May 3, 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015

We were woke up about midnight with a text that asked everyone to pray for Brent.  He was bleeding into his stomach and his blood pressure was 37 over ??.  (way too low)  The doctors thought he would need surgery and determined that he would need a CT scan first.  They had discovered a blood clot in his leg earlier in the week.  They had given him a large amount of blood thinner and he was not clotting to stop the bleeding, he had a hematoma that was bleeding.  They were able to get it stopped but still had to give him 5 units of blood.  We were really worried about his condition and didn’t sleep well that night. 

We went over to Pittsford for our weekly meeting early.  The President had asked us to come in early and visit with him.  He asked if we could extend our mission to 18 months because he needed us to come to the office and Dennis would be responsible for all the cars for the missionaries and I would pay the bills (along with other things).  We said that we would do that (as long as we could have time off to enjoy anyone coming to visit us).  He said that it is really important that people do come to see us and what marvelous things there are here in New York, the cradle of the restoration.  We will move into the John Young home in Honeyoye the end of May.  It is an older home with a yard (outside of town).  We will have a garage to keep our car out of the weather and it will take about 12-15 minutes to get to the office.  The home has a second bedroom upstairs that has a queen size bed and 2 singles, along with another bathroom.  Sounds alright, huh?  It also has a washer and dryer, yahoo!  (no dishwasher though)  We will still be assigned to attend church in Batavia and help with the branch.  That is a good thing.  It is about a 45 minute drive so that won’t be too bad.  We are glad to be able to attend with the people we are now friends with.  We noticed that the area near the Young home seem to be more affluent.  There are some beautiful homes and areas there.

We went to the hospital in Rochester to visit one of the sisters from the branch.  She isn’t able to keep anything down.  Her husband said they suspect that her bladder cancer is back and that they can’t get her into the hospital that her doctor works at so they can get it checked out.  That is really frustrating.  After seeing how good the hospital is in Salt Lake City (Intermountain Medical), I don’t think any other hospital measures up.  We are really impressed by the care that Brent has received and the quality of doctors there.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

We got up early and drove to the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette.  

It is about 1.5 hours drive from Batavia.  We have 3 days of specialized training for the missionaries this week at the farm.  It is such a beautiful place and it is where the church was organized.  The training consisted of Dr. Breithwaite talking about taking care of yourself, Elder and Sister Cannon giving training on exercise, the Ostlers (the site directors) giving an extended tour of the Whitmer home, and Sister Ballard giving the missionaries ‘Chopped’ Kitchen fun.  They divided into 4 groups and went to each section.  The 8 groups that made food had such fun.  (However, they aren’t the best cooks around)  The senior couples (including us) had to try each dish and then judge it.  Dennis and I are hoping that the kids can cook better on Wednesday and Thursday.  

There were other things to do during the day and other good talks, etc.  We arrived back in Batavia tired and ready to relax.

Brent has been tired and seems to be discouraged. (who wouldn’t be?)  His kidneys are not working fully today, but the nurses feel that what he went through yesterday would do that to his system.  His little granddaughter was born today.  Victoria Mueller; weighing 8 lb. 6 oz. and 21 inches.  She is Victor and Chelsea’s baby.  She looks beautiful!  She will be such a blessing to them!  He was able to write CEL VI—which they translated and he agreed to the translation as:  Celebrate Victoria!  So everyone brightened his day by calling him Grandpa Dr.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

“My purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.”  (this applies to everyone, missionary or member)  We say this when we meet together and the Elders and Sisters say it with such feeling—It is really beautiful!

We attended the specialized training again and enjoyed it for the second time.  

The large hills in the distance are man made out of garbage

We came back to Batavia and visited with Amanda and Skyler.  It was great to see them again. 

Brent is doing a little better today and they were able to take the ventilator out of his throat.  That should be such a relief to him.  

Chris went to his 6 week checkup from his surgery and the Dr. said that the x-rays on his leg look perfect.  That is the best news ever!  He can now begin to put a little weight on the leg and begin walking again.  This has been a long year for him and we are so happy that his leg has healed.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Today is Cindy’s birthday, happy birthday Cindy!  We are so blessed by our family—they bring joy in to our lives. 

We picked up the Elders in Geneseo and drove to Fayette for the final day of training.  We enjoyed the tour of the log home and hearing the stories they related to us regarding the translation of the plates and the creation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at this location.  

