Thursday-Saturday (8^th-10^th) – Another diatribe. Hope you don’t fall asleep reading it.

We have to admit that there is a lot of down time during these last few days. There are things we can find to do, but they are not always what we think we should be doing.  I may have written about going to Sam’s to stock up on kitchen items that we would need to get started.  While checking out (with several others behind us waiting to be checked out), we talked with the girl at the register. She asked what brought us here, and I explained that we were on a mission for our Church. She asked if the Church had sent us here, and I told her yes.  She then looked at me and said that we obviously knew our purpose here, and I agreed. She said that was better than her because she didn’t know her purpose here yet.  Great opening, right? However, when you have other people behind you at a register, you don’t spend the time to explain the Plan of Salvation. We mentioned that we were from the South, and she is from Philadelphia, Mississippi. Craig knows where it is. We talked a little about grits and how much we loved them and only those in the south knew how to make good grits. We got a hotdog from Sam’s for lunch, and as we sat at a table there, we talked about our interaction with her. Craig then found a card that would act as a pass along card and wrote on it. He gave it to her right before we left.  Last night, Friday, we got a call from this young lady. She wanted to bring us breakfast with some real grits. We told her we would come pick it up, and she insisted that she wanted to bring it to us. She showed up at 9:00 this morning with eggs, bacon, sausage patties, another sausage, grits, and biscuits. She had some syrup that she said we could put on the grits if we liked or the biscuits, whatever. She came in for a moment, and Craig gave her a Book of Mormon. She is Baptist, and we encouraged her to read the BOM about Jesus Christ. We told her we would love to get with her again to talk with her about the things she will read. She was amenable, but she was going to talk to her preacher. Craig asked if she had ever worked on her genealogy, and we told her we would help her if she ever got interested in doing so. She was a ray of sunshine. We have her number and will follow up with her. Of course, we have to drop off her dishes next week, so we hope to see her again.

On Thursday, we were involved in a funeral for most of the day. We got there at about 10:15AM. The viewing started at10:00AM, and there were several family members already there. An elderly black sister had died after approximately four years of living with Alzheimer’s. She was dearly loved as we could see with the gym area beginning to fill up with other family and friends.

At around 12:00 noon, the service moved to the Chapel. We were fascinated with what happened. After each talk or song, the audience clapped and approved of what was said. The first speaker was a man in his 20s. He talked about the importance of family, and how it had been too long for the family to get together and how sad that they had to come together for a funeral (I believe I have mentioned this a few times to some children I know). I don’t want to be in my casket when you all get together so we need to plan on something in 2016.

Anyway, back to what happened. This young man had such a nice spirit about him. I hadn’t remembered seeing him at Church last Sunday, but then my memory isn’t as good as it should be. I felt he had to be a member of the Church. I found out later that he was a member, and he had been inactive for over 12 years. He has two young boys he is raising by himself, and he mentioned that he needed to get back to Church for his boys’ sake.  As it turned out, there were several family members there who were members of the Church and who had gone into inactivity. I just thought that if just this one woman’s family returned to the Church, our numbers would double. We have some work to do.

Another young man also stood up and talked about his Granny. She was the glue that held their family together as they grew up. It appeared that she dispensed great love and sometimes showed that love in her discipline with a switch in measured doses. There were a couple of musical numbers which very few knew the words to because they were from our music handbook. At the end, a daughter of the sister read her testimony. Two men behind us spoke out loud enough for me and Craig to hear them say it was a lie, and they got up and walked out. I thought that even if they disagreed, it was rude to treat the family like that.

While we were waiting in the gym area for the funeral service to begin, we got to talk with the funeral director. He was so interesting. He had served in the Air Force, and he had moved with his family to this area several years back. His wife is a resident at an area hospital, and his daughter is at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. He had a lot of history he could have told us about, and he did give us some background on the area. At one time, Wisconsin was the welfare state of the nation. There was a time when all the beer companies resided here, and the people made a good living, but as they moved out, nothing came to replace them. It is hard to recruit workers to come to the state. People began to move onto the welfare rolls, and it was easy to do it. As a result, the poor from Chicago, Detroit, and other major cities headed to Wisconsin. In the 1990s, Wisconsin got a wake-up call that said they could not sustain the welfare handouts they had created for everyone. This man was very coherent in his thinking. He said, “People have money for their wants, but then when they have needs, they want everyone else to provide for them. “ I had not really heard of it in that manner before, but it is so true. He felt like this state had a greatness about it, but it had fallen on hard times and needed to turn itself around to find its greatness again.

