Can't believe Christmas has come and gone and we are ready to begin another year.  We have especially enjoyed being a part of the nativity display as it helps us to remember the true reason for Christmas and the great gift of God's son to us and all that He did and continues to do.  We loved our contact with all of our family, both skype and phone.  You are all growing up so fast but please remember our love for each of you. 
We had snow the Friday before Christmas so it was a white one.  Then the day after was another big snow and again the next Friday.  We even had some this morning but the roads were not too bad as we traveled to Rootstown for church.  The snow makes it beautiful and I wanted to take some pictures this morning but forgot my camera.  Next Week!
We had a special dinner with our friends the Holtry's and played games.  Then Christmas morning was a slow one with special memories.  That afternoon we rode with the Holtry's up to Kirtland for a dinner with all of the missionaries.  They sure do know how to make good food and lots of it.  Was fun visiting with all of them.  Then the sister missionaries did a talent show.  We thought, singing, etc. but no it was a funny one.  They did skits, danced and made us all laugh until we had tears.  It was so fun and we all loved it.  Then Elder and Sister Edman bore their testimony since they will be leaving us in January.  The Sr. missionaries had done the 12 days of Christmas for them and they had no idea who had done it.  Sister Edman even went home early one day to try to catch somebody but fell asleep and when she woke up, there it was.  It has meant so much to them and made Christmas special for everyone.  They thanked whoever had been involved and said there would never be another Christmas like this one.  It has been a special one with lots of special happenings. 
The furnace is still out at the Johnson Home so we appreciate little space heaters, makes it okay.  We had several tours this week.  One day we had a tour of 4 at 9:30, 15 at 11:30 and 8 at 12:30.  Wow, how exciting for us and each was so very special.  Loved it!!!  Another day we had a Spanish family and it was another special one for us.  Sister Miles, a FM missionary, had translated the tours into Spanish and made a book for each of the sites.  We were able to use that book for the grandma.  At the end of the tour she told us, "my testimony is much bigger now".  They shared an experience of healing by the priesthood.  Their young son has seizures and has to have medicine to bring him out of them.  Well on Thanksgiving Day, he had one and the medicine did not work.  The father gave him a blessing and he was able to come out of it.  They all recognized that the blessing had helped him.  A beautiful young family. 
We love these special moments and are still learning about all of the history of this area.  We do love it.  We send our love and best wishes to each for a Happy New year, may it be great for all.

Can't believe it has been another week.  What fun it is!!!  Tuesday we drove to Rootstown for a baptism for Anna Bin Liu, a Chinese sister.  The sister missionaries have taught her and it was a very special meeting.  The talks were good and then she bore her testimony.  She had written it out so she would say it right.  Her mother had cancer when Anna was very young and her father had a picture taken of the three of them. She says that now she can look at that family picture with a different view and know they can be together.  She has a strong testimony and a great desire to learn more.

 

Wednesday we drove to Kirtland to the dentist.  I had a tooth break off so needed to get it taken care of.  However, he couldn't do what was needed so referred me to a specialist.  I can't get in there until the 31st so still have that to look forward to.  He was a good dentist, a member of the church from Salina and most of his workers are LDS.  He didn't charge me anything for the visit or x-ray so that was good of him.  Since we were out and about we went to the Koehn Home in South Euclid.  This is a picture of the outside of the home.  No photo were allowed inside but it was filled, every square inch, with Christmas of every description.  Was really a special visit seeing all of those special things.  He is the one that did the big nativity at the Center in Kirtland.

Thursday was the Holtry's p-day so we were at the home all day and ended up doing two tours so it was a great day.  We love it when people come so it is not so lonely but mostly because we are able to tell them about the special things and people of the Johnson home.  These are pictures of the Kent and Ravenna Sisters that are assigned to the Rootstown Ward that we work the closest with.












Rasmassen & Bell                                                                                Maynard & Palmer


Thursday was the day of the big snow.   It started about 5 am and was still snowing when we went to bed that night.  In the morning we had over 8 inches of snow and lots of wind to go with it. Wondered if we could get into the parking lot at the home but made it just fine.  However, no visitors.  Below is a picture of the first snow.  Tried to get dad as he was working and you can just barely see him at the back of the car.  Was a fun day.

