Another week in the mission and it has been a good one.

We had a couple of nice visits with family this week and catching up on all the doings. We went one afternoon and bought a trailer for the mission to use for hauling luggage back and forth to the airport as well as for use in helping open and close apartments. It is a scout type trailer. We had to get hitches and locks, etc. The trailer dealer had lots of different units but they were about an hour away plus we had a huge rain storm on the way. We also picked up a new 12 passenger van for the mission to replace the older one.

We did get a call from some of the sisters one evening asking us to come give a priesthood blessing to an investigator since she was going to be evicted and is running out of options. She was a nice single mother with two children in a home. We gave he a nice blessing and had a good visit. We have not heard back from the sisters on how she is doing. We also had a lesson set up but that got cancelled at the last minute also.

Mom was worried about a finance manager from Salt Lake that came Monday to review how we were doing and how he could help. He was actually quite helpful for mom and showed her some things she did not know but also showed her some things she also needs to be doing. He also met with me and others in the office and the President and then took us all to lunch so that was nice of him. He is making a short tour of the East Coast visiting missions so this worked out well. Mom does a great job with the finances.

Saturday we met the elders at the home of a referral that wanted a tour of the church, we realized later that she thought it was for church. She was a single sister so we gave her a ride to the church and the Elders showed her around and had a nice conclusion in the chapel with one of the missionaries playing Amazing Grace on the piano for her. It was a good feeling and she seemed receptive. Since it was lunch time we took them to lunch near the church and then had of course to get some amazing donuts at a store near by. After we dropped her off mom and I went to the Barnes Museum of art and had a nice afternoon there. Dr. Barnes collected 181 Renoir painting and 69 Cezannes, plus some from Van Gogh, Serat, Degas, and a host of others. We got to join a couple of tours and lectures on the museum and pieces therein and how they were arranged. It was rather good for a novice like me. Mom enjoyed me not pushing her along. I was rather docile.

Mom will have to add her favorite photos from the gallery. I failed to take any???

Love you all.

Well, we made it through another week of transfers and goings and comings. We had 8 missionaries leave here early Wednesday morning and received 12 new ones that afternoon. It is always so exciting and fun to have the missionaries around, but the meals wear us out. We had three 12 hour days and were grateful that everything went smoothly.

Clark got to teach our Institute class by himself. It didn’t feel right to get a substitute to teach the lesson on same gender attraction. I got there for the ending, but he said it went really well and he had such good comments from our class members. We have really come to love these young adults and enjoy our class with them.

We received a letter from Sal and Alice, our 2 sweet girls from Sierra Leone. The mailman brought it in and set it on the desk and said he didn’t know how it managed to reach us without a stamp! It had a heart inside with a sweet message.

The highlight of the week was Saturday. We met the Kollie family at noon at the Philadelphia Temple for their sealing to each other and their 3 children. What a wonderful blessing to share this day with them!

They are an awesome family! Both Cynthia and Jeremiah had so many trials (like war and bloodshed, abandonment, etc.) when they were younger, but somehow they both made their way here, found the church and each other, and are raising these incredible children. Even when they didn’t understand so many things, they knew it was all true. Afterwards we met them for dinner at Ichiban Seafood Buffet, a great place to eat. All in all, a great day!

I wonder what is in store for us from here on out. Heavenly Father has given us so many great blessings thus far (probably to keep me from going home to my grandkids!). I am grateful to be here and to be having experiences that I could never have without being here on this mission with my sweetheart and companion. I love our missionaries! I love our ward and the strong, simple faith of these great people from all over the world. Heavenly Father is bringing them here in great numbers to be able to have the gospel in their lives. We have already learned so much from them!

Love to you all!

It has been raining heavily here all day today, but it has been a great day. Everything is so green and pretty. Clark fixed me a yummy breakfast and Sacrament Meeting and Relief Society were both very good. The candy and cookies weren’t too bad, too. Christian rode with us today and we had a good visit with him. He’s pretty excited to be graduating soon.

It’s been a rather quiet week. The Carrolls and the Lundells are getting acclimated and we are blessed to have them here. We had all of them plus Pres. and Sister Dunnigan here for dinner Monday night. It was nice to relax and get to know everyone better.

Clark did have to fix one of the TIWI units on some sisters’ car, so we decided to go after work one day when we could take them to dinner, too. They were so excited to show us the picture they had taken.

Thursday night we went shopping after work and Clark bought me a beautiful silver anniversary band. Whew! Mother’s Day, check! I am so grateful to have him as my eternal companion. He takes such good care of me.

