Our mission is officially 1/3 over and it seems to be going so fast! We always seem to be busy and we love it here.

Our biggest news is that Wayne and Jeana’s baby boy, Alek, has arrived! Jeana seems to be doing well, but he has had to be in NICU because he can’t keep his oxygen levels up. I love how are family have rallied around to help them with the girls and to fast and pray for Alek. I don’t know what I would do without a single one of them!

Monday we had another great meeting with Joseph, who is preparing to go to the temple for the first time. He has such simple faith and is so eager to learn and prepare for the temple. His wife and children are still in Liberia and he pleads with them every week to go to our church (there’s one fairly close to them). What an amazing man!

Instead of taking August off for Institute, we are studying World Religions. There is so much to learn! One of our students, Emma, is teaching about Zoroastrianism this week while we will be helping out at the dinner for our missionaries that are going home.

Clark has been so awesome this weekend! We went to Longmont Gardens and bought a season pass. It was so beautiful there with all the summer flowers. Then we came home for awhile and he cleaned the house while I took a nap. He took me out for a great dinner and to the outlet mall to do a little shopping. Sunday he fixed a nice shrimp dinner for us. I am so grateful for him!

Some sad news about the little family that we were able to go with to their sealing. Jeremiah has been in Liberia for a month building a house for his mother and his brother’s kids and won’t be home for another 2 weeks. On Friday they had a fire at their house and lost almost everything but their lives. Unfortunately, it is not that uncommon here.

Today President Dunnigan told us about Elder Anderson. As a new mission president he would meet with his missionaries when they were struggling and console them and sympathize with them. Then one day he received revelation that he needed to direct the missionaries to the Savior for their answers because He was the one that had called them to serve. Good advice for all of us!

Love you all SO, SO much!!!

We were to have a temple prep lesson with our friend, Joseph, on Monday but he called just before we got there to tell us he was still out of town. We started for home, then when it started to rain we decided to stop and eat while we waited for the storm to blow over. We were so glad that we did! The wind and the rain were ferocious. On the way home we passed a church with half a tree laying across it, and there were large limbs, branches, and tons of leaves on the road everywhere.

Clark took me over to be re-finger printed (they decided not to keep me). They still couldn’t get good prints. She said that as long as they looked the same, they would accept them. I guess I’ve worn my prints off! We were all in the council room having lunch when someone appeared at our door. It was Clark’s nephew, Lynn, and his wife, Robin, from Midway. What a surprise! We had no idea they were in the neighborhood. They had come out for the Cumorah pageant and had travelled around some eastern states and were spending a couple of days in Philadelphia. We took them out to Valley Forge Wednesday night and then out to dinner. It was so fun to visit with them!

Then on Friday I got a phone call from Michael. He and another guy had gone to New York for a conference and had decided to take the bus over here on Saturday to spend the day with us. Another great surprise!

We did a tour of the city and saw as much as we could in a few hours. Then at 7 p.m. we ended up the day at the Phillies vs. Braves baseball game. We left at 9 and the score was 1-14 Braves, so we didn’t feel too badly leaving early. It was really fun to be in the park and feel the excitement there. It was a great day – so good to see Michael!

One of our Institute students, Benson, told us about a new mural in town and offered to take us to see it. They have murals all over the buildings here, over 2000. We met Benson this morning at the temple and drove over to where the new one is. Look closely at who’s sitting near the center of the table! Such great artwork on such a grand scale!

All in all, it’s been a great week! We love you and miss you and love it when we can talk to you!

The big news here is the weather. It has been in the high 90’s all week, but one day the heat index showed it felt like 107. Add to that the humidity in the 80’s to 90’s and it is like being in a sauna. Fortunately, we get to spend most of our time indoors.

Well, the guy that dropped by the office didn’t show up to church. But we have his name and email! He said he takes care of his 97-year-old mother, so that may have had something to do with it. We had a member couple come in and bring us flowers for the office and mission home. They are the most beautiful gladiolas. They said the do it almost every week.

Pennsylvania has a child protection law that requires everyone who is around children at all to get state clearance as well as being fingerprinted (sent to the FBI). We went to do that Tuesday morning, but my prints weren’t good enough so we are going back this week. Clark thinks it’s just a ruse to take me into custody. It also means that every missionary has to have it done, so it’s a lot of work. Just glad we aren’t the ones in charge of this one!

We had a re-training meeting/lunch for the last 2 batches of new missionaries and their trainers. We served lunch to 81 people. It’s fun to get to see the new ones and how they are adjusting .

Thursday we went over to Estella’s for dinner with her and a three-some of missionaries. She is so much fun to be around and an excellent cook besides. She has to be on oxygen all the time, but you never hear her complain.

