Aaron 8/26/13

August 26, 2013

So this has been another crazy week, with still not a whole lot of numbers. The work is hard, especially when you're sick.

Tuesday this past week my headache started to get really bad, and working with the mission doctor we tried a number of different medications, over-the-counter and prescription, to try and get it taken care of. But nothing really worked. I more or less felt totally dead. But we did what we could, received a lot of referrals, contacted a good number of them, and since Elder Ferney has finally gotten his bike we started biking around to the places around our apartment. We found a bike trail that went way down to a semi-far town that will really help out our miles! 

But my headache still wouldn't go away. Finally on Wednesday I called Sister Nilsen and found a Service missionary doctor close by, and I went to go visit him to see what else we could do. That left me a little frustrated because he decided that the headache was from sleeping problems, even though I wasn't having any until after I got the headache. Anyways, he prescribed me something to take to help put me to sleep at night, which made me feel a little nervous. That intensified much more after I picked up the medication, the main purpose of which was an anti-depressant. I'm not completely sure why, but I strongly felt that I should NOT take any of it, at least for another few days. That night I received a blessing from Elder Cutler, the now district leader. (That part was fun because I got to go back over to the Lindau's for a while!!!) Sister Lindau, being a nurse, tried to talk me into trying out the medication for a few days, and then stopping if I didn't feel good from it, but being stubborn, and wanting to act on what I felt was a prompting, I decided to stick to my first decision. That night (after Brother Lindau shot off some awesome fireworks ;)), I slept decent, and the next day my headache was very dulled. Than Friday night I slept AWESOME and my headache was GONE! Without any sleeping pills/anti-depressants! I've felt great since :)

I'm not completely sure what the Lord's plan was for me with having to overcome that headache, but I now have a stronger testimony of both the power of priesthood blessings, and that Heavenly Father knows best and WILL guide us as we do the things he wants us to! 

Mom and Nathan! Thanks for the care package and the Cd's! That'll really help to get through this next week with neither of us having money for food! haha! 

I know that this is the Lord's Work. And it really  does all come down to WORK. Even if you din't see numbers, even if every single door is a rejection, and even if you feel unsuccessful, the Lord knows what work you are doing. He knows if you are serving with all your Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength.

A couple great quotes on Work:

“Work will win when wishy washy wishing wont”
-President Monson

“Work is an antidote for anxiety, and ointment for sorrow, and a doorway to possibility. Whatever our circumstances in life, my dear brethren, let us do the best we can and cultivate a reputation for excellence in all that we do. Let us set our minds and bodies to the glorious opportunity for work that each new day presents.”
-Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
- Michael Jordan

I love being a missionary and having the opportunity to do this work! Thank you for your love, prayers, and support! I love you!!!

Elder Aaron Toombs

Kathy 8/26/13

August 26, 2013

Dear Family and Friends—

            How’s everyone?  I got to get this done soon because the Sisters said the computers were down at the library and they need to use our computers to write home.  Interesting that the Elders don’t care, but the Sisters do.  Weather report—cloudy out today but still the temps are so nice.  Lynn’s on his bike now trying to find some boys under 18 that the bishop told him about that basically want to disappear.  Some live a long ways away so it will be interesting to see what he finds out.

            I’ll start with a week ago:  We only had 6 ward members come to FHE which is very unnerving.  Elder McDonald did a great job with his Jeopardy game and his brownies were outstanding.  Hope we get more out tonight.  J.D. called late Monday night and said that there was a mission report at the ward he attended the day before—his first time in his ward.  The missionary said she served in the NYNYS mission and her name was Sis. Santistiban.  Wow!  I had just sent her off with hugs and kisses just a few weeks before.  She loved her mission experience here and lived in our apartment building for her last transfer.  Small world.  I spent Monday doing mission history.

            Next day was the temple.  I had an incredible day because I was scheduled to be just a patron so I could see the new movie.  It’s much better viewed straight on than trying to see it out of the corner of your eye.  : )  I gave the scripture in the prayer meeting (from Ether 3).  Also had a short stint in the baptistery, and Lynn was there as a witness.  There were two people doing some work.  The man doing the baptizing was from Bilbao, Spain originally and he was there when Sean was on his mission, although he never knew Sean.  He’s lived in the US for the last 18 years.  Later I was asked to “pass off” all the parts of the temple ceremonies that I should have memorized; everyone is being asked to do that so they can “re-certify.”  So, without a hitch, I did.  Sis. Corsan was surprised I did so well, and just beamed.   Me too.  I was just relieved. 

            At the end of the day I told Lynn I was hungry for a really good hamburger so we went 7 blocks north to Big Rick’s and shared an amazingly yummy Sumo burger with mushroom sauce on top, plus shared an order of their thick cut French fries.  The burger was a pound of meat!  This was heaven in a meal.  We needed to walk after that!! and went directly north a block to Central Park and did a lot of walking.  We went to the Strawberry Fields (think—John Lennon) where people were hanging out, playing their guitars, taking lots of pictures, then just wandered around till we figured we needed to get to the train. 

