Baptisms, Visitors, and General Conference

Our area of the mission has been blessed with baptisms

recently.  We missed the baptisms of Rob, Elihu and Sean on September 5th due to Jim's eye surgery.  We were recently able to attend the baptism of Aimee and Belle.  Then one night we had Elihu to dinner with Elder's Ord and Wadsworth.  It was great to hear this young man's conversion story.  He just walked into the First Ward's sacrament meeting one Sunday during the middle of September.  I noticed him sitting at the back of the chapel all alone and I asked him if he was visiting with someone.  He said "no".  I asked if he knew anyone there and he again said "no".  I quickly summoned some of the elders to get to know him.  Then last night we heard the rest of his story.  He attended many different churches over the years and even recently converted to Islam. But he still felt that something was missing.  He was just searching for the right thing when he looked up the Mormon church and decided to attend that Sunday morning.  After he heard about the restoration of the gospel and the Book of Mormon, he commited to baptism on the first lesson.  Three weeks later he was baptized. He is a student at the University of Pittsburgh and studying to be a criminal attorney.  He attends the YSA (Young Single Adult) ward in our church building and he is really an asset there.  It was wonderful to get to know him better last night.

Elder Davis, Aimee, Elder Whitney

Aimee is also a single adult who was in an accident at one time and now must use a wheelchair most of the time.  She has been studying with the elders for many months---almost as long as we have been here. We attended lessons with the elders in her home several times.  She had many misgivings for awhile, but she was just radiant and had the biggest smile when she announced in Relief Society one Sunday that she had decided to get baptized.

Belle is a single mom raising a young son.  Janelle, Luke, and Heidi were here visiting on the night of her baptism and they were all able to attend her baptism with us.  The

Elder Davis, Belle, Elder Whitney

Relief Society room was filled with people at the baptism and her comment to us was that she couldn't believe they had all come to support her.  We told her that she is really part of a great big family now!

The visit of Janelle, Luke and Heidi only lasted for a few days, but we were able to fit a lot into those days.  We spent time at the Carnegie Science Center, a day in Kirkland, the Pittsburgh Children's Museum, and a ride on the riverboat.  They were also able to  attend our weekly district meeting with the elders.  Janelle attended the whole meeting which Jim taught to two districts. They all heard everyone's weekly "highlights" and then during the lesson portion

Luke, Heidi, & I walked to the Natural History Museum where they had a wonderful time.  Jim's lesson was one he has taught many times at home and now many times here.  It is a lesson about implementing the atonement of the Savior in our lives to improve our relationships and bring us peace and comfort as we navigate through the challenges of life.  He has come up with a little chart that illustrates what he is talking about really well.  It seems like some of the principles that he teaches all begin to fit together for most people who hear it.  He really enjoyed having Janelle be there to be part of the lesson.  Jim has taught the lesson to the MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) and at various other times.

President and Sister Johnson have been very encouraging and supportive of senior couples having their family members come to visit.  Their comment to us was that each of our children and grandchildren are really our most important "investigators" in the gospel.  They feel that having them spend time around missionary life is a wonderful teaching opportunity.  When Heidi was asked what her favorite part of the trip was she said "meeting the elders".

Our fun family visitors left Pittsburgh Saturday morning and flew home to enjoy the rest of conference in Salt Lake.  We spent the day Saturday watching conference in our apartment and then

Jim attended Priesthood meeting that evening with the elders at church.  On Sunday we had 8 elders to watch the afternoon session with us and have dinner.  Two more elders (our zone leaders) showed up for dessert afterwards.  Tuesday is transfer meeting so it was a fun way to get together before all the changes go into effect.  Elder Whitney is going home and Elder Johnson is being transferred, so we will have two new elders to get to know soon.

General Conference was amazing.  It was hard to pick a favorite talk.  The teachings about the Sabbath Day as a sign between God and man and also the many references to dealing with adversity in life especially resonated with us at this time.  Hearing from the three new apostles, Elders Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund was also a highlight.

