Fall Foalage street fair - W E S T P O I N T

We were blessed to be invited to be apart of a street fair at West Point Academy. Actually we did nothing but admire the ingenuity, creativity, fearlessness and wonderment of our Zone Leaders, Elder Johnson and Evans. We showed up to an amazing both that they set up, and watched them share the gospel. they didn't need our help, they are awesome. We were just grateful for the opportunity to be apart of the activity.

The rumor we heard is that this street fair is in conjunction with a huge yard sale put together by all the cadets and their families that live on base. They can only have yard sales twice a year and it has to be combined. It is huge. There are also guided tours of the academy which attracts many people at this time of year due to the fall colors. So there is an estimated 10,000 people who might pass by our booth, "Truth Restored". We stayed till noon at which time we attempted to get conference on line on our lap-top. We had to drive about 20 miles away to get our wireless service to kick in. We missed the first hour of the morning session so we'll have to get it on line next week when it is available. We love general conference, and enjoyed listening to our prophet and all the general authorities.

Doug is off to a pot-luck dinner for all the priesthood brothers and then will enjoy the priesthood session with them at the church.

Wonderful Surprise Luncheon Visit

On our way to do Apartment inspections, we received an exciting phone call from dear friends, Ken and Robin Bowler. "Hey, we are in town visiting Dustin, who is attending Columbia University in New York city, and are on our way up to New England, Boston, and want to stop by and see you and have lunch with you." What a thrill. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch with the Bowlers, Smiths and Brinkerhoffs. Caught up with all the happenings in their world and shared our mission life. The Bowlers have always been such dear friends, close like family, especially as Ken served together with Doug in the Bishopric in our 4th ward for five years. Ken is now serving as Bishop in his new ward in Elko Nevada. We actually have an Elder Wilkinson in our district who is in Ken and Robins ward in Elko. What a small world. Love you all and thanks for thinking about us and going out of your way to share a couple of hours together. (Friends Forever!!!!)
New Friends:
Elder and Sister Forman have just arrived and will be stationed in our Zone. What a blessing they will be to the New Paltz, Kingston area. Our Zone is the biggest geographical Zone in our mission. They will cover the Northern most part of our mission while we cover the Western most part of our Mission. They are Roma and Harold Farnsworth from Seattle Washington area. We had the assignment to find them an apartment to live in while serving. We were blessed to be guided to the place they are in. We love them all ready and have enjoyed getting to know them over dinner last night.

Newburgh Zone conference #2

Our Zone Conference was inspiring and wonderful as always. We learned many new ways to spend finding those who everyone prays will be prepared when the missionaries approach them. We came up with a list of about 50 ways to find. These young elders and sisters are awesome, and so fearless. We learn so much from watching and being with them.

One of our assignments have been to inspect the missionary apartments in our Zone. Every 6 months, right before General conference, they have what is called " Conference Cleaning." This is a very full day of extensive cleaning. This go around was inspired with a prize for the cleanest apartment thru out the mission. We were to judge on 14 different points. Now this is a difficult thing to do as all the apartments are so vastly different and most are older. We are to consider: Positive attitude, overcoming natural apartment deficiencies and cooperative effort as we judge cleanliness. All were cleaned pretty darn good. But those that stood out are the ones I am sure mom had taught them how to do it and gave them responsibility at home. And then there are those who are just compulsively clean and orderly. Some even licked off the walls and floor to show us how clean they were. (yuck) All you moms out there would be very proud. The boys know how to clean. Way to go Elders!!!!!! The results will be posted next week.

We love Mondays

Dart Wars in the cultural hall after district meeting.
Dart guns are made out of pvc pipe, the darts are foam darts
They set up the chairs as forts. The plastic bowling pins are used as bombs.
Big boys will be little boys when given the 15 minute opportunity

Mondays mean District meeting and FHE. It is always fun to mingle with the Elders in our District and we always have fun at FHE. This week was our turn to teach the lesson and activity. We learned all about the First Presidency, sang all 9 verses of the primary song: Follow the Prophet, then played consentration game with all the Apostles and listened to President Monson, so they could recognize his voice. All in preparation for General Conference. Some of these folks have never seen General Conference before.

Marriage Relationship class

We had our first Marriage Relationship class in Middletown on Sunday. We can't do it during regular church time so it is after the 3 hour block. We are teaching it as an extention of LDS family services. This will make for a long church experience. We are teaching it two times a month, so we attend church in Middletown those two weeks. This is a hard class to teach especially when it is for couples with real problems. We are not professionals. Thank heavens the Lords inspires and directs when prayers are sent to heaven. We definitely will be blessed to benefit from this class too.

RS General Conference Broadcast

We are in the New Burgh, New York Stake. The stake center is about an hour away. Our Stake Relief Society Presidency put on an awesome workshop and dinner before the Broadcast. There were 7 of us sisters from the Monticello Branch that car-pooled there. I took Sister McCune and her two little girls, and Lisa Champlain, our most recent convert. The theme of the meeting was: Be Missionary Minded. We went to 6 workshops that helped everyone know how to be member missionaries in any aspect of your life. It was awesome. We had a great salad bar and then an opening devotional before the broadcast. We had all been put in districts like missionaries are and one of the districts had to give impromptu 2 1/2 minute talks about different areas concerning the restoration. Another district had to sing an impromptu musical number. They all did a great job. The spirit was very strong. The broadcast was such a spiritual feast as always. I was personally a little bit sad that Pres. Monson didn't talk.

The night was such a good thing for the two sisters that came with me. They really enjoyed it. A really sad thing is that Sister McCune hadn't been out of Monticello for a long time. Neither one has a car and they don't get around much. They depend on other people with cars or walk everywhere. She was loving the ride and seeing the scenery. Sister McCune is actually living in a motel right now waiting on a place to be inspected so that social security can place her in a place to live. Her last place was condemned because of cockroaches and mold. It was so gross. She abandoned almost all her stuff, because it was infested with cockroaches. We even ended up with a few cockroaches in our car when helping her move out into the motel.

Happy 1st Birthday to Princess Taylee

Sorry this picture is on it's side, I am a retard, I didn't even realize it.
Brandee and Kevin's littlest one Taylee is now 1 year old. I can't believe it has all ready been a year. Oh how we missed being home during this ever changing time. They grow so fast. XOXOXOXOXOXO and hApPY bIrThdAy!!!!! ( I think this is the last Sept. birthday in our family. Whew, there's been a few.)