Our last two weeks of our mission have been bittersweet. It is hard to say good-bye to all of our dear friends and to the Palmyra Temple. Although we have only been here six months, it has certainly became a special home for us. We have spent these last two weeks doing things we still had not done and other things that we wanted to do one more time. We said our good-byes to William and Peggy multiple times and then were surprised to be witnesses at their wedding without previous notice. This was their gift back to us and it touched us deeply. We finished our service at the temple doing our favorite assignment, officiating together in an endowment session. We certainly feel that this has been "a wonderful life" on this mission. And we also went to the "It's A Wonderful Life Museum" in Seneca Falls - "The Real Bedford Falls".
As I prayed in the Sacred Grove last Monday, I felt the following guidance from the Lord:
Make sure that the light that we share with the world (blog, Facebook, talks and conversations) is the light of the Savior. Spiritual experiences that we have experienced are the result of following His direction (counsel or promptings) and by His grace.
3 Nephi 18:24 Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do.
As I write this blog I want to make sure that it is clear that the miracles and spiritual experiences that we witness on our mission and in our lives come totally from Jesus Christ. I never want to give the impression that we are the cause of these experiences. We are the pencils in His hand. During our mission we have clearly seen His writing. He has prompted and refined us in all of our participation. By His grace we have been witnesses of His work!
"I am a little pencil in God's hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more." (Mother Teresa)
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| Witnesses to the marriage of William and Peggy Scheepsma, what a joyful 'surprise'! |
William and Peggy:
Let me start with the most amazing event of all of the events of the last two weeks. Let me go back to Monday, September 23, 2024. We had gone to Church the previous day and once again Peggy did not attend with William. The rest comes from my journal:
"We have been working with William and Peggy our entire mission. Things haven’t always gone smoothly, but we keep responding to promptings and have received corresponding blessings. After our August 16 visit with the missionaries, Peggy wanted to prepare herself for baptism. Everything was positive and she was coming to church for four weeks in a row (One by Zoom). However, she has missed the last three weeks and seems to be losing interest. As we have talked to the missionaries, they say that she doesn’t hang around during their visits but does come in at the end for the prayer. It seems different than the meeting that we had on August 16. William says that she isn’t that interested in moving forward. But everything we hear is from others, not from her. So I have felt prompted to make one more visit to their home. I have felt a desire to purchase a mounted picture of the Palmyra Temple for some time. Finally, on Sunday, I made an appointment with William for us to come by the next day (Monday) at 5:00 pm. William also gave us his special journal to write our thoughts in as his memory of us. This journal includes thoughts and testimonies of all the missionaries that have worked with him.
On Sunday afternoon, September 22, Debbie and I prepared our thoughts and wrote in his special journal. I wanted to also write for Peggy, but William said he wanted his journal to be just for him. I decided to go to the distribution center and buy a mounted temple picture and journal for Peggy.
Monday morning, in my prayers, I felt that this visit to William and Peggy should be my priority for the day. As I went to the distribution center, I found out that it was closed on Mondays. I went over to the This is the Place store and they were out of Temple pictures and journals. I couldn’t believe it. Finally, I called Elder and Sister Rentmeister, who are the new senior missionaries working in the distribution center to see if they could help. With some special arrangements we picked up a nice temple picture but still no journal. Debbie had an extra journal so we used that. We both wrote our testimonies and thoughts to Peggy in that journal. We had everything ready before leaving our home at 4:00 pm to visit them at 5:00 pm.
When we got there we had a wonderful visit with them. We shared the picture of the Palmyra New York Temple and told them that this was our early wedding gift to them, since it didn't look like we would be around for their wedding. They, especially William, was very emotional about receiving the temple picture.
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| William and Peggy with their wedding gift from us |
He went ahead and mounted it immediately on a spot on his wall that seemed perfectly prepared.
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| This spot seemed to waiting for the picture of the Palmyra Temple |
In fact, he posted the following on a Facebook Post.
