Transfer Week, November 2014

It was a very busy week.  It all began last Saturday as Elder Jones has the Service Missionaries go downtown and pick up all of the luggage from the missionaries who do not have cars.  They ride the bus and they can get here, but the mass transit system does not allow for them to take that much luggage on the bus.  So we store it here at the mission office (Elder Jones found an unused room and convinced the FM person to let him use it).  Then Monday all 26 of these missionaries came to the mission office and turned in their I-pads, then headed for downtown Philadelphia for a last look at the city, and the temple.  Then they come to the mission home where we enjoyed a lovely ham dinner, took photos, saw a slideshow, bore testimonies and just enjoyed each other's company.  This was the first departure dinner that was really sad for us.  We just know most of these missionaries and have had personal experiences with them and they are dear to us.  We will miss them and always remember them!  Sister Amy McNeil, front with a red scarf, has been very special to Elder Jones as they have met together.  Her parents came to pick her up and it was wonderful to meet them.

 Sister Stephenson.  She is such a sweetheart.  She sings like an angel, is a bit spicy, and BEAT Elder Jones in a game of PIG once.  So when she arrived at the mission office he made her go play another few games until he could end on a winning note.  She was gracious and obliged.

 Sisters Hyatt (L) and Sagers (R).  They are both really good Sister trainers.  Such cuties!

 Sister Suckow.  You think you had it bad, Tom and Dave--her parents moved to ALASKA while she was serving!  She loves to tease Elder Jones.

 Elder Taylor.  Personality plus.  I have loved him for almost a year.  He was our Zone Leader when we arrived.  We have inspected his apartment and he has convinced me to make treats for his zone meeting.

 Sister Wilson.  She has served with us here in Broomall.  She is an excellent missionary, person, teacher, friend, etc.  We absolutely adore her.

 Sister Hall.  She also sings like an angel.  She plays the guitar as well.

 Elder Mower.  Everyone who serves with him has crazy stories to tell about him.

 Elder Jensen.  He has served as a service Elder these past 6 weeks.  He attended our ward so I got to feed him a few times.  Good Elder!

Sister Kaydee Taylor.  We are practically related!  I love her.  She is from St. George and her mom is best friends with Jessica's sister Amy Christensen. 

 Sister Palmer.  She is one of the Sisters stuck on the mountain last winter in the snow.  She is a fine missionary.

 Elder Toilolo.  He has served with us a VERY long time in the office as an AP.  He is 25, has his bachelors degree, will be married next month and I predict he will eventually be a stake president in Hawaii.  He is just a natural leader--and very dedicated and humble as well.  We will so miss him!

 Sister Foote.  She served in our ward for several transfers and we came to count on and appreciate her gentle way, her patience, and her great ability to teach.  She is ONE TERRIFIC MISSIONARY!

 Elder Spackman.  I call him "Spackie".  He is rather crazy, but so much fun.  He got mad last year and put his fist through a wall, breaking it and requiring surgery.  When he trained his last Golden, he "knighted" him.

 Elder Stucki.  He is a computer whiz and created a program for Elder Jones to help the missionaries keep within their allotted miles for the month.

 Elder DeMoors.  He served with Elder Taylor as our Zone Leaders and I sure do love him.  He is from Atlanta.  His dad died in the Gulf War.  The Church uses his family often for videos and stories in the Ensign.  A Fine Elder.  These departing missionaries stayed at the Mission Home for the night, then Tuesday at 5 am Elder Jones headed back to the Mission Home to drive the U-Haul loaded with all of their luggage to the airport.  Then Tuesday Morning at 10 am we had transfers.  They transferred about 160 missionaries, so the Mission office was busy!  They also closed down some areas, so that involved giving keys and phones and cars from one area to another.  We did pretty good to keep up with it all...Then we fed the 19 new Trainers who would soon be getting "golden" companions and held their training.  As soon as that was over we headed back to the airport to pick up the 19 "goldens".  Then we had dinner with them and Elder Jones has to interview each one to determine their ability and desire to drive a car.

