We actually had 2 more missionaries whose cards were compromised this week. I’m praying that is the last of them. The bank claims department is trying to sort out how they got access. I’ve also been busy getting a new system set up with SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) for our missionaries who use mass transit (47). It’s been a lot of work, but I think it will work well when I’m done. I also had to do some training on a mission-wide ZOOM call on the card fraud and how the SEPTA passes will work.

Wednesday Clark had surgery on his left hand for finger contracture release. His two center fingers wouldn’t straighten out, but they do now. He has had hardly any pain at all and can already open and close his hand. What a blessing! It does have some swelling that still needs to go down. Looks like he’ll be good for water skiing when we get home! The first couple of days it looked like he had a club at the end of his arm. Now he wears a splint, but he still gets lots of attention from people.

All of the missionaries’ apartments have to be inspected every transfer and we have been assigned 4 that we get to do. We finished the last one last week and got to visit with the missionaries over dinner. Most of them, including these 2, do a great job of keeping their apartments clean, so it makes our job easier.

Clark spent all day Friday and part of the evening working on getting all the vans and transportation details worked out for the transfers this week. That’s after Sister Lundell spent all Thursday getting the transfers onto a spread sheet so he would know who’s going where. It takes a lot of time, and there are always a few changes. We’ll see how it goes….

We are grateful for the mild winter we’re having. Not too many super cold days, but lots of rain with a few warmer days here and there. We don’t mind the lack of snow. I have been having some sinus issues, but I have really been blessed with good health while we have been here. I haven’t had to miss any days at the office. And, of course, Clark is as healthy as always!

Two quick jokes – Why didn’t the Lamanites ever set the table for dinner? Because they didn’t have any plates! Did you know that in Joseph Smith’s day they only had 24 letters of the alphabet? They were missing the D & C.

On the ZOOM call I told the missionaries that we have office missionaries to take care of all the details of their lives so they can concentrate all their efforts on bringing others to a knowledge of their Savior. We love serving our Savior by serving his missionaries here.

Have a great week! We love you so much!!!

Well, this week certainly made up for last week. Early in the week we had to go visit some Elders to get their TIWI reattached to their windshield so they could quit being accused of aggressive driving. Of course, we timed it so we could take them out to eat.

We were able to visit Rita and her family Wednesday. The missionaries taught them about the plan of salvation. They asked if anyone knew the story of Adam and Eve. Her son, Gus (12 years old) told a great version of the full story. Rita is very religious and has taught her children well. They have been reading the Book of Mormon – Rita doesn’t know how to read so Sharon (9) and Gus read it to her. They all ask the most thoughtful questions. She works Sundays, but she wants to come to church and bring the kids. It turned out to be an amazing lesson!

Thursday night we went to the University of Pennsylvania to see a play called “Mannahatta.” Two of the YSA’s were the lead and second lead. They were both So Good! It is basically the story of the first Native American woman to work on Wall Street, but a side story tells the story of the Lenape Indians that were the original inhabitants. We were definitely out of our element with no one else there under 30, and we got home past our bedtime (it started at 8).

I decided we needed to go to Walmart Friday night to get a birthday gift for one of the girls, but the one near us is pretty trashy. So Clark decided on a much nicer one about 1/2 hour away. We were walking along the aisle when a man stopped us to ask if we were from Utah. Turns out he lived in Utah for 12 years and was baptized there. He wanted to know if we knew Elder and Sister Nelson from Cedar City…. We ended up getting his name and phone number so the missionaries could get in touch with him. He said he hadn’t been to church in a long time but felt he needed something in his life right now. A tender mercy for all of us!

And last, but not least, we actually had 10 of our missionaries debit cards get hacked and their money cleaned out. They were in lots of different places. When I called the bank Saturday morning, they said I was the 3rd one calling with the same problem – all from the church. So I had to order new cards for them and add money to their companions’ cards so they could have something to live on. Unfortunately, 2 sisters were companions out in Seaford, Delaware. So we made the 2 1/2 hour trip out and back Saturday afternoon to make sure they had some grocery money. We did get to see the beautiful beach and discovered they have farmland in the area. I took a picture to show how much this cape has grown over the years.

We love you all so much and enjoy keeping up with your adventures and the events of your lives. We love the gospel and serving here. May the Lord watch over all of you.

Looking back, this has been a rather quiet week. And that is quite okay! We had a teaching appointment with some missionaries scheduled for Wednesday, but she couldn’t have us come. Disappointing!

