• “Very simply, the Spirit of Elijah is the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of Elijah will influence anyone who is involved in this work. That, for a young person in the wickedness in the world in which we live today, is one of the greatest safeguards against the temptations of the adversary. The Spirit of Elijah will not only bless you, it will protect you.”

  —David A. Bednar

"This is not a Gospel of Angelhood."

I am embarrassed to admit that there are times that I feel frustrated on this mission for the Lord. Members and non-members alike are waist-deep in Babylon's quicksand, half-asleep, chasing the things of this world and putting the Kingdom of God last in their lives (if at all). They act terrified of using their faith in Jesus Christ because that would require effort of a different sort.

So, what is it we do as Missionaries? We invite others to come unto Christ.

Inviting others to come unto the Lord isn't a very complicated concept. These young Elders and Sisters are stunningly effective in their teaching! So it's quite possible to do…easily. So it seems.

Yes, all of us need to accept the Atonement and obey the  commandments in order to live eternally in the presence of the Father. With our families, and NOT as separate and single angels. As I heard The Apostle Bruce R. McConkie say in a Stake Conference years ago, "This is not a Gospel of Angelhood."

Sure, the need to come unto Christ to be forgiven of our sins is understandable. 

To enter the Highest degree of Glory in the Celestial Kingdom is certainly the stated goal of all converted Latter-day Saints. To be with our families, our wives or our husbands, and have the association of our children with their families, and our fathers and mothers…Eternally.

Easily stated. Then, on page 410 in APPROACHING ZION, that rascal, Dr. Hugh Nibley, says this:

Mormon doctrine presents the Latter-day Saints with a challenge: What will they be doing in eternity? Many find themselves stuck in a strange predicament. They imagine the eternal family as the typical young household with a number of little children that can never grow up. Yet many a patriarch had sons and grandsons whose ages surpassed his own; are they always to remain daddy's little men? So what will we do forever? The movie studio imagines something like an eternal family reunion held in the city park with everybody sitting or standing around in old-fashioned nightgowns in an exchange of insipid smiles and small talk. After twenty minutes of that, anyone would settle for inferno.

If the question of what we will be doing in eternity stumps us, it should. That's the whole point: if we knew the answer we'd have little enough to look forward to. The only way to know what fun lies ahead on the other side is to experience it, because, as Paul tells us, as long as we are here we can't even begin to imagine what any of it is like: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of men" (1 Corinthians 2:9). No use trying to figure it out; you will just have to wait and see. And the gospel invites us to move toward the unknown.

Oh yes, I believe Nibley is messing with us here. To make us think about what we really want. And in the context of Missionary work,  to know why we would want others to come unto Christ.

While I cannot really imagine what it will be like to be Exalted, I know I don't want anything less. 

I do not want to be a separate and single…Ministering Angel. Or less.

May I invite you to come unto Christ?

Tuesday to Tuesday (Oct. 1-7, 2014)

I hate it when I get started on a document, get part way into it and lose it because I didn’t have it saved. This will save you the task of reading the nonsense I must have written before and let us just cut to the chase.

Do you realize there are only three months left to 2014. I am amazed at how fast time moves when you get older. Maybe it’s because our lives are so full that it just seems to go faster, but I remember in April thinking about how it would be in October on our Mission. I guess it’s our perspective. If we are looking forward, it seems to be a long time, in hindsight, it is so short. Our 44^th wedding anniversary is coming this month. How in the world do people stay together for that length of time; yet, it seems but a moment.

The next three months are at once my favorite time of the year and my most depressing. I love the colors of the fall. The blue of the sky here is brighter than any I can remember, and the fall colors are unbelievable bright and cheery looking. The warmth of summer (although I can’t really say it got that warm here) cools down, and it is pleasant to be outside.  Here flowers are still in bloom, and everyone seems to be making the last clean up touches to their lawns. I do so love Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. These are my favorite holidays because of the decorations and family centeredness (is that a word?). You put one up, take it down, put up the next one and so forth until finally you realize you have to take all the Christmas ones down and no big holidays until next fall/winter. Once all the kids were gone from the house, it was hard because no one was there to put up and take down with us. Oh, well, now they are carrying on the traditions with their kids. Another note, I have always especially liked Christmas because of its hope in the Christ child. I love to collect manger scenes because they present the birth as a reminder that He brought truth, light and hope to the world to save us from our sins.

