We have learned to look for God's hand in our lives each and every day. When we stop to ponder and remember at the end of the day, we find either a miracle, a tender mercy or an inspiration. Many happen at the temple where our schedules are now full with summer visitors to Palmyra. Others happen as we serve in the Penn Yan branch. Many come in the inspired examples of others that we are privileged to know or meet. We also see miracles as we strive to connect with and support our posterity. Whatever our daily activities, we are thrilled to see the Lord walking beside us. He is always evident in the natural beauties of our world, His creations.
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| With Lake Ontario behind us and the Sodus Point lighthouse in the distance |
Miracles in the Palmyra Temple:
Let's start with the primary focus of our mission, the Palmyra Temple. Beginning at the end of May, we started receiving many extra visitors to the temple: tour groups, EFY groups and vacationers. Much of the additional workload at the temple is absorbed with the 5 missionary couples as the baptistry has been opened at hours that don't have normal shifts of temple workers. Temple visitors are inspiring, young or old, new members of the Church or dedicated seasoned workers or patrons. Below are some of the visitors who have touched us these past few weeks:
- (From Sister Rueckert's journal after meeting Roger in the temple) Roger's story is truly amazing! His wife died about 10 years ago. Sometime before COVID 19 hit he had some surgery. That took him out of circulation for quite some time. When COVID hit he was isolated. He had been all alone for a few years. He decided he needed to find a way to socialize with people again. The thought came to him that church would be a good place to find good people. A few days later when two young ladies knocked on his door and asked him if he would like to attend church, he was all in! He started taking the lessons from the sister missionaries. He decided he wanted to find out if the Book of Mormon was true or not. He put the Bible and the Book of Mormon side-by-side to compare them. When he discovered that they both agreed on the doctrine of Jesus Christ he knew that the Book of Mormon was truly the word of God! He was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a few years ago. He is very active in his ward . He holds four different callings and attends church every week and can often be found in the Palmyra Temple. He is not afraid to share the gospel with those he meets and he has given out 15 Books of Mormon in the past month! Rodger is truly converted! The mission president even mentioned Roger in the talk he gave during Stake Conference. I am so grateful I got to meet Roger and hear his conversion story.
- (Also from Sister Rueckert's journal) Sister Gerstner also had an amazing story to tell. I met her a little over a month ago during an endowment session. She sat right by me and immediately struck up a conversation. She told me she had recently returned home from her mission in Salt Lake City. Her mother was very ill so she left her mission early to come home to be with her. At that time she didn't know if she would return to finish her mission or not. Earlier this week I found myself once again sitting by this sweet sister, getting ready to participate in another endowment session. She was so excited! She told me she was doing her mother's temple work. Her mother had passed away 31 days ago. Sister Gerstner said she had performed her mother's baptism, confirmation and initiatory work earlier in the day. She was now looking forward to completing her mother's endowment. Later, after the session, she was going to have her mother sealed to her father and then be sealed to her parents. She invited me to attend these sealings. I was a little hesitant about going but when we were in the celestial room, following the session, I told Tom about it and we decided to attend the sealings. It was a joyful experience. She was so happy to have her family united forever. I saw her the next day at the temple. She did back to back endowments for family members at that time. She is really serious about getting her family members temple work done, I am grateful I have been able to be a small part of this sister's story. I am truly blessed.
- Last week Sister Rueckert and I were able to serve in the baptistry while some special tours came to the temple. One was from Richfield, Utah with 100 youth who had just finished their senior year in high school. It took 4 hours for all of them to have the opportunity to be baptized and confirmed. I helped the first 50 of these in the confirmation room. We used those who had received the Melchizedek Priesthood to help do the confirmations. I got to know these young men especially well. Every one of them had recently been ordained as elders and each already had a mission call in hand. One had received his endowments the day after graduation. As we were waiting for some of the participants to come into the confirmation room we had a chance to talk with two of these young men. One was going to Mexico and the other was going to the Philippines. Both were a bit anxious about learning new languages. I felt so much faith from them and the others. The entire group was amazing as they had just started their tour which will include all Church history sites from New York to Utah.