We can hardly wait to have time to read, listen to, and try to digest the printed talks. Before you know it we will spend our last General Conference here in April!

We also attended the transfer meeting in Greentree on October 6th.  Megan sadly said goodbye to her companion, Sister Sears.  Megan will stay in Butler with a new companion, Sister Bills, and Sister Sears will be quite far away in Hanover, PA.  We feel that we got quite close to Sister Sears and so it was hard for all of us to make this change.  We are learning all about making lots of changes on our mission--but not nearly as many as the young elders and sisters have to make.

Anyway....change is good...we will keep telling ourselves that!

Family Updates

Many fun things have gone on at home recently.  We have sure missed being there and also especially missed summer in Utah.  But there is also an overriding feeling that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing right now.  Luckily, we have pictures, emails, phone calls, and Skype.

We have been busy enough that we haven't really thought too much about the house, yard, and cabin.   We are really glad that Jared and Janelle and their families are taking care of things for us.  We know that it is ALOT of work in the summer and we are so thankful for their help!  We are glad that some of them have been able to enjoy the Utah summer there for us.  We got these cute pictures from Jared's family that did make us miss High Mountain Drug, the good ol' Smith and Morehouse, and good times at the cabin.  We will be looking forward to next summer!

We think Carson looks like he has grown two feet and is almost as tall as his dad, Jared.  We are glad that Jared is teaching his family to fish since being fishermen has never been a strong point with Jim and I.  Out talent seems to be eating the fresh mountain trout that others catch.




Another fun family activity that we heard about this summer was Grandma's Irresistible Raspberries.  This little business was started by Janelle, Luke, and Heidi.  Since they were already helping to take care of our large raspberry patch at home they decided to make the most of it.  They asked our permission to advertise, pick and sell our raspberries to some of their neighbors and friends.  The kids each put in an initial investment to order containers.  With Janelle's business and accounting background, she helped them to plan their business strategy, advertise, make a logo, and even created financial statements!!
The kids said it was a lot of hard work, but they both think it was worth it.
We think it was a wonderful learning experience for all of them and it makes us feel good that the raspberries have again had a successful summer.

Another big family event was Kennedy's baptism on

September 5th.  It was wonderful to talk with her, receive pictures, and hear about the event from other family members.  With Emily's help, we continued our family tradition of giving each of our grandchildren a "Heritage Book" at their baptism.    We were able to get most of the book done before we left on our mission and her mom finished it up for us.  We got a "thank you" note from her the other day saying that she has been reading the stories in it each night before she goes to bed.  It sounds like she is almost done with the whole book!  All these things have really helped to make us feel like we were "almost" there for this important time in her life.


Most everyone is back in school now also.  We got some good pictures sent to us of Courtney, Jackson, and Natalie as they started their first day of school in Georgia.  Courtney is a junior in high school (yikes!!).  She is a straight A student and loves science.  She is also playing the flute in the school marching band this year.

Jackson is also a very good student and is growing tall... right along with Carson.  We have heard that he and Carson are looking and acting more and more alike even though they live across the country from each other!  Jackson is in 9th grade and is still really involved in basketball and scouting.  From what we hear one of his other outstanding talents is "eating, eating, and more eating"!

Natalie is in 7th grade this year.  She tried out for cheerleading and was delighted to make the basketball cheerleading team at her school.  She has also been excelling in science and last May received a special award as "Student of the Month."  She turned 12 at the end of August and has really been enjoying being part of the "Beehive class" in the church Young Women's organization.

We are hoping to write some more "family updates" about other family members again soon.  The only bad part of them all growing up is that it makes us feel SO old.   I guess we can't do anything about that though.

 We hope that we will still all feel close as a family even though the years and the miles separate us at times.  We just LOVE everyone SO much.