This time of the year can be depressing because the days are getting shorter which I don’t seem to feel as much as I have in the past. It has been like the dark is coming on so much faster each day that I would just miss the sunshine and evening brought the day to a close. Right after the winter solstice psychologically I start to feel better knowing (maybe a reason for my love of Christmas) that each day’s light was a few seconds to minutes longer. Then spring would come with its gorgeousness, and life was good again.

I guess I’m just saying that this time of year is a bunch of contradictions. While life can be depressing, there are many things that can lift us up if we but look for them.

Let’s get started. On Wednesday (1^st), we took Denise and her son, Timmy, to the zoo. He is at that stage of needing a stroller and wanting to walk. Naturally, once he got out and we wanted to move on, no way could we get him back into the stroller. His little legs just can’t carry him fast enough to keep up with even our slow, long strides. We had such a good time though. Some of you remarked that you saw the pictures on Facebook. One of them showed me with Timmy sitting on a bench before the lake behind us. It looks like I have snow white hair. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to look like I have any hair, but my self-concept changed – not negatively, just differently.  We had to get them back home by 1-2:00 so she could go to another appointment, so we were pushing Timmy to move fast.

So regal!

Oblivious of gorilla.

That evening Elder Lenhard had to go help the missionaries give a sister a blessing and then take a couple of them to another area where they were changing companions for the night. He didn’t get in until later, and I was worried, but he made it alright without me.

Thursday, we got up and went to the gym. We don’t get to go as much as I wish, but we enjoy it when we get there. That night we had Pathway and spent the day checking grades for the students, trying to contact the one that has not come to class or done any work to see what is happening, preparing the lesson in case the lead student doesn’t show up, and making sure we had all the handouts for next week. I emailed the lead student for that night and got a reply that she was having trouble and would get back to me when possible. I never heard from her and when we got there that evening, she wasn’t sure about the concepts she was teaching. She got through the lesson, but she was struggling some. This is so good for the students. I’ve always said that I learned more as the teacher than my students probably did.  Next week, our teacher is a different type – loves to comment on things completely off the subject and tends to ramble when he goes there. We shall see what happens when it is his turn.

                                                            

On Friday, we took a member shopping for food again. Later we taught Denise her fourth new member lesson, and that evening we fellowshipped with the missionaries and a part-member family by going out to eat at the member’s favorite steak house, Boulder Junction. We could tell why it was his favorite – don’t think we have had that good a steak in a long time; in fact come to think on it, I don’t believe that we have had steaks since we came out on our mission. We’ve eaten a lot of fish but no steaks – which I’m ok with because steak is not at the top of my list for favorite meals.

On Conference Saturday, we were at the Scandia Festival. It was by far the most disappointing in terms of the number of people who came by, but we enjoyed the few who did. The genealogy group was set apart from the rest of the festivities and I don’t believe most people knew we were there. The woman who headed it was disappointed and asked what they could do better. I mentioned to her that Elder Lenhard and I wondered why there was no one at the head of the hallway to encouraged people to come down and look for their histories. She liked that idea and said it was her understanding that it was supposed to have happened, but it didn’t. Next year, we will volunteer to be the ones to fire the people up.

However, I loved the little shops for stuff. There were lots of nice things there, and I could have gone crazy, but I didn’t. I bought a little handpainted egg and a handpainted Christmas ornament. Oh, I also got a thimble.

All hand painted

Other than that, I kept thinking about how we were going to get all this stuff home to Utah. We will have to buy a truck at this rate.  We aren’t actually buying a lot, and I’m going to send boxes home when it gets close to the time.  The Kringle (pastry) was first brought here by the Swedish group and might I say they are delicious. There are several different kinds, and we sampled two which we loved. There is a place in Racine that makes them so we will be giving them a visit in the future. I had the Swedish pancakes which I didn’t think was much to make over. Elder Lenhard got some kind of veal sausage that you eat off of a stick. It was a glorified hotdog to me, but we will obviously get some more. They got them from Usingers here in town.

Food area (held in a local school)

Music was wonderful.

