A Day in the Life of Elder and Sister Barlow

 



Some have asked us what we are doing here in the New York, Utica Mission so let me take you on a tour. We get up about 5 am and have our study time and prayers. We get ready for the day then Elder Barlow heads out to get the snow and ice scrapped off the car. Sister Barlow slips into the nice warm car and off we go the few blocks to the mission office.  The office is attached to the Utica Stake Building. I haven't seen any other Mission Offices but I hear compared to others, it is very nice.

 

 

 .We turn on our computers and begin our work.  Elder Barlow is in charge of the 45 vehicles assigned to the mission and will soon be adding 30 more in the next three months. Our mission is growing fast with the changes announced in October Conference. When we arrived here there were just over one hundred missionaries but by the end of the summer we will be up to our maximum of 175. Elder Barlow is also responsible for the phones used by the companionships.  He has been working hard to set up 19 new apartments for the growing numbers of missionaries.

 

Sister Barlow loves working next to her companion. Her most important responsiblity is to forward all the mail and packages that come for the missionaries. Hundreds of pieces of mail come through the office each week. You should have seen Valentines week! She was excited to find mail waiting when they arrived. Chad's children drew beautiful pictures for their apartment. Two more pieces of mail came week before last. A Valentine from Caitlin and a "flat Gabe" from Gabe Williams. Yes, Sister Barlow loves getting mail too.  (note the yellow paste it note on her computer this morning, we'll get to that in a minute.)

 

tr Soon, Elder and Sister Cutler arrive. They are the other office couple. We have grown to love them. Sister Cutler takes care of the correspondence and Elder Cutler is responsible for the finances and apartments.  It's a big job to run a mission office. We all wonder how the last office couple managed to do everything themselves.  Sister Barlow is also assigned the task of ordering all supplies, keeping track of refferals, and the "Transfer Board".



This is a close up of the sticky note. It is a surprise encouragement note from one of our AP's, Elder Tollefson.  We love our AP's. They show us how to do all the majical things on the computer.

Elder Tollefson was just called as an AP. Elder Tingey is our seasoned AP. We will be sad to see him leave in a couple of months. They are great Elders.

President Wirthlin arrives to prepare for the day ahead. It is an exciting time. We are having ZLC today. All the Zone Leaders will be arriving shortly to receive instruction from the President and the AP's. Sister Barlow has all the supplies ready for them to take back to the five Zones. We love President and Sister Wirthlin. They love their missionaries and take good care of them. We are amazed at the responsibilites Mission President's have and hope we can releave some of the burden.

 

The New York, Utica Mission is the largest geographical mission in the US, reaching up to the Canadian boarder on the North and down to Pennsylvania on the South, Massachusets and Vermont to the East and the Finger Lake country to the West. It is considered Up State New York and most of the mission is very rural. Although their are no church sites in our mission,  a lot of church history happened in this area including the first Branch of the Church in Colesville.

The missionaries begin to arrive. We are so glad to see them. They are hard working, dedicated missionaries. This is Sister Reaire (forefront) She is one of our enthusiastic new sister missionaries. She loves her mission.






Here is a picture of the missionaries in President Wirthlin's office. They are admiring the "Transfer Board" that Sister Barlow just finished updating.  After a morning of training, we went around the corner to the Wirthlin home for lunch. Sister Wirthlin cooks wonderful meals for many of these meetings.

 Say "hi" to Frank. He has been installing a new telephone system in our office. He asked, "Why do they call these young men "Elders" They are not old?  He seemed to love being in our office. He said it was the most friendly office he had ever been in. It seemed he was feeling something special and didn't want to leave. Sister Barlow got up the nerve to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He said that he will read it. YES, I AM A MISSIONARY!

Earlier in the month 25 new missionaries arrived and three left our mission. Here are two of the new elders posing for a picture with the Wirthlin's. This month 27 more will arrive.  We were sad to see Elder Becerell, our AP, return home after a successful mission. He is pictured here with all the Sister Missionaries.

We arrive back to our cute little apartment around 6:00 pm, totally exhausted and ready for a rest. But wait, there is laundry to do and dinner to cook.  With the chores complete we fall into bed and wake up to do it again.  WE LOVE OUR MISSION.

 

Our Trip to the Mission Field

Sunday , February 3, 2013

Our Trip to the Mission Field

February 2013

 We bid farwell to the MTC on January 9th feeling fed both physically and spiritually. It truly is a "heaven on earth", a place set apart from the world. We left Provo the next day, headed for Ft. Collins, CO to say our good-byes to our three families there. We will miss our children and grand-children but wish to bless their lives with our mission.

 The second part of our trip was to Kansas City Missouri where our dear friends, President and Sister Hardy, preside over the temple there. They were so kind to put us up and help us along our way. They admonished us to visit the  church sites along the way. We are so glad we did.

