059 Tuesday to Tuesday (June 3-9, 2015)

June, June how did you get here so quickly. The last of the first half of the year, the month when summer officially begins, a day of promised sun and heat. May you live up to your name.

On the 3^rd, we went to the Temple, again. This is getting to be fun. As usual, we took our selfie afterwards, and we laugh every time because we look so dorky. What is it with selfies that just do not come out correctly.

The selfies were so bad, we just had to go with a good picture of the Temple.

 That night we attended a Mission Open House at our Parkway Ward. We were supposed to have FHE with the Armstrongs, but we encouraged them to come to this instead. To say that it was not supported, not planned, chaotic, would be an understatement. Although it had been on the calendar for weeks, hardly anyone showed up except for the missionaries. One inactive member and her two children came and the Armstrongs. It was YM/YW night along with Cub Scouts. You can imagine the craziness. We didn’t say anything to the Armstrongs, but afterwards, we went for custard at Oscars (not our favorite, but it is theirs).

On Thursday, we took Victor to the Genealogy Library, and he printed out names that we will take to the Temple with him. Now, we just need to make a day when we are free and so is he. He is making tremendous strides in the Gospel. He wants his Patriarchal Blessing which is amazing. Wish Denise were coming along as well.

That night we had to move Pathway to the RS room because High Council was in High Priests room. It is always different when we do that because we don’t have tables on which to work.  We can tell that the students are beginning to look forward to the year being over. It is summer time, and all are very busy. I know they want to take time off for vacations and family.

Friday, we were at the Genealogy Library again working with more Elders to prepare them for the Polish Festival.  This is our last group for this festival. It seems every time I get the time schedule laid out, someone has to change it by saying they can’t come or wanting to come at a different time.  Just part of the work.

We were supposed to have a meeting with the Elders teaching a nonmember (I’ve mentioned Janice before), but at the last minute it was cancelled. I hope she will continue to work with them.

On Saturday, we had wanted to go to Scottish Fest. That morning we went by the Genealogy Library to cut some papers that we would be using at the Polish Fest. We made three copies on each page and had to cut them apart, there were 100 pages of five different handouts. After a while, my back was killing me and so were Craig’s hands. He cut while I kept putting them together and straightening them after each cut. Then we headed out for the Scottish Festival, but we had to stop off and get some cash first. We never carry cash, never – and we remembered last year that they asked for it. So we went to a grocery store, but realized that Craig’s card to use for cash was the old one and could not be used. So we went home, got the new one, activated it, and went to another store. This time it was getting late in the day, and we realized we wouldn’t have much time at the Festival if we didn’t hurry it up. We went to the store, and the card was invalid. Don’t ask why. Maybe because we had just activated it, and no one had time yet to get it going. I doubt that was the reason, but it sounds ok. When we got out of that store, there would have only been two hours left of the festival, and it would take 30 minutes to get there. We decided the Lord felt we had more important things to do at home. So home we went. I spent the evening making calls about Pathway. I had 30 calls to make to people who had been recommended by their Bishops for the program. I might have gotten 3 at home. I left messages for the rest. There were about 5 whose numbers were no longer any good. By the time, evening came around, we were glad we had stayed home and done the Lord’s work.

On Sunday, we were able to take Denise to her Ward for Church. They had not made any arrangements to assign her to a VT or HT because they didn’t have her records, so they couldn’t get anyone to give her a ride. We took her, and she did pretty well. She has been using again, drugs this time, and she had an interview with the Bishop. He talked with me first and told me that we were doing too much for her, and she needed to be responsible for getting herself to Church. I reminded him of her circumstances. She didn’t have a car, she had no one to call because she had no directory, she had no one assigned to her, etc. I told him about her history. He did not know she had been a member less than a year nor did he know her history. He is a relatively new Bishop, and I like him. She had an interview after me and evidently told him she had fallen off the wagon. He started the meeting on his knees in prayer and asked her to join him. She had never had anyone ask her to do that. She was so impressed. She came out really liking him. She was on her phone way too much, and at one point, left RS because of it, but she was there at the end. The next week she went out of town with her dad who told her to get back to Church and stay away from her sister who is an addict and has no desires to get clean. He told her to either choose him or her sister.