The Antidote for Worry is Work

President Johnson's weekly email to all missionaries in the mission this week included a quote from one of our favorite prophets, President Gordon B. Hinckley.  It said, "Why are missionaries so happy?  Because they lose themselves in the service of others.....The best antidote I know for worry is work.  The best medicine for despair is service.  The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired."


That quote will definitely become one of our favorites.  We've had a few worries recently and we have found the remedy of working and focusing on the mission to really help us out.  Besides Jim's slow but steady recovery from eye surgery, we have also had major concerns over our daughter Heather's health.  She has had some history of digestive problems which got to a crisis point during the last few weeks.  She couldn't even drink water without intense cramping and vomiting.  This went on for about 4 weeks until she was finally admitted into the St. George hospital on
September 16th.  Even with numerous scans and tests, visits to her primary care doctor, ER visits for fluids, and phone calls to her specialist at Huntsman Cancer Institute, she didn't really get any relief for most of the 4 weeks.  Friday night, the 18th, was her lowest point and she had another priesthood blessing while in the hospital.  That same night we got a call from Salt Lake telling us that Jim's sister was rushed to the hospital.

In the midst of our worries we had a wonderful missionary meeting with all the missionaries on the west side of the mission.  The featured speakers were Elder and Sister Stanfill.  Elder Stanfill is a general authority of the church from Salt Lake (member of the 1st Quorum of Seventy).  Their words were so uplifting to us.  It was especially fun to sit with Megan again and be able to visit with her.  She played the piano for most of the music in the meeting.  She has been very worried about her mom and so we tried to fill her in on what we knew about the situation.  Megan and I had an opportunity to speak with Elder Stanfill after the meeting.  We told him the situation with us being Megan's grandparents.  He said multiple times what a "miracle" that it is that we are all in the same mission.   We don't know all the reasons Megan is here in this mission, but we think being able to help and support one another during Heather's illness may be one of the reasons.  Just another 'tender mercy' and 'hug from above' that let's us know our Heavenly Father is truly aware of each one of us.

By Sunday night we talked with both Heather and Marie on the phone. Marie is home from the hospital and doing much better.  While Heather is still in the hospital for a while longer, it lifted our hearts to hear that Heather was not only feeling better physically, but she had received a lot of spiritual strength as well.  She had many visits and calls Sunday from family and friends.  She has had wonderful nurses including an extra special one that had helped Emily in the same hospital a year ago.  Her comment to us that night was that no matter what the outcome of all the tests, she feels their whole family has been very blessed and will continue to be blessed.

We know there will probably be lots of ups and downs with Heather's condition, but she said that she has felt such strength from everyone who has called, texted, and visited.  Even the smallest show of love and support seems to mean so much and lift her spirits.  

We also reminisced with Heather about all our family has gone through the last few years--Gram's declining health and passing away almost 2 years ago, surgeries, hospital & ICU stays and other ailments of immediate and extended family members.....the list goes on and on.  And yet with each adversity that we discussed, it was wonderful to recount how we had been and are still being blessed.  We just feel that the Lord is ever near to us.  It all seems part of the earthly experience that will help us one day return to our Heavenly home.

Opposition In All Things

So, as I mentioned in the last blog post, we had a really good lesson in District Meeting about how we receive promptings from the Holy Ghost, but then fear sometimes creeps in and we have to push through the fear to keep doing what the Lord wants us to do.  Little did we realize that we would have the opportunity to put this lesson into practice so soon after our meeting!

We drove away from the meeting with the plan to stop and visit

with an investigator named Annie. Annie is a great lady who is the Sunday School superintendant of her Baptist church that was started years ago by her now deceased husband.  She has taken lessons from various sets of missionaries in the past.  She knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that President Monson is a prophet, but it has been understandablly very hard for her to progress towards actually being baptized in our church.  On our way to her home, Jim mentioned to me that he had been having vision problems and seeing black spots in his right eye since the day before. The symptoms that he described sent up a red flag right away in my mind.  I started making phone calls to determine the best ER to go to in the city.   We went ahead to deliver a special edition of the Ensign about temples to Annie as I was calling doctors and hospitals.

