VISITORS ! ! !

We were so happy to get 5 visitors for conference and Easter weekend.  It was so great to give them hugs and see how much the kids have grown up. We hadn't seen most of them in a year.  Kent's family drove all day from Atlanta and arrived just in time on Saturday for dinner and for Jim, Kent, and Jackson to go to the priesthood meeting at the church.  While they were gone Shelly and the girls got settled and Courtney sat at the computer with me.  She helped me go into FamilySearch and we found 71 new names to take to the temple!!  This was a big breakthrough for me.  She has been taking Youth Family History classes in their ward and has been going full steam ahead with it.  She is now a Family History Consultant and I really needed one!

We then enjoyed Sunday conference sessions and Easter together which was great.  In the evening we took a drive around the city and got to one of the Mount Washington lookouts just in time to see the sun setting.  The timing couldn't have been better.  All of the kids seemed really impressed with Pittsburgh and were excited to discover it more the next day.

On Monday we spent the day sightseeing and had good weather to do it in!

We parked and walked to "the Point".  It was beautiful to be at the exact spot the two rivers come together to form the Ohio River.  From there we walked to the Steelers Stadium and took a tour at Jackson's request.  The tour hadn't been in the original plan, but it was really interesting.  We also went to the Heinz History museum where Kent seemed especially impressed to see the Mr. Rogers exhibit.  That was one of his favorite kid shows growing up and who knew it orginated in Pittsburgh!  We had fun sharing a few nostalgic moments over a show that I always thought was a little weird! I must confess that I used it as a wonderful babysitter and he doesn't seem too warped by it!

On Tuesday we were able to drive two and a half hours away to Kirkland, Ohio.  We had a great time there seeing the temple, the Newel K. Whitney store, and driving to the John Johnson home.  There is just something about visiting church history sites that we love.  It seems to put a reality into all that we learn and study about in church history.

We especially enjoyed having the Bowen's, long time friends from West Jordan, take us on a tour of the Johnson farm.  They left on their mission to Kirkland a few months before we did.  Who knew we would actually see them while we were both gone!  Our one disappointment was that the Kirtland Temple which

is owned by the Community of
Christ church was closed for the day.  We did get some great pictures outside and had a wonderful time at the other sites.




We ended the day with dinner at an Amish restaurant close to Kirkland.  Jackson had been looking forward to the 'all you can eat' family style meal.  He is definitely a growing teenage boy with a big appetite!

A few of the things we did on the last day was to visit the Andy Warhol museum, visit the Strip district where we found a few bargains, and go to the Carnegie Science Museum.  The Science Center was definitely a big hit with all of us.  

They have a World War II submarine docked in the river and tours are given.  Many of the exhibits are interactive including a life size space station and Anti-Gravity wall.
Natalie was the first to be brave enough to experience what space feels like.

We had tons of fun at the Science Center and wished we could have even
spent more time there.

All in all..............WE HAD A BLAST !  !  !

Natalie was the first to experience anti-gravity

P-Day Blessings (Shopping really does pay off)

Had to post this quickly after the last one so if you haven't read our Easter post--then read that first!

The Strip District in Pittsburgh is called that because it's a strip of stores and businesses that are a mixture of restaurants, farmer's markets, and souvenirs.  It has Wholey's Fish, meat markets, Steelers gear, Peppi's sandwiches, a 'chocolate' store, and just about anything else that can be imagined.  It reminds us of the flea market in Hawaii or the Pier in Seattle....but on a much smaller scale.

Anyway, it is a fun place to walk around--- preferrably on a warm and sunny day.  We happened to go there for our P-day on Monday.   The temperature was around 50 degrees which is an improvement over the past several days.   The wind was blowing though, and so it seemed much colder.  We have heard so much about "The Strip" from elders and members that Pat, especially, wanted to get the shopping bug out of her system.

We walked around and shopped a little in the chocolate store (surprise, surprise).... and we were just about to head back to the car when our name badges came in handy.  It is fun to wear them because wherever we go people either give us odd stares or they come up and introduce themselves as members of the church.  Sometimes they tell us that they aren't members, but they know someone who is a member of the church.  Anyway, this
cute young couple had parked their van by where we were standing and she introduced herself and told us they were from Ohio and were members of the church. We felt an instant friendship with them.  Three of their children were in the car.  They had come to Pittsburgh on a spring break vacation.  We talked for a few minutes and they asked our advice about what to see and do while in Pittsburgh.  Seeing the age of their children, we both said immediately---"The Carnegie Science Center".  We just got through becoming "MUSEUM MEMBERS" a couple of

weeks ago and had made a quick visit last week to check it out.  We started to tell them about it and they said they had been told by others how great it was, but they were looking for more of the free stuff to do.  We certainly remember those days of trying to juggle the budget to take a whole family on vacation for a few days.  At that moment both of our minds went in the same direction for a change.... and we told them that we were "MUSEUM MEMBERS"!!!!  That means we can get extra guests in for free!