The next morning we had to take Denise to Burlington, 40 miles south of us, to pick up her purse she had left there with all her ID. We had to leave early because the person she needed to see was leaving to go somewhere, so we left by 8:30. Getting up at 6:00 is my usual time, but then we have time to read Scriptures, etc., to prepare for the day. Getting up to actually go somewhere is much harder.

We had to get Denise’s ID because we were going to get Timmy enrolled in a school for the fall. The trip down was great, and she went into the house by herself. It was the house of the father of her older children. This man’s grandmother lives with him now because his grandfather died in a house fire just a week or so ago. I guess they had to hold off with the funeral until his death had been investigated. Anyway, when she came back to the car, she smelled of the strongest deodorant smell that can be imagined, and then she passed out. Later, we wondered if she had gotten some liquor while in the house and was trying to disguise the smell. We took her right to the School District Offices, and she was in pretty bad condition by that time. She didn’t want to do it, and I wasn’t going to make an extra trip for it. We went to the District Office, and they sent us to another school. Timmy is only 3, so when we got to the other office, they said they had no program for him. She was in a program on the bad side of town, probably because there are so many families like hers. But here in West Allis where she lives, he cannot start school for another year, even with an IEP. Don’t have a clue what she is going to do now.

Zone training was on the 9^th. It was a good meeting, and Sister Cutler was there. We enjoyed it, but we left as soon as possible. Again, the emphasis was on the Sabbath Day Observance. When we observe the Sabbath as we should, and we don’t allow it to become just another day, we will receive great blessings. That means we should not be cleaning house and working that day. I am trying harder to get things prepared on Saturday.

We were making arrangements to take Denise back to Burlington the next day so that she could go to the funeral of the grandfather with the rest of the family members. However, she was told that the father of the children did not plan on her going with them, and they invited her sister along so Denise could ride with the sister. The funeral was down in Illinois, and we couldn’t have taken her anyway, but it was good that she was able to go. That meant that the next day, we could stay in bed until 7:30 if we wanted.  Love those extra minutes.

Our scripture for June is Doctrine and Covenants 59:9-10 -

          And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world,      
          thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my 
          holy day; For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, 
          and to pay thy Devotions unto the Most High;

         

Elder and Sister Lenhard

058 Tuesday to Tuesday (May 27—June 2, 2015)

The last of May has come and gone. Way too fast. I was reading in Jacob 7:26 where Jacob has grown old and he is reflecting on having kept the record on the plates. He finishes his writing declaring that he’s done the best he can, and “the time has passed away with us, and also our lives have passed away like as it were unto us a dream.” That’s the way I feel, the time is passing us by and we look back as if it were a dream, wondering how it could get away from us without us realizing it until we look back. When I compare my time on this earth relative to a hundred years, I realize I am over half-way there (3/5’s to be more exact). Yet, this is but a short time in the eternities.

On the 27^th of May, we went for Zone training to the Elkhorn building. It was a nice building (we had been there before), and we enjoyed meeting with the Elders. We went to talk about the Pathway program to the Elders and how to encourage them to go out and talk to their inactives, prospective Elders, and others who want to go back to college. We are pushing the program big time. We were supposed to have 15 minutes during lunch, but President Cutler forgot and then when we started talking, he interrupted us and cut us off.  Hahaha  Wow, talk about getting our words out. He finished explaining the program and started getting the Elders out of the gym and back to their meeting. We didn’t see any reason to hang around and had a meeting with Denise later that afternoon so decided to go home. It wasn’t until we got home that Denise texted us that she could not meet. It’s becoming a pattern.

The next day we got to go to the gym, and then prepared some things for the Pathway program and for the Polish Festival. Pathway that night was an interesting program, and these students are really getting into the writing.

On Friday, we had missionaries in the genealogy library again, teaching them the basics of Family Search so they could help us at Polish Festival. All of them have their own accounts, but they have never really paid much attention to them. It is interesting to listen to them as they explored their family trees to see who their relatives were and what they could find out about those relatives.