“So this here is a gift we received from Thomas and Deborah Rueckert on Monday. There is a lot of love and caring behind this gift. It brought me to tears when I saw it. I will never be able to thank them enough for this. It will be a very important piece of this family, I hope for years to come after I am gone. This builds faith in humanity for me. Thank you so so much.” He added a comment to the post that said “This picture aka gift dug very deep into my heart.”
He expressed better than I could the emotions that were felt in that visit. After giving the gift, Peggy commented that she also wanted to go to the temple. We talked about her needing to continue with the missionary lessons and Church attendance. She said that she is ready to move forward. I don’t know what had been happening, but it appears that she is back on track. I know that the Lord keeps prompting me to help this family, especially Peggy. As we left their home, I felt that we were in a holy place and that we were able to be instruments in the hands of the Lord. I love receiving promptings and being able to do what is asked. This is a repetition of what has happened with each visit with Peggy in the past four months.
William told me a week ago that he would pay our airfare back to New York if I would still perform his baptism when he is ready and approved to be baptized. I told him it would be my honor to come and we would pay our own way. He has talked about scheduling a wedding and baptism in the same weekend. We told him that he didn't need to wait for us to get married. I told him I wanted the branch president to give him a temple recommend on the day of his baptism so that they could go to the temple with us and do the baptisms that he and Peggy have been wanting. This wonderful week that we have hoped for during our mission has been deferred, but it can still happen. The love that we feel from William and Peggy is amazing. Peggy told us that she would surely go to Church this week.
The branch needs to get an attendance of 65 this week to keep their average attendance at 50 so that they can move forward with their building expansion. William is inviting everyone he knows to come to help. He is a doer of good works.
Sometimes Debbie wonders about my thoughts and plans. However, she trusts my impressions and supports me totally. I think that every time that we have gone to visit William and Peggy, she has felt the Spirit of the Lord and seen the benefits of our visits on the Lord's errand.
We knew that Elder Pierce was finishing his mission this week. They did not give the lesson to Peggy that we were hoping for. Now we found that the missionaries are being taken out of Penn Yan for now. We are trying to contact the missionaries from Bath who will be covering this area and see if we can get them to teach Peggy as she is asking. We want her to be ready to be baptized with William whenever that day comes.
Now let's fast forward to the next week. The next part of this amazing story is covered in my next journal entry:
Last week we were able to contact the new missionaries for the Bath branch who will also be covering the Penn Yan Branch. We let them learn about William and Peggy from the previous missionaries. I felt a need to give them my perspective on where Peggy was and her need to receive the lessons. I was going to call them on Friday, but did not. I felt an urgency to call them on Saturday. When I talked to Elder Sommer, he said that they knew a bit of the story of William and Peggy but didn’t know how to contact them, They did not have contact information for them, since they are not on Member Tools. I immediately texted it to them. I shared with them our experiences with Peggy and my feelings that Peggy needed to be given emphasis in their visits. They said they had time that day and in fact made a visit to William and Peggy on Saturday and were well received. They also told me that they had decided to visit our branch on Sunday rather than their branch in Bath.
Sunday morning, William, Peggy, Tori, Peggy’s niece, and another friend were all in Church. William was very committed to helping the branch meet its attendance goal that is needed to keep the planned expansion of the chapel in process. With visitors on Zoom, including our daughter Gina, they met their goal. Peggy was wearing a new dress, very modest and appropriate for Church. Again she was well received by the other members. We had a fifth Sunday lesson and they were asking for volunteers to read scriptures. Peggy was the first with her hand up and read the first scripture. Her attitude was amazing. She has come alive with enthusiasm for the Church. Debbie and I bore our testimonies in our last time at the branch meeting before leaving our mission. We have fallen in love with these wonderful Saints and felt so well accepted by them. Many expressed their love for us which of course was very gratifying. On Sunday, Peggy told us that her divorce was finally finalized. We thought it a bit late to push a wedding before we leave. However, William asked us if we could have a farewell dinner with him and Peggy. I told him that we were in the temple every night this week, except Monday when we were having a farewell dinner with the Temple Presidency. I told him that perhaps we could work something out for Saturday before General Conference meetings.