We made our way to Columbus, Ohio where we spent the night. The next morning we arrived at Kirtland, Ohio and the Visitor's Center. The dear Sister Missionaries took us on tour of the N.K. Whitney Store where many relvelations were given to the Prophet Joseph Smith including the revelation that a temple was to be built there. This has great significance to our family for it was in this very room, pictured below, that our ancestor, Asahel Perry met the prophet for the first time.

 joAfter joining the church it was Asahel's deisre to meet the prophet. He journied to Kirtland which was the headquarters at that time. He and his neighbor, Aaron C. Lyon arrived in Kirtland where upon meeting the Prophet they were invited to a meeting with the Council. After opening the meeting, Joseph presented the buisness of building a temple to the people convened and then called upon those present for an expression of their feelings. Most of the brethren present seemed to feel that the Church was too poor to build a building of the magnitude required and that they had better build something smaller and less expensive, perhaps a nice log cabin.

During the discussion, Brother Lyon and Asahel stepped to one side of this room and conferred together as to whether they had any money to spare and have sufficient left to take them home. They concluded that they could spare a trifle each. They returned and presented it to the Prophet, whereupon Joseph arose and spoke in a very animated manner, saying the work had commenced and the house would be built accoring to the plans presented. Thus began the beginning of temple building in this dispensation of time.

 

 

The next evening we stayed at the Palmyra Inn and arose early to visit the sacred grove. Again we were taken on a tour of the Joseph Smith Sr. home, and then were left alone to visit the sacred grove. Pictured to the right is the view from the back door of the home. You can see the path leading from Joseph's home to the sacred grove. To the left the fence which divided the Smith proporty. As Elder Barlow and I entered that holy place where God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Prophet, we had a desire to read the account written by Joseph. We then bore our testimony to each other. As we sat there pondering, we looked just across the way and saw three beautiful deer grazing near by. All was quiet, nothing disturbed our peace. I will never forget that experience.

 



 After a brief visit to the Palmyra Temple and the Hill Cumorah we were eager to make our way to Whitesboro and our new home. We did stop and visit the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette which was right along the way. Inside the visitor's center we came upon this replica of a stained glass window. It took our breath away for it is the very window that is in the Santa Monica Ward building where Elder Barlow grew up. It is a one of a kind stain glass art and here was a repleca of it in New York.

 Upon our arrival to the Mission Office, we were greeted by Elder and Sister Carlinsey from Wyoming. They were so kind and patient with our training during the following two and a half weeks. We are now flying solo but they are only a phone call away. Our mission president, President and Sister Wirthlin, welcomed us into their home until we could move into our apartment. They are so wonderful to work with They have a great love for the gospel and for the 107 missionaries serving in this area.

 A couple of weeks later Elder and Sister Cutler joined us in the mission office, they are from Washington, Utah. We are grateful that they will be sharing the work. We are expecting 21 new Missonaries week after next. We have been busy helping President Wirthlin set up 8 new apartments which need to be furnished with sofa's beds, table and everything from measuring cups to Microwaves.

So here we are in our new apartment. We are learning our way around the neighborhood and getting to know the faithful saints in the Oneida Branch we have been assigned to. Their were 16 in attendance today and four were missionaries. I guess I will be the organist in Sacrament Meeting and Relief Society. I am really rusty and will have to do a lot of practicing. Their are a great deal of needs and we are grateful to serve wherever we can.

We love the gospel of Jesus Christ and are very grateful to be serving as missionaries. We love our family and friends and are grateful for their support.

Joan and James Holiday

 On Sunday December 30th we began our missionary experience by speaking in our Sacrament Meeting in Rock Canyon Ward. We were touched by the outpouring of love from friends and family. The choir sang my favorite hymn, "Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands" by John V. Pearson. It was beautiful!

Steve, Maria, David, Kenna Smith

After the meeting family and friends met at our home for a light lunch. Later that evening our stake President, President Robert Jackson,  arrived and set us apart as full time missionaries in the New York Utica Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. President Jackson advised us to write in our journal. This blog will help me do that.

Williams Family

 The following morning Tisha, Matt, Ben and Isaac Williams saw us off at the MTC. It was a cold, frigged morning. We will miss our family but are grateful for the opportunity to serve our Heavenly Father. We have been so blessed.

Entering the MTC

After saying our "good byes" we walked through the gates into a new life as missionaries. We were met by President Gordon Brown, President of the MTC, a neighbor. The staff of missionaries made us feel loved and welcomed. The following day we discovered that we were in the middle of an epidemic of flu. In all, 250 missionaries became ill. Joel and I managed to avoid the plague for which we were very grateful.