We were off to the Milwaukee Genealogical Society meeting downtown to talk about the German Festival coming up. We were a little early so we had time to ask where the meeting would be held. Unfortunately, it was the week before. Don’t I hate it when that happens. Haha

The next day was rainy, rainy, rainy, and cold. We had lunch downtown with Cyndi Duran and the missionaries. She had an investigator, Janice Price, there. Cyndi is a fabulous missionary. Everyone she meets, she invites to Church or to talk with the missionaries. Janice is a unique person. She cleans the building where Cyndi works. We had a great lunch with them, and Janice has a lot of questions. She has a felony on her record, and she may not be able to get baptized until she has that cleared up.

Sunday found us back at Parkway. Sometimes I feel we don’t really have a home unit. I don’t know many of the Sisters, and they don’t know me. It just isn’t the same as having my own ward. But, they are good women, and there are some really good leaders among them. There are also some really good teachers, and I could listen to them all day long.

On Monday, we had to go to Jane Orne’s home to do some finalizing of the plans for the festival. It looks like everything is set. We will spend a morning cutting some sheets apart as handouts. Jane has to copy them first. The video is ready, we even have a new monitor to show it on.

Tuesday morning, Craig had an appointment with a dermatologist. He had two really ugly places on his back that I saw one morning several weeks back. I had never noticed them before, and they concerned both of us. Dr. Lefeber was really a good doctor. He reassured us that the places where fine. He did remove two spots on his left hand, but other than that it was all good. He told Craig to go back to Head and Shoulders for his dandruff and dry skin. He had quit using that years ago because it had dried his skin out. The doctor said the reason he had dandruff like he does is because his skin is oily. We just looked at him. He was not afraid to talk about is faith, and his reliance on the Lord. It is so refreshing to find someone like that in today’s world.

That afternoon we had to go pick Victor up from work because he was not feeling good. We missed our District Meeting because of it. We are really glad we can help him, but worry for the time when we will no longer be around to do things like this for him.

Our scripture for June is Doctrine and Covenants 59:9-10 -

          And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt

          go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;

         

          For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy

          Devotions unto the Most High;

         

Elder and Sister Lenhard

057 Tuesday to Tuesday (May 20—26, 2015)

I am way behind in my writing. So many things to do that I forget and then it snowballs. One of my biggest problems has been that I had to have a new cloud drive started. It took two weeks to sync the old one to the new one. They do not look alike, and it is harder to use the new one. We actually had to upgrade our wifi in order to get a faster line. It drove me crazy. (More info below!)

The work is beginning to pick up as summer is coming, and the festivals will be here. Plus, we are going to the Temple each week now, and that takes an extra day out of our schedule. I’m not complaining about going to the Temple, just noting that we have less time to spread things out. We also are recruiting for the Pathway program, and that is not easy. We have to have the help of the Bishops and leaders in each Stake, and some of them do not have a vision of the program. I’m guessing that the Lord will push this program more each year. It truly is a reactivation and retention tool. Our students have been a strength to us this year. We have watched them grow and become more confident. Some are more capable in one area than another, but all help each other.

Wednesday, 20^th found us off to the Temple again. The amazing thing about going now is that we always have a name to take with us. We love being able to take the day and find the peace of the Temple. It truly is a spiritual experience. It helped us that night when we had Family Home Evening with the Armstrongs. They wanted to study the Beatitudes, and we were ok with that. It is a great time when we can discuss the Scriptures with friends and come to a greater understanding of what the Lord would have us be and do.

Temple Trip, 20 May 2015 (we are going to do this every week to see how we age)

On Thursday, we started off the day at the gym. It is getting harder and harder to find the time to exercise. I feel I’m adding on muscle, just enough to tip the scales in an upward motion. Ugh!  We had called Cable because by this time I’d been syncing my files from one google cloud account to another for about a week. I started with 57,000 files and by this day, still had 39,000+. When I called Cable, they said that I had a problem with some line which is why it was taking so long. According to the Cable guy that came by, we didn’t have a problem with the cord, we needed more speed.  He told us we could buy a separate dothingy to use instead of the cloud. We could download it much faster, but others could still access it online. I called Adam, and was told no, no, no. So we didn’t.  hahaha  Pathway was on the docket for that evening, and we were finding ourselves into the beginnings of next year’s recruitment. We are not excited about it. We are working with the Bishops and others who are recommending the program and are working to get everything in line. We pray that the program will make its recruitment goal. We would hate to lose it here in Milwaukee.

