Week 104...My Last Pday & the Final Countdown

June 1, 2015

Holy Cow!!! I can’t believe that I’m down to my last Pday and only have 2 more days.　 It’s hard for me to believe this day has come.　 It is crazy to think this is my last email.　 Boy has time flown by.　 As I come to the end of my mission I realize that your mission is what you make it and it was my responsibility to make it the best.　 These 2 years have been very short and fast.　 There were days that it did not feel like it, but I’ve felt the joy of His redeeming love as I’ve overcome hardships and challenges that I’ve faced as a missionary.　 If we always remember the Savior and our Heavenly Father everything will work out for our good.　

 

Boy it sounds like you had quite a busy Sunday.　 I did not know all of that was happening…congrats to Boris on all of his piano playing and his seminary graduation. More importantly, congratulations on being ordained an Elder. I can’t wait to be in the temple together on Friday J . Also, that’s exciting that Meg’s getting her patriarchal blessing. 　 I am so excited to see you all on Wednesday. 　

1. How was your week?　　What were the highlights? 　We had a good busy week.　 The biggest high was being able to go around and say goodbye to people and see the progress that was made in the 12 weeks that I’ve been serving here.　 There’s a lot of history in this ward and a lot that’s gone on, but I think the ward is headed in the right direction.　 There’s still a lot of work to be done, but I’m leaving on a high note and we’ve made a lot of progress.　 The biggest low has been packing and the weather has not been great. The humidity has been killer with all the rain we’ve had and warm temps.　 I look forward to getting home to a nice and dry climate.　 Another high this week was my exchange in Franklin.　 We spent a lot of the week watching videos our iPad training. Every missionary is required to do safeguard training courses online. 　




2. The weather said you were under a flash flood watch Saturday night until Sunday @ 12:00 am…did you get lots of rain?　　One news report said you got over 2 ¾ inches of rain and there were lots of swollen rivers and minor street flooding.　　What’s the real scoop?　　(I miss my traffic cams where I could check the conditions on my own :) 　Yes, it pretty much poured all night Saturday and intermittent showers on Sunday.　 I did not expect to hear that we got that much water.　 I figured it was a lot though because there were a lot of flooded out fields.　 The ironic thing is this weekend was the 30th　anniversary of a bunch of big tornadoes that hit PA, NY, OH in 1985.　 You may remember since you were in high school and it was big national news.　 It caused a couple of F4 and F3　tornadoes　that ripped through Crawford county.　 One of the tornadoes hit quite close to the MM house where I went fishing.　 Apparently Crawford county is the #2 county in PA for tornadoes.　 So there is your weather report.　 I am glad that I am coming back to sunshine, the 80's and no humidity. 　




3. How are things winding down for you and Elder L?　　How are things shaking out with transfers?　　Is your district changing up a lot? 　Elder L is now the DL.　 He is not really thrilled about that.　 He was hoping to train his last 2 transfers but that did not happen. The Franklin missionaries are getting doubled out for sisters so that’s a big change.　 And I guess the zone/our district is getting changed a bit too. If we left the district the way it is now it would be what I like to call a double date district.　 So we shall see what happens. 　




4. What are the plans for your last Pday? 　One of our recent converts is taking us out to lunch　(the one from California).　 She got us pizza last Monday.　 Other than that I have to finish packing. We might be going to someone’s house to burn all of my clothes that I am getting rid of.　


How are things with your investigators?




1. A?　　Is she still set for June 13^th? 　Right now she is still set for June 13th.　 Her interview with PJ fell through on Thursday because she got sick and is now in the hospital with　pancreatitis.　 So we have another interview set up for her this Sunday.　 So we will see if that pans out and pray that she gets feeling better.　 If she is not interviewed this week it will have to be pushed back. 　




2. B? 　She is doing well.　 She’s progressing slowly but surely. We keep reminding ourselves we need to take it slow with her




3. CS (Daytona guy)? 　He is also doing good.　 He made it to church yesterday, but he is just super busy.　 He has the typical schedule of a college kid home for the summer.　 We have not really had many lessons with him.　 But the positive is that he was at church. 　




4. RR? 　She is doing awesome.　 She was just called to lead the music in Sacrament meeting.　 So she is moving forward with faith and progressing well.




