Walking on Water!

Just had to show you frozen Lake Erie! We visited there yesterday with Elder and Sister Christensen...It is so amazing that the lake is so frozen. I have always seen ponds and lakes in Utah frozen with a smooth surface - here, Lake Erie looks like it is frozen in time with the waves frozen just as they were when they were breaking.

This was at Fairport Harbor where the early saints arrived from New York when they were called to "Go to the Ohio". From here they walked to Kirtland which is about 12 miles south.

Somewhere It's Spring?

What a difference a few days makes! A couple of weeks ago we were showing the deep snow cover that we have been under in our last posting and two weeks later this is what we are enjoying! The snow is gone! (at least for now)! The weather has been very tolerable and we can even get by with a short sleeve sweater under our winter coats!

The days are still very quiet out here at the farm--but we are reading many histories of the key players out here and are learning so much. We had a family come through the other day who has made it a tradition to bring their son/daughter who will be leaving for their own mission to the church historic sites to help build upon their testimony before they leave. To take them through the home here and tell of the history was a great experience for us. This particular young man was going to the MTC three days later. He is going to the Baltic States mission and will study Latvian language. When you think of everywhere the church has missionaries and see the enthusiasm in these new missionaries...we are so blessed to be a part of the work!






We were out driving the other day and noticed all of the buckets hanging on the trees...It's syrup time! What is amazing to me is to see these poor old dead looking trees that are still giving! Some of them are so old their trunks are split open..you wonder if they have anything left to give =o) but then you see the happy face on this tree and you know they take great pleasure on fulfilling their assignment! The maple syrup here is so delicious and very expensive but then I heard that it's a 10 to 1 ratio for final production.

Winter Wonderland

We sure have had a lot of snow lately! This past week has been super cold also, like a -6 but felt like -23. I thought we were going to freeze to death but fortunately, with dressing appropriately for the weather, i.e. hats, scarfs, wool coats, layered sweaters etc. we made it through! Our car has held up amazingly well too. One day the washer fluid froze on the window but now it has warmed up to 1 degree as I speak so we will make it!!!=o) Several times this winter we have gone out to warm up the car the the doors would be frozen shut. That's a fun experience to try to get them open.

Just thought I would post some pictures of our snow experience. They told us if Lake Erie would just freeze over, we would have some blue skies and days would try to look normal. (not so much gray all the time) Well, today is beginning to be one of those blue sky days and it is so beautiful! Every morning we wake up, no matter how cold it is, the birds are singing outside our window. This is a wonderful place to be right now. The Johnson Farm is quiet and peaceful with an occasional visitor.

The other day we had two young ladies come out. They were sisters and the elder sister suggested that the Johnson Home would be a good historical subject for a term paper. She had been out with a history class from Hiram College earlier in the spring and felt that her younger sister could learn a lot and get some good information for her AP history class. Elder Buckwalter bore strong testimony to them of the restoration and that the Lord has blessed us with all of the ordinances, principles and priesthool powers. It was fun to share the site with them. Even though they didn't know much about the LDS church, we feel they both went away feeling the spirit that is so prevalent in this home.

Looking Back

Looking back the past two weeks over the Christmas Holidays, we really did have a great time! Christmas Eve we went up to Kirtland for a dinner and to be together with the other missionaries. Elder Butterfield talked to us about his response to the story about the littlest bell that President Peterson had told at zone conference. Hopefully we can get a copy of his talk so we can share its importance and message that was shared. Afterward, we all went to the Kirtland Temple to share in the program the Community of Christ church was presenting. A few of the Senior couples have been practicing the Dulcimer for the past 6 weeks and they were to play the prelude music. They sounded pretty good! Then the Evangelist Minister took charge of the program. There were readings and music and a talk from the High Priest about Mary.

We left for Garrettsville later that evening and then on Christmas day we headed back up to Kirtland again for a Christmas brunch with all of the missionaries. We had many laughs and lots of togetherness. It was held in the Butterfield’s home.

New Year’s Eve we headed again up to Kirtland to eat soup and crackers and then enjoy snacking on all kinds of food along with a chocolate fountain that didn’t quit!, play games, enjoy a short program and enjoy each other’s company once again. Sister Stott called and asked if we had a dumb talent that we could share so we took her seriously and prepared. When we got there, we found that most of the couples declined the request and weren’t going to perform. Doyle did some of his numbers tricks and then passed the printed pages with answers out to everybody. They really enjoyed doing them. I tied a couple of balloon animals for my "talent”. I wanted to do a swan, a parrot and a flying mouse. The swan worked ok but trying to do the parrot, the balloon popped, then the flying mouse was a hit....Elder Pyrah caught it when it came flying at him. Some of the other crazy talents displayed were three of the sister missionaries who could not only curl their tongues but make them into three leaf clovers......Sister Fortie could stand on her toes and walk barefoot on them.....A couple of the sisters put on a little skit about “dislocated pinkies” and “broken arm”..........Of course we had a couple of the Elders act out “Who’s on base”.........Even Jake got in the act by showing how he could wiggle his ears and flare his nostrils at the same time. Some Community of Christ members also were there to share New Year’s Eve with us and a little girl about 9 years wanted to show us how she could move her head like an Egyptian.........We all had such a good time laughing. We played Phase 10 much of the evening and then rotated after each round to mix with others. The person with the least points was the winner and prizes were given out to first and second place and a boobie prize was given for the most points. I WAS THE WINNER! (of the boobie prize). We stayed over with Elder and Sister Christensen out at the Morley Farm and really enjoyed and appreciated their hospitality.

Newest Member

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote a blog page on how two Sister missionaries stopped at a red light and saw the shoe polish sign on a rear window of a car in the lane next to them. It read "Can anybody tell me about God's Son?" Sister Packer jumped out and said that they could answer his question and then she handed him a pass along card with a phone number to call for more infor-mation....Now, for the rest of the story.....

Jake received the missionary lessons and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Friday December 26th. We were wanting to go up to Kirtland to be there but had to work too late to make it in time. He is a great young man and we have been able to get acquainted with him at our Christmas and New Year's parties that the Missionaries had this past week.

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.