We are OFFICIAL! (service missionaries!)

Sunday, April 21, we were officially set apart by the Palmyra Stake President, Brother Ed Nobrotzky. He gave both LaVerl and I really good blessings, I wish I could recall everything! When we got home we tried to take a 'selfie'! showing proof, with our name tags!

Also, officially, I'm admitting, that I had to trade my 'grasshopper' mower to LaVerl twice today, and ride his. The first thing I did while mowing, I ran over a very small tree stump that was barely sticking up and hiding under some tall weeds and it did something to make my blade start hitting the metal sides of the mower and making a clanging noise. NOT GOOD! LaVerl came over to help me and gave me his mower so he could take mine over to the shop to try to fix it. Then--we were down mowing the lower fields and I wasn't paying attention to how wet they were. I looked back at my wheel tracks to see if I was bring up mud because the ground was getting softer. When I looked forward again, I was sinking in the mud, the smaller front tires went all the way under and my bigger back tires were half way deep in the mud. I WAS STUCK!!  I called Art to come save me. He came in his Kabota with a winch. LaVerl came over and again, gave me his mower to go mow where he was, while he helped Art get my mower out of the mud!! Hopefully, this will be the only time I do something so dumb!!

Brother Cottam says everyone gets stuck and not to feel bad! But I did!

Our first Service Project

 We drove into Seneca Falls today for a Community Clean-up along the canal that runs through there. We met up with Bishop Thiebert and a few other members of the Ward and also other people from the area that wanted to come help. We definitely found lots of trash, mostly alcohol related bottles and cans. It was a fun little project, only lasted about an hour. We crossed over the famous bridge.

We cleaned along this really cool Ludovico Sculpture Trail. Most of the sculptures and plaques are honoring the women who helped with the "Woman's Rights' movement.

This man, John, was just a community member wanting to help. He really worked, along side LaVerl, down in the parts by the canal that were really trashy. LaVerl even found a TV!

Yesterday, in the wind and cold, Sister Cottam and I planted peas and flowers! A few days before that, we filled all the little holes in the cinder blocks with marigold seeds! Lots of them, I guess I don't have enough faith that they will sprout!!

And LaVerl split a bunch of wood.

And Jillyn and I stacked it! Just the front layer!!

Today, while waiting for my laundry to dry, I cleaned this area of the 'craft barn'. 

In the wind today, LaVerl and Art are out 'trimming', we call it 'weed-eating', but here it isn't really weeds, it's all long grass!

Enjoying being in New York!

 It's been slow here at the camp because of all the rain and everything is so wet, so we can't mow all the grass that really needs to be cut! So we decided to go to the Palmyra Temple and do a few things afterwards with Art & Jillyn Cottam.

This is kind of the back side of the temple. The other side has the only clear window in any of the temples and it's there so you can look out and see the Sacred Grove! The stained glass in the other doors and windows look like trees, to represent the Sacred Grove. Parts of it has the same floor plan as our Snowflake Temple, so I felt right at home.

Here's a few pictures of our new little home where we will be living for the next 6 months.

We've been here almost 3 weeks and learning everything we need to be doing. Once the girls get here in May, things will get a lot busier.

A Rainy Day!

 Well, we woke up to lots of rain, so we couldn't really work here at the camp, so we asked if we could take the day to drive around and see 'stuff'. Our first stop was Sauders. It's a huge Amish store that has everything from food to storage sheds. We ate some good sandwiches there and then drove through Seneca Falls. It's a really cool little town with lots of history of being a manufacturing community, which really boomed after they finished the canal that hooked into the Erie Canal. We visited several museums, including the National Women's Rights Museum. We saw lots of cool buildings and churches. We then decided to drive over to Palmyra, but didn't have to time see much, just Joseph Smith's log home and the Sacred Grove. 

These we 'drive by' pictures! Not very good!

The door from the log house looking out to the Sacred Grove.

The bedroom where Moroni appeared 3 times to Joseph Smith. 

 

The path to the Sacred Grove.

I'll get a better picture of the temple later. We were just driving by. It was a good day.