THE SPIRIT IS VERY SENSITIVE

I have come to realize that the spirit is very sensitive. If there is even a little discord it's gone. It is so important to create an atmosphere wherein it will stay. A happy heart, good thoughts, cheerful countenance, positive attitude and a few other fleeting things that are necessary for the spirit to be with us. The weather, be it blustery, cold, humid, hot...doesn't have a single affect on the spirit...just us. Moderation in all things is a great motto to adhere to while on a mission or at any time in life. I am going to include some pictures just because...so there!!!! This was a fantasy tour I had in a dream one day. What do you think? The bottom line is...keep your eye on the ball!

'PROFILE FALLS' AND SOME FLOWERS

I know...I know...its been a long time since I blogged last. We haven't been out and around much until today. We are spending most of our time studying or being on duty at the Memorial. Today, however, we went to a place called Laconia, New Hampshire. There we looked up and found a place called Profile Falls. We had to hike into the place a few hundred yards and saw this magnificent scene. I hope I can get the picture of the falls that we took on my cell phone. I'll throw in a few others if I can get this thing to work this time.

I will blog again tomorrow likely and I will post some pictures of our garden and show how some critter has wiped out our zucchini plants. We could likely use something to repel the groundhog that we think is doing it, but that would likely chase the chipmunks we've adopted as well. My thought is that we can afford to lose a few zucchinis for the sake of keeping our "neighbors"!

JUST RAMBLING, BUT ENJOYING IT IMMENSELY!!!

When I started blogging almost a year ago, I mentioned that I would let you know what is going on here on our mission. I thought at that time I would let you know the spiritual experiences we were experiencing. I have come to realize that they are too sacred and personal for the whole world to be able to read. The pictures show the place where we experience these wonderful things and you can only imagine what the beauty here brings to the soul as we talk to members and non-members alike. They all seem to feel the spirit that is here and I don't want to lessen the impact with mere words. I will continue to include as many new pictures of the area and the people as possible and will reserve telling anyone about the very personal spiritual experiences until we are together. Here are some new (to you...I hope) pictures.

Oh...come on...it's just a picture of my ancestors, which brings me to another exciting thing that has happened here. I have really gotten involved with genealogy. I just found a link that traces my mother's line back to...are you ready?...1240! That's right...with many of the complete information about their birth dates, birthplaces, and death dates, etc. I have a lot of work to do to get the information into the church program to have the work done in the temple for them, but it will happen. Here's another old picture that you might enjoy!

Here is some of the beauty up close. Aren't they gorgeous. I have come to appreciate the beauty of the world around me more since coming here!!

THE WONDERS OF THE MEMORIAL ON A GORGEOUS SABBATH DAY!

As you can see, I have been taking more of my favorite pictures...the monument and the beautiful surroundings here at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial. Today is Sunday and we were busy at the site. There were over 120 people come through today. That was just on our shift which was from 11:30 am. to 2:30 pm. How many came after that I don't know. We have not been this busy since last fall. Whew!!!! I just discovered that my cellphone...a Droid X can take the best pictures of all the three cameras that I have. I can take 'negatives' with this one. What do you think?

Today was very spiritual...and the experiences of today were so spiritual that they can't be entered here. I will be glad to share these with any who wish in a personal setting someday. Sister Fisher and I learned of some things that the prophet has said about this site that are oh so special and we hold them dear. Check out the new pics and let me know what you think of them.

A BEAUTIFUL SABBATH!!

I went for a walk around the 'loop' here and when I was just coming back I noticed the brightness of the monument. I went and got my camera and took these pictures. I have another one of the sun shining off the side of the spire, but I wanted one off the pyramid at the top of the spire. I got these. I had a great tour today with a couple who are from New Jersey and just came up here today on their way home from commencement ceremonies at Norwich. We talked about the beauty of this place and the serenity and peace that everyone feels here. The music of the Tabernacle choir is played all day long in the trees at the edge of the 'green' here. It is marvelous and something we will never forget. It's going to be hard to leave when the time comes to go home.

After our shift today, we came home and had some dinner, then when it started to rain, we went out onto our 'patio' and watched the rainbows in the heavens. They were spectacular. I only wish I had a better camera so as to get better pictures. I'm throwing in a picture of our 'patio' as a contrast to the beauty of the rainbow. As you can see the trees are really greening up, but they will get more green as the days go by.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!!

As you can see from the pictures the snow has gone and the leaves are starting to come out. These flowers are from bulbs that wintered over. They are going to be joined by hundreds of other flowers in a few weeks. They have already been ordered.

I am throwing in a picture we took on the road we take to go to Lebanon for shopping. It runs right next to the White River that flooded during Irene. Notice the cut log up in the branches. The flood set it there and they are just leaving it for now and it shows how high the flood waters rose.