Craft area

We had taped the Conference to watch when we got home.  The recorder went crazy and we had 6 tapings for 2 shows. In the middle of a session, it would stop and the next recording would pick up from the first. We obviously missed parts, but we are glad they will be in the November Ensign issue.  If you are reading this, tell us your favorite talks. I loved Elder Bednar’s, President Uchdorf’s, Elder Holland’s, and Elder Nelson’s. We missed President Eyrings.  President Monson didn’t speak as long as we hoped, and when we tuned in it appeared as if all the talks were about him. I wondered if something had been announced about his health or something because the tone of the talks to me was that he was having trouble and needed our prayers. Evidently, that wasn’t the problem.

Elder Lenhard listened to the Priesthood session on the computer that evening and loved a talk about the dandelions. He was quite buoyed up when it was over.

On Sunday, we picked up Denise and took her and Victor (another recent convert) to the Stake Center to hear the morning session. We wanted them to see another building beside the City Branch. Actually, Victor had been to the LDS Church before and was pretty familiar with us before he joined last month. Denise had never been to any building but City Branch so this gave her another perspective. They came back to our apartment for lunch, Elder Lenhard had to take Victor home, and Denise stayed here and watched the afternoon session with us. She asks good questions. She fell in love with Elder Bednar.

On Monday, we went to Pat’s to help her again with her genealogy. I had another 700 items that I had scanned to transfer to her computer.  Also, she had scanned lots of items, but could not get any to upload to FS because they were tifs. Also, her printer would link up to 16 items to each other – one right after the other – and then she didn’t know how to separate them. We spent 5 hours there trying to get stuff done. Finally, I couldn’t do anymore, and told her there wasn’t anyway we could finish by Thursday when they were going to leave for Florida. She said that she would be back next April, and I will send her things as I get them. I’ll also put up things that I’m scanning for her. I still have about 600-800 documents, pictures, etc. to scan so I’m glad I have plenty of time to do them later. My success of the week was that as we were leaving we gave them a Book of Mormon. They gave us a gift card for helping with the family history, and we told them the book was the most important thing we had that we could give them. We encouraged them to read it as a second witness of Jesus Christ. We would love to hear about their experiences with it. She said she liked to read books so we will see.

We had enough time to go to Costco and buy a few groceries, get home in time to pick up the Sister Missionaries from Wal-Mart where they were getting their groceries , unpack and relax for a little while and then we went to Denise’s apt. where she was having a going-away party for her missionary who helped get her baptized. It was very nice, and we stayed for an hour and got home around 9. It had been a full day.

Tuesday, we went to gym and enjoyed a few minutes there. We had contemplated spending the day as a P-day so we washed some clothes which was greatly needed, Elder Lenhard put the sweeper back together which I had disassembled to clean the filters, got some family history of our own done, and prepared for Pathway. I have to say my husband spent some time trying to figure out what was the matter with our heat (since it wasn’t coming on), and going to the office to ask if anyone had turned in his keys that he lost six weeks ago. Someone had, and he was able to get them back. We found the factory where they make Sprechers drinks – absolutely the best root beer, cream soda, orange cream, ginger ale, and cranberry drinks. They use honey and natural ingredients from here in Wisconsin. If we buy the drinks from there, we can save almost 50 cents each. They are expensive to buy in the store, so we got several cases to put away for those times when a root beer is the only thing that works.  So good! They told us there are some places in Utah and Texas where you can buy the drinks. 

It has been a great week. We have much to do this upcoming week (Wednesday and Thursday) before we leave Friday for the weekend in Texas for Riley’s and McKay’s baptisms. Now, if we want to leave the mission we have to have special permission from the General Authority over this area. He is Elder Martino. He told President Cutler to let us go. When we leave the mission, we are place on inactive status and when we get back we are active again. We think it has something to do with insurance. If we are covered by Church insurance (which we aren’t), they don’t want us in areas they know nothing about or what we are doing. The Church shouldn’t be accountable for anything that happens when the missionaries are off on personal activities. We are blessed to be able to go.

Our scripture for October is from Doctrine & Covenants 20:37:

And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.

Love you all.