Our newest missionaries, straight from the Provo and Mexico City MTC's.  They look pretty good for being up since 2:30 am.  They are pictured here in front of the Mission Home.  Wednesday morning we have training with them, and then they were paired up and sent off with their trainers.  The rest of the ween centered on recuperating from all of these changes.  Elder Jones had the service elders delivering luggage both days and then cleaning out apartments and moving missionaries the rest of the week.  My job--get their money correct and update the phones.

As for our missionary work, our ward is holding the "40 Day Fast:  That is where a family in the ward fasts one day, then another the next and so on, for 40 days.  They are to pray for a name to invite to investigate the church, have a missionary experience with, etc.   Elder Jones and I fasted for help to teach our investigator, Barbara Johnson.  Last week we taught her the Plan of Salvation.  She was quite responsive and Elder Jones was happy to use his visual aides.  Tomorrow we are teaching her more about the atonement.  She continues to attend church, reads the Book of Mormon and attends the Institute Class, but does not want to be rushed into actually joining the church.  We have promised to take our time and fully answer her questions.  Today she particularly enjoyed the Primary Program.  (She has taught elementary school and loves children).  It was a very good program.  2 of the girls, ages 11 and 6 even accompanied one song on their violins.  We are ending up the day by having the Sisters to dinner and then we will skype an "after baptism" lesson with them to their recent convert, John.  We have been teaching him with them for a couple of months and it was good today to see John bless the sacrament and hear of his joy at attending the temple yesterday to be baptized for 2 of his family members.

We have a busy week ahead.  Our son, David, and his entire family will be here sometime Nov. 21 to visit for a couple of days.  We are excited to be with them!

Deep Vibrant Fall

 As I mentioned last week, I am concentrating on being thankful.  It really is not hard.  This past week we had a slight cold snap and some rain and that resulted in many leaves falling.  Those that remained, however, are the deep rich oranges, reds, and purples.  They are my favorite.  The photo above was taken as I drove home from dropping off Elder Jones as he picked up the president's new car, a GMC Acadia.  It is near the Merion Golf Course and is quite beautiful.  I am thankful that as fall closes in around us and the trees prepare for winter that the process is so enticingly beautiful.  It could have been created in shades of brown, but we get to enjoy yellow, green, purple, red, orange, gold and all colors in between.  I have enjoyed just riding around this week.  I have been in search of the "perfect tree"  The photo below is our church and a big old tree right in front.  Each day we get to see its progress in color.

 We are preparing for another transfer week.  Tomorrow we have the departing dinner for 26 very wonderful missionaries who have completed their service.  We know each of them personally and have had dealings with each of them and it is really hard to bid farewell.  We will miss them greatly!  Because our AP's will both be gone in the next 2 transfers, our one new AP began with us on Monday of this week.  His name is Elder Watt and he is a farm boy from Blackfoot, ID.  He is a good worker and seems to be blessed with common sense.  We are glad to have him.  On Tuesday we receive 19 new missionaries.  As we continue to decrease in numbers in the next few transfers we are going to be closing down 5 apartments this month.  That means work for Elder Jones to clear them out, and work for me to follow up on the paperwork involved.  Wednesday we train the new missionaries, and then we get back to our regular routine in the office.

Yesterday was a good day.  We traveled to Anabel's for a wonderful Mexican dinner in the early afternoon.  Then we joined our friends, the Wilsons, from Veyo, for games.  They had visitors:  Dave and Marty Zohner from Veyo.  They have just completed their mission in Palmyra, NY working as historical site missionaries.  They knew our friends, Neil and Deonna Fuller, who also served in Palmyra.  Turns out they are quite good game players and we enjoyed 3 rousing games of Marbles and Jokers.

I am grateful today to be able to assist in teaching the gospel with the missionaries assigned to our ward.  Today we taught another "after baptism" lesson to John Wocjek.  Today he received the priesthood and he plans to go to the temple this coming weekend to do baptisms.  He got help from his friends at the family history center and they prepared the papers so John could be baptized for his paternal grandfather, Andrew Wocjek.  Monday Elder Jones and I are teaching the Plan of Salvation to our friend, Barbara Johnson, who we have been assigned to teach.  Basically she knows it is true, she just wants to go slowly and be absolutely sure of what she is committing to.  We promised to follow her wishes...  Today we decided to attend the Widner Ward in Chester, PA to see some wonderful outgoing missionaries, Sister McNeil and Sister LeCheminant.  Sister McNeil spoke and played the violin and Sister LeCheminant sang.  We were so glad we attended.  Then we returned to our own ward for the last meeting and our monthly pot luck.  Why don't they do these in Utah?

