Happy New Year!!

The Temple in December. It's beautiful any time of the year. Our snow is just about gone and some of the pansies that have been under the snow are still in bloom.

Today, Sunday, we attended Church in the Fayette Ward. We saw many friends we have made and serve with at the temple. After the meetings we had Sister Beal take us on a tour of the Whitmer Farm and visitor center. We invited Dr. Lowry's, our chiropracter who has been very good to us, daughter to come with us while she waited for her tithing interview with the Bishop. She is 8 years old. This is a replica of the log cabin the church was organized in on April 6, 1830. Joseph and Oliver also completed the translation of the Book of Mormon upstairs.

We stopped to visit Nancy Bassett in the care facility. She is our home teaching sister and has undergone hip surgery. We took her an amarillo bulb which should grow into a beautiful plant. Paul's mother, Marge, always loved them. On our return home we had a call from our Bishop's counselor, Bro. Ingold, to see if he could come over to visit with us. Paul is now going to sub in seminary for a few weeks. He gets to teach 14 youth and they are studying Old Testament, Deuteronomy. Keep him in your prayers.

Christmas afternoon we drove down to Harmony, PA. We stayed overnight in Johnson City, did a little after Christmas shopping at the Mall across the street from where we stayed and then on down to Harmony.

It was a little too icy to walk down to the river so we will save that for summer. These are Emma's parents graves and Emma and Joseph's first son, Alvin, is also buried here.

Christmas Eve we were invited to Bishop and Sister Hill's home for a very nice dinner with family and friends. We then went over to the church where they have a Christmas Eve devotional which was very nice. The choir sang and we had several other Christmas numbers and Bishop Hill spoke. Christmas day we got up about 7:30 am, read the Christmas story, opened some presents, and we especially thank the Christenots for their fun package. We then went over to the Hill Cumorah visitor center where we joined the site missionaries, sister missionaries and friends for a Christmas breakfast and program. It was held in the basement and was lots of fun.

We had to get a picture of my walking partners. Sister Burris, Taylor, Potter, Black and me. We walk at the Community Center most mornings at 7 for an hour. The three in the middle are going home at the end of the month.

Elder and Sister Potter are the Directors of the sites and they are going home at the end of the month. They live in Park City now. Elder Young, an FM missionary, made them a replica of the box Joseph hid the plates in. He used wood from the Hill and the Palmyra area. What a treasure. We then went over to the Amsden, our friends from the temple, for lunch and visiting. After that we headed for Harmony.

It has been a wonderful holiday and we appreciate so very much your cards and gifts. The Lord has been so very good to us and your friendship and love is most treasured.

Merry Christmas 2007

Today at Church we had our Christmas program. It was wonderful. It was written by our talented choir director, Mary Harris. The theme was love. The choir sang four songs, "Little Babe", "There Was Peace in the Manager", "The Jesus Gift" and "Peace, Peace--Silent Night". We heard the story "Christmas is for Love" "The Worth of a Soul" a"Marvelous Good News" and some remarks from our Bishop. The congregation also joined us in several hymns.

After Church we drove out to our home teaching families and dropped off a little Christmas gift and then we attended the Palmyra Canal Choir performance at the Methodist Church. It was suppose to be last week but was cancelled because of the weather. They performed some fun numbers and also the Hallelujah Chorus.

It's been raining today and in the 40's. Just about all the snow is gone and what's left is dirty and ugly. We are suppose to get snow tomorrow so things will be beautiful again.

Twas two nights before Christmas and Paul is snuggled in his chair, reading stories about the historical sites. Mar Jean is at her computer working on the blog for the week.

Friday and Saturday we were able to complete some temple work for our family names. We felt it was a great Christmas present to them and us.

Last Monday evening we invited the Sister Missionaries for dinner. What a fun evening we had with them. They work at the sites half and day and proselyte half a day. There are actually six of them in our area and the village is divided up amongst them. Sister Stowell is from Gilbert, AZ; Sister Cataluddi from Italy; Sister Lyman, can't remember where she was from; and Sister Payne from Holiday, UT.

At the Hill it almost looks like a ski hill. At the base they are working on a new building for the pageant administration. They pulled out the trailers and other buildings and are building new ones.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and send our love to each and every one of you. We will miss being with our children and grandchildren but know they will have a great time. There's always next year.

1 Week till Christmas

Woke up to the storm this morning. We ended up getting about 12 inches. Paul shoveled snow on the driveway about every three hours.

We have had a busy week at the temple. The missionaries have been coming every shift and it has been wonderful having them. They bring a special spirit with them.

We went to the Bishop's Storehouse on Friday to help fill orders and bag produce. Saturday evening after our day in the temple we had our Temple Christmas dinner and program at the Stake Center. It was a lovely evening, great food and nice program. Sister Johnson and Sister Bell wrote the script "Musings From Mary" along with music and singing from the audience and a couple of solos by Sister McCooee. Paul was the narrator and I was Mary.

