July 19, 2015
Another week has flown by.
It seems that time has sped up—can that be true? There are as many hours in the day, but it g
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| Some of the performers |
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| Gary Gneiting, S. Merrill, Eirca's husband, Erica, Prudy, & E. Merrill |
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| Erica's daughter on the right |
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| Prudy, S. Merrill, E. Merrill, and Gary Gneiting |
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| E. Merrill with Lehi (the performer) |
Lane’s son had to stay
at the hotel because he was sick and throwing up. We planned to meet up with them on Friday and
show them some of the things in Mendon; but Friday evening came and they took
him to the hospital in Canandaigua. He
underwent some testing and they transferred him by ambulance to Strong Memorial
in Rochester because they suspected a burst appendicitis. At Strong they determined that it was a burst
appendix and they did surgery. He was a
really sick young man!
We spent Saturday in Batavia attending the baptism for Carla
Southwell. She is such a sweet, kind
woman of about early 50. (I am
guessing) I was asked to give a talk on
baptism and Elder Merrill was a witness.
She was confirmed on Sunday morning by Elder Merrill. He gave her a really nice blessing along with
the confirmation. It has been fun to
spend time with her and since we have moved from Batavia we haven’t been able
to go to the lessons with the Elders, but we have kept in contact with her. We talked after the baptism about how when she
heard the lessons she said it all made perfect sense to her. She felt that she already knew what was being
taught. I have heard several people say
this same thing. They felt that they
already knew it—it was something they had heard before.
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| Sister Merrill, Christian, Carla, Elder Boatman, Elder Detlor |
The Gneitings were able to stay with us on Saturday night
and we enjoyed visiting with them and showing them a few things. Lane’s wife flew in from Arizona and we
picked her up at 10:45 and took her to see her sick son in the hospital. Wow, mothers sure do love their children—it
was a tender scene! (and I have seen the
same tender, loving care by many other mothers—in fact, just recently by my own
mother for her son, Brent.)
I have gotten older---(well, the alternative isn’t that
appealing at this point). It was a nice
day. We had a nice meal out after the
baptism and I received many birthday wishes.
I can’t believe how fun Facebook is—so many great people sent birthday
wishes through Facebook. We do live in a
marvelous time. Also thanks to those who sent cards, etc.
Back to the pageant—there are many miracles that happen
during the time that the performers are in New York. They keep them busy most of the time. They practice, have devotionals, work on
their costumes and learn how to teach the gospel. There are so many of the performers that are
young children or teen agers. Prudy said
that it has been an expensive thing for Erica and her husband to come with 4
children for 3 weeks. BUT—she said that
all 4 of the kids are begging to come again.
They said that they would earn their own money for it or anything they
needed to do to come back and participate another year. That says something for the experience they
have had here. We were at lunch with
another couple one day this week and the husband got talking to the owner of
the place and he said that his father lives near Palmyra and that there was a
group of performers that went to his home and trimmed all of his bushes and
hedges and hauled everything away and didn’t ask for anything in return. He is a non-member and loved having them
there. He says that they were wonderful
kids and leaders. He had paid over
$1,000 for the same work the year before.
The man telling the story was pretty impressed and isn’t a member
either.
Erica told of one of the young men that bore his testimony during one of their meetings. He didn't really want to perform in the pageant and had come reluctantly. When they made casting assignments he was given the part of Alma and he told them that he wasn't worthy to take the part and didn't really want to. The director told him that Alma had been given a change of heart (in the Book of Mormon) and that he should try to do the part. At the end of the pageant he told everyone that he had also had that change of heart and that he was going to go home and get his papers started for a mission. Miracles happen on a daily basis here!
There were hecklers in attendance on Thursday evening. They were set up on the road and around the
perimeter of the grounds. They were
hollering out things with their bull horns.
I listened to some of the things they said and here are a few of the
things they said:
·
Jesus is the Messiah
·
Jesus is the Savior of the World
·
Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world
I had to say to myself—'we believe that also—so what is the
problem?' They had other points of
doctrine that they didn’t bring up—only to those that stopped to hear them and
then they tried to get them to say things that weren’t true and trip them
up. (I heard from someone that had tried
to have a conversation with one of them and said the man was really
cracked!) The entire pageant is about
Christ—I can’t figure out how they don’t think we believe in Christ. Anyway, those were the things that they
said, but the way that they said those
things was anything but loving or reverent.
It made me sad!
So, my testimony is that the truth has been restored, Christ
lives and loves each one of us and that Heavenly Father wants us to return to
Him because we love Him and He loves
us! He wants us to love Him enough to be
obedient to His commandments and serve Him.
I am so grateful for the many blessings and tender mercies that I have
received in my life. I can never begin
to repay Him—but I want to continue trying!
Birthdays this week were Brad Merrill, Sheldon Hart, Rhonda
Merrill, & Victor Mueller—and happy anniversary to Jill & Ryan!
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