This past week we were able to return to our last mission in Palmyra, New York and reunite with some of the very special friends that we have made in 2024. This included the long awaited baptism of our dear friend, William Scheepsma. We went back for William but enjoyed many reunions with friends in the Penn Yan branch, in the Palmyra Temple, and at the newly rededicated Hill Cumorah Visitors Center. Recently we have had a few reunions with the wonderful missionaries that we have served with in previous missions. Our hearts are full of gratitude as we remember wonderful times with good people everywhere. We are thankful for the opportunity that God has given us and the ability to remember the experiences and especially the feelings!
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| Tom and William before Wiliam's baptism and Tom and Debbie at the new Hill Cumorah Visitors Center |
Return to New York:
Saturday, November 22:
Our biggest adventure was our recent return to our mission in upstate New York. A few weeks ago we received a phone call from our dear friend, William (Billy) Scheepsma. After waiting for more than a year, he received approval to get baptized. We met William 18 months ago when he first came to Church in our little Penn Yan branch. From his first day in May 2024, we became close friends with William. Later that month he called me (Tom) and asked if I would perform his baptism. I was elated and of course I agreed. To resolve some of the things in his past, it turned out that William needed special approval to be baptized. For 18 months he has been attending Church faithfully every week. Now, on November 23, 2025, William became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I was able to perform the baptism as promised 18 months ago.
This of course required us to return to upstate New York which we willingly did. Since we were there, we also made other visits to people and locations from our beloved mission.
We arrived on Saturday, May 22. As we were driving from the airport to our hotel in Palmyra, New York we received a phone call from William. We were able to have a dinner with him and his daughter Tori that very night. We were also able to give him our baptism gift, a Christus Statue for his home.
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| With Wiliam and Tori at their favorite Mexican Restaurant in Penn Yan, New York |
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| William sent me this photo of the Christus Statue on his curio in his home. It seems to fit perfectly next to the photo of the Palmyra Temple that has hung in his home since our missionary days. |
Sunday, November 23:
Even though we went for William's baptism, the Lord had many more blessings to pour out upon us, which we gratefully enjoyed for the next four days.
Saturday night in my prayers before going to bed at midnight, I was prompted to invite my friend, Lucas, to come to Church the next day so that we could see him. I went ahead and sent him a Facebook Messenger text and went to bed. When I awoke the next morning I had a response and a promise to meet us at Church. Lucas works 12 hour shifts at night, so for him to come to Church is quite a sacrifice and commitment.
When we got to the Penn Yan branch, it was just like coming home. This is a small branch of dedicated individuals who we learned to love so much. As we greeted many of them, our hearts were full of love and appreciation. Of course, William was already there with Tori. He is now in charge of administering the Zoom link for the branch meeting each week. He didn't have to wait to be baptized for that responsibility. There were others who came for his baptism, that were not from this branch, including some of our favorite people in New York and William's uncle and aunt. As I sat in Church, I saw Lucas come in and sit down and I was overjoyed to see him again. While the meeting progressed, I marveled at the consistency of so many members of this branch.
However, I thought, "Where is Gabe?", who was Lucas' best friend and the Elders Quorum President when we attended. Some time before the sacrament, Gabe and his two children arrived. Then after the sacrament we learned that Gabe and his two teenage children would be our speakers. We were pleased to hear these two youth speak and their talks were excellent. To complete the meeting Gabe got up to speak. First of all he told us that he was running late for Church and was speeding to arrive in time, when he was pulled over for speeding. He explained to the policeman that he was hurrying to Church because he and his kids were the main speakers. The policeman let him off without a ticket and Gabe invited the policeman to Church.
