030 Tuesday to Tuesday (Nov. 12-19, 2014)

Wednesday started the day picking up Denise and taking her to her monthly Meta House meeting with her team of social workers. It takes some time to find all those who should be there, and Denise spends a lot of time telling them what-for. She raises her voice and talks as if she is trying to overcome their objections for every little thing. They are very good about reminding her that they are on her side. If all goes well, on the 24^th, her baby will be returned to her in a reunification move. She has 90 days where they will continue to watch her and help her adjust to having Timmy completely on her own.  We hope all goes well.

Afterwards, Elder Lenhard had to get his hair cut. Why is it that if you want to be bald, your hair insists on growing. Here I am trying so hard to make my hair grow and cover my bald spots, and NOOOOOOOOO, I have to constantly look in the mirror to make sure I have some cover on most of the head. Elder Lenhard’s hair will continue to stick out as it persists in growing when it would be really nice if it stayed out of sight.

We had a PAF meeting (genealogy meeting) that night and didn’t get in until late. This time the meeting was on using newspapers effectively and restoring old photos. They do some really good presentations.

Thursday, we had several things to do. We woke up knowing that on that day, another one of our sons, Dan, was a year older than on Wednesday.  Yes, yes, I know it is hard to believe, but it is reported that his beard is showing a few white hairs that weren’t there on Wednesday. It can’t be helped, and we sent our condolences, but it is the way with age. It creeps up on us slowly until one day we actually pay attention when we look in the mirror and wonder who is that stranger staring back. It’s a good thing that he works with middle schoolers. They don’t care about his saggy jowls and white beard.  In fact, it has been my experience that students at that age will underestimate his prowess, and when they need discipline of the strictest kind, they will be surprised that he can actually catch them and administer it appropriately. We have heard rumors (we haven’t been able to confirm it yet) that he is running 100 ft. marathons and managing to stay out of last place. It is a great thing that at his advanced age he is still able to go to work and keep himself active.

I got a manicure/pedicure that day. Can I say that I love to have my feet messaged. It is wonderful how well Rose takes care of me. She is very good. I would love to do it every other day, but it can get really expensive.

We had Pathway later that evening.  During the meeting, one couple that had not shown up emailed us to tell us the wife had dropped the course. Man, there are only 4 classes left. We felt really bad for her and wanted to encourage her to reenroll if they would let her. We had to wait until we could talk to her later.

On Friday, we started off the day taking someone to the grocery store for groceries.  It was really cold that day, but not as cold as I’m sure it is going to get this winter. We did have some snow on the ground, but it was only about a couple of inches - our first snow. It looked like it was going to stay. 

That night we had a Brother from the BYU-Idaho Pathway program come in to give us some support and to answer any questions we may have about the program. We met the new Senior Missionaries who would be taking over the younger group. The Missionaries they are replacing had to be released because the brother went into a Bishopric. We will miss working with them. The new Missionaries just got off a calling in the Nauvoo Temple Presidency. They are going to be great to work with at this time.  We talked with the Brother from Idaho about the Sister who had dropped and asked if there was a way she could reenter the program. Since she only had four more classes to go, we felt she could be talked into returning. Actually, the Sister who was being released from the program was a friend of the Sister who had dropped the class. She felt she could talk the Sister into coming back.

On Saturday, I started the day by emailing BYU-Idaho to see if the Sister could be readmitted. I talked with the Sister later in the day and found out she did not want to come back. Her husband has lots of health problems, she has a daughter who may have breast cancer and just found out, as well as there was the possibility that she also might have breast cancer.  I just waited to see if Idaho responded and then let them know what was going on.

Even though it was cold, we decided to take a little time out and go visit the North Point Lighthouse. WOW, it is really nice. We got there at 4:50, and it was closing at 5:00. When we got there, they were turning the signs to closed. We asked if they could wait, and they gave us 10 minutes to climb to the top.  We had bought a Groupon for this place, and so we had to fill out the papers to get the cards to be able to go as much as we want to go. Then we went running up the stairs. They went round and round, and they were steep. Up four flights we flew, and at the end, we had to climb a ladder to get into the top where we could see all around the area.  What a neat experience. We only had a couple of minutes and back down we went, but we can go back.

