Scenery in March 2011

 Elder McVea was standing in the parking lot of the Rochester Stake Center when he took this shot.  He was only 35 feet away from these mallard ducks.  Can you see the hen?

Breath taking!  Elder McVea took this shot one evening.  This is our view from our kitchen window.

Sunrise from our side yard.

Oh, Deer!

 25 March 2011, The soybean field across the road from our house by nightfall had 47 deer.

24 February 2011, Sister McVea snapped this shot on the way to work.  Do you see the deer getting ready to walk in the back door of the house?

Performances in the area

 12 March 2011, Katie Jacobson was Millie in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at her high school, Canandaigua Academy.  She was SPECTACULAR!!!  She sang, tap danced and won the hearts of everyone.  The Jacobson's invited us as their guests.

 

 L. to R.: Sisters:  Kissel, Whitney Andersen, K. Stone, Melling, VanDenBerghe, Chaston & J. Stone

13 April 2011, Site Meeting with the 7 sisters going home :(  The song they sang was just beautiful!

Peter Whitmer Farm-The Origin of the Church of Jesus Christ in our day

 Elder McVea was here with President Christainson to shoot part of a video production.  The intent of the video was to show many of the changes that have occurred in the Church Historical Sites since the 70's.  President Siddoway, former president of the NY Rochester Mission asked for such a video to be done so he could show it at an upcoming mission reunion. 

 This Cabin was reconstructed on what is believed to be the exact spot where the original cabin was back in 1830.  This is where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was first organized April 6, 1830 by the Prophet Joseph Smith.  It was originally organized according to New York State law with 6 members and has grown to over 14 million with members in nearly every country of the world.  There are now more members outside the US than in; and it all started in this same air space, at a fire place similar to this one.

It was in this cabin that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery finished up the translation of the Book of Mormon.   They could have done the work at a table like this one in the picture.  It was in the woods near here where the 3 witnesses where shown the Gold Plates by and Angle of God and were commanded to bear record to the world of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  These three men, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, never denied their testimony, even though all of them fell away from the church.  Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris came back in later years, but David Whitmer died before coming back.

Mater - My Hero

My grandson Mason Cole McVea colored this picture for me.  It holds a very prominent spot in the mission office.  Everyone who sees it comments on how well done it is.  I love my picture of Mater.  Mater is one of my favorite actors from the animated movie Cars, and it was colored by one my favorite people.  I love you Mason.  One of my favorite lines in the movie Cars is, Sheriff says, "Mater, what did I tell you about talking with the accused?  Mater says, "To not too".

Palmyra North and South Zone Conferences

 We had all 4 zone conferences this week.  Rochester Zone on Tuesday February 8th, Buffalo on Wednesday Feb 9th, and Palmyra South and Palmyra North Zones on Thursday Feb 10th.  The picture above is an example of what I woke up to every morning.

This is the Palmyra Stake Center, where we held the Palmyra North and South Zone Conferences (two at once).  I had 15 Cars and Trucks to inspect.  With the wind chill (notice the flag) figured in, it was about 20 below zero weather. Thankfully the assistants, Elder Westley and Elder Cook helped me.  Even with their help it took about 2  1/2 hours and I was sick for the next 3 days after.  I must find a better way to do these inspections, especially in the winter time.

Her is a quick video of the cars ready for inspection at the Palmyra North South Zone Conference.  This is 15 of the 37 vehicles we have in our mission.

After the Buffalo Zone Conference President & Sister Christianson took us out to dinner at Duff's one of the two restaurants that are famous for Buffalo Hot Wings.  The food was delicious. (From Left to Right are Elder and Sister McVea, President and Sister Christianson, Sister Evertsen [Sister Christianson's Sister] Elder Westley, and Elder Cook the two Assistants to the President in our mission.)

Fire Alarm at the Big John Young Home

 On a Friday night we got a call from the sisters across the street saying their CO (Carbon Monoxide) detectors were sounding.  They have been having a lot of furnace troubles lately so I took the news a bit more serious than I otherwise would have.  After I checked a few things, we decided the best thing to do was to evacuate and call the fire department.  Well, about 30 minutes later (the fire department is less than a mile away, they said we gave them the wrong address and we probably did) they finally arrived.  But, there was something strange about them.  They were a bit, shall we say, slurring their words and staggering a bit.  Yes you guessed it.  As I got a bit closer to them I could smell alcohol on their breth. Two of the 4 who came out had been drinking.  It is not as bad as it seems, however, they are a volunteer fire department and it was Friday night.  I am only glad we did not have a real big emergency.  We learned it was not the CO detectors at all, it was a smoke detector that was sensing some smoke from the furnace in the basement.  Seems the serviceman had spilled a few solvents in the process of cleaning the furnace that morning and that is what set off the smoke detectors.  All is well now.

See the happy firemen.