5. Any good stories to make me laugh this week? 　Well we pretty much had a semi bash with a referral from this former investigator.　 I pretty much saw it coming because the kid that referred us to his friend was not really interested in our message and pretty much tried to prove us wrong.　 Let's just say it was very confusing and it makes no sense.

Well over and out see yinz on Wednesday!!!

Love you,

Elder Muir

Week 103...Palmyra Temple Excursion

Week 103…May 25, 2015

Palmyra Temple Excursion

 Palmyra Temple

 Elder Muir at the Palmyra Temple (notice the stained glass in the front doors)

 Stained glass windows of the Sacred Grove

 The Sacred Grove

 The Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission at iPad training

(Elder Muir is dead center about 6 rows up right behind & between the Asian & African American elders) 

We had an exciting & busy week here in Meadville.  It was a busy Thursday/Friday since we were in Pitt on Thursday and NY on Friday.   Well i guess onto the questions.  

1.      How was your week?  What were the highs/lows?  I think you can probably figure out what my high is for this week…the Palmyra Temple and iPad training.  It was awesome to see all of the missionaries in the whole mission and talk to the ones that I’ve been companions with and others that I’ve served with.  It’s weird to think that I am not going to see a bunch of them for a while.  Of course the temple, as you are about to read about in the next question, was awesome. 

2.      How was the Palmyra temple excursion?   Well it was an awesome experience.  We left at about 6:30 am and got there around 10 am.  We were scheduled for the 11:00 am session.  We went with our WML and his wife, the bishop and his wife and also a few other people.  Wow, you are not kidding about how awesome the new videos are.  The creation is much better and there is so much more emotion than the previous videos.  It’s interesting that we had iPad training and I went to the temple in the same week.  There were a lot of similarities and the things we were taught in our iPad training gave me a lot to think about during the endowment session.  I loved the garden and how much emotion there was in all of that.  I liked how real Satan was and how they portrayed him as he is in reality.  He makes things look normal and OK.  The other thing that I noticed was Satan was constantly at Adam and Eve’s side…always watching them, which in reality that is how he is in our own lives.   It is just our choice whether or not to give into his temptation.  These are a few of the things that we learned about at the iPad training.  In our training we also learned that Satan is very tricky & deceptive.  Everything we are tempted with is usually when we are alone.  We discussed the setting of the garden when Adam and Eve were both tempted to eat the fruit.   When they were tempted to eat they were both alone and not together.  Which in reality, that is so true, it is usually when we’re alone that we do crazy things.  That is why we have companions on a mission and more importantly, why we have eternal companions.   Well onto the  rest of the adventure… after the temple we went over to the Smith family farm, which also is part of the Sacred Grove.  It was awesome being able to wander around in the Sacred Grove and ponder the things that took place there.  We also went over to see the Grandin press shop and had a little tour of that.  I ran next door to a little shop and bought Meet the Mormons.  It was great, it was originally $8 but missionaries get a discount so I got it for just over $6.  At that point we were totally off schedule and leaving an hour late in order for us to get home on time.  We drove by the Hill Cummorah but did not get out.  We didn’t end up getting back home until around 8:30ish pm. Traffic on I90 at the toll stations was kind of busy through Buffalo and at the PA state line because it was rush hour and we also stopped for dinner and got gas. Also, they kind of just took their time after.  We were trying to get home as close to 6:00 pm as possible, but when we go with someone it kind of turns into their schedule.  It sounds like there are a lot of missionaries that go to the temple and end up getting back late because they are trying to see a bunch of stuff and members kind of take their own time.  We really needed to be at the earlier session at 9:00 am but that meant leaving much earlier.  

3.      How’s the weather?  It has been great, there have been a few rain storms here and there, but overall good.  

4.      Did you get your temple recommend issue (renewal) resolved with the mission pres?  Not yet, but I am getting a new one at my interview with PJ, which looks like it is going to be on Thursday.  

5.      How did your talk in sacrament meeting go (May 24^th)? It was great.  I was kind of worried that I wouldn’t have much time to write it because of how busy our week was, but it ended up working out and everyone loved it.  

