The Jolley's in Upstate New York

You know that we like ice cream.  We have told you that the ice cream here in Central New York is pretty much some of the best we have ever tasted.  Everyone here likes ice cream. Monday was our last P Day that we would be able to see the missionaries in our District.  Wednesday morning would bring transfers.  We knew that we would be changing districts and that we might not see these young missionaries again. We had texted them and asked if we could treat them to ice cream to say goodbye.  Of course, they agreed!  Who could ever pass up ice cream? We headed to Norwich to have lunch and ice cream with our Sisters there.  One of the things we love so much about the Norwich Sisters is that they love us so much.  They call us just to check on us or to tell us about a miracle they experienced.  Sometimes just to talk.  We met them at a little place called Gilligan's Island. We had burgers and fries and ice cream.  We bought the ice crea...

Changes are always fun, right?  It's how we grow?   By Tuesday we were not contagious any longer.  We still felt run down and tired but we were ready to get back to work.   We headed to our District Council on Wednesday, this time in Whitesboro, at our Stake Center,  because President Gentry was doing interviews so, half the Zone met there as a central location.  Sister Gentry was with him because their kids are visiting family in California so she travels with him when they are gone.  It was fun having her sit in our District Council and hearing her input to our learning.  We love our Mission Leaders.  After the Sisters and Elders were done with interviews, President asked for us to come into the office and he dropped a little bomb.  This is the back story for all of it. When we were in the MTC, President Gentry called us and told us that we were being assigned to the Oneida Branch but there were things in the works to dissolve that lit...

 Last Sunday found us driving to Watertown to the North of us.  We had made arrangements with our President to spend the 4th of July in Alexandria Bay on the 1,000 Islands.  We were pretty excited to visit this beautiful place. Alexandria Bay sits on the Saint Lawrence Seaway. (The Saint Lawrence Seaway is the water way connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.  Tankers move back and forth and go as far as Minnesota on the Great Lakes system.)  It’s deep.. They have had ships go down there and divers can’t get to them because they are too deep.     We got there early and had a perfect parking place in their parking lot.    We wandered around town for about half an hour to kill some time.    We had a nice visit with a couple who was there with another couple (sisters and their husbands).    They talked of having been there before and some of the places to see and eat.    They had been to the castle th...

How many times do you say, "Are you kidding me?"  Well that is just a little pun for our title this week.  We had the chance to visit one of the members of our Branch and her grandkids have a bunch of animals-not a few of which are goats.  I couldn't help but smile when I took the picture of their menagerie and imagining the title for this week's blog.  Forgive me! But I kind of think it's funny! There are colleges all over Upstate New York.  Lots of little towns are college towns and they are charming places to visit.  On Monday we went to one such place.  Clinton, NY is about 12 miles from where we live and we had heard from another missionary couple about a wonderful walking trail next to the campus.  We decided to go exploring.  The place is called Root Glen and it was full of flora that was new to these eyes. Root Glen has a couple of groomed gardens but the trails lead through lots of nature.  In the spring there are doze...