June 8, 2014

   Our mission is enjoying great success.  The weather has turned beautiful and it allows all of us to provide service to the community.  The Bedford and Manchester Wards organized a service project for the City of Manchester where we spent last Saturday morning painting the iron fence that surrounds their cemetery.  All of our Manchester missionaries were there and we had a great time.  Even President and Sister Stoker came.  That is President Stoker in the middle of the lower right picture.  I hope we got more paint on the fence than we did on us.
  Then on Saturday afternoon, Miriam and I decided we would drive to Gloucester MA.  We had heard it was beautiful down there.  It was the best day.  The weather was beautiful.  The beaches were magnificent and the Mexican food we got was wonderful.  We had a grand day.
  

    We had the most interesting week.  Lots of joys with some sadness.  We had another missionary go home for medical reasons.  It is always sad when that happens.  We also, for the first time saw President Stoker have to send home a couple of missionaries for disobedient problems.  We could see the toll this took on President and Sister Stoker.  They work so hard to do everything they can to help all the missionaries complete their missions. 
   We can see that we are getting many more Sisters than Elders coming to the mission.  In the July 1st transfer we are getting 4 French speaking Elders and 5 Sisters.  In the August 12th transfer we are getting 1 Elder and 8 Sisters.  It just keeps going like that.  Then from the August transfers on, we send more home than we have coming.  The surge is over.

   Now we are closing some areas and getting ready to close more.  We are not sure where the count will be.  I understand that before the surge there were approximately 130 missionaries in the mission.  At our peak we had 217.  I hope we don't go back down to 130. 
   But the work continues and it is wonderful.  I sat by Gene(our new convert) in church today and it is amazing what the Gospel does to ordinary people.  He is progressing so well.  He does splits with the missionaries 3 or 4 times a week.  He is so on fire!
   Our testimonies continue to grow.  We love our mission.  We love the Lord so much.  We thank him daily  for this opportunity we have to serve here.

June 1, 2014

The highlight for sure this week was the baptism of the McCullough sisters.  Heather, Sarah, and Hattie were baptized Saturday morning.  Their mother and step father are with them in the top picture.  We are all hoping they will follow them next month.  Kathleen McCullough, the mother, gave the opening prayer and it was so simple, loving, and sincere.  They are a loving family.  She and her boyfriend have set a date to marry and he is working hard on quitting smoking.  We are all praying that they will make it happen.
   The second picture is the sisters with Elder Walker and Aengus Rafferty, Hattie's boy friend.  Aengus introduced them to the gospel and invited them to see the missionaries.  I was fortunate to have been asked to assist Elder Walker and Elder Parry in that lesson.  We were so excited that when we got there, they were all sitting around the table and had a whole list of questions to ask us.  Teaching an entire family was the best.  It is rare in our mission.  They loved the gospel message and then the entire Ward got involved with the Elders in teaching them.  Miriam and I picked them up many Sundays for church.  We have really learned to love them.

   The picture to the right is of the sisters with Elder Walker and Elder Harrington.  In the last transfer Elder Parry was transferred out of Manchester and Elder Harrington replaced him.  The picture below is with myself, Elder Harrington and the sisters.  Elder Jensen is in the background.  It was a most beautiful morning.
  Elder Jensen was my companion all day Saturday.  President Stoker asked me to pick him up and the Mission Home at 8 am Saturday morning.  He then accompanied us to the baptism.  Afterwards he and I went to Dover NH, his old area, packed up his things to move him to Derry NH.  We had to move everything out of their apartment as we are closing the area.  We had the Exeter North Zone leaders help us. Elder Lund and Elder Chapman worked so hard to help Saturday afternoon.  After we got everything loaded, I took Elder Jensen and his stuff to Derry where he joined Elders Gilbert and Simmonds.  They will be in a threesome until other things can be arranged.  Elder Jensen was a great companion to have for a day.
   Elder Wiesenberg, Elder Jensen's companion went home after struggling with some medical problems for quite some time.  We sure wish him well.  We all hated to see him leave. It was sudden.
   We had MLT this week where all the leaders of our mission were trained by President and Sister Stoker and two previous mission presidents.  It was the largest MLT we have ever had.  We were not able to attend but the reports we got that it was wonderful.  We prepared their lunch and as always the missionaries know how to eat.
   Here it is June 1st.  The weather now is warm and beautiful.  It is so green.  It rains a lot but that is why it is so green.  But after the winter we have had, we love it.
   The Work is wonderful.  We have staff meeting every Monday morning where we got over the reports from all the Zones.  There are successes all the time along with many mission miracles.   The Gospel is so true.  Church today was wonderful also.  I am really learning to love the members here.  We have become such good friends with them.  We are having such a wonderful mission!

