Small World

This past week we were privileged to attend the Christmas Zone Conference for the missionaries. The presentations by the Elders were great and we learned much from this experience. When we arrived at the Stake Center in Kirtland, Sister Ensign, who works in the mission office, said that Sister Redd was looking for us. I had no idea who or why. Then we saw her! It is Myrna Redd from Logan. She and her husband Frank and their family were our neighbors many years ago on Inglewood! They lived in the house where Leo and Charlotte Hall now live. Frank is from Price so I knew his family while living there. We had a great visit during the lunch. She and Sister Ensign have been in the office for 14 months and will be leaving for home sometime in April.

Questions Answered

It seems like our mission here would be "missionary guides" for those who come to these historic places. Where is the proselyting as missionaries? Even though we don't go out as do the young Elders and Sisters, we have opportunities to teach those who come to visit.

We had an occasion such as that when a couple came to visit. He was baptized in 1995 but didn't progress in knowledge or commitment to the church doctrine. She is LDS with limited activity but was trying to activate him. They went to Kirtland and on a mistaken assumption that the visitor's center by the Temple was our visitor's center, they thought they had toured Kirtland. (This actually belongs to The Community of Christ church). After taking the tour there and going through the temple tour, they had a brochure mentioning the Johnson Farm and so they came here thinking that they had visited every place pertaining to church history in the area.

There was a lot of confusion in relating what was being said at the Johnson Home versus what they had heard at the Temple. Elder B had opportunity to answer their questions and help them understand basic doctrine, for example, she was deeply concerned about the vision Joseph had seeing Alvin in the Celestial Kingdom. She had assumed Alvin had preference because he was a Smith, so we had to talk about basic doctrine. Many other questions arose and each was answered to help clarify to both of them our church beliefs.

Our mission here is two fold:to fortify and strengthen church members who visit these historic sites; answer their questions and teach them of the doctrine, history and heritage of the church and to obtain from these members some referrals so the young missionaries can have these to work with; secondly, we have the opportunity to help the nonmembers to gain an appreciation for and an interest in the church and invite the fulltime proselyting missionaries to visit them It is a wonderful and unique opportunity and truely a blessing.

Follow the Prompting!

We had an interesting experience today. Elder & Sister Butterfield came out for some business and stayed to visit a bit with us. He was telling us of an experience that two of the sister missionaries had. They were stopped at a red light next to a fellow who had painted with shoe polish on the back of his window...Can anybody tell me about God's son?" Sister Packer, who was riding shotgun, jumped out of the car and banged on his window for him to open it. She told him that they could answer his question and gave him a pass along card and told him to call the number and then some missionaries would be contacting him.

The light turned and she hopped back in their car and they drove off. Well, the fellow did call Salt Lake (this is a self referral) and Salt Lake contacted the Cleveland Mission as his address said he lived in the area. The mission office then contacted the missionaries who are serving in that area to go visit him. Wouldn't you know it.....the two sister missionaries who gave him the pass along card are serving in that area and were asked to call on him. Sister Packer and Sister Norton recognized him when he answered the door. He also recognized them. They invited him to come to the visitor's center to watch the film and receive the first discussion. Since then, he is being fellowshipped by a newly called missionary from the Kirtland Stake who is awaiting his departure date to Paris, France.

Prayers are answered!

New Trick

This is slightly off the Mission track but I have a new trick!....Six months ago I had tubes put in my tear ducts to stop tearing every 3 minutes. I finally was able to have the tubes removed hence......my trick! How many of you can blow your nose and spray tears on your glasses? =o)

Well, now I can! I don't know how long it will last but when I blow my nose now, I have to shut my eyes real tight or run the risk of spraying my glasses and having to clean them. Watch the video and see my trick!!!
Any feedback? =o)

Newest Missionary!

We have a new missionary in our family! Way to go Kelle!!

Her Mom writes: "Kelle is amazing, she's been talking to her friend about the church and trying to answer her questions and today she is at Primary with Kelle. She told Kelle she wants Ron to baptize her and her dad has given permission. So today at church they are asking the bishop about her meeting with missionaries, etc. For some reason Kelle keeps finding the 1-2 girls in the whole school that aren't members."