After giving us some background on his kids talks and emphasizing a few of their important points, Gabe proceeded to give us one of the best talks that I have ever heard. He talked about the recent conference talk by Elder Kevin Brown, which he says was the most significant talk he had ever heard. He addressed the important principles of agency and the power of the Holy Ghost that Elder Brown had addressed, adding the similarities between Elder Brown's experiences and his own, the rejection and persecution from others because of his beliefs. This talk had become very personal and the spirit was strong as Gabe continued. He then quoted Elder Brown who identified the day, time, and location when he received his powerful witness of the Holy Ghost of the truthfulness of the gospel. Gabe then told us the location, date, and time when he had his most incredible witness from God. It was when he was in the hospital and a fellow person in the hospital room woke from a deep sleep at 2:34 am and called out “Do you believe in God?”. Gabe answered that he did and the person went right back to sleep. Gabe started praying to God and received a manifestation of the love of God in his life that he has never forgot. Gabe then gave an incredible testimony that he shared with all. Everyone was in tears and overcome by the Spirit, including Debbie and I. Elder Brown had given an amazing talk and testimony in conference, but we felt that Gabe’s testimony and experience was equally as strong and we were able to experience it first hand. Here we were , back in our beloved Penn Yan branch and had just heard and felt one of the most spiritual talks in our lives. What a spiritual feast that we were blessed to receive. I had been asked previously to give the closing prayer, which I did in the middle of my tears, giving thanks for the manifestations of the Spirit that we had felt that day. I was so thankful that Gabe’s good friend, Lucas, was there to hear this amazing talk. Gabe had already invited Lucas to come to the meeting but he had resisted because he of his work shift. When he received my late night text, that I was inspired to send in a midnight prayer, he decided to come because of our friendship. I loved seeing him, but I believe he, like the rest of us, needed to hear Gabe’s powerful witness.
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| Gabe and his two kids, our magnificent speakers in Sacrament Meeting |
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Lucas, on the left, with Gabe and Dimitry, Gabe's son
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After the normal Sunday meetings, we proceeded with the baptismal meeting. Most of the members of the branch stayed for the baptism.
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| The speaker here is William's friend and neighbor, Danny, who William has known long before coming to Church. |
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| William's baptismal program |
The following are photos of others with William, who are special blessings in William's life. Many of the missionaries that wanted to come back for the baptism were unable to, but they were attending on a video link. We had coordinated the baptism for this date, because Elder Jake Wallis, one of the missionaries that had taught William for 3 months during the time that we were in Penn Yan, was already going to be in New York on this date. His father and girl friend, from New York, were also in attendance. Jake also gave a powerful talk about the Holy Ghost.
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| Jake, William and Tori |
When William came to his first stake conference in Palmyra and visited the Sacred Grove with the Sister missionaries for the first time, we had them in our home for lunch. At the last minute, the group added Bryan to our luncheon. We had just met Bryan the week previous in the Temple as he had just received his endowment and were very impressed with him. He met William in our home and they have been friends ever since. Bryan was the one who confirmed William a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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| William with Brian Reandleau |
One day when we were serving in the temple, I saw the name of William Scheepsma on the list of those who had made reservations for an endowment session. That night I was privileged to meet William Scheepsma, William's uncle, the youngest brother of his deceased mother who lives on the border of New York and Pennsylvania. His uncle had no idea that William was investigating the Church. Based on this divinely orchestrated connection, William contacted his Uncle and Aunt and they came to the baptism, the first time that they had seen each other in years. After the baptism and confirmation, William received the Aaronic Priesthood which was conferred upon him by his uncle.
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| With William and Tori and William and Judy Scheepsma |
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| This is President Perry, the branch president, welcoming William to the branch. President Perry has been absolutely phenomenal for William and made sure all this happened appropriately on this special day while so many were able to participate. |
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| Finally we finished with some wonderful refreshments furnished by the members of the branch |
We went back to our hotel on Sunday afternoon, overwhelmed by all that we had experienced this day. This was already full pay back and more for our efforts to travel back to New York. We certainly loved our time with the Penn Yan branch on our mission. They will always be a big part of our special memories of our mission.
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| Our humble Sunday dinner after returning to our Hotel Room, a sandwich, an apple, and chocolate |
Monday, November 24:
On Monday we had scheduled to visit a dear friend of Debbie's from our days in the temple, Kathy Prince. She took us out to lunch at "The Nutcracker" restaurant. We loved driving through the countryside of New York, seeing so many immaculate yards, still with green mowed grass on the 5 acre lots. We visited with Kathy for hours at the restaurant and another hour in her home. She shared her conversion and life story in the Church. She is not only very interesting but very funny. We could listen to her forever. During our mission in the temple, she and Debbie just clicked and loved to greet and hug each other every time that she attended. On this day, I saw this great love between these two exceptional ladies grow even more. This was a priceless experience.
