Pictures from December

Radio City Music Hall

Great little display


What a beautiful companion

THANKSGIVING IS OVER AND CHRISTMAS IS ON THE WAY

Hello Everyone,

It has been an event filled last 3 weeks and it is so cold outside that we couldn't (didn't want) go to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Call us wimpy if you will, but when it's 25 degrees outside and the wind is blowing 40 plus mph, it takes your resolve away. I settled for writing to our family and friends through our blog. We appreciate comments so respond as you feel inspired.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving at the home of Bp. and Sis. Bower, the bishop of the Kingston Ward. We had all the traditional goodies including Roma's sweet potato casserole and wonderful pies along with all the other traditional items. It was very good and the conversation was stimulating. The Bishop has been a member for about 10 years and before that he was a member of the Unifiction Church (You may remember Rev. Moon and the Moonie's). Their headquarters is just across the river from us and he and his wife had an arranged marriage in a very large ceremony at their large church. It is a long story and I will tell it sometime, but is far too long for this media. He is a great guy with a wonderful perspective on life and the gospel.

Sis. Farnsworth and I spoke in the Kingston Ward a couple of weeks ago and we are getting more acquainted as we spend time up there. It is a very fascinating area with much history. At the ward Christmas Dinner on Friday evening I sat next to an older gentleman who gave me a historical perspective of the area. It was fascinating. I learned that one of the early successful businessmen in the town's name was Farnsworth and that he had a large mansion on the water front. He directed me to the library where I might be able to find something of a history of this family. I am excited to start that adventure as I felt when we were travelling back that there may be relatives here in New York State as there is some references that I have seen in our geneology. This area is so deep in history and architecture. This area in 17-1800's has been a very prosperous area because of the Hudson River and its proximity to NYC. Beautiful big mansions and Churches everywhere. I hope I can find some heretofore names of family memebers to put into the family search files. We will look for some Wooley relatives as well. Many of the citizens of this country came through NYC so it is rich in Geneology information. One of the senior couples in our mission is just assigned to the NYC records at one of the city building where they copy records all day. I am not sure I would like it much but the couple doing it.

We taught a young female doctor of podiatry in the home of their doctor friend (a member and the elders quorum president). I think we were nervous and we tried to do too much. You get so anxious to help people come to understand the gospel, it hard not to go too fast. I hope we didn't scare her off as she is a great young woman and would make a great member. We will slow down a little bit and let her get to know us better before we try to explain the last days. We also taught a FHE lesson to a part member family to the children, but directed at the dad. We are trying to figure a time when we can go out for pizza before Christmas. He is a great guy also and a very family oriented father. Pray for us to have the Spirit when we teach and not to be too excited. It is so cool to meet people that are introduced to us by friends and family.

The senior couples in the mission have activities approximately once a quarter and we had a great time and adventure this past Wed. on our p-day. The mission had arranged for a show and dinner in NYC. We went to the Radio City Music Hall and watched the Christmas show with the Rockettes. I have seen it many times on TV, but the show is much more spectactular in such a beautiful theatre. NYC is all decked out in its Christmas finery. The lights and the decorations are so well done it is like a fantacy land. While we were in NYC we experienced one of those croud type events where the density of people is more than what it should be. There was people in your uncomfortable space and they had you complely surrounded. When the croud moved you move or you push them out of the way. It is an uncomfortable position if you don't like people in your space. It was the lighting of the Time Square Christmas Tree and there were people everywhere. We came down on the train to Grand Central Station then took the "1 train to the "S" train to 65th street and got off right in fron of the Temple and went to a very relaxing and small session at the temple. It is a highly functional building and very beautifully done on the inside. We walked down Broadway about 15 minutes and arrived at our restaurant and then walked around the corner to Radio City. When the show got over we hopped "1" subway to the "7" back to Grand Central to catch the MTC train back Poughkeepsie. All this was arrranged and directed by Sister Farnsworth who is very pleased with her ability to navigate around the city. We had a few moment of concern, but it all worked out and we made it home by 11:00PM after a fun and interesting day.