Elder and Sister Lenhard

Tuesday to Tuesday (Sept. 24-30, 2014)

Our meetings with Denise continued on Wednesday (24^th) as we strive to complete the New Member Lessons. It is interesting to watch her as we repeat the same lessons she received when she was investigating the Church.  Now, with a couple of months under her belt, she is beginning to ask questions about the Gospel.  We can see why the new members are given these lessons again. Once they have some Church experience, they know some of the questions to ask. We have enjoyed teaching her but it is distracting though when she pulls out her phone right in the middle of a discussion and begins to text or play with it. She has ADHD and is on medicine, but she gets distracted easily and often she blurts out a question that has nothing whatsoever to do with what we are discussing. She is progressing though, and she admits that her attention is quickly off into the neverlands. She will tell you that she is still paying attention to you so keep going.  Funny!

We had a busy Thursday.  We were supposed to meet up with some missionaries to help a nonmember get started on his Family History, but they didn’t call. We went to Pat’s house so I could help her figure out how to change some things she’s doing so she gets her material scanned in properly. It’s a printer issue so I brought several things home to correct them using my scanner.  They will be leaving on the 9^th for Florida. It looks like they will not be selling their condo at this time; their realtor was not helping so they fired him/her and took down the for-sale sign. They will go on to Florida as planned though for the winter months.

As we were leaving Pat’s, we got a phone call from the missionaries and so off we went to pick them up and meet a gentleman at the Church History Center to help him. When we got there, I went in and Elder Lenhard and the missionaries sat in the hallway. The Center is really small, only four computers, and there is very little room to move around. The man had a Family Search (FS) site but hadn’t used it in a long time and had no clue what to do with it when we brought it up (getting his username and password was a real treat). Two hours later, and the missionaries were ready to leave. The man had to leave and get home to his wife. It was their 43rd anniversary that day. I asked why in the world he wasn’t home with her anyway, and he said she was sleeping so he left her to it. He had once dated a Bishop’s daughter, and he and his brother both were investigating the Church. His wife is adamantly opposed to him doing so and so one day he snuck off to have the missionaries teach him at a McDonalds or someplace like that. She must have known what was happening because she came looking for him and told the missionaries to leave them alone. Fun times were had by all.

That night we had our Pathway meeting. Our first lead student was absolutely fantastic. He had brought some fruit to eat, and he lead that class from beginning to end. It was obvious that the students were understanding what he was teaching, and they were eating it up. WOW! He has taught Elder’s Quorum for years. I thought that if more brethren were taught by this caliber of man, they would be more anxious to attend their Priesthood classes and learn. Next week’s lesson will be taught by a Sister who is not quite as self-assured, but she has a sweet attitude that says, “I can do this.”

We went into the Family History Center for a moment before we left. We were picking up some materials to take down to Burlington, WI, for a Family History Workshop where we would tell people about FS as we gave them the materials. What a surprise when we were told “Oh, by the way, Elder Lenhard is on the program to give two 45 minute presentations on FS while we were there.” This was completely new to us and, supposedly, to the Family History Center Director who had asked us to go down in her place. She had gotten an email that morning telling her about what was expected. We had nothing prepared, and we figured tomorrow would be a busy day.

Friday, we went to the Milwaukee Genealogical Society Meeting. It usually lasts an hour. The woman who was in charge of Mexican Fiesta (Margaret Skremm) gave a summary of the festival and thanked Elder Lenhard and myself and the young high school boys (missionaries) for coming to help. She was so impressed by the high school boys who were bilingual. They were wonderful. Elder Lenhard and I just sat and listened. Margaret is a wonderful woman and works so hard to help all who ask. After all the business, a librarian then gave an hour and 45 minute presentation on all of the genealogical holdings in the library. We learned a lot, but it was definitely information overload. It would have been wonderful to have had a handout that summarized what she was saying, but I guess she figured we were adult enough to look it up if we were interested.  Hahahaha

We went home, and I began working on a presentation. We had decided that I would give the presentation and that the only thing we could do was use a projector (provided by the library) and guide them through FS.  What else was possible at this late date? I did try to put together a slide presentation, but I quickly realized it would take all night. Do you have a tool called snippet on your computer? It is a wonderful little tool that allows you to cut out just the right amount of something you want from a source and place it where it should go. Actually, at the time, I didn’t have it installed and couldn’t find it like I’d been told to do, so I tried the screen capture, etc., but it took forever. I finally gave up. No powerpoint for me. That will come with lots of time to do it.