Entrance to Lighthouse

North Point Light Station

Information about light house

Spiral staircase inside light house

Craig in tower

Linda in tower - see Lake Michigan in background

We went outside and walked back behind the building. We could easily see the Lake and wondered what it was like when the lighthouse was in full use. There was a road that went behind the building in a semicircle around the building and  up on the other side back to the road. It was an unpaved road for much of the way, but down toward the back, there are two bridges - one on the left and one on the right of the lighthouse.  The bridges expand over two small gorges, and the walk is really nice. The night before we got there, an 18-wheeler turned onto the road and came down the back. The driver got over the first bridge, and I mean he couldn’t have had more than a couple of inches free on both sides of the truck. Then he crossed the area between the two bridges and went for the second one, thinking (I guess) that if he just kept going he could surely get back to the main road. However, he hit the bridge, then tried to back up and got stuck in a tree. When the police arrived, the driver was nowhere to be seen. His excuse when asked what he thought he was doing, “The GPS told me to go that way.”  I can understand!  Hahahaha

The road the driver went down - see the bridge ahead.

One of the lions that guard the bridges.

That night, we got a call about going and picking up a missionary on Monday evening. The missionary was in Sheboygen, WI. We were to bring him back to Milwaukee and , the next morning, we were to take him to Napierville, IL, so he could sign some papers about immigration. 

On Sunday, we got up and were worried about the weather. We had to go to Park Mills to discuss with them a plan for their Family History program. It was about 40-50 miles away, and as usual, the scenery was pretty. We enjoy going to new places and this was no different. We got there for Relief Society and Priesthood meetings. These are good country people. The town is small, and we had to drive through several neighborhoods to find the Chapel. They are located on a hill and have a nice view of the surrounding area.  We met with the leaders, after waiting for the Bishop to get through with some meetings. We were half-way through the presentation when he announced he had to leave. We got the feeling that he was not really interested in what we were doing. I thought he spent way too much time on his phone during our meeting.

It was 4:00 and dark by the time we got started home. With the snow still on the ground, we felt it was important that we take a slower ride to get home. The weather cooperated, but by the time we got home, it was late, and we were tired.

Monday found us heading for Sheboygen, WI, to pick up a missionary that we would bring to Milwaukee for the night. We first had to pick up the keys to a Mission car from the Mission Office, and then head over to the Stake Center to get the car. It was a quick trip, but we managed to get a few pictures of Lake Michigan from there.  The missionary was Spanish and such a nice guy. When we started out, we were a little worried about the snow. Here in Milwaukee, it was foggy and snowy. The wind was blowing and the clouds looked like they were going to land on us. As we left the city behind, the sun came out and led us to Sheboygen. It was a beautiful drive. On the way back, it was just as beautiful. As we approached the city, the clouds were still down, and the clouds were chasing across the sky. We had to deliver him to the Spanish Missionaries who would then transfer him to another set of missionaries from whom we picked him up on Tuesday.

Lake Michigan from Sheboygan

Snow clouds over the Lake

That evening we were able to go for pizza with the Armstrongs and the two sister missionaries who have been teaching them. Sister Reece is leaving the mission on Thursday, and Sister Cook will have a new companion. That is so wonderful.

Sister Cook on side with us

Brother and Sister Armstrong and Sister Reece

The next morning we were up by 5:30 to go pick up the Elder and head to Napierville, IL, so the young man could sign a paper for his work permit or something to do with immigration (I think). His family actually lives in Illinois, and we weren’t very far from where the family lived. It was a good thing he knew where to go because even with the GPS, we would probably still be wandering around Chicago if he hadn’t told us to not listen to it. He got us there quicky, went in and had the paperwork done in 10 minutes, and then we were heading back home. We stopped to get a Subway sandwich, and we headed to Racine to drop him off.  We found the apartment where he was going, and we found the other Senior Missionaries, the Linsleys, living in the same building. We have worked with the Linsleys before. It was fun to see them. Their apartment is as small as ours, but it is much brighter. They have big windows and are off the highway. It was great.  We left there and got back to Milwaukee by 3:00. The day was over as far as we were concerned. 

