Work and Play

 

                               

The ward had a fun Halloween party at the church this last week.  There was a good dinner and then the primary kids got to mummy wrap the bishopric.  The bishop is on the left and Brother Carman is on the right.  The kids had a ball but I can’t speak for the bishopric.  They then had an hour of different games which Rod and I got to help with.  I got to man the pumpkin putt-putt game and dad got to man the balloon game where kids got to pop balloons by sitting on them.  I was glad I got to do the golf.

                      

This is another of the many faces of Sister Carman, our RS president.  She’s a good sport.  The evening ended with a cake walk which was a hit for everyone.  We had several non-members and less-actives there so it was a great missionary activity.

                                           

The highlight of the week was the baptism of Albert Almonza.  Al wanted to be baptized on his birthday so he could remember the day of his re-birth.  We had birthday cake after the meeting.  Al is a sweetheart and a real student of the scriptures.  And he loves to serve others.

We know the heavens rejoice when another person enters the waters of baptism.  We are looking forward to the Duckworth family getting baptized next week. 

More Couples

We are excited to have two new missionary couples coming to the mission.  Elder and Sister Mooney come from North Carolina and will be serving in Wintersville doing record extraction. They will be a great blessing to that ward. They are so excited to be helping the elders there with the missionary work there too.  Couples can supply lots of love, encouragement and rides.

               

Elder and Sister Mudgett come from Layton, Utah and will be serving in Punxsutawney, PA. They are called to do member and leader support like us.  We had fun getting to know the new missionaries at the Mission Tour meeting last week.  We also got to sit at the feet of Elder Zwick of the Seventy for a full day and be spiritually uplifted.  It was a wonderful day for the missionaries of the Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Mission. 

              

They did the mission tour in two sessions, one in Pittsburgh and one in Harrisburg, so this was half of our mission but all of the couples.

                             

We also got to have some fun going to the Pitt-Utah game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh with Elder and Sister Marshall. We sat in the Utah section, wore red, and cheered for the Utes.  It was fun visiting with people from Utah or with Utah connections and our missionary tags got us lots of attention. Thanks to Uncle Gerry for the tickets.

We are helping to teach some wonderful people in our area and are looking forward to some baptisms soon.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes and blesses lives and we are blessed to be a part of that happening.  We love our mission and we do need “more couples”.

Fall in the Northeast

I wish my camera could do justice to the beautiful colors out here.  Everywhere we drive we get beautiful surprises around every turn. We don’t have time to stop to take pictures of every scene so I just hope my memory can store them for me.  We only have one fall out here to remember.                        

                                      

President Topham is a former UDOT executive and one of the first comments he made to us was about the unusual and unique signage he has seen in this area.  We are always amazed at the stop signs on the on-ramps onto the freeways or the stop signs that give you a pass if you are turning right.  But, we have to admit, West Virginia drivers are usually very courteous.  Even if it’s their turn to go, they wave you to go.  It drives Rod crazy. 

                                        

Our missionary work is going great.  We are helping to teach some wonderful people and we love witnessing what the Gospel of Christ can do for a person’s life.  When we get discouraged we have to remind ourselves whom those thoughts are coming from and move forward in faith in the Savior, knowing He is directing the work.  Getting to spend 24/7 serving and teaching the gospel is a wonderful blessing.

Mission changes

Another beautiful week in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  We continue to be amazed at the beauty of this place.  We loved watching General Conference and hearing the prophets teach what we need to hear.  We had two investigators at the church watching conference with us.  It was fun trying to hear the messages from their perspective.  The messages truly speak to everyone, whatever your needs or challenges.  It is another testimony that the Lord loves us and knows each one of us individually.

We had transfers yesterday and lost Elder Boughton and kept Elder van der Spek in Wintersville.  Not what we had anticipated.

             

Elder Nielsen was just released after 9 months as assistant to the president and came to Wintersville to be with Elder van der Spek.  Wintersville won’t know what hit them.  He is an incredible Elder and it will be fun associating with him for the last four months of his mission or however long he is here.  We had district meeting at our home this week and we got to know him a little better. It’s fun to watch his energy and determination to do the Lord’s work the best he can.

                                             

We hope that is what we are doing:  The best we can.  We are excited about the things that are happening in the Wheeling area.  We have lots of opportunities to serve and teach and hopefully there will be some baptisms soon.  The Lord is preparing some wonderful people to hear the message of the restored gospel.