Several special things have happened during the past few days. One day Joseph Smith and his family came to visit. As you can imagine it caused quite a stir. It was a little family who are taking pictures to do a children's church history picture book. They were so good to pose for pictures for the visitors that were there and it was a fun day. I asked the little boy is he liked his picture taken and he told me yes and then told his dad that he would be famous someday. Cute family.

One day we visited the Hale Farm. It is a historical site where they have brought some of the old buildings from the area and restored them. It was a fun day and very interesting. The guides at the sites were fun to visit with and could give us lots of history. They did weaving, candle making, brooms, and even a working blacksmith. The man with the brooms recognized our badges and so took us over to the basement of the visitors center and showed us the safe that had belonged to Joseph Smith when he did the Safety Society.

 

On the way home we stopped at a produce shop and relaxed in the swing. Fun, Fun!

This has been one wild week. First of all on Wednesday we had two tornado warnings. We were giving a tour to a young couple and so didn't want to go up stairs. We just visited in the lower part of the home and watched and waited. A companionship of sisters were out and about and stopped in to get out of the weather. Also a young mother with her three little kids came in. Guess the tornados went just to the north and east of us but boy did we ever have the wind and rain. The rain gauge out on the fence holds six inches and it was overflowing. Lasted for a couple of hours before anyone wanted to leave and then I guess roads in all directions were rivers. In town the river had flooded the main intersection and was up to the hoods on the cars in the car lot. Wow!!! We also have had a very busy week with lots of visitors and bus tours. One very special group was high school seniors on a church history tour. They were in Sunday dress and each had their scriptures and journals. After a very spiritual tour they each found a shady spot and were reading their scriptures and writing in their journals. They then gathered and sang in front of the Home and when the bus started up no one wanted to leave. Truly a group of very special young people. A lot of families have visited on their way to the Hill Cumorah pageant so it has been busy. Really has kept us busy at times but that sure made the week go by in a hurry. We are excited for the safe arrival of little Annie. On one of the tours I had there was a little five month old baby. She kept talking to me, cooing and laughing. I finally told her she was making it hard for me because she was so cute and wish I could hold her. I then told them about Annie so it was fun. Special people.


This was sort of a regular week with seemingly not much going but ended up with several special things.  We were invited to a 4^th of July picnic with the Berryhill Family so we were able to celebrate that.  Lots and lots of great food and a special family!  We had some special families visit.  One family was on their way to be in the Hill Cumorah Pageant and came here on their way.  She made the comment that since the Johnson Home was so far out and away from the main part of things that those choosing to come here would make the sacrifice to do so.  We hadn’t thought of it that way but that is really what it is and so we get some of the really special visitors that want to know and feel the spirit of this home.

Sister Hillman and Sister Stoddard are going home so Friday was their last tours at the Johnson Home.  They were sort of sad but we had lots of tours for them so it was a good day.  They truly are great sisters.

 

 

Wednesday for our p-day we went down to Dover and Berlin after apartment inspections.  We visited the Warther train museum and then went to the new Warther ship museum.  It was really awesome so see the detail, all of which was ivory.  The one that does the ships is a grandson of the one who did the trains and they truly are talented and so willing to share that talent.  We also visited some Amish shops and then went to the Behalt Museum which tells the history of the Amish and Mennonite and Huttites.  They have a 10 ft by 265 ft mural circling the room that tells the history and is very impressive.  We left there and hurried back to the Rootstown Chapel for a service project by the singles group.  We cleaned the stoves and ovens in the kitchen and what a job that was.  Turned out really good and we had lots of fun and laughs as we worked.  Was a great day!!

 

 

 

This crazy blog site gave me lots of troubles on Sunday so didn’t get this posted so here goes again and hopefully it will work.  Monday we had the privilege of doing a tour for Sister Stephens who is the 2^nd counselor in the general RS board.  I had her and 8 of her grandchildren and another family of six and we were able to go through the home and had a grand time.  The kids were so good and were right with me the whole time as I shared the stories and testimonies with them.  Dan had the older kids and the adults and they had a great tour as well.  They thanked us again and again and we felt it turned out really good.  Was a special opportunity for us and they were a great family, 31 of them.

That night we traveled to Kirtland for a FHE with all of the couple missionaries.  We had a great picnic.  It was scheduled to be outside but the rain said otherwise so we had an indoor picnic.  We then held a discussion afterwards of some of our concerns, successes and the process of visitor’s centers.  Really a great evening.