I got in and fixed some dinner. We settled down for the evening other than answering the phone and doing so family history ourselves. 

It has been a great week. Lots of fun things happening. Love this time of year. 

I believe President Eyring said “If you are on the right path, it is all uphill.”  (If you know better who said this, let me know.) So, if you are feeling the weight of the hill, know that it is OK and necessary to reach your destination to be with our Father once more.

Love to you all,

Elder and Sister Lenhard

WHAT IS IT?

There'a caption for this picture related to Missionary work. 

OH BOY!!!

Winter has arrived!

029 Tuesday to Tuesday (Nov. 5-11, 2014)

I must say that I’m really glad to have bought a heavy coat, especially when I step outside. I really, really, like a heated garage that prevents our having to warm up a freezing car to start the day, or clean off the windshields, or anything else. We will have to make sure that we keep the car clean because of the amount of salt on the roads. There are so many cars here that look really nice until you look at the bottom edges and realize they are rusted through. Someone told us we have to wait until the temperature gets above 36 degrees to wash it. Hahaha  Looks like it will be a while to wash the car or try to wash it off in the garage.

On Wednesday, Craig spent quite a bit of time getting the car winterized. We needed the oil changed as well as the other fluids taken care of for this winter.  I spent the time getting some work done for other projects that we are doing. We met with Denise that afternoon and tried to teach a lesson. We wanted to read Joseph Smith’s visitation and then talk about the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, Timmy got all the attention, and Denise spent a lot of time chasing him around. Her Social Worker dropped by and talked to her about a birthday party Denise wanted to give for Timmy’s 3^rd birthday. According to the rules of her housing, there can be no more than four people in her apartment at any one time for anything. It was information that we were not aware of because there have been times when we were there with four other missionaries and friends from upstairs, etc. This woman kept trying to tell Denise that the party wasn’t for Timmy, it was for Denise because he won’t remember it. She argued that she wanted him to have a big party, and he would know. When the woman left, it sounded like Elder Lenhard and I would come early on the day of the birthday, and that would leave slots for others to come at another hour. We had lost the attention for the lesson, so we finally gave up for that time, but we plan to go back and actually get to teach. 

Thursday found us coordinating meetings with missionaries. We have to figure out who we can help. We are guessing as the weather gets colder, we will be asked to help more.  Hahaha  We also spent time preparing for the Pathway lesson and copying the materials we would need. I got a bill from an insurance company that I thought I had paid when we left Utah so that it was taken care of the entire time we were out here. Guess not. Anyway, it took some time getting that taken care of because no one will answer a phone anymore.  

We did work on trying to get a key to the building where we hold Pathway. The person who is supposed to open the building on Thursday for Pathway has been late for the last two weeks. BYU-Idaho has a strict rule about starting on time and ending on time (which I like). We have had to talk to several people and write lots of people before they decided we could have a key; however, it will come from the missionaries who taught the class last year. They moved to Madison, and we will have to wait for them to send it back to us. If we had known this, we could have asked them earlier. After our Pathway program, we had to meet with the Stake Family History Director getting some information together for our next meeting.

Friday, we got up and actually got to the gym again. I love the gym because I feel so much better later. I had to get my final hepatitis shot that afternoon, and may I say it hurt. Not the shot itself, but the medicine burned for a moment. It wasn’t bad at all, but I just remember saying that the shot hurt!  I’m so eloquent.  Afterwards, we had about an hour before going to the birthday. We had a nice time, but we were tired from running around. 

