CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS    DECEMBER 25, 2012

Christmas Tree in our apartment!!

After the Sisters left on Christmas Eve we went to the airport to pick up our son Brian.  He flew here from Salt Lake City, Utah to spend Christmas with us.  We had such a wonderful time with him.  He arrived about 10:00 PM on Christmas Eve.  He returned home December 27 about 10:00 AM.  So he was here for about 2 days.  It was great.  We skype family on Christmas.  That was wonderful!!!  We ate a lot, played some games ( Rummikub and Phase 10).   I love playing games.  We also went to the theater and saw the "Hobbit".  We ate lots of popcorn and drink.  We went out to eat and ate lots at home.  Thanks Brian for making our Christmas so special!!  Also thanks to our family for sharing their Christmas time with us. 

Santa flying in an old time airplane. (Fargo Airport)

CHRISTMAS EVE - Sister Kalio

CHRISTMAS EVE - Sister Kalio    December 25, 2012

A busy Christmas Eve.  The Sister missionaries came over so Sister Kalio could Skype her family for Christmas in Micronesia, a small island in the South Pacific. It was 17 hours later there. It was 8:00 PM here, so about 1PM on Christmas day there.  Sister Kalio has 12 siblings, 6 brothers and 6 sisters and her parents.  It was so fun listening to her talk in her native tongue to all her family.  She would be laughing, crying and then reading a scripture to them.  She really loved her visit.  We had a glimpse of her family, but let her have her visit.

Sister Kalio visiting with family.  Smiling!!!!!

Sister Johnson & Sister Carter saying Hello!!

Missionary Zone Conference

MISSIONARY ZONE CONFERENCE - December 21, 2012 

It is so wonderful being with the young missionaries.  The Zone Leaders, Elder Sadler and Elder Ostrom are great young men.  They are very focused on the work, the rules and having the spirit.  There are 14 Elders, 3 Sisters and a Senior Couple (that would be us) in our Zone.  It covers a large area, so they don't get to see each other often and enjoy the time together.  We had great instruction.  Then we served them a lunch we had prepared. We ate, visited and then everyone went on their way to serve, teach and love the people 

Fargo Zone

Elders in companion study

Elders & Sisters in companion study

 

Sister Carter & Elder Bird playing the violin -beautiful!!!

 tI

Luncheon with the Zone

Breakfast at 6:10 AM

BREATFAST AT 6:10 AM  December 21, 2012

The Fargo Seminary teacher, Sister Olsen, asked us to help her with an early morning breakfast for her Seminary students.  It was the morning before their Christmas break.  We made an egg, sausage casserole and orange juice.  It was really good.  Ellen Brotherson, a student at BYU, just arrived home from a BYU Study Abroad in Israel.  She  had a slide presentation and lots of information about Christ and the Holy Land.  What a fabulous experience! The time limited her to give as much as she would have liked.  The students really enjoyed the breakfast and presentation.  So that got us off to an early start.  

Visit to PEMBINA

Visit to PEMBINA - December 20, 2012

We traveled north about 150 miles to Pembina, ND.  A little town about 2 miles south of the Canadian border.  Visited a great seminary class.  The mother teacher is from Venezuela, but speaks fluent English.  She teaches her 17 year old son.  He is also home schooled, so we met at 10:00 AM.  Great lesson and the spirit was really strong.  She is a returned missionary and served on an island off of Venezuela where some of her ancestors where from.  Her husband is with the border patrol.  There was snow on the ground and it was cold.

Sister Stanley and son Ross

Pembina River taken from the bridge

INSTITUTE CHRISTMAS PARTY

INSTITUTE CHRISTMAS PARTY  December 18, 2012  

The semester closing Institute class was held at our apartment.  It was a fun time with games, visiting, eating and lots of fun.  There were 10 of us.  There were 6 YSA young adults, President and Sister Brayton and ourselves. 

Our fun group with President and Sister Brayton  in center.

Blow the ping-pong ball off the other side.