Miracles and Blessings

Here are our three Sister Missionaries who have just been transferred/released. We will miss them very much at the Johnson Home but wish them well. Sisters Fortie, Purcell and Webb are the missionaries who were working part of their mission at the Johnson Home and setting the example for us Senior Missionaries. They were a breath of fresh air for us and we learned much from them.

Yesterday, they came to the farm to see if Sister Webb could get one last tour before heading home from her mission. It had been raining and was cold, it was a Tuesday and it was the end of October. A great combination of factors which meant little or no activity for the day. There had only been one tour of six people earlier that morning and then there was nobody. Around 3 p.m. they came into the office to see how things were going and to wait for a tour for Sister Webb. They weren't there more than seven minutes when a car drove into the parking lot. I couldn't believe my eyes! Two ladies got out and came up to the house. Sister Webb got her tour! Prior to this, Sister Purcell had prayed for this opportunity and the Lord responded. Sister Purcell also prayed for some referrals to come from these ladies and when Sister Webb finished about a half hour later, she came in with six referrals from these two ladies! They had told her that they decided to make the 30 minute drive from Garfield Heights for something to do. It wasn't coincidence that they arrived at the same time as the Sister Missionaries! Congratulations Sister Webb! What a way to finish your mission!!!

Necessities of Life!

We finally made it out and about the area to visit some of the neighboring townships. Living in Garrettsville, we have access to 2 grocery stores, a hardware store, movie theater, dollar store, a couple of gas stations, a pharmacy and 3 fast food places. Oh, I forgot, there is also a GM car dealership. Needless to say, we do a lot of traveling outside the area to find stores that carry what we need.

We had a real treat the other day when we were in Middlefield looking for a WalMart. Unique to Ohio and few other places, we found parking spaces created for Amish buggys and horses. It was fun! Middlefield is an Amish community just 20 minutes from where we live. It's only about 12 miles but this is another thing I have noticed, in Utah we refer to travel by miles. Here, because of the two lane country roads all over the place, we talk travel by time. We are only 35 miles from Kirtland but it takes an hour no matter which route we take.

We finally have a P-Day so will try to get up to Costco so we can try to renew our "at home" experience. =) We surely have missed Costco. (By the way, they are only an hour from here!)

Here we have been out all of 6 weeks and we are Senior Senior Couple! How's that for making progress? Actually the other couple, Elder and Sister Cluff bade farewell for the final time yesterday as they came back long enough to collect their trailer and head out. We are hoping that couples from Kirtland will rotate down here to spell us off on occasion. There always has to be a priesthood presence at the home so even though we have 3 sister missionaries out there to help us a few days a week, we must be there the whole day each day.

It's surprising how busy the days have been. Several bus tours have been coming this week along with single cars with families. We had over 130 visitors on Columbus Day! It has been fun to run into people we know, or people who know somebody we know. It's also fun to run into visitors whom we have never seen before but they look like family or friends from home. Yesterday, I gave two tours with our grand daughters Nickelle and Emily (look alikes in two different groups)! We see "Betty Adkins" every time we go into Rite Aid. This lady sure reminds us of her and it's like Betty is actually here! I think I will start writing down the look alikes we run into!

The fall leaves have been outstanding but now many are beginning to fade and drop. The sunsets are spectacular! This one was taken the other day as we were closing the home. Each day we count our blessings for the opportunity to be out here.

The Tarring of Prophet Joseph and Sidney Rigdon

We spent our P-Day this week tagging along with Karl Anderson (Mr. Kirtland) and a CES Tour. They came out to the Johnson Home where, before the tour, we were all instructed by a tar and feathering expert. He demonstrated the kind of tar that was used on the Prophet Joseph. All these years I could envision hot tar like they use on the roads today. This tar that he talked about was like a thick paste, sort of like toothpaste consistency. He said it was used to seal wood, nails, and more or less like we seal surfaces today. It does harden after a while but goes on sort of like thick glue. We got to put some tar on our hands and then dip them in feathers. (I can imagine a whole body covered with this stuff) Afterward, we could clean it off with lard which he provided. He also talked about how the Lord blessed Joseph that night.