When the funeral service was over, they left for the graveyard that evidently was several miles away. They had a 2:00 burial appointment. Who would have ever thought you made an appointment for a burial. There were a about five of us Sisters and a couple of Brethren left to set up the gym to feed the family when they got back from the burial. A Sister Coleman was put in charge, and she kept us moving. Then a daughter-in-law who was actually divorced from the family member came in to help. It was interesting to watch the two Sisters decide how everything was going to be. As more family came in, they kept changing the arrangements until Sister Coleman threw up her hands and gave in. It was all good though, and when the family finally got back around 3:30-4:00pm, we were more than ready to feed them. I’m not sure if Sister Coleman knew the family was providing food or not, but in they came with pans of food. I’ll give you one guess what was the main dish – chicken – cooked so many ways, barbecued, fried, baked – spicy, plain, etc. It was a feast! There were other dishes: a ham, Mexican casseroles, rolls, ham and cabbage, spaghetti, navy beans with rice. It was wonderful. The family was able to eat and eat, and we were able to serve them and help with the children. There was a wonderful spirit, and there was much talk of family and memories. We talked with a young woman who came in a little late to the service. She was quite beautiful. At the end, Craig asked her if she was Mormon. She said no, and he said, “Well, you need to be!” Then she said she was thinking about becoming one. Craig got the Missionaries over to her, and before she left, she had a Book of Mormon!

Thursday night, we went to the North Stake Bldg. for the Pathway program. We got there a few minutes early to talk to the Sister in the Genealogy Library about the Polish Festival where we are supposed to help with a Family Search activity. She got there a little late (just as we were going to the Pathway class) so we had to come back afterwards to talk to her. There is a gentleman in the Library who works there who is not a member. He is an expert on German genealogy since that his background. We are hoping that this time together will help Craig with his work. The people with the Polish Festival have not contacted the Sister since their first contact, so she is supposed to get back and see what is going on. I hope we can participate in this activity. Starting in June, every weekend there is some kind of festival, the Polish, Irish, German, etc., etc. These festivals are something else, and we are excited to be here so that we can participate some.

There is also a genealogy group here that we want to get involved with and work with them. We missed the meeting this week, but next month, we plan to get it on our calendar. We want to make our presence known and be of help to anyone who may need to get started on their family lines. 

On Wednesday, we spent some time filling out cards that would lead people to the Mormon.org site.  We put the URLs on the cards that would take them to our profiles. If you haven’t done this, please do so ASAP. It could be a great FHE activity for parents.

Today, after we got the breakfast from the young lady, we invited the sister missionaries who are also in this apartment complex down to eat. It was too much food for us.

We left and went to another part of town for the Hmong market. Our two Hmong missionaries work the market every week. They are friends of the owners, and they have a good time. What a fascinating market. Do you know how many types of bamboo shoots there are, or how many different types of mushrooms are available? I sure didn’t. We missed the market the first time and went right past it. We arrived at our destination and found it was a car lot. So we reevaluated the address Craig gave me and the one he said he gave me (which I’m pretty sure was correct, but I only heard what I wanted to hear). We turned around and found it. As we got out of the car, another white couple were getting out of their car and coming our way. I saw her point to us, and the thought went through my mind that at least we wouldn’t be the only white people there. As it turned out, the missionaries from our Branch were also there. We had been invited to come down and try out the food. It is known for its spicy flavors.

