Hold to the Rod

At Zone Conference our Mission President showed this cement block with the rebar in it. He talked about how if you built a house without the rebar the cement will crack and fall apart. If the earth shakes the building it will fall apart. The rebar holds it together. He likened the cement and the rebar to our life.   Christ (the Gospel) being the rebar, holding it together. The cement being our lives, the church, faith, prayer, testimonies, others opinions , not understanding doctrine, etc. It we let the outside world shake us we will crack and fall apart. We need to have a firm foundation in Christ so that when the anti-Christ (whatever they may be) try to shake us we will stand firm in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is our prayer for all of our family, everyone of you.

Zone Conference

June the 5th was our first Zone Conference, what a great experience that was. The young missionaries are so full of enthusiasm and the spirit. We enjoyed every minute of it, and that was a lot as it went from 9am to about 5pm. They used the film "17 Miracles" to teach and apply the rescue to missionary work. We were differentially spiritually lifted.

 Getting ready for a great lunch.

 President Gardner speaking before lunch. (I know a bad picture)

 Nothing a missionary likes better than a good lunch with a lot of food.

 Couple at the end of the table are CES missionaries, they are over all the Seminaries in the area, I think they said a 100 mile radius plus Institutes.

 Elder Brooks visiting with the couple that work on the Church owed ranch outside of Roundup. He is 78 and still going strong.

 Getting ready for Zone pictures.

President Gardner teaching door approach. And yes we did do the role playing. Elder Brooks favorite thing. NOT!!!

Home Teaching Montana Style

President Swickard asked Elder Brooks and I if we would find a member of the Branch that is inactive. He is on our Home Teaching route. So far no one has been able to contact him. That is what we are here for so Saturday we took off to do this. First 20 miles to Judith Gap, then headed west out of town,  20 miles on a paved road. Then the adventure begins.

 This is not what we found at the end of the road, but I liked the shot, and when I sew this cabin I told Elder Brooks that was where we were headed.

 View of the valley below.

We went another 8 miles on a gravel road which turned into a dirt road.

 Which went up and up.

 And sometimes a little muddy. With a sign that said do not trespass. Being the law abiding citizens we are we drove right ahead. (I did ask Jack how fast he could run, if the guy had a shotgun.)

 Finally our destination and the end of the road. A nice home with 2 big German Shepherd dogs. They were very nice and Elder Brooks won them over right way. Not as fast with the gentleman, he was a little cool but not hostile. That gave us hope, he didn't invite us in but did talk to us.  He grew up in Salt Lake, I am sure there is a story there and I am dyeing to find out about it. When asked if we could come back to Home Teach him he said "I do like my privacy." No kidding!!!!

 View from his front yard. I think Elder Brooks fell in love with the place.

 We did see some beautiful spring flower along the way.

 Now we know why we ended up bringing our Jeep,

to get us over roads like this.

WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR THEIR SERVICE

      On Memorial Day we took some time to remember those who have serviced our country now and in the past. We would not be free if they had not been willing to fight for us. We are forever grateful  for their sacrifice, some gave all even their life. In the Book of Mormon we read about this land being a "land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands ....... a land of liberty." I hope we never take that for granted. 

       I am glad that we take time at least once year to remember all those that went before us and the sacrifice they made in settleing this land. Even though I was not able to go to Wayne Co. this year it was nice to go to the cemetery here and see all the decorated graves to think about the ones who have passed and the good memoirs we have of them.

(picture Mitch took while he was in Washington DC. Horace C Mitchell Jr. (3rd from top) who Mitch was named after, a good friend of Jack who gave his all.)            

Really???

This is what we woke up to this morning (May 26). Not happy!!! I guess what Jack has said about WY holds true here. "If summer falls on a weekend, can we have a picnic?" I do hope it gets warm soon.

I'm Addicted

Before we left on our our Ward had a special meeting on indexing and how the Church was trying to get all the 1940 Census finished by a certain date (don't remember the date). They asked all to do what they could. I had never done any indexing and getting ready for a mission I put it out of my mind.

For you that do not know what indexing is, it is recording information from the 1940 Census and other documents so it is available to anyone who is working on their genealogy. Indexing can be done by anyone and it is easy to get setup on your computer.

When we went to the MTC they were also talking about us doing indexing. I thought this must be a big deal.

When we got here one of the first things the leaving missionaries did was to set us up with indexing on the computer. Also the Mission President talked about it and the need for it. Well, I tried it last week and I have to say I think I am addicted. So far 640 names indexed I know that to some of you that have been doing this for a long time that isn't a lot but for this newcomer not too bad.

Now if you are wondering why the birds? This is what I see out the window as I am at my computer. The birds are a vivid yellow and if you know me you know yellow is my favorite color. It has been so fun to watch them. They are so beautiful.

Home Sweet Home!!!

The home that we are living in was built in 1905. It is a home that everyone knows, if you say you are living in Effie's Home they know where we are. Effie is who we (or the Church) rents from.

This picture was taken in1908 and hangs in the foyer of the home with a sign on the back that says to please leave this picture with the house forever. Signed by Brad Davis 1987, also signed by August Winsky (Effie's Husband). Ofcourse I had to scan it in. Our house is the one in the middle, and the Branch President and wife's home is the one on the right.

Our home today, well build and taken care of.

Where we hang out, a little blurry but you get the idea. 

 Bedroom/office  Love my new quilt on the bed, a little bit of home.

Kitchen, the cupboard remind of Grandma Turners you push the button to open them. I don't know who could ever use the top selves, I need to get a stool, but I guess I don't have that much stuff so am okay.

Do these look like a good Missionary Tool??