Since we were about ready to leave anyway, we offered to meet them at the Science Center.  They were so grateful and it was so fun for us.  It really made our P-day extra special and we felt we were able to be a small part of Heavenly Father just trying to bless a beautiful young family. We just got such a kick out of being at the right place at the right time!

Janie told us that she does digital scrapbooking and so she sent us a scrapbook page of the fun that they had the rest of the afternoon.

THIS WAS DEFINITELY A P-DAY TO REMEMBER!

Happy Happy Easter Week!

We had a great zone conference this past week and the new Easter video was introduced.  It was shown at the meeting and we were given cards to pass out as we visit with people.  It is a great and uplifting message and we hope everyone takes 3 minutes to watch it this Easter season.

Jim and I were both surprised to be asked to share our testimonies during the meeting.  The theme for the conference was "Using Time Wisely" and we realized as we talked and listened to others what "a gift" we have been given to be able to just be on our mission.  It makes us want to try even harder to make sure we are using the time we have been given wisely.

We feel the great power of the united missionary force when we meet together in zone meetings and conferences.  And....we also feel the quiet power of individual testimonies of the Savior as we visit one on one with individuals.


I had an awesome experience at church on Sunday.  The oldest Matembu daughter, Dorcas, asked me to help her prepare a lesson on the atonement and come to class with her while she presented it.  We talked about the lesson and she made some notes.  I explained a little about the scripture in Matthew ll:28-30 that says "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  Some of the English words in the scriptures such as "yoke" need to be explained to this family and in the process it helps us understand them better too.  Anyway, Dorcas, did a wonderful job leading a discussion on how the atonement helps us through the trials of life.  She and the other girls and leaders shared experiences where they had felt peace and comfort from the atonement.  We then played the Mormon Message "Mountains to Climb".    The spirit was so strong in class that day.

We also had a very fun evening on Sunday night when we invited a set of elders and a young couple from our ward to visit and have dinner with us.  Jay and Su are both second generation members of the church.  Jay's parents are from Taiwan but he grew up in Orem.  Su is from Malaysia.  She taught Chinese at Herriman High School and we found out that they lived very close to us at one time.

Anyway, our granddaughter, Kennedy, is in second grade and is in a Chinese immersion program.  So we arranged to Skype after dinner and Kennedy and Su could converse together.  It was very fun to watch them!
Kennedy is an energetic, happy, and talented 7 year old in our family and she seems to really like learning to speak Chinese.  She had a wonderful time celebrating Chinese New Year with her school class this past year.  She has also recently begun taking violin lessons again so we hope to hear her play when we get home!

Another fun experience for Jim has to do with his favorite sport...basketball.  He is starting to teach the Matembu family how to play.  They are all natural athletes, but haven't had the opportunity to learn many sports.  Gregory is a talented soccer player that we hope to be able to watch play some games this spring and summer.  He has never played much basketball though. The two older girls, as well as the younger boys, are also interested.

Anyway, Pat thinks Jim's secret desire has always been to be a basketball coach and so this may be his big chance.

The family has the week off for spring break so we hope to be able to go to the church with them a couple of times to practice.


Then today was P-day and we had another amazingly fun thing happen that really seemed planned out by our Heavenly Father to bless a sweet family that we met.  We decided that it deserves a blog post all of it's own!

So........Stay tuned for the next riveting episode in our blog world!

Fun, laughter......and a few tears along the way.....

Saw this little plaque in a member's home and thought what good advice it is for missionaries-- as well as anyone else.

Sometimes, the ups and downs of trying to help people can be a little discouraging.  Finding the fun and humor in situations is what seems to get us through them.

It is always discouraging when members don't come to church when they say they will.  Transportation is a real issue here.... as well as work and family situations.

This past week some of our "up" moments were going to visit Denise with no particular goal in mind--- only to find out that she has never done any family history work.  We gave her the "My Family" book and she is excited to start  filling it out.  So glad we decided to make the visit!