I wandered down the aisles looking at the food for sale. This was the front market, and there were clothes, dvds and cds (all with beautiful women on the front). There were musicals being sung on several TVs. At this moment I can’t think of what you call them (you know like Michael Jackson did Thriller). As I came around the corner of the last aisle, there was the couple I had seen coming in. I made a comment about something, and we got to talking. It’s funny how older people have so much in common. We have noticed that people here will not give you their last name. If you ask a second time to see if you can get the whole name, they will repeat the first name again. Anyway, we had a great conversation. They were retired, and she had been a travel agent, so they had been all over the world. We invited them to come eat with us, and they did. It was fun. They shared so many of their travels, and they know where all the good restaurants are in this area. They actually live in north Milwaukee, and they have a summer home in Racine. They are going fishing there this next week. We have found that lots of people have those homes and yearly make the trek up north to fish. Some say that the lakes are still too frozen to do any fishing, and they are having to wait. The gist of my story is that we traded phone numbers and promised that we would keep in touch. I was able to give her one of my cards that I had made with my Mormon.org testimony URL. I told her if she wanted to know why I became Mormon, she could read it there. I hope we can keep in touch. They seemed so nice.

By the way, in the Hmong restaurant, I took one look at the cooked goose with its head lying on its back and decided I would stick to egg rolls. After all, it’s pretty hard to put organ meat in an egg roll (hahahaha). Craig got Pho soup (small size by the way and would have filled a medium size serving dish for us). It had a good flavor. Craig wasn’t thrilled by the tripe in it.

And that is our last couple of days. I’m doing laundry right now. Ugh! It’s in the basement, and there are three washers and three dryers. Of course, I have four loads. Almost through though, and it will be done for the week.  It is Belinda’s birthday today. What a sweet girl to wish happy birthday to. Amy had her 17^th anniversary this past week. Wow, what’s up with that? Both daughters are very special to our hearts.

Here are a few pictures that Mom and Dad have taken lately. They are starting to get really busy!

 The agenda for Mom and Dad's first district meeting (5-6-14)

 Elder Hanson and Elder Wheeler

 Hmong Elder Lee and Vang

Renowned Milwaukee City Branch Building, Established 1933 and dedicated by President Grant 

Sister Clawson and Sister Griffin

Monday's adventures...

Got up early today because we have our first District meeting where we meet with the Elders and Sisters in our group or Zone. We meet every Tuesday. Some of this I'm explaining for Ada who may not know what it means. Hope you don't mind Ada while I ramble on.

I decided to make some brownies for after the meeting. I had told them I would bring cookies, but brownies were so much easier. 

We were to meet at 12:30 (30 minutes earlier than the real meeting would start) so that we  could have 30 minutes of study time. We have three sets of Elders, one set of Sisters, and us old people. The young ones are so much fun, and they are on fire. When all had arrived, we began with a song and prayer. We have an 18, almost 19, year old who is the District Leader. His name is Elder Crandall, and he looks so young. His companion is Elder Santos and together they make a good team. We have the Hmong (pronounced mong) Elders who are Elder Lee and Elder Vang. They were explaining today that one is adopted by his birth father's first wife in a refugee camp in Laos when he was 5. The other grew up in Oklahoma where there are several Hmong people. They don't actually have a country that they can say they come from because their people have often been on the run from one ruling group or another. They may have started in Siberia, then to Vietnam, Laos, area where they worked with the Americans against the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. When the Americans left, they were on the run because they were targeted by the enemy. Then there are the really young Elder Wheeler and Elder Hansen (whose family by the way has a business in Clearfield where Adam is the City Manager). What are the odds? The sisters are Sister Clawson and Sister Griffin. Our lesson today was on the importance of Family History and teaching others the importance of family. I can see in these young people the beginnings of a desire to explore their families. 

We are a little scared about the area where the Church is located. There is a security guard that paroles the parking lot on Sunday. We parked right next to the Church today, and in the front so if anyone wanted our car, it would be right out where all could see. I don't really know how that could possibly keep a burglar away, but it was ok.

Our meeting lasted for two hours. It was very uplifting, and we felt the Spirit there with these young missionaries. Each set reported that they had one or two people goaled for baptism by the end of the month. As we heard them report, we were so excited by the work they are doing. There are so many good people here who are hungry for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We love it. 

