FRIDAY FISHFRY BUFFET at THE SERBIAN COMMUNITY CENTER

In our quest to meet new people, and in our pursuit of a good fish buffet, we ate tonight at a Serbian Orthodox Church Community Center! Best buffet yet! Friendly, happy people!

ST. SAVA PARISH (Serbian Orthodox)
South 51st and Oklahoma Avenue
MILWAUKEE WISCONSIN

Tuesday to Tuesday (June 18-24)

Who out there can believe that almost half of 2014 is over? We will never live this period of time over in all of the eternities. In the past, it has amazed me when I realize how time passes so quickly; however, some days it just appears as if time is going so very slow -  when will the day end. Now, I can feel time flying by. We start out the day early and think, “We have a whole day and lots to do.” By 1:00, we realize the day is half over and the next thing we know it is 5-6:00, and we are ready to get home. I don’t particularly like to be out at night because I don’t know my way home very well. July, here we come, ready or not. Elder Lenhard and I will be facing a time warp of 67 and 63. Can you believe we are that old? I can’t. In my mind, I’ve never gotten past 25; in my body, I’m well on my way to 100.  Hahaha  When we are young, we can afford to look at the high numbers with incredulity. Somehow, those days just add up really quickly to years.  I do feel the aches and pains more than in my youth. I’m a healthy adult, and we stay active. I’ve never been one to sleep much, but now, I value my sleep more. I know my girls also value sleep, you miss so much of it. When the time comes, and your babies are finally realizing that sleep is more important in the morning, you get to deal with Seminary! Hahaha  It’s your punishment for keeping them around so long.  The Lord has a plan. One day you will be allowed to send hubby off with a wave and a smile and head back to bed. It is your payback for all the times you got up with babies, trying to spare him and allowing him to sleep because he has to work.  Oh, did I mention that by that time you are so trained that you wake up early anyway. It’s the cycle of life.  I love it.

After our meeting with President Cutler , who encouraged us to study more scriptures on the Atonement, we have been working on that each morning, then we have our own personal scripture reading, and whatever else we decide to read – like the Ensign, Conference talks, Mormon videos, etc. That takes an hour or so each day, and for the most part, we can do it in the morning. Some mornings, we don’t have time for it all, so it gets spread out through the day.

Our time just keeps getting busier.  Wednesday, the 18^th, was mom’s birthday and Elder Lenhard’s Uncle Joe’s birthday (85).

Mom would have been 86. When I counted it up (hey, I was a math teacher – I can count), I was astounded to realize how old she would have been and that she has been gone six years. I think of her often and miss her.

1946 UNCLE JOE AT 17 AND MY DAD KEN LENHARD
14750 10 MILE RD.,  EAST DETROIT MI

We got to sit in on a lesson with the Elders to a man who is interested in genealogy work. He has four chickens out back in a cute little pen, and he was very proud of his pets. One kept walking around the pen, and I don’t remember its name, but she was the town crier. It was raining and cold, but she paced for quite a while before going into the nesting area. Soon, we heard all the chickens clucking loudly, and the man announced that one of them had laid an egg. It was obvious that he enjoyed having them to care for and an added bonus was the eggs they received. 

I lost the train of thought I was heading for when I got on the chickens, but Elder Lenhard and I learned a valuable lesson that day. It took us longer than we thought it would to find the address we were looking for, and when we arrived, the man said, as he opened the door, something to the effect that it required a lot of us today. It came to me that maybe he wasn’t expecting us. Anyway, he was very gracious, and very nice. When we came in (we had been specifically asked to come talk about genealogy), he first told us about his chickens. Then when we were directed to the table where the Elders were sitting,  I just launched in with asking about his genealogy and Elder Lenhard and I took off with the lesson. At some point, I came to myself and while the man was distracted by something he was looking for, I whispered to one of the Elders, “What had you planned to talk about today?” He said the Book of Mormon. I then felt obligated to get the talk to the Book of Mormon, which we did a little, but by then we had spent a lot of time on his family. My point is that when we left, both Elder Lenhard and myself realized that while we had been invited there to talk with this man about genealogy, we just took over when we came in and we weren’t too concerned with how the Elders wanted to use us as they taught the lesson. Note to us, find out more before we enter a teaching situation. Get more information about what the Elders want to cover in the lesson, and how they want us to proceed. Quite frankly, I don’t think they had a clue on how they wanted us to contribute to the lesson, but we will get more information on the ground rules before we go into a lesson again on genealogy. We are getting more requests all the time to talk to people about how to get started.  We have a request for next week, but as I questioned the missionaries, the person they want us to visit (with them) has no computer. I can see a problem here. We have to work out the process. We so want to help them, but I don’t particularly want to lug my computer everywhere (especially in some areas of town). It’s such a wonderful problem to have to worry about how to accommodate people in our teaching process.