Right after we left Annie's home we went to the UPMC emergency room which is the one in the First Ward where we go to see members of the church who need visits and blessings.  All of a sudden we were there for ourselves instead of to visit someone else and it was a weird feeling.  So many blessings then started to unfold.  We were there in the hospital on a Thursday afternoon right before a holiday weekend.  There is a major eye institute right next to the hospital.  The eye clinic personnel were starting to leave, but we were seen really quickly by a resident, attending ophthalmologist, and finally a retinal specialist.  UPMC is a teaching hospital and many people looked in Jim's eye within a very short time.  It was determined that he had some tears in his retina and it was beginning to detach.  We were told over and over that it was good that we had come to the hospital right away or blindness could have been the result.  They tried to use a laser on the tears, but that didn't work.  When we asked what caused the retinal problems we were told something we are hearing all too often....."old age"!!!  He was put on the surgery schedule for later in the afternoon the next day.

The problem with the surgery time was that we had been working for weeks and weeks to help get Sister Page ready for going to the Columbus temple to have some sealings done for her to her deceased family.  Her living family are not members of the church, but have become more supportive of her desires to attend the temple at least once in her later years.  One extended family member drove her quite some distance to talk to a stake presidency member and then she was willing to make the 6 hour round trip to Columbus since they were worried about her oxygen and wheelchair needs.

When we realized what a conflict this was, Jim said he felt a strong impression that I should go ahead and go to the temple as planned. He said that he felt everything would work out.  I definitely didn't feel quite so peaceful about being almost 200 miles away while he was waiting to be called into surgery at any time.  He kept reassuring me that he was absolutely sure everything would be just fine.  I ended up riding to the temple in a van with the First Ward bishop, Elder Gille, Elder Simmons, LaShaun, and Vikkiy. We had a wonderful experience in the temple and the workers there were so patient and kind to help Sister Page with her special needs.  As we started home I got a text from Jim saying that he had been taken to the hospital early by the elders.  The hospital was able to fit him in for surgery and he expected to go in around 4 PM. I knew it was good to get the surgery done as soon as possible, but my heart sank because I knew we could not make it back in time.  An hour or so later I got another text that said there was a surgery that was more of an emergency put ahead of him.  They didn't expect that he would go into surgery until 6 pm or so.  We got back to Pittsburgh at 6 pm and I had the bishop drop me off at the hospital.  The surgery ahead of Jim went slower than expected so he didn't actually go into surgery until 8:20 pm.  I had time to visit with him, talk with the doctors and the anesthesiologist.  We felt relatively peaceful about everything and I was so relieved to be there with him.

My peaceful feeling started to give way about 3 hours

later when I hadn't heard anything from the operating room.  They told us earlier that the surgery would only last about 2 hours.  I was nervously waiting by myself in a lonely surgery waiting room when all of a sudden Elders Ord and Wadsworth showed up.  They waited with me for another few hours as the doctor came to reassure me that everything went well and Jim spent time in the recovery room.  We didn't leave the hospital until 2 AM.  The elders drove us to where our car was parked at the church and then helped us into our apartment.  They live in the same apartment building that we do.  What a blessing it was for us to have the elders close by to help us through this ordeal.  Getting to know such great young men has been such a bonus of our mission.

The next day we called Sister Page to see how she was feeling after such a big day.  We all missed having Jim there with us, but it made us both so happy to hear the pure joy in her voice.  She told us that it will be a day she will never forget.  She said it was so healing for her to be sealed to her husband who died over 50 years ago, her parents, and her two babies who died in infancy.  One of the babies was her only girl and I was able to stand in as proxy for her daughter.  She said she will always feel close to me because of that.  Somehow we feel that the Lord wanted those ordinances done in the temple that day.  The experience in the temple was worth any fear or uneasiness that we felt.  What a mission payday!