When I got home, I realized that we had Tuesday night available, since we ere serving in the morning. I texted William that we could go out to eat on Tuesday, which he agreed with. Monday, I got a call from William asking the time and place. I suggested something midway between Dundee and Palmyra. He said that he needed it to be closer to Penn Yan, since he had a sitter for Tori. I agreed that we would go to Peggy’s favorite Mexican Restaurant in Penn Yan. He wanted us to meet him at 5:00 pm at the restaurant which I agreed. Tuesday when I got out of our morning shift in the temple, I had a text from the missionaries asking me to call them, so I did. They said that William had invited them to dinner with us and they asked if we could go with them to the Church after dinner to participate in a tour of the Church with an investigator (friend). We thought it a little strange, since we won’t be in the branch anymore, but we agreed to go with them. They said that they would invite William and Peggy to go also to help support the investigator. We had been in the temple but decided to dress in casual attire, since that was William’s usually attire
When we arrived at the restaurant, William and Peggy showed up with Peggy driving the car. She had just gotten her fulll drivers permit the day before. William and Peggy showed up dressed beautifully. William had a white shirt and tie, which I had never seen him wear before. Peggy also had a very nice dress. Of course the missionaries were in their standard white shirts and ties. We felt underdressed. William said that he had dressed up out of respect for us. I thought that was so kind and respectful. We sure have learned to love William and Peggy. When we got seated, Peggy immediately said that she was excited to get baptized and was going to do everything to be ready.
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| The six of us at dinner |
We had a nice dinner. Before we started, William suggested that we should be saying prayer..I appreciated his desire and offered to say the prayer. Instead Peggy said that she wanted to pray. She offered a beautiful prayer that touched our hearts. I mentioned that I had never heard her pray before. William said that he also had not heard her pray before. We were so happy to see how she has progressed in the last week. We had a wonderful time remembering our experiences together. I asked Peggy how she currently felt about her anger with God. She said it is still in her mind at times but her heart is happy. I asked William to recount his beginnings with the Church, which he did. He told us that he had gotten into a Facebook post from Sister Emily Smith and started defending her from someone who was attacking her comments in Social Media. That led to more on-line interaction with the Sister missionaries and William. He said that at first he was being sarcastic, but the Sisters attitude and example caught his attention. The Sunday before we met William he had come to the Church and saw others attending in Sunday clothes. He wasn’t dressed very well and decided not to enter the Church. He then met with the Sisters, had a tour of the Church and came the next Sunday with new clothes, including a tie. I reminded him that he had told me that at 52 years old it wasn’t too late to change. He repeated to us at the dinner that his way of living had not worked for him over the past 52 years and he wanted to try something new. By the time we met William, he was already facing the right direction.
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| The food was excellent, the company even better |
The dinner was wonderful, the company was even better. We talked about their future plans for baptism and they asked if we would stand for them for their marriage. We told them that if they waited for the weekend of their baptism, we could do that. We had promised to return to Penn Yan when they were ready to be baptized with all of the necessary approvals. We felt their powerful love towards us. While we were talking, Peggy slipped away from the table and paid for the dinner for everyone. This didn’t surprise me, I knew that they wanted to show their appreciation.
William looked at his watch and said we needed to get going to the Church because he still needed to pick up Tori. We left the restaurant and each of us went to the Church, which was nearby. When we got there, Debbie went straight to the bathroom. I noticed William and Peggy in the Branch President’s office with the branch president and his wife and mother. I thought it nice that they were there to participate in the church tour. When they came out of the office, William said, “You said that you would stand for us in our wedding, it is now!” I couldn’t believe it. They planned this wedding as a surprise for Debbie and me. We were so surprised and happy.
President Perry proceeded to perform the marriage with Debbie and I standing in as witnesses to the wedding ceremony. William had the previous missionaries all in attendance by Zoom, Sisters Prahl and Smith, Elders James, Wallace, and Pierce. I couldn’t hold back the tears. What a wonderful way to finish our mission, witnessing one of the major milestones of their lives and their progress towards baptism. William said that he was almost more excited to see my face than he was for the marriage.
