Sometimes I feel like a broken record when I say that this place is just flat beautiful. So I won't say it this time but it really is. There are Crepe Myrtle shrubs that are as big as some of our Mesquite trees, and there are several varieties of colors that just take my breath away. So when I think about the flora and fauna of WV, I'm just astounded. Today we drove to Charleston WV, about an hour away, to put on a luncheon for the Seminary/Institute inservice meeting there, (that's after doing the food for our inservice meeting luncheon here in Huntington), anyway we took a different way from the church to the Interstate and it was through what appeared to be an 8 mile long hollar that looked like a green forested tunnel. Just stunning. OK, I'm done with that.
I will tell you about these inservice luncheons. Pat and I did 4 of them when we first got here, Feb -May (every third Saturday of the month through the school year). So now with school starting up again we are back to once a month again. The reason for the food every time is that because the church is so spread out and these early morning Seminary teachers drive up to 2.5 hours to get to our Huntington Stake inservice meetings by 10:00 AM. So we've been asked to provide a quick meal for them before they have to turn around and drive home 2.5 hours again.
After everyone has finished eating we pack up the left overs and spiff up the kitchen then drive an hour to the Charleston Stake Inservice meeting that starts at 2:00 PM with a second identical lunch #2 for the folks that have driven a couple of hours to get there. After the meeting we clean up, pack up and drive home.
The folks from both stakes are so grateful for everything that is done for them. They are dedicated teachers, and work hard to have a lesson ready for their ward students every morning.
The focus of today's inservice was to train us teachers how to use our electronic devices to create folders and tag scriptures that are meaningful to us so that we can have them available to refer to when we want them. Brother Fuhriman had us go to the scripture in D&C 90:11, that says, "For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fullness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language...". Our young people today are in a digital world, their language, and are more likely to study the Scriptures digitally than from paper like we older folks do. Therefore if we can help them learn to also create folders and tag their own meaningful scriptures, conference talks and videos, they too can build their own digital file cabinet throughout the 4 years of seminary. What a powerful tool for them to have at their disposal.
Pat and I have sort of adopted several (6) single ladies that need to be visited and watched over. Some are widowed and some are divorced. We all met at Panera for dinner last week and we are starting a FHE group next month. The ladies want to meet at the church and have a pot luck dinner and then Pat will give us a message. Some of them are very independent, hard working, sort of, "I've got this", type ladies, and others are happy to have a little extra attention. All of them are glad for the association and time together. We all just get so busy that we don't make enough time for each other.
We continue with our Literacy learners every Tuesday and really enjoy working with them
We loved all the hype and pictures of the Tucson Temple Cultural Celebration and Dedication festivities. I appreciated the reports of the dedication talks and I was able to read President Uchdorffs dedicatory prayer on LDS.org. My heart was there but our service goes on here.
We love you all.
Almost Heaven, Traynors
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Time is flying by
So we have been away from home for six months today, exactly. In some ways it's like a time warp. It feels like we've barely been gone but the calendar says differently and when we FaceTime with the grandchildren we can see them grow up right in front of our faces, especially Annie and Greg's little Gabriel. He is 8 months already. Time is flying by.
We love it here. Our weather has been quite nice this past week. Morning walks are rather delicious as mother would say. The morning temperatures start low, then the day temperatures climb up rather quickly.
We have no Institute /Pathway classes in the month of August so we have a little more time to make visits to ward members that need some extra care. We have adopted 4 widow ladies that lost their home teacher that passed away about a year ago. We enjoy getting to know them and learning about their lives and their families.
We are also spending this available time on Pathway recruitment. A new Pathway class will start in January so we have some time to work on this. We are trying to help the Bishops be aware of the value of the Pathway program and how it can positively impact the lives of the YSA in their wards.
We have received a lot of information and ideas from the Pathway headquarters on how to get the word out to potential students. We make a lot of calls but when it comes right down to it, the young people have to go on line, investigate the program, make a commitment and then register.
We love Tuesdays with our Tri-State Literacy learners. I picked up a second learner and Pat's second one hasn't started coming yet, but has been assigned. We appreciate how hard these folks work and their desire to keep coming.
This past week we got call from our new Bishop asking if we could help with something. The circumstances are somewhat strange. The Bishop got a call from a lady in North Carolina, a member of the church, saying that she has a friend here in Huntington, a non member, that had been in the hospital for 8 days for pneumonia, and was being released but had no one to check on her. So could someone from the church make a visit. So Pat and I made several calls but got no answer. Finally The NC lady sends the Bishop a message that she had given him the wrong number. So with the correct number we call and our new friend Sharon answered. She was a bit confused when we tried to explain who we were and how we came to get her number to call. We asked if we could come by and check on her and she agreed. I asked if she had anything for dinner and she hesitantly said, No. So we told her we would bring her dinner when we came. When we arrived, the poor little gal had her A/C off and was wrapped in a blanket trying to get warm. I on the other hand I warmed right up the second we stepped into her house. She had little oxygen tubes in her nose. We had a nice visit and didn't want to wear her out so we weren't going to stay long but as we were preparing to leave I asked if she would like Pat to pray for her. She said yes. I said would you like a blessing on your head and she she would very much like that. So Pat gave her a blessing of comfort. I also asked her if she would be interested in the Sister Missionaries coming by to visit and she said yes to that too. She very much appreciated having food, people, and prayers that night. The interesting part is that the friend in NC is her financial advisor that Sharon works with telephonically and they have never meet each other in person.
