Tom and Debbie's Mission Blog: Visitors, Visits and the Spirit of God

The month of June has been filled with many visitors coming to Palmyra to see the Church historic sites and to worship in the temple. All bring a special spirit with them. We were able to again visit our daughter and grandsons in Pennsylvania, arriving on Fathers Day. We also received new callings or assignments in our Penn Yan Branch and continue to get to know these good members of the church in a more personal way. In the temple, we see many members receiving their endowments for the first time and have been privileged to train new temple workers. At home, we are pleased to see our children strengthening one another in a spirit of love and concern.

In all of this, the hand of the Lord and his confirming spirit has been abundant. We have visited all of the Church Historic sites in the last two weeks. In all of the experiences noted in this blog, the power of the Holy Ghost has testified over and over about the truthfulness of the gospel, the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, and temple blessings.

With our dear friend, Elder Jorge Alvarado Pazo in the Sacred Grove

There is so much to share. Let's start with a very special visit from our friend, Elder Jorge Alvarado Pazo and his family. He had planned on coming in May but it didn't work out. Finally, he texted us and said that he would be here on June 25 - 26 and asked if we could be his tour guides. We consented, but told him that we would be serving in the temple on the evening of June 25, but had no temple shifts scheduled on June 26, one of only two days without shifts during June. That was a miracle all by itself.

Let me back up and reintroduce Elder Alvarado. He worked as an employee in the Self-Reliance Department where I first became acquainted with him. He was the Self-Reliance Manager in the Caribbean Area. By the time that we were serving our Self-Reliance Mission in Europe, he was a regional manager for Self-Reliance and the Europe Area was part of his responsibility. In December 2016, he came to Europe for our Area Seminar. He was feeling very sick on his trip over and ended up staying in a hotel in Frankfurt on Sunday afternoon when he arrived. I was asked to check on him, since our Self-Reliance manager was out of town that day. In a very short story, I assisted him in a very sick condition to get him to a hospital in Frankfurt the next day where he was diagnosed with malaria. He then spent 11 days in Frankfurt in the hospital while we ministered to him and visited him. When he was finally released, we took him from the hospital back to the airport for him to go home. Ever since, he has told everyone that we saved his life. He has become a very special friend of ours. In 2019, he was called to the first Quorum of the Seventy and has been serving as a General Authority Seventy ever since.

Elder Alvarado is an amazing person, unlike any that we have ever met. He is full of energy and love. Everywhere we went with him, he would take time to minister to others, young missionaries, visitors in the Sacred Grove and especially to us. He spent time alone with us in the Sacred Grove, sharing with us the details of his call as a General Authority and spiritual experiences that he had preceding that call. He told us that he learned that "Consecration is more than service". These were sacred moments for us. He made us feel special. He makes everyone feel special! He is truly a servant of our Heavenly Father.

He had flight problems and had to fly into Newark, New Jersey and then drive 6 hours to arrive in Palmyra in time to attend the temple on Tuesday night. He came with his wife, Cari Lu, his son, Chucho, and Cari Lu's parents. Due to their late arrival, we had to visit all of the Church Historical Sites on Wednesday. We finally finished our visit at the Whitmer Farm in Fayette a little before they closed at 7:00 pm. After that, he drove to Niagara Falls to see the Falls at night and then continued on to Kirtland, Ohio, arriving at 3:30 am the next morning.

With Elder Alvarado and family in front of the Palmyra Temple

This is not just indicative of his energy level, but his effort to minister to others. He always has time, even when his schedule is tight. This included the time that he spent with us in the Sacred Grove, time with Sister missionaries at Hill Cumorah and time to translate for an additional tour at the Grandin Press to a family from the Dominican Republic who wanted to hear the tour in Spanish. All this took extra time, but he never worried about his own schedule, only about ministering to others. This time with Elder Alvarado and his family had a major impact on us. We are blessed to call him our friend and to be uplifted by his spirit.

Selfie on a bench in the Sacred Gove with Elder Alvarado, where he shared sacred experiences with us

Elder Alvarado ministering to a family in the Sacred Grove. They didn't even know who he was.