- The day before, I was in the confirmation room when I saw the date on a female family name card. She had been born in 1989. I asked the sister being confirmed if this was someone close to them. She pointed to a young adult who was sitting in the room and said this is his wife who had passed away 3 months earlier. The young man had just been baptized into the Church 9 days earlier. I was so touched by the tenderness of this ordinance and the faithfulness of another new member of the Church,.
- The baptisms of these two days included a group from Ohio. As the good bishop was performing the confirmations, the spirit was so strong as he confirmed the youth of his ward, including a few of his own children. I believe that this is the same ward that had four girls who were from a Mennonite community and had been converted to the Church. They came to the temple in their traditional Mennonite dresses but were now making covenants in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
- We also had a group of Laurels and Priests from Arizona who came together on a Church Tour. Their bishop was amazing and is working with my dear friend and mentor, Elder Robert C. Gay, with some of his educational efforts in West Africa. These are treasured connections that add to the sweet spirit of the temple.
- Yesterday, the last family of the night was from West Jordan, Utah where I have spent much of my life. The oldest girl in this family is leaving next month to serve a mission in Guatemala. Last night we also had some grandparents who were doing a teenage grandchildren retreat with grandchildren from throughout the U.S., all joined together for this experience. Two of them, a brother and sister both have mission calls and are ready to serve in the coming months.Making these connections while seeing incredibly dedicated families has been a blessing.
As well as wonderful patrons, we are privileged to work with incredible consecrated individuals in the temple. I just want to highlight a few of them.
- Sister King was baptized in 2006. Since 2008 she has served in the laundry of the temple, usually 3 or 4 times a week. We have the privilege to give her a ride for several of these assignments as she lives near us. She inspires us so much with her dedicated service over a period of so many years. Her service in the laundry is critical for the many baptisms to move forward.
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| Sister King in from of her beloved temple |
- Brother Osborne is 90 years old. He says that he was baptized 40 years ago and somehow went inactive. Ten years ago, his wife passed away and he says the Holy Ghost started tugging at him. He returned to Church activity and went to the temple for the first time. At the time, he tried to do some family history and went to the family history library where he met a divorced lady that was very helpful. He got her name and number for future family history help and shortly thereafter they were married. He soon became a temple worker and is currently the oldest temple worker in the Palmyra Temple. He is so kind and friendly and quite a classy person. The photo below is of him in his open top convertible. He said he also wanted to take our picture in his car.
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| Brother Osborne, our 90 year old friend and temple worker |
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| Brother Osborne in his convertible in the temple parking lot |
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| Elder and Sister Rueckert in Brother Osborne's convertible |
Miracles in the Penn Yan Branch:
A few weeks ago, Debbie and I were assigned to speak in Sacrament Meeting. We felt very inspired as we pondered what to share. We wanted our messages to be according to the desire of our Heavenly Father and to the benefit of the branch members. Debbie was heading one direction and I another. Then Debbie had a change of heart based on promptings and decided to base her talk on "I am a Child of God". This fit perfectly with the theme that I had felt prompted to speak on, "Come Unto Me . . . Take My Yoke upon you and learn of me". We felt that the talks went well, we received good feedback. It felt that this is what our branch needed. Part of my "learn of me" topic was to emphasize a few things taught by our prophets, seers, and revelators. This included scheduling a visit to the temple as mentioned by Elder Ulisses Soares in our recent General Conference. While speaking, I felt to skip a few things and focus on scheduling a date. Afterwards two of our newer members asked how they could prepare a date to go to the temple to receive their endowments. Hopefully this will work out for them. I consider this another miracle.
We mentioned our friend, Wiliam, in our last blog. He is taking lessons with the missionaries and wants to get baptized. Our involvement with him was an answer to our fast in May. He has attended Church a few times with his 3 year old daughter, Astoria. Each time that she has come with him, he has had to leave early because she struggles to stay sitting in Church or participating in Primary. On May 30, we were able to visit our friend, William, in his home with the missionaries. We arrived early and wanted to get to know Astoria (Tori) better. Sister Rueckert came prepared with multiple activities to try out with Tori so that she could enjoy Church and so that William could participate in the second hour classes. Our visit went well and we stayed for the missionary lesson. In the process, we met William's girl friend, Peggy, who also lives with him and has a great relationship with Tori. We invited her to come to Church also. We wanted her to get to know the Church and she was also a back up plan if we were not able to keep Tori occupied during Church.
