Today was a mixed emotion day. We had some great tours, but we found that one of our missionaries is leaving for an ET. That's an emergency transfer meaning that there is some missionary without a companion and Elder Craig is going to be his new comp. It is a little like saying goodbye to a son. He will be missed and we hope to see him at some other time on the mission. He will be at zone conferences which we get to be at when they are here at our chapel. The bottom picture is of Elders Barnes and Craig. The next one is of Brother Perry...or "Dickey" as he likes to be called. He is, to say the least, a character. The top picture is of the missionaries that we serve with. The first couple on the left are the Johnstons, The next ones are the Starleys. Next to them is Elder Craig, Elder Chen, and Elder Barnes. That's 'Old What's 'is name' and Sister Fisher. Next are the Charchenkos and then the Schucks. A phenomenal group of servants of the Lord.

A bright new Sunday morning!! We will have to walk through this and drive through this to go to church today. Is this beautiful or what?!!!! My chains haven't come yet though and that makes me a little nervous.

Look at the beautiful animals around here. These ones are from Canada...wouldn't yuh guess!!! Gorgeous aren't they?! The black one is more rare than albinos. These came from my friend in England.

We see that winter is coming a bit earlier than it usually does around here. It snowed as you saw in the last blog, but that went before the next day. However, it is snowing as I type. I will get a picture of it and post it as soon as I can...maybe in a few minutes. I include one picture which I took out the door of our apartment and as you can see it is dark and snow is on the ground. We anxiously await the arrival of the chains I ordered for the car. We may be stranded here if we don't get them soon. With nothing else to include, I will include one of my pictures. I hope this one turns out. They don't scan very well for some reason.
Today was a slow day. Sister Fisher had one tour and I had none. The Johnstons had only a couple all shift for them and likely no more for the Schucks who came on after us. We do a lot of reading and studying and I do a lot of drawing. I am glad to be back into it again. I have several pictures drawn of the prophets and will likely draw them all before winter is over. Keep praying for us...we need all the help we can get and God does answer prayers. We have seen it here over and over again. What a wonderful experience this is. Love to all of you.

As you can see, today is October 27, 2011 and it has snowed today. We didn't expect the white stuff for another few weeks at least. It has rained here a lot more than usual according to the locals. We don't need the snow yet though it is pretty. Sister Fisher is a little nervous about the roads and the lack of snow tires on our car. We also don't have the chains that I ordered for it.
The pictures are of the snow and the lack of leaves on the trees already without the gorgeous array of colors this place is famous for. The other picture is of Elder and Sister Starley up in the lift putting up some of the 160,000 lights that will be up by Thanksgiving. I will certainly show you some of them when they are turned on on the day after Thanksgiving.

Well...today was our 42nd anniversary and still marvel at how she has put up with me all these years. We celebrated by going to Lebanon to get some ice cream, but the line was too long. We just came home and went to work at the site. We each had one tour for our whole shift. We then had family home evening and sang a bunch of wonderful songs. I realized that if I sang next to these guys and Elder McGregor, that I could do okay...not great, just okay. Elder Craig and Elder Barnes and the ones in the pictures, and I don't have one of Elder Chen. You have seen Elder McGregor already, but I'll show him again. He's the one in yellow!!!
The top picture is my companion of 42 years and I love her.

Well...today is Sunday and we had a very spiritual meeting. The Charchenkos talked and they were fantastic. They are FM missionaries here on site and they do a great job. They work hard all day and then come out to FHE, and help out with service for Irene victims in the area. These are great people and we are glad to know them.
Yesterday, I had the most difficult experience of all the experiences that I have had. A man by the name of Dave came to the sight and he was a little reclusive and didn't want to be in on a tour. He just wanted to sit and listen. He would walk in and almost sneak around to listen without being in the tour. After the last part of one of my tours he came and asked me why the "LDS church celebrates Easter". I tried to answer him that it was just the time of year that we celebrate the death and resurrection of the Savior. He wanted to argue that it was celebrating "ostara" or "oestara" (he even spelled them out to me). I couldn't get a word in edgewise and finally had to yell at him to stop talking and listen. I told him this was supposed to be a sacred and spiritual place and he was not allowing that to happen. He then started in on why we had an "obelisk" as something we worshiped? I was getting pretty frustrated because he was baptized three years ago!!! We finally took him back to his hotel room in Lebanon...twenty miles of listening to him rant on about how he was so persecuted and hard done by. We love him just the same.
Now...just some of my favorite pictures. Hope you enjoy.
The last picture is one of a burned out electrical socket. It was in the attic of the visitors center and the camera it fed was hit by lightning and this could have caught our entire center on fire. When Elder Charchenko went into the attic to see what the problem was...he found this and it caught on fire again in his hand. Providence.
The second picture is of the sunrise here in Vermont. It is not a forest fire...honest.
The last picture is of the method some have had to use to get the kids to school since Irene.