A photo of a deer in the Sacred Grove. Photo was taken by Elder Alvarado

Elder Alvarado and his wife, Cari Lu outside of the Sacred Grove with the Palmyra Temple behind them

With Elder Alvarado and his family on the Hill Cumorah

Elder Alvarado translating for a family from the Dominican Republic at the Grandin Press

With Elder Alvarado and family in the Whitmer log cabin

Other Visitors:

There has been a large number of visitors coming to this area. June is full of EFY conferences and Youth conferences for stakes all over the eastern coast. Most stop at the temple to perform baptisms for the dead. To accommodate these groups, the temple is open many more hours and most of these hours in the baptistry are under the responsibility of the temple missionary couples. We serve with four other amazing missionary couples who work hard. Sister Rueckert's heart condition does not allow us to do as much as the rest, but in their goodness, they make up the difference. We have spent more time supporting the other temple shifts, while the other missionary couples have become baptistry experts.

Millennial Choirs & Orchestra:

One of the major visits this month has been the Millennial Choirs and Orchestra, a group of over 2,000 adults, children and youth who sing together in an amazing way. They came to sing at a special outdoor performance behind the Palmyra Stake Center on June 22. Of course in the days before and after this concert, we have seen an even greater number of patrons in the Palmyra Temple.

On the Thursday before their visit, I received a text from a member of our ward in South Jordan, Bill Opheikens. He said that his grandchildren would be with this choir and they should be in the temple on Friday and Saturday morning before the concert. We went into the temple for some youth conference baptisms on Friday morning and I did not see their names on the list. After serving until 10:00 am with the Mt. Vernon Stake, we went home while another stake came for the nest four hours. I came back to help out in the afternoon with the remainder of the Mt. Vernon Stake, but first we had some family groups. As I served with confirmations, the first family was from Midway, Utah, the Lee family. As we talked we found that they were good friends with Debbie's brother who has lived in Midway for many years. When the next family group came in, I saw the name Opheikens on the packet of family names in front of me. By coincidence, or divine design, I met three of these fine grandsons and had the privilege to interact with them. As they left the temple, I met their mother who was in the waiting room with a younger sister. The photo below was taken as they left the temple and sent to their grandfather, our friend. I also met one of these boys back in the temple on Saturday morning.

Myself with the three Opheiken boys before I met their mother

On Sunday, we heard a knock on our door and I found my nephew, Brian Rueckert, and his family. We were not aware that their family was also in the Millennial Choir. They had run into our landlord on the street that day and he discovered their name and brought them over to our house.

With Brian Rueckert and his family. His wife and four of the children sing with the Millennial Choir.

The choir concert was held on Saturday night at 7:00 pm. This choir and orchestra came from 5 different state based choirs throughout the U.S. These that I mentioned above were from the Utah choir, but we met others from other states also. They had sung in Boston earlier in the week as part of this tour. As we arrived, we brought some chairs and sat further behind those who came with blankets. As we turned around we saw our good friend, William with his girl friend, Peggy, and his daughter Tori. Peggy was all smiles as she announced to us that she had quit smoking. This little family is working towards baptism. We were so excited to see them at the concert with some other new members of the Church. They tracked down the young missionaries who also sat with us. We also sat near other members of the Penn Yan Branch who had traveled almost an hour to be in attendance.

With William, Peggy, and Tori behind us and part of the choir behind them

Since weather is always a concern, we were pleased to see some rain forecast on Saturday morning but clear skies for the evening. As the concert began, all was well. The first songs were performed well and focused on a patriotic theme. We heard inspiring words from Jared Halverson which tied the songs together. The sound system worked well and everyone was impressed.

Over 2,000 members of the choir and orchestra on a hill at the back of the stake property

At 7:50 pm, we began seeing some distant lightning and the clouds began to form.

Screen shot from the weather app as we started to see lightning in the distance

This photo was taken at 7:58 as the sky was getting darker and the rain was beginning to fall

Within minutes we were in the middle of a thunderstorm. The choir and orchestra went running to the stake center and those attending found umbrellas, a pavilion, or became soaking wet. In about 15 minutes the storm passed and the singers insisted on carrying on.

This photo was taken at 8:16 pm, after the thunderstorm was over, with some of the choir returning to the hill and inviting others to return

Finally, the performance resumed, now done without the sound system. The choir came off of the hill and those of us watching gathered closer to them surrounding the choir while they sang a few more songs without microphones.