I am grateful for my children and for their support in every way as we serve this mission.  They have each helped financially as we have served.  I pray that this unselfish gift to us will serve your family with the spiritual gifts you desire.  We love you and thank you for your help to us!

November--A Month of Thanksgiving

 I am happy that Thanksgiving is late in November this year so that this very special holiday has almost 4 weeks of recognition.  Hopefully we are thankful all year, but I am going to concentrate this year on having a heart full of gratitude--because I really do have so very much to be grateful about!
Today Anabel (I found the correct spelling of her name...) Sanchez Velasquez was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by Elder L. Corry Jones.  It was a great day.  Anabel even took her 2 boys and went to the Washington DC temple yesterday.  She has already sent referrals for missionaries to teach her family members in Mexico and she is anxious to do family history work and then ordinances for her deceased family members.  She is such a sweet lady.  AND, she invited us for some more wonderful Mexican food next Saturday, along with the young elders who taught her.

 The rest of the photos were taken on the way home from church today.  The fall colors were vivid all last week, but yesterday it rained and then blew wildly all night, so most of the leaves have fallen to the ground.  There were downed branches littering the back roads that we take to go to church.  But you can see the beauty that surrounds us as we head to church.  I really do like a Philly Fall!

 The next 2 photos were taken in the Cumberland Cemetery.  We pass this very old cemetery each week as we head to pick up Tom Lee and take him to church.  Above--a delicate tree with still vibrant coloring.  Below:  A backdrop of color amid the grave markers.

The week passed ever so quickly.  Elder Jones was busy all week attending to cars.  Last week he distributed 7 new cars and this week he has been taking them in for various servicing requirements prior to selling them.  Every time I saw him leave he was driving another car to either the body shop or Pep Boys.  This was in addition to helping various missionaries get their cars serviced.  By Friday he just wanted to come home and rest.  I also had a busy week.  Wednesday we had the head finance person for the Missionary Department come to visit.  I worked with him most of the day.  I learned lots and he helped me see some things that needed cleaning up in the books.  So I will work on taking care of those items this week.  We had two meetings this week where we fed the missionaries lunch, 50 on Tuesday and 40 on Friday.  We ended the week by attending our ward's fall festival/chili dinner/after Halloween party.  It was very enjoyable and there was tons of good food.

Today is Fast Sunday and as a mission we are fasting for Elders Evan Wilson and Gary Ballard, both senior missionaries who are experiencing difficult health challenges at this time.  Elder Wilson has Mineers and had a very bad bout with it for a couple of days this week.  Elder Ballard has a pinched nerve in his back and has yet to be pain free.  This week he is planning on a shot to help with the pain.  We have concern for both of them because completing their mission assignment has been hard. Their wives are also stressed out about them.  This just reinforces to Elder Jones and I how very blessed we have been while we have been serving here.  We have been in good health and are so thankful for that blessing.  We continue to thoroughly enjoy our mission here.  The time is passing too quickly.  The only reason to look forward to going home is seeing our family.  We do miss them.

Carol and Annabelle

We had a good week, as usual.  The Lord is really blessing us as we are on this mission.  We love serving in this capacity and we love these missionaries.  And aside from all of that, we are having other wonderful experiences that just make for a most enjoyable time.  The top two photos are of us with Carol Nielson Prater.  Carol, Rich, Kelli, Casey and Nick were our closest neighbors when we lived at the Youth Ranch.  They built a home close by and we interacted lots for several years.  Then we moved to Heyburn and Carol and Rich got a divorce, Carol remarried and moved to Twin Falls.  Anyway, Rich Nielson passed away from cancer just a couple of months ago.  Carol came to Philadelphia to see her daughter, Kelli.  They went to Kleinfeld's in NYC and Kelli "said YES to the dress".  The wedding is next September.  Carol was headed back to Twin Falls and needed a ride to the airport, so we picked her up (about an hour from here), took her to lunch, had a very long visit, compared family photos and talked, talked, talked.  Carol had a brain annurism 10 years ago and had to shave her head for the surgery.  When it was over, they told her not to use chemicals on her head, so she has this lovely grey hair that is quite soft.  It was really nice to see her.  She is happy in her life and her children are all doing well.

