Another busy week

This week we visited with or made contact with eighteen families.  That may not seem like a lot until you factor in how many miles we have to go to get to some of these families and how many times we get lost in doing so.  Also, you have to remember that Rod likes to visit (O.K., I do to), so some of our visits take longer than others.  And you have to remember that people don’t like to visit with you until after noon.  So the mornings are taken up with studying, exercising, eating, and studying maps to see where we need to go when our GPS gets us lost.  Also, I like to spend some time each day practicing on my organ.  I feel compelled to do that for some reason so time will tell why.  Rod also has to spend extra time on assignments as ward executive secretary.  That calling has already proved to be a great blessing to the missionary work here.

                                         

My mom called last week because she heard we had some tornados in this area.  There were two tornados that touched down and did some extensive damage in an area several miles from us, but evidently there were some pretty good winds in Centerville because the couple living in our home sent this picture of wind damage to our home there. 

                                                  

Fortunately, Tyson is taking good care of us and arranged to have it fixed by our good friend, Mark Earnshaw.

We were also supposed to have a big snow storm here last week that we were all geared up for but this was the extent of our snow.

               

It’s been unseasonably cold though and it feels like winter again. Although we do have a few signs that spring is just around the corner.  As you can see, the grass is starting to green up and some of the early flowers are trying to bloom.

               

These are some pictures of our yard.  We often have deer wander through the yard and they aren’t very afraid of humans.  Most pets are kept indoors so there are no dogs to scare them off.  We are looking forward to the trees greening up, then it should be really pretty.

We also spent one morning this week orienting at the Wheeling Hospital to do volunteer work there.  It is a Catholic hospital but they are thrilled to get anyone who is willing to help.  We were taught all about JCAHO, OSHA and HIPAA; things I never really wanted to worry about again.  We are looking forward to doing our service there.

               

These are pictures of the hospital from the freeway.  It is a couple of miles from our home and will be convenient to get to.  I was very impressed with the hospital and how it is run.  Nuns know how to do it right.  It’s a trauma I hospital and very busy.

We are enjoying the missionary work and are loving the people here.  The message of the Restored Gospel is such a fun message to share.  We hope all is well wherever you are.

A day in Ohio

We had another temple day and were able to drive to Columbus to the temple.  We had a wonderful session and a visit with the Chad and Kari Kawa from home in Centerville. They are in Ohio going to school and just happened to be in the same session we were. Chad had served his mission in Sendai, Japan where things were hardest hit with the recent earthquake and tsunami. He had just heard from Japan that most of the members from that area were in the temple when the disasters hit and were safe.  A great lesson on going to “higher ground” for safety against the tribulations of the last days.

We were also able to travel to Pittsburgh again this week for a mission training meeting.  We drove our Elders from Wheeling to help save miles on their mission car.  It was wonderful to be taught by President Summerhays and the Zone Leaders.  We were told that the most important position in the mission is the District Leader.  They can make or break the mission.  No pressure there.

                                               

After we left the temple we did a little trip down memory lane with Brendan and Marli.  We had to call Marli to ask for sure their apartment number but we found it.  We have good memories of our visits with them in Ohio. 

                                                          

Dicks is where the old Galyan’s was.  Favorite shopping spots of Marli and Rod.

         

I was surprised that Rod could drive us right to where they lived while they were here going to dental school.  He has a great internal GPS if he’s been there once.

We had ward conference this week and enjoyed being taught by the stake.  Most of them had a one to two hour drive to get to Wheeling and some of them got lost because their GPS took them another way.  Everything is a little out of the way here, but we are loving it and it’s finally starting to warm up and turning a little green.  We continue to enjoy the people here and the members of the ward especially.  Rod was just called to be the ward executive secretary and will be serving closely with the bishopric now.  It should be a great blessing for our missionary work too. 

Remember, the church is true and that’s why we are out her in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  What a great opportunity this has been and we recommend it to everyone. 

Six weeks already

Time flies when you are having fun and we are having a great time.  I thought Rod would go into withdrawals while on our mission because he wouldn’t get to go shopping, but that proved false.  He has found so many killer deals here he hasn’t had to go without at all.

