Squirrel, Stew and the Humongous Fungus

It has been raining much this week until, strangely, General Confrence came; when it stopped and turned beautiful. The rain made everything nice and green except the trees which are turning beautiful shades of red, yellow and gold. Sister J suffered from the cooler damper weather as her arthritis was acting up. It is much improved today.
We had FHE at the Klatts with the Elders and our returning teachee Br. Murra. It was a nice surprise to see he had been invited. Their son Cole, who is preparing for a mission, cooked us Navajo Tacos. If that was an indication of his abilities he is going to make someone a very happy companion. Sister Klatt prepared a very nice lesson and I brought the Elder Rasband talk on missionary selection to share. Br. Murra invited a non-member acquaintance we might be able to teach as well.
Since the Elder's car went in for repairs I volunteered to feed them lunch prior to our last District meeting, with the current make up of missionaries, before transfers in 2 weeks. We went to Hardees (Carl's Jr west...literally) and added a correlation component to make it seem official. We have decided that the Elders will focus their work within 20 miles of IM and we will work more on the outskirts (20-50 miles). Exceptions will abound I am sure.
Wednesday was our day to travel west. We were able to catch Kris Royal and have made a standing appointment for Wednesdays. She was very receptive we taught her half of a first discussion as she will need to move slower. We left a Restoration DVD and asked her to write down 3 questions, as she watched it, which we will discuss later. On the way back we drove through Crystal Falls home of the Humongous Fungus. It's big and ancient, look it up. In Florence we met and encouraged Tim Jeffords who is struggling with Parkinson's. His son Chris, Marianne's husband, was there so we were able to meet with them both. He is a trucker and is gone for long periods of time. His wife is here, however, and could be a big asset to the
branch.
On Thursday it was time to meet again with Br. Peters who attends every Sunday and who's family are all members. President Jones suggested we use Alma 32 to help those who need to know how to know. That was the lesson we gave. Elder Christofferson, in a previous Stake Conference, had pointed to this process as an upward cycle of small faith followed by a small confirmation followed by small bits of knowledge until we come to the full knowledge of Christ and his gospel and can say with total assuredness that "know", a little at first then finally we KNOW. I felt impressed to challenge him to be baptized, he said yes...when he knew. We will see if he was willing to apply the words of Alma. And yes we will try for a specific date.
We followed this visit with our scheduled one to Br. Murra. He was there and had begun to read the B of M. We taught lesson #1 in the GP manual and tried to answer his question about where suicides go in the next life. His wife died that way. We told him our goal was for him to receive the Melchizedek priesthood and go to the temple. We explained he needed an appointment with the branch president to initiate that process.
Friday we went back to our normal procedure of looking for members in far away places. In doing so we visited Sagola, Felch, Foster City and Crystal Falls again...in that order. I had an impression this past week to look for an investigator that was in the Area Book of the previous elders. They had met with and taught this 32 year old woman and her husband about 6 months ago. We found her home! she invited us in and was very cordial. We will return next week and see if we can get some teaching appointments with them. I missed it completely but Sister J noticed a copy of a print by Greg Olson on her table.
The brethren here meet at 6:00 prior to priesthood session and have a barbecue, brats and burgers. The conversation turned to other forms of food that nature provides i.e. squirrel, good barbecued; possum, greasy unless soaked in vinegar; beaver, which is a great stew meat and bear; just plain good. Things are going well but we are not particularly excited about being asked to eat with members anymore.
We love you all...this is the best time ever,
Elder and Sister J

Pasties..meat pies that have been to school

Pasties are the local ethnic food, if Cornish people are considered ethnic. It is pronounced past as in the opposite of future. It is a largish meat pie that miners could stuff in their shirts next to their bodies and carry with them into the mine. At lunch time they would put the pasty on their shovel and heat it over the candle they were using to see with. This week we stopped in at a local Senior Center to see if we could volunteer. Maria asked us if we could make pasties. We said no but we could learn. So now we will start at 5:30 a.m., once a month, and go and make pasties for a few hours. The center sells the pasties for $4.00 each to make money to help run the center.
The Menominee River is the border here between WI and MI. It empties into Green Bay between the towns of Menominee and Marinette. District meeting was in Menominee because the DL had a baptismal interview to give. Before meeting we had a very nice lunch overlooking the Bay. It was in a small park with nice play areas for the kids, you would have loved it. It was totally serene...without our beloved grandkids. Sister J took the missionaries bags of candy corn and peanuts. They loved it.
Mid-week I needed to get the car insured. BTW did you know that if you want a good price on car insurance from a MI company you will have to register your car in MI which means a change of title for the new plates and instead of the DMV you go to the Secretary of State. Having met with my future agent last week (the bear lady) I was determined to give her a B of M this week, which I did although I was a little flustered and forgot to commit her to read it.
We are continuing to visit ward members. We left the "Testaments" at a brother's house who is having a hard time with his Parkinson's. We met a brother who is coming back after 20 years, he agreed to have us come each week. We will teach him out of the Gospel Principles book. We visited another brother, a non-member, who is a regular attender. His entire family are members so we need to find his objection to baptism, we are hopeful.
It has rained a lot this week but this coming week it looks to warm up and be clear by the weekend. If it rains on you at Conference we will get it a couple of days later. Speaking of conference, we were able to stream RS Conference. WOW! They have a tradition of the men meeting for brats before Priesthood session which starts here at 7:00. It remains to be seen if there will be any sweet rolls waiting for me when I return.
Church today was...interesting...they called Sister J to be the RS secretary, can they do that? We had a fantastic HC speaker and his wife. Great topics, great spirit, great job. He is James Marker whose dad served with your grandpa Mills in a bishopric. He teaches Physiology at the University of WI at GB and like most of the saints here is very valiant and assured.
Keep the faith, it won't be long now.
Elder Dad and Sister Mom

Bears, Mustangs and Yorkies oh my...