Friday saw us starting to train the missionaries on Family Search. The Polish Festival will be in 3 weeks, and they have to be shown what to do at the Festival if they have to man the computers. Naturally, everyone must help at the computers because no one wants to do it the whole time they are there. It gets boring compared to meeting with people and sneaking off to see stuff.

On Saturday, we got to participate in a service project in Union Grove, Wisconsin. There was a Veteran’s Graveyard there where we helped plant flags on the graves. We had to be there by 7:30, and it was cool. I’m glad I wore a sweater, but I could have used a light coat. There were 11,000 graves, and there must have been 300 participants. We met up with the Carters and Barleys (other senior missionaries), and we took a Sister Duran with us.  Afterwards, we got breakfast in a nearby town. We were going to a chocolate fest afterwards downtown there, but when we went by, it was just a bunch of tents set up to get our money. Hahaha  

Placing flags on veteran's graves. Brother Linsley is on left.

We got home and that afternoon we went to an appointment with the missionaries for a family who wanted to learn Family Search. Of course, she was not there, but he was a real gentleman. They are both graphic artists and very successful. I could see my prejudice coming out in that they lived in a modest but nice home and are Mexican. Both parents were educated, and they were really nice. I found myself asking “how is this possible.” Need to repent! Hopefully, we will get to go again to try another time.

Sunday was a typical Sabbath day. Our district meetings throughout the entire month have been on keeping the Sabbath holy. It has made me reflect on how I spend the day. We have been discussing ways we can bring the Spirit into the day, and one thing that was mentioned was to stay in our Sunday clothes to remind ourselves that it isn’t just any day. I have found it hard because if we aren’t going anywhere, I just want to kick off my shoes and stockings and get into some comfortable clothes. But it does help if we stayed dressed up. Another thing which I think I’ve mentioned before if to remember that each time we take the Sacrament, we aren’t just renewing our Covenants from when we were baptized, but we are making a new covenant with the Lord, accepting His terms and working harder the next week to keep the covenant.

Monday found us in Elm Grove with Dave and Virginia Armstrong at the Memorial Day Parade. We had a lot of fun. It has been a long time since we have been to a parade. We brought our chairs and got there early enough that we had a great place to see everything. A little boy and his family came to sit with us, and we gave him all the candy we could catch. The Armstrong’s son was marching in the parade as part of the Baker’s Square group. He had a bag of candy and came and poured it out for the boy. We walked down to a small area where they were playing music and people were congregating for a pie eating contest sponsored by Baker's Square. It was fun to watch.

Dave and Virginia at parade.

Looked like fun to ride this wheel.

Who has ever seen an elementary school play in a parade?

Saluting the veterans!

Pie eating contest after the Parade. Man on lower left got sick. Kid across from him won!

I'd say he had fun!  THE winner.

Afterwards, we toured Elm Grove a little bit which is a little more upscale than our area of town. There were some beautiful homes surrounded by great big trees and lovely flowers. We drove to the Original Pancake House and had breakfast. Obama actually came and ate there when he was in town.  Whoopee!!!!!

On Tuesday, we were asked to take three Elders to the Temple before they left the Mission. They were Spanish Elders, and we took them to Kenosha (just south of us and on the way) where we met another Missionary couple, the Linsleys. They had one Missionary to take, so we gave them one of ours and off we went. We really had a good time. On the way back, we stopped and ate lunch. It was late when we got home, but we had another great day in the Temple.

 

Chicago Temple, 26 May 2015

Our scripture for May is Doctrine and Covenants 67:10:

          And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto

          you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves

          from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not

          sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am –

          not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual.

Elder and Sister Lenhard