We are frantically trying to finish up everything so we can leave. These past two weeks we have been so busy. Dad was asked to baptize a young boy of a family we have visited since we came, Tobias Kunkel. The dad was deployed, they have four young children and we visited often. Their dad did not qualify to baptize his son so the boy asked dad to do it. He was so excited to be baptized! The dad is away again at training and they are trying to sell their house, so she is alone again. We about got burned out fixing food. We did food for two baptisms, the Stake Pres. came up on conference weekend to do deployment blessings and wanted a lunch between sessions so we fed about 40 people. The next night we had our last young adult dinner. We made our last trip to Palmyra and enjoyed the beautiful fall leaves. The picture is looking from the temple down into the Sacred Grove. We were all alone in the grove due to light rain and it was beautiful. We will miss spending time there.
We had a young couple who lived in Watertown Ward and he deployed to Afghanistan last January. She stayed awhile and then went home to have her baby at her moms. I emailed her to see if she had the baby and if he made it home on leave to be there. She sent me cute pictures and was happy that he was there for the birth. On Oct. 5th I got an email from her saying that he had been wounded, shot three times, and they would be coming back to Ft. Drum. I emailed her back and didn't hear from her, so I called her phone number that I had. He answered and they were back moving in. We went over and helped put the crib together and the rocking chair, etc. The Army moved them back. While we were there he told us his story. He's a Captain and in charge of a unit of ten men and four Afghan soldiers that they were training. They had been together six months. They had finished for the day, removed their vests and guns. Five were playing cards outside when one of the Afghans opened fire on them. He was inside, heard the gunfire and grabbed his gun and looked out and the soldier, turned and shot at him. He got away. Cpt. Kurth ran out to his men. One was already dead, one bled to death in his arms and two more were badly wounded. He called for a helicopter and one was there in ten minutes. He didn't know he was shot until the helicopter driver told him that they needed to check him out. He's still in a lot of pain, but dealing with is the worst part. He just cried as he told us the story. The other two wounded sokdiers are at Wslter Reed recovering. He also said that he asked at the hospital for a blessing from someone LDS. The surgeon happened to be a member and gave him a blessing and then called ahead and another member met him in Germany at the hospital there. He has a great attitude, but blames himself for the incident. He thanked us for listening and said that the Dr. told him he has to tell his story once every day.
We also were honored at a ceremony as volunteers of the month on post. There were ten awarded and the Col. gave us each coins. That is a big deal in the Army, they give coins out at special events. It is especially good for the PR we are fostering for the church on post.
We are having a hard time saying goodby to everyone. We are trying to visit and get email addresses, etc. We will miss these people so much, we have learned to love so many. Our cute Young Adult leader, Colleen, cries every time she sees us. She has no one and has relied on us. We have learned so much here and are so blessed for the experience.
We had a mission wide conference on Friday the 16th with Marvin K. Jensen presiding. It was great and the couples met with him alone in the evening. We are glad we didn't miss that! We are planning to be home around the 3rd of November, we will let you know as the time gets closer. We send our love to all and are getting excited! Mom & Dad
Hi Gang, Sorry we have been so long on getting this blog out but things have been moving along fast with full days. The pictures are a small review of the past few days. We started out with our last church meeting in the mission field Sunday, then drove to the mission home in Utica. We had dinner and spent the evening with our mission president and his wife. Monday with left for Don's house in Rock Taven, he come home early and drove us around the area. The highlight was going shopping at the Orange County Choppers store. Don fixed us dinner and we had a great evening with him. Tuesday Don took us into New York City and we saw his work site and met several of the orthodox jews he works with, he then took us into the city. We were able to get a room on the 36th floor of the New York Marriot Marque in Time Square. We spent the whole day walking around the area. It was raining most of the day but not hard. We saw most of the sites and waited in line for tickets for a show. We got great seats for South Pacific at the Lincoln Center, Don joined us and it was magnificent performance. We spent the night in the city and on Wednesday got soaked seeing the 911 site, very touching, every american should see that. We also saw Wall street and the stock exchange. It rained hard all day long, lot of cabs. We got the experience of going to the port authority and taking a bus out to a park and ride to meet Don. Thursday we left early and drove all day to Angola, Ind. Friday we drove down to Nauvoo and spent the night there and saw some sites. Saturday morning we saw more of Nauvoo and then drove to Carthage, very moving place. We then went on the Quincy, Ill, we were able to find the old drug store where August Heidbreder worked as a pharmacist. We also saw the old Heidbreder home where a 5th generation family member still lives. With his help we visited the family grave sites. Took lots of pictures and had a great time seeing the old family stomping grounds. We were able to drive back up to I-80 and are spending the night in Williamsberg, IA. It has been a very busy week with lots of driving, the trip to the historical sites was well the time and delays. Truely a chance of the life time. We are really ready to get home now. Bishop Huefner called us and our homecoming will be on the 22nd of November so don't plan anything. We are planning to be home Monday (Nov. 2) about 7 PM if things change we will call you. Love Mom and Dad 