The Church meeting was our fast and testimony meeting and Peggy came with William and Tori. Debbie was asked to help lead the music so the helping with Tori fell on my shoulders for the first part of sacrament meeting. We did our best but finally went into the nursery with Tori. As she started crying for her dad, Peggy came out and settled her down. As we started Sunday School, Peggy stayed in the primary with Tori. With about 20 minutes left in Sunday School, Peggy appeared in our class and Tori remained with the primary leaders. This was a miracle. We told Peggy that we were praying for a miracle and she (Peggy) was our miracle.
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| William, Peggy, and Tori after the 2 hour church |
What was even the greater miracle was William's experience at Church. We had a very good discussion in Sunday School class by the different class members about prayer. Finally, William raised his hand and said, "In the last twenty minutes I have learned more about prayer than in my entire life". That is what we were hoping and praying for. It was made possible because of keeping Tori occupied. William is amazing. He wants to be member of the Church but he also wants it for his daughter, so she is a key part his Church desires. Afterwards, I texted back to William about his comment and he texted back "This service really struck me today. It has taught me that I need to pray for what's best for me not what I want." My heart was overjoyed to see this type of understanding in our friend William. Miracle number two on the same day!
Miracles with our family:
While we are on our mission, our day to day involvement with our children and grandchildren obviously changes. However, with a U.S. mission, we are able to stay in closer contact. Our son Ben is one or our most self-reliant children. Ben was adopted and was born with Fetal Alcohol effects. He has some limitations that he has learned to live with. Two years ago I helped get him settled into an apartment near his work at a price that he could afford and with a good landlady. So we left on our mission feeling that all would be well with Ben. He has a phone but never uses it for calling and occasionally sends a text message. My communication with him has generally been driving over to Sam's Club where he works, finding him and arranging visits or whatever else he may need.
Two weeks ago, Ben texted that he needed help to move. This is a major event for Ben, something that he has never done on his own. I didn't know what was happening and he did not respond to my texts. Finally, I asked our son Moroni to go to Ben's home and find out what was happening. Shortly thereafter, Ben called me on the phone, the first time this has ever happened. We were able to talk and I understood his concerns about his phone being hacked by an upstairs resident where he lived. I communicated with his landlady who said she loved Ben and did not want him to move. As we talked through the situation, Ben agreed that he had overreacted to a situation and would stay where he was. Last week, I received another text from Ben again saying that he needed to move. In fact he spent a few days living in a hotel because he was concerned again about this one individual. Once again I talked to his landlady but still I didn't receive responses to my texts to Ben. Finally, Moroni went over to Ben's work, picked him up after work and Ben and I talked on Moroni's phone. Finally, Ben met with his landlady and all the concerns were resolved. In all of this, Moroni was our miracle. He is so willing to step up and help out in these type of situations. The photo below is of Ben and the landlady's brother, also a tenant in the house. The landlady took them both out to dinner and it appears that all is well. I texted Ben to see if all was okay and he responded "I hope so". As a missionary, there are some things that we are not able to do, but God provides miracles in a good brother and a kind landlady.
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| Ben and the landlady's brother eating dinner at Chuck-a-Rama |
Day to Day Miracles:
Sometimes our needs appear small but are important for our well being and success on our mission. Let me share a few of these recent miracles.