Inside the Whitmer home

If we have to sample beef stroganoff or tuna casserole prepared by young missionaries one more day---Wow!  We may lose our appetites completely.  The chopped competition was good, but eating it 3 days in a row was a stretch.

We went to visit a sister when we arrived back in Batavia.  She is from this area, but has lived in Washington and Oregon for the past few years.  She is anxious to come back to church and we are happy that she will come on Sunday (she said she would).  She is a middle age woman that says her husband traded her in for someone younger than their daughter. (with more body work also)  She didn't seem to be bitter, and I couldn't imagine how she wasn't. 

Friday, May 1, 2015

We got up and went to Pittsford for the MLC meeting.  It was really good and we learned a lot.  It’s funny how you can learn so much and not remember that much at the same time.  It’s the age I guess.  We had a nice lunch at the office and then we stayed until 5:00 to train for our new jobs.  I think they are going to be (at least mine) challenging.  There are lots of things to learn and do.  This should be fun!  There are several couples leaving the mission in the next couple of months and there aren’t any replacements coming.  President Francis asked all of us to think of friends or relatives that might be interested in coming to this mission as missionaries for 6, 12, or 18 months.  He said that he would try to pull some strings when the mission papers are turned in and they could come to the BEST mission in the world.  (I guess that is if the Lord is willing)  We also need Sisters if anyone is interested.  Let me know if you know someone interested.

We brought a couple of the Batavia Elders back with us and then took Sister Guy to the bank.  It’s a good thing it didn't close until 6:00, we just barely made it.  We were supposed to go to LeRoy to visit a family tonight, but they cancelled.  We went with the Elders to another ladies home to talk about Family Search.  She was really nice, but didn’t have much time for us.  We visited a few minutes and left.  The weather is wonderful and everything is so green and beautiful.  It’s funny how things stay so green without sprinklers or irrigation.  They get enough rain to take care of it, I guess. 

Brent is improving a little each day and we received a text that he prayed with Almedis and Brianna tonight.  It is a miracle that he is so alert and able to participate with them!  No one would ever want this type of an experience, but it has sure been faith promoting for our family.  We have relied on the Lord completely for the blessings that have been received.  (yes, there have been wonderful doctors, but they have been guided by the hand of the Lord in this too)

Saturday, May 2, 2015

We went over to the community ‘Vendor Blender’ and looked through the booths there.  We didn’t find anything to purchase and then went to the community farmer’s market.  It was quite nice and there were things to see.  We bought a head of cabbage for 50 cents.  The cabbage here is really quite tough.  It is very stiff and crunchy.  I don’t know why??  We went with the Elders to visit and then did a few visits on our own.  We had the missionaries over for dinner and enjoyed visiting with them.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

We attended church and then took a nap.  We must have been tired because we were in a deep sleep, I looked at the clock and said, ‘It’s 2:58!”  We had an appointment to meet Norm Brockenshire at the church at 3:00.  Boy, did we fly.  He took us on a drive around the area and he has theories about the Nephite civilization being right here in New York, Ohio, and surrounding states.  It was a nice afternoon.  

Dennis inspecting coral many miles from a salt water body of water

This sign says that this was an Iriquoit Fort, but Norm feels that it was a Nephite fort

Standing near a wall of rock where he thinks the 'narrow neck of land' was

A beautiful view of the valley below (picture doesn't do it justice)

We arrived back in town just in time for our Book of Mormon study class.  There are several people that attend the class and there are usually very good questions asked.

 

Blessings:  

·        The Book of Mormon teachings of Jesus Christ and his ministry. We have truly been blessed to have time to study this book more in depth.

·        The beautiful world that the Savior has made for us.  It is soooo pretty here!  Everything is green and they don’t even have to sprinkle or water it.  WOW!

April 26, 2015

I missed writing last week because we were not in New York.  I will try to catch up:

Monday, April 13, 2015

We went to our office meeting in Pittsford and then we had a burger at Tom Wahl’s.  We went to the mission home to get a projector from President Francis and then to Sam’s Club to get a few things.  We arrived home and I called my parents.  They told me that Brent would have surgery on Tuesday to correct A-fib. (heart beating out of rhythm)  I called Becky and Brent was there getting a haircut.  I talked with him and he was completely confident that his colleague in Idaho Falls could fix his problem and he would be up and going in no time.  The procedure was going to be quick and mostly painless.  He would go in with a hole about the size of a silver dollar and would do it with a scope between the ribs.  We ended our talk with him saying that he loved me and I saying it back.  We went out walking.