            In the morning I went shopping at COSTCO and Shop Rite to get food for the breakfast I was having Thursday morning.  I’ve decided Wednesday is the time to go to COSTCO—it was so quiet.  In the afternoon Lynn drove me over to the Green-Wood Cemetery so we could climb on a trolley and take a tour.  This cemetery was founded in 1838.  It’s in Brooklyn and not all that far away from us.  It’s 478 acres in size and is a national historic landmark.  There are about 560,000 people buried there.  Yes, people are still being buried there.  Lots of famous people are buried there, thus, the tour.  Out tour guide was a hoot of a lady and has been doing this for a long time.  When we got to Leonard Bernstein’s grave she sang songs from “West Side Story” for us.  She used to be on Broadway so she had a pretty good voice.  The thing about this cemetery is its great beauty.  There are natural hills everywhere, ponds, lots of birds, about 8000 trees.  The rich people have hand-carved statuary with their ostentatious “houses” that entire families are buried in, plus statuary on regular head stones.  We were on tour for three+ hours ending at a magnificent small chapel with lots of stained glass.  Yet, this was only one tour of three that we could take.  The Battle of Brooklyn took place in this cemetery, an important battle that allowed Gen. Washington to save 95% of his army (in retreat) while two regiments held off the Brits, literally losing their lives as a sacrifice to save the rest of the army, so the place is referred to as holy ground, as it ought to be.

            I spent the rest of the day making three different breakfast casseroles for breakfast—one using bacon, another sausage, the last using ham.   I baked them all that night and warmed them up for breakfast for the Zone.  I also had sweet rolls, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes and OJ to go with the casseroles.  So at nine the next day the “kids” came over, we found places for everyone to sit and eat.  The casseroles were a good idea because it meant I wasn’t fixing food early in the morning and cleanup was easy.  Everyone loved the breakfast!  

            I spent my afternoon working on the mission history—there is so much to do, so much to learn.   We tried to visit a home teaching family, no one there.

            Friday was shopping per usual, went to two home teaching families—again, no one home.  Lynn is nothing except persistent.  We can’t get these people to answer emails or phones so we have to just drop by.  I spent the afternoon with mission history.  Lynn had gone on a bike ride and asked if I would like to watch the movie “Lincoln” that night.  I agreed since we hadn’t seen it.  The Green-Wood Cemetery has a large memorial that was erected in 1869 to the Civil War soldiers that fought in the war from Brooklyn, so the memorial kind of brought Lincoln to mind.  I loved the movie but unless we get Clear-Play, I won’t buy it—too much swearing.  After the movie it was off to Google to answer the questions we had about the characters and situations depicted in the movie.

            Saturday was a big finances day, plus a ton of laundry, two loaves of bread, and I took the hanging files that I had bought Friday night at Staples and completely organized my filing box.  I had things in folders but they kept bunching up in the box making it inconvenient to find anything.  I discovered the plastic edges a week ago and like a thunderbolt it dawned on me that they were there for hanging file folders.  How could I be so stupid?!!  Now all the files are up, straight, easy to find.  It is a warm and fuzzy feeling. 

            So, what has Lynn been doing—burning the midnight oil to get the ward picture directory done.  It has been a frustrating, huge task.  He took his thumb drive to Staples when I went and had the store do the pictures in a high quality format.  They looked good.  Just one problem—when he went through the pictures to collate them, he found out the lady at Staples who helped him didn’t give him the last page of the pictures.  The store was closed by the time it was discovered.  Lynn’s burning the midnight oil finally took its toll as he woke up this morning with a sore throat and not so great sounding cough.

            He gave the bishop what he had of the directory, though, yesterday.   Church was quite good.   Lynn gave the Priesthood lesson on marriage by Elder Clayton and he said it went quite well—lots of participation by the men.  After church we witnessed the baptism of Yahdaii Kadamawi, a young man from Jamaica originally.  Yahdaii has dread locks that reach to his knees.  He brought two good friends with him that were from his former religion.  One of them was decked to the nines with all kinds of beads plus a huge turban on his head.  This was the first convert baptism that we have seen on our mission.  There have been two others but we were not able to make it to the other two.  (One happened while we were going to the airport so we could go to California).  Lynn was told at the last second that he was going to conduct the meeting—oh, OK.  Because of Yahdaii’s hair, which floated on top of the water, he had to be baptized twice, but the second time was the charm.             

            After the baptism, we took Kathleen Reynold’s  home, ( we also picked her up in the morning) then we came back to the apartment, had a small bite to eat then we were off.  We went to the two home teaching families that we had missed (we hoped time #4 would be the charm) and we found them.  With both families, the dad was home for a short time too, bonus!   At the Bien-Amis, we took Sabrina a birthday card and gift because it was her birthday that day.  And, surprise, we got to their apartment just as they were getting ready for her birthday party.  So, we stayed, had some snacks to eat, sang Happy Birthday with the group and ate cake.  She had a small group of family there for her party.  After that we went to the hospital to see Garrett Harris.  Lynn said he had a lot fewer things hooked up to him.  Apparently he awoke enough to get an MRI and they found out that he seemed to be ok, just had to get that head injury healed.  Three friends were there that we got to meet.  No one talked to Garrett because he was unconscious, but hopefully some day we can find him awake and talk to him.  Then we went to visit Br. Pinerio, who is one of the ward members Lynn is trying to help with his financial situation.  But, he had a bad accident and really messed up his right leg.  When we saw him yesterday, he was doing much better.   Then we tried to go to two other places to find people that were hiding from the church but couldn’t get ahold of them.  Lynn’s on his bike trying to find the missing people plus some others, as I mentioned before.

