April 10, 2016

Last week was totally exhausting!  We had our office meeting on Monday and then Elder Merrill and I took a new car to the Elders in Buffalo.  The weather was a little stormy but the roads were clear and I followed Elder Merrill without any problem.  We met the Aldrich’s after the car trade off and had a burger.  It was good to visit with them for a short time.

We had ‘specialized training’ on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the Whitmer farm in Fayette. (the 5th, 6th, and 7th of April) The days were special to us because Grandma Ranae Merrill's birthday is April 6th.  She was born on the 100th birthday of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints.   It is about an hour drive from our home and we had to leave early each morning and prepare for the day.  Elder Merrill had a car and bicycle safety training and Sister Spencer and I had cooking classes.  We had 4 classes each day.  We made brownies, éclair dessert, and pasta salad each day to go with our lunch.  One of the missionaries came by the class and said, “Wow, Sister Merrill and Sister Spencer, you are so organized!”  We laughed hard! (we didn’t feel organized)

The meals turned out great and so did the salad and desserts.  We had plenty of food.  We made meatball sandwiches on Tuesday and Wednesday and pulled pork sandwiches on Thursday.  On Friday we went into work and worked hard all day to catch up on what we had missed during the week.  We went to the Temple on Friday night and got a sandwich after.

Tire changing for the class

Elder Leon, Elder Longhurst, Sister Graham, Sister Tucker

Saturday morning the Aldrich’s came for breakfast and then we went to the Brigham Young baptismal site, the Tomlinson Inn, the Tomlinson Cemetery, the Bishop’s storehouse, the Martin Harris home, the Chill n Grill (for ice cream of course—we shared one kiddie cone between the 4 of us and it was just right) and then we went to Seneca camp, the Whitmer farm, and Sauder’s.  We always find unique things to buy at Sauder’s (the Mennonite store).  We had a great time with the Aldrich’s.

Elder Aldrich, Elder Merrill, Sister Aldrich on the lawn by the barn at the John Young home

Sister Aldrich, Elder Aldrich, Sister Merrill 

Today Elder Merrill talked in Sacrament meeting.  His topic was being a disciple of Christ.  He did a good job even though he didn’t have much time to prepare. We were invited over to lunch at the Lehman’s and they made chicken and vegetables over rice.  It was really good and we always have good gospel discussions at their home.  Brother Lehman is a deep thinker and reads a lot.  We discussed how much the Lord helped Joseph (sold into Egypt) and how it seems that the Lord blessed him so much because he was so obedient and faithful.  We began bringing up others that had prospered because of obedience.

Sister Grefrath was sad at church today because he 58 year old nephew had committed suicide last week.  He was a quiet man and had tried hard to find happiness.  I told her that no one knows the state of someone’s mind when they decide that is the only way they can have peace. 

We went to Highland Hospital after dinner to see Susan (a sister we home teach).  She has been to the hospital many times in the 15 months we have been here.  She now has staff infection on her bones of her leg and they are seriously talking about amputation above the knee.  I think that she is about 37 or so and I really hate to see that happen, but she is resigned to the fact that she won’t recover without have it removed.  She blames her problems on the fact that she wasn’t able to get help in a timely manner because she was on Medicaid/Medicare and they wouldn’t admit her after her accident and treat her for over 6 months.  I think that she has a valid complaint.  We had the Assistants to the President meet us and Elder Merrill gave her a blessing with their help.  

We saw this group (above) out jousting with nerf swords and having mid evil  games.  The Assistants said they were doing a LARP or larping (who knows??)  We stopped and watched, it was funny!