More pictures and details of our mission start

As we were in the process of getting settled, we spent a day visiting our daughter in their home in Medina, and later that day, she and four of their children came to our home and stayed the night with us.

Our grandson at their home in Medina

The four grandchildren in our front room in Hornell

In the days after that visit, we met again with our branch and really enjoyed getting to know our people here. They had Branch Conference last week so we also get to meet some of the stake people as well.

The next day, we spent much of the day visiting (or trying to find) a number of our members. We also were able to discover some back roads that probably were not intended to be used in this winter time. Our car is much muddier that it was before, but we have enjoyed seeing new wonderful people and beautiful places. This part of New York is really quite rural and down-to-earth.

Above is a view from the area north of Wayland, New York, below a sunset we saw as we were leaving Springwater, New York

Last night we attended an informal get-together at the church building and enjoyed immensely laughing with and learning from people new to us. Also, earlier that day, Shauna had some wonderful visits, particularly one beautiful spirit who had a very inspiring story of her conversion to the church. We are richly blessed to be here.

We live near the Canisteo River

Blessings and a New Start

This highlights the tender mercies of the Lord and how they played a part in the starting of our new mission here in New York.

The light given to us by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, not only lightens our way ahead and helps us in our decisions, but also casts a light back illuminating to our view the great blessings and tender mercies that we have received by the grace of our Savior. It is being close to and sensitive to the Spirit that makes us truly thankful for the touch of the Lord in our lives.

This spiritual thought came to me during the night a day ago. Here is what that light shows of those great blessings.

In the few days prior to leaving Utah. Shauna and I were continuing in our involvement with people we grew to love in our last mission. One such person was very sick and requested a blessing. We took with us our youngest son (who also has been recovering from a fairly difficult bout of a cold and coughing). Through the experience, I felt the Spirit help as we gave the blessing, but I had an inward request that Shauna and I would not be affected by our exposure to those who were so ill. Neither of us became sick and our health is good to this day here in Hornell, New York. That is a great blessing, directly showing the help of the Lord in our lives.

As we traveled across Wyoming, though the skies were clear and no storms threatened us, the winds were fierce and the little amount of snow on the ground still blowed and stuck across the highways along the way. There was even a semi-trailer truck along the road that had blown over. We were protected and suffered no difficulty as we traveled. We arrived safely in Fort Collins and attended the temple there. It was a beautiful temple and we enjoyed the spirit. As we were getting ready to leave our motel the next morning, we met a couple in the breakfast room and spoke with them about the Gospel and the church. Shauna gave her the copy of the Book of Mormon that was her own personal book, obtaining a promise that she would read it.

We visited the Winter Quarters temple and then Chicago temple during the next two days, staying with the Bethers family that next night. We had a wonderful visit with the family, getting better acquainted with them and feeling the love that was evident in their home.

Shauna at the Chicago Temple

Next we visited the Indianapolis and Columbus (Ohio) temples and on to spend the night with Shauna's sister and her husband in Virginia. They treated us very well, especially with his good cooking. We also attended stake conference sessions with her Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

We arrived in Maryland Sunday afternoon and spent time with our son and his beautiful family. While we were there, a notorious "Nor-easter" arrived with severe winter weather. Instead of heading up to Medina, NY as planned to visit our daughter and family before starting our mission, we delayed and stayed in Maryland until Friday because of the difficult road conditions left by the crazy nor-easter. We enjoyed our stay with our son and family immensely.

Our Hornell home, showing some of the snow left from the nor'easter

Arrival at our new home in Hornell came Friday afternoon, meeting our good Elders Wagstaff and Smith at the house. They helped is move our things into the house. That Sunday we attended our new Branch meetings, but left early so we could meet up with another son and his wife who were in town in Pennsylvania from Oregon. We had a nice meeting with them and enjoyed the visit. Finally on the 20th we made our way to the mission home in Pittsford, New York and met President Evans and others and enjoyed some time there with them.

New York Rochester mission home building

Finally, after our start of our mission, we spent a night with our daughter and family in Medina before returning to Hornell. What a great adventure we experienced. Now we have a great beginning of our new adventure of serving the Lord in Hornell, New York.

We have now been privileged to get to know some wonderful people here. In the past few days, we visited the homes of many people, visiting with some in their homes and feeling the love that our Savior has for them. The Lord is granting us some amazing tender mercies. We thank Him for His great love that we feel and see here in this quiet little place.