Having all of our temple class members in the 1st Ward present and accounted for on Sunday was also a high point.  Talking with one sister afterwards was also very rewarding as she poured her heart out to us.  We haven't met anyone before who has had so many tragic happenings in life.  We couldn't  help but shed a few tears along with her.  Even so,  it was so great for us to be able to tell her that we know that if she keeps trying, that she will feel the power of the atonement in her life. We know that it will bless her tremendously. She promised she wouldn't ever give up and forcefully told us that she felt the Lord sent us after her because the last couple missionaries didn't quite get the job done!  She is one of the funniest and most fun people we know!

Another "up" was a fun P-day.  Jim and I

parked on Mt. Washington and rode the "incline" (a railway type car that goes down steep hills into town.) We then roamed around Station Square (an old railroad depot) and walked across the Smithfield Bridge into downtown.  We are still a little lost in downtown.......so it may take a few more trips to not look so much like tourists.  We ended up at the Point State Park (where the two rivers--Alleghenny & Monogahaela---converge to create the Ohio River.  The elders from the 1st and 7th Wards were there playing football.  They were just ending their game so we took a few pictures and then left to go meet with the Matembu family for Family Home Evening.

Another fun moment was seeing this van parked a couple of blocks from our apartment.  We told the elders that it was our new "dream car".  It makes us smile just thinking of us driving around in it.  Our kids and grandkids would be SO embarrassed!
The way we are going, we worry that we may be in need of a new vehicle when we get home.  The roads and traffic seem very hard on cars here.  Often we see side view mirrors sheared off because the roads are so narrow!

Really, we are more and more grateful for our garage and realize how rare it is to get one here in the city.  Having it is a real blessing!

One bit of fun family news was to get a text of Kent on
a spur of the moment trip to Paris.  He has been on a whirlwind UPS trip for the past week and has more to go.  Guess he didn't have enough to see with his stops to Amsterdam, Vilnius, Warsaw, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Milan, and Madrid. So he and a coworker ended up taking a "spontaneous" trip to the Eiffel Tower.  Don't know where he gets his energy!!!

We are so thankful for all of the protection, care, and love that we feel from our Heavenly Father to us, our family, and to all others.  We feel that He is real.........and He cares.......and is always reaching out to all of His children even when the bad things of life come our way.



 Knowing that does help us to truly enjoy life and not just endure.

AMAZING, AMAZING NEWS!!!!!!!!

Who says that Friday the 13th is bad news?  We got the very best news that mission grandparents could ever get yesterday on 3/13/15.  And...... I think it's the biggest surprise we have EVER gotten.  

Megan found her mission call in the mailbox in the afternoon and she and her parents arranged for friends and family to gather at 8:45 pm Utah time.  Emily had previously arranged for everyone in the family to connect via Skype, but we were a little skeptical that it would actually work.

Anyway, it was 10:45 pm for us and Kent and Shelly, but one by one we got on Skype and it worked perfectly!  Of course Megan's family, Brent and Emily and their family, Megan's bishop, Alex, and some of their other friends were there. Megan stood in the living room to open the envelope.

We all made one 'stateside guess' and one 'foreign guess' beforehand and Heather put all the guesses on a big map.  Of course, the tension began to mount.  Jim and I wondered whose guess in the family would come closest.  The farthest thing on our minds was the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh mission.....BUT.....that is what came out of her mouth as she read the letter!!!  Our mouths dropped open and we began to suspect that Jared or maybe Kent had somehow done a 'fake' letter or something to trick us by pulling an early April Fool's joke.

Megan showed us the letter on the screen up close..... but we still didn't believe it.  Finally, they opened up her packet and showed us the picture of President and Sister Johnson.

Only then did we start to believe...  I started screaming so loud that we probably woke our neighbors up.

It turns out that Emily was the only one to actually guess Pittsburgh!

We tried to sleep last night and couldn't.  Today we had a ward activity.  We've almost been afraid to spread the news in case there was some weird mistake or something.  Anyway, I held it in as long as I could today at the activity and then finally told some of the sisters in the ward.  They were amazed also and very happy for us.  It just seems like that sort of thing hardly ever happens.   Then I took some time to 'facebook' a little. Thanks to all of those who have sent messages of congratulations.  Each of us talked to Megan again for a few minutes too. 