We had gotten permission from President to borrow the mission van and take 5 couples up to the Priesthood Restoration Site near Harmony. It was a 3 hour ride each way and I guess it was pretty bouncy for the ones in the back. But we had such a good time and the site was awesome! Some of our sister missionaries are serving there for the summer, so it was nice to see them, too.

This next week will be a busy one with transfers, new missionaries coming and other missionaries leaving ( 5 meals to prepare). Our transfers are 6 weeks apart, but it seems like they come way to soon!

Have a great week and know our thoughts and prayers are with you!!!

Love you!

The Mitchells have officially left the building! That leaves us as the senior couple who are supposed to know everything. I have a feeling the Mitchells will be getting some phone calls. Elder Mitchell spent a lot of time “revelating” and telling stories and not too much time training. So Elder Lundell will have a challenge ahead of him. But they were so well loved by everyone here: missionaries, mailmen, delivery men and anyone who happened into the office. We are really going to miss them.

Alas, Clark’s 31 day record of no accidents has been broken by a couple of relatively minor incidents. He gets to work with the insurance companies and the repair places, e.g. Maaco, to get them back in shape. Yeah!

We were able to go to the temple Thursday night. It is such a beautiful building, inside and out. We are blessed to have it so close, and we are excited to be able to go there in 2 weeks with Jeremiah and Cynthia Kolli when they are sealed to each other and to their children.

Saturday we took a bus tour of Philadelphia and saw all the major sites from the road. Then we went over and took in the National Constitution Center and learned a lot about the writing of the constitution. They even had a room with life sized bronze statues of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Pretty cool! And we saw the Liberty Bell.

Today was Fast Day and we had a couple of our singing testimonies. It is different, but very cool to hear the faith and humbleness of these people of so many cultures. I love this ward! The office elders came to dinner and shared a great message about the importance of missionary work all throughout our lives, not just as an officially called missionary. They are pretty awesome elders!

Have a great week and be safe and happy! We love you all so much and miss you!!!

Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Clark and Amy

Today is the 3 month mark of our mission – 2 1/2 here in Philadelphia!

This week hasn’t been as busy. We took some missionaries out for dinner Monday night. One of them is new and has been struggling a little. It was nice to be able to cheer them up and get to know them better.

We had 2 new ones show up for class Tuesday night. We really study to prepare, but their favorite parts are the refreshments and being with each other. We now have phone numbers so we can text and invite them to class. They are amazing young people! One of them, Paige, plays women’s lacrosse for Haverford College. So we went to her game on Saturday. The wind was blowing so hard and it was so cold!!

It is so pretty here. It seems like everything is in bloom in spectacular color!

Friday we fed lunch to over 80 people. All the new missionaries from the last 3 months and their trainers came in for additional training. It is so fun and exciting to have them around. So many wanted to have their pictures taken with the Mitchells (They leave Friday). We will really miss them! They manage to keep things lively in the office.

We also picked up the new couple, the Lundells, from the airport. They will be taking the Mitchells place and seem like great people.

We had inservice Saturday morning for all the seminary and institute teachers. Bro. Muldowney is in charge of us all and is so knowledgeable. I’m glad we went. Today Sal and Alice and Ophelia were all confirmed. I love seeing them at church and being so happy!

It seems like every day here is helping me to understand the importance of why we are here. We are having experiences we could never have dreamed of. I love our ward and the amazing people there. I can now understand just about everything they say. Clark is working on it, but he can now find his way to and from just about all the places we need to go. I am so glad we can share this mission.

I hope all my grandchildren will have this opportunity as well. It really is a huge blessing!

Love you all!

Happy Birthday, Mom (Hall)! HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

What a week we have had! It started Monday at 3:30 AM with a tornado alert on our phones. That’ll wake you up in a hurry!! We survived with no real threat. After work we went out to Costco to get some treats for Institute and other stuff we needed. We had about 7 show up for our class Tuesday night, but there are more that usually come. It was enjoyable to be with these Young Adults and have great discussions. I think we will like it!

Wednesday we left work early to go to Bridgeport (30-40 min.) to take the Elders to pick up their car from the shop. We would have taken them to dinner, but they already had a dinner appointment. Thursday we went to Bryn Mawr College for a lecture that Emma, one of our YA, wanted us to attend about Byzantine fabric and its significance. It really was more interesting than it sounds! We had to leave there in time to pick up Christian (18 years old, member, awful home life) to take him to get something to eat. He is bi-polar and needed a boost.