 We have had many missionary opportunities this week.  Corry taught via Skype last Sunday with the Elders and we taught a lesson with the sisters to a brand new investigator on Thursday.  His name is Ed Taylor and he came to church today and stayed for everything.  Then last night we got to Skype John Wojcek and teach his one of the "after baptism lessons".  Today John was confirmed a member of the church.  Both of his parents, although non-members, came to his baptism and his confirmation and are very supportive.  They seem to be very nice people.  Yesterday we took the Wilsons (Evan and Darlene) downtown to see the temple.  They had never been to see it in the 2 months that they have been here.  We went first to the visitor center and met with two of our favorite Sisters--Sister Bennett on the left and Sister Foote on the right.  Sister Foote served with us here in Broomall for about 4 months and we love her.  Sister Bennett is just stellar.  They were happy to see us and after a time said "how about we go to lunch?"  Elder Jones caught right on and said "so you want us to take you to lunch" and they admitted that yes, that was their plan.  So we walked a few blocks to a local restaurant called the "Kite and Key" in honor of Ben Franklin.  It was a noisy sports bar but the food was really good and the men enjoyed watching some ESPN while we ate.  We left the sisters after we ate and had just barely got to our car when they called and reported that they had a flat tire.  So they limped over to where we were and Elders Wilson and Jones TAUGHT THEM how to change a tire--the Sisters actually did the work.  It was actually a great teaching moment and they now know that they can do it!

 This is the latest picture we have of the temple.  It was taken on 10/25/14.  You can see the scaffolding on the left bottom.  They are placing the granite right now and have started at the bottom and are about 10 feet up the building on the left side.  It is very beautiful granite from Nova Scotia.  A grey with white and black flecks and some clear flecks which will shine in the sun.  It is a not polished on the outside, but rather natural.

 They are placing the windows, also.  Many of them were the wrong size and had to be re-ordered.  This oval one will be on the 3rd floor and has gorgeous leaded glass with a slight pattern.  It is tastefully beautiful.  It will blend with the colonial feel of the area.  How excited the people are in this area to have a temple this close.  We plan to return to Philadelphia when it is completed.  Brother Ball is in our ward.  He is over the building of the temple for the construction firm.  He also built the Brigham City temple and the renovated Ogden temple.  We are so lucky to have them in our ward.  He spoke today about the interesting experiences he has had as the construction manager.  He told us that Satan does not ever want a temple to be completed and the process of building the temple is not without its slowdown, problems, etc as a result.  But he knows that Heavenly Father is in charge and that the work of completing the temple cannot be stopped.

 So now to the Annabelle part.  I have featured Annabelle before.  She cooks wonderful Mexican food and we have eaten at her home twice and helped with her lessons to learn the gospel.  Her son, Angel, was baptized several months ago and she was baptized today.  The spirit was strong today.  She had many non-member friends attend, and the ward all stayed after to support her.  Then we had a wonderful Mexican meal.  Annabelle Sanchez we welcome you as our newest member of the Broomall Ward.

We look forward to a very busy week.  Tuesday we have Golden retraining.  That is where the "Goldens" or newest missionaries (they arrived the end of September) come back to the mission office for additional training and help to give them a jump-start to being a good missionary.  They return with their trainers and we feed them lunch.  This time we feed 50.  The next day I am having an auditor from SLC come to work with me most of the day.  Friday we have Leadership Training where all of the zone leaders and sister trainers come for training.  We feed 40 of them lunch that day.  Meanwhile, Elder Jones recently got 7 new cars and put them all into service by last Friday.  So now his job is to get them ready to sell.  I may not have ever mentioned this, but he carries a mission cell phone 24/7.  Saturday he had another really odd incident.  Some Elders had taken an elderly member to help them teach.  He sat in the front seat and when he got out and the other elder returned to the front seat they noticed that the man had had an accident while sitting there...Did I mention he was an OLD man...So Elder Jones explained that they would need to take it to someone who detailed cars to get it cleaned...

