April 3, 2012

Today began with a phone call from our Relief Society president, Judy Barnes, with sad news. A wonderful family in our ward sent their teenage daughter home to Heavenly Father. They have a big family with a lot of other children. They all loved her. Chaya was severely handicapped. She required much care. She was in a wheel chair. She could neither sit nor stand by herself. She could not really communicate. They are, no doubt, relieved for her, as her health has not been good. But they will miss her more than words can say. I want to insert here a part of her story, taken from a part of a talk by her grandfather, Elder Bruce Hafen, in general conference a few years back.

"Now I return to Tom and Tracy, who this year discovered wellsprings of their own. Their second baby threatened to come too early to live. They might have made a hireling’s convenient choice and gone on with their lives, letting a miscarriage occur. But because they tried to observe their covenants by sacrifice, active, energetic Tracy lay almost motionless at home for five weeks, then in a hospital bed for another five. Tom was with her virtually every hour when he was not working or sleeping. They prayed their child to earth. Then the baby required 11 more weeks in the hospital. But she is here, and she is theirs.

One night as Tracy waited patiently upon the Lord in the hospital, she sensed that perhaps her willingness to sacrifice herself for her baby was in some small way like the Good Shepherd’s sacrifice for her. She said, “I had expected that trying to give so much would be really difficult, but somehow this felt more like a privilege.” As many other parents in Zion have done, she and Tom gave their hearts to God by giving them to their child. In the process, they learned that theirs is a covenant marriage, one that binds them to each other and to the Lord."

We continue to visit and teach. We are looking all the time for those who are on the rolls but who no one one knows. We have been looking and looking for this one man. We have gone to the several addresses we could find for him. He was not at any of them. We located some addresses for some of his relatives. We had to go to those places several times before we found anyone at home. One day last week we finally found the man. He was surprised we knew where he was as he had only been there for two weeks. His mom is not on the list. She came outside, and when she saw our tags got really excited. She said, "I've been a Mormon for a hundred years!" She wanted to visit right then, but the man and his daughter, who was visiting from out of town, were leaving as we got there. They have, literally eight dogs, and he didn't want us to come in among them without him being there. We will go back next week.

On Wednesday we had district conference in Kalamazoo so that we could be in one place for the mission president, Pres. Hess, to interview everyone. We had separate district meetings, but it was great to see the sisters and the elders serving in Kalamazoo. It worked well, and we were happy to make it as convenient as possible for him. I don't know how he and Sister Hess do everything they do. They are simply amazing.  Elder Bridgewater once again did a wonderful job of teaching the lesson. It was about focusing our teaching on the Book of Mormon. He is a natural teacher. He works hard to be prepared, and when he gets up in the front of the room, he is relaxed and confident. He acts like he has been doing this for years and years. He is a wonderful young man. He is training Elder Jones right now. He is kind and gentle, and the two of them work hard. Elder Jones is a great enthusiastic elder, with a gentle heart, too. The ward members love them both. They radiate the Spirit. It glows in their faces.
I spent last Thursday with a sister who lost her eight year old son last summer. I remember those difficult times well, and am glad that they can now serve to help others. Their family will be going to the temple this summer. That will be a blessing to them.
We loved watching conference. Elder H invited a couple of young men to attend priesthood meeting with him. He also invited our friend, Jack Brandon and his son, Zach, to go. The young men canceled. The ward had a pot luck dinner before it started. I had a young woman at our apartment at that time and had to call and ask Elder H to come home and give a blessing. He brought Elder Jones and Elder Bridgewater with him to help administer. They are such fine young missionaries.
 We invited our friends, Grant & Gloria, who are not members of the church, to come to our apartment on Sunday to have dinner and watch conference. (We streamed it onto the tv from our computer. I love technology!) They really liked the talks and thought President Monson was awesome.
We love the young, single mom's in our ward. Their lives are stressful. We were very thankful for Elder Baxter's talk in support of them. Each talk inspired us to do better.
Monday, on our preparation day, we went to Holland to see the tulips. Grant and Gloria's daughter lives there, and she said that the bulbs are way ahead because of the strange winter. We had planned to go to the butterfly exhibit at the Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. We will do that another time. We invited the elders, but they had other plans, and, I think, were not sure that they could spend the day looking at flowers. Elder H was very patient as I took photo after photo. I laughed when I looked back at all of them. We probably have enough tulip pics to last a lifetime.
We first went to the Holland State Park which borders Lake Michigan. It was a gorgeous day, and, being spring break, there were quite a few kids around. They seemed to love playing in the sand and fishing.
We then moved along to a Dutch village and Veldheer Tulip Farms.
The pictures are not in the correct order. I cannot seem to move the first one out of the way, so I added the rest of the information with it to be consistent. Sorry! This is a woman making German/Dutch candles in the Dutch village.
If you want to see a quick demonstration on how they make these candles, this link will take you to their video. I was facinated as we watched these ladies. The one on the left has been making them for three years. The lady on the right is just starting. She did the dipping and was making mushroom candles. They were charming as they explained to us each step that they were doing.

Holland House Candles:

http://www.hollandhousecandles.com/shop/video.php

German Candle Making in Nelis Dutch Village

 Now, back to the beach!

Holland Lighthouse

These boys caught a small fish and then left in on their line to use as bait. I felt sorry for the fish. It had to really rip in it's mouth. It was still alive.

Nelis Dutch Village was not open for business yet. We wandered around. Mostly the gift shop was open. They sold wooden shoes, Dutch costumes, Black Forest Cuckoo clocks, Delft Pottery, lace, etc. The candle making studio was in there.  

 This farm grows over five million bulbs every year. They also raise buffalo. There is a Delft factory and a  wooden shoe factory. The hyacynths were heavenly. I really wished I could have a bottle of the scent. The wind was blowning, so the air was filled with it.

After we went to the farm, we went downtown and saw the tulips there. They have huge pots of them and many of the streets are lined with them. The city has its own greenhouse.

We went down the street South Shoreline Dr. There we saw houses like I have never seen before. Many of them were mansions or estates with several houses on them. They were gated. They were right on the lake. The boat docks on that side of the lake were for owners and their guests. It was a real contrast to our Battle Creek!!!

We wanted to phone Elder Ferons, but did not get it done. Next time we go we will find him for sure. I can see that he might really love serving there. He and his companion are opening this area.

I am amazed by the beauty that this world holds. Heavenly Father is the greatest artist of all. He and the Savior designed and created this world for our good. Frankly, I cannot visualized anyplace better. It is said that the next world will be, but I cannot picture it. I am grateful for the Savior's love and devotion to each of us and to His father's plan.

We had a wonderful experience tonight as we met with a less active couple. They are wonderful and would add so much to the ward!!!  We really bonded and actually spent three hours there. Everytime we tried to leave, thinking we were staying way too long, they urged us to stay. I am sure we were sent there. We will see if it makes any difference. In general conference one person talked about the team work of the elders and sisters and the senior couple missionaries. It really is true. We have the opportunity to become friends with people where the young people are pretty scheduled and are in and out. What a special opportunity for us!

Our hearts are turned to the Lord as we approach this Easter weekend. We love the Lord. It is our testimony that He lives. He has marked the path and led the way for us to return to our Father above. How very much we love Him.

We love you! Have a great week.