Denise had Timmy’s birthday party that night. She wanted a really big party and wanted lots of people to come from the Church. She had asked RS to help her give the party because she couldn’t afford to do it. Her home teacher (who is a medical student) is stupendous. He talked with her about doing it simple (City Branch isn’t known for having a well-to-do group of members), but she had it in her head that it needed to be over the top. We found out that her group team had given her permission to have more people at the party than previously talked about because she had a big apartment and could handle it. We were asked to bring chips and dip or a vegetable tray. When we got to her place, her home teachers, four other missionaries, her neighbors from upstairs, and another friend and her son were already there. It was chaotic, but when Denise wanted all the attention on Timmy, she yelled at all of us to pay attention, be quiet, watch Timmy, etc. It was kind of funny. She was the little dictator, and Timmy was going to blow out those candles, and he was going to open those presents by ripping off that paper, and he was going to do this or that. Timmy could have cared less. She had cooked dinner for everyone, and we were expected to eat. Her home teacher had brought cup cakes, and she had made a cake so all the kids were getting their plugs of sugar which helped their activity levels. Haven’t we all been to parties like this? We old people finally had to go, but it was a 30 minute drive since, in trying to avoid the interstate in this town between the hours of 4-6 pm, we end up touring lots of places we haven’t been in before. They keep closing off roads because of construction and a route we could have taken one day will no longer be available, so we are like rats in a maze. Thank goodness Elder Lenhard has an innate sense of direction because I’m only along for the site-seeing. They have a saying here, that there are only two seasons, winter and road construction. (Don’t ask me, I don’t make up these sayings!)

Saturday brought Stake Conference. Elder Nash of the 1^st Quorem of the Seventies was here, and what a marvelous speaker he was. Elder Lenhard attended the Priesthood session on Saturday, so I took him and got home by myself (a major accomplishment). Then I had to go back for the adult meeting that evening, and I have to say, it was more challenging than coming home. I got lost by exiting the interstate too early and realized I was lost. So I used the GPS to get myself back home and started again. (Thank goodness I had started out early thinking it might be a challenge for me.) This time I stayed on the interstate and waited until I got to the road I knew I had come home on and went straight to the Church. I love it when I can get somewhere without breaking down in fear that I may be entering a war zone and may never come out.  Hahahaha

On Sunday, we went to two difference conferences. Both North and South Stakes were having their conferences on the same day, and it took some maneuvering on the part of the leadership of both stakes to pull it off. Elder Nash was only here for the North Stake. On Saturday, we met in their Stake building, because they knew there wouldn’t have been as many people attending. Children under 12 are not invited to come to the Saturday meetings, so many mothers stay home with the children. On Sunday, however, it was another story. Since South Stake has a larger Stake building, we went there for the meeting held in the morning. South Stake held off their meeting until the afternoon so they could use the building also. We decided to stay for both meetings. We live in the South Stake, but we are assigned to go to Church in the North Stake. We serve both stakes, so we felt we would benefit greatly from attending both meetings. We certainly didn’t regret it. Before the second meeting started that morning, the Mission President asked us to go pick up a nonmember who wanted to come and had no transportation. Elder Lenhard and the missionaries who were teaching her went to get her. She is a black lady who had the most infectious laugh. She wanted to sing out “Hallelujah” after everything that she agreed with was said. I sat next to her, and she kept me laughing. I told her if she had done it, we would have just looked at her funny and wondered what she was thinking. She asked a lot of good questions, and she appeared to have an honest truth-seeking heart. We enjoyed being with her.

To say that we were spiritually fed would be an understatement. Just to give you an idea of what we heard that strengthened my testimony include the following:

Our callings or the work we are given to do are a gift from God. We have a work to perform before we return to the Father. We must separate ourselves from the world and become instruments in God’s hands to do that which he has given us to do.

Satan will use the media to confuse us and create a world of false reality which is contrary to that which God would have us know and understand. Satan would have us believe that sin is normal, and we all partake of it. While it is true that we are all sinners, we do not have to succumb to the belief that we are evil if we do not tolerate and support those who deviate from God’s way.

There is joy in Heavenly Father’s plan, and we must avail ourselves of that joy through the work He has given us to do.

Happiness is only found in how well we live the commandments of God. As we do His work, we cannot help but be changed for good.

I may not be perfect, but I can be perfect in trying.

These are just a couple of things that were emphasized at the meetings. Can you see the theme here? It was a great weekend.