Saturday, we got up early to get there by 8:30 so that we could pick out a projector screen and set up our computer. We thought we were being smart, but every other presenter did the same. We got the only screen that was left, and it was small. Oh, well, as it was, we didn’t expect to get to use it at all. Four computers later and the use of one phone and we couldn’t get Family Search to come up. We were ready to quit and just cancel our part of the program when a gentleman who worked with the school where we were meeting realized that there was a filter on that prevented our being able to link up. Once he took care of that, we were good. I’m telling you, there is nothing like having a stressful start to a presentation to make you appreciate the fact that it helps to be prepared. Once we got up and running, I did the presentation, and Elder Lenhard worked the computer.  It was OK, and I think we helped several people. As it turned out, there weren’t that many people who came, and we felt bad for the person who had organized it. You could tell she was embarrassed and kept making excuses. Evidently, in one of the cities that usually participates, they were having a party-on-the-sidewalk for the end of summer. One of the Sisters from the Racine Ward there said no one was coming to the Family History Workshop with the party going on.  At the end, there were lots of door prizes that weren’t given out (everyone there had gotten one already), and then it was a free-for-all for anything left. All I wanted were glue dots and a Halloween decoration (NOW, I can bring out my day-of-the-dead dolls and have a decoration or two in the apartment. I ended up with two decorations, and I was very happy!  Hahahaha

Waiting for Presentation Time

Lead Presentation

I Really Like the Ingenuity of People Making Money in Family History Work

On Sunday, we went to City Branch and attended our Sacrament and RS/Priesthood meetings – still no Sunday School. We had some great meetings though, and we were especially grateful to get to partake of the Sacrament and renew out covenants with the Lord. That afternoon we spent time on our own genealogy, and I scanned about 100 pictures/articles for Pat.

On Monday, we were still trying to get some work done for Pat.  We did go down to Lake Michigan and walk along the lake for a while. It was so beautiful, nice and warm, and just a little wind. We were next to the harbor where the boats are moored, so we watched several set out for the water, both sail boats and motor boats.  There were lots and lots of Canadian Geese on the lake – you’d think they would be flying south by now. Don’t they remember last winter and how quickly it came? We have heard that this winter is to be even worse all along the northern U.S.  On the way back, a woman passed us. She asked if the flies were bothering us. We stopped to look at her, and she was covered with black flies. She kept trying to brush them off, and they would swarm and land on her again. It reminded me of Pigpen (is that correct) in the Charlie Brown comics. I just kinda wanted her to move on with her flies and not to linger around. She said she had no perfume, lotion, or anything on that you would think would attract them. We even asked about clothes detergent. She was hurrying home because they were biting (stinging) her through her clothes, and she had a long walk ahead of her. She often walks down by the lake and had never had anything like this happen to her before. That night we heard that there is an epidemic of these flies, and they are attracted to black and white colors (which she was wearing). 

Looks like fun!

Such a beautiful day

Tuesday brought with it our District meeting and interviews with President Cutler. He encouraged us to keep moving ahead and to focus on getting the work done. There are lots of areas that he likes to discuss with the Senior Couples, and he and Elder Lenhard could go on forever. Finally, we were finished, and the other missionaries who hadn’t been interviewed yet needed to get finished quickly to make appointments. I felt bad for taking so much time. It really wasn’t our fault, President just kept asking questions and clarifying some things he was feeling about the area. He is such a good Priesthood Leader, and we so enjoy working with him. We are looking forward to Conference.

The week flew by, and it is with some disbelief that we realize that five months have passed. Good grief, fall is here in all its glory, and we are loving the colors. These trees are unbelievable. The maples change colors in so many different varieties. On one side of a big tree, it will be bright red and on the other side of the same tree it will still be dark green. The yellows are so bright, it is unbelievable. We love it.

Our scripture for October is from Doctrine & Covenants 20:37:

And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.

I love this scripture. We must have a DETERMINATION – a great desire to serve Him and a willingness to keep on even when we don’t feel like it. Got a lot to do and so little time to do it.

Love you all.

