April 6, 2015

Monday:  We went to the Mission office for our weekly staff meeting.  We had a very good meeting and then we had a nice luncheon for the Ray’s, who left on Tuesday for home (Kaysville, Utah).  They are so nice and we enjoyed them so much.  She is the sister of Elder Neal L. Anderson.  

The Merrills and the Rays 

President and Sister Francis and the Rays

The 'office staff'

They have been replaced by the Workmans.  They are from North Caroline and are big Tarheels fans.  This is really something; there was Elder Dennis Ray, Elder Dennis Wray Merrill, and now Elder Dennis Ray Workman.  Is that crazy?   

Dennis Ray Workman, Dennis Ray, & Dennis Wray Merrill (my sweetie)

One of our Ipads  didn't work and we took it to the Apple store near Pittsford to have them look at it.  They connected it and said that it couldn't be fixed, but that it was under warranty and they would trade us straight across.  We called the church department in SLC to see what they wanted us to do and they said to send it back.  So we left the Apple store and headed home.  About half way home they said to go ahead and trade at the Apple store and they would use us as a test to see if they could push the church filters onto a machine remotely.  So—we need to go back.  We had heard about a place that was called the ‘mushroom home’ so we drove over to see it.  WOW!  It looked like something straight out of Starwars.  I don’t think the pictures do it justice, but just imagine.  It is really huge!

  

We had the 4 Elders over for a supper of hot dogs.  Sister Long had talked me into buying ‘white hots’.  They are hot dogs that look disgustingly pale and white.  They are not hot in flavor—just white hot dogs.  They did brown up nice in the oven and the Elders loved them.  I ate one and it wasn't too bad, but the uncooked package didn't work for me!

Tuesday:  We decided to go visiting and see if we could find some of the people from the branch.  We went to the home of the 2^nd counselor in the branch presidency.  They live in Alexander and have a beautiful location for their home.  They were fun to visit with and we learned a lot from them.  He had gone to Vietnam and returned to Hawaii.  He had determined 3 things:  1.  Never to marry  2.  Never to have children  3.  Never live in New York.  He met a nice gal, (now his wife) and they listened to the missionaries (not on the same day or week).   The missionaries answered questions for him that he had asked for years and never gotten answers.  She said it all made sense to her.  When she was 8 she said that most things became very clear to her.  All of a sudden she understood seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years and other things in sequence. (I don’t think that happens to everyone)  When she learned that children needed to be 8 years old to be baptized, she said that made perfect sense to her.  They married and were baptized shortly after.  They said they lost all of their friends after they were baptized; their friends couldn't understand how they could be so stupid as to join with the Mormons.  They have 9 children and many grandchildren.  They are involved with a gun club that has competitive shooting.  They really enjoy that.  We then went to a less-active (less-active is now the term for those that are inactive) home and met a Sister that had a house full of sick grandchildren so we didn't visit there.  She did invite us to come back.  This week is Spring Break here, so too bad they had to spend it sick.  We have met several grandmothers that are raising their grandkids.  Their kids are either in prison, drug dependent and unable, terrible people, etc.  It makes me so happy to have such great kids! (grandkids, children & spouses, parents, brothers, sisters, friends, etc.) *see blessings

One family has just found out that their ex-daughter-in-law is selling drugs from her business.  She got a new phone and let one of the children play with her old one.  The father heard a text come and checked it, then checked further and found numerous texts regarding drugs.  He was shocked, he didn’t even suspect that of her.  He downloaded them and it printed out  1,000 pages of evidence.  He has talked with Child Protection, the law, etc. and is hoping that he has a case to take full custody of his 2 small boys.  Seems like that would be a pretty good reason to have custody, right?

While driving out that direction we saw the amusement and water park for the area.  It is called Darien Park.  (we heard it used to be a Six Flags)  From the road we could see several large roller coaster and some nice water slides.  Looks like fun!  However, missionaries are not allowed to go there.  (I don’t know about senior missionaries)  We saw a year pass at one of the grocery stores for the park for $66  for adults.  Didn't see the price for daily.

We went to another member’s home and had a good visit with the Brother there.  His wife was getting groceries for a birthday party for a grandchild that night.  He told us of finding many arrowheads and other types of weapons on his grandfather’s farm here when he was a boy.  He is really interested in the Book of Mormon cities and town and where they could have been located.  He has written a pamphlet type book and feels that many of those cities are near and around here.  We do know that the plates were buried on the Hill Cumorah, maybe he’s right???  He also told us he had written a book on ‘Being Politically Correct’.  He feels that it is huge evil.  (and I concur)  He said that even though his book was fiction he feels that he can’t publish it for fear of retribution to him or his family.  I was impressed by some of the information he has gathered.  

He told us about the rock on the picture below.  It is called Devil’s Rock and they have a chain around it; showing that the devil was chained to it and wore it out there.  (it was really just eroded by water, but makes a good story, right?)   