                                         

Now we just have to figure out how to get it home after the mission.  As you can see, he is no respecter of teams.  The elders put him on to the ties.  They say it’s the only change they have from their dark suits and white shirts.   I

                                         

We drove to Pittsburgh this past week for transfer meetings.  Every six weeks new elders come in and many of the current elders are transferred to different places in the mission.  It’s a fun and exciting time for everyone and we went to meet the new elder coming to our District.  It was a spiritual and uplifting meeting with experiences and testimonies shared.  President Summerhays has his arm on one of the missionaries shoulders, always giving love and support.  And Sister Summerhays is always there too, doing the same.              

We had a very successful Relief Society Birthday dinner this week.  I helped with the food and decorations and Rod and I sang in a quartet during the program.  Rod got to help with other important things too, as you can see.

                                                    

In our travels around the ward we discovered that Belmont, Ohio where Rod’s great grandfather, John S Green, was born is in our ward boundaries.  We are excited to find any relatives he might have still here.  His great great grandmother was a Duvall from here too.  A coincidence?  We don’t think so.                                                                      

                                            

The work is progressing and we are having fun doing it together.  Remember to put the Lord first and everything will work out.

Greetings again from WV

They tell us here that there are three things besides family that bring people back to Wheeling:  DiCarlo’s Pizza, Coleman’s fish sandwich, and Oliver’s pies.

                                        

I am not a fish-lover but I have to admit, this is good.  They bring in fresh fish everyday and if you get there at the right times you can get it right off the trucks.  We had dinner with the Wylie’s last week and she served salmon she had gotten there fresh.  It was really good.  This was on p-day when we try to do a little exploring around Wheeling.

                                        

Right next door is Oliver’s pies.  Jim Oliver is an active member of the church and he won’t let the missionaries pay for their pies so we are careful not to go there too often.  His pies are delicious!   He uses his grandmother’s pie crust recipe.  Jim and his wife, Michelle, work in the Columbus temple on Saturdays.  They have six children who are all active.  Their second son is on a mission in South America.  The lady in the back owns an ice cream store next door and helps Jim at times.  She is taking the missionary lessons right now, thanks to Jim.

                                         

We haven’t tried DiCarlo’s yet, but it’s on the list of things to do.  This must be the pizza capital of the country.  Everywhere you go there are pizza shops.  We have found DiCarlo’s in the most out-of-the-way places.  We’ll give it a try and let you know.

We have had rain or snow this entire week.  I stepped out of the car the other night on our way in to visit a less-active family and sunk past my shoes into mud.  It was dark and I couldn’t see the mud hole.  Needless to say, I took my shoes off at the door.  Things are pretty gray as you can see from the picture above, but we have promises of beautiful, green country side in the near future.  We are also told that the telephone reception gets worse when the leaves are out because there are so many trees they block the reception.  I guess “there is opposition in all things”.

We are still loving it out here and enjoying the work.  The church is true and we love telling people about it.

One month in WV

The highlight of this week was our two trips to the Columbus Temple, one day to go with the youth to do baptisms and one day for ward temple day.  It was wonderful to be back in the temple.  It is a two hour drive to the temple from our house.  The families take their children with them and trade off tending for each other in the church adjacent to the temple.  It makes it an all day temple day for the family.  Not a bad idea.

                                           

We have attended five Sundays in the Wheeling Ward.  As we were sitting in the chapel watching to see if those we committed to come to church were there, we realized that we could put names to almost every person there.  Those we didn’t know, we soon met. We are learning to really love the people of this ward.  The ward building is about 15 minutes out of Wheeling in a little unincorporated area called Sherrard.

                                            

We had a freezing rain one day and could not get the car doors open.  We had to wait a couple of hours for it to thaw.  Our fair weather car is used to a garage. The schools have lots of two-hour delay days so things can warm up a bit.

                                            

We went to a local auction with the bishop one evening when our appointments all cancelled.  He said he could get a bed for us so we went to check them out.  We did get a bed but I also got me an organ for $10.00,  It’s fun to have to practice the hymns on.  Rod and the bishop had to carry it up our front steps so they weren’t so thrilled about it.