WE LOVE VISITORS

We have been late on our posting to the blog the last several weeks, but we are getting more busy as the days go by. We are finding as we work in both areas the same amount of time that we have less personal time. Thank goodness for p-days. The highlight for us the last couple of weeks has been a visit from our daughter Teri who took a few days ahead of her annual shopping blast to NYC with the Browns all female shopping blitz to visit us. This trip is nothing more than a buy off sham from the Brown men so they can spend a week hunting in New Mexico with no recrimination.

She arrived on Sunday evening and we picked her up at Laguardia in NYC and brought her back up to our apartment in Highland and she did a little missionary work with us. She went to a family home evening with us at a members house and went on another visit. On p-day we took the train down to the city where she took us to the Empire State Building and a few other sites. We took a few pictures of the city. It was a nice day and we enjoyed the time together. It was great to have her there to show us the subway tangle and explain a few of the secrets and have a great Kosher Hot Pastrami sandwich. We are getting more and more confident about going down to the city and learning the ropes.

As part of the holiday time, at our next Mission Conference, we will be performing a service project in Central Park. In these bad economic times, can you imagine how great Lowe's will feel when they get the order for 170 lawn rakes to clean up Central Park. We can spark the economy just from service projects. We are all excited about getting together with the entire mission and doing this service project. It takes a lot to run this mission and we have a great Mission President and his wife. They really keep the missionaries focused on finding and baptising. We the members need to be better at integrating new members into the church. Once a person joins the church, we have a tendency to believe that they know everything, all the terms, traditions and doctrine, let alone the people. There is a high level of less activies not just here, but throughout the church, due primarily to them not being fellowshiped and cared for. (No news there) Those who have a friend, a calling, and are nurtured by the good word of Christ become active and stay active.

We had some success last evening when the young elders, with us in the background, put on a community fireside about the beliefs of the Church. We had 3 non-members and 1 less active in attendance. They did a Power Point presentation that was based on the Articles of Faith and it was very well done. We handed out several Books of Mormon and set up teaching dates for those in attendance. We approached an inactive member of the Branch to preform a special musical number for the closing song, and she agreed to do it and did a wonderful job. We recently joined the local Chamber of Commerce with the blessing of the Mission and Stake Presidents, not to proselyte, but just to do service and meet people and try to expose the church to the business community. While meeting with the membership director, she said she loved Mitt Romney and felt he should have been the Republican Candidate for President. She asked if we were from the same church, we said yes and invited her to our little fireside and she came and received a BOM. We have also volunteered to tutor at the local Junior High School. Again we can't proselyte but it will give us exposure to teachers and administrators.
We are trying as many things as we can think of to get exposure for the church, short of going door to door. We try to meet as many neighbors as we can. We know they are curious about this well dressed couple and are gone most of the day and then have young well dressed missionaries visiting from time to time. We love curiosity. We try to talk with everyone we come in contact with and see if it leads to a pass a long card or further questions. When you have on the black name tag it makes you a little more bold and is actually fun. You meet some interesting people and it creates opportunities for people to question a little about the gospel. I think the statistic say that it takes 5-7 exposures to the church for people to become interested enough to learn more.

There are many ups and downs, but there are getting to be more ups than downs. With no direct instruction as to our duties, we have had fun innovating and trying new things. There is a family in the branch that have chickens and we buy fresh eggs from them for our use. We buy an extra dozen once in a while when we think it will help us get into the home of an inactive member. We appreciate all of your prayers and good thoughts. Please continue the prayers and send a long a letter once in a while, we like the hard copies as well as the telephone conversation.

The Lord continues to bless and direct us daily. We just have to listen and be perceptive and follow his direction.

We have been invited by the Kingston Ward Bishop for Thanksgiving dinner so don't worry about us splitting a drumstick all by ourselves.

We love you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

A special Happy Birthday to Jon Conley and Carl Baker, two great sons-in-law

Love Elder and Sister Farnsworth. Mom, Dad, Grandma, Papa H, and your favorite missionaries

WE LOVE OUR MISSIONARIES

The Gospel must be true! How could it not be if you had this group of missionaries teaching people in your area. They work hard and they like to have fun. This game is called ultimate darts. It is played with 1/2" pvc pipe in various lengths depending on if you are close quarter soldier or a trained sniper. The darts are 1/2" foam and about 3" long. You must play it in the Stake Center avoiding the chapel and hiding around any corner you can. The velocity of these darts are amazing and you can be hit by a sniper with a long tube at 40 yards.

