This has been a busy week full of Zone Conferences for Clark with an added time for rotations in the conference so the missionaries could all get flu shots. Our nurse said she enjoyed seeing them get the shots. Some of the toughest seem to wince and question the need for needle but all came through just fine. Dad was the only one that yelled ouch when shot. We had beautiful fall weather for the conferences so no high heat and humidity to check all the cars like last time, what a relief. It did turn out being long days with 1.5 hr. travel one way and 2 hr back in traffic.

Mom (since only she and one other sister were in the office the last day of conferences) found a ping pong set in the commissary storage room and played away the afternoon once they got all their work done. The cat was away as they say. I enjoy the conferences because we get to see all the missionaries and interact with them and feel of their spirits, they are great. I got to talk to Elder Hintze and mom sent a little present for him and his companion so that was good. Mom also sent some packages to other elders and sisters we have had great relationships with while serving together. It is always a joy to see them and find out how the work is progressing for them.

We are expecting to go to the temple with the man we have been teaching for his first time this next week if we can get it set up quickly. He is excited to go and spoke in sacrament meeting today. He is so humble and full of faith that buoys us up whenever we are with him.

Yesterday we went to the aquarium and saw the fish and critters. We were a little disappointed, we think the one is Salt Lake is better but it was fun to see what they have. We also went to the Magic Garden that was really busy. It is by an artist that built an outdoor courtyard of walls and steps in masonry and decorated every square inch with broken glass, mirror pieces, junk from the street, bottles, etc. in a mosaic type pattern. Kid of weird but artistic, I think. Probably don’t need to go back there again for me.

An Elder told me about an experience he had driving this last week so I asked if I could share it in ZC’s this week. He was driving in the country but came to a stop light. The traffic was 55 mph on both roads and as he approached it, 150-200 ft away, it turned yellow and he was turning left. His first thought was “I can make this”. However he heard and felt a “look” come to him right after his first thought and when he looked he saw a sedan coming at full speed with the intent to run the red light in his direction, which he did right though the intersection. If he had not stopped the car would have likely T boned him and he probably would not have survived. I am grateful the Lord protects his missionaries with the influence of the Holy Ghost and they listen. How blessed we are to be on His errand and entitled to His help.

We love you all, and we especially missed being at the baptism and blessing for Bryn and Alek this last week. We think of you often and pray daily for all of you. Have a wonderful week.

Things are back to normal this week, getting up and going to work every day. Bill and Ruth left Monday morning and we had Institute Tuesday night. We didn’t have as many there, but it was still good.

I forgot last week to tell you about our visit to the One Liberty Observation deck.

Wednesday was our Retraining for the last two sets of new missionaries. We fed lunch to about 90 people. This coming week are the Zone Conferences, and we should have over 90 again for the one in our building. Thank goodness for Wawa! They are a chain store here kind of like 7-11 but they also have sandwiches and other food you can buy. They do a good job getting all the sandwiches ready for us for zone conference.

We loved watching conference this weekend! We watched all but one session at home. How blessed we are to be taught by our prophet and apostles and to belong to the Church!

We made cookies this morning and decided to go to our church to watch the last session. There were only 5 sets of missionaries, 1 investigator, and 1 new convert there. They loved having the cookies at the end! I was able to talk to the new member, Tammy, for a while. She has had a sad life, but she just glows because she has found the Gospel. She shared her story and bore such a strong testimony of the Savior. These people here are amazing! I am so grateful to be able to learn from them and have my testimony strengthened as well.

We love you! Have a great week!

We have had a whirlwind the last 1 1/2 weeks! It was so fun to have Cam and Julie, Sophie, Dawson, and Keelie here. We spent parts of Monday and Tuesday with them before they left for Virginia to visit her sister for a few days. They stopped in for dinner tonight and are now on their way home. We miss them already! The kids were so cute and so good while they were here, but I am sure everyone will be exhausted when they get home in the morning.

Clark’s brother and his wife (Bill and Ruth) flew in Thursday night. We were able to spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with them. We spent most of Friday downtown seeing all the usual sites downtown, along with more on Saturday.

Saturday night was really awesome! We had tickets to Longwood Garden for their concert, fountain, and fireworks show. It was soooo good! Tons of people there, but we still made it home in good time. and today they got to hear one of our members at church sing his testimony. A pretty cool experience, too!

Last Thursday we were able to join the mission wide phone call with the Assistants to the President and Pres. Dunnigan and his wife. We were humbled to be able to hear some of our wonderful missionaries talk about things that they had done to be more faithful. One talked about obedience and another one about the need for daily repentance. They all bore pretty powerful testimonies, and we felt like we had learned so much from them. This generation of missionaries are so strong and solid in the gospel and are always ready to share what they know is true. I should be more like them!

I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and I am thankful that His plan for us right now is to be able to serve in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission.

Take care and know that we love you!

We had a nice surprise at church Sunday. The Smiths (a brand new missionary couple here) had just reached town and had come to our ward. Their son told them they had to come to Philadelphia 1st, his favorite ward when he was here as a missionary 13 years ago. They hadn’t lined up a hotel for that night so we invited them to stay with us. It was fun to get to know them a little before they left for their assignment as Member Leadership Support missionaries.