Elder and Sister Lenhard

 In the last session of the genealogy workshop at West Bend, I had an usual experience. In fact, I only recall having one similar experience and that was in 1972 when I received my patriarchal blessing. I will be brief:

 The presentation was on the topic of how to involve your children and family members in family history and genealogy.  It was well-organized and fun. Two young ladies who were sitting directly in front of me, 8-10 were happily taking notes. (Imagine that!)

I sat toward the back; there were some rows behind me but they were empty. At first.  Several minutes into the presentation I realized that others had come in and were sitting behind me, but I hadn’t seen or heard them enter.  They were there and they were quiet. In fact, so quiet that when I finally turned around to see who they were, the seats were empty! Several minutes passed and they were behind me again. They were there until the close of the presentation.

While there is more to the story, I will conclude with this: When we are involved in family history, even something as simple as learning how to be more effective in the work, the veil is sometimes very thin. I know we can sense our fathers and mothers attending if we are faithful!

LIFE AND A RESTING PLACE IN MILWAUKEE FALL 2014

022 Tuesday to Tuesday (Sept. 17-23)

I cannot believe I am having to start this AGAIN.  I had most of it done but had not saved (Ugh!) and lost it. I really hate it when I do stupid stuff like that.

On Wednesday, we went to Pat’s (a nonmember whom I’m helping upload her family history) and worked for three hours. I was tired, and Elder Lenhard had spent the time talking with her husband about stocks and how to make money. We left and stopped at our famous burger place before going home. Once there we had just enough time to rest before we headed out to Denise’s for a lesson on the Restoration. It is the first of her post-baptism lessons. I got to give that one, and Elder Lenhard will be on call for the next. That afternoon, we spent time on individual projects and mine included scanning more of Pat’s materials.

Thursday was really busy. We were trying to gather some Spanish forms for Family History to take with us Sunday to the Spanish Branch where we would be helping with a Family History class. There is another senior couple here and both speak Spanish so they will be giving the lesson. We just wanted to have some of the materials so that the new members (which we have been asked to work with) would know what to do. We had called the Spanish woman who enlisted our help with the Mexican Fiesta and asked her if she had some papers we could use so we waited that morning for her to bring them to us. She is such a unique and exciting person. If you needed anything done and she could do it, I don’t think she would hesitate to help. She dresses like a girly girl in beautiful bright colors, yet she is at home on the back of a motorcycle and loves to do things you wouldn’t expect.

Our first class meeting.

Afterwards, we spent the afternoon preparing for the first Pathway class that night. Elder Lenhard was kicking it off and I would teach. After that night, the students themselves will teach the rest of them. Each class we have a new lead student and an observing student. The observing student will be the teacher for the next week. We have to make sure the students have done the work they need to do on Wednesday before class and then the work they need to complete by Saturday following the class. We have nothing to do with grades, but we just keep up with what they are doing in case we see them falling behind and can encourage them to do what they need to do to pull themselves up. As it turned out, the class was wonderful. We have 13 students age 31+. They have strong testimonies although it is obvious that some of them do not have as good a self-concept as others so they are shy at believing in themselves. However, they have a strong desire to do their best, and we are excited about working with them. Three of the students are Spanish speakers – they speak English, but it is not their native tongue. They stayed very close to one another, and we teased them about having to break apart when we do group time. One is the RS President of the Spanish Branch and another is her counselor. We have actually been with the Missionaries and gone to eat with the counselor. She is a marvelous Sister in the Gospel. The third sister had been really hard to get hold of before, and she appeared to be the most reluctant. I hope she enjoyed it and will stick to it, but I don’t feel very confident about it at this point.

 The next day, Friday, we had to go to Pat’s again, and while I felt pretty good and had my cough under control when we got there, after two hours I had to call it quits. I was beginning to lose it and needed to leave and stop talking. It was too early to stop at our burger place, so straight home we went. That afternoon it was off to Denise’s for her second lesson, which Craig taught and he used some videos from the new lessons for the Plan of Salvation. It was really good. Afterwards, we went to help someone buy food for the next two weeks.