Brother Muldowney, the head of the Institute and Seminary program for 5 stakes from parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, told us about a big conference he is planning for his area. Sounded great until he asked us to teach one of the classes…. I don’t know what we were thinking, but we said we would. We have probably the least experience of anyone!

We spent Saturday afternoon helping a couple that are going home Monday do some cleaning and loading their car. Our new bishop has started having a short talk about the Savior right before the Sacrament on Sundays. So far we are really liking it. Our ward tends to be a little noisy, but this seems to help get the focus where it should be.

We love talking to you when we can, and we are grateful for our amazing family and dear friends. Have a great week! (No pictures – I actually didn’t take any…)

It seems like the weeks keep going faster and faster! This week we had zone conferences – one down in Newark, Delaware (1 1/2 hours travel), one here in Broomall, and one in Nazareth, PA (2 hours north). Amy doesn’t usually go, just Clark to check out all the cars. But the missionaries are going to be paid 2x/month now and President Dunnigan asked me to teach a little on finances and budgeting. It went well, but the days are long and tiring. At least I didn’t have to spend all my time out in the hot sun like Clark did!

Institute was great, as usual. We are scheduled to have August off, but they want to keep going. I guess we will do a month’s worth of World Religions in between semesters.

I mentioned the end of May about the woman, Myrlene, with 2 children, that the sisters asked Elder Bonner to give a blessing. She was destitute and was on the verge of losing her home. They hadn’t been able to see her for quite a while, but they finally caught up to her this week. She was so excited to see them. She talked to them about the blessing she had received and how all of the promises in that blessing were coming true. She was able to be promoted at work for a better job and more pay and she can keep her home! She is ready for them to start working with her again.

Saturday we went down to Cape May, NJ, and took a couple of elders to lunch. Then we spent some time looking around. They have beautiful beaches there. It is an older town that has been well-kept with all these beautiful Victorian buildings. We did get a couple of funny looks when we walked out to the edge of the ocean in our very modest clothing and badges. It was extremely hot and humid!

Our missionaries shared an experience with us. They had decided to go out into the city near the mall and just start talking to as many people as they could. There was a very large black man with a huge afro, covered in tattoos, and listening to loud music. The new elder was a little nervous, so he walked on by him. When they were about to leave, the man called them over and wanted to know why they hadn’t talked to him. He asked them, how did they know but what he was the man that needed their message the most? They talked to him for quite a while and gave him a Book of Mormon and they have an appointment with him.

We also had a man about our age come into the office wondering when our meetings are because he would like to come to our church. He was born and raised a Catholic but felt impressed to come into our building. He didn’t want the missionaries yet, but we were able to introduce him to one of the members of the ward that meets in our building. I’m anxious to find out if he came.

We see so many miracles happen here. The more we learn about the lives of the people we meet, the more we love them for all the sacrifices they are making to be in the United States and to live the Gospel when they accept the teachings. They are blessed with such strong testimonies. We are learning so much from them and also from our young missionaries.

We love all of you and pray for you all the time! You are very dear to us!!

Sorry, we wrote last week and then forgot to publish it. So you will get 2 this week.

We had such a good time at the concert and fireworks on Saturday that we repeated it on Monday, this time with the Army Field Band. Another great concert and awesome fireworks!

Tuesday at Institute we had a good discussion on keeping our faith and testimony strong. They have such great insights that they are willing to share. I think we learn as much as they do!

We had a nice discussion with a man that just received the Melchizedek priesthood and the bishop asked us to work with him on going to the temple. He has older children and none of them or his wife are members, and all but one are in Africa. He has a great testimony and wonderful support in our ward so we will enjoy working with him. As we left his home, he said rain is coming and it didn’t look that bad just a sprinkle but by the time we got to our car only 50 yards away we were drenched to the skin. It really rains out here.

For the 4th we met with two senior couples that live downtown and we went to Independence square for some talks, swearing in of Army recruits and the parade. It was really good. Via Sikahema was one of the announcers, he is an area 70 and a wonderful man plus a new anchor. We toured the Jewish Museum that was free that day then toured a China Town park plus a few other places down town. We went back to their place for dinner, some visiting and then watched the fireworks at the Rocky Museum. It was a long tiring day but a good one. Plus hot and humid.

The time seems to be going so fast! We love you all and miss you!

The weeks keep going by, this one has been busy. We had transfers on Tuesday, dinner and a nice meeting for the departing missionaries at the mission home that night. We had a few we knew pretty well leaving and it is sad to see them go but great for them to get on with their lives. Missionaries going home Wednesday, leaving at 4:45 am to get to the airport, new missionaries coming in late afternoon, then dinner for the new missionaries, Philly Cheese Steaks and Beuler’s donuts. Thursday, breakfast for the new missionaries, training all morning, then meeting their companions, lunch and more training before they headed out to their assignments. A very busy time for all of us.

