March 30th

Friday morning we woke up to about four inches of snow. It was so beautiful. The trees were beyond description.

This is the new pageant building at the base of the Hill Cumorah. They tore down some temporary buildings and put this in their place.

This is Saturday afternoon, 5:30 coming out of the temple after a great day in the temple. We served as followers on the first session, then went to sealings where we completed some names for Cheryl Gershner and Lynn & Deane Nelson. On the afternoon shift we served in the baptistry. We had a wonderful family from Wisconsin. They brought a grandmother, mother, father and 12 year old boy and did family names. The Ward from Liverpole brought some new members. Elder Lewis is doing one of his favorite jobs. Laundry and trash.

Wednesday we joined the sister missionaries for a tour of the Everson Pure Maple Farm. The sap is running now. They tap into the sap for about four weeks. It is usually in March here in this area during warm ups directly after a freeze. They have 80 acres of sugar maple trees. The tree needs to be at least 40 years old before it is large enough to tap. Each tap yields approximately 10 gal of sap or 1 qt. of syrup annually.

This is the fire they have going under the boiler where they cook down the sap. They spend all summer gathering wood for this four week time period

This was Paul's last day in Seminary. He said he had mixed emotions, somewhere between joy and ecstasy. We really did enjoy it and we learned so much studying the Old Testament. We love these young people and admire them for their dedication in getting up so early every morning to start their day out right.

We decided it was time to take a walk up the Hill Cumorah. It's chilly but beautiful. It won't be long until there is some green out there. We also walked around Zion's Camp. Three weeks and our new missionaries will be arriving and filling it up. We are staying in the house.

For FHE last Monday we joined the site and sister missionaries at an open house of the renovation of the sister missionaries home. The home is located on the corner of Temple Road, it borders onto the Smith farm. The missionaries moved out for over a month while the FM missionaries redid the bathrooms, floors, etc. The house was built in 1820's and Joseph and his family had worked on the farm and dug a well for them. A house so old went from one problem to another but when they finished the sisters have a wonderful home, put together with much love by the FM missionaries.

These are a few of the Sister Missionaries. They are terrific. They serve at the sites half a day and proselyte the other half.

It has been a wonderful week. We were able to watch the YW conference Saturday evening on BYU channel. What a great conference. Be sure to study the messages. What great blessings we receive from having living prophets.

We feel especially blessed this week. Kimberly and Gary and family were on their way to Island Park Thursday evening. Five miles out they hit ice and the truck and trailer had a mind of their own. The truck is totaled but the wonderful thing is that all six of them walked away without a scratch and without having to go to the hospital. We feel so very blessed by their safety and know Heavenly Father was watching out for them. Have a great week.