6.      How are things with the investigators?

a.       Is A still progressing towards baptism?  Yes, we have her date set for June 13th.  Her interview scheduled for Thursday.  PJ is coming up to do it on Thursday and then she just needs to wait it out at that point.  

b.      RR?  She is doing well.  She is still busy with work and continuing to make progress and stay faithful.  So hopefully she will keep moving forward.  

c.      B?  She is doing well too.  We taught her the WOW (word of wisdom) last week and it was good timing because she was planning to quit smoking the next day.  We had no idea that she was planning to do that so it was a nice tender mercy.  

4.  CS (Daytona convert)?   We haven’t really seen him since a few weeks ago, he is pretty busy.  We really have only talked through text.  He was going to come to church yesterday, but he slept through his alarm so he did not make it.  He said he’d be there next week.  His parents are not members and I don’t know what their interest level is, if any.  

7.      How are things between you and Elder L?  Things are going well.  We both continue to work hard and we’re trying to get the ward back to its full potential and get people back to church.  

8.      Any other news to share? One random cool thing that Sis. Johnson said from their iPad training that they had a couple of weeks ago made me think of you and things you’ve said in the past.  She said we are here to shepherd people, not police them in regards to people making mistakes and choices that may not be aligned with the Lord’s will.  

9.      Any good meal appointments?  Not really, we had 3 or so this week but nothing really exciting.  

10.  Do you know what your schedule will be like next week for transfers?  We head to Pitt on Tuesday and then go to the transfer meeting.   All the departing missionaries need to be at the mission home by 4:00 pm for dinner.  Afterwards we will do President interviews and have a devotional/testimony meeting.  Wednesday morning we’ll get up and head to the airport.

  

Another week and next week will be one step closer to home…one more Pday.  I can’t believe it’s coming to an end.

Love you, 

Elder Muir

Week 102...Surprise!!!

May 22, 2015

SURPRISE J

 

Hey since today is technically our Pday we figured that we would come a little early and send a surprise email.  We were supposed to meet at the church for our temple excursion at 6:20 am and we got here a little after 6:00 am.  I did send you a snail mail last Tuesday but I’m not sure if you’ve received it yet.  I got your final package/letter yesterday so I will answer some of the questions that you put in your package. 

 

Thanks for the summary of ward conference, it sounds like you had a great meeting.  Also, I really liked the analogy that the Bishop gave about the Holy Ghost and airplanes.  I knew that the windows were quite small but that is cool how the pilots pretty much rely on others and their instruments to move around and get direction.  I liked the part about the plane moving on the ground and air traffic control guiding their movement.  It was all a cool concept.  Also, I was studying a talk from the women’s’ conference by Sis. Oscarson and I really liked the story about her daughter defending the role of motherhood at her kids’ school career day.  I thought it was clever and funny.

 

I guess I’ll answer your first question about our mission conference yesterday and the distribution of iPads.  The meeting was just north of Pitt in Cranberry Township.  It was awesome, we had all 200 missionaries gathered in the same meeting and Pres. & Sis. Johnson were quite excited.  Unfortunately, in PJ’s email on Monday he said that the missionaries going home this transfer won’t get an iPad at the meeting…sort of a bummer, but whatever. I guess I will just get my own when I get home.  We spent most of the day training on how we can use the iPad for the good and how it is a tool for us to use and expand our missionary work.  A big chunk of the meeting was spent talking about how to protect ourselves from the dangers of the internet.  We also talked about how we can use it for good.  So even though I am not getting one here, the info is something that I can bring home with me and use as I integrate back into school & normal life.  As Elder Bednar said in education week last year, we need to flood the world with good…#sharegoodness.  So basically it is going to be pretty cool, technology is now going to be part of a mission.  Starting soon, I guess iPads will now be included in your initial call packet.  Missionaries will start preparing with things before they ever enter the MTC.  They are not Facebook savy yet and they don't use the area book stuff yet, those things will be rolled out here in the future.  The social media aspect sounds pretty cool, they are going to be able to face time and skype and message on fb.  It is quite a process and the church has spent long hours & lots of money to roll the program out. Hopefully we will be able to see Boris use technology for good in his mission and see the program work in its entirety.  

 

Well I am running out of time, but I will answer one last thing regarding me getting released as a missionary.  You asked about when I prefer to be released given the crazy schedule for the day…honestly, I don't care.   I’ll be fine with whatever I get.  If I had to choose I’d probably prefer that night after graduation just to make sure I can be up to SLCC on time on Thursday morning.  But whatever the stake works out will be fine.   I love you and will talk to you Monday and give you the full story of the temple excursion.  