While at the conference, I was talking with a Sister whom I had met before and the weather came up. She asked if we had good boots. I told her those were the next items on our list, and she told us we needed to go to Minomenee Falls to a place called Fleet Farms. They carry all your winter needs, farming supplies, groceries, and much more. We headed off in that direction and found it wasn’t that far away. We were amazed at the stuff they carried, and we didn’t even spend a lot of time on anything but boots. It took me forever to find a pair that didn’t make my feet look like tugboats, but I’m happy with them. They are good to 25 degrees below. Elder Lenhard was able to find his much faster, and his are also good to some crazy temperature. So, now we are set. We have coats, gloves, hats, and boots. When I go out now, I wear my thermals, then tights, undershirt, outer clothing, coat, etc. etc. etc. (not yet into the boots).  I look like an Eskimo, but I’m warm, and the cold, cold isn’t even here yet. Hahaha  When the real cold comes, we will see how I hold up. I'll have to take a picture soon.

We spent some time setting up a meeting in another Ward on Family History. This one is Park Mills, so next Sunday we will head in that direction. I guess it is on the way to Madison. I love to travel and see the countryside. This is a beautiful area.

On Tuesday (11^th), we had a Zone Conference which starts at 10:00. I had gotten a calendar earlier in the month with the meetings listed for the month. The calendar said that on this day it would be a District meeting (a smaller group of missionaries and it starts at 1:00). Unfortunately, I seem to have trouble with the concept that when a sentence is found at the bottom of the paper that says “this schedule does not apply on the day of your Zone Conference,” we should seriously pay attention. Anyway, the night before we got a text about Zone Conference, but we didn’t understand what was being said because we were prepared for a District meeting. We texted the Elders for more information and did not hear from them. On Tuesday then, we got up, went to the gym and stopped by Michael’s on the way home. I picked up my Christmas decorations at a really cheap price – I now have a wreathe, a nativity, a Santa, a really small tree with lights, and a couple of ornaments. I will miss my big tree and hundreds of ornaments from Utah, but we will live. I am excited to decorate, but it is still too early.  

Us with Elders Cutshaw, Larsen, Allen, Ward, Pound, Bluth, and Sisters Reece and Cook in our last District Meeting together.

 Anyway, the gist of the story is that as I’m in Michael’s taking my time, the Elders text Elder Lenhard to say our meeting started at 10:00 (it is now past 10) and it is much further away than we had expected. UGH!  When I got back to the car, Elder Lenhard gave me the news and whisked us off to clean up and get on the road. We got there around 11:00 – I thought that was really pretty good. We saw all those looks when we came in – “the old people just don’t get it.”  We apologized to everyone we met, and we tried to explain. We still got the looks!  Hahahaha  Give us a break! We were only an hour late. The meeting went until 4:00, so we were able to enjoy the encouragement of the young Elders and Sisters to hang in there and continually look forward. We were encouraged to talk less and listen more. Everyone has a story, and we should listen to their story and offer the Lord’s blessings through Jesus Christ.

We have been uplifted, encouraged, strengthened, challenged, and loved this past week. What more could we ask for as we serve in this part of the Lord’s vineyard.

We love you all.

Elder and Sister Lenhard

Our Neighbors from India

Friday evening we were invited to a celebration of their baby girl Aniah's 3rd month anniversary! We enjoyed curry with several other vegetarian dishes….very good! Of those present, we were the only non-Hindus!  As I have mentioned at other times, I find the Hindu people to be delightfully warm and spiritual.  

I think nearly all the young adults were professionals, mostly engineers!

028 Tuesday to Tuesday (Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2014)

All I can say is that the days are going by very quickly. The end of fall is approaching, and winter is peeking around the corner. The weather has gotten cooler, and I want to wear my big coat all the time, but then I get too hot in the car. 

Oct. 29, Wednesday, started out with a full calendar and ended with lots of cancellations that allowed work at the apartment and a meeting with Victor. Afterwards, we took Denise and Timmy to a Halloween Party at another Ward since City Branch can’t have one because of our location. Timmy had a blast. It only took a few tries before he got the hang of trunk or treat. I miss going trick or treat with the kids. What fun! We did get a great picture of Adam, and I was thrown for a loop as I found myself looking at my brothers – James and John. I sent the picture to James, and he couldn’t say because he said he didn’t know how he, himself, looked. But I know that Walton is in the genes of my son.