May 25, 2014

   The picture on the left top is of the 4 new Sister Missionaries that came to our mission this past week.  They had quite the ordeal getting here.  Their flight was delayed and we were not able to have our evening dinner and training with them as they didn't get to Manchester until approximately 10:30 pm.  But they survived well and we did everything we needed to on Tuesday morning.  What wonderful missionaries they are.
   The picture below is us with the 7 missionaries going home.  One of the best days in the mission for Sister Skidmore and myself is transfer Tuesdays where the departing missionaries give their statement of truth at transfer meeting and then we go to the Boston Temple.  We do the 4pm Endowment session and then have dinner at the Temple.  It is wonderful and we love spending time with these missionaries just before they go home. 
   They are from left to right, Sister Huefner, Miriam and I, Elder Crane, Elder Guthrie, Elder Hightower, Elder Pritchett, Sister Korman and Sister Buxton.  We love and already miss them.
   I received a call from Brother Neal Williams from the Dover Maine Branch relating an experience he had with our Elder Williams who is from New Zealand.  Brother Williams was the HT for Jerry Tainer who had just joined the church approximately 6 months ago.  He has been very sick and asked for a blessing.  Brother Williams asked him if he would like Elders to give it and he said yes. 
   Elder Cronister anointed and Elder Williams gave the blessing.  In his blessing he said, "I bless you that you will__________________ ".  He stopped and tears were rolling down his cheeks.  He then changed the blessing to a blessing of comfort.  Afterward he confided in Brother Williams that the blessing  he gave was not what he had in his mind when he started.  The Spirit was so strong, he stopped then gave the blessing the Spirit directed.  Brother Williams called me to express his love for the Elders and to let me know that Brother Tainer had passed away.  He passed peacefully. 
   Brother Williams just wanted me to know how impressed he is with all the missionaries.  I assured him that we feel the same.  We have so many spiritual experiences while serving full time missions.
  

May 11, 2014

   Today is Mothers Day and it has been a special one.  The pictures to the left at top is of a Mothers Day lunch we had with the Stokers at the mission home.  It was wonderful as always.  We played a new game called Dixit after lunch then had a grand desert.  Then it was time for a nap and try to digest all the food.
   The two lower pictures are of flowers and gifts Miriam received thanking her for the wonderful mother that she is.  It is hard being away from all the kids and grand kids on a day like this but we know they are all well and we look that much more forward to being with them again.
   We had the best meetings today.  Our Sacrament Meeting was the best attended of any we have seen to date while on our mission.  The talks were all by sisters in the Ward and Sister Morgan (missionary) and they were wonderful.  The spirit was so strong.  We picked up and investigator who's name is Sue and she loved the meetings too.  We had lots of investigators there today.  The missionaries are doing a lot of great work.  The missionaries were all so excited that today they would be able to call home and talk to their mothers.  It is a very big day in the mission field. 
   President Stoker has asked me to help him in interviewing and helping some of the missionaries that are struggling.  I filled my first assignment last night and it brought back a flood of memories from by Bishop years.  The work we do requires the spirit to be our constant companion, but when counseling these wonderful missionaries I realized again that this work cannot be done without the spirit.  I love this work and it is good to help where I can.
   Miriam has received many calls from the missionaries wishing her a Happy Mothers Day.  It is obvious that they love her so much.  She does such a great job and the Mission Secretary. 
   The weather has finally gotten warm and the trees are leafing out and it is beautiful.  We had such a long hard winter.  Now we really appreciate summer.  I think today was the first day I haven't had a coat on since last fall.
   We love the work.  Our testimonies grow everyday.  Miriam and I have finished the B of M a few week ago and are now working our way through the New Testament.  We study, pray and work together everyday.  I love her and appreciate her so much!