Our GPS appears to be taking us here, there, and beyond. I don't think we can go and return the same way twice. Today, the Elders told us that I am not to carry a pocketbook, no cash, no credit cards, nothing. Craig should not have a wallet. Our licenses can stay in the car, and after dark, we had better be far away from the area. The police have warned them to get out of there by sundown. We had  been asked by a member to go see his brother who has lost the faith. The member is a policeman, and we talked to him before we went to get some particulars. We did not understand that his brother is a member who has stopped coming to Church, but when we talked with the Elders, they had also had this referral. We went by the house, down the one-way streets into areas with lots of young men prowling around looking for something to do. It was uncomfortable. Of course, I had my big purse, and I considered leaving it in the car, but decided I really need my car whole. I then considered leaving it in the trunk, but then everyone would see I was doing that. I sauntered up to that house with Craig, and we rang the bell and knocked, but to no avail. Guess we will be trying again at other daylight hours.

It was almost 5:00 when we got home, so I actually cooked (ladies, do you hear me?) an enchilada casserole (I already had the meat ready), and it was so good because it tasted like the way real Mexican food should taste. It is good American Mexican, cooked the Linda way.  hahahaha  If Mexico could just get their cooks to make it like mine, I could really enjoy eating their food.  The same with China. If China cooks would just cook more like us, their food would be great!  Oh, well.  Another day for that rant.

I have to get in touch with the person who is working on a genealogy project to be done at a Polish Fair in early June. We are going to have computers set up and show people how to find their families. Did you know that genealogy is the fastest growing hobby in the world. I can tell you why. It is just plain interesting and so enjoyable. There is something so satisfying when you can put names to the families. If you are really lucky, you can also get pictures..

Craig is getting his computer set up tonight. He fixed his desk last night and we got it set up in the bedroom. We have really big closets for both of us, so we put our dressers in there. I still have to get some curtains, but we are beginning to settle in. Yesterday, I did find a woman who trimmed my hair, and I like her. Now, if I can find someone to do my manicure and pedicure, I will be in lala land.

Adam and Belinda skyped us last night. Who will be next?

We love you all.

MOM and DAD

Saturday thru Monday

Saturday we spent the time (and I mean spent the time) getting things done around the apartment. We worked all day on a dresser. I was so ready to scream. I would put it together, look at the drawing and ask Craig what was the matter. He would turn it around a different way and I’d see what was the matter. When it was all finished, of course, the top drawer won’t close. I couldn’t figure out why until I remembered when we were putting it together that one of the bars used to slide the drawer in was bent. I mean that it came that way. I noticed it and hoped it wouldn’t matter, it was such a small bend, hardly noticeable. Guess it mattered.

We went out to the store, and we found a gym that Craig had researched so we joined it. Finally, we are able to get some exercise which we both need. Now I just have to find someone to do hair and nails.

I had to go downstairs to the wash room to do some laundry. Oh, how pampered we are in this world. To think I have to spent $3 just to wash and dry our clothes is ridiculous. The washer hardly gets started when it is finished. The dryer does well though. It is a great blessing for us to have a washer and dryer in our home at Layton.

There are two young sister missionaries in our apartment complex. They came over while I was washing the clothes. Their names are Newton and King, and they are really nice. One of them will be going home at the end of the month. She is ready, but it is obvious that they are working hard.  The other one hasn’t been out very long. They appeared to work together well.

Sunday was so surpisingly wonderful. I say that because I was expecting almost no one to be there from the way the Elders had spoken about it. I’d say we had 35-40 people. It is very multicultural. One sister bore her testimony in Spanish and another translated for her. Two young black boys gave the sweetest, most humble testimonies.  It was a touching meeting. There is a lot of poverty among the people, but you could see there is a lot of love there. Several of the white brothers and sisters are either on assignment there to keep the Branch going or have chosen to attend there to provide support.

The building itself was one of the few that the Church built during the Depression. The earlier Saints here were German, and they built it. It had fireplaces. They are bricked over now, but we can see one was in the RS room and one is in the Branch President’s office.  I guess the building has been reviewed by Church publications at least twice. It is located in a black neighborhood. The Church actually sold the building about 1960s or 70s to a group of Baptists. The membership had dwindled from the original German group. The Church then bought the building back when a lot of the blacks joined from the area. They spent time to remove many of the crosses that had been added by the Baptists. There are steam heaters in every room. I’m not sure if they are actually used anymore, but their presence lends a touch of age to the building.

