Unwanted Visitor

When we got to the farm a week or so ago, Elder and Sister Leavitt told us about something getting into the home and really destroying some of the old artifacts. They took pictures of the damage and then reported it to Elder Butterfield. The summer kitchen had a broken barrel, animal droppings, chewed carpet. John's office was all messed up with tipped chair, part of the artifacts on the floor, the East parlor had the Book of Mormon open and pages flapping,the pantry had things scattered on the floor......All in all, it was a sorry sight to see.

When the Leavitts left and we took over, we could hear a banging noise like an animal trying to break out. I had a tour at that time so told the two visitors that if they saw anything to let me know. It was at the end of the tour, coming back down the stairs to the main floor when our visitor saw the varmint in the East Parlor. It ran around behind the china cupboard. In the meantime, Doyle had called the Leavitts to come back to help us try to get it out of the house. Now there were six of us!

I found an old broom, closed the door to the West Parlor and to the kitchen, opened the front door and took some of the boards from the destroyed barrel to try to block the stairway. Doyle took the broom handle and tried to poke it to force it out from behind the china cupboard. It took a lot of prodding.. Bro Hensley (one of our visitors) cautioned us that it could perhaps be rabid, especially if it entered a house. Here were, the six of us...me behind the kitchen door, Leavitt behind the front door, Doyle and Hensleys in the East Parlor and Sister Leavitt shooting pictures as fast as she could with her new camera!

All of the sudden it ran out from behind the cupboard and under the couch. A little more prodding and it bounded out the front door and ran into the field. It was a big ball of gray fur, a fuzzy tail with a black tip. Pretty good sized ground hog! That was pretty much the excitement for our time on the site that day. After cleaning up the mess all over the first floor, we finally left the farm an hour and half late.

Alarm Clock!

Lately we have been visited by a beautiful bird sound outside our window at the same time every day. For the first few days we looked and looked to see what kind of bird was out there. We never could see it. Then one day Doyle was outside going to the car and he heard the sound. Up high on the TV antennae on top of our building was this most beautiful red bird. At last we found the source of our alarm clock. What a great way to wake up every morning!

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.