Picture taken the night before the surgery

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

We picked up the missionaries and went to the Palmyra Temple.  They can go to the Temple once a transfer.  We enjoyed ourselves there and then went to Nima’s and Grandin Printing Store in Palmyra.

We also visited the Sacred Grove.

 I called mom after the Temple and she said that they had found another thing to fix on Brent’s heart (the mitral valve) and they were not done at this point.  (He had begun about 6 a.m.)  We went home and paced the floor.  At 6:00 p.m. I went to the church for an enrichment on gardening.  It was very interesting, but my mind wasn't on it.  I left a little early and walked back to our apartment.  I talked with Becky and she said that they were still in surgery and she was getting nervous.  I was getting extremely nervous and called Chris and Annette and asked them to please go to the hospital for me.  After eternities of time we were told that they had called in the entire heart department from Idaho Falls and they had finished the surgery only to find that his heart wouldn't beat on its own.  He had been in surgery so long and had so many things done to it; it was worn out.  We believe that they were ready to quit trying, but Almedis convinced them to continue.  They continued trying and they found that they could life flight him to Idaho Falls to the Intermountain Medical Center.  We began praying that his heart would again beat on its own.  They gave him 2 units of blood before they left the hospital and 4 more on the flight.  They put him on the jet and 2 cars full of my loved ones drove through the night in the worst blizzard that winter to Salt Lake City. 

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

We had district meeting in Geneseo at 10:00.  We took the Elders with us and they had a good meeting and luncheon. 

Food coma after meeting

My mind wasn't on anything but what was going on in Salt Lake City.  I couldn't sleep or concentrate.  Becky had told me that the hospital was good, but they didn't sugar coat his condition to them.  He was in very critical condition.  They did surgery for another 8 hours and found that his chest cavity was full of blood.  If his heart had begun in Idaho Falls he would have bled to death because he had a hole in his Aorta.  They got the blood out and fixed the Aorta and anything else they could.  Chris called me about 2:00 in the afternoon and suggested that we fly to Salt Lake.  We talked with President Francis and found out that we had to stay together and that he would give us permission.  We got a ticket for Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

We packed a few items and Dennis took Sister Haggerty to the hospital to have a scope of her stomach.  They think she may have a bleeding ulcer along with the gall-bladder problem.  We drove to Buffalo and found that they had delayed our flight until 7:30 p.m.  However, they rescheduled us to a 4:30 flight through Atlanta.  So, we waited for the time to board.  Our plane was late leaving Buffalo and so we didn't have much time between planes in Atlanta.  We got off the plane and ran as fast as old people can run through that concourse and onto the transfer train and through the right concourse—only to find that the plane was still there, but the door was closed and they wouldn't let us on. (I believe that the plane was oversold and they gave up our seats earlier)  So, we went to the Delta counter to see what we could do to get to Salt Lake.  Yes, there were 2 more flights that night to Salt Lake.  No, there were not any seats available.  We would be able to fly out the next morning at 7:30.  We took that ticket and they gave us a room at the Marriott Airport.  It was a nice room, but still couldn't sleep.

Friday, April 17, 2015

We got up early and got to the airport.  On the way we looked at our tickets and they were for 1^st Class seats.  We were shocked!  While waiting for the plane they announced that they would give 9 people $600 each for going on a later flight to Salt Lake.  (what a temptation, right)  NO WAY, we wanted to get to Salt Lake on time.  Chris and Annette picked us up at the airport and it was so good to see them.  They said they had been ready to pick us up the night before and were disappointed that we didn't make it.  We arrived at the hospital and everyone was so good and kind to us.  They were happy to see us as we were them.  The situation was so serious.  We were allowed to see Brent and I don’t think I have ever seen anyone with less life.  His chest didn't rise and fall and there were tubes everywhere.  He was on the heart and lung machine and every other thing you could imagine.  I was so sad.  The doctors had explained that if his heart didn't begin on its own by the next Tuesday or Wednesday they would need to think about an artificial heart and then a transplant. The artificial heart wouldn't be the kind that could leave the hospital and his blood wasn't a rare type so he would be down quite a ways for a donor.  That didn't sound too good to me.

