Goodbye, Elder Miller

February 2, we said goodbye to Elder Jordan Miller.  That's him to the right of Elder Karlinsey.  Elder Miller was a new Assistant to the President when we arrived in August.  He was companion to Elder Kunzler, then Elder Farrens, and Elder Christensen seen above.  We have really enjoyed working with Elder Miller.  He never left the office without first asking if there was anything he could do to help us.  If we needed help, he and his companion were always willing and always took the time to do whatever needed to be done.

He was a great missionary, too.  Not long before he left, we were in President Bulloch's office and the President asked if he knew where to find a particular quote in Preach My Gospel.  Elder Miller jumped up, flipped a few pages in the book (the book was upside down) and pointed to the quote.  We were impressed, and so was President Bulloch, who complimented him on his knowledge and familiarity of the book.

We invited Elder Miller and Elder Christensen to have lunch with us a week before he left.  I left the office early and it was a good thing I did--I had started the rice and the dishwasher before I left for work and I guess the load was too much for the system, because it tripped the breaker on the GFI plug-in that the rice cooker was plugged into.  The dishwasher finished, but the rice was still raw!  So I plugged the rice cooker into the dining room plug-in and got busy defrosting some left-over turkey in the micro and warming up the electric fry pan for the Egg Fu Yung.  Next think I know, the micro, fry pan and rice cooker all quit.  So I moved the rice cooker to the living room, flipped every breaker in the box (none of them looked like they were off) and got back to work.  The rice finally got done after we finished our egg rolls and were ready to start on the Fu Yung.  We had a great time and got back to work only a few minutes late.  Does this sound like a story I might have written in Sendai?  It felt like it!


We will miss Elder Miller, but will continue to enjoy Elder Christensen and his new companion, Elder McCleve.

Oriskany

Oriskany is a small town about 5 miles north of Whitesboro.  They have an interesting museum that we decided to visit a few weeks ago.  Oriskany was the site of a Revolutionary War battle in 1777 between the Indians who supported the British and the revolutionaries.  The revolutionaries won, but their General Herkimer died when the wound he received in his leg became gangrenous.  They amputated his leg, but he died anyway.  There were many items in the museum related to the Revolutionary War--soldiers uniforms, guns, a couple of manikins dressed in Indian costumes of the time.

There was an aircraft carrier named the USS Oriskany which was built after World War II and was used during the Korean and Viet Nam conflicts.  She was de-commissioned in 1976 and then sunk in 2004 to make an artificial reef off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico.  She is the largest vessel ever sunk to make an artificial reef.  Her anchor was donated to the town of Oriskany and is on display on the grounds of the museum.  There is also a fighter plane, an FA Phantom, beside the anchor, which was stationed on the USS Oriskany during her fighting days.  There are lots of memorabilia in the museum from the carrier--uniforms, personal letters, pictures of the sailors and airmen, pictures of all the captains who commanded the ship.

There are several mills located in Oriskany, only one of which is still a working mill.  The mills were located on the Erie Canal which provided the water needed for powering the mills.  The mills produced fabrics; the one still operating produces printers felt (neither of us knows what that is).  There were lots of things used in the mills in the museum from spindles to wheels.

All in all, we had a great time there.  Unfortunately, we discovered that our camera battery was dead when we got there, so we didn't get any pictures.  We drove out to the battle site, but it was closed for the winter.  We'll go back and get pictures when the battle ground is open to visitors.