February Blog

We had an amazing February! It began with a Temple Trip to the Palmyra Temple with the Gaines Family. We have worked with that family for over a year. We love them and were thrilled when Bro. Gaines was able to get his life in order and to take his little family to be sealed in the Temple. Fortunately, we were able to be an integral part in that entire process. This will clearly be one of the great memories and blessings from our mission here in New York.

In the middle of the month, we were able to make another Temple trip; this time to the Montreal, Quebec, Canada Temple. We are actually quite a bit closer to Montreal than we are to Palmyra. We love the feelings we experience when we go to the Temple and so this month was a good time for us to enjoy the Temple experiences.

Of course, we have our usual routines, around which we build our other activities. As we mentioned in the January Blog, we enjoy our volunteering efforts with the Salvation Army. Nearly every Tuesday evening and every Friday morning, we can be found there doing our little bit to assist so many others whose needs are greater than our own. Serving others has become a real part of our lives and we love doing it. In addition to that work, we spend much of our time simply visiting people in our little Branch and doing what we can to help them with their lives.

Perhaps one of the best things for us is the association we have with the young missionaries who are serving here in our area. We are so impressed by the quality of their lives. They are faithful, hard-working, and dedicated servants of the Lord and we feel privileged just to associate with them.

We did have some really cold weather in a few spots during the month but for the most part it was just chilly with an occasional light snow storm. After last winter, this winter simply seems to pale in comparison. In truth, we won’t miss the cold weather when we return to Arizona. However, we are not all that thrilled with the prospect of the really hot weather during the summer months there and will probably take advantage of friends and family who live in milder summer climates.

Gaines Family at Palmyra Temple 

President & Sister Rogers (seated center) and the Senior Missionaries in the New York Utica Mission at our Zone Training Meeting 

Frederick Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg - we hosted the Senior Missionaries from our district (New York Utica Mission)

Our Branch President's wife crocheted ties for our elders

Nipper (on Linda's shoulder)

Jim helping the Marsh Family with their genealogy

January Blog

  

Normally, when we run out of things to say, we talk about the weather. However, that is how we will begin our Blog for January. The weather has been highly unusual for January in the North Country. We had a couple small snow storms but by the end of the month the snow was almost all gone. Wow! We are not complaining and know that we still have some winter ahead of us but this has just been amazingly mild.

During the month, we continued with all of our usual routines, which included volunteering at the Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry for the Salvation Army. We have literally learned the names of nearly all of the people who come to the Salvation Army for those services. In addition, we put our usual 2000+ miles on our car going to and from members’ and investigators’ homes. Included in that is a lot of time providing rides for some of the members who don’t have cars. It is a labor of love!

On January 16^th, we made another trip to Montreal to attend our Temple there. Then on the 20^th, we were privileged to participate in a Worldwide Missionary Conference where we were instructed by three Apostles and several other General Church Officers. With the technology available, we were able to be here in New York while the instruction was being done in Utah. It was a wonderful meeting!

On a more personal note, we began the New Year with our dear friends, Elder and Sister Clay (Marc and Kathy). In addition, we were able to be in touch with some of our family via Skype and emails during the month. Of course, Linda and Michelle text each other almost on a daily basis. Also, with the help of Jim’s siblings and a real estate agent, our little home farm in Colorado was sold. We actually closed the deal on January 20^th.

With the Clay's for New Years

Missionary luncheon in Potsdam