Zoning at Peter Whitmer Farm

 Autumn is officially here and it is a little chilly.  We are trying to figure out how to heat our home without cooking us is some rooms and freezing us in other rooms.  I guess that's what comes with 100+ year old houses.  We hope that we will see a few more days in the 70's but for the next 10 days is looks like the 50's and 60's for us.  And it's the great leaf changing show.  I can't wait!  The trees change a little at a time-most of them- and some all at once.  It's so interesting to me.  I'm not sure I remember a few red leafs among the green but I love it.  And this week, the magic is supposed to happen and we can't wait.

We spent Tuesday in Waterloo, or Fayette, at the Peter Whitmer Farm for our Zone Conference! What a place!  What a spirit!  We were taught by our Mission Leaders of the importance of finding Amuleks among our members to help in the missionary work.  We are focusing on part member families and trying to reactivate or baptize within those families. We learn from the story of Alma and Amulek that the people would listen to Amulek because they knew him.  That is what we are hoping for.  Could you be someone's Amulek?

For some reason, food is an important part of our missionary service.  We (I) bake a lot of goodies to take to people that we are working with.  They really like our treats.  We also make something delicious for our Book of Mormon class each week.  We love buying fresh produce at our favorite little Amish farm and we have been buying green beans for several other Senior Missionary couples.  It's fun to share the wealth with them.  Check out these fresh vegetables AND the wonderful Apple Cider Donut Bundt Cake we made for Book of Mormon this past week!

As we walk around Rome, we find many cool things to take photos of.  We walk in all different directions, sometimes through neighborhoods and sometimes into town which really isn't that far away from our home.  There are some painted murals that I've loved seeing as we drive by so I thought I should finally get some photos.

I used the panorama setting on my phone to get the bottom mural, trying to keep a car out of the way and it turned it into this cool looking curved photo.  It is actually just a flat wall but I love the way this turned out.  We also saw this slimy guy one morning.  He was 5 inches long!

So many times we look down as we walk, mainly because we don't want to step in dog doo that the owners didn't clean up (and yes it's on the sidewalks sometimes-gross) or we don't want to trip on uneven sidewalks and pavement.  We were walking down one downtown street and noticed the coolest little monument to The Carrying Place. The Carrying Place is a two to three mile (depending on the season) link in the trading route between the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes.  The Oneidas called it Deo-wain-sta or "One picks the boat up".   It connected the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers on the East with Wood Creek to Lake Oneida, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.  This overland portage opened trade from the Atlantic Coast all the way to the Rocky Mountains in the West, Canada to the North, and the Gulf Coast to the South. So cool! Love the detail in this monument.

We also have loved our drives from lesson to lesson with the beautiful skies of New York.  The clouds are breathtaking and so are the sunsets.

Our Book of Mormon class is always one of the highlights of our week.  There is always such a great spirit as we meet together and learn how the lessons can be likened to our lives.  The Book of Mormon is definitely written for our day.  Mike and I comment over and over how these lessons apply to this day-right now. I love how it increases our faith, every time we read!

I've been feeling a little sad that I don't have any decorations for our home.  If you know me at all, you know that I love to decorate my house for the different seasons and holidays.  I figured I would be okay for a year and a half but I am dying to decorate.  We bought some pumpkins down the street for a couple of bucks, bought a couple of Dollar Tree things and are doing the best to make due but I had to share the wreath that I made from Dollar Tree.  I'm pretty happy with it but it isn't sturdy enough to handle the big winds that we get- so it will have to hang inside where I can see it when we're home.  And that is okay with me!

We are enjoying our time here.  We are still hanging on as a branch and still praying that the merge will happen quickly.  It's been way too long and the members are feeling it a bit. There's kind of a "why try" attitude and it's hard.  We had 13 at church today- no youth and no Primary! So sad! We love our Savior!  We are so happy to wear His name.  We can't believe we are into Fall and coming into the Holidays.  It will be fun to celebrate with our missionaries.  We love you all.  Happy Autumn!