Views of the area, Easter and getting to know people

Over the past few weeks, we have enjoyed getting to know the people of the branch and area more. This region of New York is referred to as the "Southern Tier," meaning basically that it is the southern part of central and western New York - the counties along the Pennsylvania border. It is a mostly rural area and the pace of life is much more relaxed. The branch covers an area of 640 square miles and has a population of a little over 40,000 people, and is mainly a lot of small hamlets and a few villages and a city (Hornell). Everything in New York is divided into townships and in the area of townships there are the villages, cities and hamlets. We live in the Town (township) of Hornellsville, which contains the city of Hornell, and part of Steuben County.

There are a lot of rolling hills and small roads going everywhere. One day we headed out to visit a member family who live out quite a ways. It is not uncommon to have a fair amount of land with a house on it, lots of woods - all beautiful. Here is a picture we took as we left their place, showing the sunset.

There are also a lot of small lakes and ponds - and swamps and streams. It is quite wet here. Below is the hamlet of Loon Lake. It is about 20 minutes northeast of Hornell, and is on the route we take to get to the temple in Palmyra.

This morning, I took a walk up the hill across from our home. I went about 3/4 of a mile and a rise of about 400 feet and took this picture looking into the valley where Hornell is situated. Hornell is along the Canisteo River.

Our church building is situated in the very north part of the township area, near the village of Arkport. It is on a road called "The Avenue of the Oaks." One of the members said that when the church building was being built, that they decided to plant some oak trees out front, since there really are not many (if any) actual oaks on this avenue. The building was completed in 1999. It is a smaller building but works well for us.

The village of Canisteo is a nice community and a number of our members live there. It is just south of Hornell. The village boasts of having the largest living city sign. It is made up of small trees or bushes.

Over the Easter weekend, we had family come and visit. The branch had an Easter egg activity and Aaron's family was there.

Also that weekend, Mary's family were at the Moore farm nearby and we joined them to watch the family perform the Greek tragedy, Antigone. They did an amazing performance.

The work we do here is mainly to visit members and especially those who need support or help. We love getting acquainted with them and making new friends here. People struggle with problems of life and we see how the blessings of our Savior and His Atonement can touch and lift people. In one of Shauna's recent letters she summarizes:

Our new friends in the Hornell branch are wonderful!  We are still trying to get names down and meet everyone.  If I have time I ask them for their conversion stories.  I asked one sweet sister how many in the branch were converts - first members in their family.  She said about 98% had searched for the truth and found it.  Every story I have heard so far has the common theme of seeking the Lord in prayer for His church and the missionaries or friends coming to their door.  Many were brought to the gospel through their spouses.  As missionaries we truly do not ever convert.  That is left to the spirit and the Lord preparing them for the gospel.  It is like being 180 years back in time during history of this area as the church was organized and everyone were converts.  They are an impressive group as they try to love each other and serve the Master.

We see the Lord's hand in the work here. It is a blessing to have this opportunity. We miss friends and family back home, but know they are in good hands. Our prayers are for you all.

Visits, Spring and the temple

We are enjoying the visiting of homes of members here. The Relief Society president and the Branch President gave us a list of people to visit and it is fun to get to know them. We also have enjoyed the start of Spring and especially listening to the messages of General Conference.

Shauna gave a wonderful summary in her weekly message:

"It is a wonderful thing to be in a little town in southern New York state, hidden deep in the rolling hills just waiting to burst with spring, and hear the words of prophets and apostles living on the earth today.  What wonderful messages of peace and strength.  The Holy Ghost will indeed support us in the trials of today if we just listen for His still small voice."

This is in front of one of our members' homes, showing Spring trying to get through the snow

We have had a lot of rain here, but I guess that is normal for this part of the country. Yesterday, in our travels, it rained off and on, but the day was pleasant, nonetheless. In the morning, we took the Elders with us as we drove to the temple in Palmyra. This time we even did it without consulting a map guide on our phone. State highway 21 actually connects our little town with the temple, though we vary from that highway at times for better connection. At the temple, we enjoyed meeting our daughter and two grandsons and participated with baptisms for the dead. The temple workers comments that it was the busiest morning at the baptistry on record. I had the honor of baptizing two grandsons, my daughter and my wife all as proxy for deceased family relatives. As we came out, we saw our mission president waiting there.

This is Elder Wagstaff and Elder Smith standing with President Evans at the Palmyra temple

Also, in the past week, we started another form of service for the area. I am a member of Find-a-Grave and was curious about any requests for photos of graves in the area. People who have ancestors or family in particular cemeteries request someone to go there and take pictures of the grave stones. I found that the main cemetery near here, the Rural Cemetery of Hornell, had well over 200 requests still pending. We visited the cemetery and started taking pictures of gravestones, transcribing them and uploading it all onto the website. Some of you may have seen FamilySearch presenting Find-a-Grave entries as source material. That is what we started doing here in some of our off-times.

We love working and serving here!