There are very few children in the Branch.  Those that are there aren’t afraid to make themselves known.  We met with the Branch President who struck us as pessimistic about the possible future success of the Branch growing. He, himself, has been serving in the Branch for 6 years although he doesn’t live within the Branch’s boundaries. He is a nice man.  We didn’t meet his wife.

There are several things happening that we will be involved in this month. I will be donating some items to a group that will be making bags for the homeless.  There is a funeral this Thursday for a member’s mother. I didn’t hear that the mother had been a member. We will go to the viewing on Thursday morning, and we will help set up and serve the food after the family returns from the graveyard.

We have Stake Temple day at the end of the month. Maybe we will have a chance to go to the Chicago Temple, which is our home temple.

Today, Monday, we got our first referral. It is a brother of a member who has expressed interest in learning more.  We went to lunch at the Mission Office and celebrated Cinco de Mayo.

We will be working with the genealogy programs. If any of you have a family search membership, you can apply to get your free Ancestry.com membership. You cannot do it unless you have been sent an email to do so. They are doing it I guess by regions. If you don’t have a Family Search account, you need to get one. Gracious, how do you think you are going to help us get our work done?

Our apartment is small, but we like it. The people are really friendly, and we like that. Our calendar is beginning to look less like a blank sheet (hahaha).  We finally got all the furniture together so we can now spend more time on getting out and meeting people. We are beginning to feel more at ease here and that’s a good thing. I even wash the dishes after every meal. It helps keep me feeling like we are accomplishing something.

Next  Saturday, we are going with the Hmong Missionaries to visit with the Hmong. The Elders will be introducing us to some they teach, and we will be eating there. We have been told that they like their food hot, hot.

Love to all. I am too tired to write more now.

MOM

The rest of the post from earlier in the week....lots going on!

Wednesday  thru Friday (30^th-May 2)

The next morning we went without breakfast to get back on the road. It took until 2:30 to get to Milwaukee, and believe me we only stopped for lunch to eat on the go. We called ahead and asked if we could go to the apartment first to drop off our stuff before going to meet President Cutler and his wife. We were staying at the Mission Home that night (Wednesday), and we needed to change our clothes and repack a suitcase. Besides after unpacking and packing our car so much, it was about to cave in on us in the front seat, and we needed to get out from under it. It had been a long trip. We hurt all over, and felt the need to find a gym quickly.  Several of the roads we got on in Illinois were toll roads. They were charging $3.60 every 30 miles. We spent considerable time looking for the side roads.

We got to the apartment and were pleasantly surprised. It is more low rent housing, but the apartment itself is nice and clean. It has new carpet (I don’t feel a pad under it), and we have a bed which we had to buy linens for as well as several odds and ends to get comfortable within the  apt. There is no dishwasher which was the biggest disappointment, but I can deal with that. I bought rubber gloves to wash the dishes. We did have to laugh though when we saw that we would have to put most of our furniture together. This includes two dressers, two night stands, a desk and chair.

We quickly unpacked and then repacked one small suitcase for the night and went out to find the Mission Home. I will tell you that it may take a while to figure out where we are going in this town. The roads are in pretty bad shape, no matter which way you go.  Thank goodness for GPS. It seems we make a mistake everytime we go somewhere, but it will get easier.

We met President Cutler and his wife. They are very nice people. We got to talk to two sisters who were waiting for us when we got there. They want our help in fellowshipping a brother in their ward. They will get back with us about it.  Then the two missionary couples from the Mission Office came with two Elders. For the most part, the Missionaries in this area ride the bus everywhere. It sounds like a slow way to get back and forths. It sounds like the Sisters have more luck on the buses than the Elders.  They really go out to meet and get peoples’ attention. We were going to eat dinner with them and before the food was fixed, the Elders told us about a brother who was just baptized in our Branch, and maybe we could talk with him about some outreach ideas. They said he is Stake Presidency material.

We all got a moment to talk about our conversion and then had dinner. Very simple and elegant. Sister Cutler is just like that also. They have a 16 year old daughter who came to dinner. It would seem hard for her to leave her home and come out with her parents, but if it is, she hid it well.