            After the baptism yesterday they let people bear their testimonies, so I did.  The Church is true.  The Book of Mormon is the best—love that book.  I told Yahdaii he needed to read from it every day and I hope he will, and I would say the same to you—read some every day!  Expressed my gratitude for Lynn doing so much for our mission experience.  He doesn’t write very often about what he does, but he does SO MUCH.  So, that’s the letter for this week.   Hope all is well with you. 

Love,   Kathy/Mom

Kathy 8/19/13

August 19, 2013

Hello family and Friends—

            Another beautiful day in New York.   While those of you who have been sweltering in heat, we have been enjoying temperate weather, some days being literally perfect.  

            Happy, happy anniversary Sean and Julianne.  It was wonderful to talk to you and the kids last night.  Their children are all in school now, at three different schools.  Wow!  Kyle has started seminary in the morning.  Again, wow!

            Been an “as usual” busy week, not quite the adventures of the past.  Yesterday Lynn and I left our apartment earlier than usual so we could go pick up Kathleen Reynolds.  She’s from Jamaica, came to the US so her daughter (who is a member of the church and lives in Michigan) could help her overcome some health problems.  Kathleen joined the church and has been a stalwart member.  She has another daughter that lives in Brooklyn so she moved here so she could be with family that could take care of her.  Her legs support her just enough that she can walk with a cane, very slowly!  Normally the Soletas take her to church but they will be in the Philippines for a month.  After Lynn dropped Kathleen and me off at church, he went to the apartment of one of our younger single sisters so he could drive Judith, her sister and her sister’s huge piece of luggage to church.  Judith’s sister then took that luggage to the nearest subway station after the 3 hour block and got on a train with it to go to Boston.  It’s what you do here.

            It took a while for members to make it to the meeting because one of the main streets was blocked off for a Pakistani kind of celebration/parade.  That means that the bus system won’t work and you have to take the train, then walk.  We have one new family in the ward, mom, dad, three little kids who all get on a bike and bike to church, quite a ways actually!  The mom’s a marathon runner.

            The ward leaders and missionaries are going ahead with a project to “find” all the inactive members of the ward, (about 650 people) and either talk to them and hopefully encourage them to come to church, or find out if they’ve moved out of the ward.  This way, we’ll have a more accurate count of the membership.  When members were brought into our ward from Park Slope, it included some really tech savvy men who had some great ideas about organizing the process.

            We took two Sisters to a house several miles away to collect some things that a previous Midwood member had left, and the landlord was going to throw the things away.  The sisters will mail the lady her things.  This is why we have a car—to support the cause with transportation.  Then we went to “cold” visit two families for home teaching, but one family didn’t want to see us (they had company); the other family was gone.  Can’t contact these families by phone—they won’t answer, won’t return calls, so we just drop in on them.  We ended the evening by watching the John Tanner (my 4-G grandfather) video the church put out and talking to S & J.  Also, thank you Meriden, for writing up Grandpa Noble’s story about his healing at the hands of Joseph Smith.

            I’m going back a week now, just to say that we had a chance to Skype with Bob and Moira and kids a week agounday.  Joseph opened up his birthday presents in front of the camera so we could join in the fun.  We got him a toy that involved a car going in a circle and shooting out at the end of the circle.  Looked like fun.  I’m sure most of you understand that Moira and Bob are expecting #4; we are excited, she seems to be doing quite well.  It’s wonderful seeing the little ones get older and more skilled in whatever fashion.

            Monday was spent getting ready for FHE.  Lynn had spent a long time trying to develop one game and things just weren’t working out.  So he went to an FHE site and found the game “Sardines,” which we REALLY enjoyed playing and a name matching game.  You put a word on the back of someone and they are supposed to guess what the word is.  The word also relates to another word on someone else’s back, i.e., I had the word “flower” and the person that matched me had “vase” on their back.   Then after everyone was “found” Lynn asked everyone to give a name that described Jesus Christ.  We came up with quite a list.  Lynn pointed out that “Savior” was the most important word, and then he showed the church video that shows Christ during the last 24 hours of his life.  It was a very moving experience.  I made homemade strawberry shortcake with whipped cream and that was the evening dessert—the evening was a hit.

            Tuesday was the temple.   Ah, so good to go back.  We had full sessions at 11 and 12:30.  Lynn and I officiated at the 2 pm session.   I also did Initiatory and had to get back into the groove with that.  I played “guard duty” at the door when a young woman did Initiatory for the first time (she was going on a mission).  When that happens they don’t want regular patrons to interrupt.  But, it gave me a chance to have a long talk with her mother—they were from New Jersey.  Lynn said he was given the chance to be part of doing Initiatory for a man going through the temple for the first time, and he really enjoyed that.  When we were officiating in the 2 pm session (which was a small group) we had a chance to see the new movie.  It was beautiful, what we could see of it not looking at the screen full on.  The movie has moved quite a few patrons to tears and that happened in our session—we came close to running out of Kleenex!  After we left, we walked through the park then took the train back, then went to Gyro King for their yummy food.  I got three meals out of my dinner.

            Wednesday was miracle day.  Lynn talked to J.D. on Tuesday night, late, and both of us talked with him in the morning.  He was, in fact, on his way to California to go to school.  We helped him out with a little information; he had an appointment to get the oil changed, and then leave from there to Fullerton, CA.  You see, we knew that J.D. was still struggling with the decision to follow through and go to Optometry school and we literally didn’t know for sure that he was going until a day before he left.  Thank you for posting on Facebook, J.   I felt a feeling that I had after Lynn and I had left Bob in Wisconsin by himself after helping him get some things for his home, just a kind of kick in the stomach, feeling of loss, yet for both boys, what was happening was the best possible thing.  Why was I crying when I was so happy?!!!