 

 

Today in church they did a special Christmas program and we decided they have some very good musical talent in this ward.  The organist used to play in all of the churches around and was paid good money for it.  However, he now is happy playing for the ward.  Really an awesome musician.  The choir leader has an amazing voice and knows his music so together they had a great choir along with other numbers, the flute, solos, and even a professional xylaphone, primary and YW.  Was very nice.

We hurried home, ate a bite and went to the Johnson Home.  After arriving back at our apartment the door bell rang and guess who came to see us.....

 

 

We promised him that we had been good....

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE

We send our love

 

 

Sorry all of you snow people, we had 57 degrees here today.  A bit of rain last night and over cast today but very pleasant.  We are sure it is coming and will probably happen all at once. 
We just completed our first week here at the Johnson Home with a total of 2 tours and lot of studying and a bit of indexing.  We have enjoyed the slower pace so it has been nice.  We have worked at getting things organized and put away and are feeling comfortable and at home.  Below are a couple of pictures, one before and one after. 

 

Last night, Saturday, we went to the Rootstown Ward Party.  They had a big crowd and lots of great food.  They also did a program which was really good.  They then presented each of the missionaries with gift bags.  We have Sisters living in Kent and another set in Ravenna and then us that serve with that ward. In our bag was crackers, cheese, choc milk mix, candy, cookies, apples, oranges and pears.  Yummy!!!  They are so good to us.  Then of course today we got our loaf of warm bread.  We think we like this ward and the great people.  Will be nice when we get to know all of their names better but they are patient with us.  We have been given the assignment to call each of the members on their birthdays so that should be fun.  Called our first ones today.  At first the sister I called was rather hesitant but when I told her 'Happy Birthday' she laughed and told me thanks for calling.  Will be nice and a way to let them know we care about them.

 

These are a couple of pictures of the Johnson Home.  It was built in 1828, New England Style and very well preserved.

 

 

 

Thursday we had the special experience of an open house and tour of Lorenzo Snow's home built in 1816.  A couple who are not members purchased it because they love old homes, especially those with history.  They knew it had connections with the Mormons and so involved historians from our church in the history of the home.  They were so very gracious and love to have members come and tour the home and take pictures of it.  I forgot my camera, can you believe that.  I won't next time.  It was all decorated for Christmas and just beautiful.  He took one group and she took the other and they told all about the history of the home and the Snow family that had lived their.  They also believe that Eliza Snow is close by watching over the home. They also served sandwiches and a light lunch.  We then all gathered and sang songs and they told us more of their history.  It was truly delightful and they invited us back at any time, especially bring our families they said. President and Sister Valinga, Elder and Sister Edman, most of the couple missionaries and sister missionaries were there and it was a really special evening.  We definitely plan to go back.   

This next week will prove to be a wild one so will see how it all plays out.  We are taking it one day at a time, learning to get around and finding things.  We did break down and buy a GPS and that certainly makes things easier.  Have a great week,will check in again next Sunday.  LOVE YOU!!! 

 

