Two Lighthouses and Many Blessings

 August 14th is always a tender day for us.  As we think of Natalie and what life might look like for her.  We find joy in celebrating her on that day each year.  This year we decided to go to a place up North called Cape Vincent.  It is a tiny little town that sits on the Saint Lawrence Seaway as it joins up with Lake Ontario.  We went out to Tibble Point Lighthouse which sits right at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the lake.  It was fun to see.  Someone told me that it isn't a real pretty lighthouse, but we kinda liked it.

After seeing the lighthouse, we headed South just a bit to see the Sacket's Harbor Battlefield.  Sackets Harbor also sits on the banks of Lake Ontario. It's a little town that seems to be a bit of a tourist trap now.  Lots of private boats in harbor there and a few expensive restaurants.  Sacket's Harbor was a Naval shipyard built during the War of 1812 and housed several thousand men in the shipyard and the army.  It was strategic and helped keep control of American defense during the war. It has become a historic site and a NY State Park.  We went on a tour inside the Commandant's house and it was fun to see the way they lived.  Of course, the soldiers didn't have it quite so posh!

The grounds around were beautiful to see.  There are boats out on the lake all the time during the summer months.  Because the winters are harsh here, the people take advantage of the beautiful summer months.

After we spent the day exploring we ran to Watertown to grab some dinner-we hadn't eaten all day and we were hungry. We ate at Texas Roadhouse because we had a gift card that a friend had given us.  We enjoyed those hot rolls and had a cactus blossom.  We celebrated Natalie with country fried steak-her favorite.  Needless to say, with the rolls and the cactus blossom, most of our dinner came home with us-but it was delightful.  After dinner we headed for home by way of Salmon River Falls.  We had heard about these falls and they were pretty!

The crazy thing about these falls is that you can hike down and walk right out the granite on the top of the falls.  There were people all around sitting and laying right where the falls drop over.  How gutsy do you have to be to sit on the edge of a 110 foot drop? On our way home, we stopped at a little abandoned church in Williamstown that I have eyed a few times when we drive through.  Not sure why, but those doors just make me want to know the story of why the people left it. 

The rest of our week was crazy busy as well.  We had our last temple prep class on Tuesday.  Now the Atwoods are going to have to wait a bit because they are still so new in the church-but they are anxious to go to the temple to receive their endowments. 

Wednesday was District Council and we loved it.  We had it in Rome this time so it was nice and close for us.  We always eat our lunches together and it's fun to see these Elders and Sisters have some down time. 

Thursday was our Book of Mormon class and we discussed the second part of 2 Nephi 2 where we discussed agency and all the wonderful blessings that come with agency.  We learned that there are four principles necessary for agency to even exist.  First, opposition!  You can't make a choice if there is no choice to make! Second, a knowledge of good and evil.  We are all born with the Light of Christ to help us to know the difference between good and evil-but, we also have people and things that teach us about good and evil.  We have Prophets, teachers, scriptures, the Holy Ghost, and many other things to teach us.  Third is law.  There has to be laws to help us differentiate between what is right or good and what is wrong and bad.  Laws are commandments.  God's laws are eternal and He sets the parameters.  We can choose to obey or not-BUT we cannot choose the consequences.  Fourth, the power to choose. Because we have been given the power to choose, agency becomes a gift.  Choosing right leads to freedom, and choosing wrong leads to captivity.  It's doctrine that most people in the world don't understand.  How thankful I am for agency and for the doctrine that we are blessed to have and understand.

On Friday, I woke up with an awful headache and sick stomach.  I got ready to go to do service at the food pantry and I just couldn't go.  Mike went and was gone just a few minutes and then he was back. He listened to our mission wide training and I slept.  As the afternoon came on I felt better.  We ran a few errands and we actually stopped at a local meat/deli, called Mazzafarro's,that everyone had told us we needed to try.  We bought a sandwich to share and then we went to the local bakery that supplies the bread for Mazzafarros and bought some rolls and a couple of filled donuts.  They were so good!

We tried to do some work on talks that we were asked to give in Sacrament meeting on Sunday but didn't have a lot of success.  Saturday was going to be busy and we wouldn't be home but that didn't help.