Talking with Bethanne at Halloween Trunk & Treat

Timmy having fun

  

I hate cancellations, especially when we passed up something else we could have been doing and then we have slow times. However, we managed to stay busy with trying to work out some work schedules with the Spanish missionaries in Kenosha. President Cutler wants us to help them more, so we left Wednesday mornings open so they could make arrangements with members there and we would go with them to help the members set up their family history accounts. The missionaries decided that they really did not want to come up here, and we didn’t want to travel down there every week, so I was able to get one of the Family History Consultants down there to get in on training them more.  I’m hoping this will get them started. They are such a great missionary couple. They had been on several missions within the SLC Valley and then went to Texas, and he got sick. They went home for a month, and then elected to come back out and were assigned here. Good people. 

On Thursday, we acted on the advice of President Fritz from the Branch who indicated to us that one of our members felt they had hurt our feelings or something. Anyway, Craig called her to make sure we made contact and cleared up any confusion. She is hardly able to move around very well, and she has so many health problems. She doesn’t get to come to Church much, and she has been doing her family history online. It is hard for her to get to the Temple, and she needs to get her reserved family names released for others to take to the Temple. We will have to get over there and help her when she feels she is able to have us.

That evening we had Pathway. Our lesson this month was on time management. The sister that taught it did a fabulous job. She used a mixer and making cake as her object lesson. I won’t go into the details, but it was fun to watch the learning process among the students.  Elder Bednar gave a talk that we used for the lesson. We teach a lot about teaching with the Spirit. But learning also involves the Spirit.  As Elder Bednar said (quoting from the Book of Mormon – Nephi is a great Prophet):

Nephi teaches us, “When a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth [the message] unto the hearts of the children of men” (2 Nephi 33:1). Please notice how the power of the Spirit carries the message unto but not necessarily into the heart. A teacher can explain, demonstrate, persuade, and testify, and do so with great spiritual power and effectiveness. Ultimately, however, the content of a message and the witness of the Holy Ghost penetrate into the heart only if a receiver allows them to enter. Learning by faith opens the pathway into the heart.

When we teach, those who listen have to allow the teaching to touch them in order to learn. What a great concept.

Friday brought Halloween!!!!!  All missionaries were to be in by 4:00 (gets dark here) unless they had a dinner appointment. We spent the morning helping get some groceries for a member. We had an appointment at 5:00 with Denise. In-between we got some time to work on our own genealogy and to get some paperwork done. It is amazing how much paperwork you can have to be organized and involved in so many projects. We had to work with Denise, and she takes a lot of time. Some of the time is taken up as she constantly stops us to do something with Timmy or her phone, or she will suddenly ask something out of the blue. WOW, it gets to be wild. We are learning to teach in 5 minute increments.  hahahaha

Saturday, we had hoped that Craig would be able to have lunch with some older (retired) Priesthood members who meet once a month. It wasn’t to be!  The Elders were to meet with Denise and her older boys to teach the boys the lessons. We went to pick up the Elders to take them over, and on the way, we got a phone call from Denise saying the boys were not coming. The bus that was to pick up the boys and bring them to her had lost its way and wasn’t going to make it. She was a little upset. We turned around, dropped the Elders off, and went back home.  Craig had been dealing with a cough for most of the week, and he was really glad to go home and get back into bed. It is cold here, and he hasn’t felt well. While he has gotten out to do what we need to do, he has tried to take care of himself without taking a ton of medicine. We spent some time that day trying to round up a key for the building where we have to meet on Pathway. Those who are supposed to open the building are not getting there in time for our class. We are supposed to start at 6:30 and end at 7:30. We have to make sure that we keep within the time given to us by the Pathway program.

On Sunday, we had a wonderful Fast Sunday. We love to hear the testimonies of the members. There are some uplifting and inspiring people in our Branch who have learned so much in this life and have special relationships with our Father. We went home for lunch and then that afternoon we visited a Sister and her granddaughter, Rebecca, who have been inactive for almost 10 years. Their husband is coming to Church ever so ofter, with them also, but he is a chef and had to work on Sunday. They are a good family. One of the last times she was in Church was when her mother died, and the service was at the Church. Lately, they have made a decision to come back to the Church. We went to get to know her better. She is an artist and actually has her work on display in a gallery downtown. She works with material (cloth scraps) and anything she can find. She is quite talented. She had plenty to say about the Church and why they had quit coming. I hope they will start back. Her daughter is very anti-church, and she indicated that she didn’t have much to do with her, even though she lived in the house. Her granddaughter is 5 years old and really overweight. She looks much older. She never stops talking, and she wants to please you so much. She told me that her friends at school call her fat. I can imagine that they do. Children can be so cruel. She says she doesn’t listen to them. When we talked with her grandmother, she would interrupt and all her grandmother had to do was say a quick word and she would stop. She got a bowl of cereal to eat, and it was large enough for three people. They told us she was going to the doctor for her weight, and I hope they follow through. Rebecca is going to have a sad and lonely life as she gets older.