 

Love you all,

Elder Muir

 

Below is info from Elder Muir’s snail mail letter we received today…

 

Howdy,

           

I guess we get to converse the old fashioned way this week.  Not much longer and we can talk face to face in person.  I can’t believe we are down to 2 weeks (less by the time you get this).  Boy time is flying fast.

 

We’ve had a great week here in Meadville.  Again, it was filled with lots of service.  We randomly donated blood this week as part of our service.  We also helped a lot of ward members with their yards & cleanup.  It has really been great to get out there and help them with their needs.  We were able to help RR  and her family move a dryer.  She is really going through a lot right now.  Because of her parent’s ill health she has to pretty much take care of the house and day to day things so she is very stressed.  She is very grateful for us and our help including the spirit that we bring.   "A" is almost ready for baptism.  She is so close that we may move her date up to May 31^st instead of June 13^th.  That would be so awesome if we could make that happen for my last weekend. 

 

Also, we met the kid that got baptized in Florida (Daytona area in the Berry’s mission).  He is originally from the Meadville area but he’s going to school in Florida and is home for the summer.  He is pretty cool, not at all what I was expecting.  He is very, very smart and classy.  He doesn’t look at all like a small town country boy. 

 

Can’t wait to tell you about the temple trip.  Guess I better get this letter in the mail. 

 

Love ya!!!

Elder Muir

 

 

Week 101...Happy Mother's Day!!!

May 11, 2015

 

Mother's Day Skype with our favorite Elder :)

 Last pic with Flat Zach for his family photo album :(

Elder L & Elder Muir at Sister M's home (surprise texts w/pics always make a mom happy)

 The MM family farm

 Fishing pond on MM family property

Foundation of John Brown's tannery

Note from mom:  How do you explain the joy and happiness that comes to a mother’s heart from such a simple yet meaningful & needed Skype conversation?  Words can’t explain how exciting it was to Skype with our missionary yesterday.  Indeed, a prophet, at some point in the past was an inspired man and knew that he could bring a smile to thousands of moms on Mother’s Day by letting them talk to their sweet boys :)   Simple pleasures bring lasting happiness...22 days and counting 

Well I’m sure you can guess that our highlights from the week are the same…Mother’s Day Skype:)  Also, I forgot to ask how you liked my Mother’s Day card?

1.      How was your week?  What were the highs/lows?  This week was pretty awesome.  I think we all know what the best and biggest high was...YESTERDAY!!!!  It was so fun to see you all and talk with you.  It is so weird to think that was the last time Skyping for me.  It is even weirder to think we’ll be having a real face to face conversation here shortly.  Another high was going to zone training this week.  It was awesome, President was there and did an awesome training about the importance of planning here in the mission and in the future.  He related his experience in preparing to climb the Matterhorn and how we need all the necessary items in order to be successful.  It was very insightful and helpful to hear all of his tips.  It was cool how he tied it all into missionary work and, in addition, how it can be applied to everyday situations when we return home.  He talked about his business life too and the importance of planning.  Like you know, was an executive for REI and Lands End.  He talked about the planning it takes for all kinds of things they did in the company, whether it be in marketing or the budget or whatever.   So that was cool.  On top of that, the zone leaders did a training that they received from the missionary department a few weeks ago.  The training was on how to better use the pamphlets the church provides and how we can teach from them better.  They taught a cool way of teaching an 8 minute lesson using the pamphlets.  It was very insightful.  Another high was fishing at the MM family’s pond.   We’ve also been busy with lots of service too.  We’ve helped a lot of people move all kinds of stuff.  The biggest low has been the humidity.   

2.      What did you do the rest of the night?  Dinner?  Were you able to visit with  A & D?  After I finished talking with you guys we had dinner with the T family.  We had ribs that were slightly spicy for my taste buds but they were still good.  After dinner Elder L talked to his family for an hour or so until about 8:30 pm.  We pretty much spent most of the afternoon eating and talking between our families.  Unfortunately, A ended up cancelling because the baby had an ear infection and a high fever so they were in the ER.  I don't think they have insurance so it is easier for them to go the hospital. 