We actually just welcomed Megan's friend from St. George here last week at the transfer meeting and I also spoke on the phone with another one of her friends here about a medical issue.  Just lots of St. George connections all of a sudden.

All in all, it has been quite an unforgettable day, and I have had trouble concentrating on the missionary work at hand.  We will just try to work extra hard next week!!!

Tomorrow we have a long and busy day at church.  Sister Johnson has started giving me a few medical calls and I have follow up calls to make.  We are teaching two temple classes,  Jim is teaching a ward council training class, and he is also ordaining Peter to the office of priest in the Aaronic priesthood.  Tomorrow we are having some elders to dinner and we will enjoy spreading  the word to them also!

Like I said at first.  It's amazing, amazing news.  We are just so grateful and feel so blessed!

More good news from home... and good news here!

We were so grateful to be able to Skype with our family on the day of our precious Heidi's baptism this last week.  We also talked to her on the phone as she opened up her "Heritage Book" that we give to all of our grandchildren when they are baptized.  She was just so excited to take this step in her life.  As we visit with people here in the mission field, we are more impressed than ever about how great it is when children can be put on the right path early in their lives.  What a wonderful and blessed life that Heidi.... and all of our other grandchildren.... have in store for them, as they learn and live the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We love you, Heidi, and are so proud and happy for you.

It is hard being away for occasions like the baptism, but we are also finding that the pain we feel is tempered by the sweet experiences that we are having here on our mission.  The spirit of service and missionary work seems to soften our longings for home.  We are just so happy that we can try to give to others the joy we feel from the having the gospel in our lives and seeing it blossom in the lives of our family members.

Ed (center holding baby) was baptized last week and it was one of those sweet experiences.  Brother Stoddard is standing next to him and has known and worked with Ed for 23 years to help him get ready for this day.  The elders on either side were just beaming with joy and even Brother Stoddards son, Eric, knew how important the occasion was.  Ed and his wife, Angel, have another twin baby and three other children.  What a great family unit they are and will become in the years ahead.

We also got a surprise and had a set of elders call us and invite US to dinner on a P-day!  They also invited President and Sister Johnson.  It was quite unique.  Sister Johnson mentioned that after 30 years of them feeding missionaries this was the first time they had ever been invited to dinner by elders.  We enjoyed dinner and wondered a little if they were trying to "butter up" the President a bit so that they don't get transfered OR get more miles assigned to them OR get to keep their car.  Also, the elder standing is the one who continually mentions Megan's picture to us when he comes to our house!  Anyway, it was fun and they did a good job with dinner and entertaining us.
After dinner we took President and Sister Johnson with us to visit the Matembu family.  We told the President about this wonderful family earlier. When he found out that they spoke French and that we were teaching Temple Preparation classes to them in their home he asked if they could go with us.  President Johnson speaks French and so it was a great experience for them to speak with him and for the Johnson's to get to know them.

We had another wonderful lesson with them last night.  They are so diligent and excited about learning from the scriptures. They also have the most beautiful singing voices.  It is such a treat
to be able to start and end our lessons by singing acappella with them from the hymn book.  They help to make our voices sound better and we even start thinking we can sing a little bit!

Our temple classes are also going well on Sundays.  We have LaShawn, Charlotte, Mari, Karen, and Calvin in one class.  In the afternoon class we have Peter, Mary, Carly, and Winnie.  We teach the same lessons in each one, but it is amazing how the Spirit directs the discussion according to the needs of individuals in the group.  If things go well, we hope to finish the lessons sometime around the first part of May.  We are looking forward to taking some trips to one of the temples (either Columbus, Ohio or Washington D. C.) with some of these wonderful people. 

'March'in On!

Ok....having all this togetherness is causing Jim's sense of humor and love of puns to rub off on me --hence the title of this blog!  Actually it does show our excitement to have a cold and snowy  February gone.  We are just fine with February moving on out and going in to March.  We are ready for SPRING, but so far it is still very wintery.  March is definitely coming 'in like a lion' so we hope it will leave like a lamb!

This last week or so has been filled with many service opportunities.  We helped prepare and serve dinner at the Ronald McDonald House on Thursday.  Jessica and Mike's baby has been in the hospital for all seven months of his life and so they basically live here in Pittsburgh at the Ronald McDonald house.  They normally live about 3-4 hours away in eastern Pennsylvania. They were in charge of fixing a meal for the other families and asked if the missionaries would help.  It was great to visit with other families also staying at Ronald McDonald.  One woman was from Boston and has two children with liver problems.  One just had a transplant and the other will have one soon.  Her husband is staying home in Boston with another child.