Jared Halverson resuming his comments with a megaphone

A more intimate setting for the final numbers, most of us were wet but happy to hear more.

All in all, it was an amazing performance of two types. One with a great sound system reaching everyone. This had as its focus patriotic songs. The latter portion of the concert was focused on songs of the restoration and sung without microphones. It was more intimate and personal but equally amazing. We know that this caused confusion to all, but the result was beautiful and memorable.

Temple Service for the Living and for the Dead:

We love serving in the temple. Every day we meet wonderful people and we continually feel of the spirit of the Temple. We have noticed that many of our endowment sessions include those who are going to the temple to receive their own endowments. In my mind this happens much more frequently than we have seen in our other temple service experiences. We have been blessed to be involved in this service on many occassions. Let me share a few of thes experiences.

Recently I was asked to be a "Guide" for a patron receiving his own endowment. He was from a Niagara Falls ward, in fact there were two from the same ward on the same session. They traveled two hours to be there on Saturday afternoon. These two men were both new converts and were friends from the same ward. Each had some physical limitations but had spirits of angels. The one that I served told me that he had been up since 6:00 a.m. because he was so excited to receive his endowment. My service was minimal, but my joy of meeting them was without measure.
Yesterday, I had the experience once again, this time with one of two young men who were preparing to leave for full-time missions. In fact one was from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and had been called to serve his mission in Hamilton, New Zealand. Each was from Canada and had traveled more than 2 hours to arrive at the temple. This is required since the Toronto Canada Temple is temporarily closed for repairs. Different experience, but the same sweet spirit.
The previous week I served as an officiator in the endowment session that had 4 new members from the same ward in Eerie, Pennsylvania, about 3 and a half hours from Palmyra. The other officiator on this sessions was from the same ward. He comes once a month on a Saturday and serves both shifts and then returns home that same day. This is a great sacrifice on his part, but as I sat next to him as these 4 individuals went through the veil for the first time, I saw tears streaming down his cheeks. This is reflective of the great love that he has for these good members of his ward. Sister Rueckert had the great privilege to administer the initiatory ordinances for each of the three sisters. Words cannot express our joy to be able to witness such power and blessings from our Heavenly Father. Earlier this week, I had the same privilege to administer the initiatory ordinances to another new member. These are sacred moments!
Perhaps that greatest of these treats was yesterday, when Debbie and I and Elder and Sister Rasmussen were able to officiate in a session where Deb Ferguson, a member of our branch, received her own endowment. The Rasmussens had taught the temple preparation class for Sister Ferguson and we have been able to be in attendance. What a joy to be with her. The session was smaller, only 17 patrons, but 11 of them were from our branch. Add to that the four missionaries that were privileged to be officiating, and we had 15 members of our small branch in the temple session together.

Some of the branch members with Deb Ferguson (dark blue blouse) after she received her own endowment. Others had left or were still in the temple. At least we got 7 of the 15 in the photo.

I have also been privileged to train new temple workers recently. We have 37 temple workers who will be part of the new Pittsburgh Temple District when the temple is dedicated in September. They have served, like the brother from Eerie, Pennsylvania, from long distances. One told me that it will be only 1.5 hours for him to go to the Pittsburgh Temple. He said that now he can go, serve, and return in the same day! I have been able to train three individuals recently, one is a brother born in Haiti, whose wife has been serving for the past year or so. Another is a young man that just returned from a mission in Berlin, Germany. The third has his heritage from Italy. His family settled in the Penn Yan region, where our branch is located. As I taught them temple processes, I was uplifted. However, as I share with them the sacred videos explaining the need to care for the patrons and to understand the ordinances more fully, I have been overwhelmed by the spirit. It is so good to be continually reminded of the purpose of our service.
A few of our baptism highlights:

The other night I was in the confirmation room with a family. The father said that he knew my name from his mission in Manaus, Brazil. It turns out that he was a missionary with our son, Sam, who was his zone leader. He was very complementary of Sam.
Two young men that were attending a EFY group were helping in the confirmation room with me. One had turned 18 on May 10, graduated from high school the same day, and was endowed the next day. He was from Columbia, Missouri and had his mission call to go to the Philippines in July. The other was from Spanish Fork, Utah and had his mission call to go to Mexico in July the following week. They were roommates at the EFY conference and had become good friends. We discussed a lot about the challenges and blessings of learning a new language.

