Every Monday that President and Sister Bulloch are in town, we have a staff meeting attended by the Bullochs, the Karlinseys and the Elders serving as Assistants to the President. We have a thought and a prayer then talk about the upcoming week. This week is transfer week. Four new missionaries will be arriving Tuesday afternoon and the president and his wife will pick them up at the Syracuse airport and bring them back to Utica. On Wednesday, all the missionaries who are being transferred will travel to their new areas. We have a sister missionary from the Temple Square mission in Salt Lake who has been here for three months helping out the proselyting missionaries and will fly back to Salt Lake on Wednesday. Two missionaries who have completed their missions will be flying home on Thursday. During this meeting while we were discussing all these matters, somehow the subject of transfer transportation came up and President Bulloch shared a story with us from the mission he served in the Montana Billings Mission when he was a young man.
He was flying all alone (they did that in those days) from Missoula, Montana to Casper, Wyoming. The flight attendant on this flight was a beautiful young woman whom everyone was openly admiring. He was tempted to take off his missionary badge for just this flight and flirt with her like all the other men were doing, but his conscience got the upper hand and he left his badge in place. After she had finished her serving duties, she came and sat down by him! Everyone looked at him, thinking, "Wow, what did he do to get her attention?" He thought the same thing as well.
"You're a Mormon, aren't you," she said to him. He said he was and she said she was too. She told him she had sat down by him because she knew he wouldn't try to flirt with her; that she was very tired of the attention she got from the majority of men. Then they talked about her husband who was a fighter pilot in Viet Nam, how lonely and worried she was, and how glad she would be when he got home safely. Elder Bulloch was very grateful he had followed the promptings to be true to his commitment as a missionary.
A few months later, Elder Bulloch was transferred to South Dakota to the same town where this beautiful young woman and her husband lived. Elder Bulloch then had the opportunity to teach the gospel to the husband and be instrumental in his conversion and baptism. Every time he thinks about this incident, he thanks the Lord again for strengthening him in his commitments.
I love being on this mission. It seems like every week we hear or participate in a faith promoting incident and are strengthened, too, in our commitments to the Lord. We love you and hope you don't get tired of our preaching!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
High Priests Fireside
We were invited to attend a fireside tonight by the Utica Ward High Priests Group. President and Sister Bulloch picked us up and took us to Dallas and Sandy Jones house for the fireside. There were about six couples and four widows there. Brother Jones led the discussion on prayer and it was a great evening. At one point Sister Brady told about her baptism. Sister Jones is in her late 80s and a convert to the Church. She used to tell people that she belonged to the Church of the Spoken Word. She listened to the Tabernacle Choir every Sunday for 50 years and she loved Richard L. Evans. She decided after several years that she wanted to join that church. So she finally walked into the Utica Ward and told the Bishop that she wanted to join the Church. He asked her if she had received the missionary discussions and she answered, "What's that?" So in due course, she was taught and baptized. She said that for weeks before she was baptized, she prayed that Jesus would be at her baptism, that Brigham Young, David O. McKay and Richard L. Evans would be there. After the baptism was over and she was going home, she said, "Hmmm, they didn't come," and was very disappointed.
Sunday came and she went to Sacrament Meeting and took the sacrament for the first time. As she drank the water she heard a voice saying, "I am Jesus Christ, I am here."
Then she heard a loud, booming voice saying, "I am Brigham Young, I am here."
Then she heard a soft, quiet voice saying, "I am David O. McKay, I am here."
Then she heard heard a very familiar voice say, "I am Richard Evans and I don't have a spoken word!"
Several years later she met Sister Evans and told her this story. It was the first time she had shared this with anyone. When she got to the part about Brother Evans, Sister Evans said, "That sounds just like Richard!"
Sunday came and she went to Sacrament Meeting and took the sacrament for the first time. As she drank the water she heard a voice saying, "I am Jesus Christ, I am here."
Then she heard a loud, booming voice saying, "I am Brigham Young, I am here."
Then she heard a soft, quiet voice saying, "I am David O. McKay, I am here."
Then she heard heard a very familiar voice say, "I am Richard Evans and I don't have a spoken word!"
Several years later she met Sister Evans and told her this story. It was the first time she had shared this with anyone. When she got to the part about Brother Evans, Sister Evans said, "That sounds just like Richard!"
Palmyra
The Oneida Branch had a temple excursion to the Palmyra temple two weeks ago. We got permission from President Bulloch and went with them. It is a two hour trip from our apartment. When we arrived, the temple president was addressing our youth in the baptism area on the blessings of temple work. He told a wonderful story about a friend of his whose father had never joined the church. He was a hard headed, stubborn German man who had avoided any discussion about the Church while he was alive. After he had been dead for a number of years, she decided to have his temple work done. Her Bishop and home teacher were in the baptismal font while she was watching on the side. As these priesthood holders prepared to do the baptism, this woman saw her father standing on the other side of the font. He was rocking back and forth, standing on his tip toes as though he was preparing to run. After the baptism was completed, he looked across the font at his daughter and smiled. She had been very anxious about having his work done because he had been so stubborn when he was alive, so she was elated that she was able to have this confirmation that he would accept the work. Bill and I helped with the baptisms, me handing out towels and him performing priesthood duties and we had a wonderful time. We then went through an endowment session.
After we left the temple, we drove over to the Visitors Center near the Sacred Grove. We went on a tour of the Smith family's log house, the frame house that Hyrum built for his parents, the coopers shop where Joseph had hidden the plates on a few occasions, and the barn. There was a hollow Beech log in the barn that the family had used for a beehive which was quite impressive. All in all, it was a very interesting tour. It ended at the entrance to the Sacred Grove. We walked through the grove again, resting occasionally and enjoying the quiet and the spirit that existed there.
While we were there, we met EmRee Moncur Pugmire's husband. He was traveling on business and decided to take a few hours and see the grove since he was so close. We had a nice visit about folks and relatives that we had in common.
We took pictures, but apparently something is wrong with our camera, because they didn't save to the disc. Darn!
After we left the temple, we drove over to the Visitors Center near the Sacred Grove. We went on a tour of the Smith family's log house, the frame house that Hyrum built for his parents, the coopers shop where Joseph had hidden the plates on a few occasions, and the barn. There was a hollow Beech log in the barn that the family had used for a beehive which was quite impressive. All in all, it was a very interesting tour. It ended at the entrance to the Sacred Grove. We walked through the grove again, resting occasionally and enjoying the quiet and the spirit that existed there.
While we were there, we met EmRee Moncur Pugmire's husband. He was traveling on business and decided to take a few hours and see the grove since he was so close. We had a nice visit about folks and relatives that we had in common.
We took pictures, but apparently something is wrong with our camera, because they didn't save to the disc. Darn!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sad Week
Last week was a very sad week for our mission. On Tuesday, August 30, Sisters Valerie Bentley and Natalie Love were in a car accident and Sister Bentley was killed. Sister Love was driving on a highway with a 55 mph speed limit. She turned left to pull into a driveway and didn't see the white SUV coming toward them. The driver of the SUV didn't even have time to step on her brakes, she was so close, and crashed into the missionaries car still going full speed. Sister Love suffered some broken ribs, a punctured lung and some cracked vertebrae which did not threaten injury to her spine. We don't know what injuries the other driver received, just that they were not life threatening. Sister Love has been released from her mission while she recuperates at home from her injuries. It is anticipated that she will be gone a month to 6 weeks.
In the office we were informed of the accident not long after it happened, but we didn't know Sister Bentley had passed away until the next morning. All the missionaries were informed by the President's assistants, but weren't given any details. On Thursday, Amy sent me a link to a Deseret News article about the accident with most of the details, as well as some heart breaking interviews with Sister Bentley's family and friends. It read in part, "Vanessa Bentley is the fifth of Steve and Debbie Bentley's seven children and the third to serve an LDS mission (her two brothers both served missions in Ecuador).
"She sort of stuck out in our family," said her faither, Steve. "She was blonde; the rest of us have dark hair."
Her father said she had "an infectious laugh and a beautiful smile, and a real way with people."
That ability was noted by a non-LDS woman in Ithaca, N.Y., who met Vanessa when she and her missionary companion served in the soup kitchen there. She wrote to Vanessa's parents to tell them how impressed she was with the kindness and compassion so clearly manifest through her service. "She said even the priest who was over the soup kitchen was impressed with Vanessa," her mother, Debbie, said.
A former high school basketball player ("she was tall and lanky," her father said), Vanessa worked for the BYU audio-visual department while she attended college. "One time I was watching a basketball game on BYU-TV and I saw one of the players run over Vanessa and her camera," Steve said. "I immediately texted her to see if she was OK. Within a few minutes they were talking to her live on the TV. She said, 'I just got a text from my Dad asking if I'm OK. So yes, Dad, I'm fine!' "Rowberry says she remembers watching Vanessa wrestle with the decision of whether or not to go on a mission. "She had been talking about it for a long time, but when the time came to make the decision she considered it very carefully for a long time," she said. "But when she got the call, she couldn't wait to get out there. She loved the Lord, and she was excited to serve him."
And she was doing it well, Steve Bentley said. "Her mission president told us that she was a great missionary — humble, obedient and hard-working," he said. "She did everything she was asked to do, willingly. We just have to assume that Heavenly Father was in charge of this last transfer."
Neither Bill nor I had met this fine girl, but her passing affected all of us like she was family. She was part of our mission family. We were very busy taking care of details, phone calls, etc. Sister Love's parents came to take her home. She was unable to fly because of the punctured lung, so they took the train home. While they were here, Bill drove the three of them up to Ogdensburg where the sisters were serving and helped them pack up all the personal effects in the apartment. I was going to go with them, but during the night we both got the impression that I shouldn't go. We prayed about it the next morning, our impression was confirmed, so with the promise that we will drive up there in a few weeks (after the leaves start turning autumn colors), they went without me. It was a good thing I didn't go because every inch of the inside of the van that wasn't occupied with people was packed tight with their belongings.
In the office we were informed of the accident not long after it happened, but we didn't know Sister Bentley had passed away until the next morning. All the missionaries were informed by the President's assistants, but weren't given any details. On Thursday, Amy sent me a link to a Deseret News article about the accident with most of the details, as well as some heart breaking interviews with Sister Bentley's family and friends. It read in part, "Vanessa Bentley is the fifth of Steve and Debbie Bentley's seven children and the third to serve an LDS mission (her two brothers both served missions in Ecuador).
"She sort of stuck out in our family," said her faither, Steve. "She was blonde; the rest of us have dark hair."
Her father said she had "an infectious laugh and a beautiful smile, and a real way with people."
That ability was noted by a non-LDS woman in Ithaca, N.Y., who met Vanessa when she and her missionary companion served in the soup kitchen there. She wrote to Vanessa's parents to tell them how impressed she was with the kindness and compassion so clearly manifest through her service. "She said even the priest who was over the soup kitchen was impressed with Vanessa," her mother, Debbie, said.
A former high school basketball player ("she was tall and lanky," her father said), Vanessa worked for the BYU audio-visual department while she attended college. "One time I was watching a basketball game on BYU-TV and I saw one of the players run over Vanessa and her camera," Steve said. "I immediately texted her to see if she was OK. Within a few minutes they were talking to her live on the TV. She said, 'I just got a text from my Dad asking if I'm OK. So yes, Dad, I'm fine!' "Rowberry says she remembers watching Vanessa wrestle with the decision of whether or not to go on a mission. "She had been talking about it for a long time, but when the time came to make the decision she considered it very carefully for a long time," she said. "But when she got the call, she couldn't wait to get out there. She loved the Lord, and she was excited to serve him."
And she was doing it well, Steve Bentley said. "Her mission president told us that she was a great missionary — humble, obedient and hard-working," he said. "She did everything she was asked to do, willingly. We just have to assume that Heavenly Father was in charge of this last transfer."