Another family was the mom and
grandma of a 12 year old girl who has a rare form of leukemia.  They live an hour away and she has been in the hospital for two months.  They talked about what  a shock it was to take the little girl to the doctor one afternoon and a few hours later to have their whole lives changed.  We visited and felt an instant connection with them. They mentioned how they hoped they could give back and come and provide a meal one day when they are through with their ordeal.  We offered our help if they ever want to do that and gave them a pass along card with our contact info on it.

We also visited with a man who brings a service dog to the house to play with the siblings and family members staying there.  He said he had a friend who was Mormon and knew our church liked service opportunities.  Again--another small connection and someone familiar with the church.

We also fed the elders last night after they finished doing a service project to help someone move.  The elders in this area probably don't get fed by members as much as in some areas so we are trying to fill in the gaps as much as we can.  It is sure fun to get to know them all.

Then today (Saturday) we participated in a service project of fix up jobs in the home of Lois and Rod.  Rod has severe Parkinson's disease.  We also helped arrange for part of the crew to help Martha move some things to a storage shed.  It was a great opportunity for her to see church service in action and she really appreciated it.

We've decided that a mission is a fun opportunity to look for service and to have the time to devote to it.

Now for our news from home..... Courtney is now 16 and was
supposed to get her Young Womanhood Award in church this past week, but Atlanta had weather problems from "fear of snow."  It actually did snow a couple of inches, but after the whole city being shut down last year, the officials were probably extra cautious this year.  Anyway, the kids missed three days of school!  She should get her award this week and we are SO proud of her.  She has also participated in  a "Science Olympiad" and she and her friend came in 4th out of 26.  She also got to go see the play "Wicked" with her mom this past week.  She continues to love learning and doing good things in her life. We are so proud of her.

We recently heard about McCord too.  He is our 9 year old grandson, who has been playing indoor soccer this winter and got a goal last week.

 He has also become interested in riding horses over the last several months.  He has a perfect setup with his Grandpa Tico having the horses near his home for him to ride. He wrote to us recently that he is planning to have his own horse in June!  We're not sure about all of the details involved in this, but we wish him the best with his goal.   He is involved in 4H and as can be seen by his picture......he is one handsome boy!


Life keeps moving on and we just keep trying to catch up!

More February News

We have been told that February is actually the worst winter month here.  This year it does seem to be true.  We've had two ward/stake activities, church last week, and one meeting of stake conference this week---all canceled because of bad weather.  These cancellations seem very unusual to us, because we don't ever remember church being canceled in Utah because of the weather!  Here they do have to worry about freezing rain, people riding buses, and the wind chill factor.  We've had below zero temps and some snow, but we've been warm and dry and cozy during most of it.   We did have one very slow, somewhat tense, car ride down some of the steep hills here that were covered in snow.  Luckily, Jim is a good driver.   I feel a little embarassed to admit that I haven't driven yet,  but it really takes both of us to navigate the traffic here--Jim as the designated driver and me as the designated back seat driver.  We think they have a way of hiding red lights, stop signs, and turn lanes here.  Pedestrians, on the other hand, end up right in front of cars without any warning at all!  We have come to the conclusion that maybe the kids here grow up playing in the streets-- and so as adults they aren't at all intimidated by traffic and they really do jaywalk right in front of moving cars!  Anyway, right now I am content to practice my back seat driving skills until the road conditions get better.

We are excited and getting ready to start teaching two

temple preparation classes on Sunday and another class for the Matembo family in their home.  This family is one of the most special families that we have ever met.  They originally came from the Congo, then lived in South Africa for four years where they were converted to the church.  They came to Pittsburgh in December shortly after we got here  They have been trying to adjust to life here as well as trying to progress in the church.  They speak Swahili, French---and some English. The kids are especially doing well in English.  It is such a spiritual and reverent feeling to be in their home and we are able to communicate quite well as long as we have a family group setting. This last week we gave the two youngest boys pictures to color of the temple while we talked.  They loved the coloring and they were both so good and reverent.