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| President Perry performing the marriage ceremony, we were as witnesses (underdressed), Sister Perry behind observing |
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| Past missionaries attending the marriage by Zoom, each have played an important role with William and Peggy |
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| Our signatures as witnesses to their marriage |
They had decided this the day before when getting their marriage certificate. They called the branch president and the full-time missionaries and started making the plans. Each had been a little deceitful with us, but we forgave them. They weren’t just dressed up for us, but for the wedding. Debbie and I were overwhelmed. We felt bad that we were in more casual clothes, but at least the photos will reflect our surprise and lack of preparation. We have grown to love William and Peggy so much, but our love increased even more as we saw them doing this in a way that we could participate. As I type this, tears are returning to my eyes. They are new people. The light of Christ is flowing out of them. They are radiant and we are grateful that the Lord has allowed us to be part of their story.
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| Cutting the Wedding Cake furnished by Sister Perry |
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| The bride and groom and wedding guests enjoying the cake |
Our hearts have gone out to William and Peggy. They still have a ways to go, but they are in the right direction and are very committed to moving forward and to making covenants in the temple. We feel that the Lord is putting pieces in place to help them in their journey. We are grateful that we could be two of those pieces in their lives over the last six months.
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| This beautiful couple, Mr. and Mrs. Scheepsma |
As a side note, we had a good conversation with Elder Sommer who is perfect to help them progress further. He is "all in" on this process. He told us that he remembers us from the 5K run, because he was directing traffic at the parking where we entered multiple times. He also remembers being with us in the temple sessions for the fuill-time missionaries in May. We feel that Elder Sommer and Elder Calhoun are the right Elders to help prepare Peggy for baptism. On Wednesday morning, I stopped into the Distribution Center to pick up another picture of the temple for us to take home (without a frame). Elder and Sister Rentmeister were there. I told them about our experience the night before. They are new and are assigned to the branch and are wanting to visit the members. They wanted to visit William and Peggy but needed their contact information which I shared with them, since they don’t yet show up on the Member Tools app. They will be on their mission for 23 months and will be a great couple to continue mentoring and fellowshipping William and Peggy.
Farewells:
As expected, we have spent a lot of time saying good-bye. One special occasion was Monday, September 30, when we were invited for a farewell dinner with our temple leadership at the Temple President's house. Elder and Sister Bobo were also invited, as they will be leaving their mission at the same time as us. This gave us an opportunity to get to know the temple leadership even better. Four of the six of them were converts in their adult years. We have learned of their conversion stories over the past month in preparation meetings. They were completing their first month as a temple leadership and we were completing our six months. Each of them had served as ordinance workers and sealers during our time in Palmyra. We know that the temple is in good hands. We love them!
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| We took the first photo of this temple leadership together. From left to right, President and Sister Wozniak, President and Sister Kimbler, President and Sister Lou |
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| Elder and Sister Rueckert and Elder and Sister Bobo with the Temple Leadership |
Last Sunday at our Penn Yan Branch:
Our last Sunday at the Penn Yan Branch was bittersweet. It was Fast and Testimony meeting, so Debbie and I had an opportunity to share our testimonies. The following are a few random photos of these beloved individuals to help us to remember them:
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| Our Branch President, President Perry |
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| With William, Peggy, Tori and Peggy's niece, Maia |
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| With Gabe, our Elders Quorum President |
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| With Deb Ferguson, counselor in the Relief Society |
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| Left to right: Jerry, Rose, Betty and Dan |
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| Mary |
Farewell to the Sacred Grove:
We made one last trip to the Sacred Grove. It has been a privilege to visit this sacred place often during our mission. The fall leaves are starting to come. Whatever the season, this Grove is peaceful and full of the Spirit of God.