Two teams blowing the ball.

If dice throw is 7 or 11 you can get caught with the lid. Pull cotton out fast!!!

Juvaughn is unwrapping candy with mittens before a double dice appears.

Unwrapping gifts and trading them around.

Ate lots of food and then the fun was over, for tonight!!!

Jessica's BAPTISM

Jessica Marie Schultz's  BAPTISM  December 16, 2012

This was the first baptism in the YSA Branch since we arrived.  The Sister missionaries were teaching her when we first came.  Her parents wanted her to wait until she was 18 years old, so she did.  Elder Sadler baptized her.  She seems so happy!!!  She lives at home with her family. We made treats.

Nathan (Mission Leader, Elder Sadler, Elder Ostrom, Sister Johnson, Jessica, Sister Kalio

  

Jessica, Sister Kalio, Sister Johnson

Sister Brayton (wife Branch Pres), Sister Kalio

Branch President Brayton and wife, Sue

YSA RELIEF SOCIETY

YSA  RELIEF  SOCIETY    December 9, 2012

A great, fun, active group of Young Adults.  Love them!!!

                          Sister Johnson, Sister Kalio, Camu, Sister Brayton, Karen, Jessica, Lynn
                                                     Sammy, Kat, Emma, Meegan
Sister Johnson - Missionary from Spokane, Washington, goes home in April 2013
Sister Kalio - Missionary from Micronesia, goes home in April 2013

Camu - a convert from Taiwan, attends college
Sister Brayton - a convert from ND, husband is Branch President, have 4 children, 1 died young, 3 married, 6 grandchildren, great with the YSA
Karen - starting Business School this next semester,  from Tucson, Arizona
Jessica - baptized December 15 at age 18, lives in Fargo with her family
Lynn -freshman attending Minnesota State University, father teaches there
Sammy - attends North Dakota State University majoring in anthropology, from ND
Kat - student at NDSU majoring in Creative Writing, taking "Harry Potter" class
Emma - graduated from BYU in Historical Movie Making??, works Valley State College, lives at home
Meegan - returned missionary, Married Dec 28 to YSA young man, both attending NDSU, from Oregon

MENDING THE SKIRTS

MENDING THE SKIRTS    December 15, 2012

Sister Berning spend a Saturday mending some skirts, etc. for the Sister Missionaries.  It was great to be able and help them.  Sister Kalio is from Micronesia and Sister Johnson is from Washington. 

Northville, SD

NORTHVILLE,  SD  December 13, 2012
We traveled to Aberdeen, SD and then south to Northville, SD to visit a seminary teacher.  We took him a beautiful poinsettia plant for Christmas.  He has had some tough things in his life and we wanted him to know we care.  We visited him at his business.  He teaches two of his children Seminary.  His daughter hopes to attend BYU this next year. It was a 430 mile round trip, but worth it. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS & 
HAPPY   NEW   YEAR 

"I am the light of the world:  he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."                 John 8:12

We are so grateful for our family and friends.  Our thoughts are with you at this time of year.  We miss you, but feel blessed to be serving the Lord, whose birth we celebrate.  May your days be happy and the New Year be full of many blessings.      

     Christmas of long ago!! 

 

Marlene & Darlene with Santa

(abt. 5 years old)   

Climax MN, Georgetown MN

December 6, 2012 we visited Climax, MN.  We visited Brother and Sister Gerla and their 15 year old daughter, Mary, who is their Seminary Student.  She is also home schooled and will be ready to start college courses next year.  Her 5 older siblings finished high school early and went on to college.  Her older brother will be graduating from the BYU Law School this year.  The class was held at 8:30 PM.  There was a warm, comfortable feeling in their home as Brother Gerla gave a lesson on the Holy Ghost.  They live on 14 acres out in the country.  Lots of farm land and open spaces.  Corn seems to be one of the main crops, but we will be able to tell more this summer.  Brother Gerla teaches part time at University of North Dakota.  Climax is just over the border from Grand Forks, ND. 
     The evening  before, Dec. 5th, we visited a Seminary class and an Institute class. They were both held at the church in Grand Forks, ND which is about 83 miles north of Fargo.  On our way home Thursday afternoon we drove to Climax so we would know where we were going that evening.  I took some pictures of the area.  On the route we saw a little town called Georgetown, MN.  It was even smaller then our Georgetown.

