This will be our last post from Pennsylvania! It seems like these past 18 months have gone by so quickly. We’ve had some trying times, some rewarding times, and some great experiences that have brought us closer to our Savior. We’ve learned so much from the young missionaries here about perseverance and faithfulness and optimism, even when their vision of how a mission should look has changed so dramatically. Their testimonies of the Savior are inspiring and they teach with such fervor. We will miss them so much!

It’s been so hard not to be able to go to church to be with our dear friends here. Our Liberian friends have taught us of gratitude for the little things, love of their new country, the importance of family, and above all, faith in the Lord. There is nothing like church here in the Philadelphia 1st Ward with these amazing people who shout “Amen” when they like what you are saying, who will often sing their testimonies, and who praise the Lord in word and deed. They share everything so readily when they have so little. Oh, how we love them!

We’ve been busy in the office with our Elders. Elder Smurthwaite is pretty much doing everything now, with just a little help from me now and then. Elder Price still has some things to learn, but he’s doing well. Their Preparation Day is now on Saturday with ours, so we took them with us to Longwood Gardens and met the Christensens there. That’s the 3rd weekend in a row, but it was still awesome (just super hot)! The Corpse plant had bloomed during the week, so we missed out on the stench of its flower. Darn it!

We are getting another 18 missionaries this week so everyone has been busy working out all the details. With these reassigned missionaries we will have a total of 205. We were happy to learn that President Dunnigan’s request for more monthly funds for each missionary has been approved. This is an expensive mission to begin with and now food prices have jumped about 25%. Elder Smurthwaite paid the rent and was shocked. Their best apartment in Mexico City was about $250 USD/month. Our average is just over $1000 each.

Amy: I have a testimony of missionary work and bringing God’s children to Christ. I am so grateful for the opportunity we have had of being companions here and serving our mission together. It has been an inspired calling that we needed so much. I love my Savior with all my heart! Everything hinges on Him and his atoning sacrifice for us. I would be lost without Him. I know the Gospel has been restored through Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God for us in our day. I am grateful to be able to pray to our Heavenly Father and know that He loves me and will answer my prayers – always in the way that is best for me. I am grateful to be able to feel the Spirit in my life guiding me, protecting me, and comforting me. I love our family and am so happy that the grandchildren are being raised in the Gospel. I hope someday we can all sit down in heaven together. I am also grateful for all the friends and extended family who have helped me stay strong all these years. I have truly been blessed! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Clark: I also have a testimony of this great work we are involved in, bringing souls to Christ. We love this work and especially the young missionaries we have had the opportunity to work with, they are awesome and inspire us. Our priorities have been focused on what matters most in this world, that of becoming like our Father in Heaven and helping build his kingdom. The gospel is TRUE, Joseph Smith did indeed see Heavenly Father and his Son and ushered in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. We are a part of it. No matter what happens to us or others, the focus needs to remain on the eternal nature of our souls. We love the people we have met here in our ward and will miss seeing them as we have for the last few months. They are so tender hearted and full of faith. We look forward to seeing family and friends at home in a short time and will enjoy the reunion with all of you. We love you so much! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Be Good.

We were having so much fun this past weekend that we completely forgot the blog! Christy left Monday night. Our missionaries all made it in okay, but President and Sister Dunnigan had a couple of late nights at the airport meeting them (like midnight!).

We have been busy training our replacements – Elder Smurthwaite for me and Elder Price for Clark. Elder Smurthwaite was the financial secretary for his Mexico City mission before he got sent home, then reassigned. He’s already familiar with the operating system the church uses, so I’ve just been training him on the things that are different and unique to us. In Mexico the missionaries paid their rent and utilities in cash. I had to laugh when Sister Lundell transferred a call to our desk phone and he didn’t know how to answer it. He was looking for a screen so he could push Answer. He told me that phone must be really old. I informed him we just got those phones and new system in January!!

Elder Price was surprised at how much Clark has to do to take care of the cars. He’s learning quickly. He showed up today in his office “attire” – a blue shirt and no tie. He said he will ask President 1st next time! None of our missionaries have been approved to wear the blue shirts, and we all come in our missionary uniform. We don’t get to be up close to the missionaries, but a few times a week they come to pick up commissary and we talk to them through the door or all have masks on. They aren’t allowed to come into the office.