Each week I prepare our pill boxes for medications that Debbie and I take. Preparing for having the right medications available for Debbie was a critical step in our mission preparations. I thought I had everything covered with many medications in hand and the others transferred to a mail order pharmacy that would send them to Palmyra. A few weeks ago, I noticed that we were running low on a medication that Debbie has for her bladder. She was down to a ten day supply. I called our mail order pharmacy and was greeted with a recorded announcement that they were going out of business by the end of May. Once I talked to a pharmacist, he explained that the particular medication that we were waiting for was not in stock and probably would not be available since they were closing down. I went into a little panic. We immediately started transferring the open prescriptions to Costco Mail Order Pharmacy which would be our new provider. In the meantime, Debbie was trying to get ahold of her urologist to see if they could send a prescription to a local pharmacy in New York. They kept returning calls when we were in the temple so our communication was not working. Finally on a Friday, 5 days before running out of the medication, we got a call from Costco, that they had the prescription transferred. We found out that the delivery could be expedited for a small fee which we accepted. The medication finally arrived on the next Wednesday afternoon, the day that she would take her last pill. It was quite concerning but with the loving help of the Lord, we had that medication and all others now back in the proper processes.
One Saturday, while in the temple, my white shoelaces started to fray. I knew that they needed to be replaced right away to be able to continue to use my temple shoes. The next Monday is when we went to Niagara Falls. On the way back we stopped at a grocery store which did not carry shoe laces. As we got home, I was prepared to drive to a Walmart in a neighboring town, since Amazon could not deliver in time. First, I tried to our local Dollar General store. They said they had limited shoelaces. As I found them, there were only three shoelaces in stock, two of them were white and one was the right size. It may seem small, but I know that I was blessed to find these in time to serve the next morning in the temple.
A Memorable Memorial Day:
Generally speaking, Mondays are our Preparation Days. It is our most dependable day to go to the gym. The day before Memorial Day, Debbie received an email from the Palmyra Community Center that they would be closed on Memorial Day. With this I pondered a thought that I have had since before we came on our mission. I have wanted to take a jog from the Smith Farm to the Hill Cumorah and back to get a feel of the distance and difficulty that Joseph Smith experienced. I have been putting off this event, but felt with the gym being closed, this was the time, especially before it got any hotter. Rain was forecast, but not until late morning. So I drove to the Smith Farm and started my morning run. It was a little more than a 10K run, so I knew that I was not prepared to run it directly. I ran the first few miles, then alternated between jogging and walking the rest of the way. I also stopped for a few photos and took a 10 minute break on the top of Hill Cumorah. Going to the the Hill Cumorah was a general incline and of course a much steeper incline up the hill. I couldn't get out from the Smith Farm without climbing over a wood fence, but I suppose Joseph Smith had multiple fences to climb. Coming back was easier but I was more tired. The results from my Map My Run app follows:
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| I came up a back road and returned on the main road. I know that Joseph Smith would have cut diagonally but through heavy brush and uncertain terrain. It came out to almost exactly 6 and a half miles. |
A bigger view of the geography to see where the Smith Farm and Hill Cumorah are from Palmyra
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| This chart from the App shows my faster and slower portions and the altitudes of the run. I ran a 4:27 mile pace briefly as I ran down the Hill Cumorah. |
For me, it was nearly an hour and a half round trip. I wasn't carrying gold plates or being chased by gold seekers either. Conclusion: This was no small trip for Joseph to take, especially after a sleepless night and exhaustion. Of course he did have conversation with an angel on each trip, so that probably helped a bit.
A few other photos along the way:
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| Turning up the road to Hill Cumorah |
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| On the top of Hill Cumorah |
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| Coming down the Hill Cumorah |
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| Heading back to the Smith Farm |
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| Finishing up at the original Smith Log Cabin location |
Visiting Graves and more:
Traditionally we visit graves of our parents, grandparents, etc. on Memorial Day. This year we chose to visit gravesites of prominent people in the history of the Church. We started at the Palmyra Cemetery
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| Coming out of the Palmyra Cemetery. No other vehicles noted in the cemetery during our visit |
Egbert B. Grandin owned the printing press where the Book of Mormon was printed. This was a miracle all by itself. He had just established the printing facility in 1828 and was just getting started in 1829 when he agreed to print 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. The Eerie Canal had just been completed to Palmyra in 1825 which was critical to deliver the needed supplies almost to his doorstep. E. B. Grandin was born only a few months after Joseph Smith and died less than a year after Joseph Smith. Personally, I believe that printing the Book of Mormon was his special calling in his life. There are too many miracles around this printing to doubt the hand of the Lord in this important process that needed to occur before the Church could be organized.