            Also, Wednesday Lynn and I went shopping to get food for the Zone Conference being held at our meeting house.  We had to fix food for 26 people, so I thought what those kids would like to eat that wouldn’t be too much work to fix?  Pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw, of course.  So, COSTCO and Shop Rite were friends for the day.  For dessert, I made two chocolate bundt cakes on Wednesday, using a recipe that I had made before. 

            Lynn had received a phone call from the mother of the man, Garrett Harris, who had been in an accident and she wanted Lynn to go back and give him another blessing.  This time, Lynn took two different Elders to help him.  Garrett had a girlfriend stay at the hospital, but she wanted to go to a friend’s place to clean up, so she left.  Garrett is still sedated.  Apparently it turns out he was riding his bike erratically, perhaps using his cell phone, and HE ran into a car and fell to the street injuring his head.   Humm, something to think about.  He wasn’t wearing a helmet!  One of the Elders gave him another blessing, and then the three left.

            While Lynn was gone, Meriden called and she just wanted to chat and tell me about her wonderful time in Utah.  It was nice just talking to her.

            So, Thursday—all hands on deck to fix food for Friday; I was on my feet all day.  In the late evening two Spanish Ward missionaries came by and wanted to know if we would like 5 gallons of Country Time lemonade that they had made up.  Turns out that for many months, missionaries have been passing out lemonade at a local park to help advertise a movie activitiy on Friday nights.  They have been unsuccessful getting any non-member parents or children to come to the church and see the movie.  Occasionally a couple of Midwood II members would come with kids.  After making up the lemonade Thursday, suddenly 3 of the four Elders had a simultaneous  strong feeling that they should NOT go to the park and give away flyers and lemonade.  The Holy Ghost had spoken!  So, they took the lemonade back to the church and put it in the frig.  That’s where we came in.  Such an interesting story.  We did serve it on Friday.

            Z-Day.  Friday morning came and we packed up with the pulled pork, a huge bowl of cole slaw, two cakes, 3 dozen bottles of water, nearly 2 dozen apples, 4 dozen small bags of chips, and all kinds of things from our kitchen to make the work go easier.  We had to set the tables so that was the first order of business, the second being to have yogurt and granola out for snacks, then we served everyone at 12:45.  There were a lot of grateful missionaries, I’ll tell you, and overwhelming good reviews.  We had plenty of food for firsts, and some for those who wanted seconds.  We then cleaned up the place and left about 3:30 in the afternoon.  I was plenty tired.

            But, I needed some time to just get out and walk around and suggested going to Prospect Park, but Lynn had a better idea.  We got on the “B” train, transferred to the “5” train and ended up at the Staten Island Ferry terminal at Battery Park.  We got out to the front of the ferry (BTW, the ride is totally free), found a man who wanted to answer our questions.  He got all excited when we told him we were from Provo.  He was just there two weeks ago—talked about IHOP giving free food to missionaries, then he and his family went to S. Utah to the parks.  From start to finish the ride took about 25 minutes.  We went to the beautiful minor league baseball field right on the shore of the bay with a great view of lower Manhattan.  There was a 911 Memorial for those who died in the World Trade Center who lived in Staten Island, and it was beautifully done.  Looking at the names with descriptions, the vast majority were either firemen or high ranking company executives.  After getting back to our apartment I had a craving for homemade buttermilk pancakes, so it took a while (we didn’t eat till 8:30) but they were worth it.

            I have been reading the book, “Kon Tiki” and would highly recommend it—a very interesting, engaging read.

            Saturday Lynn went to Prospect Park and had a BBQ with the Elders in the ward.  There were some members that showed up, plus an investigator and our Elders.  The party was supposed to start at noon, so that’s when Lynn showed up.  However, the food didn’t arrive till 2:30!!  So, he stayed, socialized till late afternoon.  I was disappointed because I wanted him to help me with the mission history, but it was not to be.  I spent the day going through my file box and labeling and putting papers away.  Also re-did all my recipes so they were in alphabetical order. 
And I got a lot of household chores done.

            Lynn and I left to go to church at 5 for a Midwood 2 baptism.  It turned out to be for a 10 year old boy who had a little friend who was a member of the church.  Can’t quite understand a 10 year old befriending a 5 year old female spit-fire, but that’s what happened.  Turns out the boy was having trouble in school, the missionaries helped him with his studies and he got an award for “best improved performance” from their tutoring.  He and his mom then listened to the discussions and he wanted to be baptized; she did not.   So, we supported the MW2 missionaries by showing up.  There was a duet done by two missionaries who had tremendous singing voices and I found out later that one of them had received opera training at BYU.  Turns out this was the first baptism I’ve been to since we’ve been on this mission.  Our ward has had two baptisms in eight months, but they scheduled them at times we could not go.  There is supposed to be one this Sunday.

            I have spent my morning doing this letter, then Lynn helped me with mission history and now I’m back to finishing this.  In doing the mission history, I’ve been redoing the letters that the missionaries have been sending me of special experiences they have had on their mission, re-filing, putting on colored borders etc.   In the process I’ve re-read the experiences they have had and it just warms your heart to read of the miracles they experienced.  It is wonderful being here!!!  I love the Lord, my mission, the people in our ward and my “kids.”  I know the church is true—that knowledge brings great peace. 