We were so happy to have Caryn here from Thursday midnight until Monday at 6. We crammed a lot in. We were able to go to Longwood Gardens and to an estate called Winterthur. Unfortunately, we had a tropical storm come through so it poured rain all day. Even with the umbrellas we were soaked. The cool thing was that because it was so dark and cloudy we got to see the night-blooming flowers on the lily pads! The Gardens have a Titan Arum, one of those plants that smell like rotting meat when they bloom. They were waiting for this one to bloom for the first time; it’s 12 years old and will only bloom every 5-6 years. Glad it wasn’t flowering! We also made it to the Amish Market and drove through Valley Forge.

Saturday we did the city. Things are still not open but we did get to go up in the One Liberty building. As luck would have it, we had just gotten to Independence Square when it started to rain a little. Clark ran to the cars for the umbrellas just before the floods came. Caryn and I were standing under the trees for protection, but it didn’t help. Fortunately, it didn’t last long. We both looked like we had just gotten out of the shower fully clothed by the time he got back. Sunday was our usual round of ZOOM calls. We made a quick stop to say goodbye to the Kollie family and we ended the day with a trip to Bethlehem. Caryn was excited to see the city where Richard’s company headquarters are. We looked at the old buildings and Christmas shops and got to see the beautiful star they have on the hill above the city. Good times!

We’ve talked to a lot of missionaries calling or stopping by to say goodbye. We’re down to just 10 days until we leave with a lot to do between now and then. We have been so blessed by the amazing missionaries who continue to work hard and push through these trying times. They continue to get baptisms and have had some great experiences, as well. We will miss them!!!

We are so excited to get to see everyone there soon! Love you all!!!

Big news! Monday we were able to go to the Toyota dealer to pick up 4 new Hybrid RAV-4’s for our mission. They will be much needed in the coming weeks, along with the 20 others cars we should be getting in the near future. Sad news, we did go out to the airport to see an elder off who was going home early.

Funny story, though – His companion from Tonga was going to a new area and called Clark. He was sure he would need a bigger car to move all his stuff! Technically, they are allowed 2 big suitcases, and a carry on, and they take their bedding with them to the new apartment. They had a good-sized trunk and the back seat, and he thought it wouldn’t be enough. I’m afraid Clark wasn’t too sympathetic. He told him what didn’t fit would have to be thrown away.

All of us in the office have been really busy with all the details of preparing for the 28 new missionaries we are getting starting Monday. Fourteen of them were called to our mission and the rest are reassigned ones. One cool thing is that 6 of them were serving in Liberia and they will all be in the 2 Philadelphia wards where there are so many people from Liberia. I am so excited for them and for the people in our ward!

It’s been fun to have Christy here for a visit. She came really late Thursday night and will leave Monday afternoon. We were happy to find out that Longwood Gardens is open, as well as the Visitor Center at Washington’s Crossing. Saturday we did a short tour of downtown Philly to say we were there on the 4th in the home of the founding fathers. We then drove to Washington’s Crossing and then to meet up with some missionaries and take commissary. We ended up at the Ringing Rocks county park and rang some rocks with our hammers. That is quite unusual.

Friday night we were asked to do a Devotional for all the missionaries by ZOOM. It went much smoother this time and they seemed to really like it. President Dunnigan asked us to give our farewell testimonies to finish it off. It’s a little bitter sweet – it’s hitting that we will actually be leaving soon. The goodbyes are hard!

Today Clark and Christy slept in, then we did some studying, Come Follow Me, listened to Sunday School from our ward, then the Choir on Temple Square, met with the zone of missionaries for Sacrament Meeting and we got to be on a ZOOM call with the missionaries and Viola. Then we went on a hike in Manayunk. It was 100 today when we went out for a shorter than planned hike. Wow, was it hot with the humidity and all and being in the sun. Shade helps some but not enough. Thank goodness for air conditioning. We love having Christy here with us and catching up on so many things we have missed. We look forward to having Caryn come next week for the weekend. It is so nice for us.

We are getting so excited to see everyone! Fortunately they are keeping us busy until the end. Love you!!

Wow! The time is flying by!! We have less than a month now until we will finish our mission and head home. Come July 24th we’ll make like the pioneers and head west, the easy way. We are so busy with all the new missionaries coming that we don’t have time to get trunky.

Last week we got 18 newly reassigned missionaries, including Elder Smurthwaite who will take over the finances. He and the new car czar, Elder Price, are on isolation for 2 weeks, so we will start training July 7. I’m sure they will learn much more quickly than I did, so I’m not too worried.

Our mission set a goal to have 28 baptisms this month. We will be a little short, but it is so great to see our Baptism picture wall filling up again. They are having some pretty amazing experiences with the baptisms, in spite of all the restrictions. There have also been some that are self referrals, just from all the work the missionaries have been doing on social media. Right now they have about 10 that have baptismal dates coming up. Clark and I were able to participate in a role play on ZOOM for some more social media training Saturday night. The missionaries are so good with all of this, but we often feel a little “electronically challenged.”

