Thanksgiving in West Virginia

2017 Diner with Randi and Susan Custer and Sister Jarman and Sister Butts. Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I literally get weepy when I think of all the blessings that have been poured out upon my family this year, both immediate as well as extended family. We have been given so much from our Father in Heaven and therefore we too must give.
  This semester in our Institute/Pathway class we have been teaching the course "Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel". We are learning gospel principles that are strengthening our testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Some of the points that have been brought out in our lessons are:
*"Never has anyone offered so much to so many in so few words as when Jesus said, " Here am I, send Me"( Elder Maxwell)
 * The scriptures were written so people might believe in Jesus Christ. The knowledge that Jesus Christ is unchangeable helps us have faith that, just as He kept His promises to the people we read about in the scriptures, He will keep His promises to us.
 * Jesus Christ defeated death and conquered sin and sorrow.
*Jesus Christ was perfect and sinless, not because He had to be, but rather because He clearly and determinedly wanted to be.
* Christ's love is endless. How blessed we are to have this knowledge.
   Nov.17 - We had the opportunity to attend a zone conference with our mission President Lindhardt and Elder and Sister Bradley Foster (of the Quorum of the Seventy).
One of my take a ways was "Lift us your heart and rejoice. The hour of your mission is come. Don't miss it. Make it great.
You'll be blessed if you will teach the members about God's Son, teach them to "Hear Him".
To sum up, we are well, happy, busy and getting cold but that's what jackets are for.
We love you all.
Almost Heaven, Traynors.
 

It's Full on Autumn

Hello Family and Friends,

    At this time of year I sure think of my dear Mother as she so loved the Fall time. She would have loved the wonderful colors of West Virginia. Every where we drive we point out beautiful trees and shrubs to each other. Each one's color is more intense than the last. The colder it gets the more color but also the leaves are falling fast so it will be gone soon. Stunning is the word that comes to mind.
   Well, on November 6th we marked our 9th month in the West Virginia, Charleston Mission. We are at the half way mark. My goodness the time has flown by.
   We stay busy with our Institute/Pathway assignment. It is exciting to see our first class nearing the completion of their Pathway Connect year as they are in their third semester. They have worked hard and we are surprised at how well the group has bonded together and help each other out. We will miss them.
   Part of this Pathway responsibility is to recruit new students that will start the program in January. So we have spent a good deal of time making phone calls and sending emails to YSA's as well as their local leaders giving them information of what the program is and what it can do for them. We have now reached out to Charleston Stake too. It will be a bit of a drive but we are the only Pathway program in all of West Virginia. The fact that we have had 2 students that drive from Cincinnati (about 2.5 hours each way) every Thursday this whole year has been a great testimonial to the value of the program and folks might need to make some sacrifices.
    We have come to love our Zone Conferences. November 1st we traveled to Teays Valley for a double zone conference. We took the Sister Missionaries from our area with us. Our Mission President is a professional Seminary/Institute instructor. What a master teacher. His knowledge of the scriptures and stories is amazing as well as his knowledge of the Preach My Gospel manual. This conference he focused on the Holy Ghost. Some of the things we were taught are:
*The Holy Ghost binds us to the Lord.
*4 things we need to have the Holy Ghost,
1-be worthy of His companionship
2-Recognize
3-Have a desire
4-Act, the first time you receive a prompting
*Revelation comes through the Holy Ghost
We feel such energy, strength and goodness from the full time Elders and Sisters. They are moving this great work forward.
   We are coming to the close of our Self-Reliance, Personal Finance class. Since we are already retired, some portions of the most recent lessons are not as relevant to us as prior lessons had been. Pat especially enjoyed the lessons on budgeting. Me, not so much. For 46 years I thought my job was to spend and now things just might change. That's not good.
   Nov 6th was our Empty Nester FHE group. We meet he first Monday each month. We are slowly growing in numbers and we enjoy the association of the other empty nesters (mostly single sisters and a male recent convert).
   In closing a little word regarding the addition of the pictures to the blog. Well it appears that an old dog can learn new tricks. In this case Darian spent a good deal of time helping me figure out how to do it. What a patient fellow. So now as I have time, I will go back to old blogs and add pictures and then copy the letters for my "Mission Book".
We love you all and miss you but we sure love this area and these folks here too.
Almost Heaven, Traynors