The Penn Yan Branch:

During June, Debbie and I each received assignments to help in the Penn Yan Branch. Debbie is now the chorister for the ward and will play the piano often when the other pianist, who has a stake calling, is absent. She is also helping in the nursery with the 3 year old daughter of our friend William, who is preparing for baptism.

As Debbie prepared to play the piano for the first time, she wanted to be able to practice the songs that she would be playing. She asked our landlord if she could play the organ in the Church where we lived at the beginning of our mission. He consented. It was a wonderful experience for Debbie to play the organ in one of these old churches. While she was playing, the landlord delivered a keyboard that he had to our apartment so that Debbie can play whenever she would like. This was an added bonus.

Sister Rueckert playing the organ in the old Methodist Church, built in 1867

Sister Rueckert playing on the new (to us) keyboard in our apartment

In preparation to teach the adult Sunday School class, we attended a Tuesday night Come Follow Me group that has been meeting weekly since COVID. This gave us a chance to get to know some of the stalwart members of the branch better and to have a meaningful discussion about Alma 5-7. The next week we had a good discussion amongst the members, who contributed their ideas freely. It felt good that they "taught one another", as prescribed in the Come Follow Me manual.

Our branch is located near several Mennonite settlements. Most weeks when we leave Church, we see some of the Mennonites returning to their homes by horse and buggy. We love this sight. It is common enough to warrant signs to remind us to be aware of them in our travels.

Signs on the side of the road

One of the Mennonite buggies that we spotted on our way home from Church today

It is amazing to see different non members (friends) and returning members that show up at the branch most weeks. Two weeks ago, we had 6 new "friends" show up. One of our returning members, Lucas, has started preparing to go to the temple. I love seeing the work of the Lord go forward with these faithful members.

On the third Sunday of each month, the branch holds a "linger longer" activity after church where branch members bring food for a pot luck dinner. We loved this activity. It also served us well, since we continued on to Lehighton, Pennsylvania, that same day to visit with our daughter and grandsons, well fed.

The full spread of food for this month's "linger longer"

The chapel turned into a dining room for our growing branch

Father's Day:

The day that we had our "linger longer" and that I taught my first SS class, was also Fathers Day. That same day, we traveled to Pennsylvania to be with our grandsons who had their first Fathers Day without their father on this earth.

First of all, Debbie ordered some Fathers Day gifts from Amazon that did not arrive in time. In fact they got lost. When they reordered them, they arrived on Fathers Day, but we were in transit to Pennsylvania. Therefore, we celebrated Fathers Day with a box of chocolates that did arrive in time and with the packages when we returned home.

With my box of chocolates on Fathers Day morning

A photo of the other items which were retrieved by our neighbors, the Rasmussens. We got the confirmation of their arrival as we traveled to Pennsylvania.

Father's Day cards from our baseball grandsons in Hyrum, Utah and cards made in primary from our youngest grandsons in Lehighton, Pennsylvania

Visit to Lehighton, Pennsylvania:

As mentioned above, we decided to take this opportunity to travel to Pennsylvania. We had chili left over from the "linger longer" that we took in our car with us to Pennsylvania, hoping that Melanie and her family could enjoy it. Things went pretty well until we found traffic quickly coming to a stop on the freeway. We were successful in getting stopped without an accident, but found that some of the chili slopped out of the crockpot in the back storage of our car. I spent much of the rest of the night after arriving in Pennsylvania to clean up the mess that was caused.

In April we had one on one visits with our three oldest grandsons. This time we planned on having one on one visits with the three youngest grandsons. Edward seemed to be the most interested in this opportunity. After visiting with the family on Sunday evening, Edward came and spent the night with us in the hotel. This became a really special experience. We had plenty of time to interact and get to know this fine grandson even more.

Sunday night we played games and he beat his grandpa more times than I can report in "Connect Four". This is our favorite game with all of these grandsons. He also did very well in other games with both of us. After sleeping the night, Edward and Grandpa went swimming in the hotel. Edward has no fear of water and was pretty able to maneuver in all ways. We spent time perfecting his back stroke, which he quickly adapted to. He was going on a high adventure river trip the next week, so this was helpful. It was fun to spend one on one time teaching a willing and able student.