Love to you all—Kathy/Mom 

           

           

            

Meriden 8/18/13

August 18, 2013

Hi Family:

This time of year is our monsoon season (from about the first part of July to September).   Unfortunately, it hasn’t been a very good monsoon year.  We usually get some really good storms and will get 6+ inches of rain during the 2 months.  We haven’t gotten near that this year.  We still have several days where there is enough moisture for it to get cloudy and we get some sprinkles, and somewhere in the valley will get some good rain, but the storms have mostly been small and very isolated.  It’s disappointing because the storms can be fun, and water runs in the washes (that can cause problems for driving).   Hopefully, we can get some good storms in the next couple weeks.  One of the nice things about monsoon season is the amazing sunsets!   I love to go outside at sunset time just to watch the colors in the sky.

Nathan has been busy working at Wal-Mart.  He’s decided that he doesn’t want to work at Wal-Mart forever!  Only 2 more months.

Jim left Friday for South Dakota for Air Force stuff.  He’ll be there until Aug. 30.  Yesterday he drove to Mt. Rushmore.  Hopefully he’ll get to do more sightseeing in the Rapid City area.

My summer break ends this week as I start subbing and next week I start my Calc 2 class. 

My Sunday School lesson today was about the Nauvoo period.  We talked about settling Nauvoo (I read the part of Joseph Bates Noble’s journal where he got really sick and Joseph Smith healed him, see below), the missionaries that went to England, and the Lord’s guidance to several people in D&C 124.  I especially like 124:87…

“87 Therefore, let my servant William put his trust in me, and cease to fear concerning his family, because of the sickness of the land. If ye love me, keep my commandments; and the sickness of the land shall redound to your glory.”

Look at the footnotes for the word redound.  I challenged my class to do something missionary related this week to help the missionary work in our ward and to read their patriarchal blessings.  I would like to give y’all the same challenge. 

Have a great week!!

Love,

Meriden/Mom

From Joseph Bates Noble’s autobiography:

About this time a general conference was held at Quincy, at which some six or eight persons were called to go on missions, and I was one of the number.

We soon commenced to move our families up the river about fifty miles, to a place called Commerce, afterwards Nauvoo. Quite a number of us crossed the Mississippi River, to the Iowa side, to avail ourselves of some log cabins that had formerly been used as barracks for soldiers, at a place called Montrose.

Our exposure during the previous winter caused a great deal of sickness. I and some of my family were attacked with bilious fever. I think I can safely say that one half of the families of the whole people had more or less sickness, and many died. Two of my children were buried; and I was nigh unto death. So low was I that my wife asked me, in tears, if I was dying.

At this time Brother Elijah Fordham, a next-door neighbor to me, was very sick; indeed they were preparing clothes for his burial. In this trying hour the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the Prophet Joseph Smith, and he, with Brothers Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt and others, came to Brother Fordham's house and commanded him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise and walk. He immediately jumped from his dying bed, kicked off the drafts from his feet, and came into my house, following the brethren, and shouting, leaping, and praising God with all his might.

President Smith, while leading the way to my bed, made this remark: "Brother Noble, you have been too long with me to lie here." As soon as I saw him the tears of joy burst from my eyes. In a moment he was by my bedside, and took my by the hand. Without waiting for the other brethren to get to my bed, he commanded me, in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise and walk. I arose, and while putting on my clothes I fainted. When I regained consciousness I was on the bed, and Joseph was standing close to me.

As soon as my eyes met his he said, "Wherefore didst thou doubt?" and again commanded me to arise.

While he was speaking I felt the healing virtue flowing through every part of my system. I immediately arose and walked, rejoicing and praising the Lord with all my heart, for His blessing resting upon me, by which I was made whole.

Brother Fordham was more active and stronger than I was. He never sat down in my house, but as soon as Brother Joseph had given directions to my wife concerning some nourishment for me, he left with the rest of the brethren. They went and administered to others who were sick, and called them up in a similar manner.

Joseph, at this time, rebuked the Elders for administering the form without the power. Said he, , "Let the Elders either obtain the power of God to heal the sick, or let them cease to administer the form without the power."

Ben 8/19/13

Family!!!

How was the first week of school?!?!?  Is it really that time already?!  Nothin' quite like our side of town this time of year!  The gospel is so true and God definitely loves football!  Lay it all on the line!  Once in a life time!!!!!

I've decided I would like for you to print out all our emails so far and put them in a book or something please.  I can't print and I should like to read them sometimes.  Thank you! 

This week was so special for me!  There is no happier times then when I focus and consecrate my service.  We can enable the spirit through sacrifice.  We've received a lot of blessings that we can't take credit for.  Behind all these people we are finding teaching and baptizing- the things we can see in the work, and all the spiritual transformation, understanding, peace inside, the almighty God is behind the work.  There is a new exciting feel to life, these are great times we've been put in the middle of.  Through Obedience, we can be a part of, and gain a witness of the work.  These members in Titusville are really stepping up.  They were on the verge of shutting it down in June(one other ward did get shut down)- and in July and August we've had 4 confirmations and the Lords hand has been shown.  We hadn't had a baptism here since November. As a missionary, I could stay here inTitusville my whole life! 