For our Institute class on Tuesday we listened to the BYU devotional with President Nelson that had been broadcast out for all the young adults at 1 p.m. our time. It was about what is truth. We had such an amazing discussion about it after, and had 9 people there.

Wednesday and Thursday were busy days at work and getting ready for Cam and family to arrive. We’ve had so much fun with them. We took part of Friday off and took them to the Please Touch Museum, which the kids loved.

On Saturday we went to Sesame Place, based on the Sesame Street show. It was perfect for the kids. They could ride all the rides and got to see lots of the characters and had fun programs and a parade. They had so much fun and were the best kids the whole day.

I loved this quote by Pres. Nelson in the devotional: “You are the children whom God chose to be part of His battalion during this great climax in the longstanding battle between good and evil—between truth and error. I would not be surprised if, when the veil is lifted in the next life, we learn that you actually pled with our Heavenly Father to be reserved for now.”

What a great responsibility we have to do His work in whatever our calling may be and as ministers for Christ! We are so grateful for our amazing family and the world’s greatest grandchildren! Love you all!!

We had one of those busy weeks again. It was transfer week, but this time we only had 5 weeks in between. They are having a big conference this week in Rochester, NY, for the mission presidents of the Northeastern Area so things had to be adjusted. This time we received 21 new missionaries and sent 9 home. It is exciting! We are also getting 3 more couples in the next 3 weeks. In fact, one of them, the Smiths, just arrived this morning and came to our ward. They can’t move in until tomorrow, so we invited them to dinner and to stay tonight with us.

We met with Joseph David on Monday and got him to agree to get an appointment with the bishop for his interview before going to the temple for the first time. He is SO ready and is so humble and faithful. He lives with his son here, but his wife and other children are still in Liberia. We look forward to going with him to the temple.

Tuesday and Wednesday were such long days! We worked pretty much nonstop from 8:15 a.m. until about 8 p.m. both nights. One of our students, Benson McConkie, offered to teach Institute for us, so that was a great help.

We love transfer week with all the excitement and the chance to see so many missionaries! They are amazing! One very sad thing – when one of our missionaries made it home, he went looking for his brother. He had committed suicide. I can’t imagine how hard that must be. The mission president said he couldn’t help but wonder why such a tragic thing could happen to this wonderful missionary. Then he wondered if this mission may have been exactly what our elder needed to have the strength to carry him and his family through all this.

Saturday we went to Longwood Gardens again, this time with our nurse and her husband (who’s over commissary), the Carrolls. There was a small flower show going on that was pretty fun, too.

Even Clark was happy when he discovered the Artillery Plant!

And so it goes… We are eagerly awaiting Friday when Cam and Julie and the children arrive. I finally get to hold that precious little one for the first time!

We love you all! We love it when we get to talk to you and get caught up on things. And we love being here and being able to serve in so many ways. It is truly a blessing full of experiences and opportunities to learn that we could not have had in any other way. This gospel is true!

The week started with saying goodbye to Christy, Mike, Lexi and Braxton. That was hard.  We so much enjoyed their visit and probably packed too many things into the time but it was fun.

For institute on Tuesday we started the Teaching of the Living Prophets series for the semester that is going to be great talking about our prophets and their direction to all of us.  We only had four there but we also had some great discussions.  The young people are so inspired and insightful that it makes teaching a real high.

I had to call several missionaries this week and coach then on improving their driving performance, my least enjoyable thing to do in the office work.  Most take it pretty well but some complain how sensitive the Tiwi’s are and how they really are a good driver.  Mostly I think it is just getting them to understand that they can’t drive like they used to at home. A hard bump, a hard brake, a hard turn and speeding just need to be minimized.  Having 20 warnings in a day from the Tiwi is excessive.  Fortunately 92% of them have figured it out, the old 92/ 8 rule.  Glad it is not 80/ 20.  Unfortunately we had 3 more accidents this week – one  backing and the other two being hit by other drivers but it does cause work on my part.

We also took one of our favorite missionaries to the airport to see him off.  He was a good one from Canada and we were sad to see him go.  It is interesting being on this side of the going home experience. 

Saturday we went down to Delaware and went to the Hagely Museum.  It is where DuPont started his first business in making black powder plus a mansion and barn with old DuPont cars in it.  He was a very impressive owner, taking great care of his workers.  Even had a bank account for them with 6% interest annually.  The young men there started being apprentices at 13 and he kept half their salary and then when they made journeyman he gave them the money to buy the tools of their trade so they could start their own business.  It was a fun visit.  Plus he built a school for all the children. They only went on Sunday morning but the children learned to read and write.

We were able to go to the temple this week. We don’t get there as often as we would like, but it is always nice. During the prayer they prayed for the missionaries of our mission – and we both thought, “They’re praying for us!” We always pray for the missionaries, but forget that’s what we are doing, too, in our assigned role. A tender mercy!

Today was stake conference so we attended here in Broomall. Both meetings were very good, then we had Christian over for lunch after the meeting. 