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| At our traditional photo spot near the entrance to the Grove |
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| This is in front of the Sacred Grove |
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| Some of the autumn colors are appearing |
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| At one of the peaceful locations in the Sacred Grove |
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| I came back the next day for a little more time of meditation and prayer |
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| I can't get enough of the beauty of the Sacred Grove |
Even though we have been serving for six months, each day at the temple brings new experiences and special memories. The following are a few of our highlights from the last two weeks:
- Once again I was able to help a young man bring his new bride through the veil before their temple sealing. This is one of the sweetest experiences to have in the temple.
- On my last Saturday in the temple, I was assigned to perform the initiatory ordinances for a member who was coming to the temple for the first time. As I was voice to the amazing promises from the Lord to this individual I was overcome by the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit was so strong as I pondered that these blessings are available to every individual who will come to the Savior.
- That same day I finally was able to use my Portuguese language to help bring a few sisters through the veil. They were part of a special session for a stake from Canada. Often I was ready to use my Portuguese and for different reasons it didn't work out. This was a tender mercy for me. On my last day, I helped a Brazilian in the initiatory and had a wonderful discussion with him after the initiatory session. My love for Brazil is rekindled each time that I associate with these kindred spirits.
- On our next to last Friday night, there was an endowment session with 40 sisters and only 4 brothers. This was primarily for a group of women who were part of "Women of Covenant Leadership" that had met in Palmyra from all over the country. With that many women participating, I was able to be one of eight brothers who dressed for the prayer circle in addition to the 4 in the session. This was another memorable experience.
- I was able to be in the baptistry when an older gentlemen was baptized for his father and then present when he was confirmed. It took multiple times to help this brother be immersed. It was worth the extra effort.
- On Wednesday of this week, many individuals came without an appointment to participate in the Endowment session. As we strived to accommodate them, we ended up with 49 patrons in the session where I officiated. They came from Alaska, Wyoming, Arizona, Washington and Canada. As far as I am aware, this was the largest amount of individuals that ever participated in our 40 person endowment room. We put nine extra chairs in the room. There were not enough chairs in the temple for both rooms. We had to transport some chairs from first room to second room.
- On Thursday of this week, I was assigned as a Guide for a brother from Jamestown who was sealed to his deceased wife and to his deceased parents. Also his grandparents were sealed. Debbie and I officiated the abbreviated veil for him to bring a proxy for his wife through the veil. He was baptized 44 years ago but had become inactive. A little less than 5 years ago he was ready to end his life. As he was preparing to do so, two sister missionaries came to his door. He stood up and tried to ignore them and sit down again. However, the spirit did not allow him to sit back down. He felt moved to answer the door. The rest is history. He has become more involved in the gospel and received his own endowment a month ago.. He was at the temple with a wonderful couple who have been working with him and helping get temple work done for his deceased wife, parents, and grandparents. This was a first for both of us. Sister Rueckert was proxy for his wife being sealed to her parents. We were both witnesses for several of the ordinances, consistent with our witness role this week.
- Debbie and I both have been able to complete all of the names that we had printed for initiatory ordinances in the moments that patrons have not been present to do initiatory ordinances. It feels like our time is over here. Everyone in the temple is telling us good-bye. Thursday evening we went to perform sealings in the evening for the last time. It is so hard to realize that our time is coming to an end.
- On Friday we were allowed to be officiators in the last endowment session. What a way to finish our service. We were surprised to find one more new experience. This session included two individuals who needed American Sign Language (ASL). This was included in the film. We then were able to observe the veil ceremony in ASL. Right until the last minute we were learning and observing new experiences in the temple.
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| After our last shift in the Palmyra New York Temple |
It's a Wonderful Life:
We wanted to make a few last visits before we left our mission. One was to the "It's a Wonderful Life" Museum in Seneca Falls, New York.
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| The Christmas movie that is still one of our holiday favorites |
This iconic Christmas movie featured a town called Bedford Falls.
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| Photo opportunity in the gift shop |
The director of the movie, Frank Capra, had several connections to Seneca Falls. Based on them, this museum was created there. The following identifies some of those connections:
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| Connections to Seneca Falls |
We have always loved this movie. As we toured the museum, it invoked many memories of the great principles emphasized.
