Christmas Time at Hill Cumorah

Christmas in the Palmyra Area

Greetings to all and Merry Christmas. We had a great Christmas weekend here in New York. It all began on Wednesday when we delivered packages for missionaries at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center. Then on Thursday night we drove back to the temple to attend a session. It was a great spiritual boost for the week. Friday we worked in the office and then at night we watched a video with the McVeas. On Saturday we attended a baptism in Rochester. Tina was baptized and has truly become a new person. She had a very rough life, but she had a friend that she met when they were four. As young teens, they were best friends and decided that they wanted to find the true religion but were not successful. They grew up and her girlfriend found the Mormon Church, joined it and moved away. Tina had lost contact with her friend and ended up going a different direction. After over 25 years of marriage and a hard life, her husband died and she determined to improve her life. She moved from Florida, to join her two daughters (who already lived in NY) to start a new life. She decided that she would visit the Mormon Church and find out what her friend had found was so good about it. She simply walked into the Rochester 1st Ward building and asked to be taught. The young sister missionaries, Chatterton and Wall, were happy to help teach her. The service was very nice. Many people attended, including four of us senior missionaries and Pres. and Sister Christianson, along with two of their granddaughters from Missouri. It was a great "white Christmas" (the baptism). In the afternoon, we went back to the Hill for a Christmas dinner with the other senior couples from the mission. We enjoyed a great meal and the camaraderie. Later that night we watched a couple of Christmas themed videos back at our residence. On Sunday we ate a leisurely breakfast and attended Sacrament Meeting. Then we went home and enjoyed a nap. While we were napping the turkey was baking. Then at 4 pm we had Elder & Sister McVea come join us for dinner. It was a very nice dinner. Of course we also had a few presents to open and finished up our '25 days of Christmas' gifts and notes that a friend had sent us. The longer we live the more we realize that spending time visiting with family members by phone, Internet or Skype is way more important and enjoyable than any presents. We also loved receiving the many Christmas cards from friends and family. Oh yes, we should mention that we had a little snow on Saturday but only half an inch. Then it snowed a little this morning (Monday). It has been a very unusual season here this year compared to the 30 inches they had at the same time last year.

We hope that all of you had a great Christmas and time of reflection on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. He has blessed us all so much and will continue to bless us as we are obedient and follow Him. We pray that the Lord will bless each of you that you will have a great 2012 and that you will enjoy much happiness.

Christmas Zone Conferences

Family Home Evening at the Smith Farm

Chritmas Zone Devotionals & Joseph Smith Farm Family Home Evening

The past week has gone by quite fast. We had two days of special Christmas time Zone Conferences, one in Palmyra and the other in Buffalo. Both had excellent training sessions, skits, and good food. It is always nice to be taught by our great mission president, Pres. Christianson. Alma 7:7 tells us that the birth of Christ is a thing that is more important than they all. It was not only a wondrous event, but allowed the Savior of the world to gain a mortal body, live on earth, preach, heal, teach and suffer for us. Without His sacrifice on the cross for us, the atonement would not have become a reality. When we read the genealogy of Jesus, we see some bad characters along with the righteous. We have no excuses for trying to blame our problems or situations on the unrighteous people in our own heritage. We all have our free agency and we can each fail or succeed. We were told that today's prophets have said the words of Joel 2:28 "----your sons and your daughters shall prophesy ---and your young men see visions: ---" have been fulfilled in our day. We are all promised that we can have personal revelation. We must prepare ourselves to receive it. Also our testimonies grow as we nourish them.

Last night was another special time, we participated in Family Home Evening (FHE) at the Joseph Smith Farm historic sites. It was very nice to walk along the darkened path to the log home and then to the frame home and view the lighted temple through the trees. A senior couple read the Christmas story from the book of Luke, while a group of us stood around him inside the Smith frame home. In the barn there were some games, and back in the Welcome Center there was hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls. Singing was provided by many of the missionaries. In the basement were more games for the younger children. There were about 400 people who attended over a space of 2 hours. It was a very nice event.

On Christmas Eve we will be going to the Hill Cumorah Center again for another nice meal with the senior missionaries. We look forward to that, and then we will have a quiet night back in the John Young home. On Christmas Day we will attend sacrament meeting and then return home. We plan to spend time visiting with our extended family via the internet and Skype. What a great place to be during this time of year. It is also transfer time for some, we just had 6 missionaries depart for home today and on Monday, the 26th, we will receive 10 new missionaries. Life is good and we feel so blessed to be able to serve the Lord. May His choicest blessing be poured out upon all of you at this joyous season!

John Young Home Open House

Annual Christmas Open House

On Saturday the 10th we held our annual Christmas Open House again, only this time it was 2,000 miles away from our home in Bountiful. We hosted over 30 people, including neighbors, ward members and missionaries. It was a fun event hosted by us and our neighbors, Elder & Sister McVea (who work in the mission office with us). Elder Servoss conducted tours of the cellar and old attic. The pictures are of the house and the cellar, complete with old rough tree trunk beams. You also see the old steps.
This John Young home is 185 years old. You also see some of our guests including Sister Gonzalez from Ogden, and Elder Jeffs from Castledale, Utah. We also made a new sign for the home site of Brigham Young, which is about 1,000 feet east of this home. We had a great evening of visiting. We did miss all of you back in Utah, and look forward to having an Open house back there in two years. Enjoy the new week, we will be going to Buffalo for a special Christmas Bi-Zone Meeting on Tuesday. Pictures will be added above this story tomorrow.

Phones and John Young Home

A Great Week of Zone Conferences

This blog is a few days late, or a few early - depending on the point of view. We were very busy last week with Zone Conferences. We had 4 of them in 5 days. I had to attend all of them for about 5 hours and was able to stay the whole time at the one in Buffalo last Saturday. This was the time when we needed to upgrade and replace all of the cell phones for the young missionaries. I had quite a time trying to get 40 phones charged up, match serial numbers with phone numbers and then collect the phones at each conference. Things mostly went smoothly. They were happy to have a nice new phone. They are an essential missionary tool these days. They assist so much in planning appointments, encouraging investigators, giving the President and office staff a way to quickly contact each pair.

The spirit at the Zone Conference on Saturday was very strong. We loved having great instruction on faith and how to strengthen it. As a missionary you have such a unique perspective of things. We realize that as we strive to be strictly obedient to the mission rules and church standards, we are promised great blessings. Elder Bednar has said that we should do all we can and expect nothing in return. We were promised that the success of a missionary is not dependent on the number of baptisms, but on being faithful and following the spirit. Those missionaries will have success (even though it may not be measured in baptisms). We should be more concerned with our standing with the Lord and how much effort we are putting into serving the Him.

Tomorrow, Saturday, we will be hosting a Christmas Open House in the John Young pioneer home that we live in. It is a 185 year old home that was built by Brigham and his dad, John. We will be showing guests the old cellar and unused attic area.
We will also share information about the nearby site where Brigham had his mill and home and where he, Heber C. Kimball and 63 others were baptized. We will report on that soon. We hope that you all can enjoy the season and get ready for the celebration of our Savior, Jesus Christ.