Couples Conference

We had a Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission Couples Conference at the Oakland building in Pittsburgh on July 26th.  We had 18 couples attending including President and Sister Topham.  We were lifted and edified by President Topham and hearing the successes and testimonies of all the couples.  We were asked to give a departing testimony along with the Andersons and the Christensens.  President Topham told us all that the Lord has known all our lives that we would serve as missionaries in this mission and He has been preparing us all our lives for this work.  That was very comforting to me.  There is very little direction or instruction for senior couples.  The President said he was instructed to let the couples go out and do what they do best.  Each couple has been able to accomplish different things in their assigned areas, but each has been a great blessing to their ward or branch.

             

  

We were told by President Topham to go home and unashamedly recruit couples to the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission; a great place to serve!

Trip to Palmyra

Since we extended our release date from July 7 to August 8, President Topham told us to go see a few of the places we wanted to visit.  Palmyra was on top of the list and Lindsey, Casey, Holland and Carly went there the same time we did.  Thanks to Kent and Kae and their great hospitality in putting us all up in their beautiful John Young home.

               

                              

Kent showed us the sites around their home including the baptismal site of Brigham Young and many of the saints who joined the church at that time.

             

The Tomlinson Inn is where Samuel Smith gave the Book of Mormon to Brigham’s brother which led to Brigham Young being baptized. 

              

              

We visited the Grandin building where the Book of Mormon was first published and then Kent and Kae gave us a tour of the Sacred Grove.  It was fun to do with family.

                

         We drove to the top of Hill Cumorah and saw the monument of Angel Moroni.           

                

           And we looked down on to the Pageant stage and seating.

                

Before the Pageant we met up with Chris and Michelle Southwick and Debbie and Mike Corry and families. 

It was a wonderful week-end with family and a chance to see more of Palmyra before we leave to go home to Utah. 

Saying Goodbyes

We were invited to a dinner with some members from the Pittsburgh 2nd Ward at the Diffendafers.  Those who came were the Christensen’s, Browns, Burnetts, Sister Gray, Brother Smith, Elder and Sister Christensen and us.   We left early to attend the baptism of Brother Bugher. 

            

Elders Lovejoy, Huber and Shumway all taught Bob the gospel.  His sweet mother, Phyllis, has been a member for over 40 years and and had been trying to get Bob to accept the Gospel.  We were blessed to be there when he did. 

              

We took the AP’s, Elder Gerratt and Elder Christensen, out to dinner at Al’s since Elder Christensen was being transferred.  We have worked closely with them in the office.  Elder Gerratt and Elder Collier are now the AP’s.

We had dinner in Wheeling with the Olivers and said our goodbyes to their family and Tom and Dottie. We love our Wheeling friends so much and will really miss them all.

            

The 2nd ward had a farewell party for the Browns after church and kindly included us in the farewell.  We have a lot of good friends we will miss here too.  Sister Schieffer has been especially close to us since we went to the DC Temple with her when she received her endowments.

We have been blessed with so many good friends in the Wheeling and Pittsburgh 2nd Wards.  It’s hard to say goodbye.

We keep working and playing

 

                                       

Terry and Marilyn Lotz came out to Pittsburgh to see us for a few days.  We were able to arrange things at the office to show them around the area.  We made it to another Pirates game where the Pirates lost to the Giants; there first loss in 10 games.  It was hot and humid and we were glad we were not in the sun. 

              

             

The next day we visited Falling Waters, the creation of the architectural genius Frank Lloyd Wright.  It was given to and is preserved by the Pennsylvania Preservation Society and is in really good shape for an old home build over a water falls.  It was a second home for the Kauffman family, early retailers from Pittsburgh.  It was a 2 hour train ride from Pittsburgh and a year-round retreat from the pollution of the city.  Much of the home is cantilevered over a water falls.   It was fun to visit with Terry and Marilyn. 

             

              

That evening we drove to Wheeling and were able to show the Lotz some of our first area.  We were invited to dinner at the home of Chuck and Patty Wylie along with the Allens and the Barkers.  We had a wonderful evening having our two worlds meet and listening to the Wheeling friends recount their conversion stories.  We will always love these dear friends.

We are very grateful to Terry and Marilyn for taking the time out of their busy week to come spend a few days with us.  We are experiencing many “lasts” as we prepare to wind down this mission adventure.  We have seen many tender mercies in this work and have enjoyed this opportunity for service in the Lord’s vineyard.

More Family!!!

We enjoyed a wonderful few days with Mindy, Ryan and family.  They flew into Harrisburg and enjoyed a day at Hershey Park while we finished up with our Zone Conferences.  We spent the night in Hershey with them and the next day drove to Lancaster area to visit the Amish Country. 

            

           

We visited the two communities of Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse. 

                                           

After visiting the Amish we drove to Gettysburg and visited the Visitors Center and the Cemetery where the casualties of the Union Army are buried from that battle and where Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address.

              

                                       

We drove back to Pittsburgh and went to Wheeling for church on Sunday so they could enjoy a Wheeling experience and meet all of our good friends there.  They also had a Pittsburgh experience seeing the overlooks and riding the incline down Mt. Washington.

                                        

They spent a day at Carnegie Science Center and capped off their stay with a wild game of miniature golf at South Park.  We loved spending some time with them and being in awe of how big the kids have grown over the last 18 months.  Thanks to all of our family who have taken the time to come visit the mission.  WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!

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.