                                             

The auction was an experience in local culture.  They are really big out here.  You can see why we really stood out in our missionary attire. Rod had to throw his Green Bay Packers jacket he had in the car over his suit to do the loading.  He wasn’t sure it was safe to wear it out here since most people here are big Steelers fans and they were selling lots of guns and ammunition at the auction. 

                 

We were also invited to a Lions Club fund raiser.  We thought  it a good chance to meet some of the people from the community and a member of the ward was performing in it.  We went with the ward mission leader and his wife.  It was a musical production and another cultural experience.  The only professionals were a string band band called “The Hill Top Singers” and they were singing “Ya’ Gotta Quit Kicking My Dog Around.”  They were really quite good.    The fiddler also clogged in cowboy boots which looked really difficult to me.                                      

                                           

All in all, it was a good week.  We are almost starting to feel like we belong here. The work is progressing and we are trying to be patient.  The mission news letter printed President Holland's testimony of the Book of Mormon from October 2009 General Conference, “Safety For the Soul”. It was a powerful reminder of what we are trying to share with the people here.  We would suggest everyone read it again and again.

Keep the letters and phone calls coming.  We love to hear how everyone is doing. We love you all and we love the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Missionaries and Mission Work

We are really enjoying the mission. The Wheeling Ward has about 500 members on its roles and less than 100 show up on any Sunday.  We have our work cut out for us.  We have loved getting to know the members, active and less-active.  There are wonderful people out here and everyone has been very kind to us.  Our new bishop is Bishop Skrzyneki (shin-es’-key).  He was called just before we got here. The ward mission leader is Brother Wylie and he is really trying to work the ward mission plan.  Our district has the two elders here in Wheeling, two elders serving in the Wintersville area and us.  We are the only unit in the mission that has two elders and a couple serving together.  Our first district meeting we drove about 45 minutes up to Wintersville to meet with the elders there.  Since then we have had the meeting at our home.  Last week we had the Zone Leaders too. They are all wonderful young men trying hard to find and teach.  We are hoping we can help keep them busy.  We feel good about the work here and feel the Lord has great things planned for this area.  We appreciate all your prayers to help us find those the Lord has prepared here in Wheeling to hear and accept the truth.

                                     

Elder Krivanec from Bountiful, Utah,  Elder Selfridge from Fresno,California, Elder Florence from Kaysville (he was at Davis High with Rod), Elder Clark from South Jordan (Zone Leaders) Elder Neerings from Midway, Utah and Elder Jeromchek from Spokane, Washington.  The last two are our Wheeling elders.

Wheeling West Virginia

We made it to Wheeling after four days of travel and 1900 miles. It was a good trip and a fun visit with Tearsa, Ben, Cole, and Ellie in West Des Moines. We arrived in Wheeling about 5:00 pm Friday and went directly to the Elders apartment to meet them and get our house key.  Elder Neerings and Elder Jeromchek came over and helped us unload the car, which was packed tight.  The office missionaries had brought furniture and even had our bed made so we felt “at home”. The house is a lovely 100 year old home at the top of a hill, which is pretty typical for this area.  It’s all “hills and hollars”.  The first floor has a large living room with an ante-room off of it, a large sitting room, a kitchen and dining room and bathroom.  The upstairs has three large bedrooms, bathroom and a landing where the washer and dryer are.  Each bedroom has a fireplace. The floors are all hardwood and 10 foot ceilings throughout.  It is very quaint and comfortable and we have plenty of room for ya’ll to come see us.  We traveled to PIttsburgh to meet with President and Sister Summerhays the next day and had dinner with them, Elder and Sister Johnson (they are the office couple and are from Rexburg) and Elder and Sister Brenchley who are friends of ours from Centerville.  It was good to meet with them all and feel the missionary spirit they all had. The work is going well, we love the people here and we are having fun finding our way around our ward which takes in three counties in the states of West Virginia and Ohio.  We would be lost without our GPS and sometimes are lost with it. We are definitely having an adventure.  And we are very glad we brought the 4 wheel drive car because these hills can be fun in an ice storm.