Another fun visit from family

 

     

Casey, Lindsey, Carly and Holland came to Pittsburgh to see us. They only had to drive 2 hours because they moved this week to Cleveland, OH.  They moved to Utah just before we left on our mission and they moved to Cleveland just weeks before we move back to Utah.  Now we have a good excuse to come back and visit.  We had fun showing them downtown Pittsburgh and then a day in Wheeling.  We loved seeing them. Holland was born while we were on our mission so we had never seen her.  Needless to say, she wasn’t as thrilled as Grandpa and GG were.

                       

We got to take another trip last week to Kirtland with the Pittsburgh 2nd Ward.  It was fun to see again with new people. Since we had such a large group and were all LDS, we got to sit in the main-floor room where Joseph Smith received the keys from Moses, Elijah, and Elias and sing “The Spirit of God”.  It was a very spiritual experience.

                       

We made sure we made it to the John Johnson Farm this time.  We have run out of time on our other visits and never made it out there.  It’s about a 45 minute drive out of Kirtland.  We toured the farm with Sister Rosa, Marissa, Autumn and the Steffenhauers.  Elder Green caught a quick power nap before he had to drive us home.

                

We had another transfer this week.  It went pretty smoothly until Elder Penn pulled the truck and trailer into the church parking lot and caught one of the mission cars’ rear fender.  He was going home so he had his first car accident of his mission the last 10 seconds of his mission driving experience.  He is a former Fleet Coordinator and he was the only fleet coordinator who hadn’t had an accident after he got released.  I told Rod it stops with him.

Elder Coleman was taught how to knit by a member and he has gone crazy knitting ties and hats. They actually look pretty good.  Elder Glover is modeling his tie with Elder Heinrich admiring it.

Our time is winding down fast and we still have a bucket list of things we want to do.  I can tell we are going to have to come back and visit to get it all done. 

Memorial Day

              

              

Pittsburgh 2nd ward has an annual Memorial Day picnic at South Park in the East Rise Pavilion.  We ran to the office to get some cars ready to show and then went to the breakfast.  We have good friends in the 2nd ward now.  It was a beautiful day but hot and humid.

             

We got to see another Pirates game. This time with the Christensens.  It was their first time at a professional baseball game.  The rain came down in sheets for about an hour and then the game got underway.  The Reds beat the Pirates 8-1.  The temperature was warm so we enjoyed the rain up under the overhang of the deck above us.

              

                                                

We had fun meeting the Brenchleys in Somerset on Saturday.  They had come back to visit their daughter and family in Hershey and drove to Somerset to visit where they had served for a year.  They were staying at a B&B they had stayed at for the first two weeks in the mission field.  Carol, the owner, had become a good friend.  She shared with us her days-old baby skunk.  It’s name is Cush.  It’s mother had been killed on the highway and they had found the baby abandoned. She was deciding whether to keep it or not and get it de-scented.  It really was cute and cuddly.  Carol milks goats and makes goat milk cheese and fudge. She says her favorite is the cheese cake from goat cheese.  They raise chickens and have lots of cats too. Her B&B is beautiful and decorated with hedgehogs and porcupines.  WIsh we had known about this when the girls came here with us.

                                    

These are the Elders in our Zone and the ones we teach the Book of Mormon Class with.  Elders Mackintosh and Shumway are the Pittsburgh 2nd ward elders and the moving elders for the mission.  They drive the new Chevy pickup so they can get apartments moved in and out of.  Elders Deaton and Heinrich are the Zone Leaders and Elders Gerratt and Christensen are the APs.  We love them all.

                                         

Elder and Sister Neal just arrived this week and are from Nampa, ID.  They are our new CES couple.  They are going to be loved by the young adults.             

We love all of our missionaries and are happy to be serving in the mission office and getting to know them all.