The Jolley's in Upstate New York

  We hope you all had the best Thanksgiving. We feel so blessed in so many ways.  We are honored to be missionaries serving in this area of God's vineyard.  We had a good week.  We said goodbye to Sister Hafen who was transferred to Albany and welcomed Sister Erickson from the MTC. We had the Sisters for dinner on Wednesday and did a correlation meeting with them. It made me feel good to cook a “Thanksgiving” kind of dinner.  I fixed a ham, cheesy potatoes, fresh green beans, baking powder biscuits and brownies.  They were so happy to have a home cooked meal. L-R Us, Sister Paige Hafen, Sister Gracey Curzon We have the most amazing Mission Leaders who make this mission so memorable and fun.  At Zone Conference, they asked us to join in a family tradition with them. Each missionary was given 10 paper leaves and they asked us to write three things that we are thankful for each day on a leaf and then hang it somewhere where we could see it.  They wan...

 And Father Winter has arrived.  If you have been watching the news (we have not been watching but we are hearing from others) Buffalo got hammered with 5 feet of snow.  It's crazy.  The missionaries are having a ball.  We got 5 inches the day before yesterday and we have about 6-8 inches today.  It is beautiful.  It is freezing cold and the wind is not fun! Monday was our first snow of the season and it really was just a skiff.  But look how pretty it is! We went out for a walk and it was just so pretty that I couldn't help but take some photos.  Mike is so good to just indulge me.  When the wind is blowing we about freeze but normally we just put on a jacket and our coats, gloves, and sometimes a scarf. We love our morning walks together.  But when the wind is blowing everything sideways we just can't do it.  So, we head to our second choice to get in our steps.  Not near as fun or pretty and if we aren't careful we do s...

 This past week was a fun and busy one.  Time seems to be flying and we can't believe we have been out for 7 1/2 months.  We started out our week with a District P-Day activity to say good bye to our darling Elder and Sister Fleming who are leaving to go home.  We are all a little sad to say goodbye to them. I am sure their family is so excited to get them home.  I made a crockpot full of potato cheesy chicken soup.  She brought rolls and the young missionaries brought other food to share.  Sister Fleming is a painter so we painted rocks.  She actually had all the stuff for us to use but sat back and just watched and soaked in the excitement and spirit of these Elders and Sisters. The rocks turned out great.  I found a rock that I could see a Gnome in so I painted a Santa Gnome.  Mike painted the other rock black for me and then I tried to put a little nativity on it.  You can see-they aren't professional by any means but they turne...

 We said goodbye to October with a wonderfully fun Halloween celebration in our mission. Our Mission Leaders had asked the Elders and Sisters to be in their apartments by 7:00 p.m.  They do this for the safety of the missionaries. But, they also know that these are days when homesickness can set in a bit.  So, to make the evening special, we had a mission wide Zoom call/cookie cooking class with President and Sister Gentry-aka Superman and Lois Lane.  They are so amazing and have so much fun with these missionaries.  They are definitely loved and respected.                                        The missionaries had been given a list of ingredients to have ready and off we went, mixing, laughing, and baking Sister Gentry's famous cookie recipe.  We had to laugh because one companionship of Sisters asked what they could use instead of flour because theirs had ...