After dinner, we had a testimony meeting and felt the spirit.  We began talking about our MTC experience, especially about meeting Brad’s uncle and aunt there. One of the couples asked if we had gone to the meeting the Sunday after we were released from the MTC. We told them we had Easter with our family. She said that one of her friends there had told her that President Uchdorf (Sp?) had come to speak, and he had hugged a blind brother while there. We then told how we had met this Brother and Sister and how they were special to us. Sister Cutler looked at us (no one had said that it was Brother and Sister Gardner) and said she bet it was Ron Gardner. We looked at her in astonishment and asked how she knew him. She had stopped dating Brother Cutler for a while to date Ron because he was such a good dancer. We told her we had heard that he and his dad (Grandpa Gardner) had danced at the wedding. Is it a small world or what?

We went to bed at an early hour for Craig and I. I guess we will have to get used to going to bed early. The mission time is to get up at 6:30. We should study for an hour by ourselves and then an hour together. We don’t have to do it all in the morning. We truly can make our own schedule.

On Thursday, we got to our apartment to begin to make sense of what we needed and how to go about getting it. We have dishes, silverware, two lounge chairs, a bed, trash cans, and small bookcase. When we get the other things together, we will have enough. There is plenty of room in the kitchen cabinets, and although it is small, it is just right for us. We have a parking spot in the underground garage. There is a washroom down stairs at the end of the hall. We also have a little private area in the basement for our suitcases and boxes to be stored. However, it smells like animals have used it as the bathroom, and it stinks to high heaven.  The appliances look like new, and we have a toaster, blender, a new sweeper, and of course, a mop and broom. There are also a few pots and pans. We can manage.

Thursday, we had an appointment to go to one of the chapels (may have been the Stake Center for the other Stake in the area). There are two Service Missionaries there who help facilitate the Pathway program for BYU Idaho. It is the 30+ members who want to get back into college for about 65 dollars an hour. It is a great program, and the missionaries encourage them. After the first year, they can continue on their own and as long as they are on the online program, their tuition does not go up. The first year they started the program, only about 70 people enrolled. Now, there are over 7,000. The school is scrambling to keep the program running smoothly it is growing so fast.

We will start in September with the new year. The missionaries working with the program now are moving to Madison and will be out of the Stake. They seem to be really marvelous members of the Church.  We also met the Stake President for that Stake and one of the Bishops from there. We believe we are in the South Stake, but we could be mistaken. There is so much to learn.

On Friday, we met with our missionaries. We had to drive to their apartment which is on the south side of town. It seemed to take a good while to get there. We had to start the day (planned to go to gym and finally, admitted that was not going to be possible) going to the Mission Office because Salt Lake said our drivers’ licenses were expiring. We had to let them copy our licenses to prove we were ok.

Anyway, we picked up the missionaries, and they showed us downtown. Marquette University is here and covers most of the south side of Milwaukee. It is huge. Every corner has a magnificent Catholic Church, most look really old. We saw an art museum that is free on the first Thursday of each month. Guess where we are going in June. There are a lot of Spanish people downtown and a lot of interesting stores and buildings that would be so fun to explore. There are also those places that you do not want to get caught in at night.

We went by our City Branch building also. What a building it is. The Church built it in the early 1900’s, sold it, and then bought it back. It has three floors and is obviously very old. There are 17 active families, and most of those don’t live within the branch boundaries. They come over to help the branch survive. The building is surrounded by a black neighborhood, and most of these people go to a Church a block down the street. There are almost no children for Primary, only a few girls and boys for the Young Men/Young Women program. The second counselor is also the Executive Secretary and Ward Clerk. We want to find out more about the history of the building and are excited to meet those who attend. One family is Hmong – Laotian or Vietnamese who supported the U.S. in the Vietnam War. We have special missionaries for them. We will meet with the Branch President on Sunday to see how we can help them.

We will be working with those who will provide a booth at the Polish Fair in June. This booth will have computers and will be about genealogy. We have a district meeting on Tuesday which will be about genealogy. Yeah, maybe I can keep up with my work here. There are two of the largest cemeteries I have ever seen here, and I’m so wanting to visit them.