The following day we went and picked up groceries that she ordered for Kroger and took them by to her and she already was looking better. The Sister Missionaries did go by and prepared some lunch for her and folded some laundry and gave a first discussion as well as left a Book of Mormon. We will go by tomorrow to visit again and the Sisters are going Wednesday again.
Sharon is in her early seventies and can't hardly believe that there are folks out there that care about her She is very grateful.
Tuesday was our first zone conference with President Lindhardt. Part of the training included an example of an action plan from 1 Nephi when Lehi asked his sons to return to Jerusalem to get the brass plates. The first attempt was when the lot fell on Laman to go visit Laban and bearly gets out with his life. The second attempt was somewhat smarter in that they come up with a plan to gather up their gold and silver and their precious things and go try to barter for the records and again just escape. But the third time Nephi relies on the spirit, "not knowing before hand which way he should go" and sees the drunken Laban before him. Nephi is lead by the spirit and you know the rest of the story. The takeaway is always "Let the Holy Spirit Guide" it is a much better way and we will be so much more successful in our lives.
We love you all, Almost Heaven, Traynors
We love it here. Our weather has been quite nice this past week. Morning walks are rather delicious as mother would say. The morning temperatures start low, then the day temperatures climb up rather quickly.
We have no Institute /Pathway classes in the month of August so we have a little more time to make visits to ward members that need some extra care. We have adopted 4 widow ladies that lost their home teacher that passed away about a year ago. We enjoy getting to know them and learning about their lives and their families.
We are also spending this available time on Pathway recruitment. A new Pathway class will start in January so we have some time to work on this. We are trying to help the Bishops be aware of the value of the Pathway program and how it can positively impact the lives of the YSA in their wards.
We have received a lot of information and ideas from the Pathway headquarters on how to get the word out to potential students. We make a lot of calls but when it comes right down to it, the young people have to go on line, investigate the program, make a commitment and then register.
We love Tuesdays with our Tri-State Literacy learners. I picked up a second learner and Pat's second one hasn't started coming yet, but has been assigned. We appreciate how hard these folks work and their desire to keep coming.
This past week we got call from our new Bishop asking if we could help with something. The circumstances are somewhat strange. The Bishop got a call from a lady in North Carolina, a member of the church, saying that she has a friend here in Huntington, a non member, that had been in the hospital for 8 days for pneumonia, and was being released but had no one to check on her. So could someone from the church make a visit. So Pat and I made several calls but got no answer. Finally The NC lady sends the Bishop a message that she had given him the wrong number. So with the correct number we call and our new friend Sharon answered. She was a bit confused when we tried to explain who we were and how we came to get her number to call. We asked if we could come by and check on her and she agreed. I asked if she had anything for dinner and she hesitantly said, No. So we told her we would bring her dinner when we came. When we arrived, the poor little gal had her A/C off and was wrapped in a blanket trying to get warm. I on the other hand I warmed right up the second we stepped into her house. She had little oxygen tubes in her nose. We had a nice visit and didn't want to wear her out so we weren't going to stay long but as we were preparing to leave I asked if she would like Pat to pray for her. She said yes. I said would you like a blessing on your head and she she would very much like that. So Pat gave her a blessing of comfort. I also asked her if she would be interested in the Sister Missionaries coming by to visit and she said yes to that too. She very much appreciated having food, people, and prayers that night. The interesting part is that the friend in NC is her financial advisor that Sharon works with telephonically and they have never meet each other in person.
The following day we went and picked up groceries that she ordered for Kroger and took them by to her and she already was looking better. The Sister Missionaries did go by and prepared some lunch for her and folded some laundry and gave a first discussion as well as left a Book of Mormon. We will go by tomorrow to visit again and the Sisters are going Wednesday again.
Sharon is in her early seventies and can't hardly believe that there are folks out there that care about her She is very grateful.
Tuesday was our first zone conference with President Lindhardt. Part of the training included an example of an action plan from 1 Nephi when Lehi asked his sons to return to Jerusalem to get the brass plates. The first attempt was when the lot fell on Laman to go visit Laban and bearly gets out with his life. The second attempt was somewhat smarter in that they come up with a plan to gather up their gold and silver and their precious things and go try to barter for the records and again just escape. But the third time Nephi relies on the spirit, "not knowing before hand which way he should go" and sees the drunken Laban before him. Nephi is lead by the spirit and you know the rest of the story. The takeaway is always "Let the Holy Spirit Guide" it is a much better way and we will be so much more successful in our lives.
We love you all, Almost Heaven, Traynors
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