Wednesday, May 4, 2016

May 4, 2016

We had a great week.  We went out with our home teaching family, the Long’s, on Tuesday night and ate in Greece at their favorite restaurant.  We had a good time. 
We drove over to Buffalo after work on Wednesday and picked up Ray and Myrlann Clement.  We had a great week with them.  We went to the Sacred Grove, the Hill Cumorah, Brigham Young’s baptism site, the Tomlinson Inn and cemetery, the Grandin Press, the Temple,  the Whitmer farm, Seneca Lake Camp, Sauders, the Windmill at Penn Yan,  the beach at Lake Ontario, Niagara Falls, Lamb Dairy, Batavia church, and many other little side trips during the day.   The trees are just beginning to put on leaves, so we kept trying to explain how beautiful it is here with all the foliage and verdant green.  We enjoyed every minute of their visit and were really sad to see them leave yesterday. (May 3rd; they stayed in Buffalo to catch the plane on Wednesday morning) 
Sister Merrill, Myrlann & Ray Clement at the Sacred Grove
The Sacred Grove with the Temple Spire showing through the tops of the trees
The Sacred Grove
The Merrill's and Clement's in front of the Mission Office
Ray & Mrylann Clement, President & Sister Francis, Sister & Elder Merrill
Myrlann and Ray at the Hill Cumorah
Eating at Nima's in Palmyra
We had some interesting calls from missionaries while they were here and we had a few laughs.  One set of sisters called and said that their car tire was hissing, then said, “never mind, it quit.”  Elder Merrill called them the next morning, expecting to hear that they had a flat tire, but they said it was fine.  By evening they had a flat tire and so Elder Merrill asked the nearby elders to go by and change it for them.  (however, I think the girls probably could have changed it themselves—but the young elders did have trouble getting it pried off the wheel—RUST)
We are getting ready for MLC*, transfers, and Zone conferences in the next 2 weeks.  It should be really busy!  Elder Merrill and I both have training segments at the Zone conferences.  There will be 6 days of conference and so we will be ready for the end (May 26)  We will be driving all over the mission for the conferences. 
It appears that our replacements will arrive on July 15th.  I am a little concerned about training them because the 15th is a Friday and we will be leaving on the evening of the 18th.  I guess I will try to have a very descriptive manual made for whoever takes my places.  We are going to fly to New York City and meet Chris, Cindy, Tessa, and Summer.  We will stay there until the morning of the 22nd and fly back to Rochester and begin the long drive home.  We will put our belongings in a trailer so we will have room in the car for 6.  It sounds like an adventure.  This trip will be Summer’s graduation gift and I think we will have a very good time.  Chris wants to take Tessa to Lion King in NYC and see the other sites.  (a few of them)  We are hoping to be able to stop in Kirtland and Nauvoo for a few hours and see a few things on the way home.
On the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls 
We saw this tom turkey with about 6 hens on the way to Lake Ontario
The Clement's and Merrill's at the Whitmer Farm in Fayette, New York
Blessing:  Having friends and family members that we love so much and feel of their love.  What would we do without the support of others that care so much!  We are blessed! 
Happy birthday Britton!  We love you!

*MLC-mission leadership council              

2 comments:

  1. looks like a good visit. So glad that Ray was able to get feeling better so they could make the trip. I hope you are not sick of taking people around because you still have a few more to go!~ I am so excited and we are counting down the days. We miss you guys so much and love you even more. Thanks for being such amazing parents and doing so much for us. Happy Mothers day this week. You are a perfect mom and the one that I look up to and try to be like in all that I do. I am so lucky to have the best mom in the world as my mom. I love you so much and owe you so much! Thanks for all that you do and your example to me and my children. Your the best. Love you both

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  2. Greetings Elder and Sister Merrill,

    We are Dewey and Susan Jones from the Marquette, Michigan Ward. We recently received our mission call to be office specialists in the New York Rochester Mission. We enter the MTC on July 4th.
    My daughter came across your blogsite and we have been reading it with great interest.
    Our travel schedule is not complete, but we contacted the Travel Office and proposed that we drive to Rochester and then fly round trip to Utah. That would save about 5 days on the road and get us to the mission field 3 days sooner.

    My email is dewey.jones@myldsmail.net if you would like to share anything with us.

    We are very busy as we sold our house and are moving into a downsized house to return to after the mission.

    We look forward to meeting you.

    Elder Dewey and Sister Susan Jones

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