The airlines lost one of the bags for a new missionary this week, so we took it up to Wilkes-Barre to get it back to him after getting it at the airport. Of course, we delivered commissary to a few missionaries along the way. While we were there we did some exploring in Hickory Run State Park.

We had such a good ZOOM Devotional Friday night with President and Sister Dunnigan using a talk by Elder Bednar entitled “We Believe in Being Chaste.” They opened it up to a discussion and it was amazing to hear from these dedicated missionaries. We love them!!

Have a wonderful week and stay safe!!! Love you so much!

This has been a quick week, we have loved having Cheryl, Will and family with us. The wall to wall sleeping arrangements reminds me of the youth hostel in New Zealand we stayed at but we actually know all the people here. It was such a blessing to have them all here and see some sights. Monday Amy and I went into work while Cheryl and family went to some caves and the Hershey store and some Amish country. That night we watched the video about the Priesthood Restoration Site then on Tuesday morning we had a virtual tour of the site by two of the sister missionaries there. We know one of them really well and they were awesome. The rest of the day we spent touring Philadelphia, all the colonial sites plus a bunch more. I think we wore them out walking, however, but saw all the fun sites plus a small demonstration at the museum on the other side of the stairs by the Rocky statue. Did get a photo op in with the statue however. Wednesday they had to leave to go to DC so that was sad.

We had a couple of sessions of training for new missionaries on Wednesday and Thursday plus catch up on several things at work. Thursday and Friday were 4 Zone Conferences that I had 15 minutes to talk driving safety and hit the highlights of all the training sessions I have done since that was my last one in a Zone Conference. It was good and we will miss working with the missionaries, they are so awesome. Amy and I attended one of the conferences that was really good as well.

Saturday we went on a nice walk, ended up 5 miles along a canal called Manayunk. It was a nice walk just further that we thought. We also went downtown to find an old road made of boards still but the web site was old and it had been paved over. Whoops. We did go see Rittenhouse square that was nice. We also had a great Father’s Day dinner take out. Amy took great care of me on Fathers day and it was great to be on a Zoom call with almost all the kids that evening. It was so awesome to get together but look forward to doing it the old fashioned way in person soon.

We love you all so much and are starting to get a little trunky but we will get over it. Have a great week!

Another week has passed with joy still filling our mission. We love the missionaries and the great work they are doing in the service of our Lord.

We had 19 missionaries come this week over 3 days. They are all from other missions, mostly in South America and almost all speaking Spanish or Portuguese. It has been good seeing some of the missionaries as they came to the office for keys and cars and bedding and commissary. Unfortunately we mostly had to talk to them through a glass door and only for a short time but we will take what we can. They are amazing. I am in the midst of trying to set up rental of 16 cars for our missionaries coming in July. We have been approved to rent some until we get the new ones in.

Amy took her first sick day this week after being up most of the night with a migraine then trying to go in to the office in the morning. I brought her home to rest the day. We have both been blessed with great health while we have served and we are so grateful for that. She got feeling better later in the day and is back to her awesome self.

We welcomed Cheryl, Will and Family Friday night just after 11 pm when they got here for a visit. Saturday we headed to Cape May and the beach for the day. It was great, a little crowded but they had a fun time in the water and sand. The weather was almost perfect and the water just a little cold. I made it in to my knee caps and maybe a little higher. You have to pay $6 each, to use the beaches in New Jersey but it was worth it. Cape May is a beautiful Victorian town as well to see. We also stopped by Lucy the Elephant near Atlantic city while we were on the way. We had a great day and are so glad they are here.

Wednesday night we listed to Elder Jorg Klebingat’s MTC Devotional that was a classic. He used 12 questions to make all his points to the currently serving missionaries and he was masterful. One point was they need to be Faithful and Competent. Being faithful is not enough. They need to be master teachers and apply themselves to become so. It was amazing. I wish we could get a copy of it but they are only for serving missionaries to watch.

Sunday we had a nice sacrament meeting in our home with them and since they have a Priest, Teacher and Deacon it was awesome to have the sacrament in our apartment with their officiating. Later in the day we drove up to Valley Forge, dropped off a new credit card to a missionary there then went to the National Park and drove around to all the sites. At least the roads were open so we could do our own tour. Nothing else was open. The weather has been great.

We love you all so much and love this great work.

