One sunny day we decided to do a covered bridge tour before all of the leaves were gone so took off early in the morning, drove 172 miles, saw 12 covered bridges and lots of new country.  Was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed it.  Only trouble was we ran out of time and so had to hurry back to be at the home to serve at 2 o'clock that afternoon.  Had to hurry and change, pick up something for lunch, but we made it.  Good thing we went then because it rained with lots of wind the next day.

We have had some visitors since my last post.  Marlene came from meetings in Detroit and it was so good to be able to share Kirtland things with her and just visit.  Also the Casutts stopped by as they were released from their mission on their way to visit with Stephanie's family.

 
 


 Us in Kirtland's
Sacred Grove

                                    Casutts at
                                  Lake Erie

We have had some really special times at the Home the last while.  Some great families have come in and it is surprising the ties that we can make.  One that was special was a couple that had served at the Johnson Home just prior to the restoration and so they could tell us a lot about the home, the condition it was in and some of the things that were done to restore it.  He wanted to share and we loved hearing all about it. 
The leaves are starting to turn and it is amazing the difference a few days will make.  This is one of the trees at the Johnson Home. 

 

 

This is a picture of a huge harvester in the soy bean field. 

 

 

 

We had Lynn and Calleen come for a visit and we loved the company.  It was soo  good to have them here and hopefully we didn't bore them with having to show and tell them everything.  We did all of the Historic Kirtland things and some Amish.  Almost lost Calleen in the End of the Commons Store.  It was truly a fun time.  Thanks you two for the visit. 

 

 

As we were driving around today we found this interesting creature.  You would think that Halloween is coming soon.  He is BIG! and a bit scary..

 

 

They have a great walking trail here in Garrettsville.  It is an old railroad bed and goes

for miles.  Well groomed, shady most of the way and a great walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, this has been a long dry spell.  It is so frustrating when the computer isn't as smart as you think it ought to be and won't do what you want it to do.  We are still having troubles but hopefully things will get better.  We finally broke down and purchased a lap top so we can use it part of the time.  We have been really slow at the Johnson Home this month, glad when we can get 2-4 tours on our shift.  There have been no big groups, mostly couples, so numbers don't add up very fast. 
We traveled to Youngstown one p-day and visited a historic mill, did a bit of hiking, crossed a suspension bridge and walked through some awesome gardens.

 

We have had a special mission tour with Elder Bowen of the Seventy.  It was a super good meeting, just a bit hard to sit for 4 1/2 hours.  Lots of good advice, encouragement and suggestions on how to make things grow in our mission as we meet and teach. 

We also had a corn roast at the home of Bill and Shirley Mars for our Singles activity this month.  Only two singles showed up but boy did we have a feast.  Yummy corn, hot dogs and great company.

This is a trial and hopefully we have things working so we can get back on track with this blog.  Today was our P-day so we went to Akron to visit this house.  It is the Stan Hywet House built in 1915.  It belonged to the Goodyear Rubber inventor the Seiberling Family.  Wow!!! it is over 65000 square feet with twenty three bathrooms, a swimming pool and even a full sized gym. There is about 70 acres of gardens.  Truly a breathtaking place and we enjoyed it. Took the Nook and Cranny Tour and so really get into all of them.  We also walked through the main home and out through the gardens.  Was a fun day. 

This is the rock quarry on the property that has filled with water surrounded by the beautiful gardens.

We keep having trouble with our desk top computer so purchased a new lap top and we are getting acquainted.  So far it is working pretty good but it is taking some getting used to.  If this works I will do some catching up. 

Well, we got lost. Yep! Lost! The RUUUTTTSTONROADRALLY happened on Saturday. We helped get things going and then took off with our set of directions. Got so involved getting the photo for extra points that we missed the first turn off so had to turn around and go back....lost time. Didn't do too bad after that, got our second set of instructions and off we went again. Well we also got turned around this time as well but ended up being first at the next check in point. Not sure if that was a good thing or not. Then things really got nasty. We went left instead of right for 5 miles, finally realized and turned around, took another wrong turn because it didn't match the instructions and so finally just set our GPS for the church and headed there. Well, upon arriving everyone else was sitting there eating sandwiches and not missing us at all. Guess they had decided that we had just headed home. Anyway, so much for that, however we still have the instructions and might try it again on our own. Got to see a lot of new country so it was a fun adventure. We had our singles activity for July. It was a river walk with John Ridinger to learn about some of the history of the Cuyahoga River and the settlement of Kent. Only trouble was that no singles turned up. It had rained hard all day so that discouraged some and not sure what else but the Wells' had a great personal tour and enjoyed it very much. We also took our P-day and went to Kirtland. The Petersons took us to Garfield's Home which is a national park. It was very interesting and quite the house. We learned quite a bit of history concerning that President of only 200 days. Most of the home was built after he died. This one picture is of his office, notice the big chair...he liked to sit side ways with his legs over the one side. Things are considerably slower here at the home but we still have some very special tours. It is amazing how many connections can be made with the people who come. They have been in our home town or know someone we know, etc. They all love the Johnson Home and we love sharing with them. We had our zone conference last week in Youngstown and it was really good. It is fun to be able to meet with the young missionaries and to be taught by them. The couples are usually the investigators and they teach us. So it is fun. President and Sister Vellinga are so good and it is always great to be taught by them. Transfers are coming up soon and it is hard to believe how fast time is flying by. We did get a new couple in Kirtland, the Walkers, who have moved into the Palmer's home and are assigned to the Cleveland 3rd ward. The Palmers were suddenly moved to Canton as MLS missionaries (member, leadership support). The couple that were serving there had an emergency at home and so Palmers were assigned to take their place. They will be able to come up on occasion and help at the Johnson Home so we will see them some times.


Our 'singles group

Well, this is as far as I get.   I have been fighting this computer for the last three weeks and no solution is in sight.  I did get this photo posted but that was the last.  We are working on it so hopefully things can get better.  If anyone has a solution as to why as I try to upload a picture to post it kicks me off of the internet, we would appreciate knowing that. 
AAAARRGGG.... computers who think they are so smart.....

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!