INTERNATIONAL DAY

A few days ago we were at the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette, NY and we had quite a day. I think we had about 36 visitors, but the remarkable thing about it was that in those visitors we had people from 9 nations!! There was a family from Sweden, a young couple from France, some from Australia, England, Ireland, Wales, So. Africa, Zambia and of course, the United States. And one of those from the U.S. was a native of Tonga. We could hardly believe what a host of different nationalities were represented in just that one day. Elder Hamblin (Dad, Grandpa -- whoever that guy is - HA!) said it was surely fulfillment of prophecy:

"And ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto angels of God. . . . .
And I give unto you a commandment that then ye shall teach them unto all men; for they shall be taught unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people."

Doctrine & Covenants 42:6 and 58

It's fulfillment of prophecy, except we didn't need to go anywhere else because the Lord was bringing them to us.

HOORAY FOR THE GOSPEL!!

6 April 1830 -- 6 April 2009

The Peter Whitmer Farm -- Fayette, NY





Today was the 179th Anniversary of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Fayette, NY. We were there today holding a Zone Conf. and reviewed all the things pertaining to the organization of the Church, it was pretty neat!


(Sisters: Harris and Porter; Baez and Catalludi)

This is a picture of four of our young Sister missionaries -- this was taken last summer and some of them have already finished their missions and gone home. This is the sign at the Whitmer Farm which is the visitor's first introduction to this Historical Site.

Today -- 6 April 2009

It still looks like winter time at the Peter Whitmer log home -- rainy and cold. But we were there!

Cozy and warm inside the log home. We stood where the Prophet Joseph Smith stood as he organized the Church 179 years ago. What a wonderful blessing in our lives to be able to serve here at these Sacred Places! It is great to see how the Church has grown, from the foundation of 6 members and is now at 13 and a half million. This is the TRUE Church, Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration, and the Book of Mormon is true and going forth to the whole world by the work of the missionaries and members.

"For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language" Doctrine & Covenants 90:11

It all started HERE in Palmyra and Fayette, NY. What a great blessing to the World!!

On This Day in History -- 9 March 1930

My Ray was born ---

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Ray! (DAD, GRANDPA, UNCLE, BROTHER, ELDER, etc)
Today is Ray's 79th Birthday -- and he's still going strong!

What a delight for him to be able to continue serving the Lord, even at this advanced stage of his life. Hoooorah!!

We continually look back on our lives in wonder and awe at all the wonderful things we've been able to do -- it is certainly a treasure book of memories!

From our early struggles with getting Ray's schooling finished and starting our family, to all the years in the Church Educational System (Arizona, Montana and Utah) and the joys of missionary service (Barbados, West Indies; Roanoke, VA; St. George, UT; and Palmyra, NY) we have enjoyed the choice blessings of our Heavenly Father.

We have three WONDERFUL children -- Kevin, Kristi, and Glenn and they have blessed our lives continually. And then they have given us eleven ADORABLE grandchildren -- (4) Kristin, Justin, Kyle, Kelley; (5) Jaron, Trisha, Clinton, Tanessa, Jacob; (2) Brooke, Jacob. And in turn some of those grandchildren have married and have given us eight simply DARLING little great grandchildren -- Emmy, Carter, Ashton, Lilly; Ali, Grant; Corgin; Addi. (P.S. I want to add that we also have some GREAT in-laws in our family: son-in-law Brent Simonson; daughters-in-law Edith Ann Hamblin and Susan Hamblin. And several grandchildren in-laws: Heather Simonson; Katie Simonson; Daniel Evans; Jacob Larsen.) What else could we ever want?? All of you have blessed our lives tremendously!! THANK YOU!

Ray has had a wonderful life -- from his carefree days in Eagar, AZ where he enjoyed the small town atmosphere of knowing everybody in town and sharing his life with lots of relatives and many great friends. Enjoying his life as a "cowboy" and small town "dude."

We met in Provo, UT when he came to go to college at BYU. Here he found another fun family to be a part of his life, he loved them and they loved him! It was a school year romance for 2 years, with Ray returning home each summer to work for the US Forest Service. Then in June 1950 he accepted a mission call and served in the West Central States Mission for 2 years. We became engaged in Nov. 1951 with a "mail order" ring sent from the missionfield. Ha! He returned from his mission in June and we were married August 15, 1952 -- six weeks after his return. It has been a wonderful life together!!

The purpose of this little bit of history is to let all of our family (children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren) know what a GREAT man this Grandpa is. He honors his Priesthood and loves the Lord, he has a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He loves serving the Lord and also serving all those around him; he loves all of his family with honorable devotion and sacrifices many times so others can be comfortable and enjoy life.

He has always made my life enjoyable and happy and I THINK I WILL KEEP HIM!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HONEY!!!

Winter Blah

I haven't posted for awhile, so thought I'd better do a little blogging. This is the slow wintertime here in western NY and we'd like to hibernate like everyone else does, but we keep going to the Sites and we still go teaching with the Sister missionaries -- even if it's a slow & stormy day.


The weather has warmed up some from the zero temperatures we had for a few weeks, now it's rainy and windy. With all the snow we have it could make things pretty soggy.