Brad had come and we were able to visit with him and he found out that his Anytime Fitness gym in Hurricane had burned the night before.  He wasn't able to stay long because of the fire.  It was so good to see him and visit with him.

We stayed at the hospital quite a while and then went to the Home 2 (by Hilton) to stay.  Becky gave us an herbal sleeping aid called 5-HTP.  It really did work.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

We arrived at the hospital and found out that they were going to try to bring Brent out of the sedative a little bit to begin to analyze his brain.  He had lost so much blood they were afraid of brain damage and one of his legs had been without blood for many hours also.  They called it a ‘dusty’ leg and were afraid that he may lose it.  Things were very grim and we asked everyone we knew to fast for him the next day.  Just before going back to the hotel Dennis and Doug went back to see Brent and give him a blessing. 

Annette, Jill, Chris, Doug, Dennis, and I went with Brianna to Provo to clean her apartment and move her things.  This took a little time, but we were happy to be of service.  (Brent had told her he would do it for her on this day—just following surgery—crazy man??)

While they were there they felt that he would be alright.  They came out of the ICU with this good news and we were lifted up.  His heart had begun to beat but not with enough strength to push blood through the body.  They turned off the heart machine for a minute and his blood pressure dropped very quickly.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

We visited at the hospital and then Dennis and I went home with Chris, Annette, and Doug to see the kids.  It was so much fun to see them.  Greg’s kids were sick and we weren't able to see them, but we saw Annette’s and Chris’s.  We had a great evening with them visiting, eating, and playing games.  Grandma Merrill came over and it was great to see her also.  She had made so many nice things to eat.  We stayed overnight in the camper and it was nice.

Everyone else visited Temple Square on Sunday afternoon.

Monday, April 20, 2015

We enjoyed our morning at our house.  We met Chris, Cindy, Halle, Tessa, Annette, Joslyn, Chuck, and Janet at the little Mexican restaurant in Rigby and had lunch.  It was nice to see everyone.  We got ready and got Grandpa Mueller’s car to take back to Salt Lake (he wanted to have his own car).  We drove to Preston to see Jill’s family.  We went to a soccer game that Lexie played in, had dinner, visited, played a game and stayed overnight there.  It was nice to see everyone.  They are growing so quickly.

Grandpa and Max

We received word that Brent’s heart had begun to beat a little stronger, he had been able to stay off the heart machine for a few more minutes.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

We arrived back at the hospital and Brent had been back to surgery to take him off the machine.  The doctor felt confident that he could do it on his own.  He Did!  He was concerned that the mitral valve that had been repaired had been narrowed too much and that blood wouldn't be able to pass as quickly or as much as needed.  He is in too weak of a condition to undergo another surgery at this time, but they may consider it after about 3 months.  One of his lungs had collapsed when he had 4 liters of blood in his chest cavity .  He wasn't able to get off the lung machine, and he has gotten pneumonia.  So, it seems like 1 step forward and 2 steps back.  It will be a long process for him.  They did have him off so much of the sedatives, but he gets too excited when people talk to him and had to be tied down.  They sedated him a little more.  He needs all the rest he can get.  This day has been a marvelous blessing! 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Brent is improving a little bit each day.  We were in the waiting room and mom and dad came out and said that they couldn't believe their eyes, he was sitting on the side of the bed when they went into his room.  (he had lots of help to do that)  They were so excited to see that much progress.  He was able to sit in the Cardio chair for about 30 minutes, and then he was totally worn out.  It is amazing how quickly our muscles leave us when we can’t move.

We were able to visit him and he has a respirator down his throat along with many other tubes, etc.  He made his wishes known that he wanted Dennis to give him a blessing.  He pointed to Dennis and then we played charades—do you want--- do you ---, do you want a blessing?  He nodded his head yes.  His nurse was a Priesthood holder and then gave him a nice blessing.  It was good to see my family and spend time with them.  We had many good talks and visits about faith.  There are other people that aren't so fortunate here at the hospital and have lost their loved ones.  We have been blessed by Heavenly Father.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