May 4, 2014

   The pictures to the left were taken this week when we visited Dartmouth College to view an original B of M they have.  It was really neat to be able to hold it and thumb through the pages.  It made us wonder who was the original owner.  It has some differences to our modern day B of M in the editing and references.  It was wonderful and we wish it was held by the Church at the JSM.  This copy was donated to Dartmouth when the donor found it quite by accident when purchasing a large bunch of old books.  What a find!
   Miriam and I did another day of apartment checks.  The 2nd group of pictures are some of the missionaries at their apartments kin the Concord North Zone.  We were pleasantly surprised this time as how clean and organized they all were.  There was considerable time spent at zone conferences discussing the need keep their apartments cleaner and the  disappointment we experienced when no effort was made to prepare for our visits.  The message got through.
   The bottom picture is us with Lance.  He came to visit for a day. We spent most of the day in Boston and then came up to Manchester.  We had a great time with great food and lots of things to see.  He was in Washington DC on a dental convention and came to say hi.  We loved the 24 hours we had with him.  We love all our children and grandchildren so much.

April 27, 2014

   What a great day this was and last week was just awesome.  The top picture was taken today just before Gene Hartzell's baptism.  I am with Elders Walker, Parry and Gene's daughter Tiffany.
   I was blessed to be asked to help teach Gene and it was so wonderful watching him grow as he grasped the Gospel. Gene asked me to speak at his baptism and I always feel blessed when I participate.  He has a wonderful spirit and I know the Gospel will be a great blessing in his life. Tiffany is talking about her baptism now.  She hasn't committed yet but I am sure she will.  I love Elders Walker and Parry so much.  They are such great missionaries.
  The pictures to the lower right are of the Exeter Zone Conference that was held last Monday.  The two pictures on the lower left are of the Concord Zone Conference held this last Thursday.  This completed teaching all ten zones and what a blessing it was for us senior missionaries to not only teach them, but be with them and feel of their spirit.  We love them all so much.  President and Sister Stoker do such a good job and work so hard not only at zone conferences but always.  Their callings are so demanding.  We love them so!
   Last Tuesday, I and Elder Pettingill took beds to the new Randolph apartment and then went up to Colebrook NH to pick up the furniture of the Richards who just went home after completing their mission.  Then we took the furniture to the JSM in Vermont for the Likes.  They have just came to the mission from Denver Colorado.  They were in the same Ward as Max and Claire.  They will serve at the JSM.  I think we traveled 450 miles that day.
   Then Wednesday, Miriam and Sister Pettingill took the Bedford and Manchester Sisters to the JSM for a sisters conference.  It was a very long day but wonderful they said!
   Then on top of all of the above, the work in the mission office went on.  I guess we just never realized how busy missionary life was going to be.  But Miriam and I wouldn't have it any other way.
  The work is wonderful.  The Gospel is true and we love the work.
  

April 20, 2014

   We have found that April will end up being one of the busiest months of our Mission so far. On top of our regular assignments, we traveled to Bangor Maine for the Bangor Zone Conference.  The picture to the top right is Miriam and I in front of the only moose we could find.  It was at a rest stop just off the freeway.  Everyone is saying a lot about all the moose that are here, but we haven't seen any. 
   The lower left pictures are of the two Bangor Zones.  We love the missionaries so much.  We were able to teach them again on the power of the spirit in missionary work. We had a member provide lunch and as it turned out many of us got food poisoning from something we ate.  Many of our missionaries in those zones got violently sick. The sickness never hit until we all got back on Thursday.  Miriam got sick on Thursday and I got sick on Friday and I'm just getting over it now.  Goodness.  Sister Stoker got very sick too.  As well as Sister Aldous, Dr. Aldous's wife.  It has been an experience for sure.
  The lower right pictures are of the two Augusta Maine Zones.  After the we finished in Bangor we traveled to Augusta where we stayed the night.  We had a wonderful dinner with President and Sister Stoker, Dr. and Sister Aldous, and the Pettingill's.  Then on Wednesday, we taught the two zones then came back to Bedford.  Then the sickness started.
   Friday, I and Elder Pettingill went to Wolfboro to pick up some beds that are needed in Randolph.
   We were planning on having Easter at President and Sister Stokers.  But with all the illness, that was cancelled.  I felt well enough to go to sacrament meeting and we came home.  I was back in bed.  Miriam fixed a wonderful dinner and we celebrated Easter together.  Sacrament meeting was wonderful.  The talks were so inspiring.  I love our Savior so much.  I can't find the words to express my deepest feelings of love and appreciation.  I guess the best way is to live like we love him. 
   The weather is warmer.  Things are starting to green up and spring is definitely in the air.  Yea!