Busy Adventurous Week

Wood cutting service project for the Branch
Doug's loving being behind a chain saw
All tuckered out

Beautiful red tree where we were cutting wood
District meeting lunch at Denny's
Elder Evans came back to Monticello with us for splits with Elders
'U-pick" Pumpkin patch
The owners of the pumpkin patch, very nice ladies that knew who the Mormons are, the one in orange spent a summer up at Palmyra helping with the pageant. Not a member.
These pictures don't due the fall colors justice.

Our week started with General Conference. What a spiritual feast. What a blessing in this world wide financial crisis to have the opportunity to listen to a prophet's testimony, to be taught and edified by all our general authorities. Now it is our responsibility to apply the messages given in our own lives. We can experience peace in the midst of this storm. We enjoyed watching conference at our chapel with many other members and investigators. Potluck lunch in between the sessions. For many it was the first time hearing from President Monson.

Mondays are busy because of traveling to district meeting down to Middletown. Our Zone Leaders were there and went on splits with the District Leader Elder Gale, so Elder Evans came back to Monticello with us and the Elders. Doug put some finishing touches on the quilting frames he made. For FHE we put on a quilt for our activity. We taught several how to tie it. Eventually we will have 3 quilts for Sister McCune who will be moving out of the Motel to a house for her and her two daughters. They abandoned most of their stuff in their other place when it was condemned and infested with roaches. The next quilting project will be for Lisa Champlain, the young mother of two little boys that we baptized. She wants to make them for her boys for Chirstmas.

Wednesday we spent most of the day at the mission home in Scarsdale. There was a sisters luncheon for all the sister missionaries and the senior sisters were invited too. I missed the one we had when we were in the Bronx, so I wanted to go to this one. It is always a treat to spend the day with "girls". It was a mini inservice as President and Sister Searle talked for about a half hour. On our way back to Monticello we stopped and walked around the pond at Bear Mountain State park. We thought the fall colors would be more apparent over the mountain. Not so, our area in Monticello is in full fall splendor. Words can't describe the beauty. It is a smorgousboard of yellow, orange, red. Unbelievable! We stopped in Middletown on or way home and went to the movie "Fireproof". Every and any married couple need to go and learn the "Love dare".

We spent most of the morning on Thursday jumping through hoops so we could get put on the list of Clergy at the county jail. Bro. Silva who is in the Branch Presidency with Doug, his son committed murder in self defense and wanted a priesthood blessing. He is a baptized member who is very inactive. He has two little kids and has never been married. He went to a friends house late at night up the fire escape, the dad, who had been drinking started yelling at him to go home. So he climbed back down the fire escape and as he was starting down the walk when the door opened and it was the drunken dad of his friend yelling at him. Instead of turning and walking away he walked toward the man and saw that he had a knife as he was yelling at him. He pulled a knife out at the man and the man kept coming towards him and went right into his knife. Long story short, he is in prison for second degree manslaughter. Such a sad situation. A young kid with his whole life turned upside down. After visiting with his parents to let them know we were able to visit with their son we found a "U-pick" pumpkin patch and purchased 10 pumpkins for FHE halloween activity. Received excellent instructions from the lady selling the pumpkins on how to make pumpkin pie from pumpkins. She picked out the perfect pie pumpkin and we are going to give it a try.

Friday we took the Elders to a members home about 20 miles to the south for a service project. We have been asked to help get the members who have wood burning stoves, wood to burn for the winter. Most have oil burning furnaces and fireplaces. The oil this year has doubled what it normally is, so they are need of wood to burn. Brother Fuller, the elder's quorum president, has 7 acres of wooded land in his back yard, and has donated any dead wood. Doug was in heaven behind the chain saw. The elders and I packed and rolled the the logs down the hill where Doug cut it into rounds to be split. We probably cut 2 cord in 3 1/2 hours. Each of the three families are going to need about 6 cord for the winter. So we might be very busy cutting wood for the next couple of weeks. The temp has dropped to the low 30's this past week. Several are very anxious for wood to burn to take the chill out of the morning air. Maple and Oak are very hard wood, much different than the Pine and Aspen in Utah that we are used to cutting.