We found out that Brent’s brain is working just fine.  He is still the person he was.  He was trying to get someone to understand what he wanted.  He had an alphabet card and it looked like he wanted a GI doctor.  (Gastro Intestinal) His wife was trying to get the nurse to try to get someone in there for him.  She said, ‘just because he’s a doctor, doesn't mean that he knows everything he needs.’ (something like that)  Well, he was able to give her the bird.  He’s back!  He was able to sit in the Cardio chair for 50 minutes.  I imagine they will challenge him every day with more and they have begun physical therapy.  We are so happy!  Before we left for the airport we visited with him and he pointed to Nancy, Becky, Dennis and I and mouthed the words ‘I love you’.  That meant so much to me!
Our friends, the Rays, came to visit us and took us to lunch.  It was so good to see them and hear about their readjustment into real life following their mission.  They told us of a family they knew that the teen age son had a brain aneurysm and the doctor told them (and he wasn't a religious man) that when he opened up his head there was a dotted line where he should cut to remove the clot.  The boy was able to live without any problems from the aneurysm.  Heavenly Father loves all of His children.

We flew to New York on the midnight flight.  We had a great flight to JFK and then into Buffalo.

Friday, April 24, 2015

We arrived in Buffalo at 9:30 a.m.  There had been a little snow storm, but it was melting and it was good to see our apartment again.  We got a few groceries and make dinner for the missionaries.  They were happy to have us back. 

Saturday, April 25, 2015

We drove over to the Seneca Lake Camp.  It is owned by the church for families and girls and boys camp.  It is beautiful.  Our stake was supposed to plant 2,000 trees.  We got lost with our SIRI (because we didn't have the right address) and didn't make it to do our share.  It was a pretty drive.  There were 200 people that showed up to help and they got it done quickly.  We had dinner at the Haggerty’s and then went over to the church to clean the windows.

Senaca Lake Camp

Large house at the camp

Sunday, April 26, 2015

We enjoyed the conference this morning from Salt Lake.  Elder Anderson, Elder Hales, and 2 others spoke.  There was a pretty good crowd at church.  We will have our Book of Mormon study class tonight.  Things are going well.  We know of the love of our Heavenly Father for all of His Children.  He hears and answers prayers.  The faith of friends and loved ones sustains us; they are so appreciated!  The gospel is true!

Funnies:  We went back to our hotel in Salt Lake City and there were 6 police cars there with their lights on and dad (Butch) was driving,  He pulled into the parking lot and we had a good spot to watch the action.  The girls were in Becky's car and they pulled out of the parking lot and left.  Barbara called and told us to get out of there.  They may have gun fire, etc.  So dad drove out of the parking lot at  a snails pace, then stopped and look back, drove a little, looked back.  Mom didn't want to miss out on any of the action.  She said it was better than TV.  They taisered a man and then handcuffed him while on the ground.  I guess he and his girlfriend had stole a car and they were caught at our hotel.  PHEW!

Picture from the 4th floor after the action was over

The red car is the one they stole.

Blessings:

• The power of the Priesthood is real.  God's power has been given to men on the earth to do His work! 
• He loves us!  All of us!
• Prayer is the way we can communicate with Heavenly Father.  He wants to bless us and wants us to communicate with Him.

April 12, 2015

Monday: We went into Pittsford for our weekly meeting with the President.  It is 70 miles round trip for the weekly meeting.  We have reports on referrals, missionaries, missionary health, cars, apartments, and the IPads at each meeting.  The meeting was good.  We talked about our favorite conference talks and it was amazing how quickly the spirit came into the meeting.

Highlights from Conference (some of the things I caught)

·        There are so many blessing from paying a fast offering; righteousness and closeness to the Lord, receive inspiration, and resist temptation.  Can change our nature, to serve and help others.

·        The Atonement is individual; accept the Atonement and our pains can be lessened.

·        Fatherhood is the most important call for a man.  We should rejoice in the successes of our companion.  We can strengthen our marriage by praising; praying for each other, stop hurtful things, apologize for hurts and chose to be happy.

·        Look at the ‘big’ picture, don’t use the keyhole view.  Don’t be a ‘gifted pickle sucker’.  Don’t be material and set our hearts upon riches.  Don’t have a fear of the future, have faith.  Align our actions and have hope, not doubt. Each day is our test, choose to believe and follow, don’t give up!

·        Our families can be forever, we continue through eternity.  Strengthen the family, it is God ordained. 

·        Faith in Christ takes away fear; Jesus is the source of enduring peace.  Trust leads to hope.  Look to Christ in everything, build upon the foundation of Christ, and press forward.  Godly fear is a reverence, respect, awe, submitting and being accountable in loving and trusting Him.  Christ compensates for all our losses!