Yesterday we got to see Mary and Michelle get confirmed and Saturday they made sacred covenants.  They had several non member friends there that I know felt the spirit and hopefully we can help them make they same covenants.  So many of these people are looking for the truth, but they know not where to find it.  In my study of the doctrine and covenants, I had recognized the magnitude of sections 121 and 122 to the prophet in the jail, but I missed the great missionary scripture in the last ten verses of section 123! Talk about a boost to keep me going throughout the week! 

It sounds to me like things are just exciting everywhere! I love you guys! The question last week was a little depressing but I'll answer it just because I would like to come back for spring break! I will fly home Dec 17............ 

Matt just go hard my man! That is super cool you are on John Carty's team!  He is a great football coach and a great man!!! You will learn a lot from him!  Just keep up the good work man! You've got the spirit!!!!! 

Nate just soak it all in! To every time and place there is a season! Now is your time to be that dude on the football field! soak it all in! Enjoy it not only with your friends and entourage of women but also with your family! Take Matt to get some Alberto's sometime. I'm proud of you man! 

With school and football, make sure you are all reading scriptures as a family.  Make church a refining experience every week.  I talk about and use you guys in my lessons all the time. You are all over my journal and it's a blessing to have you for such a great support team! The Lords vision is member missionary work! Be sure to always keep your eyes peeled for those who need the gospel!  The Lord needs the best of the best at their best giving their best!  I don't know how ward council or PEC works back home, but out here, we rely on the members! 

SMH at you guys and your curfew problems!  I never had curfew problems in my youth and it has helped so much as I have a curfew now!...... (:

Oh mom! I will always be yours!  I'm not getting married ever!!!  Once I get home it is just Momma season! (: 

Love you all!

Elder G

GO WARRIORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

President Berry,

This week was a great week!  I am so enjoying growing with Elder H. and these people in Titusville!  The field is white and the kingdom of heaven is at hand!!!  This week we had the baptisms and conformations for Michelle S. and Mary B.  It was probably the most spiritual baptisms I've been a part of.  I know these sisters have been prepared and I know they are converted because of the contributions they are going to make to the ward.  I'm certain the reason it went so well was so that Elder H. can have a taste of how great being edified with our investigators is.  He's coming along great!!! Participating in the lessons more and more all the time! It's exciting!  Just a testimony the work is inspired!  I don't know what could be more joyful than the people I'm working with, the companion I have, and the undeserving blessings I receive every hour.  I was just thinking this morning about how these last few weeks have been among the happiest of my life.  I have an unshakable testimony of the work and my mentality is naturally shifting from what do I want to what does the Lord want.  Miracles are the only answer.   I love your counsel about true grit!  Mental toughness is a necessity, especially in missionary work!  We look forward to zone conference and are grateful for you and Sister Berry.

Love Elder Gottfredson

Meriden 8/11/13

August 11, 2013

Hi Family!

It has been a fun last couple days!  I’m going to tell about my UT trip from my perspective; hopefully Nancy will write from her perspective.

I flew up to SLC on Thursday morning, got a rental car and drove to Centerville to meet Nancy, Wheng, Emily, and Jenny.   Oh, and I can’t forget Xyler!  From there, we went to Cherry Hill in Kaysville where the rest of the Hiatt clan was.  It was great to see family that I haven’t seen for years, and especially to meet Lily and of course, Rebekah. 

We had fun playing at Cherry Hill.  The water slides were ok, it is nothing like Seven Peaks or any other big water park.  We also played miniature golf and a game called Battlestar Blasters where you’re shooting foam balls at targets and at each other.  It was fun.  Rick, Robin (Rick’s brother), and Jeff (Julie’s husband) also went to the batting cages.  I’m not sure if Matt went there.  They also had Aeroball, which is like basketball on Trampolines.  I think that Nancy, Jenny, Emily and maybe Julie played that. 

After the fun time at Cherry Hill, we went to the church where Matt and Rebekah’s reception was going to be to see if they needed any help; but everything seemed to be ok.  Then most of us went to Golden Corral for dinner.  I haven’t been to a Golden Corral in years and it was much different.  They had a ridiculous amount of food that you could choose from.  I ate way too much!!

The next morning, Nancy, Robin and I went to the Bountiful temple.  We arrived in time for the 10:00 session, but it was full and the next one wasn’t until 11:00.  We decided to stay and go to the 11:00 session.  Nancy went and did a couple of sealings, Robin and I stayed in the chapel and read.  I enjoyed having the time to read in the Book of Mormon.  That was my first time seeing the new film and I really enjoyed (that may not be the right word) it. 

After the temple, we went back to hotels to change clothes and to the church.  We frosted hundreds of tiny cupcakes.  Julie, Jenny, and Emily made frosting.  Another sister that was a friend of the Lund’s, Emily and I frosted the cupcakes.  We used flower tips and put the frosting on that way.  Nancy was helping with making frosting.  Jeff, Rick and Robin put sprinkles on the cupcakes.  Brett came at sometime when we were there.  We had a pretty good system and got most of the cupcakes done before we had to go back to our hotels to change for the reception.  There were a couple other ladies there to finish the cupcakes. 

The reception was very nice.  Matt and Bekah were a great looking couple!  I did decide to do an In-and-Out run, since we didn’t have dinner and were hungry.  On my way out the door was Sean, Julianne and their kids (except for Kyle) an JD.  I was flabbergasted!  I knew they were coming, but forgot about it and it really didn’t sink in that they would be at the reception.  It was so good to see them.  So, I drove about 10 minutes to a very busy In-and-Out; it took awhile to get my order, just because of the number of people they had there.  I was amazed at the efficiency of the employees to serve all the customers.  They were moving pretty fast!  Then, when I got back, there was Ken, another pleasant surprise!  Then later I saw Margie and their boys.  I felt kind-of bad bringing In-and-Out into the reception, but we were hungry!  It was great being with family at the reception!  Thank you for coming!