We got home and tried to get to bed early because on Saturday we had to go to West Bend for a Family History Workshop. We wanted to see a workshop being conducted because on the 27^th we will be attending one that we have something to do with, we aren’t sure what yet. Anyway, we set the alarm at 6:15 so we could leave the house around 7:00 because we had been told it would take two hours to get there. In the morning, after dragging around like two old people who had not gotten enough sleep (I must be getting out of the habit of waking at 5:00 every morning), we got out of the apartment around 7:15. By the time I got the GPS going with the address, I told Elder Lenhard it was only going to take 30 minutes to get there. He looked up the directions and found out that we were going to be really early, and for a moment, we contemplated returning to the apartment and sleeping another 40 minutes. However, our better brains decided that we would play the tourist and see what we could see on the way. We knew we weren’t too far from the town when we took a detour and off into the country we went. We love driving through the country here. The further north we went, the more the trees had changed, and we were delighted to see that the reds, yellows, and oranges were out in all their glory. The red maples have turned a dark, dark, maroon-like color, and the silver maples are just that, silver, silver. We accidently ended up on the road we were looking for and drove right by the Church when we saw no one was there yet. We went into town to discover that West Bend has the second largest farmer’s market in the state

This was at the beginning, and it goes on for several blocks.

(behind Madison). Wow, we saw plants I’ve never seen before. Have you ever seen a Brussel sprout plant? It has a middle stalk that is quite thick, and then there are these branches coming off the stalk, but the branches had been cut short so they were about 3-6 inches long (it looked like a spike with sharp points sticking out all over it). I was told that the branches were long when growing and had big leaves on the end so the plant looks like a bush. The sprouts themselves are stuck on the stalk up next to where the branches grow. I had to look at it several times before I even knew what it was. How could I be so old and not know how these grew? I was relieved when my sweetie didn’t know either.  Thought I had gotten a picture, but evidently I didn’t (actually, I think Elder Lenhard took the picture and now can’t find it). 

Window Front Seeking Helpers for Troubled Youth

City Hall

Art gallery

Wide streets and you can see the damage of the hard winters.

 West Bend is another beautiful town, well kept, and clean; they have done a good job preserving the old buildings and maintaining their usefulness. We were so impressed. We had to leave to finally get to the workshop, but we vowed to go again. The workshop was great, and Elder Lenhard can tell you      about a special experience he had there. 

 In the last session of the genealogy workshop at West Bend, I had an usual experience. In fact, I only recall having one similar experience and that was in 1972 when I received my patriarchal blessing. I will be brief:

 The presentation was on the topic of how to involve your children and family members in family history and genealogy.  It was well-organized and fun. Two young ladies who were sitting directly in front of me, 8-10 were happily taking notes. (Imagine that!)

I sat toward the back; there were some rows behind me but they were empty. At first.  Several minutes into the presentation I realized that others had come in and were sitting behind me, but I hadn’t seen or heard them enter.  They were there and they were quiet. In fact, so quiet that when I finally turned around to see who they were, the seats were empty! Several minutes passed and they were behind me again. They were there until the close of the presentation.

While there is more to the story, I will conclude with this: When we are involved in family history, even something as simple as learning how to be more effective in the work, the veil is sometimes very thin. I know we can sense our fathers and mothers attending if we are faithful!

  I learned a couple of new things I needed to know; but I spent my time actually working on my history once I got an idea I could try out. It was time well spent, and we met some great people. One of the missionaries there was named Elder Pew. Elder Lenhard asked if he had relatives in Houston, and he said his aunt and uncle live there. His aunt and uncle were in our ward in Columbus for several years. She was our RS President for a good while, and she was great. It surely is a small world.

Meeting Elder Pew

Sunday, off we traipsed (I love using fun words – I hope I’m using the right ones – hahaha) to the Spanish Branch. We had asked the Spanish Missionaries to call all the new members and give them a special invite to be there because we are trying to get them to do their work. None of them came, and that was a little disheartening. But, the lesson was well done (not that we could understand a word), but everyone appeared to be uplifted and enjoyed it. They have a Temple trip planned for the next Saturday. When we asked for a show of hands on those who had done Family Search, the majority raised their hands. Most indicated they had taken their family names to the Temple. These people are good people and are working for their families.  Again, we felt the Spirit so strongly during their meeting, and it didn’t matter that we couldn’t understand their words. We could understand the Spirit.