We had a great Sunday session of stake conference.   It was all on the subject of prayer and it was just so inspiring.  We took Sister Martin and her children with us.  Sister Martin has only been a member for less than a year, but she was asked to speak.  She gave a wonderful talk.  President and Sister Johnson also talked.  President Johnson talked about how all of us have fear (missionary or not) and the role of prayer and revelation in administering the affairs of all the missionaries.  Sister Johnson talked about examples of the Savior praying and mentioned that her brother in law was just killed yesterday in a snow mobile accident.  The stake president, President Peterson, gave great insight about what "real intent" means when we pray.  He said it could mean  "to take action steps".  He then gave examples from the life of Nephi about the many times that he used action steps along with prayer to exercise his faith.  His words were very powerful to us.  As with most church meetings---"you just had to be there" to get the full effect of the spirit, but we hope that we will long remember the words and feelings that we experienced.

We had a great visit this week with Peter and his mom.  Jim and the elders gave them both priesthood blessings since Peter just had surgery and his mom has many worries and stress.  She isn't even a member of the church, but requested a blessing of

comfort.  We've also had good visits with Charlette, Patti, Amiee, and Karen.
We had a spaghetti dinner with two sets of elders the other night and it was really good.  It is fun to cook for them--- and we never have many leftovers!  It fulfills a motherly need I have to feed people I guess, because I really do enjoy it.  I have been pulling out a few old recipes and learning some new ones.

We have also really enjoyed getting text messages, pictures, e-mails, and Skyping with our grandchildren recently.  It is so gratifying to see them all progressing and doing well with the new adventures in their lives.  I decided to start including an occasional picture or two of events that are happening at home while we are gone.  In January Carson became our second grandson to hold the priesthood.  He was ordained a deacon on January 15th and started to pass the sacrament soon afterwards.  He keeps us up to date on what is happening in the world of sports while we are gone too.  When we Skyped with him the other night he just seems so much older and is now taller than his mom!

We also got a cute picture from Heather showing a brand new accomplishment for Brynlee.  She learned to tie her shoes all by herself!!!  She is in her second year of preschool and is getting very ready to go to
kindergarten next year.  She keeps her whole family in line!  We also heard that she and Jenna orchestrated a 'Valentines date' this year for Mike and Heather---- complete with hot tubbing, movie and popcorn on Valentines night.  They did a very good and cute job of waiting hand and foot on the 'love birds'!

February

So far the month of February is moving along pretty fast and we have one different experience after another.  One thing that we are learning quickly is that no day is ever the same so it doesn't get too boring.

The days have alternated between single digit temperatures and up into the 40's and 50's---mostly cloudy but with a few sunny days here and there.  The building art at the right caught our eye and brightened up an otherwise dull kind of day.  It is on the South Side.

We have been trying to capture a lot of the interesting and positive scenes of the city, but there are a lot of pockets of run-down, bad neighborhoods.  One of these days we might show a few pictures of those areas too.... just to help our grandkids realize how blessed they are to have back yards to play in and a mom AND a dad.

We got kind of an interesting call from our Mission President last week.  He said one of the elder's moms called him to ask how safe our apartment building really is.  She said she had called to order pizza for her son as a surprise and when she told the pizza guy the address of our building, he said "What's a white boy doing in a neighborhood like that"!  The President has never seen our building or neighborhood and was really concerned to think we might all be in danger.  We kind of laughed and told him not to worry too much, but our area does have a bad reputation.  It seems that it was once the very wealthiest of all neighborhoods in Pittsburgh with names such as Carnegie, Mellon, and Westinghouse as neighbors.   In the 1960's the suburbs began to take over and in order to draw business to the area, a major redevelopment of the business district was undertaken.  It was planned badly and traffic was diverted from the area instead of attracted to it.  The closing of steel mills didn't help either.  Large beautiful homes were left in disrepair and made into apartments, crime dramatically increased and it became the worst neighborhood in Pittsburgh.

Over the last several years many major retailers have opened business in the area and there is a Home Depot, Target, and Google offices nearby.  There is a lot of new construction going on now and when we looked on the internet it sounds like property values are going up and crime is going dramatically down.  Anyway, we feel relatively safe, BUT we still don't walk outside at night around here!!---and we aren't sure if we can get a pizza man to deliver to us either!  Anyway, we think the President may be visiting us soon to check up on things.