3.      Has the weather been hot all week?  Have you had lots of rain?  Boy, we finally warmed up.  We’ve been in the low to mid 80's, but add about 70% or higher humidity and it makes it terrible.  It didn't really start raining terribly until Saturday afternoon and yesterday afternoon.  We’ve been getting the afternoon heat of the day thunderstorms that roll through.  But by mid-week this week it is only supposed to be 60ish so that will be nice.  

4.      How was the fishing adventure with the MM family?   It was awesome.  I will send pictures when I’m done emailing.  We went over last Pday after we were done emailing and shopping.  The kids weren’t quite home from school yet, but the mom was home and she was already out fishing.  So we just headed out across the field and started fishing with the worms they dug up in the garden.  We fished for about 2 hours and then we had to head home for dinner.  It was pretty fun.  Around 4 pm the kids got home from school and they came out and fished too.  However, by about 5:00-5:30ish it started to get stormy so we went in and chatted for a few minutes and then headed home.  I caught 8 to 10 fish (bluegill) that I reeled in and just threw them back in.  We all had tons of bites, but it was hard to tell if you had a bite and needed to reel back in because the floater would not really bob on some of them.  Evidently the MM family owns the land and pond but the DWR owns the fish and we didn’t have a license…oops.  Luckily we didn’t get checked.  

5.      How are things with your investigators?

a.       A & D?  They are doing well.  It’s still hard to have lessons with them.  They have cancelled the past few times, but they are still interested and working towards baptism.  They end up cancelling last minute so that puts things on hold.  Hopefully they will still be baptized in mid June.  

b.      R?  She keeps busy with work.  We are going to see her again tomorrow and we continue to teach her the new member lessons.  We just try to keep her going.  Overall she is doing well.  

c.      B?  She seems to be doing well.  Lessons are kind of like pulling teeth with her.  It is hard to get her involved and talking so it makes it hard to teach, but she likes the lessons and likes having us over. We are just having to take it slow with her.  

d.      Referral you talked about?  Well he is someone that met with missionaries in the past.   But he stopped meeting with them and has been doing the chat etc. on mormon.org.  Recently he requested a visit and now we are teaching him.  We are glad to add him to our teaching pool.

e.       Any other teaching opportunities?  We have a new record that the bishop pulled in yesterday and it’s a guy that is 20.  He was baptized at the end of March.  We were texting him yesterday and he seemed excited that we contacted him and sounds excited to meet with us this Thursday.  I am not sure why he is here because his record came from down in Daytona, Florida.  It looks like his parents may live here in our area, so more info is to come.  The records show that the missionaries that baptized him are in the Berry's mission.  From what I can tell Daytona is part of the Florida Orlando mission.

f.       Less actives?  Nothing new, we are just trying to meet as many people as possible and assess each situation.  

6.      Any mission news/activities this week?  No, nothing until next week with iPad distribution and then the Palmyra temple trip.  

7.      What are 5 positive things from the week?  1) I got to talk to you guys.  2) It has finally warmed up.  3)  I had exchanges this week.   4) We had a zone training. 

      

8.   Any other news?  I keep forgetting to tell you one thing about Meadville.  Not only is it home to the Talon zipper, the Channel Lock tool company ( https://www.channellock.com/history.aspx ) started here also.  Gpa Lewy will be interested in this.  They started out making farrier tools.  They continue to make product here and are the largest employer in Crawford county.  So any time you pull out the nice baby blue handled tools you can think of good ole’ me here in Meadville, PA (and don’t forget when you use a Victor mouse trap you can think of good ole’ Lititz, PA…thanks Mel).  Also, this past week we were driving around trying to visit someone and we came across this tannery that was owned by the abolitionist John Brown.  He was involved with Harper’s Ferry during the Civil War http://littlebitsofhistory.blogspot.com/2011/03/john-brown-tannery-part-2.html

I love you.  BTW…the mission rule about temple excursions means the temple day turns into our Pday.  Because it will be a long day I probably won’t have time to email.  So I’m just giving you a heads up so you don't freak out on Monday if there isn’t an email in your inbox, now you’ll know the reason why.  Maybe you can print your email and send it to me instead. 

   

Love you tons,

Elder Muir