Notice the rookie in the backrow. I ran out
of breath most of the time. Sis. Farnsworth
was the ransomed hostage


It was a very fun game until one of the Sister missionaries got part of the pvc pipe bumped into her mouth and lost a tooth and quite a bit of blood. As you might imagine the game is now strictly "verboten" and anyone seen attempting to fire a dart for any reason may receive the death penalty. (missionary speak for getting sent home). There is a whole new lingo out here which we will share with you as we learn all the terms. Sister Searle, the Presidents wife, is the enforcer when it comes to safety and when she says something Missionaries flee in all directions, she really is the sweetest person here, but can be all business.

Thank goodness for great women and their support. My companion is the greatest and we are enjoying this adventure stage of our life. It has its wonderful moments when the spirit bares witness to others when being taught and other tragic experiences that happen in all of our lives.
We had one of the most tragic experiences that we have ever been a part of this week. One of our branch members was murdered just after we left her home from what seemed to be a very friendly and uplifting visit. I will share the details in other correspondence. You experience the full range of emotion on a mission from the absolute sublime and loving feeling for a new convert to the depth of a member losing their life in a very tragic manner. God has a plan for all of us and we can avoid much tragedy in our lives by just living the commandments, but there are those times when the inherent brutality of this world can come to your door. God our Father and Jesus Christ His Son love us and and they created this wonderful world where we are allowed to chose for ourselves, unfortunately many choose evil and the effects of those choices can be devastating. The pure knowledge that He is in charge and will ultimately prevail is comforting. Justice and mercy will be the principle by which we are judge and blessed. We are his children. We wanted to come here that we might show our willingness to make the choice to love Him and follow Him. Should we not make the right decisions, He sent His only begotten son to suffer in our behalf that we may have mercy before our Father and to be judged in mercy's gift from Jesus Christ after all we can do.

Life can be difficult without the blessings that come from being obedient and knowing the Plan of Happiness. Even when we met with tragedy there is solace in knowing that Christ is there and has a plan for us and everything will be fine as we see it play out in our life. Teach your friends this great plan and help them come to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and how His Plan can influence and comfort them. You can all do it just open your mouth and tell them.

I have rambled a bit, please know that we love you and think about you often both family and friends. It is nice to get your comments on the blog, keep them coming. We like letters, Blog Comments, e-mail, packages and just about anything from home. Thanks for your letters Abby, Will, Milla, Oni, Ben, Val, and Stephanie.

Love Mom and Dad; Grandma Roma and Papa H; Elder and Sister Farnsworth; your favorite Missionaries

P.S.

OCTOBER HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: ERIN, STEPHANIE, TROY, AND FIONA. We love you all.

Mom and Dad

OUR FIRST MONTH

OUR FIRST MONTH

We have been out now for a little over a month and are beginning to get busy and enjoying the beginning of our mission. They don't give a lot of instruction to couple missionaries so we have had to make some executive decisions and just start working. No one has said we have done anything wrong, yet so I guess we just keep going until they tell us to do something differently. As I said before, we have been assigned a small branch in New Paltz and a ward in Kingston. There are some wonderful people here and we have enjoyed getting to know them and visit part member families and the less active. No one has been too rude to us so far and the newer converts that have gone a little less active still have a little light from their testimonies and are welcoming and several are coming back to at least visit again. We had our Primary program last week and Roma played the Primary songs and the children did a great job of participation. We had about 80 there and we re pushing the seating a little bit. You always get a bigger crowd for the Primary program. I taught the Gospel Doctrine class last week with 3 minutes notice, thank goodness for Seminary training and remembering a few of the high points in the Book of Mormon. It is beginning to be fun and we are getting busier. We were talking the other day that a big part of our days are buying gas and food. The people here in our branch can be as much as 25 miles away from us and the Mission Home is 60+ miles away so by the time we go to training sessions and visit members we are burning a little gas. Food because anytime we go to make a recipe we don't have something it calls for, so back to the market we go. Tomorrow is P-day and we are going down to NYC to scout the route to my first appointment at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute. We took a rather rushed visit last Saturday to the city and strengthened our resolve to take a train and subway versus trying to drive and park in NYC.