We got our wifi up and running tonight. Finally, do you know how dependent we are on our technology. I felt like I was being deprived.  So far, we have gotten one bedside table almost finished, and one dresser almost put together. My hand is getting a blister from screwing in the screws. Ugh!

We are settling in and hitting the ground running. Craig gave a pass along card to a lady in the grocery story yesterday. Tonight, we talked with the cable man for a while about the Church. Who knows what will happen. 

We are very blessed, and I mean blessed. We think of you all daily and miss our friends and family. Oh, I forgot, our freezer unit wasn’t working so they took it away and brought in an old, old one to hold us over until the first part of the week when they promise we will get a new one.  One can only hope.  Haha  The apartment people are really nice, and I hope they do help us.

Take care.

Elder and Sister Lenhard

A quick note from Mom and Dad, and several pictures!

Our address is
9627 West National Ave., #7
West Allis, WI. 53227

Haha. At least I've learned that -finally.
Mom

 Ada (Mom's sister) with two of her grandbabies

 "Building the kingdom"

 The city branch District Leaders, Elder Santos from Phoenix AZ and Elder Crandall from American Fork Utah

 At the Nauvoo Hotel

 Sign at the Nauvoo Hotel

 In the Milwaukee branch chapel, and some info from Dad:

We live outside the city in West Allis and it is so beautiful here. Our tiny apartment is cozy. People are very friendly. The Wisconsin frozen custard is delicious!

This is a picture of the interior of our Church building here in the inner city. It was built by German Saints in1933 and dedicated by Heber J. Grant. It has a fireplace! Meetings were preached in German until 1970.

There are several gangs in the inner city. An African member from Senegal was mugged at gunpoint yesterday and simply said: "In the name of Jesus Christ, you need to go now. I have no money...I have nothing." The mugger left. (I believe the member had plenty!)

Be good and keep us posted on your blessed lives. We miss you.

These are the last days.

Elder Craig Lenhard

PS Lindsey Sterling is performing downtown on June 5th!

 At the Nauvoo House

 Another shot of the Nauvoo House

 Welcome to Wisconsin!

Sister and Elder Lenhard outside the City Branch in Milwaukee

Update from Mom and Dad (lots of pictures to follow)...

Monday and Tuesday (28^th and 29th)

We ended up staying with Ada another night. Sunday was a bad night of storms, lots of rain and lightning. We slept right through it, but when we awoke the next morning (Tuesday), bad storms were the name of the game for that day also. Ada was so gracious as to invite us to spend the day again that we felt grateful to take her up on the offer. I really felt bad that we were causing her to have to put up with us. I had already stripped the beds and given her our towels to clean. Now, we were going to mess them up again.  I have to admit that we had so much fun. I told Ada that my favorite line from her that day was “I didn’t know you could be so fun.”  Hahahaha  We must stay in contact more often.

It was a great day to stay with her. Tara took her girls to school and came over. We went to breakfast and were overwhelmed at the amount of food we received. After we had eaten, a man who had been sitting by himself at a table behind us came over to talk to us. He had heard Craig say something about China, and he had a lot of say about it. He is retired, but his wife wants to keep working (and I think she is already at retirement age). He can’t understand it. He was military, but he also had traveled over much of the world. He had a few good stories to tell, and we enjoyed talking with him.

After we went back home, Ada, Tara, and I got the computer out and began to work on genealogy. I was able to get them signed into Ancestry, and they began to work on the Pasdiora side of their family. Before we were done, they had found four generations for a couple of the lines. It was exciting. They plan to do more, and I got excited about it for them.

That evening we just lounged around, watched a little TV, and Tara got several of our “how did you meet” stories. It sounds so funny when we relate how we met in the bowling alley. If it wasn’t for the Church, our lives would have been so much harder. I would not recommend a marriage that got started like ours, but if you have the Gospel, it helps you see the big picture. When you make a covenant to be true and faithful to the one you marry, it makes you work a lot harder to keep that covenant.