That night, we went to the North Stake Genealogy Library and worked because they only had one worker available, and she needed someone with her. We were there by 6:30, and no one came, so Elder Lenhard and I got to know the sweet Sister working and we worked on our own genealogies. Elder Lenhard is getting better all the time, and he is beginning to find some links that are exciting.

On Thursday, we had some errands to run, and later that afternoon, our apartment complex had a picnic. We went as did the Sisters in our complex so we could meet our neighbors. The people there were so nice. The Sisters knew so many of them, and it was obvious that they were known and respected by their neighbors. We were able to meet many people that lived in other buildings. There were many there who are older like we are, and they couldn’t have been nicer. Elder Lenhard talked to several about genealogy and had some good responses. On an up note, both sets of missionaries won door prizes. We got a 25 dollar gift card to Target, and the Sisters got a certificate for rent. I don’t know how they get to use it, but it was exciting for us all.

We have officially begun our training for the Pathway program. We have 10 lessons we have to take, including a quiz after each one. Unfortunately, we had to get thru the introduction first. It had 21 pages of meat and that didn’t include the first 3-7 pages of introducing the introduction with a quiz at the end of that one. The purpose of the quizzes is to prove that we actually read the material. Can you imagine that? I have to admit that I thought there was a quiz at the end of the 21 page section. So I took great notes.  No quiz. I thought that meant that maybe we only had the one quiz.

Friday morning, we missed gym to get to a genealogy library in the South Stake. I am so totally messed up as to where I am. We live in the South Stake, but our unit assignment is the North Stake, and we can work everywhere. I’m so grateful for Elder Lenhard who is geographically literate. He can get us anywhere (though, admittedly sometimes I get a little car sick with the twists and turns to get us there – hahaha). I can finally tell when we are on certain roads that if we go one direction or the other, I know we will hit a road we need – but that is about it.  Anyway, we had to be at the library by 9:00 to learn all about it because on Sat. the 28, we will be in charge there by ourselves. By 11:30, I was ready to run out of there screaming that I’d had library overload. I’m sure we won’t remember half of what we learned. When we said we had to go (Elder Lenhard needed to eat because of his diabetes), the Sister who was teaching us, looked at us and said, “Well we haven’t learned anything about the computers!” I just knew I was walking no matter what, so it was decided that on Saturday when we came to work, she would come and teach us then.  There are a lot of programs on the Church computers that I didn’t know we could access, so I know we need to be taught about them. One is Fold3, which is a site that provides military records for anyone who has served. I have a free basic membership, but if I want to see any document, I have to subscribe. I hope the one at the Church allows us to access those documents.

In the afternoon, we worked on more of the lessons for Pathway. I was wrong, there is a quiz after each lesson. All the notes I take won’t help on the quiz because the questions are so general. After the first 100, I’ve made 85s on the next three. It takes a while to do these. I tend to lose my mind after a little and have to remember I’ve only got a hundred of them to go (just exaggerating).

Saturday, we spent working on Pathway, taking care of some bills, and preparing talks for Sunday. I worked on a talk that I felt relatively good about and let Elder Lenhard read it while I fixed dinner. I could see on his face (he looked so much like his dad) that he didn’t like it, but he was looking for something good to say. Ugh!  Just give it to me straight. This was about 4 in the afternoon.  When we got ready to go to bed late that night, he says to me that he didn’t really like the talk. I was ready to pound him in the bed.  WHAT, you wait until 11:00 to tell me you didn’t like it? Really!!!  I wasn’t really mad, I just wish he had said it earlier so I could have taken care of it then. Anyway, off to sleepy land I went and knew I’d get up the next morning and rewrite it.

At 4:30-5, I woke up and realized it was light as day outside. I didn’t know what time it was, but it was time to get up if I wanted to rewrite the talk. At first, I was just going to rework the first one, but I realized that I didn’t feel prompted to redo it. It did not seem appropriate that morning.

