Mission News 3/29/09

Hi Gang, These are three pictures of some fun things we did this past week. The first two were taken just north of Crogan, NY in the maple sugar producing area. On P-day we drove there to see the process first hand. It's the peak of the season now. It was a Mom and Pop operation which involved the whole family. The cabin is called a sugar hut. The maple sap is boiled over a wood burning furnace to concentrate it. It takes 40 gals of sap to make 1 gal of maple syrup. The syrup is then filtered and packaged. It sells for about $35 a gal, $40-50 in the stores. The grove of maple trees that are tapped is call a sugar bush. Some of the trees are tapped with the old fashioned buckets as seen in the picture with Mom. Most of the trees in this operation 3900 were tapped into a network of plastic pipes and pumped into the sugar hut. It was a quite simple process, which lasts for about 6 weeks in early spring. The rest of the year the family is into logging. It is a big thing up here, pure amber maple syrup is worth its weight in gold. The last picture is of the Mormon handy man fixing a hole in the wall with sheet rock. The Gonzales twins were helping. their father is in Iraq as a flight engineer on a Chinock helocopter. The family lives out in the sticks and are inactive. The parents went to Orem HS together and were raised in the church. The work goes well here we are kept very busy with a lot of different things. It's like one big turn around, people come people go. The Lord keeps the wards in tact and functioning somehow. We feel very blessed just to observe the process and be a small part of it. We feel bad about missing the baptism of Seth and Patton and were certainly thinking about you all then. We love this work and the people we are able to serve. What a blessing it has been in our lives. Take care and keep the home fires burning.

This week was another busy one.  We had a great event, the birth of twins!  One of our inactive members lost a baby when we first got here and then got pregnant with twins and had them this week.  We have visited them a lot and become good friends and have shared a lot with them.  When she got pregnant again she asked Dad for a blessing because she was having problems and he promised her all would be well.  As soon as the babies were born by c- section she wanted another blessing as well as for the babies.  We went to the hospital and were able to go in the nursery where one of the babies was in an incubator and he blessed both of them.  We took them dinner tonight and she is bringing them both home tomorrow.  She has no help, so we will be over there a lot in the next few days.  They will be leaving in a month for a new duty station.  The pictures we included were of another trip to Palmyra with a stake young adult group for baptisms for the dead.  We took 4 down and two had not been there before.  It's always a touching and sweet experience for the soldiers.  They need an uplift and are so glad they went.  One of the pictures is out the back of the Smith Farm house overlooking the sacred grove.  It is pretty barren right now, but still has such a spirit of peace.  Today in the Carthage Ward we had a new Young Adult show up for church along with four new families that just arrived.  The Lord keeps answering our prayers.  Just as thing look bleak and we have lost people new ones come in.  We have so many experiences that testify to how much the Lord loves and cares for His people and we have learned that very little happens just by chance.  Seth and Payton, we are so sad to miss your baptisms, but we know the family will be there to love and support you.  We are so proud of you and we will be thinking of you both.  We are so thrilled to have baby Leah in the family and that Brian and Brooke have moved into their new home.  Life goes on and we love you all and pray for your well being each day!  Love, Mom & Dad

Mission News 3/15/09

Hi Gang, These are some of the typical things we saw this past week in the north country.  I don't know which one will show up first, it always seems to be different.  I will talk about each one and you can figure it out.  Early spring is maple sugar collecting time up here.  We came across this house on our way home from district mtg. in Lowville, it was right off the road.  Those white paper like bags attached to trunks are actually closed plastic bags with attached tubes to tap the trees.  When the bags get full of sugar maple sap they are poured into a big vat and boiled until concentrated.  The result is a amber colored syrup which is much sought after in these parts. Pure maple syrup which goes for about $10 a pint.  The next picture is one of those once in a life time power of nature things.  At a place called Tippets Point just south of the small town of Cape Vincent, where the Saint Lawrence River meets Lake Ontario, when conditions a just right in early spring the ice that has formed on the lake all winter begins to break up. As it thaws and if the wind is just right the ice chunks are blown against the shore line in huge piles.  You can see that some of the ice chunks are quite large, these piles go on for about a half mile.  It was really something to see, nature has unbelievable power. We were out visiting members who told us about it. The other picture is of a baptism in Carthage of a young spouse whose husband, a member, is in Afghan. She met two other spouses who are members and had no chance. The three of them have been a real help to the ward.  Another example of the long arm of the Lord reaching out for souls. We took the missionaries bowling on Post for their P-day which is Monday.  They bowled for three hours and loved it.  This coming week is transfers and two of the missionaries in Watertown, an Elder and Sister are moving out. The mission is also consolidating the two districts, Watertown and Carthage in one. That should make it easier for us.  The weather is easing up and you can feel a change coming even the geese are coming back in flocks.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  We love the work and are strengthened by the people we work with.  The gospel continues to roll forth up here.  Love and miss you all. Mom and Dad

Mission News 3/8/09

We began this week by attending the National Prayer Breakfast at Ft. Drum.  It was put into law by Pres. Eisenhower years ago.  It was mostly attended by soldiers with breakfast and a speaker and a prayer for the country and the soldiers.  On Monday we had our Young Adult dinner for the month.  We are always glad when that is done, but we always get a great response to it.  We do lots of different things each week such as driving a girl down to Syracuse for a counseling session, replacing a battery in a single soldier mom's car, visiting many others.  We had two memorable visits this week.  We went to a home for dinner with the Elders and the little boy, about 18 months old wanted Dad to pick him up and when he did he gave him about a 10 minute hug, just hanging on tight.  He obviously missed his dad.  Another visit was meant to be.  We took dinner to an inactive family whose husband was gone and when we knocked on the door he answered.  It turns out that their little boy was diagnosed with leukemia and they sent the dad straight home to be with his family.  He is being treated and doing fairly well.  We were able to report to the Bishop today about it and they were setting up help for the family.  Friday was Dad's birthday so we took our P Day and went to visit the Boxing Hall of Fame in Conastoga and the Oneida silverware factory store in Oneida.  It was the first warm day in so long and we had fun.  We send our love to all.  Thanks for the birthday calls and cards!     

News from the north country

Hi Gang,  First of all congrat. to Scott and Jen and Leah's birth, we missed another one. It has been a busy and varied week in the cold north country.  We took lots of meals to spouses and their families.  Attended The Merchant of Venice at the college with the YSA on Institute night.  The most impressive event of the week was a memorial service for the four young helicopter pilots who died in a crash of two Kiowa's in Iraq on Jan 25th.  The crash was listed a KIA due to enemy fire.  All four were with the 10th Aviation BCT from Ft Drum and left families, one was Ben Todd a member of the Watertown ward. It was a very sobering service with lots of Army tradition.  Each soldier was memorized by a fellow pilot and a series of pictures.  After the service members of the ward and the Stake Presidency were there for a picture.  We also helped a spouse finish up some grouting in her kitchen in an old home she and her deployed husband had been working on.  We love and miss you all, hang in there and keep the home fires burning. Mom and Dad 

 

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