The best news of the week is that the audit is over!!!!! We had another 3 hours on Thursday evening to complete it. Everything was in order, finances are fine, the auditor had good things to say about it all, and none of you will have to visit my “spirit in prison!” The anxiety was creating problems in my neck and shoulders, but it has been greatly alleviated.

While I was finishing things up Thursday, Clark was in on a zone Zoom call. He had been asked to give a short message about the spiritual side of staying under your mileage quota on the cars. He has also been asked to teach a Melchezidek Priesthood Preparation class for prospective elders during the second hour on Sundays.

We took the Carrolls (another office couple) out to see the orchids at Longwood Gardens Saturday morning. We have loved working with them. They are so much fun to be around and we have really grown close. Sadly, they will be going home the end of March, having finished out their year.

That evening we did an apartment inspection and took Sister Christensen and Sister Johnson out to dinner. Another set of incredible missionaries!

We were able to go to Viola’s with the missionaries again tonight. She has one son on a mission, another preparing to go soon, and a son in high school that is planning on going, but she has never joined the church. We talked about how our lives would be different without the restoration and the Book of Mormon. She bore a great testimony about the things she believes and how important it is to have a prophet. She said she has always encouraged her children to have faith in God and to do what is right and was happy when they wanted to join the church. She has an amazing family and she actually talked about how she is trying to work it out with her 2 jobs so that she can have every other Sunday off to go to church. I told her we want to be there when she gets baptized. We love this family and the sweet spirit that is in that home.

Without the Gospel in our lives, we certainly would not be in Philadelphia having these experiences. It is hard to imagine raising our family without it and not having that sense of purpose and direction. God is a very personal God who knows us and loves us and wants us to be happy. We are blessed to have that knowledge, to have a personal relationship with our Savior, and to be led by his prophet for our day, President Nelson. We love our family and are so proud of all of you! We have been blessed with some amazing friends as well, and we love you, too! Have a wonderful week!

This was a very busy week for us with four Zone Conferences to go to and check cars for Clark. Two were here in Broomall and two at other buildings. Also four safety presentation were given and encouragements to do better on accidents and reporting on time. They are wonderful missionaries just only 6 years out of primary. I have to keep reminding myself of that. It is great being with them and feeling of their spirits, however. They are amazing missionaries.

This was also a tough week for Mom since she had the annual mission financial audit to complete on Thursday evening. The auditor was really good but soon realized this was not like a stake audit he could get done in a couple of hours. They worked 3 hours on it that day. It looks like it will end up being 5 or six hours due to the size and complexity of a mission’s finances. He was going to make a note to the stake president to make sure whoever does it next time allocates plenty of time. Mom did great but spent a lot of time preparing and preparing the rest of us with what needed to be done. It was very stressful on Mom and the auditor is coming back on Thursday for another couple of hours to finish it up this week.

I was supposed to have my hand surgery next week so we scheduled a little get away for Valentines Day this weekend and went up to a Bed and Breakfast in New Hope, the Aaron Burr House. It was really nice and Lisa was a great host. We looked around the town for a little Saturday morning and walked across the bridge into New Jersey where we each stood in a state side by side. We bought a small hanging light from a Turkish man that imports a lot of things from there. Then we went out to Ringing Rock State Park. The boulder field has unusual rocks that ring when struck with a hammer, or heavy crescent wrench in our case. It is amazing how they ring out. It was fun to see plus a waterfall in the park was very nice as well – just a little cold.

We also toured the Mercer Museum of old farm and household implements that is housed in a concrete castle-like building with 7 floors. It was quite interesting with all kinds of antiques. That evening we met up with some sisters to give them a new key fob for their car and had a nice dinner with them. One sister is from Heber (only been there 6 years), Sister Faucet, the other from Brazil, Sister Santos. A nice dinner to say the least. We love to get to know them.

My hand surgery got delayed until the 26th due to the hospital not taking my insurance so we had to set up a second location where the doctor practices a little further away. It is an outpatient surgery to take out tissue that has grown around some tendons and pulls my two middle fingers closed so I cannot straighten them out. It should not be a big issue. Now I get a second Valentines date at home this time.

The missionaries in our area here brought an investigator into the office as part of a tour of the building and lesson, we also got to visit with him. He is such a good hearted person, ready to hear the gospel and seems so open to the work that is was nice to be a little part of his journey to the gospel. Viola, the one we’ve been seeing Sunday afternoons, showed up at church today with her whole family! We love the work and the spirit that it brings to our efforts here.

