Sunset on Lake Erie

Last week we finished up at the Morley Farm and the Workmans picked us up and we went to Perry to see the sunset on Lake Erie. It was spectacular! The sky was clear and we just sat there and enjoyed the beauty that was before us. How can anyone deny that there is a God in Heaven when there are beauties like this that we can experience. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Mission Thought

We, as missionaries have the opportunity and privilege to stand and bear testimony to those who come to the sites, to help them build and strengthen their testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to be an example to those not of our faith.

In Mosiah 18:9 we read...
Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn, yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places that ye may be in , even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.

Romans 1:16
Paul said: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth "

A couple of illustrations that I have been thinking about lately are of two young men in separate towns of the mid-west. The first one is our teenage grandson who lives in Indiana. He is strong in the gospel, he has always tried to be obedient to what he has been taught and he is not afraid to let his friends and colleagues know what his standards and beliefs are. When he is with a group of his friends at school, they know his values and they are very protective of him. Many times they have fore warned him of certain situations. They will not let anyone offer him alcohol or tobacco or anything like that.

Another illustration looks at a young man who came through the sites a while back. He is in Jr. High and while I was talking to him about school, I asked him if there were many LDS kids in his school he said there was maybe one or two besides him. I asked, “how do your classmates treat you?” and he said he was treated alright but then he added that he has never let anybody know that he is a Mormon.

I have thought much about those two situations and then thought about our position as missionaries out here in Ohio. We wear our badges whenever and wherever we go. Many who see us know we are missionaries and are respectful. Some have even asked for blessings for us as we have parted. It is a privilege to be serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here at Kirtland and to be willing to stand as witnesses of God.

Chagrin River

The other day some senior couples got up early and went walking up the Chagrin River to where it had been dammed, mainly for a grist mill that was in operation at the time but where the Saints had done some baptisms. The river now, is so low that we only got wet half way up our legs. Lots of slate slabs made it fairly easy to walk but we did need a walking stick for balance.




We only had to go about a half mile to find where the dam had been. Not much left now because many years ago, a lady who owned the property where the grist mill had been, got tired of seeing people go skinny dipping in the water so she took some dynamite and blew the dam up.

One of the stories in history tells us that Willard Richards wanted to have his baptism be a memorable occasion. He wanted to be baptized on December 31st so that he could enter the new year clean and pure. December 31st came along and by then the river had frozen over. They had to take an ice saw and cut through the thick ice so that he could be baptized. (I'm sure it was memorable!)



We had fun finding very flat rocks of chips of slate to skip in the river. Not sure if you can see the bounces but Doyle won the prize hands down! Some of his throws just went on and on. This is such a beautiful place to be. History every where you look! We are blessed to be here