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!)