055 Tuesday to Tuesday (May 6-12, 2015)

I wasn’t very smart with my google drive and deleted the email attached to it. That cut off access to others who had access to my genealogy and pictures.  With much fanfare and aggravation, I was able to call Google and get a new drive and an email attached, but all my files had to be synced over to the new drive. I have 57000+ files. I have been syncing for five days now, and I am down to 37000. I consider that progress.

In the meantime, I’ve held off, thinking I was slowing things down, but now I really must get my blog caught up. I have a calendar full of stuff that I want to remember so here goes.

On Wednesday, were went to the gym, spent time getting some computer stuff done, and then in the early afternoon, we headed off to Wales to pick up a sister missionary who had to go home early due to health reasons. We wanted to go early enough so we’d be able to find our rendezvous point (at the Church) and get back by 5:00.  We were supposed to drop her off at the Mission Home when we got back to Milwaukee. This was the usual transfer week, and we didn’t have very many leaving this time, and for some reason this sister needed transportation.  When we got to Wales, we were about an hour early, so we decided we would do a bit of exploring and then get to the Church. We drove the opposite of the way to the Church, and before we knew it, we were out in the country. We followed a road until we came to a place called Beaver Lake. Wow, another beautiful, restful place to take pictures. The water was so clear we could see to the bottom (which we found could be good or bad – good if it was clear due to no pollution, bad if it was due to some kind of mussel that invaded the lakes and killed off all the vegetation in the lakes so nothing else could survive). We have no idea why it was so clear, but it sure was different from any water we had seen before. We took a few pictures, enjoyed the calls of the birds (the redwing blackbird is prolific up here), and headed back to the Church.

Craig taking pictures.

Water is so clear you can see to bottom.

Who is that good-looking man on the pier?

At the top of the steps leading to the pier.

Soon after we arrived at the Church, two other sister missionaries showed up. They were going to say good-bye to the one leaving. They will now be serving in two wards – the one in Wales and another in Racine. So one week they will live in one area and the next week they will go to the other area! They took us through this beautiful Wales Chapel that looks like it could be a Stake Center. It is really big, and on a beautiful lot. The funny thing was that when we entered the chapel area, we couldn’t help the drops in our jaws. The Chapel seating had about 10 rows, if that. It looked like someone had come in and chopped half the room off. From the outside, we just expected a hugh chapel. The gym was not full size either. There was only one basketball goal. We couldn’t help but wonder what they were thinking when they built this building.

Back of the Wales Church Building - one of prettiest we have seen here.

Front side view

Front of building

As it turned out, the sister we were waiting on was almost 25 minutes late. I was getting nervous because I remember the last time we didn’t get the missionaries back to the Mission Home when expected, they got chewed out and although nothing was actually said to us, we could feel the chill. We don’t want to go there ever again. When she finally showed up with her companion, we were able to get off and get back at a pretty good time, but still late. We took her suitcases in, saw who was leaving (Sister Clawson from Missouri was going home – she served with us for a long time teaching the Armstrongs).

That Thursday, we took Victor to the cemetery to find his mother’s and grandmother’s graves. We had originally planned to go to the zoo.  However, on the way, we were passing the cemetery where they were buried, and he mentioned that on Sunday, he was hoping to come visit beause Mother’s Day was on Sunday.  We quickly took a u-turn and went back. It took a while to find his mother’s grave, but he had an idea, and we just kept at it. We found a raccoon lying on the ground on the opposite side of the road we had used to get to that part of the cemetery. It was breathing its last. We found out later that there had  been several who had died on the grounds, probably from old age. 

It had been a long time since Victor had been to the cemetery, so it took a while to find his mother's grave, but he did it.

 Anyway, we then went looking for his grandmother’s grave which was in the same area. One of the grounds-keepers came along and I asked if he could help. He said another guy was coming, and he bet that man would know where she was buried. Sure enough, when the second man showed up, it didn’t take him long to show us where she was buried. We got pictures of the graves, and some extra ones of his in-laws.  We left him alone to pay his respects to his ancestors.  Victor has a deep love for them, and we felt really good about giving him this chance to see where they were buried.