We love all of you and pray daily for you. Take care.

It is official! We have passed our 1 year mark!

This past week was a quiet week after transfers and before 4 zone conferences starting Tuesday. Clark has been having a little trouble with not being able to open his left hand all the way. It has to do with some tissue growing around his tendons (almost like scar tissue). He went to the doctor about it and has decided to have surgery on the 12th. I found out the real reason he wants it done soon when he asked the doctor if it would be okay for water skiing when he gets home!

We were glad to have Wayne come Tuesday afternoon and stay until Wednesday afternoon on his way to meetings in D.C. I had offered to teach Institute by myself so the two of them could go to a 76ers game against Golden State. Wednesday morning we toured the USS New Jersey Battleship, went to Reading Market for lunch and doughnuts, and over to Christ Church (where the founding fathers attended church) before we had to have him to the train station.

Friday night we were able to go to dinner at Korple’s house. She has been a member for 4 years and found the church the week she got to America. She is from French Guinea and is another one who has had such a hard life. But she loves the gospel and will tell everyone she meets about the Savior’s love. She has brought over 100 people to church over the years, and several have joined the church. I told her she needs a missionary name tag!

Yesterday we took a sister from the ward with us to the temple. She is hearing and visually impaired and was so happy to be in the temple. The session was overflowing.

Afterwards, Clark and I went to Longwood Gardens to their Orchid Festival. It was amazing with thousands of orchids – huge hanging baskets full, solid walls of orchids, and arrangements of them everywhere. It was even better because Hannah, one of our Institute students, met us there and walked around with us. She is doing a 2 year internship there and knows so much about all the plants and how the gardeners do all they do. It was really fun and even Clark liked it.

We love all of you so much! We have been so blessed to have the most amazing people in our lives!! Have a great week.

This was the week we got to try out the new transfer system! Three senior couples rented vans and met the missionaries near their areas at central points to load up the ones leaving and bring them to the church. Then the ones going home stayed in Broomall and the others got on the vans to go to their new areas. It went pretty well, except for a couple glitches that Elder Bonner had to fix by delivering the missionaries that got missed. The senior couples really liked driving the missionaries, so that was a plus. We got 12 new missionaries, 6 had completed their missions and went home, and 2 others left early to go home. I

It’s always fun to get to train the new ones and learn more about them. President has started a new thing where they pick them up from the airport, give them a bag with some healthy snacks, and have them go out with missionaries to do some street contacting. They actually give away a lot of Books of Mormon and get pretty excited about being missionaries. Then they come back to the church for some Cheese Steaks, etc., for dinner. Our son-in-law, Richard, came out to a library convention and was on the same plane as the arriving missionaries.

Saturday was a pretty awesome day! Our friend, Karl, from our Institute class got baptized out in Downington. There was a good crowd there and everyone did such a great job on the program. There was such a great spirit there. His non-member mother gave the opening prayer and gave thanks that he could be baptized to show his commitment to God. It was beautiful!

We left there and drove an hour back down to the temple to get to the sealing of a family in our ward. They have 4 young sons. There was some confusion between their endowment session and the sealing, but they finally got everyone in one place. The sealer had one of the witnesses interpret for him so they could hear the words in their native African krio. What an amazing thing to see that little family all kneeling at the altar and becoming a forever family.

We were able to meet Richard after that at the convention center. He had gotten guest passes so we could go in and see everything. All these different publishers were giving away free “Advance Copies” of books and we walked out with two totes full! A book lovers dream! He found a great seafood place that we went to for dinner. It was so good to see him again!

Today I wore my new pink dress to church. Gurley was so excited to see me in it and so many sisters talked to me about it. I’m not sure I look like a missionary in my African dresses, but I think that is okay. These sisters give you what they can, and it is a way for me to show them how much I love and appreciate them. They are amazing women of faith!

Tonight we got to go out with the missionaries to visit Viola and her family. She is not a member, but has a son that served a mission, one on a mission, and another getting ready to go on a mission. She also has a teenage son, a daughter, and a niece. She works two jobs and has a hard time getting to church. She is such a good mom and there is a wonderful feeling in that home. I really hope she can be baptized before we go home.

Have a wonderful week! We love you all so much!!!!

