caleb helped us.  Also Bob hung 2 pictures in the house with her son's help.

Confession--
Some days are so slow and others are so busy that you fall into bed at the end of the night.  Tuesday the 7th was one of those days.  We got up at 5:30 to get ready to pick the Elders for a Doctor appointment in Pasadena.  Which is about 30-40 minutes away. While he was inside the office I visited a new grocery store called WEIS.  Funny name--the Elders call it WE IS.  In the store I found the chips that Bob has wanted to try and also got donuts for district meeting.  You know Elders.

After district meeting we picked up Sister Wheeler and took her for ice cream at Costco where she met a long lost friend she hadn't seen for years plus she loved it and felt happy that we took her.  She shared at church that she has felt sad and down about something.  The spirit whispers to you about the sweetest things to help others and I am so grateful we listened.

After that we taught a lesson, spent time with a less active and then back to Pasadena to pick up a sick Elder that had been farmed out to members all day so that his companion could finish teaching appointments and say good-bye to people because the next day was transfers.

Well, here is where I got frustrated.  We took him back to his apartment but he didn't have the key so Bob called the 3-some of Elders that had it and they were eating and said don't worry about feeding him.  It was now 6:45.  Mind you we had been going since 5:30am.  We went to Burger King and got something to eat and waited in the car till 8:00 where I lost it and sent a note.  They came rather quickly and then I... you know the rest.  All-in-all we ended on a good note.  We take care of each other.

The Last and special sweet experience we have had this month is to review with Adam Wommack and Estelle Missouri the temple preparation classes.  Adam surprised us with a subway sandwich and a drink that he brought to the church.  Mind you he walks everywhere and took the time to think that we would be hungry.  That night we took the two of them to Annapolis to have their interview with the Stake President.  Their faces as they came out of his office were priceless.  

Saturday, June 11th we took them to the temple to be endowed and given promised blessings.  I assisted Estelle and Bob helped Adam.  They both were so happy that it is hard to express.  Sister Crites took Estelle to shop for a new dress.  I cut her hair and put it in rollers.  The day we went she said she had been up since 5:00 a.m. and couldn't sleep.  Both Elder's that taught them the Gospel were in attendance and a few ward members.

The DC temple only has vending machines in the cafeteria,  so we  packed a lunch for everyone and after pictures and getting in a hot car, we pulled over in the Church parking lot and ate.  What a wonderful experience we had that day.  That is what it is all about.  Everything we do should lead us to the blessings of the temple.

Elders helping with a service project this week for Sister Training.  We are making blankets for Project Linus--non profit org. for critically ill children from 1-18yrs old.  Look it up on line.  Another tender mercy.  This is Elder McRae and Elder Flandro--They serve in our Branch and are companions.

                 This is Elder Flandro
 Last---- is a miracle.  Below is a bike seat that was thrown at our car in Brooklyn Park the night we took Estelle and Adam for their temple interview in Annapolis.  The Lord watched over us and protected us and must of sent an angel to deflect the object away from us and the car.  When we stopped as we heard this horrible, loud bang.  Three kids standing on the street corner were up to no good.  After stopping, there were only two kids, one had run away.  He was the culprit.  He threw a bicycle seat at our car and we thought for sure that the side of the car would have a big dent in it.  But, no, not even a scratch.  It was a good thing the kid ran off, because I'm not sure what Bob would have done to him.  Bob said he had to go home and repent of what he was thinking about that kid.

24 May 2016

We got a text from Sisters Allen and Blosch Saturday evening in which they asked us if we wanted to do something fun with them on Monday.  Irene suggest bowling, so that's what we did.  They happen to be assigned to Kent Island.  We thought Kent Island was closer to Pasadena, but when I plugged their address into the GPS, it said they were about 148 miles away.  I figured out that I had the toll road restriction turned on in the GPS and because of that it was taking us through Delaware to get to them.  Once I took that off, they were much closer.  Kent Island is across the bay from Annapolis, MD.  The bridge getting to it is about 23,000 feet long.  Fun.