We have transfers this week and Zone Conf. next week, so we will be doubly busy. We worked at the Visitor's Center at the Hill Cumorah today and had about 35 visitors, so it was fun to see some people coming again. There were lots of the Sister missionaries who were hanging around too, so that's always interesting and full of fun. Last week we had a cute couple from Brazil visit at the Grandin Bldg. Elder Hamblin and I took them on the tour and they really loved it. During the tour they confided in us that they had not been active in the Church for several years, but that he had just taken a new job and had been sent to Geneva, NY for some training. When they saw that it was only about 15 miles to Palmyra, they decided to come and see the Church History Sites -- the Grandin bldg. was their first stop. He was quite emotional and really sincere when he told me he thought this must have been the reason he was sent here for training and she was in tears by the time we had shared our testimonies. They could hardly wait to get to the Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove. She hugged and hugged me when they were ready to leave and I'm sure the Spirit had touched their hearts. It felt so good to have someone respond so tenderly like that!!

There's not much new going on here. Oh, we do have a new piece of furniture -- this sweet companion I live with bought me a new rocker/recliner. The old chair here in the apt. was killing my back, so we splurged and bought an inexpensive (but nice) one that we can leave for someone else to enjoy when we go home. It's a great improvement!

A WinTer DaY at the SMitH FaRm!!

A quick follow-up on our Saturday:

We worked our shift at the Temple in the morning, then had the afternoon shift at the Joseph Smith Farm. We had 31 visitors from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. I think nearly all of them also visited the Sacred Grove after their tour of the Welcome Center and the Log Home and the Frame Home (our 1/2 mi. walking tour). The Sacred Grove walk meant "breaking trail" thru the snow -- and they'd come back nearly frozen. Then they'd thaw out a little and say how they loved the tour and the Grove.

It was the beginning of the 3-day holiday weekend I guess that brought more people than usual. Some of them were Dental students from Buffalo and their little families, and some were from Utah and around that were taking advantage of Southwest Airlines half-price special "if you fly to or thru Buffalo, NY."

All is well, we too "thawed out" after our busy afternoon!!!

SNOWY and COLD!

January -- New York Winter

We enjoyed the beautiful Christmas decorations at the Visitor's Center. This was about the last day before they came down.



It's time to begin a New Year and this one seems to be a COLD one!! The HIGH temperature today (Jan. 16) was 10 degrees -- breaking a record of 11 degrees that has stood since 1893 (according to news reports). The wind chill makes it much colder, but (from inside) the brief sunshine made it appear much warmer! We are grateful for a warm, cozy apartment where the furnace works well.

Tours at the Sites have slowed down quite a bit with the COLD weather and storms, but we still "man the posts" and greet those who do come. Some of our missionary couples are completing their missions soon and will be returning home. One couple left this week and we have two more couples leaving in March. We will have a new couple arriving the end of this month, then one more the end of Feb. and another one coming the end of March (these last ones are the Hamblin's from Ivins, UT). We may find some distant cousins serving with us, we are excited to discover just who they are.

We love our mission and enjoy having people visit these Sacred and wonderful sites. It's a joy to bear our testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel and of the events that happened here. We feel thankful every day for the opportunity we have to serve here. We pray always that you children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will feel of the blessings of the restoration of the gospel, and that you will each be an example to others of righteous living and service to our Father in Heaven. We pray always for these blessings for each of you.

All is well with us -- despite my "stumble bumming" fall on New Year's Eve which left me with a well "tatooed" black and blue elbow and arm, but it is getting better. I'm grateful for no broken bones and a good LDS chiropractor and his good care.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends!!

We can hardly believe 2009 is beginning -- seems like the time is really flying by. We are so thankful for all the wonderful blessings that has come to us as we serve here at the Birthplace of the Restoration. We truly have felt the Spirit of the Lord in our lives and we love bearing testimony to the truthfulness of the restoration and the truths of the gospel. We are also grateful for the blessings of health and strength and the ability to serve. We thank all of you who support and sustain us -- and in all you do for us. It is with grateful hearts that we acknowledge the birth of our Savior, the example He set for us, and His atoning sacrifice for all of us.

This past week has been a busy time -- lots of fun activities with all our wonderful Senior missionary friends, and many of the young Sister missionaries. We had a brunch together on both Christmas and New Year's Day, also some fun programs and talents to go along with the good food. We also attended a live Nativity program and had a Family Home Evening program to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith. This evening we went to dinner at Elder and Sister Pinegar's (an old Page Elementary School reunion, he called it) -- the Pinegar's, the Bennett's and us, we all attended that old school together in our youth (at least Linda and I and Ed Pinegar). It was fun to remember all those old teachers we had and friends we'd almost forgotten. The Pinegars will finish their mission and be leaving soon, they will be sorely missed.

This greeted us for the last day of 2008, this was following a mid-winter thaw a few days earlier. This is looking toward Linda and Gary's house and the Sacred Grove parking area.






This week was transfers for some missionaries. Elder McKee and Elder Wilson came by the Grandin bldg. to let us know Elder McKee was being transferred from Palmyra. They are both really good missionaries and they have seemed to "adopt" us.





Here they were hugging us goodbye. Note: Elder McKee's long distance hug for me. HA!!





They came for dinner with us, afterwards when they went into the bedroom to change to their missionary suits they "spied" Elder Hamblin's boots. So out they came with each of them wearing a pair of his boots. What a "hoot" these two are!!!





This is all of our Site Sister missionaries at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center following our Site mtg. last week. They are wonderful, dedicated young women. Hoorah! for Sister Missionaries!!!!