We didn’t actually have 20 missionaries come this week, it starts tomorrow. This week we did some Zoom training of the ones that came the prior week. It looks like that is the pattern for a couple of months, missionaries come one week, we do some training for them the next week and repeat.

Monday we had an office council meeting to discuss with the President all the work we are doing and get some direction. President and Sister Dunnigan are amazing and work tirelessly to interview, assign and select companions for all these new missionaries. The group that is coming this week is all newly assigned missionaries from other missions, almost all from South American missions. They will really bolster our two Spanish zones and one set will be Portuguese speaking in an area where there are many Portuguese speaking people in the mission. This week in preparation for the many coming I contacted and set up some rental cars for July. We may need 8 cars in July, not sure how many thereafter. We are also expecting new cars to be delivered sometime in July but the timing is not yet certain. The targets keep moving.

We are trying to consolidate several areas and have the companionships share a car to free up cars for all the new missionaries coming. It is working out fairly well so far but will only go so far. The missionaries have been very good about losing a car. Since they can’t leave their apartments much anyway it isn’t too big of a deal for now.

Saturday we went over to Chesapeake City, MD, (in the mission). Still trying to find places we haven’t been. It is a pretty quaint little town with these fun little houses that bear the names of the people that built them in the mid 1800’s. There is a big canal there, the Chesapeake and Delaware, that is big enough for ocean-going ships. Lots of boats on it that made Clark a little excited thinking about waterskiing. We also did a trail there and manage to get 5 miles of walking in.

Sundays are usually full for us. Today we had a Zoom call Sunday School at 10 from our ward for an hour, then listened to the Tabernacle Choir broadcast, then at noon had a Zone Sacrament meeting, less the sacrament, but a great testimony meeting via Zoom. We also had a few investigators on the call that listened in and heard so many wonderful testimonies. Two of them we have been helping teach with the Elders so that was great. It was really a special meeting. Then after that we had the sacrament meeting in our apartment. That is so spiritual, being able to do that in our home. We then got out for a walk around a neighborhood and enjoyed the sunshine. Later we visited with two of our children and families as well as one of our nieces, Melinda, that called. We really enjoy the calls. This evening we finally got our Book of Mormon study in and listened to a couple of internet discussions on the chapters.

The weeks go by fast and we love this work supporting these great missionaries. We are truly blessed to be here. We love you all. Have a joyful week.

Tuesday was transfer day! We actually got to see some of the missionaries who came in to get their companions. And even more on Tuesday when they were waiting for the new missionaries to get here. We even got to sing Happy Birthday to Sister Sherratt! It was also her mother’s birthday. It was so fun to talk to her and Sister Moss. Just a little while after they left, they called to say they had been in an accident and had turned into another lane where a big pickup truck was. Fortunately, the other driver and the police were very kind and helpful and the girls didn’t get hurt. They were able to drive it back to the office, we gave them something to eat, and Clark got another car ready for them. We have a few cars there since we had so many missionaries go home.

A little while later we were going out to go home when we noticed they were still there. They were sitting on the ground against the car sobbing. The shock had worn off and they were pretty traumatized. I’m afraid I broke the no hugging rule, but I am so glad I did.

We had a mission call this week with Sister Broadbent, our mental health adviser. She is so good with the missionaries and had some great advice about getting outside to exercise and adding variety to their schedules. We did have to laugh when one Elder asked if it was healthy to build things and then smash them to get out his frustrations.

At our daily devotional Friday (6:45 a.m. every day!), it was our turn to give a technology tip. We told them we were sure they were wondering what on earth the Bonners could teach them about technology, and we had the answer, “Absolutely Nothing!” We did go on to talk about where all this knowledge is coming from and how it is to be used to further God’s purposes. That afternoon we went up to Scranton because we had a couple of TIWIs for Clark to replace. When we got done, we found a park in the middle of town with all kinds of walking trails. It was really a great place. We followed one trail and found the Waters of Mormon!

We got home that night in time to hear President and Sister Dunnigan’s devotional. They talked about the battle their daughter had with cancer over the last 1 1/2 years. She is a young mother with 3 little boys and was first diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. They had so many spiritual experiences along the way, but it was long and painful. The missionaries even had their own special fast for her. Right now she is cancer-free.

Yesterday was a great Sunday. We did our own Come Follow Me study in the morning and had a Sunday ZOOM meeting with our Zone at noon. We got to visit with Wayne’s family, then we had Sunday School via ZOOM at 6, and talked to Christy’s family after that. At 9 we got to do a ZOOM call with Clark’s family. His sister Kaye isn’t too happy that she turns 80 in a few days!