It has been a week since Jim's surgery.  We have managed to get along with him sleeping in a recliner (not fun and not much sleep), eyedrops four times a day, and our biggest challenge of having me be the designated driver in Pittsburgh traffic. The doctor says Jim needs to take it easy for another week or so and then can probably start driving again.   All in all, we are surviving and are so grateful for our blessings.  Our hearts go out to others with challenges in life, but our testimony is stronger than ever that the Lord is right beside us through our pain and sufferings.  We are anxious to get back to work with full steam.

End of Summer Highlights

It is really hard to take pictures of some of our missionary experiences and also really hard to actually put these experiences into words that do justice to the situation.  Most of the time, for every missionary highlight,  it takes many visits and phone calls and countless hours of effort by us and others.   Sometimes all the work leads up to a little moment of joy and happiness.  That little moment, though, makes all the work worth every minute spent.  It is just an indescribable feeling.

We have had a few of these experiences come up over the latter part of the month.

HIGHLIGHT #1 We have been working so hard since June 30th to help the Matembu family get into a low cost internet program.  They were taken advantage of by telemarketers to sign up for an internet package that was way beyond their budget and so we decided to step in to help out with the situation.  We made trips to the provider and eventually went clear up to the corporate headquarters with phone calls.  It took us almost two months of wrangling through privacy laws, company bureacuracy, and MANY ups and downs.  We were blessed many times along the way to make calls or visits at just the right time or to the right person.  FINALLY, on August 28th, with the help of Elder Johnson, we got their internet up and running on a new computer for a very

affordable price.  It will help them so much with schoolwork, job searches, church work, and budgeting.

That same day we took the Matembu family to the Carnegie Science Center with our passes.
They had such a great time and it was fun to see them enjoy each other together.  We spent the whole day there with them and really enjoyed it.  One of their favorite parts was finding a room of African musical instruments.  They all joined in and came up with some really good rhythm in just a few minutes.  They also enjoyed the roller coaster simulator, the climbing wall, and the weightless space walk.

HIGHTLIGHT # 2 We were able to attend the Columbus Temple with Mel.  Mel is a recent convert

to the church and is so excited about all that he is learning.  He has now given a prayer in stake conference, received the Melchizedek Priesthood, stood in the circle for a confirmation, and received a calling as assistant ward clerk.  It is great to see how quickly he is progressing.



HIGHLIGHT#3  We had another fun P-day where we went to Ohiopyle and did some biking along the Great Allegheny Passage.  The section of the trail we rode was incredibly beautiful, level, and shaded with tall trees on each side. Our kind of biking!  On our way home we happened to see a sign for a Visitors Center for Fort Necessity.  The fort is one hastily constructed by George Washington for a battle that started the French/Indian War.  We are finding that the history here in Pennsylvania is so rich and interesting

HIGHTLIGHT #4 On September 2nd Elder Whitney and Davis came to our apartment with Elder Whitneys favorite recipe from home -- his mom's Manicotti.  They brought all the ingredients and cooked it up for us and we provided the extras.  It was a fun meal together.  We feel like we have
acquired a few dozen extra grandsons as they come and go in our area.  What a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the youth of this church.  A few days later the two elders were walking in a park and stopped to play basketball for a few minutes with another couple of young men in the area.  A newspaper reporter happened to be at the park and snapped some pictures of them.  It was in the Pittsburgh Tribune the next day!


HIGHLIGHT #5  Then on September 3rd we went to District Meeting and were surprised to have President and Sister Johnson drop in. We had a great lesson by Elder Whitney on overcoming fear and following promptings.   The Johnsons even went to Chipotle for lunch afterwards with all of us.  It was such a big group that there wasn't room for everyone in the restaurant so we brought it back to the church and all enjoyed lunch together.

 It was right after this meeting and lunch that another set of circumstances exploded!  Another post will be needed to explain.

Butler, PA

It's a little ironic that Megan's first area is in Butler, PA right next to us in Pittsburgh.  We didn't ever expect that she would be so close to us.  We have never visited the little town of Butler and so we decided to take a short drive for our P-day on August 17th.