Valley Forge Leaves

 Yesterday was our P-day.  After taking care of the essentials like groceries and cleaning the house, we picked up the Wilson's and headed out.  We inspect an apartment near Valley Forge National Park and Sisters Guzman and Ballard could not get their furnace to turn on.  So I had the tank filled with oil and we set about to help them.  After about 30 minutes of working with the furnace we gave up.  Mind you, Elder Jones had spent hours looking up on the internet about how to turn on an oil furnace.  And when we got there both men checked out the instruction book.  But alas, we left the sisters with the instruction to use the portable electric heater until we could get everything working for them.  Today when we talked with them we even promised to get them more blankets.  Note to all parents of missionaries going to the east--send them with more than just their 1 light blanket off their bed in southern California...With that behind us we headed to the park.  Evan and Darlene had not ever been there.  They are a bit less adventurous on the Philadelphia freeway system, but actually teach an institute class quite close by.  The park was full of visitors as the weather was lovely.  The wind was blowing and the leaves were flying.  It made for a colorful, crunchy day.  The vibrant dark colors are not quite there yet, but it was nonetheless beautiful.  I absolutely love Valley Forge.  It feels kind of sacred there.  Below is a sampling of the leaves that I picked up.  I am pressing them.  Most of them are oak.  After that we headed for Zwalen's Ice Cream and had a small dessert and then came back home and had dinner after.  I think it may be my very first time ever having dessert first!It was a very nice day.

 Now backtracking, on Monday of this week we had a Senior FHE at the President's home.  We invited all of the housing inspectors as well and grilled burgers, chicken, and hot dogs.  Below, left to right are President Anderson, Elder Symes, Elders Jones and Wilson (backside).  As I looked out to take this photo, the small family of deer were in the back yard.  We enjoyed visiting with each other and then we traveled to the ward building and watched "Meet the Mormons"  It was our second time to enjoy that movie.  We highly recommend it.

We wound up the week with church today and a convert baptism after!  John Wocjek was baptized a member.  We have been helping teach him the lessons with the Sister Missionaries in our ward, so it was a pleasure to witness this day.  He is about 35 years old and had a Mormon girlfriend who inspired him to investigate the church.  Sadly, he and the girlfriend broke up about a month ago but his commitment to join remained strong.  Both of his parents came to witness his baptism today, along with about 60 ward members.  I have noticed that when there is a convert baptism in the mission field, the ward supports it very well.  People even brought finger foods to share after.  So another week is gone.  We had a ward member ask us today when our mission ended.  We feel that the time is simply moving way too fast and we want it to slow down.

Elder Jones has had a busy week this week.  We had a set of sisters in Cape May that discovered bedbugs. He researched the subject thoroughly on the interned and planned the attack.  As it happened, the place is very old and not well insulated nor closed off in the cupboards, etc., so the place is a natural for an infestation of this sort.  For a week Elder Jones had the service elders remove all of their furniture, then had it fumigated, then the carpets cleaned, and on Friday he had to accompany the service elders down to deliver new furniture.  (Because neither of them are van certified...)  Anyway, upon arriving he inspected the furniture that was obtained from our storage sheds and it was not in good condition.  So he went to Big Lots and bought a fouton and some dressers and tables.  Then they had to assemble all of this.  When he got home at about 7:30 Friday night he just ate and collapsed into bed.  With all of this, though, we LOVE this mission!

A+ New England Weekend!