Sister and Brother Gerla, Mary

Gerla home in Climax.  They have horses, dogs and cats.

View while traveling,  very flat.

 

Icy "Red River" is border between North Dakota and Minnesota

GEORGETOWN, MINNESOTA

 OLD LUTHERN CHURCH AND CEMETERY est. 1872

This cemetery was on the highway before Climax, out in nowhere.  It was beautifully cared for with lots of headstones.  The arched gate was very unique. 

This was a large stone plaque in the cemetery.

December " Break the Fast"

Girl on the floor is the Harry Potter student.

December 2, 2012 was Sunday "Break the Fast" with the YSA Branch.  Fast and Testimony meeting was very spiritual.  Many of these young adults have strong testimonies.  Some will be leaving for college or marriage this month and won't be here next month.  One of the girls will be baptized this month.  I made a hash brown  potato casserole.  Sister Brayton made two pots of soup.  Nathaniel brought the bread we love to have him bring.  A few more items were brought.  They like to eat and stay and visit.  One popular conversation this time was "Harry Potter".  One of the girls is taking a Harry Potter class with her English major.  Wow!!! College seems different now than 45 years ago.  

Traveling to ABERDEEN, SD

November 29, 2012 we traveled to Aberdeen, South Dakota to visit Seminary and Institute teachers and students.  We traveled about 450 miles total.  There are 4 Seminary classes & 1 Institute class.  

A picture taken of the sunset on the way to Aberdeen.

November 30, 2012 we visited Sister Vassar's class in the Aberdeen church at 6:20 AM.  Her daughter and another girl are the students.  Her son is usually there, but had a HS speech competition he was involved with.  The girls are very pretty and involved in the lesson.  They did Scripture Mastery.  Sister Vassar told real life examples and had the girls figure out which scripture would help answer the problem or concern.
We always take treats.  We took orange juice and cookies.
     Then we visited Sister Gonzalez.  Her husband is the Institute teacher.  She has Hispanic and native American Ancestors.  She is super involved in genealogy.  She is putting in papers to be a Family Genealogy Resource Missionary.  She would serve about 20 hours a week on the phone and computer.  Spanish and English would be her special area.  She is so smart and loves to talk about her ancestors and Spanish history.  We hope to return before Christmas so she can make us a special Mexican Hot Chocolate drink.  We had a very informative and warm visit with her.  We took them a poinsettia plant to wish them a Merry Christmas. 

      After lunch we traveled to Grodon, about 20 miles east of Aberdeen to visit Sister Holly Taylor and her husband who was home.  Her seminary daughter was at school.  We visited their class a few weeks ago.  They are bee farmers.  They have 3,000 hives that they move between South Dakota, California and Mississippi.   Their cream honey is delicious.  We also gave them a poinsettia plant.  She has sent us two thank you emails saying that this is the first poinsettia she has ever had and loves it.  They have a beautiful home.   
     Next we went back to Aberdeen for a 4:00PM appointment at the church with Sister Wiedrich.  She teaches her daughter at home in Roscoe,SD which is about 42 miles west of Aberdeen.  She has some difficult family situations and works all day.  So we wanted to meet her and it turned out wonderful.  Sometimes just getting to know someone helps so much in later communications.  She also loved the poinsettia we gave her.  All of these teachers work so hard to teach their children.  The Lord's work has miracles happening all over when you take the time to just look and listen. 

     On our way traveling out of Aberdeen, it was dark.  I took pictures of some of the Christmas light decorations we saw.  Thought it was just fun to enjoy!

The fast train home!!!!!