Friday we were able to go with the missionaries to talk to our 3 sisters. Joy, the oldest, wasn’t there and has been having some doubts. The other two were super excited to see us and so ready to be baptized! Saturday we got up early and went to the Mitchell’s to Longwood Gardens (1/2 hour away). The gardens were like a larger, maybe even more beautiful, Thanksgiving Point. We put 3 1/2 miles on our feet and didn’t even know it.

We had to get back to be to a discussion with the sister missionaries by 4. They were teaching Solomon, from Pakistan, who has a wife and 2 daughters and is preparing to take the Bar Exam. He asked such good questions and seemed like he really wants to learn.

At 6 we met with the Kollie’s and their 3 children. We are helping them with the details of arranging their family’s sealing on the 18th of May. They are incredible people and served us our first African dinner. I was thankful they took it easy on the peppers and spice. Good thing the rice bread helped to quench the fire in my mouth! Really good food though. While we were there Clark got a call from some sister missionaries in Newark, Delaware, who’s car had broken down. So we made the 45 minute drive out to help them. We didn’t get back until nearly 10:30 p.m.

Then the best news of all – BAPTISM DAY!! Sal and Alice did get baptized, but Joy will wait. Charlotte had gone to Washington, but Ophelia went ahead and got baptized anyway, plus another woman that we hadn’t met yet. What a sweet blessing for Clark to be able to baptize Sal and Alice, and he did pretty well pronouncing their Krio names.

They had a full African dinner prepared after the baptism. We brought ours home because we were going out to have Easter Dinner with the Dunnigans and Elder and Sister Carroll (they just arrived – she’s the mission nurse).

What a wonderful day to have these sisters come into the church on the day that we remember out Savior for his atonement and resurrection that provides us a way back to Him. The joy these sisters felt filled my heart as well. I love Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I am very blessed to be here serving His children with my great companion. My testimony is growing every day!

We love all our family and dear friends! You have all made a difference in our lives. Have a wonderful week! Clark and Amy

This week was zone conference week. We have 3 that Clark has to go to – one in Nazareth, one here in Broomall, and one in Dover. He gives some training and has to check out all the cars. Here they are, ready for inspection.

Sister Mitchell kicked me out of the office Wednesday so I could go with Clark to Nazareth. The Relief Society sisters have always done the zone conference meals, but our area authority said we should do it from now on. So we picked up the food and I got it ready in time for lunch. It was nice to have a day away from the office. Sister Mitchell and I handled the one at our building, but a sweet sister from the last area volunteered her husband and herself to do it from now on down in Dover. There are angels!!!

This weekend we visited a couple of our sisters in Morristown to give them the bad news that we had received a ticket for one of them from running a red light a month ago. (We did take them flowers and some goodies to soften the blow.) With the TIWI, they put their card in when they start the car. We could look back on that date and trace their exact route and pull up the street view of where it occurred. No wonder the missionaries hate those things! There are still toll violations going on as well. I hate that part of my job description!! I want to be the good guy always handing out money instead of taking it out of their accounts. In spite of it all, they will still give you hugs and tell you thanks and that they love us. And that’s why I’m still here…..

We found some cherry blossoms! We went to the Morris Arboretum and it was pretty awesome. They had the Japanese cherry trees as well as several other varieties.

They also had an amazing model train set up that was huge! We’ll have to go back to see it working because they hadn’t started it for the season yet.

Last, but certainly not least, we have been asked to teach an Institute class (Eternal Families) on Tuesday nights through the summer or until they get more CES missionaries. I guess they think we may be bored?

Love and hugs!!!

I guess my big news this week is the catering business Sister Mitchell and I have started. We served lunch Tuesday to the ones who would be training the new missionaries. That night we made dinner for the 7 missionaries going home, plus 2 couples that are leaving soon. It was at the Mission Home and we got to hear them talk about their defining moments on their missions. Pretty cool!

Wednesday night we had dinner for the 14 new missionaries. Clark had rented a truck just to get all their luggage here from the airport. Then Thursday we fed them all breakfast and added their companions to the numbers for lunch. That morning we all helped train them for missionary life (Clark on Driving Safety and Tiwis and me on their debit cards, MSF’s). It is a great experience to sit down with 3-4 of them at a time and get to know them better and let them know how much we love and watch out for our missionaries. Friday we fixed lunch again for a Missionary Leader Conference. Exhausting, but so fun to be with the missionaries.