The weeks seem to be flying by! We had dinner Monday with the other 2 office couples and President and Sister Dunnigan. It is always nice to be together outside of the office. Tuesday night was Institute – we are studying “Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel” – So Good! We found out that one of our Young Adults, Karl, is getting baptized Saturday! We love being able to teach these wonderful young people. It has been a real blessing for us.

Wednesday we took a set of sister missionaries out to dinner before we did their apartment inspection. One of them actually grew up in Cleveland – Sister Griffin. We did another set on Friday. That is one of our favorite things to do because we get them all to ourselves for an hour. They are great examples! And their apartments were really clean, too.

The mission doctor and mission therapist for our mission did a Health Conference in our building on Thursday that we were able to attend. They have been concerned because of the anxiety that so many of the missionaries have to work through. It was really good, and we got some good feedback from the missionaries for next time.

The weather has turned so cold! It was 35 degrees one morning but the news said it had a windchill of 13. It snowed, then rained most of yesterday. The roads were a little slippery this morning on the way to church but there was very little traffic at 8:30 in the morning. One sweet sister, Gurley James, was so excited to see me today and gave me another African dress (my 3rd one), complete with the fabric to do the hair thing. I’ll have to have her show me how to do it.

President Dunnigan has given a challenge to the missionaries to give 15 invitations every day to people they come in contact with. A couple of weeks ago they had ~6500 invitations issued and their teaching pools had gone up 30%. I love how faithful and obedient our missionaries are! President has the missionaries write to him each week and shared this experience of 2 sisters with us –

“We were in the makeup aisles at Walmart (it is not normal for us to be there) when a lady walked up behind us. She tried to say something but started to cry before anything came out. My companion gave her a hug and she took a second to start talking. We asked her what her name is and she told us. She shared that this morning she was praying to God to show her a sign that he was there and knows what she is going through. When she was walking down the aisle at the store, she saw our name tags and knew that was her answer! We gave her our card and she told us her number. We said we will contact her and she said she is looking forward to it!! I know that was all in God’s timing to be at that place at that exact time! He knows all of His children and answers questions in marvelous ways!”

This is a great work! It is a blessing to be here and see how the Gospel changes lives – including ours!

We love each of you. You are always in our prayers and we miss you! Have a wonderful week!!!

Hi Everyone, we forgot last week to share a tradition in Philadelphia called the Mummers Parade. It lasts 8 hours and is an amazing costume, band and funny ideas parade. Here are a couple of photos of the event. They also have short programs that they do in the conference hall and are judged. You can look them up online.

It was a different week, we started Monday dropping of our pickup truck to be repaired from an accident then went into a meeting with the President and the AP’s to discuss a new way of doing transfers and how we could work it all out. We have been having all the missionaries come to our building for the transfers, the Elders early and the Sisters a little later. However they all seemed to hang around and visit for quite a while after the transfer, surprise, surprise. The new method is to have them meet in 5 strategic points in the mission then have senior missionaries rent vans and haul those transfering into the office, switch vans and go back out to the areas. The idea is to keep most of the missionaries productively engaged in finding while the others are transferring. It takes considerable effort to make all the arrangements and get the right missionaries to the right place along with all the luggage. We think we have a plan so we will see on the 21st. It should be interesting. The AP’s and President are more optimistic about the change than we are. However, as President Hinckley always said, “it will all work out”.

Wednesday we had a nice lunch with Daniel, one of our institute students that works close by that was real nice. We also took our friend Christian to see his dad in the hospital. He had colon surgery and is there for a week or so. Tuesday I took an elderly gentlemen to the VA hospital for cataract surgery that ended up being a Pre-Op visit so that was better. While I waited I walked down the street to U Penn’s Wharton School of Business, the Jon Huntsman building that is really cool, round, 8 story building with a great skylight. I got some exercise while I waited. The visit brought back memories of Bill Cozad and the VA.

Saturday Mom and I drove to Atlantic City (home of the Miss America Pageant) and walked the boardwalk. It was 60 degrees but with the howling wind it did not feel like it. We did walk on the beach for quite a distance and it was nice. It is lined with casinos (see the guitar light over the escalator) and fancy hotels all the way. We hit the Tanger Stores then drove down the coast to a cool stature of an Elephant, “Lucy” that is close to the beach. It is 5 stories high, metal frame and kind of cool. We then went to a lighthouse and cool fishing village but it was closed. All the boats were there however and the lighthouse was awesome.

