June Jubilations

 

Now we know what happens in Up State NY in June, it rains and rains and rains! The good news is that it kept the temperatures down. The bad news is that the rains came down and the floods came up!  We have wide spread flooding along the Mohawk River where we live, Oneida where we attend church and near by Herkimer.  The missionaries are out with their yellow "Helping Hands" T-shirts this weekend, cleaning up the mess and the Church has come to the aid of these communities with shipments of food and other emergency items.  I've never seen so much water. It doesn't just sprinkle, it comes down in sheets. We live and work on "higher ground" so personally we have not felt the affects of the flood?

Elder's Jones and Borgia woke up and saw some alerts for flash floods on their cell phone. They didn't think much of it until they opened their door and saw this.
The car on the right is one of our brand new mission car's. Elder Barlow is not smiling. The entire town of Herkimer was under water. Where is the ark when you need it.

We started out the month with a visit from our dear friends, the Gilstraps. Elder Barlow served in a bishopric with Bishop Gilstrap and Luana introduced Sister Barlow to Family History in the Brentwood Ward many years ago. Howard attended Hamilton College in nearby Clinton. They were celebrating his 50th anniversary at Hamilton.  They gave us a tour of the beautiful campus and stayed a couple of nights. We love these good folks! 



Places we visited this month were the Adironacks on the right and and Sylvan Beach at Lake Oneida on the left. Beautiful country.










I thought I would share a letter I was asked to write to our ward RS describing our mission. It gives a general description of our life in the mission field.

Dear Sisters of the Rock Canyon Ward,

Hello from beautiful up state New York.  Elder Barlow and I are enjoying our mission very much. Today marks six months out and the time is flying bye. Our decision to serve a mission was one of the best decision we ever made. We love the people we serve especially the great missionaries in the New York Utica Mission. When we arrived here last January there were just over 100 missionaries in the Mission, now we have close to 180.  It has been a busy six months and we are grateful to be involved in the "hastening of the work".

I thought I would give you a run down of our responsibilities. We are senior missionaries working as office staff. Our mission president is Joseph B Wirthlin Jr. and his wife.  Our main responsibility is to be a resource and help to the missionaries and to aid President and Sister Wirthlin. We serve with another office couple, Elder and Sister Cutler from the St. George area. We love these people.

We work at the Mission Office from 8am to 5pm.  I am responsible for the in-coming and out-going mail which needs to be forwarded to the missionaries each day. I am also the referral secretary and order the supplies for the office. I take care of correspondence and preparation for the out-going missionaries. We help Sister Wirthlin with upcoming zone and district meetings and assist her with the luncheons that are given in conjunction with those meetings.  Elder Barlow is responsible for a fleet of 71 cars, their maintenance and insurance claims. Together we have helped set up about 40 new apartments. We both help do training at various meetings. I know this doesn't sound much like a missionary but we have been told that the missionaries couldn't do there work with out someone looking to the details. The spirit is in all the workings of the mission.  It is a privilege to be at the hub of things and to feel the power that fills the room when a large group of missionaries are there.

We have also received the assignment of working with the members of a small branch (twig) in Oneida New York. We travel 25 miles each Sunday to worship and to serve the 20 or so in attendance. I am the organist, Primary Teacher (we have from 1 to 6 children in the Primary each Sunday), Primary Sharing Time Chorister, Family History Consultant and Visiting Teacher/Home Teacher to several. Elder Barlow acts as Branch Ward Clerk, Sunday School Teacher, Family History Consultant and often teaches Priesthood as well. We have the opportunity to speak in Sacrament Mtg. often.We work closely with the missionaries in the Branch to assist in fellow-shipping and visiting investigators. Today we visited with Tony and Janet, a part member family. We have become very attached to Tony who is investigating the church.

We are being blessed with good health and vigor beyond our years. We love this great work. We come home each night tired but satisfied that we are doing the Lord's work. We miss our family and friends but would never want to miss the experiences that we are having. Thank you for your support and love. See you in a year.

Sister Mary Lou Barlow

P.S.  President Wirthlin is looking for more Senior Missionaries to serve in the New York Utica Mission as Member Leadership Support. They work in different area's where their is an urgent  need for seasoned members to assist in the branches and give support to the younger missionaries.  If any one is interested please contact me and I will give your information to President Wirthlin so he can request your service.  Come join the fun.

 

This is the baptism we had at the beginning of June. McKinsy 12 and Zac 10. They are members of the Oneida Branch and I teach Zac in Primary. Their father will be joining the church soon.


We said good bye to Sister Smith, Elder Tibbitts and Elder Olson. Sister Smith was one of our favorites. They were all awesome missionaries.

We welcomed 21 new missionaries into the field in June.  On the first row on the far right is Sister Lloyd from Windsor, CO near Ft Collins. I understand their family recently moved to Utah.

Until next month, we send our love to our family and friends. Please keep in touch.  Missionaries love to get mail. We get ours at PO Box 149, Whitesboro NY 13492.  Love you.  Elder and Sister Barlow