August Daze

Cutlers and Barlows at Birthday Dinner

I'm late getting this month's blog out but I have a good excuse. It was our birthdays!!  All I asked for my birthday was a letter from each of our grandchildren. I got my wish and so I have been answering each of those letters. With as many grandchildren as we have, that took a very long time. Thank you, children and grandchildren for making our birthdays so special.

 

Sister's Lloyd and Steward surprise Sister Barlow

August was our "slow" month. We didn't have transfers in August because they fell on the first of September. I said that it was a "slow" month but not really. We still had MLC (Mission Leader Council), ZTM (Zone Training Meetings) and R&R (not rest and recreation but Return and Report). We also held a Sister's Conference and a Senior Missionary Conference.

Elder Barlow in Corn Field

Upstate New York Summer

We have watched the corn grow from just a seed to stalks "as high as an Elephants eye". Where ever you go there are miles and miles of corn fields. It still amazes me that this is all done without irrigation. The rains continued through August and into September. Although we had some days of humid weather (not my favorite), they didn't last too long. 

Cameron and Zach future Missionaries

Oneida Primary

 

Our little Oneida Branch continues to move along. Here are some pictures of our Primary with Sister Sanders, our Primary President and two of our boys, Zach and Cameron. Our investigator, Tony, is still coming out regularly with his wife, Jan. We have been assigned to be their home teachers and we love teaching them. Jan is excited with her husbands progress. He is not going to be jumping into this quickly but we all feel it will happen in his own time. He gets up early in the morning and reads his scriptures and the Ensign. Jan says he underlines all the articles. He then saves his questions and asks the elders or us. He asks all the right questions and is very thoughtful, a seeker of truth. We have grown to love them very much.
The mission's first Sister's Conference was a great success. We held workshops which were taught by our five STL's (Sister Trainer Leader's) and had a nice luncheon. Sister Cutler put together a cookbook which included recipes from the sisters and mission staff which included their pictures. I prepared Plan of Salvation visual aids for them to use in their teaching. It is wonderful to be with these sweet sisters. There was a lot of hugging going on that day.

 

Seniors Conference

Sister and Elder Barlow



Wirthlins own Sacred Grove in backyard

The Senior Missionary Conference was a great time to meet with the other Seniors and hear what they are doing. Each Senior Mission is so different. They use their talents to individualize their mission. For example, we have a couple who are ex-military. They are assigned to a base and support the LDS families who have spouses deployed over seas. They hold Family Home Evenings, Temple Prep classes and give moral support. Two couple are CES and run the Institute programs at Cornell and Universities in and around Albany. We have three couples in the north country where the branches are small. They are MLS (Mission Leader Support) who provide priesthood leadership. They are Branch Presidents and lend support to the members and make themselves known in the community. Then there are the Cutler's and the Barlow's who make up the Mission Office Staff. We all met at the Mission Home where we enjoyed a Bar-B-Que and fireside. President and Sister Wirthlin are both wonderful cooks. It is a good thing because they are always putting on luncheons or dinners for the masses. President Wirthlin's background is in meat production and he knows all there is to know about cuts of meat.

Pres. Wirthlin mining diamonds

Barlow find

The next morning we took off for Herkimer to explore the Diamond mines. We were able to go with hammer in hand and find the Diamonds. Anything we found we were able to keep. The "Herkimer Diamonds" is the name given to the doubly terminated quartz crystals found in Herkimer County, New York and surrounding areas.  These crystals have the typical hexagonal habit of quartz, however, instead of having a termination on one end they are doubly terminated. This is a result of the crystals growing with very little or no contact with their host rock. Such doubly terminated crystals are very rare and this is part of what makes Herkimer Diamonds so popular with mineral collectors. Most of us were able to find a few, all be it very small.

The Last Supper

Dinner with outgoing Elders



Sister Barlow was asked to teach a Family History class to the youth of the Rome Branch. In October she has been asked to return and teach the Relief Society there. We continue to enjoy our experience here in New York. The people are so warm and friendly and we continue to make friends wherever we go. We love our missionaries and feel sad when they leave us. Last time we said good bye to several that we had become very close to. Elder Rymer is a fine musician and is back in Provo attending BYU. He made it into Men's Chorus and we will be following his career when we return home. Elder Baird is another that we became close to. He lives on the Indian Reservation in Arizona. Although he is white (red hair), his mother was raised by the Navajo and Elder Baird was raised by his Navajo Grandmother. He had to cut off his long red braid to go on a mission.

Until next month (which is just a week away) we will sign off. Love you all. We love our Savior and grateful we can serve Him in New York.  Elder and Sister Barlow

Temple Trip