The Week Before
I thought that I should get this post written because we leave for the Utica Stake YW Camp in the morning and will be gone until late afternoon on Saturday. It's too hard to put two busy weeks into one post so here we go.
Monday we decided that we should drive to Albany to see the State Capitol Building. We have seen in from the outside but had heard that the inside is incredible. So off we went. Albany is almost 2 hours from Rome and it was a nice drive-a little smokey from the Canadian wildfires.
The Capitol Building is a 19th Century marvel and took 32 years to build. Five different architects worked on it and their artistic difference shows from staircase to staircase and from room to room. It took over 32 years to build and by 1899 had cost more than $25 Million. It is ornate and beautiful! The staircases and carvings are so cool. In fact, it made us both feel like we were in a Harry Potter Castle! See for yourself!
The Senate and the Assembly (what we call our Congress) Rooms were spectacular! The Senate is more ornate and completely over the top. I kinda like it.
At the bottom of one of the staircases and along a hallway, one of the architects carved the faces of famous
Americans with their names into the stone. See if you recognize any. I had a few pegged right off the bat but I love that Alexander Hamilton was nicknamed Alex back in the day.
The rest of our afternoon was looking for the Brownstones that make up the old neighborhoods of Albany. I have always loved the idea of a Brownstone. I think because that's where the Huxtable Family lived in the Cosby Show. It has always seemed a little "romantic" I guess. Well, Albany did not disappoint.
Monday night was a lesson with the Atwood family and so was Tuesday night-a temple prep class. We love meeting with them and helping them learn more about this beautiful gospel. We love being with the Sisters as well. We met early this day because we had Super Couples coming to town for Zone Conference and we met up with them, had dinner, and just loved being together. We love these friends we have made here in our mission.
Wednesday was our Zone Conference, and as always, we were filled to overflowing with the Spirit of the Lord and with learning and feeling and loving our Savior more and more. We talked of why we are here on a mission-what we want to accomplish while we are here. President Gentry taught us about sacrifice and consecration. My favorite quote from the day, "The more consecrated we become, the less it feels like a sacrifice." -President Gentry. We learned of the importance of aligning our will to our Savior's will so we can be more affective. We learned from our Zone Leaders who asked us how our baptism has blessed our life. More than we can even say! We loved singing Called to Serve and I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go with 100 of us standing in the room. It was powerful! We feel so blessed.
Thursday was our Book of Mormon. We keep growing in size. The Sisters keep bringing friends and that is probably the most exciting part-helping new people learn about the power of the Book of Mormon. We taught about the Liahona- for Gail-but Gail didn't come. It was a great evening though.
Friday was filled with service, training, and getting ready for girls camp.
Saturday we headed to the Temple to do sealings with Elder and Sister Connolly. How did we see the Lord’s hand in our lives today? His hand was all over our day. We love being with the Connolly's and our chat all the way to Palmyra was awesome. We had the opportunity to seal a family-the way they do a living family-with all of us around the altar. I had never known they could do this before. There were 6 of us around the altar. It was unbelievable and makes me want to search out my ancestors who have children that need to be sealed. The Spirit was overwhelming. As we left the sealing room, Sister Connolly and I headed into the Celestial Room to make our way to the other side of the temple to the dressing room. As we walked in we saw Sister Erickson and Sister Hafen. They had been in an endowment session and were spending some time in the scriptures and with the Spirit. We were amazed at how the Lord connects the dots. Our reservation was made two weeks ago-theirs was made yesterday-and yet, that meeting was not by chance. We needed to see them, and they needed to be with us. We loved seeing them and invited them to come to lunch with us-which they heartily accepted. I don’t believe in coincidence.
After we came home, we had lots to do to get ready for the Sabbath. We made food for our potluck and I had a RS Council and lesson to prepare. Of course, it was last minute. That isn't good and I didn't drop off to sleep until after midnight. That is not the way it should be. The lesson turned out great and we had a great time at church and the potluck.
On the fourth Sunday evening, we have the chance to Zoom call with all of the Senior couples. It is so much fun to learn more about them and get to know each other a little better. The office couples are trying to put together a retreat for us and they are trying to do it before we leave to go home. Hopefully we will have the chance to be with them one more time. We love you! Wish us luck at camp!
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