Our Move to the Country

On Labor Day we made the move to the beautiful, green, quiet country. We loaded our car full to make the move. We moved about 20 miles to the town of Mendon, and the village of Honeoye Falls in Monroe County. The homes are scattered between farm fields and wooded areas. The home we live in is called the “John Young” home. It was built by Brigham Young’s father about 1825. Part of the home, which was in an “L” shape, was actually separated (at some point in time) from the main house and moved about 100 feet across an area that became a road. It was remodeled into a two bedroom home. It is also owned by the church and our wonderful office friends, the McVea’s live there. The remainder of the home that we live in has been remodeled several times and is very spacious for us. The master bedroom is very large. There are also two plus bedrooms (plenty of room for guests), a large laundry room (yea) and two bathrooms. We also have a large living room and dining nook. The country kitchen is very large and is about the size of the living room in our Bountiful home. It has a unique somewhat slanted floor. There is also a very scary attic and basement (where you can see evidence of the old building construction), but we keep the doors closed. The home is surrounded by about an acre of green lawn grass (which we don’t have to mow, yea). Out of the dining area window you see the grass, a row of trees and farm fields. This morning we saw three Canadian geese in the field. We also have a garage that we share, which is across the street. Then there is the big red barn next to the garage. We really love it here. There are bike lanes along the main road, which intersects with Cheese Factory Road (our street). Many white tail deer live in our neighborhood as well.

The countryside is covered with rolling hills, woods and streams. There are many very nice homes on large pieces of ground. On Saturday evening (on our prep day), I wanted to watch the BYU-Texas game. I had heard that the Stake President, Jeff Clark, was a cougar and had satelite tv, so while I was talking to him about church matters, I asked if I could watch the game with him. He concented and we had a great time watching the first half with BYU ahead. Then the young men of the Ward came to join us, and the game went downhill from there. Jeff lives in a very large home surrounded by lots of lawn and has a pool. We had a good time there.

On Sunday we spoke in church. We were the only speakers and so we enjoyed talking about member missionary work. We gave the Ward some challenges and had them all get a pass-along card at the door to share with someone. It is the one with Christ depicted appearing to the people in ancient America, and offers a free Book of Mormon. We asked them to contemplate who to give it to, pray about it and then do it. We are excited to see what this will do.

We love serving here and are very happy that the recent bad weather in the east has by-passed us. We have just had a little extra rain.