What a week!  We began with Zone conferences on Tuesday.  We only attended ours, which was held at our building.  It is always fun to see all of the missionaries come together.  Lots of hugging and memories shared.  We were able to see the film, "Meet the Mormons".  The Missionary department had instructed that the missionaries see this film before its release on Friday so they would be prepared for questions, etc.  They will not be able to see it in a theater, so this was the purpose of the early Zone Conferences.  The film was well done and I recommend it to all who read this.  We finished out the week trying to keep up so we could be gone for the weekend--and we made it.  We began our Friday arriving at 30th Street Station--a very huge train station 2 hours early.  So we watched people...We boarded the train and in just 90 minutes we were in New York City Penn Station where Bob and Twila Harman, Cari Eames, and Jack and Shelley Harman boarded the train.  Bob and Twila did not know we would be on the train.  It was fun to see all of them and get to spend the next 7 hours visiting while we traveled up New York, then Connecticut, then Massachusetts, then a sliver of New Hampshire and into Vermont.  We got off at White River Junction and were met by Kent and Tami Harman who are serving a mission at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial.  We had all gathered to see what they were doing and visit.  We were joined by Brad and Diane Neibaur.  Did we EVER have a wonderful time together!  Kent and Tami were wonderful tour guides for the Birthplace and for their state.

 This is a country store which has a cafe inside.  We had a wonderful breakfast with real Vermont Maple syrup.  We enjoyed apple, pumpkin, and all sorts of different pancakes.

We were joined for breakfast by the directors (pictured in front) of the Visitor Center at the Birthplace.  Bob and Twila got to stay in their home in the Joseph Smith room.

 Kent and Tami (aka Elder and Sister Harman) are over the Facilities Maintenance part of the Birthplace.  They basically caretake the entire 40 acres.  They shovel the snow, plant, water and weed the flowers, put up and take down Christmas lights, maintain the cleanliness of the monument and memorial and lots of other things.  They work very hard physically and we were amazed at their work.  The summer flowers have been removed and they finished planting all of these mums just a couple of weeks ago.

These are the steps that they had to keep free of snow all last winter.  And the Mums, of course.  The monument itself stands 38.5 feet tall and is one solid piece.  Elder and Sister Harman had lots of interesting bits of church history to relate which made the tour even more spiritual.  After touring the actual visitor center and monument, we boarded some "gators" and went on dirt roads up a hill to see some other interesting sites.

This is the foundation of the Solomon Mack family--the parents of Joseph's mother.  It was a ways from the monument, but was along what used to be the main highway that followed the creek.  Further up the hill was another site which was found by some Boy Scouts and turned out to be what they think was the Daniel Smith home--Joseph's uncle.

 This picture is taken up on the hill overlooking the birthplace.  They call it the "Witness Tree" because it is a very old and large maple tree that dates back to the 1700's, so would have "witnessed" Joseph's birth.  There are only a couple of these trees left because they are so old and are falling over.  The other one is even larger and is called the "Patriarch" tree.  Elder and Sister Harman built a fence in front of this pictured tree and a plaque will be coming to tell about the tree.

 This was taken atop the hill above the birthplace.  It is about 1400 feet in elevation.  Wonderful fall colors everywhere we looked.  So much to ooh and aah about.

This was taken atop the hill overlooking the monument--which is in the distance.  After we had seen everything at the Monument and area surrounding it, we headed for Stowe, VT.  We went to a cute store that makes apple everything.  We got to eat hot apple cider donuts, drink cold pressed apple cider and buy apple anything!  Then we went to a nearby town and had dinner at the "Prohibition Pig" where we ate------PORK!  Really good, too.  Then back to Stowe for Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and then home.  We had the best day EVER!

 Today we got up and enjoyed visiting with Jack and Shelley Harman for a time and then they took us to board the train to come back home.  These are just a couple of photos taken out the window of the train.  I liked seeing all of the rivers, bridges (we did see 2 covered bridges as we traveled), and fall colors on rolling hills, as well as the wonderful barns and white steepled churches.

We were glad that we took the train.  It enabled us to relax as we traveled and Corry got to enjoy the scenery instead of concentrating on the driving.

 Just a sample of the lovely scenery.  But the BEST part was being with very good friends! Thank you Harmans and Neibaurs for making it a very special weekend.  As I traveled home I reflected on the very good influence of these wonderful people in our lives and realized that I always talk about the good friends that my children chose growing up who shaped them and helped them develop a testimony, but WE have those kind of friends too.  You lift us, inspire us, and help us know that our testimony is so very important!

