August 2nd Week

What a great week this has been. We have been busy and had some great experiences. We had some rain on Tuesday and after the temple we took Bruce Armour, a new friend who helps us in the temple often, out for a birthday lunch. He has a wonderful old house he purchased last year and has been working on it. He tried to be in the temple 4-5 times a week and we often get to serve with him. Last week he brought 80 names of his immediate family to the temple and we have been able to help with the initiatories and other ordinances.

Wednesday was a busy with with two shifts. Thursday on P-Day we drove to Corning, NY where we took in the Corning Glass Museum. Very interesting and such a beautiful drive. Oh, last week the kids bought us a GPS and we used it to get to Corning. It took us through some very beautiful country. At the museum they have a large collection of glass through the ages and world. They also have exhibits of glass making and lots of exhibits of how it has developed during the last century. We took the shuttle over into Corning and walked through the shops and ended up at the town square. The drive back was up the Seneca Lake, one of the finger lakes.

This weekend in Palmyra they are celebrating Pirate Days. The Lois McClure schooner is in town. It has been on a 100 day 1000 mile canal trip from Lake Champlain to Buffalo and back again. After touring it we remembered that a couple of years ago we were in Burlington, VT visiting Dorsey and Matt, Paul's cousins, and they were building the schooner at that time. Sunday two of the four corner Churches in Palmyra had open houses. Several of us went down to see the insides. The Presbyterian Church has an organ dating back to the 1860's and also the Episcopalian also has one of the same period and company. The Episcopalian also has a bell tower, which we got to ring, and some beautiful stained glass windows depicting the life of Christ. They are rare because they were all created at the same time and so all the colors are the same. Normally the windows would have been done one at a time through donations.

Paul in front of the Presbyterian Church

The Episcopalian Church with the bell tower

Later we drove out to the Harmon's who are living at the John Young home in Mendon. On the way out we saw these deer behind some one's house having lunch.

This is a hornets nest located in Zion's Camp a few trees down the road from us. Elder Decker carefully got rid of the hornets and cut it down. He uses everything for an object lesson and we are anxious to see how he uses it. We have never seen one so large. It is made from the saliva of the hornets. There must have been hundreds in there.

The Gospel is true. We feel so blessed to be serving the Lord here. May you have a wonderful week. CTR