Love you all!!! We are always praying for you and miss you!

PS How about those Cougars beating Tennessee!!

Sorry for the late post! We have had family here. Christy, Mike, Lexi and Braxton arrived early Thursday morning. They kind of did their own thing that day. Then we were able to take Friday off to be with them. We had so much fun, but we did A LOT of walking! We also didn’t have to go in on Labor Day (they flew out that afternoon) so I think we wore them out. It was so nice to be able to be with them!

So we are alive and well. The thought for the day – “Christ is the bread of life. Without him we’d be toast!”

Love you all so much!!!!

Another week already! This week I got all the rents paid on the apartments, again. The utility bills continue throughout the month, but they are many. The mission finances just recycle every month, with tasks to be completed by various days throughout the month. There are always little snags that come along to keep things interesting. I don’t look forward to the first few days after transfers and zone conferences because there are always some toll violations by the missionaries that I have to try to get reduced. Pretty sad when they want to charge you $50 plus for a $4 toll that they didn’t pay. But you can’t help but love them anyway!

The missionaries were all excited when they came to the zone conference here and discovered the 5 new Rav 4 Hybrids sitting in the parking lot. Three are replacements for old cars (2016’s) and 2 will be added to the fleet number. We’ve hit a record 27 days with no preventable accidents since we got here! Not a very good record….

We fed over 90 people lunch at zone conference in our building (we also have a zone conference in Newark, DE, and one in Nazareth, PA). The missionaries are amazing and are working so hard. It is fun to sit with them at lunch and learn more about them and feel the spirit they have about them.

Just thought I would throw that picture in. The nice thing is our apartment is just 5 minutes from the office. We have squirrels that live in the tree and blue jays that come to visit occasionally.

Saturday we went downtown to the Liberty One Building and took the ride up to the 57th floor. It was a great view from there and we learned a little more about the city from the guide they had there. We do have a very unique skyline. The picture is looking up from the ground at one of the Comcast buildings. It was specifically designed to blend in with the sky as you can tell.

We also walked into the lobby of the building and this is what it looks like looking up.

Philadelphia has a rule that any new construction has to spend 1% the cost of the building for some sort of artwork. I guess this counts as theirs.

This is certainly true for us. We had no idea what we were getting into, but He has truly blessed us to be able to do what has been asked of us. It’s a comfort to know that He is with us all the way, cheering us on. Just as He is with you!

Love you all so much!!!

Nothing too exciting this week – mostly just working in the office. We did make it to Wilmington, DE, to take Elder Hintze and his companions to dinner. I told them I wish they could have more fun on their missions….they’ve only been together a little over a week and are such good friends and really seem to enjoy what they are doing. They said the ward members love them!

We had a great discussion on Judaism at Institute. We’re learning a lot. It will be nice when we start having more students again. Summers are a little busy for them!

Friday we took the Lundells with us and went to a light show at Longwood Gardens. It was called “Rockin’ the USA.” We would have liked a little more Sousa and a little less rock, but it was pretty awesome. At one point a long row of water jets also had fire coming out of the very top. Pretty impressive!

Saturday we were able to take another set of elders to get some lunch. Our missionaries are amazing! We’ll have a shorter time between transfers this time (5 weeks instead of 6) because of some meetings for the mission presidents. And we get 22 new ones in September!

A friend gave us this picture. We love it, especially because of the ONE. The thing that sets our church apart from any other is the continuing revelation we receive through living prophets. We know they communicate with our Savior – this is His church and we are so grateful to be his servants in our small way.

Love you all! Have a great week!!

Time is certainly going fast. We missed all of you with the reunion but loved to see the photos and videos of the events. We have such phenomenal grand children and families. Next year we plan on being there.

We had a busy week with transfers and new missionary training. We said goodbye to some we had worked with and loved so much. We are happy for them and the tremendous missionaries they have been but will miss them. We also received Elder Hintze, our niece’s son, into the mission this week and that was fun. He looks sharp and will do well we are sure. We are going to his area Thursday to celebrate his birthday. We would have gone earlier but they had dinners booked up. Tough area in Wilmington Delaware. We got 20 new missionaries and sent 16 home, big groups.

I did a dumb thing when picking up the new missionaries. I took the truck and new trailer to bring their luggage back. When I pulled up to the pick up point at the airport, I noticed the trailer was locked and I did not bring the key. Wow, did I feel brilliant. I told the president, then suggested we try to load all the luggage in the pickup, fortunately we had a strap to strap some down that went on top and the rest fit in the other cars and van. It is amazing how things do work out when you are on the Lord’s errand. Well almost, it rained all the way back, even had to detour around a flooded train underpass and got a lot of luggage wet. They dried out however by the next day, mostly.

Saturday we attended a Seminary and Institute 4 stake conference with all the other teachers and listed to some tremendous classes on various aspects of the gospel. It was really good and we took a lot of notes. We divided and conquered to get to all the classes. It was a busy week but one we enjoy because we get to work with the missionaries more.

We love serving here and the many friends we are making and the opportunity to share our testimonies. It is indeed the Lord’s work and we are happy to be a part of it.