Where did summer go to??? Hi Everybody!
So
today our weatherman said that South Dakota and Minnesota had severe
weather.....hope our missionaries didn't get caught out in the rain!
And before we know it the snow will be flying and we'll be wishing it
was summer again. Thanks for the school reports and everything else
that you send to us. We love the technology that allows us to see and
hear things "in the minute." And we REALLY like being senior
missionaries who don't have to wait until Preparation Day to make
contact with home. We have our little electronic picture frame here in
the living room and often photos will come on of all of you anywhere
from 5-10 years ago and we love looking at them on the way through and
wondering when you all grew up....moms and dads included. Having an
awesome family is the best!!
Next best is
having awesome missionaries besides the ones in SD and Minn! So today
(being Sunday....we write Sunday and send Monday) we thought we'd come
home from Church and be lazy and that was wishful thinking. Actually it
wasn't wishful thinking because we like it best when we're busy. So
the months that have 31 days are killer months for missionaries with
"miles," which means that if it's the end of the month and if they're
over the number of miles they can drive with their cars they either walk
or get more creative. So today, being August 31, we spent the
afternoon picking up missionaries for Church and taking them to dinner
appointments and bringing them home from Church and taking them to other
appointments. And here's a fun thing.....we ate dinner right after our
meetings and then found out that our south Elders were stuck at the
Church (6:00) and hadn't eaten all day and their dinner appointment
bailed on them and so we made dinner again. They're soo appreciative of
stuffing out of a box and chicken tenders fried in tons of shortening
(which they never get because everybody here is extremely healthy
cooks). I don't mind it at all because they make you feel like you just
prepared them a 7 course gourmet meal!
Another
fun thing this week------We participated in a program called Spirit of
Cornell where all the chaplaincies set up tables in a courtyard and all
the freshman (and some upperclassmen looking for free food and treats)
walked by us on their way to their dorms after their last orientation
meeting and we got to visit with them if they stopped. We were right
next to our good friends, the campus Catholic student organization, and
they had this awesome banner between us and them and the wind had blown
it so it was facing our table and these kids kept stopping thinking we
were their group! We all got a good laugh out of that. The students
liked our treats and quite a few stopped and we had some good visits and
gave out lots of pass-along cards and even a Book of Mormon! Then
after that we hurried off to FHE which had an amazing 25 people at it
and we played Werewolf. It was a riot! Speaking of lots of people, we
had an all time high 24 people at the Cornell Institute this week!
We've had some great new freshmen and others move in who appear to be
pretty solid young people. Also remember my reputation for over-kill
when it came to making food for Sunday dinner? Well, it paid off at
Friday forum this week. So we've always been told to prepare for 15-30
people so I always fix for 30 and then some and on our first Friday
Forum for the school year we had close to 50 people. Luckily I had
over-prepared so everybody got full and there was about a half cup of
corn and a half cup of nacho cheese left over.
Well....that
didn't really sound much like missionary work did it....but we've
realized that missionary work includes thinking outside the box and
magnifying our callings. We think of Ammon taking care of the sheep
before he was able to preach the Gospel, and that's what we're
doing....taking care of the sheep. We especially think of that also
when we go to Owego and be with our Institute there....Charlie who is 84
years old and one of the earliest members of the Church in this area
who spends most of nearly every day driving somebody somewhere to do
something because so many don't have cars, and Tom who is older (as in
his 50's I think) and who has never married or gone to school or had a
good job but yet spends all his hours helping his extended family, and
'Chief" who is probably the most unique person we've met here who lives
in his van in the Church parking lot when he isn't going to pow-wows all
over the state and who knows the scriptures upside down and inside
out. We'll miss President and Sister Orme when they go on their mission
(papers are in) because they are champions of institute all over the
stake and Ceasar and Olga who have held the institute together for the
last 7 years. Then there's others who drop in and drop out and drop
back in again and of course the great missionaries--a set of sisters and
one of elders-- who we only see once a week and they are so good and
work so hard. It's a blessing to be part of all this.
So we'll close with three things that really stood out in a great Branch Sacrament Meeting today:
"Hard hikes have great views from the top." (our Relief Society President who just had her first baby about 6 weeks ago)
"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." (President Monson)
"Start early and be steady." (wisdom from our very young elder's quorum president)
Have a good week.....we love you all. Enjoy your Labor Day and don't labor too much. Life's too short to work all the time!
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