Since our last post we have had many visitors. The latest visits began with the arrival of Herman and Anna Van Beek from Rotterdam. He was in DC for a conference and made a two day trip to see us and the sites. We enjoyed going to the local Mendon sites with them. They had dinner with us and spent the night. They are some of the members of the Rotterdam South Ward that we were part of two years ago. Anna is Spanish, and lived in the northern part of Spain. She met her husband after they had both served missions. Herman is a new Doctor of Radiology.
Thursday night we went to dinner with some Utah friends, Bill & Cathy Lamb, their daughter Necia, her husband Scott Kagie, Scotts daughter Elie, and Steve Kagie. It was great to see them again. Scott just finished medical school in Wisconsin. He is here in Rochester to do his residency in anesthesiology. On Friday Kent met them at the Hill Cumorah and toured some of the sites with them. They were some of our Centerville, Utah neighbors. Since the rest of the office staff was at zone conference, Kae manned the office.
On Friday night we attended an Area Young Adult fireside. Our mission president spoke on the influence of music. It was a great talk about good music being the language of the Gods, and other music the language of Satan. He had Charleen Campbell, the Pittsford Ward RS Pres. (our Ward here) play a beautiful medley of LDS hymns on the piano. Alex Boye' was also there. He is a great singer, who is a soloist with the Tabernacle Choir and has several of his own albums. He sang one song at he end of the meeting. We got to meet him after the meeting.
On Saturday morning we met with our mission zone in the Sacred Grove ampitheater. It was nice being instructed about the value of the Book of Mormon and the Vision in the Grove that started Joseph Smith, Jr. on the road to being an instrument in restoring the gospel. Alex Boye' bore his testimony also. We then went to the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center basement meeting room. Kae and Sister Jensen provided the lunch for 50 missionaries, and then we finished the rest of the conference. We were all challenged to read the Book of Mormon as companionships between now and the end of August. We were given a reading schedule of 5 pages a day. We invite all who desire to join us in the challenge.
Sunday evening we were blessed with the visit of another cousin, Robin Miller Nielsen and her family. She is my 3rd cousin, and is the daughter of Kent Miller. It was great to see her and Cory and their 5 children. They live in Connecticut. It was fun showing them the Mendon sites. Cory's parents are serving as guides at the historic sites here. It is great having that connection with them.
Monday was another busy day. We went to a Ward picnic at a park on the banks of the Erie Canal. We enjoyed good food and socializing with the members. Then it was off to the Palmyra Temple site. We met the rest of the office staff for a hike around the eastern portion of the former Joseph Smith Sr. farm. We walked on an old Indian trail and saw the rock wall/fence that the Smiths had built in the 1820s to mark the boundaries of their property. Along the trail we found some wild turkey feathers. We also passed some trees that were 150+ years old. Next we drove to the Martin Harris farm for Family Home Evening with the other senior couples. We ate a pot-luck dinner outside and played some games. We got pretty good at throwing the frisbee through the hoops and walking the turtles. It was a long day.
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