We are still on self-isolation, Stage Red. With all the riots going on in Philadelphia, we are so grateful for the Brethren who determined long ago that we needed to get all the missionaries out of the urban areas. All are safe and accounted for! And we have 20 more coming next week!!

We love you and pray for you! Stay safe and happy!!

This week has been a little uneventful compared to most. Tuesday we had a mission call and the President explained we will be receiving about 110 re-assigned missionaries to our mission from June to September, plus the normal transfer missionaries. Some have 4-5 months left to serve and others have a year or more. Almost all are from South American missions with a few from places like the Philippines, Samoa, or Portugal. I also worked up a spreadsheet with all the incoming and outgoing missionaries by week and how many cars we will need based on the allowance criteria of 83% of missionaries in cars. Fortunately it worked out so we didn’t need more cars until the end of June. Then later I was informed that they are sending us 25 new cars between July and probably September and since we will have so many more missionaries we don’t have to sell any until this surge is over. That helps tons. I am a happy camper.

Wednesday late we went up to Bethlehem to get a car back that we let the zone leaders use while theirs was in the shop so that was a nice drive for Amy and me. We also learned that a couple had received a call to take our place but had not accepted it yet. Unfortunately they won’t be here until late August. The office couples thought we should extend our mission a month or more. However, on Friday the President came into the office and told Amy a miracle had happened. While he was interviewing the re-assigned missionaries prior to their coming out one said he had served for a couple of months as the financial secretary in Mexico so he could take Amy’s place temporarily. Amy said great, she could leave a month early. The President just laughed and said she could train for a month. Then she realized I did not have a replacement so she said she could leave and I come later. He asked her if she was asking for a new companion? We all had a good laugh but are relieved it is working out to come home as expected.

On Friday nights the President started an 8:30 pm discussion each week for all the missionaries over Zoom and the office couples present a half hour devotional about things they have learned and spiritual experiences they have had. It was out turn to do it Friday. We had it all set up with a video and photos to show and had even got Travis to call us on Zoom Thursday night and let us go through the mechanics of the computer work for our presentation and it worked great. Unfortunately Friday night our computer locked up on Zoom and we couldn’t get out of it. Fortunately we were able to switch to my laptop, transfer all the files over and do the presentation and it worked well. Amy was super as usual and I rode on her coat tails through the end. We got several great comments from the missionaries. Glad to have it over however.

We were able to participate in a discussion with some investigators, Gus and Sharon, unfortunately their mother was working. They are very sharp 10 and 12 year old youth. It is amazing to see the missionaries in action sharing the gospel and have an opportunity to share a testimony and some experiences as well.

We are so fortunate to be here doing this great work, teaching of Christ. Gus and Sharon are on date to be baptized once they can get to church when it is allowed and hopefully their mother will also be ready by then. We love this work and the spirit we feel confirming the efforts we are making in his service. The gospel is TRUE!!!

Monday started out with another office council meeting, this time with the office talking to President Dunnigan on Zoom. I don’t know how all this technology works, but it is certainly a blessing during this time. Before the meeting, Clark and I took a car up to some Elders in Bethlehem (it’s not to far from Nazareth)…. So that took most of our day. Unfortunately we had to go back another day because their battery died. While we were on our way we stopped to help some sisters that were also having trouble with their car.

The best part of this week started Thursday when Travis come for a visit! We couldn’t get into any of the museums, Independence Hall, etc., but we walked around a lot of them. One day we went south to New Jersey and went to the beach at Cape May as well as to Atlantic City to walk the boardwalk. At Cape May we found horseshoe crabs! They are about 10″ across, haven’t evolved since prehistoric times and their blood is used in lab tests to check for toxins. Pretty cool!

While we drove we also made a few stops to drop off commissary to some missionaries. The next day we went the other direction in PA, also stopping at missionaries along the way.

We went up to the Lehigh Gorge and through Jim Thorpe, PA, and saw some beautiful country. Their mountains, the Poconos, just don’t match up against the Wasatch.

Sunday we got to be in on a Facebook Live Event to listen to the CEO of the 76ers Basketball team and the NJ Devils hockey team. Scott O’Neil joined the church after being married to his member wife, Lisa, for 22 years. It was a great fireside advertised for members and investigators and at last count had over 4,000 views. We also found out this morning that they are allowing baptisms in NJ, DE, and MD (all part of our mission) but are only allowing 4-5 people to be present with some strict guidelines. Still waiting for PA… Happily, 2 children Gus and Sharon, that we’ve been able to help with have decided to be baptized. Their mother hasn’t committed yet, but I’m sure she will.