Edward and "Opa" in the pool

Edward practicing his backstroke

Edward even swims underwater in the hot tub!

After swimming Edward studied Come Follow Me with us. This was a special experience for us. His attitude was excellent and his understanding superb.

Edward posing during our study session

By staying over night, Edward got to have breakfast with us at the hotel and also a lunch at Wendy's. We then picked up Charlie (11) for another lunch at McDonalds. Charlie has autism and has been more difficult for us to get to know. This was the first time he had ever been alone with us and it worked out very well. Our conversations were delightful. He wanted a Happy Meal. When the chicken nuggets arrived, the packaging said spicy chicken McNuggets. We asked him if they were spicy. He promptly told us that perhaps it was the packaging that was wrong. He then said that perhaps it was "the placebo effect", which we found hilarious. Hopefully we have taken our relationship forward a step with Charlie. We finished our one on ones with Timothy (9) that evening at Burger King. Three fast food hamburger places the same day!

Dinner with King Timothy at Burger King

After this last dinner, we went with the entire family to Corner Cones and Melanie treated all of us to ice cream. We feel so blessed to be able to spend extra time with this family during our mission. We were also able to help them get their air conditioning working in their home and spend time talking with Melanie about her progress with finances, work, etc. We know this is part of Heavenly Father's plan for us!

Enjoying delicious ice cream with this special part of our posterity

We left on early Tuesday morning so that we could be ready to serve in the temple that evening. We got a good start so we took an hour and stopped at the Priesthood Restoration Site. We didn't do the whole tour, but were able to be part of the tours of the Isaac Hale home and Joseph and Emma's home in Harmony, Pennsylvania. This is one of my favorite places, as I have felt the spirit so strongly as I ponder the translation that occurred in that home and the witness that Oliver Cowdry received there. We were also able to visit the grave of Joseph and Emma's infant son and the site where the first baptisms were performed by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdry.

Reconstructed home of Joseph and Emma Smith in Harmony, Pennsylvania

The gravesite of Joseph and Emma's infant son

At the site where the first baptisms of this dispensation were held in the Susquehanna River

Family Home Evenings:

We enjoy family home evenings with our missionary friends twice a month. The first FHE in June was hosted by Elder and Sister Bobo. They had an amazing guest, Rod DeGiulio, who is serving as a missionary in this area also. Rod shared his Family History journey, including an amazing personal experience with Family History for his ancestors in Italy. He finished his career working with the Family History department worldwide. His stories were amazing which confirms the Lord's incredible hand in bringing this work forward.

Temple missionaries and other invited guests in a very worthwhile evening

Rod DeGiulio sharing his experiences in an amazing PowerPoint presentation

Later in the month it was our turn. We did something a little smaller. We asked each of the Temple Missionaries to share some Spiritually Defining Moments of their lives. We were overwhelmed! The Lord works in each of our lives in very special ways. We are grateful to be associated with such wonderful missionaries.

Random Thoughts and Photos:

In our visit to the Sacred Grove this week, we used sufficient mosquito repellant and had no challenges with mosquitoes. We are glad to resolve this before our teenage grandchildren come in a few weeks.

Debbie pondering in the Sacred Grove, without mosquitoes biting

Debbie relaxing and studying after cleaning the temple in the morning.

We have seen some pretty amazing views of the clouds and the sun from the parking lot of the temple. Maybe I am getting over my denseness, but I am really enjoying the beauties of this world that Heavenly Father prepared for us.

An amazing cloud formation and light behind the temple

The full scale cloud and sunset together

The other night we saw these beautiful impressions of light on the branches of the trees, east of the parking lot at the temple

They appeared to come from this beautiful sunset that we saw to the west

The sunset was making the trees look like they had autumn leaves

This past month we have had some concerns about struggles that Ben has had with his living accommodations. This led to no one being able to find him. Many of his siblings and others joined in a search. In the end all is well, and Ben is now living with Moroni and Abe. In the process we found out how many people love Ben and are willing to help out. I am thankful for good, loving siblings and others. A special shout out to Moroni who has gone way beyond the normal to help his brother. While we are far away, Moroni has proven to be a true hero in offering assistance and helping us give needed support to Ben.

Birthdays:

We celebrated a few June birthdays of grandsons by Zoom or FaceTime: