The days seem to be flying by. How did we get to the end of May already? We have been on our mission for 2 months now. It's crazy and wonderful all at once. This week has been busy with all kinds of treasures and experiences. As we walked this week I couldn't help but get some photos of windows and doors. These two things are some of my favorite things to pay attention to. I love the architecture of old buildings and their doors and windows show so much of the artistry of the day. And if you look at the door with the wreath on it-that's our door to our cute little home. Unfortunately the command strip didn't like holding the wreath on the glass and it fell off about two days later. So, we are off tomorrow to find a door hanger that will hold it in place.
We finally got our window mount air conditioner put in our dining room window-just in the nick of time I think. It's starting to warm up and we most definitely don't want to roast! I'm just hoping this little thing will do the job.
We had more adventures on the roads of New York. We found a darling church with a graveyard. Something I learned, that I posted about on social media, a "graveyard" is a burial place on the grounds of a church. The people that were buried there were members of that congregation. The wealthy people were usually buried inside the church, in a crypt and the poor people were buried out in the graveyard. A cemetery was usually on the outskirts of town and had no religious affiliation and no church so anyone could be buried there. I had no idea.
I also started noticing the little pink flowers growing along most of the roadsides but as the week went on the pink became more and more spread throughout the fields. There are also the most beautiful white and purple wildflowers growing along the roadsides, the ditches, the rivers, on the edge of the thruway, everywhere really. And we even saw rows and rows of Lupines in the grassy area between the divided lanes on the thruway (freeway). I really can't get enough of them and can't wait to see what surprises Mother Nature holds for us next.
Tuesday evening we got a text inviting us to have lunch with our Mission President and another Senior Missionary couple on Wednesday. We feel so blessed. President Gentry is an amazing man who works nonstop for The Lord. He is on the road constantly taking care of these missionaries. It was a really nice hour spent with him-good food and really good conversation and company. After lunch we had a great District Council with the Elders and Sisters. They were having their interviews with President Gentry and so while they were taking turns with their interviews, the rest of us all role-played. Speaking of role playing, we had the chance to role-play on the spur of the moment for the entire mission (about 175 people) on a zoom call on Friday. Because we were filling in at the last minute we hadn't been told what part we would be playing (investigator, antagonist, less active, etc) and so we just played us. The Elders who were 'teaching' us were great and we had the nicest visit. We had several compliments. We really don't believe in accidents or coincidence so maybe someone on that call needed to hear something we had to say. At least I hope we could be an instrument for good.
We had the chance to lead our Book of Mormon discussion on Thursday evening and it was awesome. I love when a group of people come together and teach one another. We discussed the Doctrine of Christ in 3 Nephi 11. I made peanut butter bars and everyone was pretty happy with those.
Saturday morning found us on the road to the Palmyra Temple. We were so excited to have the chance to go to the temple. It poured rain the whole time we were on the road. We have about an hour and 45 minute drive to get to the temple. We loved our time there. I brought my cameras along and then we wanted to go into the Sacred Grove. We had just a few minutes and the rain was trying to still come down but it wasn't hard this time. We had an umbrella-mainly to protect my cameras. The grove is beautiful, full of green leaves but you need to remember that Joseph's first vision took place in early spring, around the first part of April-there were absolutely no leaves on any trees when we arrived in New York on April 12th. Next year I will grab some photos around the first part of April so you can see what the grove would have looked like when Joseph said his prayer. (FYI-the picture of the window with the trees is the Celestial Room and the light is the chandelier-so pretty)
We were blessed this week to join our Sisters and Elders on several of their lessons. We love meeting their friends and being able to visit with them, to testify to them of the truthfulness of our Savior. We had the chance to teach a sister in our branch how to index and we taught several more in our branch how to use the Family Tree App on their phones for our 5th Sunday meeting today. Do you all have the Family Tree App on your phones? If not, download it. It is so much fun. And we would encourage you to add memories to the Family Search Memories App. It's so easy and will save your memories forever. I don't know of any other App or program that will last through the millennium like family search will. Just a thought!
We love how the spirit works and the way our Savior is helping us gather Israel on both sides of the veil. We love that we can be representatives of Jesus Christ and wear His name each day. We pray for the people here and we pray for you, our family and friends. We have been asked to watch for the hand of The Lord in our lives and to seek and expect miracles. We invite all of you to do the same. Pay attention to His hand in your life and watch for the miracles. They are all around us. We love you! Thank you for your support! Have a beautiful week.
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