Clark is now up to 16 days with no accidents, knock on wood! Saturday morning we drove to Fairmount Park to see the cherry blossoms. We were just a couple of days early as they were just ready to open. There were some others blooming that were so pretty. We walked along the river there for a little – it is a massive area with trails and a Zoo and other things to see.

We got back in time to listen to all of conference. How blessed we are to be led by these righteous men with authority to speak for our Savior. After conference we had our sister missionaries over for dinner. They are in the same ward we are (nicknamed the P-1 Ward).

And on we go…. We love you!

For being a rather slow week, it went by very fast. All is good – the credit card statement all balanced and is accounted for, no accidents, and even a couple of moments to have a little game of pickleball in the gym. Great exercise and much more fun than walking around in circles.

We were disappointed not to get to meet with the 3 sisters this week. The connections just didn’t work out. And they didn’t come to church. Christian, the young man who rides with us to church, had a pretty bad week and is in a severe depression and wouldn’t come today. We are pretty worried about him.

Saturday was a beautiful day! Spring is finally coming, the grass is greening up, and the trees and flowers are starting to blossom. Hooray!! It got up above 70, so we drove up to Valley Forge and took a tour there. It is amazing what our soldiers had to endure – over 2000 died from disease. Although no battles were fought there, it was a turning point for our army as they became well-trained and dedicated soldiers. Interesting story, Ben Franklin and another man went to France to recruit Generals to help serve in our army. There was a man from Prussia, Von Steuben, who was a well trained soldier but was only a captain in the Prussian army, then living in France looking for a job. Ben met him and wanted him to come, so he fudged his papers and made him a Lieutenant General. He became the man that made our men into a well trained, disciplined army. We saw the house that was the headquarters for George Washington and a place for his wife to come when she visited, with the Commander in Chief’s flag out in front. All the thousands of cabins are gone, dismantled by the farmers whose land the army was occupying.

Today the elders asked us if we could bring a couple of women to church with us, Charlotte and Ophelia (in their 20’s). They are also sisters and are here from Liberia. They had heard about the church in Maryland from some missionaries before they moved here. They tried to find our church on their own and couldn’t. Later they were visiting an uncle, and he took them to a ward. It was not the one they should attend, so they got the missionaries names here and called them to tell them they want to get baptized. What a gift! We explained to them about Fast and Testimony meeting today on the way there. Charlotte got right up and said how much she loves God and how they know they have found the right church. They already feel that our ward is their family. Amazing!

We also had 3 elders here for dinner tonight So nice to get to know them better. What awesome missionaries! Not bad for a slow week, huh? Love you all!

Monday we were able to have two Sr. couples over for a lasagna dinner = the Mittchells from the office and the Nortons that teach Institute all around Philadelphia. It was a fun evening.

I’ve been busy this week paying all the rents and utilities on over 100 houses with over 30 different utility companies. Most of it is pretty straight forward, but there are plenty that are exceptions to the rules and require a lot of time and effort. I also get to balance the credit card statements this week. Clark is just relieved we made it one whole week without an accident. Knock on wood!

They held a Missionary Leadship Council meeting at our chapel in Philly, so we went down also so Clark could replace a TIWI in one of the elder’s cars. We made a quick stop at Beilers Donuts (another site of the one in Reading Terminal) then went on down to Independence Square. We were too late to get a tour of Independence Hall, but we did get to tour a part of it where the constitution was hammered out and the Congress met for a few years.

We also went across the street to the Curtis Center where Saturday Evening Post and Ladies’ Home Journal magazines were published. Inside one lobby they had a mural 49′ long and 15′ tall all made of over 100,000 tiny pieces of glass (most of it Tiffany). It was amazing!

On the other end of the building was an aboretum in this grand lobby. The upper stories are apartments. Just a little nicer than ours……. umhmm.

Again the best part of our week was getting to see Sal, Alice, and Joy, and also to meet their mom. The elders gave another great lesson. And they all showed up at church and gave me hugs while Clark settled for a handshake. We sure do love them and can’t wait until their baptisms on April 21st.

We usually have missionaries over for dinner on Sunday nights but didn’t ask anyone for today. Great luck – a sweet young family from the ward invited us over!

We also have missionaries dropping by occasionally at the office. I have told them that without them, our office work would just be a job. We feel like grandparents to them all and love and worry about them – even when they call to say they got a parking ticket or had an accident or accidentally ran a red light.

As much as we love them, we love our own so much more! No one can ever take your place in our hearts!