Our MTC District

We were divided into Districts and assigned to wonderful young returned missionaries to be taught. The first week we were instructed from "Preach My Gospel". We were given opportunities to conduct missionary discussions to "investigators" on the restoration of the gospel and the plan of salvation.  It was scary at first but ended up being a wonderful experience.  The second week we were moved to another building and received training from other young returned missionaries on the different programs and responsibilities of the Mission Office.  They taught us with love and patience.  We enjoyed eating in the cafeteria with hundreds of senior and younger missionaries. They came from all over the world and were going to far off places to serve. I will never forget how I felt while at the MTC. It truly was some of the best days of our lives.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

John, Jeff and Kim at Children's Museum

MERRY CHRISTMAS

It is time to up-date this blog.  I don't have Chad here to hold my hand so I will need to figure this out on my own. Christmas is fast approaching and so is our mission. We haven't had much time to think about Christmas but I guess it will happen without us.

Lacey's creek

On our way home from Oregon we stopped off in Montana and had a nice visit with Linda and Rick.  We enjoyed nice walks along their lane, good food and conversation.  I don't think anyone ever had a better sister than I have (Rick's not bad either).

Tyson and teacher

Thanksgiving was spent with our Colorado family. We attended Grandparents Day at Liberty Commons School where we won the prize for having the most grandchildren at the school (9). We blew the competition out of the water. Our Grandchildren have wonderful teachers and it was nice to meet them.

The cook is tired out

We enjoyed Thanksgiving at Kim's house. Lamar, once again, out did himself with the turkey which he soaked in a cranberry brine and then BBQ on the grill. It only caught on fire once.  He also made home made rolls which were amazing.  The rest of us added the sides and of course an assortment of pies. So yummy!

Sam enjoying the Turkey leg

Gover Family

The following week, John and Wendy went on an Anniversary (20 yrs)/Birthday (Wendy's 40 yrs) trip to London, Paris and New York.  Dad and I had the privilege of staying with Tara and Amanda. They did a good job of taking care of Grandma and Grandpa. 
        
We are back home now. We have moved down stairs. I think everyone needs to move every 18 years or so. We literally moved everything from up stairs to down stairs and got rid of a lot of things. We are feeling settled now for a minute.

McKinnon Family

Last week we had the opportunity to attend the office classes at the MTC. Actually I called the MTC and begged them to let us come and get a jump start on all that we need to learn. They were so kind to let us sit in on the classes. So much to learn but the spirit was strong and the young instructors were so kind and patient with the Senior Missionaries.  

Yesterday Drew and Sara joined us in the Temple where we completed 80+ family file sealings.  We nearly completed all the names on my temple list. It was a good feeling to see them completed.

Seth at his Winter Program

Two more weeks until we enter the MTC for real.  Their is still much to do to be prepared. We are grateful for this time of year and for the birth of our Savior. We realize how very blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives and in the lives of our precious children and grandchildren.  We love you all and hope you will have the happiest of Christmas's with your families.     Love, Mom

Trip to Oregon

10-27-12

Dear Family,

Chad was good to help me set up a blog. This is one of the ways we plan on keeping our family connected while we are on our mission. We hope in return we will hear from you. Keeping up with our family members is important to us. We will miss you all but we are grateful for ways like this that we are able to stay in touch.

In stead of having a large family gathering before we leave, we thought it wise for Dad and I to visit with each of the families individually. Last Monday we left for Oregon and Montana. We stayed the first night in Burn's Oregon. We stayed at the Silver Spur, yes, it conjures up all kinds of images, all true. Old, western motif, squeaky beds, paper thin walls and very little sleep.

Our first stop was a visit with Dave and Connie. We had a great time visiting with them. They are wonderful hosts providing us with a luscious steak dinner with stuffed potatoes and a comfortable bed.  We of course laughed well into the night as we shared funny stories and memories. Thank you Dave and Connie for your love and hospitality. Dad even taught Connie how to make his pancakes for breakfast.

Next stop along our way was with Chad and Kim and family. They have kept us busy with soccer games, ice skating lessons, Kim's birthday party, Ward Halloween parties and a pre-school event. We even took a beautiful walk in the forest, discovered an abandoned castle and ate at a cool hamburger diner. We love being with our family.

We will remain here until Monday morning when we take off for the last leg of this trip which will take us to Montana and a visit with Linda and Rick. We will remain until December 1 when we arrive back home.

Time seems to be speeding up and their is still much to do before we will be ready for our mission. Our next trip will be to Colorado for Thanksgiving. We are hoping to bring Jacob with us from BYU. He has worked hard and had a lot of late nights with his studies (right?). It wouldn't surprise me if he sleeps the entire time he is at home.

Well, that is about it for now. Time to fix dinner.  Love you all.

Love, Mom