On Friday I took the other two Sr. Elders in the office and drove to a neighboring mission in NJ and picked up two cars we needed that they were done with so that worked well. We are now up to our limit on cars, 71. I also wrote up a request for 7 more cars due to our mission going up 20 more missionaries by October so we need the extra cars. Hopefully the Area Presidency and Missionary Department in SL will agree with the request.

Tonight we got to go with some missionaries and teach a lesson to a lady with 4 children that are all members, her oldest just left on a mission and she is not a member. Plus she has two of her nieces living with her since their mother died recently and they go to church also and love it. It was a great meeting and hopefully she will feel of the spirit as she reads the Book or Mormon. A really nice spirit there in the home and the missionaries teach such spiritual lessons, it is awesome to be part of it.

Last night we went down to the river front at Penn’s Landing for a concert by the Army Phershing’s Own Band from DC. A very large band plus singers and a trumpet line. It was awesome then fireworks from a barge in the river after. Kind of like Portland does. It was nice but getting out of there took a while but we still got home by 10:30 pm. It is the beginning of Philadelphia’s 4th of July celebrations. A flash flood warning and severe rain came through just before the concert and then cleared up, nice it cooled everything off so it was a perfect evening. There is a battleship moored just across the river in Camden from us so that was cool in the background as well.

We love the work and the people we get to meet and work with, time is passing fast, 5 months out already.

Best news this week – we had Wayne and Jeana stay a couple of nights with us! We crammed a lot into a short time, and Jeana was a trooper and did it all with us in spite of being just 6 weeks away from delivering their son.

We spent time at Valley Forge, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the Museum of the American Revolution and Wayne and Clark ran up the “Rocky” steps. We had cheese steaks and Beiler’s Donuts and Bobby’s Burgers. Friday night we took the night time tour of the city. It was really fun and the perfect weather for it. We loved having them here with us!

After dropping them off at the airport Saturday morning, Clark and I went to an Institute Inservice training downtown. Bro. Muldowney, the CES director for our area, is so knowledgeable and such a good teacher. We walked around for a while afterwards, waiting for a tour of the Masonic Temple. There is a huge 3-story Macey’s here, so we decided to go in for a minute. Holy Cow! It was awesome!! Yes, that’s an organ on the 2nd floor that had someone playing it.

The Masonic Temple was pretty cool. It’s the building that looks like Hogwarts Castle. Each room is decorated in a different architectural style, e.g. Chinese, Egyptian, etc. For only $80,000 you could rent it for a wedding and reception! They had a little museum there that had some pretty historic things in it, including an early original copy of the Book of Mormon. There were so many things that seemed so familiar – we are now reading a book on Masons and Mormonism. Joseph Smith was a Mason, but his brother, Hyrum, was much more active in it. Each room had an altar in the center with 3 pedestal candles.

Tonight we met with Sal and Alice, their sister Beatrice, and the missionaries for a discussion on 3 Nephi 27. After we read it, we talked about what we can each do to become more like our Savior. These sweet girls are being blessed with such great insights. I love listening to them share what they know and feel. Great night!

We love you all so much! Know that we are always praying for you. We are being blessed for being here and I know we are where we need to be right now. God lives and loves us and I am so grateful for that knowledge.

Couldn’t help but think of all the fathers we know….You are all doing a great job! We got a new Bishop in our ward today. He didn’t seem to be having as great a Father’s Day as some.

Clark had bought a trailer to have to haul luggage for the missionaries and to help move furniture in and out of apartments. When the man from Global Vehicles was here, he told him to take it back and get a bigger, nicer one. So he did. However, while we’ve been waiting for my new office credit card to arrive, we’ve been charging everything to his. He was a little surprised when he didn’t have enough left of his $10,000 limit to pay for it. Ouch! But all is good now!

We were able to attend High School graduation for our friend, Christian. He comes from a very bad home life, has seen his brother over dose twice since he (the brother) got out of jail about 4 weeks ago, and is very depressed. It was nice to see him excited and happy. He has a lot to overcome, and we hope we can help in some small way.

We did another apartment inspection Friday night and got to visit a couple of elders and take them to dinner for having such a clean apartment. Love the one on one time with the missionaries and it never ceases to amaze us what tremendous young missionaries have been sent here. We’re looking forward to our niece’s son, Ryan, to get here soon.

On our way home that night it was raining so hard the wipers couldn’t keep up. People were driving with their flashers on and there was deep standing water everywhere. They announced a tornado warning east of us. We were really glad to get home safely.

It’s been a slower week – the calm before the storm. Clark wasn’t feeling well Saturday morning, so we stuck around home all morning, then went out on a trail for awhile that afternoon. I love how these oases appear all over the city.