Neither Bill nor I had met this fine girl, but her passing affected all of us like she was family. She was part of our mission family. We were very busy taking care of details, phone calls, etc. Sister Love's parents came to take her home. She was unable to fly because of the punctured lung, so they took the train home. While they were here, Bill drove the three of them up to Ogdensburg where the sisters were serving and helped them pack up all the personal effects in the apartment. I was going to go with them, but during the night we both got the impression that I shouldn't go. We prayed about it the next morning, our impression was confirmed, so with the promise that we will drive up there in a few weeks (after the leaves start turning autumn colors), they went without me. It was a good thing I didn't go because every inch of the inside of the van that wasn't occupied with people was packed tight with their belongings.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
First "Real" Week
Our first week in the office went very well. For me it has been a week of learning how to do the things I did in Japan the New York Utica way. Even though the software has been drastically upgraded, the basics aren't that different. Now it's just a matter of remembering where everything is and getting the computer letters, etc. up to a better way. Sister Riedelbach is a wonderful person, but she freely admits the computer is not one of her strong points.
Bill, on the other hand, is almost starting from scratch. The finance part of his job is totally different than what he did in Japan (he knew this was going to be so) and he never took care of the cars or apartments, either. Not that he doesn't know cars, but this job has nothing to do with mechanics. He will be selling cars, buying cars, dealing with all the details of getting damage and wear fixed (what? missionaries damage cars? No!), inspecting cars, and compiling reports from information the missionaries submit to him on their mileage and fuel usage. No small job, he is discovering. Thank goodness we don't have to change apartments very often, because he is going to be a very busy man.
Saturday we got some wonderful spiritual nourishment. We went to the Zone Leaders Conference and got to listen to Elder David Cook of the Area Seventy preach for two hours without a break and it was wonderful! He based his talk on D & C 4:2 "...O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength..." He talked about the heart, defining it as worthiness. He said there are two levels of worthiness: the minimum and the higher level. The minimum is the rules outlined in the missionary handbook. Then to illustrate the higher, he told about his experience in the Language Training Center (pre-dated the MTC). He was learning Spanish to use in the New York mission and they spend 12 hours a day memorizing discussions. By the time he was half way through, he wasn't making much progress, so he started getting up at 6:00 instead of 6:30 a.m. to study. After a few weeks, he still wasn't making progress, so he started getting up at 5:30. At the end of his training, all the missionaries were tested to see how well they had done with their memorizing. A few got 100%, some got 90%, and so on. He brought up the rear with 4%. Memorizing wasn't his strong point. It took him another 9 months to get the discussions memorized, but when he finally did it, he got the trophy (a toothpick missionary stuck in the top of an oatmeal box) for the best in the mission. And how does that equate to a higher level of worthiness? He put his heart into doing what was hard for him and learned what needed to be learned. He also said he was a pretty poor student in high school--he went skiing 60 times his senior year. "Do the math, elders! There aren't 60 weekends in a year, much less a winter." But after his mission, he became a straight A student.
The next principle was "might" which he defined as work. He talked about the importance of hard work in missionary work and began quoting President Ezra Taft Benson. President Bulloch interrupted him and said, "They know this, Elder Cook. Would you like them to recite it?" And all the missionaries got to their feet and began quoting, "I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. there will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work," and here the missionaries put their heads down and pumped their fists and said "Work, work, work!" as loud as they could without shouting. It was fun and impressive and moving.
Mind was defined as skills. We use all the skills we have been blessed with and have developed to further the work. Instead of taking the path of least resistance (giving service to members) we take the harder path and spend more time finding people to teach.
Strength was equated with urgency. "Don't waste your time", he said. "Faith requires sacrifice." As you can see, we really enjoyed Elder Cook. We had lunch with the missionaries and had a good time getting to know some of them. I'm sure we will share more about them in future blogs.
As some of you may be aware, Hurricane Irene showed her face in New York today. She didn't do any damage in Utica that we know of, but it started to rain in the middle of the night and continued throughout the day. I think it stopped about 8:00 p.m., but I'm not sure; it gets quite dark by then. The Weather Channel called it a light rain, but it seemed pretty heavy to us. We had to use our windshield wipers on high as we drove to church today. We also got some pretty heavy winds, but it quieted by the middle of the afternoon. We were going to take a picture of us in front of our apartment today to include with the blog, but it really wasn't a good idea today.