It is unbelievably beautiful here in the fall of the year as you might imagine. Just about every color can be seen on the trees and foliage in this area. We have included a few pictures which don't do it justice because of the quality of our camera and the e-mail distortion, but if you have never seen the fall in New England it is worth the trip. We have used our P-day to explore a bit and it has been a lot of fun. As we have the opportunity to teach and testify, our testimonies have become stronger and we have grown in appreciation of what the Lord has done for us and the light and warmth the gospel brings to people's life. It is amazing to me how many people who just live there life with no direction and no goals. We love the work that the gospel asks us to do and the people it teaches us to become. Being able to serve full time is a blessing of which can't be described and we are not yet as busy as we could be. We were recently assigned to handle missionary apartments, so we have gotten our white gloves out to inspect and help the missionaries remember what their mother's taught them. Like the stripling warriors, they must remember the faith their mothers taught as well as the cleanliness of their quarters.

Above are a few pictures of this area and the beauty that is here in upstate New York





Love Mom and Dad; Grandpa and Grandma; Elder and Sister Farnsworth

WE ARE OFF

After a wonderful and spiritual week in the MTC we were all pumped and ready to teach all of God's children in New York State about the Plan of Salvation. The MTC is a wonderfully spiritual place full of the hustle and bustle of a very busy organization with young and older missionaries everywhere. You hear multiple languages and ways to teach the Gospel most effectively in every corner, classroom, and hallway. Add the Holy Ghost and you have a very powerful combination of strength and direction. Its hard to describe, but a unique experience for us and one we are very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate.



We got all packed up from our 5 days staying with Troy and Teri in their new apartment in Provo, (we did not stay at the MTC) ,and headed for Roosevelt Utah to spend 2 days with Roma's dad and her family in the Uintah Basin.


We had a great time visiting with everyone topped off with one of those old fashioned family dinners with all the most recently harvested fresh vegestables with roast beef and rolls. Did I mention desert. We both ate too much.


We left with many tears from all the family and it was finally good to be on our way. Our journey took us through 12 states and 3,000 miles. We have never taken a cross country trip so it was the first time we had the oportunity to see the beauties of this great countries heartland. We saw more corn than all the cattle in the world could consume, thank goodness for ethenol or corn would become the most used grain in America. It was none-the-less beautiful and we were thankful to live in suh a great country. The midwest is a very clean part of the country with manacured farms, beautifully mowed with little litter and debris anywhere to be found. It was great to see the pride people take in their land.




The highlite of the trip was a stop at the historic Church sites in Nauvoo and Carthage ,Illinois.

We were both touched and appreciative of the early saints, their courage, grit, hard work, love, perserverence and leadership. We truly have a heritage that blessed the past, current and future members of our church. Roma did much of the driving and so we arrived safely in Highland-New Paltz area to begin our mission. We talked with Mission President about not going to the Mission Home first and he let us come and get into our apartment before going to see him in the mission office. We are scheduled to have dinner with Pres. and Sis. Searle tomorrow.


We are here and have been to church where Roma was immediately drafted into playing the piano for sacrament meeting and primary. We have been to 2 family home evenings, and several member visits and trying to remember names. Roma has them all down and has to remind me of the ones I forget.


We are very happy to be here and begin our service, it is exciting and we are starting to see where we might have an impact.


Pray for us, and for the work. We appreciate what influence it has on us and how the Lord helps us.

We made a quick trip to California to say our goodbyes to Stacey, Jon and sweet little Hailey. Jon knows so many great places to eat it's always an experience to come and visit and try his new finds. We ate here at a fabulous Brazilian restrauant down in Hollywood. BOSSANOVA's and then creamwiches at DIDDY REISE. What a treat. Stacey and Jon have moved into their home since we were here last.

We've also said goodbye to Steph and the boys a week ago. Carl never made it up. So hard to say goodbye and know how many changes will occur and the growth these little ones will make.

Less than a week and we will be hitting the road.

Later,

H & R

NYC Here we Come!

Harold and I decided that we wanted to keep a blog while we are on our mission in New York so that we could keep friends and family updated. There are 23 days and counting until we leave, and we each time we cross something off our list, we end up adding two more tasks. We have waited a long time to be able to serve as a couple and cannot believe the day is rapidly approaching. We are excited, nervous, and humble by this opportunity to serve the Lord. We hope that this blog will be of interest and we will try to write about the wonderful experiences that are sure to come.