The Sisters showed us around Kent Island a little bit and then we went to Annapolis to bowl.  I wont mention how the bowling went, but let it suffice to say, it was not pretty.

Just a small part of the Bay bridge between Annapolis and Kent Island.

Sisters Allen and Blosch at the bowling alley.  After bowling we took them to Chick n Ruth's restaurant for a milk shake.  Remember the TV show, Man vs Food with Adam Richman?  Well, he has been here.


 

Today zone conferences started.  The first one was in Martinsburg, VA, and we served BBQ beef sandwiches, salad, watermelon, chips, and cake.  Very little was left over.

It's funny, but the brother who was talking to the missionaries about vehicle safety is from Salt Lake City.  I asked him if by chance he knows a Jeff Sechler.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he does know him and they are actually in the same department.

After the Conference today, we drove over to Grantsville, MD, to visit a place called Penn Alps.  Cute little town but not worth the hour and a half drive to get to it.  It was fun to see a sign that said George Washington actually crossed the river at this place.

The following pictures are from the Penn Alps.

  

I knew we were close when I saw the "Penn Alps Parking" signs.

  

The picture to the left was interesting to me because the pine trees were so neatly growing in rows.

The picture to the right is the Casselman River Bridge.  It was built in 1813 and was the longest single-span stone bridge in America at the time.

 This bridge was part of a highway system between Cumberland, MD and the Ohio River in Wheeling, WV.  During the period of 1842-1852 it is said that traffic on the road was immense.  Up to 14 stage-coaches per day in each direction.  It not only provided a route for stagecoaches, freighters, and Conestogas, but also droves of cattle, sheep, pigs, and turkeys.

 In one of the gift shops my eye caught the following sign and represents my philosophy quite well:

Love You.

Thursday, May 19,2016

We are really enjoying teaching Family History and genealogy in the branch. We have about 6-7 people stay after church on Sunday and learn new ideas and practice looking for ancestors. 

Bob and I work every Thursday at the Columbia Maryland family history center from 9-2. We are learning so much and I have finally found a few names. 

For Mother's Day and birthday I got a wonderful surprise. Yes a DNA test. 

Sent it in and hopefully have the results back in 6 weeks. 

New missionary pamphlets. They are wonderful. So timely and goes perfectly with the work we do. 

Our senior trip to the White House. We are inside the White House. We took a self guided tour. Only on the first floor. Security was everywhere. We went through 3 different screenings. Worth every minute.  The pictures in the White House are really something to behold. 

          Formal dinning room

            Red room--my favorite. 

           Side gardens out the window

View out the window

I loved this majestic tree on the grounds

We rode the Marc train to get to DC then took the subway to get to the visitor center where we met the others in our group. It was a rainy day all day long but who could complain. We are in DC at the White House. We ate at the Black Fin restaurant. I had a chicken meal and yes Bob had a huge brownie sundae as his meal. What can I say. 

Tuesday,May 10,2016

We are blessed all the time. We just need to look around and see. Miracle happen in the simplest ways and we may not recognize it because it is just so simple. This is one thing that Missonaries do here  is share miracle when we are at district meetings or zone training. I love to hear them because they've begun to recognize the Lords hands in their life and work they are doing in his name. That's just a beautiful thought. It has caused me to be more aware of these tiny miracles. 

Last Friday we taught our last lesson on self reliance to bro. & sister Williams. We have been working with them since January.  We invited them to have dinner at our place and have our last lesson. Br. Williams is very picky and I wasn't sure he would like what I fixed but all went better than I thought and we all had a great time.  We talked about things he could do to rid himself of lifelong habits that hold him back from progressing. 

Sister Williams at a bbq she invited us too. 

This is sister Udall after emergency surgery to remove her appendix before they burst. A miracle and her healing was so quick without any problems. 

Estelle taking flowers to her mothers grave for Mother's Day.  She is just so sweet. 

Beautiful birds to brighten your day. This was taken at the mission home. 

Love grown and marriage bond. So happy for them and life together. 

Love you all and thank you for your prayers and constant love.