We just came from a most amazing Christmas Program sponsored by the Kirtland Stake.  They had special instrumental numbers, a choir, organ and it was so very nice.  Of course we think that the star of our show was our own Sister Wygant from the Provo area.  She plays the flute like no other.  They have an arts college here in Mentor so there are a lot of talented young people and that showed tonight.  We wished it could have gone on for longer.  With the nativities, and special programs like this we are loving this Christmas season.  So blessed to be here. We have also had some special groups come into the Center and perform and that adds to the spirit of Christmas.
Since we are soon leaving here we had the two couples that were with us in the MTC over for dinner Friday night.  We then went down to the center for a program and came back here to play games. It is so good to be able to spend time together and we just love being together sharing silly stories, special moments, etc from our families.  If your ears were ringing we were probably talking about you.
Saturday we were invited to Elder and Sister Riches for dinner. The Jones are coming from Johnson Farm and we are going out, and the Riches served there for 7 1/2 months so we had lots to talk about.  Was another special evening.  We have also been packing and have most things ready to just put into the car tomorrow.  Will do a shift tomorrow afternoon at the center and then pull out for Garrettsville Tuesday morning. 
We started that new adventure today.  We drove to Garrettsville to the apartment and cased it out, went on down to Rootstown for church, came back to the apartment for lunch and then served the afternoon at the Johnson Home in Hiram.  Put over 100 miles on our car today and even drove 55 part of the way.  That is new for us....  The ward was great, lots of new friendly people.  I think we will love it.  We were handed a loaf of warm bread from the sister that does the sacrament bread and that will be a weekly thing.  Yummmm.....  Dan also found a cousin.... a brother Lisonbee that is a descendant of Coker Lisonbee the same as us.  What a small world! We went to the home and decided to do a bit of studying on our tour dialogue and in walked a sister from Utah, come for a tour.  Her name was even Annette so we hit it off right from the start.  So our first day at the Johnson Home we did a tour.  In fact that was the only one for the whole day.  It was so fun and we felt good about it all.  Yes, we will keep studying and get better but it was great.  Now we have that first time over with and know we can do it.  We came home and went to the program and are finally home for the evening and tired after a really very nice day.  Yeh....
Didn't take time for pictures this week, sorry.... but next week we will share some of our new things with you. We can hardly wait to get ALL unpacked and organized to hopefully find the things we think we brought with us.  Hope everyone has a great week.... remember we LOVE you all....

This has truly been a whirl wind of a week.  Tuesday was our Zone Conference.  Half of the missionaries met on Monday and the other half on Tuesday.  We all gathered in the Kirtland Temple at 10 a.m.  President Valinga spoke, along with Elder and Sister Edman, a stake President and Brother Karl Anderson.  It was truly amazing and we loved it all.  One of the sisters played a flute duet with an Elder on the violin.  The acoustics in the temple are truly amazing and it sounded really special.  We were all divided into districts into each of the four corners of the temple (choir seats) and everyone had the opportunity of bearing their testimony in the Temple.  Such a great spirit!!!  We gathered in the stake center for lunch and another meeting and then at the Historical Center to view the nativities and a closing program.  Truly a wonderful day.
We have been getting more and more busy at the center as people come into view the nativities and they all love it.  It is really something to behold and we love the spirit it brings.
Friday was our training meeting and the training sisters asked Elder Edman if they could do something fun for the training and he gave permission.  What he didn't know is that it was a surprise for them.  After the introduction they asked that all who had been asked to help with the training to go out into the gathering room. This left Elder and Sister Edman alone and they began to wonder.  Well, it was a live nativity and we all put on our costumes.  As they read the nativity from Luke in came all of the bleating sheep, donkeys and even reindeer.  Mary and Joseph and the baby, the shepherds and finally the wise men.  It was so fun but so very touching.  Sister Edman had tears.  It was amazing the costumes the sisters had put together but it turned out so good and we all loved it.  Below is a group picture of all the group. 

After the training meeting we drove out to the Johnson Farm and visited with the Jones who we are replacing.  They did a bit of training and answered a lot of questions and then did a tour for us.  We then went to their apartment which will be our apartment, had lunch with them and then he showed us around town so we could find things easier.  We then went back to the Farm Home and met with the Holtry's who we will be serving with and they did some more training and also a tour for us.  By then it was getting dark and we came home.  It had been a full day but a truly special one for sure.
One day we were able to do a tour for 7 non LDS.  They told us they were Methodists and Luthuren.  What a fun group, full of questions, receptive but not acceptive.  It really turned out good and we were glad we were able to have the time with them.  Special People!
Today was our last day at the Chardon Branch.  Things seem to be improving and the missionary sisters are more enthused and getting more help with things. We had a dinner at the Palmers tonight and the Jones were there.  They had been to their Rootstown Ward and it seems they have set us up.  The ward is anxiously awaiting us and are going to put us right to work.  Should be fun!
We were also able to attend the First Presidency Christmas Devotional today at the center and really enjoyed that.  What a way to begin the Christmas Season!!!