Happy Easter Everyone!
It seemed really strange to not have an
Easter Egg Hunt in our back yard....have to admit to getting a little
homesick on days when we normally would be doing things as a family.
But then something happens that makes us feel better and we know that
we're where we're supposed to be. Yesterday we were helping a woman
from the ward (we're in the branch) clean the Church (it's been a LONG
time since we've had that assignment) and I think she felt sorry for us
so she invited us to their house for Sunday dinner. We said yes
contingent on an invitation we'd extended to a family the missionaries
we were working with. Long story short, we ended up fixing dinner for
the missionaries and the young man they're teaching and they ate almost
as much as you all do (the mom had to work). This mother and son are so
amazing. The Mom works 70 plus hours a week washing dishes and the son
is graduating from high school and also works about 20 hours a week and
they still manage to get up for Church and when we come to pick them up
at 8:40, they're ready to go. Our Institute classes went really well
this week....they're so different and we teach each differently which is
exciting. Our Cornell attendance tripled this week from last which was
fun.....not because we're such terrific teachers (we're not) but
because the students are effective in getting their friends out. But as
we said before, there's lots of work still to be done. It will slow
down for the summer months because a lot of students leave for summer
break or internships but we still continue to have classes and work on
finding and fellow-shipping. So....a fun missionary experience occurred
last Monday on our P-day. We went hiking to a really beautiful place
called Buttermilk Falls and just as we started up the trail from the
lower to upper falls, a cute girl who teaches high school in Brooklyn
stopped and asked us if she could hike with us.....we looked old and
safe and she didn't want to hike alone. So for an hour and a half we
hiked and laughed and took pictures of each other and answered her
questions about what we were doing in New York and then got a promise
from her she'd find out about the Tabernacle Choir. She's a music
lover, especially Gospel (she's African American) and had never heard of
the Choir. It was one of those times that we'll probably never know if
her "encounter" with a Mormon meant anything but we hope so. So on our
hike day the temperature was 85 degrees and the next day it snowed and
the high was 32 degrees! Wacky New York weather!!! Another highlight
of our week was dinner with our Chinese friends. The food was soooo
good and we don't even like Chinese food! The grandpa and grandma
cooked it all and they are just a couple of months in the United States
so it was definitely genuine Chinese authentic! Here was the
interesting part that occurred before the sort-of-speak-English son and
daughter-in-law came home: The grandpa and grandma who speak no
English wanted us to drink wine with them and trying to explain that we
don't drink alcohol with hand gestures was interesting to say the
least. We think we got it figured out without offending them. The food
is eaten from big communal bowls in the center of the table with
everybody using their chopsticks to eat from the same bowl. There were
about 6 big bowls in the middle of the table and the food, most of which
we didn't recognize, was so good....like 3 different kinds of mushrooms
in one, and dumplings, and some type of pork soup, a spinach and mung
bean dish, some rice and meat dishes and some vegetables that we didn't
know what they were. They are a very family oriented family and we found
how to print a Family Proclamation in Chinese and framed it and gave it
to them.
But the HIGHLIGHT of our week was watching Carlee open
her mission call and seeing and talking to everybody via Skype. We're
amazed that we actually figured out to make it work without calling
Bryce! So everybody out here is as excited as we are (not quite) for
Carlee's mission call and that she and Cade are going in the MTC on the
same day. And everybody knows somebody who has either been to the
Dakotas or Minnesota on missions and their first response is about the 2
months of summer and 8 months of winter and 2 months of intense
winter. Sorry guys!! It sounds like your winter experience will make
ours look like a piece of cake!! Remember the days when we would write a
letter to missionaries and 3 weeks later we'd get one back with all old
news? The internet and its conveniences are REALLY nice! And we've
now learned how to send pictures and text at the same time and soon
we'll learn how to put them on this e-mail. I won't send the one I took
last night of Dad sleeping on the couch with his mouth open.
We
raked our leaves yesterday and got them all bagged up only to discover
that the apartment complex rakes all the leaves and besides that it's
illegal to put them in plastic bags (this is the environmental green
waste disposal capital of the world!) and so we hid them on our little
bag patio and now have to buy these dumb recycle-able paper bags and
re-bag them and the haul them off. Maybe we'll sneak them out in the
middle of the night to our dumpster!! The grass is turning green and
the trees look like they're ready to go from brown to green....and our
little squirrel came back but he's minus a front paw. We're finding new
places to walk for exercise and a lot of it is on this incredibly
beautiful Cornell campus with a huge gorge and waterfalls right in the
middle of campus. We're some of the few old people walking around there
and stopping to look! And our missionary tags are always good for a
second look.....in fact we've been mistaken for park rangers and
employees at Walmart! Now we just need to get bold enough to say "sorry
we're not [whatever] but we are missionaries for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints and would you like to know more?"
We
love you all......it was nice to end this Easter Day with a special
fireside at the Branch tonight.....four b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l musical
numbers and testimonies from the missionaries. We know that our
Redeemer lives! What comfort this sweet sentence gives. He lives to
bless us with His love and lives to plead for us above.
Good-night
all. Next week will be crazier than even last because of an all day
zone conference and a meeting where we find out how to spend our money
along with all the normal things we do.
XOXOXOXOXO Mom and Dad/Grandpa and Grandma.....and Von and Patty to anybody else who cares to read this.
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