It rains and is overcast so much that I can't seem to get a good picture of the landscape with the beautiful colors that are here. The fall foliage is gorgeous, but hard to photograph with my little wanna-be camera. We went on a train ride yesterday for our "P" day. We had to go shopping and it was right on the way. We wish we had just gone shopping. The ride was boring and nauseating all in one. We rocked back and forth for an hour one way and immediately went in reverse for another hour. We read a little about the area and listened to a man who struggled to read, do so telling us of the history of the area. Most we couldn't hear! But here is the train and a little of the countryside we went through. The last picture is one of Hyram Smith that I drew for Elder Craig as he is a direct descendant of our first Patriarch. The white things are a way the farmers here create silage for feeding their livestock.

Today is Sunday and we had Stake Conference in Montpelier. That's about 40 miles north on I-89. We couldn't go because we had to be on duty. I didn't get any good pictures today but did get some yesterday as I was coming home from getting something at the store. I can't download the video for some reason and will have to settle for the pictures of a Vermont sunrise. Gorgeous isn't it?

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I'm trying a new blog interface and it seems to have a lot more room to create things. It may work out just fine. Today, we had a calm day. Only a few tours due to the inclement weather somewhat. It has rained the entire time we were on duty, with only the exception when Sister Fisher was talking to a couple on the walkway. I snapped it and the other pictures in this post. We have a ward social tonight and hope all goes well. It may not be well attended due to the weather also. I'll let you know tomorrow. Isn't Sister Fisher good at this missionary stuff?!! Notice how nice and bright the flowers are? Sister Charchenko replanted some of the yellow ones into the front just yesterday. They keep it so nice here.

GREAT DAY!!!!

Today was a great day. We were busy all shift long. I have taught the story of Joseph's birth and related topics to a lot of different people now and never tire of it. Today was non-stop and it tired me out, but was oh so worth it. I don't have any new pictures and will try to get some new ones that apply to the goings on of the day, but for now I will just throw in a few of the things we saw yesterday. We went with the McGregors to Stowe, Vermont. It is like Park City in many ways. We got some fantastic pictures this time because there wasn't any clouds.
I threw in a few pictures of the "P" day trip to Stowe with my "mission companion". Notice the gorgeous colors we have now?! This is a picture looking down on the gondola and the surrounding area. WOW...what a day!

There are some wonderful people working here to maintain the beauty of the place. These are two of them. They are the ones that plant these gorgeous flowers and keep them looking good all the time.
Nature is doing it's thing right now as the leaves are turning and the "leaf peepers" are starting to show up. The pictures in this blog only show a small part of the area where we live. Tomorrow there will be more as the color deepens. The leaves have started to fall too early this year and the local folks here say it won't be as bright as in some years in the past because of that.

I don't have any new pictures to put in the blog, but I have a few things to share with you. We had a meeting yesterday with President Wilkey and it was fantastic. Some of the missionaries that will be going home shortly bore their tetsimonies and Elder McGregor who is one of the facilities management missionaries talked about the small things that we are involved in that are the things that make the greatest effect sometimes and it really hit home to me. He is a wonderful human being...married to one of the sweetest sisters God put on earth. We love them a will be getting together with them when we get home. They live close to Paul and Kaela. We will be expecting 'ribs' when we meet.
I'll throw in a few pictures that I took in the past that likely won't have anything to do with this narrative.
The two in yellow are Elder and Sister McGregor out checking out the stream on the site during "Irene".

Yesterday was our "P" day and we just decided to go to Lebanon, NH via the back road. It was a delightful journey, but along with the beauty that we saw, we got to see the devastation that some of the folks here went through. Unlike the folks in the south when they were hit with disaster, these folks just dug in and cleaned up the best they could. If someone was left homeless, others would take them in and care for them. Those who weren't hit helped those who did. The members of the church here are known for their spirit in pitching in and helping. It is wonderful to see.
Today we hit the site running. We had tours all day long and will likely have another day of it tomorrow. It is fun when we have tours to keep us busy.

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Another wonderful day on the mission. We had to take tours today but missed only a small portion of conference. It was so wonderful to hear the Lord's chosen speak to us and give us messages from God. President Monson was exceptionally funny today and yet so spiritual. He got the message across very well. We have "P" day tomorrow and don't know where we will be going or doing, but we will likely be in the rain.