Our big storm hit late Saturday evening and dropped snow through the night. They called us about 10:30 and said Church was cancelled. We did drive over to the Church, we are within a mile, and shoveled the entrance and met three cars of visitors who wanted to know why Church was cancelled. Later in the day when we had cabin fever we drove to the Hill Curmorah and walked to the top in the snowflakes. The Sisters were at the Visitors Center visiting the Potters and went out to make snow angels.

Winter in Palmyra New York

The Palmyra Temple in December. We took a walk today thru the grove. It was cold, slippery and not a leaf anywhere.

We went shopping on Pday and Paul ended up looking at hats. We said we would put them on the blog and have a vote as to which would be the best.

This is the home we are renting. It is beautiful and so cosy. We are enjoying it very much.

This was suppose to be on our Christmas cards but it didn't snow in time so enjoy it here.

Paul shoveling during the first real snow fall. We have a snow blower but he doesn't know how to use it yet.

Monday evening we went to the Bishop's Storehouse to help package nuts for the holidays. These are our friends, the Zsembery's, Sister Chapman and me.

We had our Ward Christmas party on Saturday night. Nice ham dinner and program. Tonight we are going to a fireside on indoor winter gardening by Pres. Jones. Have a great week and remember the reason for the season. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

News Alert

Kory and Katie have two new businesses you might want to check out. I highly recommend them.

The first is a digital scrapbooking business Katie and her sister, Leslie, do. They have beautiful kits so if you are into scrapbooking check out this site.

ggdigitaldesigns.com

Kory and Katie have just gone into the vinyl lettering business and also have a site you can check out.

adheringthoughts.com

Enjoy, you will love their work.

Happy Holidays, Christmas is around the corner!!

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is behind us and we are well into December. But before we move on we have to say we had a wonderful trip home and visit with our children and grandchildren. They have all grown so much. Courtney and Kaylee will be turning 11 and 9 in just a few months and Riley turns a year on the 6th of December and Gage is right behind him in February. We are so proud of them all, they are doing beautifully.

We spent 24 hours a day with them all for a week and had a great time. The day we left SL it was snowing. We got back to Palmyra and it started snowing here also. So far it's been "fun" for Paul to shovel the snow. I'm waiting to see how long that lasts.

President Cederlof asked us to serve in the office on two shifts, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. We will begin that tomorrow night. We ushered December in with a Church and community "Sounds of Christmas" at the Church. I sang in the choir and then Sunday I gave the RS lesson on Pres. Eyring's talk from April Conference "This Day". We then went back at 8 pm for the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. With snow continuing to fall and Christmas music playing in the background, we are getting in the mood. We are off to the Bishop's Storehouse to help unload a semi of goods so will get back to you later, I hope.

2nd Week of November

Today we had the opportunity to pick up Cieanna (a 2 year old) and bring her to nursery. She is such a sweetheart. Her mother works at the Palmyra Inn and is a new convert to the Church. She had to work today so we picked up Cieanna for Primary. We are trying to pick up where the Crookstons left off with these wonderful people. We had Fast and Testimony meeting today because of Stake Conference last week.

Getting ready to start our walk through the Sacred Grove today.

After Church and choir practice today we took a walk through the Sacred Grove. It is getting cold. This is the new section they have built for groups to have testimony meetings in the grove.

Won't be long until there are no leaves at all. We are getting a really good view of the temple now.

After walking through the Grove we went over to the Hill Cumorah where we watched the "Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration" movie. We love it and we love him. What a remarkable man. Today in RS our lesson was on the Prophet Joseph. What an example of faith and courage.

We had to walk through Zion's Camp also even though it is empty. Such great memories we have of this wonderful place.

Paul leaving the temple. His favorite job is to haul out the trash at the end of the day so the temple president doesn't have to do it. Saturday we spent the morning, three sessions, in the baptistry. I believe we had about 50 youth come through. Luckily for us we had a volunteer in the laundry. They are the most wonderful people, so needed in a not too glamorous job.

We will be gone for two weeks so will not have a post next week. We are flying to Utah to pick up some winter clothes and take care of a few things that need to be done so we can stay another year. We get to spend Thanksgiving with our family. We are so blessed.

Have a great couple of weeks and know that we are so thankful for each of you and your influence for good on our lives. May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember He who gave us this beautiful world and the blessings of the gospel.

Palmyra Temple Winter Schedule Begins

Check out Katie and Kory's blog site. She and her sister, Leslie, have a wonderful digital scrap booking business going. You will love what they do. She also has some great pictures of my grandchildren. Katie has become quite the family photographer.

Paul and I will be serving on all of the Winter schedule shifts. Tuesday we go in at noon and help clean the temple and work in the office until 5 pm when the evening shift begins. Wednesday is P-Day and I have started to walk in the mornings with some of the sister site missionaries at 7 am. We now have a house to clean and a yard to take care of so that takes some of our time. Thursday morning we are at the temple by 7:30 am and serve until 1 and then come back for a 5 pm preparation meeting. Friday evening we are there around 4:30 until closing and Saturday 7:30 am till 5 pm. We get lots of variety in the ordinances. I believe we were followers on at least three sessions this week and Saturday I got to help in the baptistry all morning.

