Had a good time at the MTC. Again, amazing things have happened. We have met here a couple we got to know while in Mongolia, a couple we served with in the Oquirrh Mtn. Temple, a man I worked with 40 years ago at First Security Bank, and the parents of Jason and Julie Cox (Jason and Julie used to live in the 6th Ward). Go figure!

Yippee!

Amost Home! It's been a long drive home contrary Winds!

Powells

What's your email address? We need the rules for Dork!

All Good Things Must Come To An End

We have many thoughts running through our minds about now.  We will be heading home in four days and should arrive either Monday or Tuesday.

And we admit to being a bit excited about returning to our 'huge' home (not really all that big but we have been living in an RV)! We've been gone a lot over the past four and half years or so and we are ready to stay home for a little bit. 

One thing I learned; I had a 65 year warranty on this earthly tabernacle of mine, and it ran out last July!  We both have had some health issues while we have been here. Mostly, backs that are not up to this sort of work any longer!  I have no cartilage left in the lowest (or L5) position, so it is bone on bone. Don't know how long it has been that way, but this mission let me know about it!  I've been in pain most of the six months we've been here.

Sister Caldwell has also had some back trouble the last couple of weeks.

But we will make it home and then take some time to recover!

None-the-less, this has been a wonderful experience and we are thrilled to have been able to serve here. Kirtland holds a much larger roll in Church history than we knew. For example, Joseph and the headquarters of the Church were in Kirtland longer than anywhere until Salt Lake. Not Nauvoo or Missouri, Kirtland, Ohio. And nearly half of all of the revelations contained the Doctrine and Covenants came here, in Ohio. And the list of things which began in here in Ohio is a rather lengthy and impressive one. Such things as the offices of Bishop, Apostle, Seventy, Patriarch, Deacon and others, all began here.

And the list goes on.

A VERY common response from those who come here and take part in one of our guided tours, is, 'Why don't we talk about this more in the Church' or 'Why don't know we know about all this in the Church'?

The included photo is of the Johnson Inn and the Whitney Store, just two of the venues we help with here.

We have learned a lot here.

Wonder what our next mission will teach us.

Fall is here!

Actually, it's about finished. What a beautiful area! We actually stay fairly busy at the sites here in the fall. There are a number of tour buses which bring loads of tourists to the area just to see the fall leaves. We're not surprised! It is quite stunning, as you can see!

We also have quite a few Amish folks living in the area. Amish are of German descent and speak both English and German. But being several generations removed from Germany, their German seems to have changed a bit. I spoke something fairly simple in German to a couple of the children but they had no idea what I said. Not that my German would be anything to brag about!

It is really interesting to see them as they plow their fields and work their farms with only horse power to do it. It's amazing what they are able to do!

We learned a lot more about them recently when we all had an Amish dinner at the Miller family farm -- Amish farm, that is. The Miller's are Amish and run a window making business in a large building behind their home. They simply moved all of the equipment aside, setup tables and fed about 50 of us!

The Amish hold church services from 9:00 am 'til about noon, every other Sunday. They have about 200 in attendance, on average, and they take turns meeting in members homes. In the case of the Millers, church would be held in their shop.

After church, they (the hosting family) feed all who attend. Yup, all 200 of 'em! But it does get spread around over time!

They also run their own school system -- by agreement with the State. Their children attend grades one through eight and then graduate.  And we were told that they receive almost the same education as our children do, in twelve years of schooling.

We don't have any pictures of the Miller family; they do not generally believe in pictures. They feel it would increase the likelihood of vanity. So, we readily agreed and didn't take any pictures of them.

The food was really good and we had an enjoyable time.



This is the kind of scenery we drive through to get to the historic sites every day. The leaves are extraordinary, as you can see. In Utah, to see something even close to this, we have to take a nice trip through the mountains. They can't here. They don't have any mountains!

But, we haven't had snow yet, like Utah has!

Don't you wish you were here?  Come on up!! We have two weeks left! We'll take you on tour!

Oh, yeah. We will be heading for home in about two and half weeks. We've enjoyed it here but it will be really nice to be back in our home where we can where we have to get out of our dinning room chair in order to reach things like the stove, the cabinets, the sink, etc.!

It's That Time!

Yup! Believe it or not, it's time to put up Christmas lights!

They put up quite a few decorations here at the Kirtland historic sites. And though it seems awfully early to be putting up lights, we have to start now to get it all done. Especially since we find ourselves dancing between raindrops in addition to just needing the time to get them all up.

And, to this point at least, I seem to have drawn the short straw and have taken the biggest burden for the lights. of course, that is really because I am so talented at it! Yah, right!

But I don't mind.  It will bring a lot of happiness to a lot of people at a very special time of year.

However, lights are not the only thing they do for Christmas.  The Visitors Center will be full of Christmas creches. About 700 of them to be exact!


Unfortunately, we won't be here to see the final result or when the lights are finally all turned on.  Hope someone will send us pictures!

And really, we are not that early with the decorations. Temple Square started over six weeks ago.