We talked in church today. Bill told some really great stories about missionary work and I gave the same talk I gave in Lovell before we left, since it was on missionary work. We were told we would probably be speaking quite often since our branch is so small. I guess we'll be using the skills we developed in Hong Kong when we had to speak on average twice a month.
Bill, on the other hand, is almost starting from scratch. The finance part of his job is totally different than what he did in Japan (he knew this was going to be so) and he never took care of the cars or apartments, either. Not that he doesn't know cars, but this job has nothing to do with mechanics. He will be selling cars, buying cars, dealing with all the details of getting damage and wear fixed (what? missionaries damage cars? No!), inspecting cars, and compiling reports from information the missionaries submit to him on their mileage and fuel usage. No small job, he is discovering. Thank goodness we don't have to change apartments very often, because he is going to be a very busy man.
Saturday we got some wonderful spiritual nourishment. We went to the Zone Leaders Conference and got to listen to Elder David Cook of the Area Seventy preach for two hours without a break and it was wonderful! He based his talk on D & C 4:2 "...O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength..." He talked about the heart, defining it as worthiness. He said there are two levels of worthiness: the minimum and the higher level. The minimum is the rules outlined in the missionary handbook. Then to illustrate the higher, he told about his experience in the Language Training Center (pre-dated the MTC). He was learning Spanish to use in the New York mission and they spend 12 hours a day memorizing discussions. By the time he was half way through, he wasn't making much progress, so he started getting up at 6:00 instead of 6:30 a.m. to study. After a few weeks, he still wasn't making progress, so he started getting up at 5:30. At the end of his training, all the missionaries were tested to see how well they had done with their memorizing. A few got 100%, some got 90%, and so on. He brought up the rear with 4%. Memorizing wasn't his strong point. It took him another 9 months to get the discussions memorized, but when he finally did it, he got the trophy (a toothpick missionary stuck in the top of an oatmeal box) for the best in the mission. And how does that equate to a higher level of worthiness? He put his heart into doing what was hard for him and learned what needed to be learned. He also said he was a pretty poor student in high school--he went skiing 60 times his senior year. "Do the math, elders! There aren't 60 weekends in a year, much less a winter." But after his mission, he became a straight A student.
The next principle was "might" which he defined as work. He talked about the importance of hard work in missionary work and began quoting President Ezra Taft Benson. President Bulloch interrupted him and said, "They know this, Elder Cook. Would you like them to recite it?" And all the missionaries got to their feet and began quoting, "I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. there will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work," and here the missionaries put their heads down and pumped their fists and said "Work, work, work!" as loud as they could without shouting. It was fun and impressive and moving.
Mind was defined as skills. We use all the skills we have been blessed with and have developed to further the work. Instead of taking the path of least resistance (giving service to members) we take the harder path and spend more time finding people to teach.
Strength was equated with urgency. "Don't waste your time", he said. "Faith requires sacrifice." As you can see, we really enjoyed Elder Cook. We had lunch with the missionaries and had a good time getting to know some of them. I'm sure we will share more about them in future blogs.
As some of you may be aware, Hurricane Irene showed her face in New York today. She didn't do any damage in Utica that we know of, but it started to rain in the middle of the night and continued throughout the day. I think it stopped about 8:00 p.m., but I'm not sure; it gets quite dark by then. The Weather Channel called it a light rain, but it seemed pretty heavy to us. We had to use our windshield wipers on high as we drove to church today. We also got some pretty heavy winds, but it quieted by the middle of the afternoon. We were going to take a picture of us in front of our apartment today to include with the blog, but it really wasn't a good idea today.
We talked in church today. Bill told some really great stories about missionary work and I gave the same talk I gave in Lovell before we left, since it was on missionary work. We were told we would probably be speaking quite often since our branch is so small. I guess we'll be using the skills we developed in Hong Kong when we had to speak on average twice a month.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Aaaaah! New York!
We arrived in Utica at about 5:00 p.m. eastern time, tired and happy to get out of the car. Provo to New York is a long way.