It was an experience we have always wished we could have had when Kent and Jared were away on their missions---to be able to almost be a fly on the wall and see how they get along with their companion....what it is really like where they live.....and how they interact with other people.  It was incredibly fun to be able to experience it with our granddaughter, Megan.

The name everyone in the mission calls their companionship by is "The Butler Sisters".  So we saw just how the Butler Sisters live and work each day.

We visited their apartment and found their living conditions to be barely okay!  Sister Sears assured us that it used to be a lot worse before they cleaned out all of the junk left behind by other Sisters and Elders who had lived there.  We were basically apalled at the condition of their laundry room though!  It looks like it came straight out of a horror movie!  Sister Sears said when her mom saw a picture of it that she was sure her daughter had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom in the dingy room.  Anyway, we tried hard not to overreact and took some funny pictures.  It is probably good for both girls to help them appreciate home a little more!


One of our first stops was a Lutheran church where the girls volunteer each week.   The churches in town all volunteer one day a week to feed the homeless.  The Lutheran church calls their dinner night, "Katie's Kitchen".   It seems that a few years ago some elders were walking by the Lutheran church and saw a line of homeless people outside waiting for food.  They went inside and asked if they could help and that started the tradition of the Mormon elders or sisters helping each week ever since.  Megan said their night at "Katie's" is one of her favorite parts of the week.

The church secretary knew Sisters Sears and Welch well and was delighted to show us the sanctuary of worship as well as other areas in the church----especially where they serve dinner to the homeless each week.  It was a beautiful building and we had a great visit with her.


Butler, PA is a small town of about 14,000 people and they are the only missionaries for our church there.  There is one ward building in the town amongst many, many other churches.  The claim to fame for Butler is that the first jeep was invented there during World War II.   It is said that the jeep was one major factor in the success of the war.  This bit of trivia was fun for Jim because jeeping has always been one of his hobbies in life.   He really enjoyed visiting the monument in the town square and talking with some old-timers.  We

looked around all of the monuments and visited with a few people.  The girls talked to some people to offer Book of Mormons to them and then we were on to the rest of our town tour.

Our next stop was lunch at a REALLY good Mexican restaurant.  We eat out with a lot of the elders and sisters and Jim is slowly realizing that most of the rest of the world LOVES pizza and Mexican food.  Poor thing....I try and fix meat and potatoes for him as often as I can!

Our final stop was to go look for a "geo-cache" that a church member told the girls about.  The cache was supposed to be hidden somewhere around a large yellow railroad car.  They gave us directions to help us get there.   We finally found the train car and then began looking and looking for something or other.   We aren't much into geo-caching and so we weren't quite sure what we were looking for.

 Anyway,  I finally spotted a small plastic box up underneath the bottom of the train car.  We took a few items out of the cache which is customary---a plastic army man, a sticker, and something else that I can't remember.  We took a few pictures and then we left our mark by leaving a small raisin box with one remaining raisin and a note that said "The Mormons were here"!

All in all, it was a wonderful P-day and we enjoyed giving Megan's mom a call on our way home to tell her all about our visit which she promptly reported to Sister Sears mom.  We have quite an informant network going on to check up and report on these super fun Sister missionaries.  So grateful for this experience.

Jeep cutouts, all painted & decorated differently, are all over town

Miracles--Big & Little

August seems to be a month of miracles---some big.... and some not so big and important.  One little miracle involves one of our sweet sisters, Gwen.  She lives in a nursing home and comes to church every week in a wheelchair.  She told us that she has quit drinking coffee and wants to go to the temple!  She is so sweet and sincere and in spite of

her health challenges we hope that we can help it happen for her one day.