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| Summary of key principles in the movie |
This movie was based on a small book written in a pamphlet form by Philip Van Doren Stern. A copy of this 24 page pamphlet, "The Greatest Gift" was sent to Frank Capra as a Christmas message in 1943. He acknowledged that the ideas in this pamphlet were the basis of the movie. It was about a person who wished that he had never been born and described him seeing his hometown as if he had never been born.
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| Memorabilia of the original idea in the pamphlet, "The Greatest Gift" |
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| An updated copy which we purchased and read |
The museum was full of memorabilia from the movie and from the various actors, including Jimmy Stewart. It included several letters from Jimmy Stewart.
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| A letter written by Jimmy Stewart talking about his involvement in a new movie, "It's a Wonderful World" |
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| Clarence, the Angel |
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| One of the several recreations of that iconic movie |
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| Welcome to Bailey Park |
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| A few pages of the original script |
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| A wall of great quotes from Frank Capra and scenes from the movie |
We loved several of these quotes that reflect the strong messages in the movie:
Seneca Falls has a bridge with a memorial to an individual who gave his life to save someone who jumped off of the bridge in an attempted suicide. We also visited that bridge.
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| Connection of the bridge in Seneca Falls to the movie |
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| On the bridge with the memorial |
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| A Christmas Ornament that we purchased, with the bridge |
Original location of baptisms after the organization of the Church on April 6, 1830:
After visiting the museum, we found the location where the early members of the Church were baptized in Seneca Lake right after the organization of the Church. A member of our branch, Dan Millis, told us about this location. He himself was baptized in the same spot. After struggling to find it, Dan came and pointed it out to us.
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| The location currently is part of the SenecaYacht Club. According to Dan, it would have been right under the large maple trees in the center of the photo |
Around Palmyra, one last time:
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| The Emergency Food Cupboard near our home where we left our unused food items. The sign on the top says "Take what you need, leave what you can" |
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| Pumpkins for sale in one of the yards |
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| Changing leaves near the Smith Farm |
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| More changing leaves |
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| A squirrel crossing the street. We see this almost every day. This was the best photo that I have been able to take. |
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| Our last dinner at our favorite restaurant |
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| With homemade bread pudding, made by the owner's mother. Our favorite, a little heavy on the whipped cream. |
Addie's Birthday:
We celebrated the birthday of our granddaughter, Addie. She and her family moved to Fargo, North Dakota during our mission. We will see her on our way home, in just a few days.
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| Addie on her birthday, turning 10 |
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| Addie, with her birthday book |
General Conference:
Before leaving our mission, we have spent the last two days enjoying General Conference. Our first full Sunday at our mission was General Conference and our last full Sunday is General Conference. Great bookends to a wonderful six months!
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| Watching General Conference in our Apartment, with one of our bags packed and ready to go |
One of our highlights was the talk of Elder Jorge Alvarado. He is our friend that visited us here in Palmyra. He then shared with us some of the thoughts that he would share in this General Conference. One of our greatest memories was when he sat with us in the Sacred Grove and shared the experiences that he had before being called as a General Authority and his call.
During that conversation, Elder Alvarado told us about the struggle that he had a few months before his call as he contemplated about various alternatives that he had in his life. He told us that the clear message that he received was "Consecration is more than service!". I have pondered that many times since. We have covenanted to keep the law of consecration. We have strived to make that our goal, not just during this mission, but throughout our lives.
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| Elder Jorge Alvorado speaking in the Saturday Evening Session of General Conference |
We had our last dinner at the home of Elder and Sister Bray. They prepared dinner for us and the Bobos so that we didn't have to worry about it our last day. We then watched the last session of General Conference together. Later we were also joined by Elder and Sister Rasmussen. We finished our mission with these missionaries that we have learned to love so much.
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| The remaining four missionary couples the night before our departure |
The Chill and Grill is closed for the Season and the sun is setting over the Sacred Grove. It is time for us to leave also. We begin our drive Monday morning.
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| The Chill and Grill, our fast food restaurant in town, is now closed for the Season |
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| The sun setting above the Sacred Grove. Photo taken this week from the temple grounds. |