When I got to the living room, Elder Lenhard was there, and I noted the time. I was wide awake, so he went back to bed, and I began a new talk. I now have two new talks in my repertoire.  I really am going to re-give talks in the future. Elder Lenhard liked this one on President Uchtdorf’s talk about gratitude. I love that talk. I have been so guilty of being grateful in proportion to the number of blessings I could take an inventory of, meaning things. I was reminded again (I was struck by it when I first heard it in Conference) that gratitude is an attitude. We can be happy if we adopt an attitude of gratefulness for our very lives and the wonder of what Christ did for us when He paid the price for our sins. It is not about things. We can be poor as field mice and be grateful. I was glad Elder Lenhard encouraged me to change my talk.

On Sunday, we headed to Church. We thought we were having a Branch Council, but it turned out we weren’t. We knew the Stake President was coming, so maybe that’s why we didn’t have the meeting. We gave our talks, they were well received. Have any of you ever given a talk and afterwards couldn’t remember a word you said?  If the paper wasn’t in your hands, you would never know you had talked.  Well that’s me!  Afterwards, we had a pretty good Gospel Principles class. One of the investigators who came left before the class. She is planning on being baptized at the end of July. There is to be a baptism next Sunday. Good things are happening here.

We left the church building before the last meeting and headed to another building to attend a Pathway recruitment, meeting. Somehow we missed a road and were a little late. The meeting was short, but those who attended appeared to be interested in the program. We are supposed to give a presentation in our building soon.

On Monday, we spent the morning studying and heading to the gym. We spent the day getting lots of loose ends tied up. I found a doctor. Do you know how long it takes to find a doctor that takes new patients and your insurance, is close by, has an affiliation to one of the best hospitals in the area and the state, and who has been highly recommended by other patients.  I can tell you about 3 hours.  On top of that, I got an appointment to have our car inspected. Elder Lenhard worked to get some information about some money matters taken care of by calling our accountant and getting advice. He is also working with a Brother we know who has some immigration issues. Elder Lenhard would like to help him, but he isn’t sure of how to do it.  So he made some calls on it.

It was a long day, and later that afternoon, we went to pick up the Sisters at Wal-Mart. They are so fun, and we enjoy living in the same complex as we do. It seems the ride they would usually get to bring home their groceries has fallen through. Thank goodness we are here to help. We came home and ate and the Sisters came by later that evening.

We had our regular District meeting schedule for Tuesday. Before the meeting, we were planning on meeting with the man with immigration issues. However, we got a text from the missionaries that he was on the hospital. Our meeting was on finding investigators. What a great meeting! We don’t do what the younger missionaries do which is to actively seek out those who would be interested. However, we get to help them with those they meet. This next week we have one meeting scheduled most days. That is getting big.

We are loving the work here in Milwaukee. The Lord will either bring people to us to teach, or He will take us to them. We are finding that to be so true. We meet so many people who ask us about who we are (they see our name tags) or they are interested in genealogy work. We love to help them. It should be busy. I think the lesson I’m learning more is to listen to the Spirit. I believe Elder Holland said that we should quit worrying if a prompting is from the Spirit and just do it. If it is from the Lord, then He will bless us to do whatever we are supposed to do. If it isn’t, then we have done a good thing and shouldn’t feel bad about it. So, I am listening more to the Spirit when I need an answer. It is interesting how he answers. I am not quite as surprised by the answers now as I once was because I know those answers come as a result of prayer. It is a wondrous thing to realize that the Spirit is answering prayers, and we just have to pay attention to get the answers.

How are all of your families? We miss you so much, and love to talk to you when we can. We pray for all of you, and we know the Lord is paying attention to all that you do. Please keep holding your families close. They are very precious to us.

Just a note:  In 1997, while on a visit to BYU-Idaho, Elder Maxwell stated “God has reserved spirits for this dispensation who have the courage and determination to face the world, and all the powers of the evil one, visible and invisible, to proclaim the gospel and maintain the truth and establish and build up the Zion of our God fearless of all consequences. He has sent these spirits in this generation to lay the foundation of Zion never more to be overthrown, and to raise up a seed that will be righteous, and that will honor God, and honor Him supremely, and be obedient to Him under all circumstances.”  

Furthermore, he stated, “The youth of this generation have a greater capacity for obedience than any previous generation.”  Now, how’s that to make you feel awe over your little ones.

Love to all,

Elder and Sister Lenhard

Tuesday to Tuesday (June 10-17)

This has been an exciting week. We have had so many wonderful experiences. May I just say that we love Milwaukee. It is a great place to do missionary work.