We also had a very tender experience this past week.  We were in the middle of attending the Addiction Recovery meeting that we attend each week and we got a phone call from one of the families that we have been trying to help and support at the Children's Hospital.  Jessica and Mike have been at the hospital with their baby for the past seven months.  The baby has a heart defect and has been awaiting a transplant.  He was recently taken off of the transplant list due to another condition.  Anyway, they made friends with Teresa, one of the other mom's there, who also had a sick baby.  Teresa's baby died that day and Jessica and Mike were trying to comfort her and her friend.  They all stay close by the hospital at the Ronald McDonald house.  Jessica asked if we could come over and help.  We left right away and met them at the Ronald McDonald home.  It was such a sad and tender time for all of us.  Jessica and ourselves were the only members of the church in the group.  Jessica's husband, Mike, is currently taking the missionary lessons.  Teresa and her friend, Penny, both said they are Christian and they poured out their hearts and life stories to us.  It was just so sad and yet so comforting to have the scriptures in our hands, and to be able to read some words of comfort from Moroni Chapter 8 to them.  We explained the Plan of Salvation and we could see the yearning for hope in their eyes.  Jim gave Teresa a priesthood blessing.   It was a spiritual experience that I don't think we will ever forget.

Yesterday, we drove with Jessica to a little town in Ohio to attend the viewing of the baby.  There are two sister missionaries who happen to live right in the same town and on the same block as the funeral home.  This is amazing because the sisters cover a large area.  Anyway, we met them there with Teresa's permission and we were all able to visit with Teresa, her family and her husband's family from LA and Chicago.  Jim also had a nice visit with a woman there who was the Lutheran Vicar who was performing the funeral service later in the evening.  It was a good opportunity to share some light and hope and common ground with all of them.  We hope we were able to do that.  Teresa and the sister missionaries exchanged phone numbers before they left.

Then Penny, Teresa's friend,  invited us to a luncheon at her church in between viewings.  They had decided to have two viewings separated by a luncheon and then a short service at 8 in the evening.  We attended the luncheon at a nearby church, we met the pastor and visited with the four ladies who prepared and served the luncheon.  It was very similar to our church funeral luncheons--ham, salads, rolls etc.--and the sisters serving would fit right in at Relief Society! They were all very friendly and warm to us and we took a tour of the church building with the pastor.

And so we will hope that seeds of the gospel and goodwill were planted that will one day grow.  Planting seeds.....that's what it's all about.

Time Flies By

We spend our weeks driving around the city to appointments, visiting members, going to missionary meetings, hospital visits, ward activities, grocery shopping and we fit in sight seeing where we can.  The weeks seem to fly by from Sunday to Sunday.
We were able to fit in a visit to the Frick Art Museum this week, but realize that we actually have lots of art to see as we drive.  The building art at the left is one of the first we saw when we came to Pittsburgh.  It is on the side of a building very near our apartment. It is so cool how it was made to look three dimensional.

Along with the art museum, we took a tour of the home of Henry Clay Frick called "Clayton".  Mr. Frick was one of the richest  men in the world at one time.  He was good friends and business partners with Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon.  It was very interesting to tour his home and imagine what the home and city were like during the "Gilded Age".  Pittsburgh was once one of the top six wealthiest, most influential cities in the world.

We were also invited to go to lunch at the home of the Hoskins again with the elders.  We went there on Christmas Day and enjoyed being with them.  Sister Hoskins is from Brazil and made a special dessert called "flan".  It's a little tricky to make it, but she said she has been doing it since she was 14 years old.

I asked her how to make it and so she spent a little extra time before lunch this week to show me how.  We served it last night for dessert after Sunday dinner with the elders and it was really good.  It is fun to expand our horizons a bit to different types of foods and culture.

We were also sad to have some of the Elders we have grown close to move on to different things this past week.  Elder Dennison and Bailey went home.  Elder Harper was made assistant to the Mission President and so he moved closer to the mission home and office.  He was delightful to have so near to us (in our same apartment building) and we will really miss him.

Elder LeBaron replaced Elder Harper. His companion is Elder Sorenson so we still have Elder Sorenson with us in the same apartment building.

One of Elder Harper's favorite things to do was come and relax in our apartment and take advantage of the comfy recliner that we have in the corner of the living room.  Elder's Sorenson and LeBaron didn't waste any time in taking over the recliner!


We have been so impressed with the caliber of young men and women who are serving missions here.  We get a weekly email from President Johnson and he sent a newspaper article about two elders in Hershey, PA.  It is quite far from us and we don't know the elders, but it really could have been written about any of the young men and women that we have met here.  Thought it was neat that they were recognized even though that is not why they did it.