·        We need to keep our lives on the right frequency to hear the music of the gospel and not get out of tune, dance in our homes in love, kindness, meekness, patience, and keep practicing!

·        A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.  No failure ever needs to be final.  We are becoming who we can be, not who we used to be.

·        The Temple is a sacred place of peace and sanctuary; it will help us with temptations and trials.

·        Four cornerstones to religion freedom or liberty:

1.      Freedom to believe

2.      Freedom to share faith with others

3.      Freedom to form a religious organization

4.      Freedom to live our faith; safeguard for ourselves and posterity

·        We must endure to the end.  Rules to enduring:  Don’t forget to pray, come to Christ and be perfected in Him, Press forward  with faith, Read the Book of Mormon, cling to truth and don’t let trials blind us, Don’t be distracted or deceived, Stay by the TREE!

·        Average is the enemy of excellence!

·        We have responsibilities as members of the Church

1.      Learn our duty, accept and live

2.      Make a decision, choose good

3.      Act accordingly

4.      Accept Father’s will

President Francis asked us to go to the District meetings and do presentations on Family Search for the missionaries.  We will be on the road again!  We had lunch at 5 Guys and got some things at Sam’s Club and returned home. 

Tuesday:  Well, you know what they say about death and taxes??  We wanted to ignore our taxes, but decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea.  So, we painfully wrote the checks and put them into the envelopes and then went to the Post Office.  We didn’t think we would owe taxes, but surprise!!  We did.  It is a great blessing to live in the United States of America—so we paid our taxes!  We prepared for our family search training and sent texts to all of the District Leaders, asking them when they hold their meetings and where.  The missionaries have low end phones that won’t let us text in groups, so we had to text each one separately.  I love my phone!

One of our neighbors has a SUV in our parking lot that had the muffler on the ground.  It has been there for 5-6 days without running.  When we came home from the Post Office the man (Bobby) was in the laundry room and Dennis asked about his muffler.  He said he needed to get the money to get another muffler.  Well, Dennis said he would help him wire it up so that he could get it somewhere to either be welded or fixed.  We took Haggerty’s some jello salad and apple juice (for the gall bladder—Chris said that he had really helped him when he had an attack) and when we came home Dennis knocked on Bobby’s door to let him know that he was here to help him.  When he opened his door –phew!! The marijuana was so strong and his elevator didn’t run to the top (he wasn’t at all focused).  They went out and he watched as Dennis wired it up and got it drivable.  However, now we aren’t sure he should be driving.  We are also wondering if we have the munchies so much because we are directly over top of his apartment.  LOL

We took a nice walk and had the best study session.  We were reading some of the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon and I think that I finally got some of them.  It was so tender and touching.  He had such a comprehension of the Mission and life of the Savior.  That is why Nephi loves Isaiah so much.  Out of the 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon 233 mention the Savior.  Wow, that’s why it is called ‘Another Testament of Jesus Christ’. 

Wednesday:  We made chicken noodle soup over mashed potatoes and cookies for our District meeting.  We picked up the 4 elders and went to Geneseo.   (about 26 miles one way--I’m beginning to wonder if we are here to taxi people and feed them—I guess we know what to do if that is our purpose)  It was raining hard and it created a dense fog in some places.  Crazy!  The meeting was good and the dinner went really well.  There are 12 people that go to the meeting each week, and they really chowed today.  I came home with a small bowl of soup.  That was all! (we started with a large amount of soup)  We unloaded the car and went with the country elders to visit a lady named Brenda.  She is very open to the gospel, but I don’t know if she has a desire to do anything about it.  She is raising several grandkids because 2 of her sons are in prison.  She is so good to those kids.  They are lucky to have her.  She is very busy and weighed down with so much responsibility.

Thursday:  We worked most of the morning, getting things ready to do our next training around the mission.  We told one of our home teaching families we would come and help them with their home project.  They are painting, repairing, etc.  So we drove to Albion and Dennis helped put up ceiling tiles and I painted around windows, doors, etc. (trim).  We stayed most of the afternoon and then came home, had supper and studied. 