I’m not sure when, but sometime this past week I called Ada to talk with her. She is an amazing woman. It makes me realize every time I talk with her how much I missed out on over the last 30 years by not keeping up with her. I see her daughters and grandchildren on Facebook, and they are the epitome of her. What great sisters I have. I would love for my children to know my sisters better.

On Wednesday, we went to the gym that morning, and I came back and had to get the laundry done. We realized that at the end of a year with the costs of the washers and dryers here, we will have spent over $900 on that alone. Then the dry cleaning (which is $20 a suit) is about every week or every other week. Unbelievable what it costs to keep your clothes clean. I’m trying to stretch out the time between washings so I will have full machines when I do it. We asked the Elders about where they went to clean their suits. One told us (he’s been out about 9 months) that he had never had his suits cleaned. He stuck them in the shower and let some water flow over them and hung them to dry or he sprayed them and let them air out. I had to laugh. He always looks well dressed.

That evening we attended a PAF meeting. The PAF program was the first the Church put out for genealogy usage. It has been retired for several years now, but this group is holding on to it. They actually went to the Church (after it was announced that it would be retired) and asked for permission to continue to use it. You can download it from them. We went to the meeting (they have 600 on the roles for members) where there were about 200-250 in attendance. This room was full of avid genealogists. Their focus is German genealogy, but the group represented all nationalities. They knew what they were talking about.  The speaker that night covered how to use Google in our genealogy work. It was fascinating. I had heard some of it before, but this was very detailed. Then a secondary speaker urged everyone to go to Rootstech held by the Church every year in Salt Lake. Elder Lenhard and I actually attended one day this past spring, and when we get home, we will plan on attending all three days. He couldn’t say enough about how wonderful it was, so the Church is known in the world of genealogy and are being recognized for the work being done.

Thursday was Mallory’s and Ellie’s birthdays. Mallory was busy with her in-laws who were taking a vacation at her house, and Ellie was staying with Kathy Chamberlain while Adam and Belinda with Kennedy and Noah were in Colorado taking in a couple of Braves games and having fun together.  We hope that both had wonderful birthdays.

We had gym that morning and then at 1:00 we picked up the Sister Missionaries and took them to an appointment with a man who met them when they were tracking someplace. He came and asked them what they were doing, and he questioned them as to why they didn’t ask him if he wanted to know more. He is a housemom (I believe he now has a job as a director of a child center where he can take his two children with him), and he had two beautiful little girls. I landed the role of taking care of the children while Elder Lenhard and the Sisters talked with the man. It was obvious that his children had been taught about Jesus, and these teachings were important to the little girls. One of them showed me a book she was making, and I thought she was showing me a picture of a banana. She had told me what the book was about, but I obviously didn’t hear what she said because she had a drawing of a house with what looked like a banana which she told me was poop. A round thing in the house was a toilet. The thing that looked like a path from the house was the sewer line (she didn’t call it that but it was the thing that took the poop and pee from the house).  Anyway, Elder Lenhard did most of the talking during the appointment. I felt like the man (this was his second meeting) had been talking with someone that had prepped him on how to counter the teachings of the Church. Yet, he wasn’t happy with the answers he was giving, and in fact, almost appeared to be arguing with himself. He knows there is something there, and he will need to find out for himself just like the rest of us have. Elder Lenhard understood what he was saying while the Sisters and I were glad we didn’t have to talk. This man reminded me of my college professor who taught a religion class about the teachings of Paul. Don’t ask me what he taught, because in class, I couldn’t figure out what in the world he was saying. I remember asking myself, why can’t he just speak plain English. Well, I haven’t gotten any better as I’ve aged.

That afternoon we went to the park where they were setting up for Polish Festival. It was good for us to get an idea of where we would be going the next day and get a feel for what would be happening. It made us feel better knowing we would actually be able to find our way there without too much trouble. As soon as we finished there, we raced across town to a South Stake building where we took the place of the Pathway coordinators while the young men and women conducted their meetings. It was very interesting, and I’m kind of glad we won’t be in charge of them. They were very nice, but they are not as disciplined as the older group.

