The Week That Got Away

 Well, we totally let a week of posting get away from us.  Things have been busy here-lots of busy work trying to get some things done for our Stake YW Camp.  I'm also in charge of putting together a Father's Day treat/gift-so I've been wracking my brain for that as well.

Monday, May 22nd was a fun P-day for us.  We decided to drive to Vermont!  There is a little slice of Vermont in our mission so we took the day and headed out.  We drove to Bennington and then to Manchester.  Vermont had a completely different feel than New York.  It was a little drier (more mountainous and less lakes maybe?) and the towns were pristine.  Just before we crossed the border, we came around a curve and saw a place with hundreds of colorful Adirondack chairs.  I had to have a picture, of course!

We drove into Bennington, knowing there were a couple of places we wanted to visit.  There is a beautiful old church with a graveyard.  It is actually the first organized church in Vermont.  The graveyard was filled with beautiful headstones and lots of graves of Revolutionary War soldiers.  Robert Frost, the poet, also is buried in that graveyard.  (So when we got home, Family Search had notified me that I could find my ancestors graves, and guess what? two of my grand uncles are buried in that exact graveyard!  What a bummer!)

We also went to the monument that sits on top of a hill and can be seen from all around.  It marks that place of the Battle of Bennington in the Revolutionary War. It was a huge battle and the rebels or colonist or the good guys beat the Red Coats.  

Part of our journey was to find some covered bridges.  There are 5 in the area around Bennington.  We went to four of them and skipped that last one because they are all basically the exact same.  We did find some darling churches along the way as well. My favorite bridge was the one with the church in the same shot.  I mean, come on.  A covered bridge and a church? Yes please!

As we were wandering around we also stopped at the home where Robert Frost lived in the 1920's.  They call it the Stone House.  It was closed and so we just got to walk around a bit and take some photos.  What is your favorite Robert Frost poem?  I love the stanza from "The Road Not Taken" that says, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." 

We arrived in the charming town of Manchester and found it to be completely magical.  The buildings are old and there are monuments dedicated to the Revolutionary soldiers who fought for our right to be our own country- a land of promise- a land where the gospel would be restored.  We are so blessed to live in this beautiful and free land.  I pray we can keep it free.

It was a long day-but it was awesome.  We love our little road trips.

Our week was also great.  We love the astronomy class that our Sister Erickson does on Tuesdays.  Our Wednesdays are filled with District Council.  Thursdays are our Book of Mormon class and our attendance is great.  We have the best discussions.  On Saturday, the 27th, Elder and Sister Connolly asked if we would like to hang out with them in some cemetery's right close to our home.  They live in Liverpool and came to find his ancestors who are buried in these two cemetery's.  We went to the first little cemetery and he was so excited to find several graves of his people and a couple that were Revolutionary War soldiers that he had no idea.  A little lady, who is expert about those graves, came and visited with us. She was such a talker that we couldn't get away.  We had one more place to hit and then get to a lunch reservation to meet the Sisters for lunch.  We headed to the much bigger cemetery with just a few minutes to spare and having no idea where to even look.  He had a little map that just showed the different areas of the cemetery.  He said that it was a long and narrow strip and it had nothing on one side.  Sister Connolly was driving and stopped at the top of the hill.  We jumped out of the car and started looking and you will never believe, out of over 2,000 graves, we walked right to his family-not knowing where they were buried- found them in less than 2 minutes.  Who doesn't believe in miracles?  We had a beautiful lunch with the Sisters at the old Franklin Hotel in Rome and then we took the Connolly's to Fort Stanwix for a few minutes.  There were dressed up folks and musket shooting. It was awesome.  We had the best time.

That evening we had another baptism.  Gail!  What can I say about Gail?  She is this incredible, southern lady who was raised Southern Baptist.  She just can't get enough of the doctrine that has been so foreign to what she was taught her whole life, and hanging onto every truth and loving it. Mike had the opportunity to baptize her.  That is four in the last two months!

L_R Me, Gail June, Mike

Church was a crazy and good all at once.  It was fourth week potluck and it's always a bit of a zoo.  I am always worn out at the end of potluck day.

On Memorial Day, we had the chance to take the Sisters up to Pixley Falls to hike around a bit.  My knee is still giving me fits but we had a great time.  Afterwards, we went to see the peonies at Root Glen at Hamilton College.  What beautiful flowers.

The week moved forward with lots of meetings and classes.  I know that I say, every week, how much we love our Book of Mormon class.  I stepped into Jacob 5-The Allegory of the Olive Tree!  I'm not sure why, but I have been avoiding teaching that lesson, but we did just the first half.  The rest of the story will be this week.

Friday morning, we headed to the Methodist church down the street to do service.  We packed 46 boxes with food that was donated by the local grocery stores and then headed home for a mission wide training.  Later, we met with our Stake Camp Director and talked through some of the "postcards" that I have been designing (We are doing the UP theme and they are using postcards to put into their adventure books-and I am designing them) This is taking more time than you can imagine but they are turning out great.  I will share a couple of my favorites with you!

Saturday morning we worked at the food pantry again and then ran home, changed our clothes and headed to the church for another baptism.  William this time!  William is the 10 year old son of the Atwoods who were baptized the end of March.  This time, though, Robert baptized and confirmed William.  It was a sweet and tender time for them.  

L-R Sister Sarah Baker, Sister Jacie Erickson, Katie, William, Robert, Mary Atwood, Me Mike

Saturday evening we had the chance to have dinner with the Morgan's and the Joneses.  We had dinner here in Rome, which never happens and then we had them come to our home for dessert and games.  I made strawberry shortcake and we played Golf and Cover Your Assets.  We laughed and had such a great time.  Brother Morgan keeps telling us that we can't go home.  I can hardly think about leaving some of these people that we will probably never see again.  How we have come to love David and Joanne Morgan and Rod and Lori Anne Jones!-And many others.

We love our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We love serving them on this mission.  We love the people we have the opportunity of getting to know and serve with.  The time is slipping quickly away.  It makes me so anxious to even think about leaving here.  We feel so blessed and thank you for your prayers and support.  We hope you have a beautiful week.