Saturday was the wedding/sealing.  Wheng and I decided to go to the temple early, which I’m glad that we did.  I walked around the temple grounds and they are beautiful.  The sealing ceremony was wonderful and of course, Matt and Rebekah looked great and very happy to be sealed together.  After the sealing we went back to the church for a luncheon.  Thank you to the Lunds for provided that.  I got to meet John Lund (Rebekah’s grandfather).  I have read a couple of his books and listened to a couple of his CDs.   He sounds just like he does on the CDs!  He and his wife were as kind as I would imagine them to be.  

After the luncheon, we said our good-byes.  I went back to the temple to do another session, then went to Café Rio and then to the airport.

I am so glad that I went up for Matt and Rebekah’s wedding.  It was great to get reacquainted with family that I haven’t seen for years.  With the busyness of our lives and how far apart we are, we just don’t get together often enough.  Thanks to Matt and Rebekah for giving us an excuse for getting together!  I am glad for Facebook to see glimpses of family, but that is just not the same as being together.   I enjoyed getting to know know Wheng.  Wow, she is an awesome woman!  Scott, you’re fortunate to have her.  Xyler is a sweetie!  Lily is such a sweetie.  She looked like a princess in her flower girl dress.  I could go on and on how I loved talking with all who was there. 

Thankfully, families are forever.  We have been sealed to parents, grandparents, etc.  I hope and pray that we can all live so we can be together forever.  I can’t even imagine not one of us being there.  We all belong together whether we like it right now or not…because we are family and have those bonds. 

Sorry to get off on a soapbox, but that’s just how I’m feeling right now.  The gospel is true.  Jesus Christ is standing there with open arms, waiting for us to come unto him.  He will heal us of all our hurts, pains, sins, or whatever it is we need to be healed of.  We just need to find Him and follow His plan for us.

Love,

Meriden/Mom

PS.  I will get pictures on Facebook and/or Picasa tomorrow. 

Kathy 8/11/13

August 11, 2013

Dear Family and Friends—

            It’s been a lovely day today, more of the temperate weather.  I feel like I’ve got to get as much of this letter done today as I can because tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.

            Monday evening we have FHE.  Had two Elder’s do it, and it was, well, less than wonderful.  You lose an audience of adults when you play “Hang-Man”.  So, Lynn and I will do FHE tomorrow.  Since we’ve lost a lot of capable adults who stopped coming because of work issues, it’s been more difficult to give the assignments out. 

            I was glad to get Meriden’s information on our Tanner line and hope you appreciate the genealogy that I sent along.

            Tuesday was Transfer Day and it was outstanding.  By now, we really know a lot of the missionaries and it’s like having a family reunion with them.  Both Pres. and Sis. Calderwood gave outstanding, inspiring, upbeat talks.  He did make one important announcement—starting in September the missionaries from our mission can go to the temple twice a year which brought an excited buzz from the missionaries.  He said that actually they can go five days a week if they wanted; it’s just that they would have to bring a baptized convert with them to do baptisms for the dead.  I went down to the meeting for the missionaries who were going home and got some email information and took a group picture.  We came home with luggage for three new missionaries for our district/zone and Lynn made sure it got distributed.  BTW, found out that our mission is pretty much at capacity, and from now on will get only the same number that leave.

            Lynn wanted to get some exercise in and show me the Quaker Cemetery at Prospect Park.  So in the afternoon, we went to a place that was new for me.  Sure enough, along a wooded path and off to the side behind a fence was a cemetery.  Walk a little further and there was a sign that said it was private property owned by the Society of Friends.  It was a beautifully kept cemetery.  We then went off on some other trails that I hadn’t been to before and we just drank in the beauty and peace.

            I’ve been faithfully reading the latest Ensigns and there have been some excellent articles in August—I would encourage you to read them.

            Wednesday morning I went to have my hair cut.  I had forgotten to get my subway card from Lynn and had to try and buy a round-trip pass from the machines.  It was an experience in frustration and I ended up just buying from the station manager.  Ended up being 10 minutes late, but it worked out ok.  Got another super short cut.

            Wednesday afternoon I was able to get to work on the assignment of doing the mission history, thank goodness.  Having a break from Institute was necessary to get this done.  So, a lot of Wednesday was spent typing things up.

            Lynn went on a bike ride while I was having my hair cut and went to Radio Shack to see if he could get some batteries for my fancy small flashlight.  The clerk told him that two would cost $20.  Wow!  Lynn told him he’d have to check with me before he would purchase the batteries because they were expensive and wasn’t sure I wanted to spend that kind of money.  The clerk teased him by asking him basically if I had too much control over decisions made in the marriage.  Lynn said he knew that I would want to know the cost of the batteries before a purchase was made.  Then the twenty- something kid who was quite bright and well-spoken asked Lynn how long he had been married.  When Lynn told him 46 years this September, the clerk was blown away.   He said that in his culture (Haitian) that a marriage lasts 2-3 years.  He said he didn’t know anyone married as long as we were.  Lynn involved the church in the conversation and the clerk genuinely wanted to have a church that had the principles that we did and the concept of marriage that we did.  Information was exchanged and at a “let’s get acquainted” meeting with the missionaries Lynn gave the information to them.  So far, nothing has come of it.  Lynn may have to do a follow-up visit to Radio Shack.  : )  BTW, we were late for the meeting, but a half-hour was better than nothing and it was nice to meet our new ZL and the other new missionaries. 