On Monday, I went to lunch with the older ladies so that I could get to know more of the women in the Stake. What a delight. They also meet once a month, and there must have been about 15 of us. Some I had met before, and others I got to meet for the first time. It is fun to listen to old women talking. They have the most interesting topics. Family history was on the top of the list. One of the sisters told me she had been asked by her Bishop to act as a consultant for a new member in her Ward. This is our plan! Yeah, we love to see the plans being carried out.

After that, I had to go to Verizon for my ipad which would not accept my email accounts once I changed the passwords on each one (I have five accounts – I know, don’t ask but believe me that I need all of them). They couldn’t help me so I went home thinking it might be time to turn in the old and get a new. But then once I got home, I starting thinking about something they had done. When we tried to do one of the accounts, it mentioned a two-step verification. I had set up a two-step sign-on verification system on my computer (WHY? You might ask!) – because I could – Now Adam, calm down, it only took a couple, well maybe more than that, tries to convince me to look up the directions for getting rid of the two-step system and go back to the one sign on. Guess what, my ipad immediately got on board and accepted the email accounts. I love to do stuff, and I hate having to pay the piper later because my doing got me in trouble. So, the moral is “just because I can does not mean I should.” Hahaha

Tuesday dawned with a beautiful blue sky. We were ready for anything. We started off at the gym. How I love to go to the gym once I get there – making the motions to get there are a lot harder. We finally found a post office that is convenient to get to so we drop back when we go to the gym. We had District Meeting that afternoon, and it was wonderful as usual. Our Christ-like attribute for the week was “Charity.” What a great teaching. I know my mom was one of the most charitable women ever. She loved to give to others, and I’ve always envied her that ability and desire. I think as I get older I understand the concept of loving others to the point that we can give freely of ourselves (not just our goods) in thought and deed. President Hinckley said that “charity is our religion and our watch cry.” If more of us were charitable, how changed would our world be. Remember the story of Ammon in the Book of Mormon. He was captured by the enemy (the Lamanites), and he asked to become a servant to the King. He did all that was asked of him because he loved his enemy and wanted to bring the Gospel to them so that they could experience the Grace of God in their lives. They needed to know that God loved them, and Jesus Christ was their Saviour and Redeemer. Ammon did teach them, and they turned their hearts to God. Because of Ammon’s charity (love) for his neighbor, he changed a whole nation.

That night we went on a visit with the Spanish Missionaries to visit a Spanish family that we have come to love. Juan (the father) is a nonmember. His wife, Angie, is a member and just went to the Temple not too long ago. A couple of months back he told the missionaries that he was ready to get baptized. The Spanish men have a hard time accepting the Gospel, but it looked like he was ready to change. As it turns out, he only said that he would be baptized because Angie is pushing him to it. It is so sad. I did not feel very good that night. I don’t think he was touched by anything that was said. We love their family. Her mother is in our Pathway group. She is marvelous. She lives with Juan and Angie with a younger daughter. Lots going on in the household.

It was Timmy’s birthday today, but Denise put off her birthday party for Friday. I’m really glad. She wants all the best things for her boys.

Well, I’m really late getting this blog up. My computer got a virus (I tried to download Chrome because I need it with Family Search). I know, Adam, I didn’t get the right site because I got lots of uglies downloaded also and soon I couldn’t even get on Family Search.  UGH!  Had to put the computer in the shop for a few days to get it cleaned up.  Will I ever learn???  Probably not.

2 Nephi 2:6-7

Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.  Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who had a broken heart and a contrite spirit and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

Elder and Sister Lenhard

He freely offered himself. May we remember that as we head into the Christmas season.