Friday through Sunday, we were at Polish Festival everyday, all day long. We had to be there by 11:30 to be set up by 12:00. It was a wonderful experience. We got to show hundreds of people about the genealogy program on familysearch, find many records for their families, and tell many why we as a Church believed so strongly in the work and wanted to help others with it. There were many hundreds of others that we just talked with because they didn’t have time to get on one of our computers and look for records. It was so fun when we would be able to find their family members that they had never known about before.  We were as excited about it as they were. We encouraged them to come to one of our genealogy libraries where they could put up their trees for free. We felt the Missionaries that worked with us were absolutely a huge success as they not only helped with the genealogy, but taught the people about Jesus Christ when they were asked. We loved it. We met so many good people; we also met a lot of inebriated people. They love to drink here, and it is a shame. They started as soon as the festival opened up and drank all day. How sad that they would not remember much of what they did the next day.

At night, I’m not ashamed to say that we were exhausted. We wouldn’t get home until about 10:00 or later, and we just hit the bed. We wouldn’t change the experience for anything, and the Missionaries also stated they felt the same way. One couple tried to pay us for helping them find some work for a relative who was dying. It was such a compliment. Most could not believe we were doing it for free. This Church accepts no monies to pay for a minister or for any person serving in any position!  It is hard to believe that, when many Churches are ministered by those who are constantly asking for more.

Yesterday, we got up and visited a Basilica. We have visited some of the big Catholic Churches in Mexico when Amy and Jon were living there. I was amazed then, but compared to this one, the ones we have seen before were dark. From what we could gather, a Basilica is a building approved of by the Pope. This place had burned when it wasn’t very old, but they rebuilt it. We are including some pictures so you get an idea. It was light and beautiful. The big picture windows were unbelievable. The problem was that there were shrines all over the place, too many pictures , too many murals, very ornate, very other worldly, but it did not bring to mind the Heavens. We could acknowledge that there are so many wonderful people out there that this building serviced. They have a view of Heaven, but they know not where to find the truth at this point, and their worldly building was the only way they have to express their desire for the spiritual.  We listened to the quiet that this building invoked, but it did not invoke the spirit we find in a Temple. We were in awe at the man-made beauty, but the quiet here came from the awe, not the spiritual peace that comes with recognizing that Jesus is the Christ, and that Heavenly Father is truly our Father.

I have always felt a special feeling when we come across a Church in the countryside, or when I see a beautiful Church built in special places. It makes me realize that people have a need and a desire to find our Father. I always want to give thanks for that building because it represents our searching for the Heavenly.

And so, this week has been a success. Today, we had a District meeting. Afterwards, we took four of the Missionaries out to eat, and we discussed a plan to divide up the number of those who are less active and to visit them and ask them to come back. We talked a lot about keeping up with the contacting, and how to do it. We will be presenting our plan to our Branch President and Stake President if need be. We still don’t know what will be happening to our area, but we feel a need to extend the hand of fellowship to those who we need and who need us.

Have a great week. We love you all, and we would love to have you come visit.

RENDERING OF BEAUTY

THE  BASILICA OF ST. JOSAPHAT IN MILWAUKEE

BEHOLD YOUR LITTLE ONES

Disconnect and Listen with Love

Rosemary M. Wixom

From her wonderful Liahona talk we learn the following:

The Savior spoke four simple words: “Behold your little ones.” The Nephites turned their eyes toward their children. And what followed is among the most sacred events in all of scripture. (See 3 Nephi 17:23–24.)

I first experienced “beholding” when my first daughter was a newborn. Her small, insistent cry had awakened me at about midnight, and I was getting ready to feed her when it happened. She opened her eyes wide and looked for several long, precious moments straight into my eyes. As she and I truly “beheld” each other for the first time, I sensed something about the eternal bond we would share.

The study of neurobiology has confirmed the vital importance of parent-child “beholding.” According to neurobiologist Dr. Allan N. Schore, the nonverbal communication of “mutual gaze” is essential to the proper development of the infant brain.1 In later years, this connection remains crucial to the development of the minds, hearts, and spirits of our growing children.

“Beholding” is not giving a casual, distracted glance. It is the act of attending to another with the heart and mind. It is giving the kind of focused attention that says, “I see you. You are important to me.”

Disconnect and Listen with Love

Rosemary M. Wixom

“The answer to our prayer of how to meet our children’s needs may be to more often technologically disconnect. Precious moments of opportunity to interact and converse with our children dissolve when we are occupied with distractions. Why not choose a time each day to disconnect from technology and reconnect with each other? Simply turn everything off. When you do this, your home may seem quiet at first; you may even feel at a loss as to what to do or say. Then, as you give full attention to your children, a conversation will begin, and you can enjoy listening to each other.”

Rosemary M. Wixom, Primary general president, “The Words We Speak,” Liahona, May 2013, 82.