            Thursday was a lot of little have-to-do chores for me, ironing, mission history stuff.  In the early afternoon Lynn got a phone call from Elder Ahlborn, one of the missionaries who teaches CES for our stake and some places beyond.  He’s also in a Branch Presidency for the YSA.  He told Lynn to call the Branch President of the YSA branch (Ahlborn was in Utah to have a cancer check-up).  Lynn did call the BP and found out that a young man who is supposed to go to that unit (apparently he’s completely inactive) had been in a car accident (he was hit by a car) and was seriously injured.  The hospital contacted his parents who live in Salt Lake, and in turn his parents called the BP and asked if someone could go to the hospital and give their son a blessing.  The young man’s dad got on a plane that night so he could be with his boy.  The BP asked Lynn if he could go to the hospital and Lynn was happy to do that.  First he went to the church and waited an hour for the missionaries to finish a meeting then he took two Elders with him, both outstanding, to the hospital.  They had to wait for quite a while because 3 doctors were working on the young man, but finally a nurse gave them permission to touch his upper shoulder.  One of the missionaries did the anointing, Lynn gave the blessing.  Lynn told me that he tried to give him a blessing of full recovery, but just could not, the Spirit didn’t allow it.  The patient was unconscious while all this was happening.  He had serious head injuries. 

            Friday morning I did my usual shopping, then called Moira so we could sing to Joseph.  He was in the middle of eating his requested breakfast, pancakes, so we used our speaker phone and so did she.  He got the message!  Bob has been way overwhelmed putting out small “fires” that you get when you start up any new huge project and opening up a brand new hospital is a huge new project, so he wasn’t home. 

            Lynn and I had tickets to go to a Yankee’s game that night.  The weather was iffy and extremely humid but we went on the B train all the way from Newkirk  Station to Yankee Stadium despite the threat that the game would be cancelled.  It took us a while to find “will call” and the entrance for section 4, but we made it.  We were in the nose bleed section, one row from the back, in the upper-most tier.  But, and this is a big but, we had a terrific view, there were no seats right behind us, there was instead a grate kind of opening that let a nice breeze through and our seats were to the right of the 1^st base bag, so we saw plenty of action.  There was a 45 minute rain delay, and it did start raining again in the 3^rd, but the game continued.  That was the night the Yankees brought back Alex Rodriguez and when he came to the plate there were plenty of cheers and boos.  He got up to bat 4 times, got out four times.  Worthless!  The stadium is just gorgeous, what an incredible facility.  The Jumbotron is hugemongous.  We were royally entertained by all that happened, too much to mention in the letter.  The Yankees were winning 3-1 at the end of the 8^th inning.  The relief pitcher came in at the top of the 9^th.  Two men were out, there were two strikes on the batter (Miguel Cabrera) who had injured himself with his own foul ball, there was one man on base.  Then…….the injured player hit a solid home run to center field—tie game.  Groan!!  We stayed to the bottom of the ninth then went home and found out at the computer that the Yankees beat Detroit in the 10^th inning.   You’ve got to understand that this game was a dream come true for Lynn, to see his favorite team, the Yankees, play in Yankee Stadium. 

            Saturday morning Lynn woke me up to say it was time for me to get ready to go to the Primary activity at Prospect Park.  He had gone to Lana’s house to get the things for the activity and put them in our car.  Then I was ready to go and two sister missionaries went with us to help set up.  We got there and the Elders were there to help too.  We filled a lot of water balloons for two of the games, set out snacks (everyone was supposed to bring some snacks for refreshments) and just hung out with those that came early.  About an hour and a half later we had enough kids to start the activities in earnest.  Lana had small bats and balls, bubble making “swords”, Frisbee, face painting kit (one of the sisters was kind enough to help out there and she did a pretty good job).  Really what happened is the missionaries helped the little kids do some of the activities and kept them busy until we had enough to do the water balloon toss etc.  Not many kids came—I think there were 11 but a fun time was had by all.  The missionaries helped Lana clean up and we put everything in the back of our car, delivered two missionaries , the cooler and 3 gallon thermos to their apartment and our car still has the rest of the stuff.

            We got back to our place, cleaned up, got back in the car, drove for an hour out to Long Island and met up with the senior missionaries who had just gotten back from a tour of an aviation museum.  We met them at Cozymel’s, a Mexican Restaurant.  The company was wonderful, the food was ok.  We were glad to be with them to support the activity, then another hour home and time to relax.

            We will return to the temple this Tuesday and are looking forward to seeing the new movie.  The Manhattan Temple and the Palmyra Temple are the only two temples east of the Mississippi that have the new movie, FYI.

            We wish everyone well.  This has been a BIG WEEK for the family, right?!!!  Hope everyone gets home safe and sound.  We wish we could have been with you, but as you can read, we had our own fun here!

            Love the gospel!  It was wonderful today to listen to the RS teacher tell me after RS was over about her conversion story and the miracles that happened after that concerning her father who passed away before she was baptized.  Just love the Spirit that teaches us doctrine and truth.  It’s a great privilege to be here, that’s for sure.           Love to you all—Kathy/Mom