Outgoing, Incoming and Conference

It has been a very busy week.  This photo is of the outgoing missionaries Monday night just before their dinner.  This is a really good group who went home and we will miss them very much.  We have served with them for a year and have come to know and love them.  After their dinner there was a video of their photos during their mission followed by their testimonies.   Lots of leadership in these elders and sisters...They departed at 5 am Tuesday morning.  Elder Jones had to rent a U-Haul and he took all of their luggage to the airport.  

 This is Sister Sera Malotutoatasi Osovale Fiso.  Because her plane did not leave until Tuesday at 4 pm she spent most of Tuesday with me.  She is absolutely one of my very favorite Sisters.  She is 24, has a degree, is from Samoa and has a cow!  She really did not want to leave the mission.  She was explaining to us that when she got her call she opened it and had absolutely no idea where Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was.  She explained that most of the missionaries she knows from Samoa go to the Phillipines to serve, so because the words "USA" were not anywhere on the call, they thought Philadelphia was part of the Phillipines.  When her mother found out she was going to America, she was so very relieved.  I will miss her!  She has a very sunny disposition and just laughs at almost any trial.  Such a good missionary.

This is Elder Jones with Elder Brant Reynolds from Arco, Idaho.  He is a rodeo guy.  He is a farmboy from Idaho and is a hard working missionary--one of Elder Jones' favorites.  We will miss him too. 

 Tuesday morning we had transfers.  162 total missionaries were either getting a new companion, or going to a new location to serve.  Pictured below is Elder Jensen and Elder Nieman.  Elder Jensen got to serve as a service missionary last transfer for just 2 weeks and really liked it.  He was disappointed he did not get to stay.  So he came up to me and asked that I put a good word in for him so he could be one of Elder Jones' Service Elders.  I explained that I had absolutely nothing to do with it--that was the President's call.  So he was very excited at transfers to get to be a service elder.  These two missionaries serve in our ward, so we have them to dinner regularly and Elder Jones gets to assist them in teaching on occassion.

 This is the 2nd set of service elders.  Elder Tolbert, left is new.  He goes home in 6 weeks.  Elder Bergman has served here 6 weeks so far.  Service elders generally give one day a week to do service for the mission.  This past week they had to take beds to apartments receiving a threesome.  This week they will be taking beds to 2 apartments who have bed bugs.  (Yes, that is a plague out here--the missionaries usually get them from teaching in very humble circumstances).  Anyway, they will take down new beds after a period of "bombing" the apartment with bug spray and then they will dispose of the old beds.  Whenever we set up a new apartment or vacate an old one these elders take care of it.  They also picked up and took back all of the luggage to the elders who live in walking areas who were affected by transfers, etc.  They work with Elder Jones as he determines the priorities of needed service and he sure appreciates their service.

 Tuesday afternoon we had to travel to the airport to pick up all of these new missionaries.  Elder Jones and I were in the U-Haul and took all of the luggage.  Please notice the Elder on the left holding the sign.  He is 19 1/2 but looks all of 14!  We enjoy dinner with them, and then Elder Jones has to interview each of them to see their ability to be a driver.  In this group one had too many tickets (21) so he will not ever drive and a couple asked not to drive.  I think it makes them nervous to drive in a city.  One sister was going to have to drive as her trainer is from the Phillipines and cannot drive.  Elder Jones interviewed each one and found a sister who had driven farm trucks and even a semi--so she ended up with the sister from the Phillipines.  Perfect Match!

 To wind up the weekend we took a trip yesterday to Dover Delaware to deliver a car that had been repaired to a set of Sisters and for Elder Jones to meet with a Sister who needed some help.  He was happy to go.  Then we drove the old car back to Broomall.  We then listened to Conference.  Today in between sessions we took the Ballards and the Wilsons to see our local covered bridge.  This is the Bartram Bridge and it is only about 4 miles from our apartment.  The leaves are starting to turn color here and we look forward to enjoy all the wonderous color of a Pennsylvania Fall.

We are looking forward this week to zone conferences.  They have been moved up 2 weeks because of a directive from SLC.  We will be seeing the movie "Meet the Mormons".  This in preparation of this movie coming out so that the missionaries will be able to answer questions, etc.  It will be great for us to see this movie!