On Tuesday, we started out. While the weather still looked threatening, we knew we had to get on the road or we wouldn’t be in Milwaukee on time. We headed for Nauvoo, Illinois, to visit the Temple and to see the town. It took almost 2.5 hours to get there. Again, we were met with farm after farm. The great majority looked like they were well maintained, and there was much pride in keeping up with appearances. We also saw hundreds of red-winged black birds. They were everywhere. They sit on fences and tall stalks of grass (which we could not understand why the grass did not bend over with their weight), and on the tips of tree branches. While the trees hadn’t really begun to bloom with new growth, the birds really stood out. I could hardly look anywhere but what I didn’t see them. It has been a long time since I had seen one of these birds.

When we got to the Mississippi, it was magnificent. Unlike the last time we saw it, this time it was high water and moved as if the world was in its way and it was not stopping for anything or anyone. It has such a show of power. It looked cold and uninviting, but it was awe-inspiring to see. I can remember Mark Twain talking about the river and at the time I was reading what he said, I could not even begin to imagine what it was in reality. When I saw it, I was struck by how that much water could freeze the winter the Saints left Nauvoo to escape persecution. Heavenly Father truly blessed those people. I took a couple of pictures.

We got to Nauvoo around 2:15 and drove to the Temple first. The clouds were dark, but the rain hadn’t started quite yet. We walked in and found that we could make the 3:00 session. What a Temple! The historical significance was overwhelming. The woodwork was so beautiful; it wasn’t overdone and looked very different from so many temples. We had to go to the second floor to get dressed, and then to the third to go to the Chapel. There were only about 20-25 people in the session. We changed rooms three times during the session. The first new film that came out this past year was the one being shown, but changes had been made to it. The session seemed to go really quickly, and before we knew it we were in the Celestial Room. It was very simple, but elegant at the same time. When we left to get dressed, I went on down and waited for Craig in the foyer. There I met the Mission President’s wife for the Des Moines mission. They live right around the corner from Ada. They were teasing us about asking for a transfer to their mission. We regrettably had to tell them we were already assigned to Wisconsin and looking forward to it there. Plus, I know you can’t ask for a transfer.  Hahahaha

I also peeked into the room I’ve seen it in several pictures of the Temple before. Honestly, I cannot tell you what the room is called, but it looks like a Sacrament room. I asked one sister if they ever met there for Sacrament or other meetings. She said they could only meet there if they got special permission from Salt Lake City. Wouldn’t that be exciting to be involved in a meeting there?

We left the Temple and went downtown to see what we could see. We went to a fudge shop Adam had told us to visit and got some wonderful fudge (like we needed it), but we have been very frugal with it. After the fudge shop, we went across the road to a general merchandise store.  I could have stayed and looked at stuff a lot longer, but we were getting hungry. We bought a thimble (didn’t have the Illinois name on it so still have to get one of those). Then we went to an art gallery next door and talked with the people there. They were just recovering from a flood caused by burst pipes from the winter. Everyone talked about how hard the winter had been. Finally, we went to the Hotel Nauvoo for dinner. It was a buffet. The building itself just seemed to add rooms as we wandered about. I have no idea how they could have had so much room inside because it certainly did not look that big from the outside. They had a lot of “old” items laying around reminiscent of the past. It was a wonderful place to eat, and the food was very good.

We got back on the road and decided we wouldn’t drive too far because we wanted to put a little distance between us and Nauvoo so that on Wednesday we wouldn’t have to drive all day to get to Wisconsin. It seemed that on this trip, we spent a good amount of time backtracking and rerouting. As our GPS let us know, it was constantly “recalculating.” I remember a story Amy wrote once that was so funny about the “recalculating” of her GPS. You just want to say, “I know you are recalculating” so do it and be quiet.

We stopped at a place called Sterling, Illinois, to find a hotel, but there were no vacancies. After visiting four and getting no room, the last one had a clerk that was nice enough to call ahead and found there were places just up the road. We started out again and stopped at a Super 8 in Dixon, Illinois. I don’t usually think about the Super 8 as a place to lay my head, but this time, we were just so tired, we decided it wasn’t a time to be picky.  We found it had a comfortable bed, and we fell asleep immediately. 

to be continued......