It was such fun walking through all these leaves in the sacred grove, so crunchy

The Hill Cumorah

We decided we needed to get over to the Sacred Grove before all the leaves were gone. We went on the tour with Elder Beal and met another missionary couple who were on their way to the Utica New York Mission to work in the office. I can tell you this is the most wonderful thing to do, serve a mission for the Lord. Our love for the gospel and our Savior has grown so very much and our love for each other continues to grow. We recommend this to you all. What a glorious way to spend your time.

We drove by Zion's Camp and they have locked the gates for the winter. Seems so strange. We got the trailer covered and winterized before the Crookstons left on Monday. The last of our group, the Hutchinsons, left on Wednesday. We have made some lasting friendships.

Empty Zion's Camp

The trailer winterized, the Harmons and Crookstons

Today was Stake Conference and Elder and Sister Marvin Jensen were the visiting authorities. Elder and Sister Jenson were mission presidents in the Rochester Mission in the early 90's so it was a wonderful homecoming for them.

In the Saturday night meeting he left us with this thought from President McKay. "that man is most truly great who is most Christlike. What you sincerely think in your heart about Christ will determine what you are and what your actions will be". He also told us that on the first Thursday of each month the Presidency, Quorum of Twelve and all the Seventies who are in SL attend a meeting in the temple. Pres. Hinckley never falls asleep. Pres. Hinckley's son said he asked Pres. Hinckley's, "Why don't you ever fall asleep" and he answered "I won't let myself fall asleep." What a remarkable Prophet we have. We are so very blessed.

Sister Jensen spoke about families and said we need to enhance our role in our families. We need to save some of the good stuff for our families. Say "I love you", express your feelings, rethink how we act and make family the most important part of your life, give them your best.

We feel very edified and ready for another week. We express our love and appreciation to our family who whole heartedly support us. We are grateful for so many friends who are also our family and are constantly expressing their great love for us. May God bless you for your goodness. Now go out and have a "perfect week". A quote from Pres. Jones, a member of our temple presidency. He always says, "let's have a perfect day in the temple."

Goodbye to our Temple Family

Zion's Camp has gone from 11 missionaries to four. Zion's Camp is looking pretty bare. We have moved into the Taylor's home and it is so very nice. We are very blessed. It has a garage, two bedrooms, family room, dining room and living room and a basement with a laundry room and family room. In a really nice neighborhood with lots of families with young children. We are ready for visitors.

Friday after our last Temple Shift we all joined the Temple Presidency in the waiting room for our final goodbyes. We had a kneeling family prayer given by President Siebach. The missionaries then gave each member of the presidency a 14" marble statue of the first vision done by D. J. Bawden. The original is located in the Welcome Center at the Smith Farm. We have forged such wonderful friendships, it was hard to say goodbye. We and the Harmons are the lucky ones, we get to stay.

Pres. & Sis. Cederlof, Pres. & Sis. Siebach, Pres. & Sis. Jones

It was a week of lasts, last time to be Wednesday night coordinators, last FHE, etc. For our last FHE the Presidency took us out to dinner at Bellims, an Italian restaurant. They told three wonderful stories about relationships.

A picture of the Sacred Grove. The colors are changing quickly and we may get a freeze tonight. We are so blessed to have a wonderful family and friends who support and love us. We love you all and especially our Heavenly Father. We are so grateful for His plan of happiness which will bring us back to live with Him. Have a great week.

Last Week of the Six Month Mission

You are probably wondering what happened to us. Just a little slow this week. We have been moving into our new home and Sunday we had the Crookstons and Hutchinson over for dinner. It was such fun to have room for company and actually cook a dinner for someone

The Sacred Grove from the temple, the back trees

A small orchard next to the Palmyra Inn

The Taylors' home we are moving into. The tree is on the neighbors property.

The Sacred Grove

The Hill Cumorah, at the top

I took a few pictures of the colors last week and they are beautiful. Yesterday it was 82 and today it is 57 and raining. A lot of the leaves are falling fast.

Saturday night the Palmyra Historical Society sponsored a Cemetery walk at the local cemetery. What fun. We walked around the cemetery being introduced to about 10 local people who lived in Palmyra. One was Winston Churchill's father and mother, several military men, Lucy Harris, wife of Martin Harris and many others.

Sunday I started practicing with the Ward and Stake Choir. We are getting ready for Stake Conference Nov. 4. It's fun to sing with the choirs.

Last night was our last FHE with the missionaries. The Temple Presidency took us all out to an Italian Restaurant and shared some wonderful stories about relationships and talked about the relationships we have forged here in this special place. We are all changed by our experience here and our testimonies have grown and are stronger.

It is such fun to read your comments. Keep them coming. We love you and the gospel of Jesus Christ.