Also, an update on Sister Page.  We were able to help her come to church again.  And again, it was quite a challenge (oxygen problems, miscommunication with family & her getting locked out of her apartment)!  We did end up coordinating and communicating more with her family than last time, but it definitely still didn't go to smoothly.  Even so, she really enjoyed coming and participating at church.  Her son, who is not a member of the church, is planning to come with her one time!  Another little miracle.

Then, we were able to be eye witnesses to a REALLY BIG spiritual miracle!  We still visit people in the hospitals here every so often.  Around the first part of June we heard of a family from Texas who were at the Children's Hospital with their 8 year old son, Ian.  They brought him to Pittsburgh for some medical tests and expected to stay 3 days.  While he was here in the hospital he developed complete heart failure for some unknown reason...possibly a virus of some kind.  Anyway, his problems were so severe that he was on a bypass machine and then a heart pump with his chest completely open for several weeks.  He had priesthood blessings, but his condition worsened every day for two months.  They were at the point of expecting him to need a heart transplant.  We visited off and on, but only heard that he was going downhill.  It was such a strain for their family.  They had a sister of the mom bring their other two children from Texas once to visit, but eventually they had to return home again.

Anyway, the dad called two of the elders in our district to the hospital on a Sunday night and they helped him give his son a priesthood blessing.  The next day little Ian pulled out the ventilator tube and the doctors decided to see how he would do without it.  He actually did fine and tubes and machines were removed--one after another!  The doctors are the ones who began calling it a miracle.  They said they have never seen something like it.  One doctor said he wants is to write a paper about it.

Last week Ian was still having ups and downs from recovering from being in ICU and artificial life support for so long. We visited his mom on one of his bad days.  We were able to reassure her that we had seen some of the same type symtoms almost exactly a year ago with our daughter, Emily.  Ian's mom said it really helped for her to talk to someone who had also been through the same type of experience.  Somehow we feel we are put in people's paths for a reason.

It has been such a blessing for us and the elders to witness Ian's recovery.  He is now out of intensive care and he is talking and playing with toys.  We visited with the Elders this week and it was good for them to see him doing so much better.

Now for more of a worldly type miracle!  One day in August we were able to walk up to the Pirates box office and get 4 tickets for great seats all together......at a sold out game.... a couple of days before the event!   Still don't quite know how that happened, but we had a wonderful "Pirates P-day" with Sister Welch and Sister Sears. The stadium has to be one of the most beautiful in the nation and from our seats we could see a great game, the Pittsburgh skyline, and the boats sailing down the river.  The Pirates pulled through with a couple of home runs and even ended up winning the game.

PS  Another little blessing!   One morning recently we went on a morning hike around Highland Park, but we took a different route than what we usually do.  We saw a deer in this park that is bordered by a highway and is actually right in the middle of the city!  On another morning we saw a raccoon run right in front of us.  We are so grateful for being able to still hike together a few minutes from our apartment and enjoy the blessings of nature.

Our Halfway Mark

The first weekend in August proved to be a perfect way to mark the halfway point of our mission.  First of all.....here's a little background so that everyone can understand why this weekend will always be so memorable for us.

Family of William G. Ferguson & Lucy Willett done by Marie Donovan

We heard a few years ago from extended family in Salt Lake about a Ferguson Family Reunion in Roanoke, Virginia that is held every year on the first Saturday in August.  The Fergusons were among the very first people to join the church in the Roanoke area around 1888.  Jim's grandfather, Byron, was a missionary in Roanoke about 30 years later.  After his mission, Byron ended up returning to Roanoke.  He brought Josephine Ferguson back to Salt Lake City to be married to him in the Salt Lake Temple on June 26, 1919. The story is interesting because only one of Josephine's 11 other siblings ever married (one sister died at a young age).  One account states that at least some of them were determined to marry within the church and so they probably didn't have marriage opportunities come to them in the Roanoke area.
They lived in a beautiful plantation type home and owned acres and acres of apple orchards. They worked hard and were quite wealthy for that time period.