1. The mob had tried to put tar into his mouth and as Joseph resisted and twisted his face, the tar was on his face and around his nose. The nitric acid (aquaforti) they tried to pour in his mouth was stopped by the tar on his lips. They tried to force it in his mouth and as he was resisting broke a tooth in the attempt.

2. Very cold weather had hit the area the week before but that night the temperature had reached 50 degrees. This made it so that the fumes from the nitric acid weren't released, thus saving the Prophet from any chance of inhaling. Had he done so, it could have killed him. If it was any warmer than 50, the fumes could have been released.

3. After all of the clawing and scratching administered to Joseph, there would have been a great possibility of developing infection. There is alcohol in the tar which probably protected the open sores from becoming infected.

Beauty All Around

A young family came to tour the home and decided to split up with the husband taking the first tour. (They had a small child asleep in the car.) Elder Buckwalter proceeded to take him through. When they were finished, his wife went through. I had that privilege. Things went smoothly and when we got into the revelation room, after I had talked about D&C 76 and the magnificent appearing of God the Father and Jesus Christ with their direction to Joseph and Sidney to write down the vision as they saw it i.e. the three degrees of glory, where we came from, why we are here and where we are going, along with the admonition given to us as children of our Heavenly Father to do everything we can to be able to return to them one day, I left the room so she could contemplate her feelings and what she had experienced. As I stood outside the room waiting for her, I heard the most beautiful voice. She began to sing the hymn "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" very softly. She sang as many verses as she knew in a very soft and sincere manner. Afterward, I heard some soft crying. She had been so touched by the sacredness of what had happened in that room, she could not control her emotions.

When she came out, her countenance was bright even though her face was wet with tears.All she could say was.."I don't have the words..., I don't have the words..."
I felt she expressed herself very clearly without words.

It is experiences like these that help me to know there is a spirit here and that this is a very sacred place.

Getting Settled

Hooray! We have finally made our final move into our apartment! Now all we have to do is figure out where to put all of our stuff! It feels so good to finally have a place to hang our hat for a few months! Our apartment is very nice and has two bedrooms which are fairly large. We are only about 8 minutes to the farm so that is good.

When we left the B&B we had our eye on a small spinning wheel and an old telephone. Of course we had to buy them (as a memory of our B&B stay =) ). After we tried to load the spinning wheel in the car along with the rest of the stuff that we couldn't unpack, it dawned on me that we were just contributing to our already "stuffed" problem. How on earth are we going to bring this all back! Anyway, we will try to show great restraint when viewing more antiques that are everywhere.

First Assignment

This past week has been something else! President Butterfield assigned us to the John Johnson Farm for a few months. This home has some very special history connected to it. After the Isaac Morley farm was sold in Kirtland, John and Elsa Johnson invited the Prophet Joseph Smith and his family to live with them. They lived in this house for one year, from September 1831 to September 1832. It was in this house that 16 revelations were given, and God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph and Sidney Rigdon. The extraordinary vision (6 portions of the vision, each revealing aspects of the eternal plan, pre-existence, now, and hereafter based upon the criteria for each of the three kingdoms). What a great spiritual place this is. It is also the house when an angry mob broke in and dragged Joseph out into the field and tarred and feathered him.

We are still "shadowing" the missionaries here as the tours are given but expect to be on our own by Tuesday. I can see where some major studying is in order. =)

Mission Moments

We are still basically "camping out" as our apartment won't be available for another week. It's a tough way to camp out though. President Butterfield arranged for us to stay at a bed and breakfast. It's called the President's Place because the president of Hiram University built his house in 1897. We have 3 bedrooms upstairs with an abundance of antiques. It is so interesting. Seems like everybody here is an antique buff. Check out some of the pictures of our "hardship".

We're On Our Way!

After months of preparation, we are finally on our way to Kirtland! We have completed our MTC experience/training, packed our car to the limit and headed out to eastern lands! We have stopped at church history sites along the way and have enjoyed meeting some of our MTC friends along with former members of our stake who are serving. It sure makes it a small world.

We are grateful for your love and support and hope you will keep us in your prayers. You will be in ours.