Dennis on the bank of the Erie Canal right outside the home of the Longs

Friday:  We studied and did a batch of wash.  It takes about 1.5 hours to do our wash, so that gives us time to do other things here; vacuum, dust, clean, scrub, and study.  This small apartment is sure easy to keep up.  The wind is blew harder than it does in Idaho.  Hair is definitely crazy!!  There were trees broken, fences tipped over, and shingles blown off, etc. 

We went to the 2 ladies we home teach and had a great visit with them.  They have gotten very friendly and it is much different than the first visit to them.  The mother told of being married young with a small daughter and her husband divorced her.  She married another man who was abusive and an alcoholic and she divorced him.  It’s a vicious cycle!

We went to an appointment with the Elders to visit a lady with several kids still at home.  The youngest is 10.  She is looking for a different church as she was kicked out the Catholic Church for divorcing her abusive husband.  She said she could still attend, but couldn't take communion.  She said it was a bad life with him and that she was always bruised and kids had broken bones.  However, he has never been punished and is welcome to have communion.  Crazy world!  She can’t understand the concept of a prophet.  She is sure that all prophets are evil and she doesn't know how to figure out if they are good or not.  I told her that by their fruits you can know; President Monson tells us to be kind, loving, treating others better than they treat us, being honest, taking responsibility for ourselves and being nurturing to our children.  I asked her if those things sounded evil and she agreed that they didn’t.  BUT, then asked how we could know if a prophet is evil???

We tried Cindy’s recipe for Korean Beef and had the country Elders over to eat.  They loved it!  It is so easy.

1 lb. ground beef, browned in 1 t. sesame oil with 3 cloves minced garlic- drain grease and add

¼ c. brown sugar

¼ c. soy sauce

½ t. fresh ginger

Crushed red pepper to desired spiciness

Ground pepper

Simmer a few minutes to blend flavors and serve over cooked rice

6 green onions, diced to garnish on top

 We then went to LeRoy with them to visit a recent convert that hasn’t been coming to church.  It’s hard for people to get to church when they live so far away.  The young mother we visited lives in LeRoy (part of our branch) that is about 10 miles away.  She is from Puerto Rico and has 2 beautiful little girls.  She is divorced and is a seamstress.  She doesn't have a car, so she walks where ever she goes.  She has been a member for about a year and has had a hard time coming to church.  She has to depend on other members from LeRoy for a ride.   

Saturday:  We went to the Haggerty’s for a home teaching visit.  She is feeling a little better, but will have a scope next week.  They will look for an ulcer in her stomach.  She thinks they will also do the gall-bladder surgery later in April.  She asked us to take her to her scope.   We went to visit other members of the branch, but didn't find anyone home today.  We went to the address of one of the members and found that the building had been condemned, so we don’t know where he has moved.  There are so many members on the list for this branch on LDS Tools that don’t live here.  They said they can’t take them off unless they have another address for them.  It makes it very difficult to keep track of the members living in the boundary.  We have also found that some of our members are in jail or prison.  We need to go visit them.

The weather is getting better here.   Our apartment faces the elementary school and there is a large playing field attached to it.  There was a baseball game there this morning.  It looked like fun, but it was still cold when they played.  We took a walk later in the day and noticed this outside one of the apartments. 

Cigarette butts outside of the sliding door 

Better out than in—as Shrek would say, right?  However, he wasn't talking about smoking.  Our complex area has 8 apartments in it.  The hallway and open area is so saturated with smoke it is about enough to choke a person.  I think all of the tenants chain smoke.  We spray a lot in our apartment and try to close the doors quickly. 

Sunday:  We went to church and Sister Haggerty got ill and needed a Primary teacher at the last minute.  We taught 1 Sunbeam and he was a smart little kid.  The lesson wasn’t very long and we didn’t have any coloring things so we did little rhymes, etc.  We came home and the other senior couple assigned to Batavia (they live in Palmyra and drive her on Sunday to give support to the Branch) came over and visited.  During their visit Dave Demko stopped by and visited for quite a while.  He is very nice and I think he will come back to church.  He is thinking of going with us next Sunday.  We are teaching a Book of Mormon class at the church this evening, so I am going to have to wrap this up. 

Good luck to Brent on his medical procedure tomorrow!  We are praying that this will help get his heart back into rhythm.  

Sweet Picture:  Amanda took this picture of Skyler.  They were in the car and he fell asleep reading the Book of Mormon.

Funnies:

Can anyone tell me what this things is?  We found it at Walmart--I told Elder Merril that I think it is horseradish--not sure?

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!