Josephine's exit to Utah broke ties with many of the

Ferguson cousins.  The cousins who stayed in Roanoke were promised by the local mission president that if they stayed in the area and built up the church there instead of migrating to Utah that all of their spouses would eventually join the church.
Every one of the spouses of the children in the family who had this promise made to them did eventually join the church--- even though many were in their advanced years when they made the decision to get baptized.

Anyway, Roanoke is close enough to our mission that attending the reunion this year was a possibility.  President Johnson gave his approval and so we set out early Saturday morning not knowing a soul in Roanoke!  We talked to a relative named Jim on the phone and he confirmed that the reunion was actually being held.  We really didn't know what to expect at all and wondered if we would feel uncomfortable or even
unwelcome since no one from Utah has ever visited the reunion  before.

Inside the original log cabin portion of the home

Truly, everything on the trip went like clockwork.  We arrived in Roanoke and drove directly to the old plantation home.  We found the home and knocked on the door hoping and praying that the people now living there were home and would consent to at least letting us take a few pictures on the outside of the home.  They turned out to be a nice family who have lived there for several years.  They invited us inside and showed us a room that was originally a log cabin.  The rest of the house had been added later, presumably after the family had more means.  It was wonderful to see the home and we plan to keep in touch with them to share information.

Jim visited the home with his family around 1957 when he was 9.  He and his brothers and sisters have many memories and stories of the trip there and staying in this large old home.  Even the spooky stories of an upstairs bedroom in the home matched with the ones the current family told us!

After visiting the home, we drove to a subdivision behind closely.  There is a small little fenced cemetery with graves of some of the Ferguson family.  Many of the inscriptions on the stones are missing because they are so old and weathered, but we took pictures of what we could and felt a special, peaceful feeling there.

Then we went
to the reunion at a small bowery behind the current schoolhouse.  There were about 100 people there and they gave us a warm welcome.  They said the reunion is usually much bigger, but one of the larger families weren't there this year.  We talked and talked and got to know all that we could.

We attended church the next day at the Back Creek Ward and we found that we had some connection, even though it was distant, to most of the members who were there.  We found that we are connected to the Bohon family as well as the Fergusons.

It is a small, but very strong ward in the area with many stake leaders coming from this ward.  Even the stake president is a Bohon.  Such good people!  After church we drove around the William Griffen Ferguson home again and noticed a woman sitting on the porch of a home across the street from the Ferguson home.  We were told previously that the old church/schoolhouse was

across the street and so we decided to park and go ask her if she knew where it was.  As we approached, she went inside and so we decided to be brave.  We knocked on the door and an older woman came out.  When we asked her if she knew where the schoolhouse was, she said, "this is it!"  She was very pleasant and we talked for quite awhile to her.  She said she has lived there for 50 years and she gave a few more tidbits of information about the schoolhouse and area.  She actually remembered seeing John, Josephine's brother, come into her father's store with a solid gold piece for some groceries.

We also stopped at a Roanoke landmark called Mill Mountain where we saw a beautiful view of the city and the Appalachian mountains.  It sure made us want to go hiking there again one day.  The Roanoke Star on top of the mountain is lit up every night and can be seen from many miles away.

                                                                                     

Sunday night after we got back to the hotel we called
some of Jim's brothers and sisters to tell them about our experiences.  They were all so excited to hear what we had learned.  Marie, especially, has put a lot of work and effort into researching the Ferguson family and so it was extra special to talk with her.

On our way home the next day we stopped in Wyethville where our nephew, Ryan, is serving his mission.  Wyethville is one of the first places in Virginia where missionaries came to preach the gospel.  Ryan received permission for us to take him and his companion out to lunch and it was really wonderful to see how much he has matured and grown in the gospel.

Our trip to Virginia was something that we

Standing on the Blue Ridge Mountains with the Appalachians in the background

hadn't anticipated at all before coming on our mission.  It was such an unexpected blessing--just like many others that we have experienced while we have been here.

                                                    We are just so grateful and have a lot of family history work to put together when we get home!