Devil's Rock

We invited the Haggerty’s for dinner and were regaled with stories of his childhood and life.

We got a beautiful announcement for Sam Merrill's wedding.  Sam and Miriam are a very nice looking couple.  What a blessing!  Good luck with all the festivities.  We are sad to miss out on everything!

Wednesday:  We picked up our 4 Elders and went to Geneseo to District meeting.  It was great and the Walkers supplied lunch of sloppy joes and potato salad.  We arrived back in Batavia about 1:30 and then we went to Brockport and I got my first professional haircut since leaving home.  My hair had gotten quite long and out of shape (evidenced above).  I had a nice guy do my hair and it feels great.   He couldn't believe that my husband had cut it 5 weeks ago.  He gave him a thumbs up for a good job. 

New haircut--didn't realize that it was going forward so much!

We had supper at Amanda and Skylers home with the Elders and then we came back and studied.  Skyler was talking about the Plan of Salvation and said that he gets confused about the T. kingdoms; telestial, terrestrial (which is lowest).  Elder Parker said ‘L is closer to Hell’.    Good way to remember it, right?  We got an email from Becky before we went to bed and we laughed so hard.  She knows how to say things so funny.  She was commenting on our washing experience with Bill (the blind man) She said, “How does he know that the clothes come out cleaner? And ‘don’t you think a wringer washer is a scary toy for a blind man?’

Thursday:  We decided to go back to the Apple store and make the switch.  Our appointment was made for 3:30 (first open time of the day) and so we decided to go to the Palmyra Temple before the appointment.  We had a nice session and then went back to our Apple appointment.  It sure does shoot a day to travel so much.  Nothing is close!  Every church (denomination) is gearing up for Easter Sunday.  There are lots of signs announcing meetings, lunches, picnics, egg hunts, etc.  There are sure a lot of Christian churches here! There are also many women pastors.  Every block seems to have a church on it.  It’s nice to know that they love Christ.  We got a wrong number the other day and the call was answered, ‘the Church of satan’.  They weren’t kidding!  It was so sickening!

We heard that the Presbyterian Church has caved.  It was in the news that they said their policy is now-- marriage is between 2 people.  Many people have left their church (was the announcement).

We read that President Obama visited in Utah with President Eyring and President Uchtdorf.  We laughed when we read that the street was lined with almost 50 people.  Wow!  That really says something, doesn't it?    

Friday:  We were in our morning studies when Bill called and said that his wife, Leslie, was in the hospital with pancreatitis.  He asked us to come over to the emergency room and give her a blessing.  We went right over to the hospital. (it is about 8 blocks from here)  She said that they had given her pain medicine that that she was feeling some better, but he was a wreck.  She asked that we take Bill and get some of her belongings for her stay.  So we went to their home and while he shaved and got her ‘stuff’ we did dishes, swept the kitchen floor, fed the animals, and vacuumed the carpet.  We took Bill to McDonald’s and got hamburgers.  He has a really good appetite!  She was on the 2^nd floor when we returned and said that they were running tests for her gall bladder.  Bills dog is confused in the hospital and can’t find her way around, so we left her at his home.  Imagine that?  So we got him settled in for the afternoon and we went home.  Bill called and said he was hungry but didn’t know the way to the cafeteria so Dennis went back to help him get some supper.  Dennis hadn’t been home very long when we got a call from Bill that he needed a ride home.  WOW!  He was mad!  The nurse had told him to leave as Leslie wasn’t feeling well and they were running some tests and she needed some rest.  After arriving at his home Dennis gave him a blessing of comfort and he seemed to relax—but then started into the rage again.  It would be so hard to be blind and feel so alone!

Saturday:  Sister Haggery was released from the hospital and we went to pick her up and take her home.  We are hoping that will ease the panic that Bill is experiencing.  She may need gall bladder surgery in the next few weeks, but they aren't sure.  We went over to the church for conference for both sessions.  There were 4 Elders, us, the Branch President, Amanda and Skyler, the High Priest Group Leader, and the Elder's Quorum President.  The intermediate song was much lacking in female volume and I didn't seem to be contributing much to it.  The talks were amazing, but I was disappointed that President Monson didn't talk today.  We are having the 4 Elders and Amanda and Skyler for Easter dinner tomorrow after the 1st session.  I hope that you all enjoy Easter and also celebrate Grandma Merrill's, Mya's, and Jex's birthdays!  Happy Birthday to some of my very dear and favorite people!

Funnies:  Sorry, the best laugh was from Becky this week.

Blessings:

1.      *Having family members that are responsible for themselves and their families, that are willing to sacrifice to have children, will provide the necessities of life for their family, ae good law-abiding citizens, willing to love and take care of their children and teach them right and wrong.  What a blessing in our lives!

2.     The Family, a Proclamation to the World is such a blessing.  The family is the most sacred unit Heavenly Father has given us.  We need to hold strong to our family!