Saturday morning we headed to Liverpool to meet up with Elder and Sister Connolly.  They had invited us to go to some places up by Lake Ontario called Chimney Bluffs, Sodus Point and then meet the Sisters in Sodus for lunch.  We were excited.  We knew there was a lighthouse in Sodus Point but had never heard of Chimney Bluffs.  Wow!  What an incredible hike. We started out close to the beach.  It was a windy day that day and there were waves coming in so that it almost felt like the ocean.

It was cool so we started off in jackets.  How can we be wearing jackets on August 19th.  As we got into the trees and started hiking, the jackets came off.  Look at these cliffs.  I had no idea that there were any formations like these in New York.  

We talked with people along the way and had such a nice time.  It had rained the day before so we had puddles to dodge and hike around but it was great.  After Chimney Bluffs, we headed to Sodus Point to see the lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1825 but it was first lit in 1871.  It was replaced by a skeleton lighthouse out on a pier in 1938.  It is used to navigate the entrance into the bay. They both made for some great pictures.  The sand and the fences and tall grass remind me of the beaches on the Atlantic Ocean. We tried to walk out to the skeleton lighthouse but the waves were crashing over the pier and we didn't want to get wet-or worse.

As we were driving, we noticed the coolest apple orchards.  They are hybrid apple trees and they are small and grown on fencing-almost like a vineyard grows their grapes.  We couldn't believe how many trees and how many apples were on those trees. We are talking acres and acres of rows after rows of apples. They definitely take growing their apples seriously here. Bring on the cider donuts.  

We ate lunch with the darling Sisters of Lyons.  They are Sisters Hafen and Erickson and both of them were trained in Rome so we claim them as ours.  We went to a BBQ place in Sodus (the Sister's main area) and we had a wonderful lunch with them.  We love hearing about their adventures and their friends.  They are amazing missionaries.

Home we went to work on our talks for Sunday.  Mike had his mostly done.  Mine? I had an idea rolling around in my head but that's about it.  As I settled in, the idea took form and I had wondered about where the Spirit had led me.  I was talking about Jacob and his sleeping on a rock for a pillow-about his dream of the ladder reaching to heaven with angels ascending and descending and the Lord standing near him (that part is from the footnotes). I then talked about the 5 promises the Lord made to him that night and I expounded on the promises. First, "I am with thee"-He never leaves us. Second, "I will keep thee"-He has our back.  Third, "I will bring you home again"-He will bring us safely back to our Heavenly Parents. Fourth, "I will not leave you"-Even in our messes and our hard times He is there.  I talked of Joseph in Liberty Jail and how utterly forsaken he felt-but there were so many revelations given while in Liberty-a place that was "more Temple than prison as long as the prophet was there".  Many times we can't see the blessings because of the pain-until we get on the other side of the experience and look back! Then we see that He never left us.  Fifth, "until I do everything I promised you"!  Jesus ALWAYS keeps His promises.  There is no doubt.  Now a little of the back story-as I was sitting in the congregation, right before the meeting was to start, a dear, sweet friend sat down next to me, put her arm around my shoulder, and with tears in her eyes, told me that it was done.  It was over!  I knew exactly what she meant.  Her nasty husband had kicked her and their kids out-told her she was not welcome in their home any longer.  As I stood at the pulpit and started giving that talk, I knew exactly why the Spirit had prompted me.  That talk was for her!  She needed to know that she will never be alone-even in the darkest of our hours, HE WILL NOT LEAVE US!.  Now maybe there were others who needed that talk as well, but she was the most obvious to me. It was a beautiful meeting.

Later in the day I went with one of our new converts to receive her patriarchal blessing. What another powerful experience.  As the patriarch blessed her with things that were so specific to her the tears just flowed.  After it was over, she said that she had no idea it would be so specific to her.  I reminded her the reason is because she is specific to our Heavenly Father.  It was a day filled with the Spirit.  Powerful and mighty testimony that our Savior is close and real and that our Heavenly Father loves and values each one of us.  

We love being missionaries.  This wonderful experience is quickly coming to a close.  We look back in awe of the blessings and experiences we have had the privilege of receiving.  God is so so good! We love you!  Have a blessed rest of your week.