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| Debbie with Kathy Prince, they are soul mates |
This was a beautiful day, with the sun shining. We went to the Sacred Grove before our visit with Kathy and then I, Tom, went back in the late afternoon as the sun was setting to have additional time to meditate and pray. In both cases the stillness and sacredness of that location touches our hearts, even though there are hardly any leaves left on the trees, the peacefulness is still there. This was a bonus to everything else we did today. I always get carried away with photos in the Sacred Grove, trying to capture that peace in the photos:
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| Together at our standard photo site, the Sacred Grove marker |
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| The peaceful beauty of the Sacred Grove in late November |
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| Later in the Sacred Grove while the sun is setting |
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| The sun setting west of the Sacred Grove causing . . . |
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| . . . a special glow in the Grove |
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| Still a few of the lower leaves are left |
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| An evening view of the Palmyra Temple from the Sacred Grove and the Smith Farm |
That same evening, we picked up our grandson, Thomas DeVore from his college in Rochester and took him out to dinner. We were the first family that he had seen since beginning school in August. We enjoyed great Chinese Food and even better conversation with our grandson. He seemed more talkative than at other times. We feel like he appreciated seeing family. He certainly is growing up and maturing quickly since he has been away from home at school. This was a special treat for us and we hope it was for him also.
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| At dinner with Thomas DeVore. He could use the chopsticks much better than we could |
Tuesday, November 25:
This morning we got up early and went to an endowment session in the Palmyra Temple. Once again, we saw many people that we had met during our mission, include President and Sister Wozniack from the temple presidency. We had arranged to meet another dear friend, Jean Bolton, who met us at the temple. She was there before we arrived and had already reserved seats for us in the endowment room. As I watched her smile, which is contagious, and her happiness to see her friend Debbie, I again felt extreme joy in the friendships that were made during our mission. During the session I thought about one of our favorite sealers, Brother Strassburg, who serves on Tuesday mornings, wishing that I could see him again. When I went through the veil at the end of the session , he was the ordinance worker on the other side. This was an additional tender mercy from the Lord. I also visited with Rob Fergus, the temple recorder, who still had a package that had been delivered to our house after we left with some CPAP supplies. I was able to pick these up and bring them back to Utah.
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| With Jean Bolton in front of the Palmyra Temple |
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| Two best friends who connect with each other every day through text messages and thoughts |
We had not seen the Remodeled Hill Cumorah Visitors Center that was rededicated in September of this year by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve. Sister Bolton also had not seen it, so we went together. I was amazed at the total transformation inside. We knew that they had put in some windows in the east of the Visitors Center so that visitors can look onto the Hill Cumorah itself from the Visitors Center. We also knew that they had removed the large Christus statue that had previously been in the Center.
As we came in and saw the total transformation, we went first to the location which previously had displayed the Christus statue. I was overwhelmed by the Spirit at what I saw. There were statues depicting the resurrected Jesus Christ visiting the Americas, inviting all to come and touch and "feel the prints of the nails in my hands, and in my feet". What a wonderful idea, to share this special moment in history and to allow all visitors to have a similar experience.
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| This beautiful statue allows all to touch and feel those sacred marks depicted in this statue of Jesus Christ |
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| Together in this sacred display |
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| The complete room, with others coming to see the resurrected Lord, so inspiring |
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| Children coming to be blessed by Jesus Christ |
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| Some of the sick coming to the Savior to be healed |
The theme of this Visitors Center appears to allow everyone to have an interactive experience with the Book of Mormon and the Hill Cumorah. The following is me trying to give the reader an idea of what is in this magnificent Visitors Center. There was an art display, with electronic images of Book of Mormon art that has been created from around the world. They come from many different countries and many different art forms. We spend considerable time reading and reviewing each of the pieces of art.
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| Pottery depicting Moroni's Promise |
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| We could page through from one piece of art to another. This one is of Lehi giving his last words to his posterity |
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| This depicts the Allegory of the Olive Tree in a Woodcut Print |
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| This is paintings of Nephi's experiences, painted in Brazil |
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| This is a German painting depicting being enticed by the light or the darkness, 2 Nephi 2:16 |
And many, many more . . .
I also liked an interactive area where visitors can pick a page of The Book of Mormon and find the phrases that refer to Jesus Christ or that touch them in a special way and then share their thoughts about what they feel. Many of these have been captured from many visitors not of our Church and their reactions are shared in a beautiful way..
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| The activity and actual results, scriptures or colorings by children |
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| Electronic images of results from those not of our faith . . . |
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| One example from a Christian, "I didn't know that I agreed with your doctrine. I think I am a secret Mormon" |
They still have a theater with the story of Moroni hiding the plates in the Hill Cumorah playing and repeating every 10 minutes or so. This is part of the Book of Mormon videos and is very enjoyable to watch.
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| Available for anyone to watch starting at any point in the 10 minute presentation |
Finally, the windows to the Hill Cumorah and some fun ways for each person to understand what happened on this Hill, including each of the visits that Joseph Smith received.