• 

• 

We received a phone call in the mission office Friday morning. It was a lady that had finally been able to get away from her abusive husband. She said after the life she had had, she just wanted to find peace. She had tried 3 other churches and didn’t feel anything. Then she looked up the “Mormons” and immediately she felt more peaceful. Her family were trying to warn her against us, but each time she would think of the Church she would feel better. She called to find out how she could learn more. Heavenly Father really does love and inspire His children. We are so blessed to be here and see His hand in the lives of so many here.

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

This week started off with our monthly senior couple get together with the Carroll’s, Lundell’s, and Dunnigan’s. This time it was at President and Sister Dunnigan’s home which is a really nice home compared to our apartments. They are great people and we are so glad to be serving with them. We had a nice dinner, great visit, then a nice home evening discussion where we each shared a recent talk by President Nelson. It was a very nice evening. Clark caught up this week on all the paperwork from the Zone Conferences with the cars and Amy did the same for the finances. Thursday President and Sister Dunnigan took about 50 missionaries (in a bus) that were new in the last two transfers and their companions to the Priesthood Restoration Site. They had a great tour and really felt the spirit there. President Dunnigan told Amy that while one of the experienced young sister missionaries was bearing her testimony on the banks of the Susquehanna River that she just glowed visibly with the spirit of the gospel in her life.

Tuesday we had an amazing Institute class with 10 showing up, a nice group and some good discussion. What great youth there are in the church, we love it and are looking forward to continuing to teach for the next year as well. On Thursday we left work for a while in the morning to go to the “Moving Up Ceremony” for Sal and Alice at their elementary. They help us get a “grandparent fix” occasionally. Friday was Mission Leaders Council where we prepared lunch and had a chance to visit with many of the missionaries. It is great to get to know them better. We love the great spirit they carry with them.

Yesterday we went up to a small town called Jim Thorpe (named after one of the greatest athletes of all time). It is a resort town now but was a big coal mining town years ago with a tourist train up a gorge. We took an interesting motorcycle/side car tour, one in the car and one on back of the motorcycle. We switched part way through the tour. The lady was quite interesting and had lived in Moab and did river running tours when she was young. She actually live in a tree house! An interesting way to see the town and area around there. We also stopped at a state park with a lake and motor boats out having fun. Just a little jealous.

One last little story. There is a store out here that I really like (kind of like Macy’s but the clothes are cheaper and good quality). We had been walking around for awhile and finally got ready to check out. I had been hearing all these women arguing. When we got up to the register, there was one woman being very confrontational with 4 others. She was insisting that when you sin, you are consigned to heck, because God won’t tolerate sinning. The others were just as insistent that God is a loving God. When they saw us, one of them came around the counter and yelled, “Wait! See this (pointing to Clark’s badge)! This is a man of God – now you listen to what he has to say!” He had great things to say that the 4 were saying “Amen!” to, but the other woman wasn’t too convinced. A good reminder of who we represent and how people recognize that in us.

We are enjoying this great work and the wonderful people we have a chance to work with and meet. The gospel is true. Love you all.

It’s hard to believe that 3 months have gone by already since we left on our mission! Time is really going fast. I think we are living on a 6 week cycle, all revolving around transfers and the going and coming of missionaries. This week we had zone conferences. Our mission nurse had some time, so she kindly planned all the food for the lunches. We just had to worry about setting things up for the zone conference in our building. Poor Elder Bonner! They were installing new TIWI’s in all the missionary’s cars plus the usual inspections, etc. On Wednesday he was outside most of the day in 94 degree heat and humidity in the 80’s. He was really glad to have it all over with on Friday afternoon. I need to get our 2020 budget turned in on Monday and my stress level should drop.

We have had 2 nights with flash flood warnings. It has been raining so much! The nice part is that everything is so green and pretty. Despite the heavy downpour Tuesday evening, we had 11 people brave the elements to come to our Institute class. We were asked this week about the possibility of continuing for another year. We’ll see how it all works out. We do love the Young Adults!

Friday we took 2 elders out to eat after we inspected their apartment. They had it pretty much spotless, so they deserved a good meal. That’s a great way to get to know them. Then Saturday we were trying to figure out what to do and ended up going up to the Brandywine Battle Site and learning more about the battle there during the Revolutionary War. It is humbling to learn how so many gave so much to gain our freedoms. We went on up to an Amish Store and then on to Kennett Square, a fun old town, to look around. They had such awesome buildings there.

We took Christian to church with us today and brought him home to have dinner with us. We also gave Davie Ann and her son, Christian, to church with us – her first time. She just started seeing the missionaries and loves everything they are teaching her. Testimony meeting was awesome! When it was time for testimonies, our chorister started singing as he came up to the podium. He has an awesome voice and his songs always speak of Christ.

We are grateful to be able to be here and have these experiences. I had no idea how much I would learn and how much I would be able to serve here. it is a privilege and a blessing for both of us. I miss all of you so much, but I know this is where we need to be right now.

Love you all!