We left Provo by way of Vernal and were pleasantly surprised by the pretty town that is Vernal. They have gorgeous flower baskets and planters all along their main street, as well as beautiful parks and clean streets. We attended the Vernal temple which is their old tabernacle that was remodeled into a temple several years ago. The ordinance workers were very helpful when they found out that this was our first visit to their temple. One of them told us that the inside of the tabernacle was complete gutted then re-structured into a temple and that when it was finished, it had cost twice as much as if they had torn the old building down and started from scratch. Church officials then said, “Well, that’s the last time we’ll do that!”
We drove on to Laramie on Saturday and spend Sunday with Val and Andy and their girls. The next morning we headed east. We drove all the way through Nebraska to Lincoln, admiring corn fields and lots of green hills on our way through. Neither Nebraska nor Iowa is really as flat as they claim, they just don’t have any mountains. Wednesday we skirted south of Chicago on I-80 (thank goodness we didn’t have to go into the city) and across Ohio. We missed Kirtland because we didn’t realize it was so close to the Interstate—none of the maps showed it. We got as far as Erie that night, but never saw the canal!
Our first view of the falls
We are at the top of the tower that holds the elevator that takes you down to the "Maid of the Mist."
We're on the boat getting close to the American Falls.
Closer...
This is the staircase to the "Cave of the Winds" as viewed from the boat. You can see from the spray how close it is to the falls.
Way close!
Don't think we can get any closer than this.
We drove on to Rochester and met our cousin, Dick Johnson, for supper and got to visit with him that evening. We had a lovely visit and the next morning got to meet his son, Rick, and granddaughter.
Palmyra was next on our itinerary. We took so long saying goodbye to Dick that we missed the 11:00 a.m. session at the temple, so we participated in a sealing session and admired all the beautiful leaded glass windows throughout the building. We drove to the Sacred Grove and had a nice walk and sat on a lovely bench to enjoy the beautiful day and feel the Spirit there. Then we drove back into Palmyra and had lunch at the Akropolis Diner!
The Reidelbachs and President Bulloch and his wife were waiting for us at the mission office when we arrived. They were all very happy to see us and after a few minutes, took us to our Apartment on Sadaquada Circle. It is quite nice—two bedrooms, one bath, nice size living room/dining room and kitchen. The laundry is in the basement and we have no garage or really, any place to park. The roads around the complex are quite narrow and are considered fire lanes. So we have decided to park in front and put our names on the waiting list for a garage.
Saturday we rested, unpacked, rested, shopped for food, rested, shopped for stuff we forgot on the first shopping trip, rested, did laundry, and rested. Sunday Sister Reidelbach picked us up and took us to church in Oneida, a small town 20 miles from our house. It is a small branch and I think there were about 25 people there today. There was one deacon to pass the sacrament, assisted by one of the young missionary elders; and one child in Primary. There is no one that plays the organ or piano, so they used the CDs of the hymns provided by the church. Apparently the organ has some hymns programmed in, but there was no one there today who knew how to run it.
All in all, it has been an interesting, exhausting week and we are happy to be here.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Aaaaand, we're off!
Well, we finished up at the MTC last night. Even though it was only 4 days of class, it was a very long week! We were in class from 8:00 to 4:30 or 5:00 every day, and for those of us who haven't had to sit that long for a while, it was tough! We both learned quite a lot. The mission software the church has developed is lots better than it was 5 years ago when we were getting ready to go to Japan. I'm looking forward to using it.
So this morning we loaded up and are headed to New York! We decided to buy a new car before we left and you see us here with our brand new Camry, and yes, it really is that red! We love it.
We traveled to Vernal and did a session in their beautiful temple. It was a great experience. The people were so helpful when they found out this was the first time we had been there. This is the only temple in the church that is a renovated tabernacle. It is really gorgeous. We traveled up through Flaming Gorge after leaving Vernal and were really impressed with the geology. Really amazing with lots of red cliffs and a beautiful lake. We will travel to Laramie tomorrow (I know, short trip) and will spend Sunday with my brother Val, his wife Andy and girls, Miranda and Keisha. Then Monday morning we will head for New York in earnest.
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