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| Windows looking up at the Hill Cumorah and instructional materials to understand what happened there |
We finished our Tuesday back in the Temple. Unfortunately, our visit to the temple with William did not work out as he had challenges from work and getting a baby sitter and we missed his earlier communication. However, we were able to do baptisms for 10 of Debbie's direct ancestors and reunite with other friends, including President and Sister Kimbler, the President and Matron of the Palmyra Temple.
On Wednesday morning, we went to the airport and arrived back in South Jordan before dinner time. That is pretty amazing considering the challenges of transportation that our pioneer ancestors had. We were blessed with so many unexpected experiences during these four days. We also made it home in time to celebrate Thanksgiving, with much to be grateful for.
Other Mission Reunions:
Last month met with our friends from our mission in the Europe Area in 2015-2017. This group still gets together each year in October. We missed it last year while we were traveling home from Palmyra, but this year we were able to get reacquainted with so many friends and relive so many memories.
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| A group photo of those in attendance at this Europe Area Missionary reunion |
The week before we went back to Palmyra we had another sealing session with four of the five couples that served together in the Palmyra Temple. Afterwards we were hosted by Elder and Sister Rasmussen for a nice dinner in their home. These are dear friends and we loved remembering the precious times that we had together.
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| A selfie group picture of the group eating dinner |
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| A more posed photo but with most of Elder Bobo's head missing |
A new baby boy Rueckert is coming:
While we were in New York, our son and daughter-in-law were revealing the gender of their first baby. We were able to attend virtually while we were out to dinner with William that Saturday night. We are excited for Lamoni and Aide and look forward to our new grandson next May.
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| Aide, about to break the ball |
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| BLUE, a boy! |
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| Two happy parents! |
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| Watching from New York via Marco Polo |
Camila's children and one more passing:
On October 30, 2025, Christopher Carter passed away. He was Camila's brother-in-law who took a major responsibility in raising Camila's children when her husband, Eddie, passed away and Camila became incapacitated. Chris was a good man who, with his wife Caren, raised these four kids the best that they could. Camila's children were listed in the obituary as Chris's honorary children. Chris also was diagnosed with brain cancer during this time. Now, two of these children are in a care facility and a group home with the same disease, HDL2. The other two (Kaiasha and Isake), as adults, are living with Chris's parents. Guy and Wendy. This was one more loss of a loved one in these kids' short lives.
Wendy contacted me soon after Chris passed away, asking me to pick up Caide and be with him during the viewing and funeral. The viewing was on November 11, exactly 3 years after Camila had passed away, with the funeral the next day, November 12.
As the date approached, Wendy decided to not tell the two that are diagnosed with the disease before the funeral but in a more private setting later. Therefore, we did not pick Caide up. However, it was his 23rd birthday on November 10, so we celebrated his birthday with him on November 11, taking him out to pick up a present and have a birthday treat.
We then came home and went to the viewing with our daughter, Pollyanna. After that, we went with her to Camila's grave to remember her on this day.
Between the viewing and the funeral I was able to connect with both Kaisha and Isake.
The funeral was conducted the next day by Lance Andrewson, a work colleague of mine. I went up and talked to him after and found that he had been the home teacher for Guy and Wendy for many years and they asked him to conduct the funeral. I thought he did a wonderful job and finished it up with an appropriate spiritual message.
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| Caide, with Debbie, at Target where he picked out his birthday presents |
This year we broke with tradition and celebrated Thanksgiving Dinner at the home of our daughter, Kari and her husband Michael. They and their family have been our most consistent participants in our Thanksgiving dinners the past few years. This actually worked out very well as we had only arrived home from New York the day before. Kari and Michael did an excellent job hosting this dinner. We enjoyed it very much.
As a bonus, we were able to also be with Michael's son, Ethan, who we have not seen for the past couple of years and Michael's daughter Poppy. We also enjoyed time with Michael's mother who recently became a widow. She lives in Ohio, fairly close to our mission territory in New York. It was a delight to get to know her a little bit more.
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| The Thanksgiving guests besides Tom |
Grandchildren Performances:
We had a few grandchildren performances that we were able to attend in November. This included watching our grandson Jon, as a pirate, in the high school performance of Wendy & Peter Pan and our granddaughter, Ellie, as a Jelly Fish, in the middle school performance Little Mermaid Jr. |
| Jon, as a Pirate on stage |
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| Jon, after the performance |
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| Ellie is on the right of the front row |
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| Ellie with her Grandma, after the performance |
No Birthday Photos this blog except Caide (Above)