Now, Monday was P-day. We love P-day because we get to explore just because. So, we picked Port Washington as our destination point. That morning we went to the gym first. Then we made some phone calls to check up on things for the week. It was early afternoon by the time we got started, and we had to be back by 6:30 to meet with the Armstrongs and the Missionaries. The drive was in country we hadn’t seen before, although we did pass by the exit to Cedarburg that we had visited before. We just hadn’t taken this route before. When we got to the city, we were so impressed. Downtown, there are no parking meters because they want to preserve the feel of the old city. While everything was so clean, neat, and just inviting to the visitor, it was obvious that there is a lot of pride in these historic places. We pulled up to a parking place, and I looked out my window to see a woman walking by me, or so I thought, but then I realized she wanted to talk. She asked if our car was a rental or if we were really from Utah. She knew all about our missionaries and at one point she said they had sent them on to others (we couldn’t tell if that was an insult or not), but she was so friendly. She is an avid genealogist, and she talked a lot about her work and how she loves it. She told us about the town, and she pointed out where we could get a good fish dinner. She welcomed us wholeheartedly, and it was genuine. It made our trip even more enjoyable.

After she left, we started up the street. You can see in the picture that at the head of the street, it curved around to the left, and to the right on a hill was a beautiful Catholic Church. We decided to walk up to 

St. Mary's in the background

St. Mary's Catholic Church

the top of the hill and see the Church up close. St. Mary’s Catholic Church has been placed on the list of historic buildings, but we could find no date on it anywhere. It was beautiful inside and out. On the hill where it sat, you could see out to the Lake and it was really something. We walked around, and there was such a feeling of reverence as we walked from the Church back under the trees that shaded the steps leading to the road. The sky was this amazing blue color, and as we started down, we could see Lake Michigan in the distance. Our hearts were full at the beauty of it all. The song that came to my mind was “Be Still My Soul” and it was such a feeling of lightness and peace. I told Elder Lenhard that when surrounded by so much beauty, I could not imagine being with anyone else, and that was but a taste of what the Celestial Kingdom will be like.

                                                Be still, my soul: The hour is hast’ning on

Looking out to the lake

                                                When we shall be forever with the Lord,

I love this picture, so peaceful.

Truly, the hour is hastening on, and how fast it goes all depends on our perception. The Lord loves us so much, and I truly felt that we had glimpsed a moment of Heaven. Every one of you has at some time seen something so beautiful that it took your breath away. Wow, what a feeling.

Beautiful, different looking building

Looking down the street

                                                               

Port Washington Harbor

Lake Michigan

Fun facts about the lake

Fresh fish is their bragging right

Another unique building

We had a great meeting with the Armstrongs that night, and we were blessed to be there with the Sister missionaries. We love this couple, and we would love to have you pray for them that Sister Armstrong will be able to overcome her fear of being baptized. She goes to Church every Sunday and is more faithful than some members. She needs to be able to recognize the Spirit when He whispers to her.

Tuesday was another great District Meeting. We love these Elders and Sisters. Young though they are, they have much to teach us old people, and it is a joy listening and being taught by them. They are out there every day looking for those who will listen. It is not easy, and often they are disappointed by those who will not keep their commitments. We pray for them every night that they will be successful in finding those who are seeking truth. We have been going with the Elders to visit Victor who has committed to baptism on the 27^th. We won’t get to go to the baptism because we have a presentation on Family History to do in Burlington, and we won’t get back into town in time. There is a baptism of a young Spanish man on the 27^th also. The first time we went to the Spanish Branch, we got to go pick him up for Church. His parents are inactive members, but he wants to join and has a testimony of the truth. That is wonderful news.

Our discussion at the District meeting was on the Christlike attribute of humility – willingness to submit to the Lord, give Him honor for all blessings, thinking of others before yourself, acknowledging need for the Lord’s help. The enemy of humility is pride – manifested in the lack of obedience and a refusal to admit our sins.

May we again say how grateful we are for our mission in Wisconsin. The Lord truly has sent us on an international mission in our own backyard. We love it here and can feel the Lord’s hand in the work. Take care and remember we think of all of you and pray for you each day.

Our scripture for October is from Doctrine & Covenants 20:37:

And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.

Elder and Sister Lenhard