Monday evening we had a wonderful time with The RS President and her husband. Their home is literally in the woods. Our "GPS" gave up when the road we were on turned into a logging road. Fortunately the lots all have their own numbers which makes it easy to find them. It is a large manufactured home that has been there around 30 years with a beautiful yard currently guarded by about 5 of the cutest Yorkies in existence. The people that live here are very self sufficient. They know how to plow their roads, cut wood, garden and do all of their own maintenance. Tom ended up giving me lessons in UP geology, geography and history, I ate it up. We saw deer all over. "They are like rats here" volunteered one member. And yes there is other fauna that you may not want to personally encounter like bears. While waiting for my car insurance to be transferred to MI the agent showed me pictures emailed to her of a bear lumbering across a friends yard last week. Speaking of fauna did I mention the wild turkeys everywhere, there are gobbles of them.
During the week we have been visiting "bad addresses" those on the branch list from which mail has been returned. Most existed but the members have been gone around 5 years. While thus engaged we have also met inactive members. One day way out in the country a Mustang passed us on a dirt road with UT plates. I thought to myself, I wonder, and sure enough she was headed to the same members house we were looking for. Turns out she married one of the sons of that member and was here helping her father-in-law cope with his Parkinson's...his wife had recently died. She described herself as "inactive, I smoke" but I think she might be someone we could encourage back into activity. We will mention our encounter to the RS President.
We took time to visit a local museum. We saw the actual Cornish Pump (Wikipedia) and. learned that Ford built a plant here in Kingsford to build gliders that were used in WWII. They were made of fabric and wood of which there is an abundant supply around here. Thousands were built and even used in the D-day invasion of France, hence the name of the airport...Ford. Catch a flight it's about 3 miles from our house. The Ford company had such an impact on the locals the the mascot of the HS is the Flivver (look it up).
The biggest thrill of the week was stake conference held in Green Bay. A powerful spirit was at all of the meetings and with all of the speakers. The member's love for each other and for the gospel of Christ left a lasting impression on us. We received an invitation to speak at the Houghton branch, if we do we will probably need to do so before it snows as the stories about snow at that place are legend around here. We were very warmly greeted by everyone. Almost all say what a big impact we will have here in Iron Mountain. We are praying it will be so and do appreciate your prayers in our behalf.
The mini-record is done for this week, Sister J is making the official one because she can actually type.
So long...for now, Elder J

Week one down only 99 to go!

And what a good week it was with unseasonably warm weather, in the 80s, and very beautiful blue skies. This is indeed Zion north. (I know our opinion may change in February) After time at the county fair on Labor Day where we got to rub elbows with some members, we continued to work on our new place to make it a more suitable place for us to live. Wednesday was our first District meeting in Marquette right on Lake Superior. There is a ward in Marquette with a rather large building. An older brother was manning the Family History center and had lived there 40 years serving as Branch and District President while raising 11 children. He explained that before the local AFB was decommissioned attendance was twice as high as it is today. There are 3 sets of Elders, one set of sisters and us in the district. It is very fulfilling and uplifting to sit where all of our children have sat across from these very capable and motivated young men and women, God's army, and to be even a small part of it. We are slowly getting our bearings and learning what the Lord would have us do. We received some training from our very capable district leader. Sister Johnson voluntered to play the piano and they all enjoyed the lemon cake that she made for them. There are a decent number of investigators being taught which made us feel like something was happening...note to self remember to be patient, it will come. To that end we have decided to get acquainted with the Branch members one on one. We visited 2 families yesterday and have an appointment with the current RS President on Monday whose husband is a non-member. Here is an interesting aside, Amy's grandparents the Riggs served in this very area, Iron Mountain, 30 years ago.

In Wisconsin wait it's Michigan

We arrived late the 1st of September in Kingsford MI, which for those who care is 100 miles NORTH of Green Bay. The area is fantastic, to me much like Island Park but with more people. Speaking of people they have been great. The librarian at the local library (Dickinson County) was a little grumpy however. Wearing those little black missionary tags causes various reactions...mostly positive. The local leaders were anxious to meet with us. It is a very small Branch with about 30 in attendance each Sunday. Our principal assignment will be to locate "lost" members in the area, remind them they are loved and missed and encourage them to return to activity. We are living in a house that is leased by the mission. We are the first to live in it after a complete makeover. It is not much to look at (1017 West Breen Ave., street view) but the inside is great with a king bed and a second bedroom plus a large living room that can accommodate a family. We are not suffering. You are all missed but what we are doing is enough to compensate for that. Bye for now.

On our way...but to Oregon?

We began our preparation to Wisconsin, then we decided to take that vacation we promised ourselves after we retired. This morning we find ourselves in Washinton headed for Astoria and then on to the coast. Preston, Michele and Parker are with us. We will explore for a time then it's back to Utah to finish our prepatation.

Mission Here We Come

The family will be gathering tonight to witness the opening of "The Call". It is our wish to be sent into the world to a place where the Lord can best use our talents. Where that place is, remains to be seen and will be announced later in this space. Today I am just getting re-acquainted with our blog.

So, our talents will be best used in the Wisconsin Milwaukee mission. We are VERY excited. We enter the MTC on August 22nd. For those who care, this is not a German speaking mission but it is a mission with people that speak German. We hope to regularly post to this blog over the next two years...stay tuned.