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