That night we had Pathway, this group is beginning to crank it up.  They had to write a love letter to something. One wrote to her shoes, another to her bed, one to ketchup, etc. We were laughing like crazy as we read them. There is some real talent among these brothers and sisters

After Pathway, we went into the Genealogy Library, and listened to some young men as they found their family names that they will be taking to Nauvoo this summer. They were so excited when they found Relative Finder. It was fun to listen to them, and of course, Craig knew how to ask just the right questions to keep them interested.

When the young men left, Jane and I spent time working on the storyboard that will be used to help make the video for Family Search that we will be using at the Polish Festival. We just had to come up with the descriptions for each part that will be introduced. That’s one thing we got out of the way.

Friday morning, we were going to Costco later in the day after Craig had a meeting with President Cutler. They talked about a great many things, especially how we can more fully get our message out to the area.

We had planned on going to a rummage sale the ward was having, but by that afternoon, it was cool and rainy.

On Saturday, we did something we had never done before. We went target shooting with our friends from Kenosha. She is in our Pathway class, and they are so fun. They took us to a shooting range that they like which was north of us. It took about 45 minutes to get there, and we passed the Christmas shop we went to in November.  We were drilled on the safety rules, and we couldn’t pick up the weapon until she had covered everything (she had a complete list of things to cover). I was scared the first time I shot. They had explained that there was a little kick, but not much so don’t be scared. There was a kick, and I was scared because I could see myself lifting the gun with the kick and accidently turning it down and shooting my leg. I got over that after the first two shots. I shot a 22, and it was substantial in weight and kick. I will be getting one (as well as Craig) when we get back home. We’ll have to hide the ammo in a place that we can’t find it when the burglars come in, but we can pretend it is loaded and hope we can scare off the meanies.

Our target - not all of those are ours, of course.

I don't think my shaking knees are showing.

Getting Ready to shoot for first time with Jolene and Tim.

That night we went to City Branch (how we had missed it) for a Talent Show. The Elders had organized it, and they had most of the acts. It was fun. This is the Spanish Branch. They were dancing and singing. Great people. One of the sisters told me about another sister that makes the Spanish dresses. I’m going to see if I can get her to make me one.

Elders serenading the audience.

Linda and Angelina Ruiz

Very talented Spanish Member.

Elder Evans

The juggling Elder

Sister who loved to dance.

Young Spanish member who was dancing so hard, that gym floor may never recover!

Mother’s Day was a delight. We went to our own Ward, and we received beautiful roses. I chose a light green one because it was so odd. I got to talk with all of my children which is always a delight. We had some great text conversations a couple of days before and it has become a fun way to communicate. 

We had a meeting with the Smiths and Jane Orne on Monday to check on our progress with the festival. Brother Smith, I guess, had forgotten that we were working on the storyboard, and he had already put it together. All we need is someone to do the voice. They are looking for someone to do that.

That night we went to the Armstrongs for FHE. Brother Armstrong wanted to talk about the Sermon on the Mount. We got to the “Blessed are those that mourn” part, and the rest of the talk was about that. He said that he mourned for his wife and his children for they are not members yet. She says that everything we do is so different from the Catholics. She will never give a talk or pray in front of anyone. We tried to let her know that it is no problem. She just tells them she won’t, and no one will asked again. Her parents were Catholic, and the sister missionaries had told her that if she didn’t join while alive, it would be so much harder because her parents would be there telling her she shouldn’t do it. WOW, how do you counter that?  Anyway, it was a good discussion, and we decided that the next Monday we would pick up where we left off.

On Tuesday, we had our Zone meeting. At 9:55, Craig looks at his watch and says, “we have 5 minutes to We must do better. We were in the meeting all day, and it was marvelous. Some of the things we learned or were reminded of include messages on the Sabbath:

Converting one individual can lead to whole families joining the Church and receiving the blessings of the Gospel

The Sabbath Day is a sign to us to stay strong. In Exodus 31:13, it is a sign to increase our faith.

Isaiah taught that fasting was given to us from the beginning of time. Repentance is a form of fasting.

We can be the repairers of the breach, the restorers of paths that connect the generations of our family.

Choose a way to make the Sabbath special in our homes.

Elder Anderson stated that we are not renewing our covenants on the Sabbath – we are making new covenants or promises each week. The Sacrament is a saving ordinance not for others, but for ourselves to keep us on the path to our eternal home.

And so we were spiritually fed throughout another week of our Mission. We continue to love it here.

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