Today at church Mom wore her African dress and all the sisters commented and talked to her about it plus took photos of all the ward sisters and missionaries in their African attire. We have such a loving, diverse ward and it is wonderful getting to know them and hear their conversion stories and the great faith they have in our Savior. Sacrament meeting ended about 12 minutes early so the bishopric counselor suggested we spend the extra time getting to know people we have not met. It worked great for us. I met a man that knew my cousin, J. Bonner Ritchie from BYU.

We love you all and miss seeing you but know the Lord will watch over you and keep you. Keep the faith.

Monday morning about 7:30 someone was knocking on our door. It was our sweet neighbor from Italy, Sylvia, and she had brought us some spaghetti and meatball sauce. So Good! We had invited the office couples and Pres. & Sister Dunnigan over to play games Tuesday night for New Year’s Eve, but it morphed into a full dinner (compliments of Sylvia and her meatballs). Everyone left by 9, so no loud celebrations at midnight!

I hadn’t mentioned that one day we showed up at the office to find notes stuck everywhere on the walls, our computers, desks, etc. They were all sweet thank you notes from the missionaries. What a great surprise!

We didn’t have to go to work on the 1st so we relaxed at home most of the day. Estella had invited us and the Carrolls and our bishop and his wife to dinner that evening. She also had one of her friends there and they told us a lot about how it was when they served their missions in Central America. They are both from Honduras. It was a nice evening and a great chance to get to know our bishop better, as well.

With all the problems with the computer and the rent, plus a lot of other smaller problems popping up, December was a hard month for me (Amy). It didn’t help that I was a little homesick besides. How grateful I am for Clark and the Priesthood that he holds. He was able to give me a blessing that has helped so much! And Sister Carroll even brought me some flowers to cheer me up.

Saturday morning we took our friends, the Kollie family, to breakfast. Since their home burned, they have moved into the 4th ward so we don’t see them very often. It was fun to catch up and to get to talk to the 3 children, t00. They had given Clark and I an African shirt and a dress, so we wore those to breakfast.

We had a nice afternoon at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I had been able to go with Mike and Lexi, but Clark hadn’t been yet. I just let him lead and enjoyed the art at his pace. He tends to appreciate the art at a much faster pace than I do….

This morning at church a member named Corple gave us another African shirt and dress. She had made these herself for us, so we thought we would model them for you.

We love the people in our ward! They are so kind and such great examples of faith. We had 4 sing their testimonies today at church. No matter how hard their lives may be, they are always grateful to God for blessing them. And they are always so good to the missionaries!

We miss our family and friends so much! We have the most amazing grandchildren and it is hard to be away from them. But we know Heavenly Father has called us to be here and is blessing us in amazing ways.

Have a great week – We love you!!!!!

Happy birthday, Caryn!!

Monday and Tuesday were a little hectic at work. I had run into some trouble with our church computer system and spent a lot of time getting that all worked out. We left at noon on Tuesday to drive over to Camden, NJ, to take two missionaries out to lunch and deliver packages for that zone. We still had packages coming to the office Christmas eve! Our hallway and council room were stacked almost to the ceiling with all the packages for 170 missionaries! It’s nice to have some space in the office again.

Christmas morning we were busy baking ham and fixing dinner for everyone to come at 2:30. We had 4 Elders and 6 Sisters here, as well as Sister Estella, and it was so much fun. It would have been very quiet without them!!

We were back at work on Thursday and Friday. But Friday we left at 1 to come home because our dear friends, Milt and Sandy Walters, and their daughter, Tammy and her family came to have lunch with us and visit for a couple of hours. Tammy lives near Washington, D.C. and they had been out to stay with her and included a day trip to Philadelphia. It was so nice to see them!!

We had heard about a place called Peddler’s Village, like a huge Gardner Village, just an hour from us. So Saturday we went up to check it out. They had some really fun little stores with unusual gifts and things. We only spent $6 on some dried pineapple and mangoes, but it was still fun. We had to go back later that day to see the Christmas lights there.

While we were in the area we went to a place called Fonthill Castle. It was built by Henry Mercer in 1908 and is entirely made out of cement, even the desks and bookshelves. It was pretty cool to see. It has 44 rooms and 10 bathrooms and is 4 stories high.

He built a tile factory nextdoor where they made all sorts of beautiful tiles for floors, walls and ceilings. The little bedroom in the drawer and the tiny house under the stairs were for the mouse – way cute! It turned out to be such a nice day – 47 degrees and sunny!

Have a great week and a Happy New Year!!!!! Love you!