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| Original Headstone of Egbert B. Grandin |
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| By E.B. Grandin's gravesite and that of his wife on my right |
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| Sister Rueckert in the E.B. Grandin building the week before with our friendly tour guide. Also an original Book of Mormon from the 1829 printing. |
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| Gravesite of Pomeroy Tucker, one of those that helped in the printing of the Book of Mormon |
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| Gravesite of John Hulberd Gilbert, Compositor of the Book of Mormon |
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| The gravesite of Pliny Sexton, the owner of the Hill Cumorah before it was sold to the Church |
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| Refurbished gravestone of Lucy Harris, wife of Martin Harris |
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| Original gravestone of Lucy Harris, sister of Martin P. Harris and wife of Martin Harris, her cousin |
Then we went to the town of Mendon, home of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball when they joined the Church in 1832. We visited several sites there including the local cemetery. This also included the site where Brigham Young was baptized in April 1832. It was difficult to find on a rainy day, in a marshy location, but I found it!
Interestingly, the day before this visit, we watched a video in our Elders Quorum meeting about Brigham Young's conversion through a simple testimony which was offered in this upper room of the Tomlinson Inn below. A coincidental tender mercy for us to watch before making this visit the next day.
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| The original Tomlinson Inn where Samuel Smith left a Book of Mormon on the first missionary journey of this dispensation. He left one book at the inn and another across the street at the home of John C. Greene. These resulted in the ultimate baptism of Brigham Young, his wife, his parents and all of his brothers as well as Heber C. Kimball and his wife Vilate. The upper room in the back was where many church meetings of the Mendon branch were held. |
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| The Tomlinsons Corners Cemetery in Mendon, New York |
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| The Gravesite of Miriam Young, first wife of Brigham Young, who passed away in 1832, a few months after her baptism into the Church. |
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| Clear view of this headstone which was erected by descendants of Brigham Young |
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| Gravesite of Solomon Kimball, father of Heber C. Kimball and great grandfather of President Spencer W. Kimball |
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| New Tomb Stone added to this gravesite |
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| With the original headstone imbedded in the back of the new headstone |
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| Gravesites of Anna Kimball, mother of Heber C. Kimball and a few of their children |
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| Original home of Solomon and Ann Kimball |
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| John Young, father of Brigham Young's home was cut in two, with half on one side of the street and the other half on the other side of the street |
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| After much effort and wetness, I found the baptism site of Brigham Young |
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| Baptism Site of Brigham Young. On April 15, 1832 they had to break through the ice to perform the baptism. |
We finished our Memorial Day with a nice Family Home Evening with the Site Missionaries. We watched the movie "Errand of Angels" about sister missionaries in Austria. In attendance were many sister missionaries who serve at the historical sites. This was a good movie to teach these sisters about companion relationships.
Great Lakes:
Last P-Day we chose to drive just 30 minutes to the north of us to Sodus Point on the border of Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada- United States border spans the centre of the lake.
At Sodus Point there is an old lighthouse and a newer one. The older one has been deactivated about 50 years ago and is in a beautiful garden area. The new light house is in the middle of the lake after walking on a pier to access it.
We are blessed to have beautiful lakes all over this area. Lake Ontario is the largest that is easily accessible from our location in Palmyra. Everywhere we go we see the magnificent hand of our creator.
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| With the old lighthouse behind us |
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| Then we turn around and have the new lighthouse in the distance and the beach on our left |
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| One of the neighboring houses which is typical of many houses in the area with large grassy areas in front and behind of the houses |
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| And a squirrel on the grass |
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| With the beach behind us |
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| And the new light house at the end of the pier |
Around Town:
We still celebrate birthdays with our grandchildren, but obviously not in person. A few of the moms sent us pictures of their kids with books from the Book Grandma.
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| Aria turning l1 |
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| Jacob turning 13 |
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