Too much is happening

Sorry to have not kept up with the Blog for a couple weeks. It is not that nothing has been happening, but rather that there has been too much. Rather than try to fill it all in, I will try to capture a few special segments.

The Ohio Cincinnati mission will be dissolved on June 30. The mission won’t change much in most ways, it is just that the administration of the area will be distributed between Columbus, Ohio and Charleston, West Virginia. The Cincinnati area will be administered from Columbus, and the Huntington, WV side will report to Charleston. In the Cincinnati area there are 8 missionaries who would normally go home at the middle of August. Since the transfer schedule in Columbus is offset from what has been the Cincinnati schedule, these missionaries will either have to go home a few weeks earlier or a few weeks later than was planned. Parents have been calling and asking to have their missionaries released sooner rather than later, many so that they can get started back into school. We put the question to the Columbus mission president. He replied to the effect that he recognizes what the parents want, he is interested in what the missionaries want. So April has been contacting the missionaries to get their input.

Here we go, I can hardy see through my wet eyes, most of them said they are loving their mission, that they came to serve for a full two years, and they would be happy to go a few weeks longer rather than a few weeks shorter. So that was a pretty special experience.

Yesterday the missionaries who will be going home today met in the office for their outgoing interviews with President Robbins. I got to talk to my trainer, a great Elder from the Boise Idaho area who used to handle the vehicles before we came. I asked him what he planned to do when he gets home. He replied, “Well I don’t know yet, because I haven’t given it much thought. I will wait till I get home and I will discuss it with my dad.” Again, I was impressed at the obedience of these great young people who want to serve the Lord so much that they willfully refuse to allow thoughts of the future to distract them. I wish I were half so good.

Some more excitement in the vehicle area, someone crawled under our passenger van this weekend and used a power saw to cut out the catalytic converter from the exhaust system. Apparently they can get up to $80 at a scrap yard for the rare metals in the converter. For the dealer to fix it they have to replace 2/3 of the exhaust system since it is all one welded piece. The estimate was $2200! I found a weld shop that is going to weld in a replacement converter for LOTS less. But in the meantime we needed a van to do the transfers yesterday, so we called Columbus and they offered to loan us theirs, so last night we drove our car to Columbus, got their van, and brought it back and the Assistants used it for the transfers. We will take it back tomorrow and probably stop in to sign a contract for our apartment there. It was quite amazing how it worked out.

Lastly, the geese in the pond out front sat on some more eggs, so now we have a couple of little ones! Can you see both babies?

We Love You!

Dad

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Trip to Spring Grove Cemetery

Today we took a little time off to see the Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum. People have been dying for a LONG time in Cincinnati, because this place is HUGE and there are very large fancy headstones over hundreds of acres. Also over 1300 kinds of trees! What a place.

The Ponds were neat, with turtles out sunning themselves and fish in the schmucky water,

Lots of Mausoleums, some very ornate, many quite pretentious.

The trees were magnificent. Here is a Cedar of Lebanon, like the ones King Solomon used for wood to build his Temple.

Sister Earl looks good no matter where you put her!

She has fun no matter where you put her too!

This guy has no hinges on the bottom, so is not a box turtle.

This little place was built for a Bourbon dealer, took 4 years to design, cost 100K (about 1.3 million in today $) has 12 slots for caskets inside, and is the only cemetery crypt with flying buttresses in the US, maybe in the world. There is a chapel inside about 12 X 30 and 34' high. Construction was not completed since stained glass mirrors and an elevator were planned, but we figure the kids who were looking for some kind of inheritance left over finally said, "Hey, enough is enough!"
The cemetery was so huge it had areas that were never used for graves. Terrain was too steep, so they left it as forest.

This Koi Carp was about 2' long and maybe 8 pounds!

The turtles liked to bask in the sun, but didn't let you get very close. They are fairly big, maybe the size of Fred.

Love,

Ma & Pa

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The Lord buys a truck?

Dear Family,

We want to share a “tender mercy of the Lord” with you that happened this last week. One of the widows in the ward asked Elder Earl if he could help her sell her deceased husband’s pickup.

Scott and another ward member spent a Saturday morning changing spark plugs and adjusting magical things in the engine compartment. Br. Hauck once was a mechanic for Ford Motor Company and has a garage full of tools to die for. Well, between these two men the truck started sounding pretty good. The next week Elder Earl and I cleaned it up inside and out. (I really should go into the business of detailing cars!)

We put the truck on Craig’s list and the very next day a man called and wanted to see it. Chuck, the man that called, drove it around and wanted it.

Elder Earl got the two parties together and, long story short, Chuck gave our widow friend a goodly amount of cash and answered her prayers for financial help. Chuck got a reliable low mileage truck to haul things around with and both parties were very happy.

Here comes the tender mercy: Elder Earl thought he had taken the truck off Craig’s List the night he sold it, but not so. He forgot. A week went by and then we got on Craig’s List to enter another car and saw the ad for the truck. We had thought there weren’t any more calls for the truck because we had taken off the ad, but in reality there weren’t any more buyers interested.

Chuck was the only one interested. Heavenly Father brought the ad to his attention the day we posted it. Chuck said he wanted to haul some dirt for his wife’s garden and didn’t have a truck to do it with. He just happened to look on Craig’s List that night and there was the ad.

What an all knowing all loving Father in Heaven. Prayers are answered. Our testimony grows daily in this work.

Will you spend this next week looking and writing down all the “Tender Mercies” you see in your life? I promise you; it will draw you closer to your Heavenly Father and Savior.

Love you all,

Grandma April & Grampa Scott

Amazing House!

As we were moving some mission cars in Cincinnati the other day we came across this house. Someone was very talented with split shake shingles. The walls are 2 feet thick in places. Quite amazing!

This part sits on a central column and has a glass sunroom up high overlooking the neighborhood.

Unrelated, but we have been doing service projects for some widows and built a good sized bonfire. The orange coveralls made the neighbor dogs go nuts, but they were cheap on eBay!

Cincinnati goes GREEN

Spring came early here this year, according to the locals, by several weeks. Here are a few of the steps we saw from our canopy level porch.

(You can click any picture to make it bigger)

On March 19th the sugar maples in our yard took on a pink hue. This is what the buds looked like as they popped:

The next day they looked like this, and on the following day they all fell off!

Then 10 days later, April 3, they did this:

The next day, this:

5 days later, this:

and a week later, this:

So we went from this:

to THIS in 3 weeks:

It's green everywhere. All the houses are hidden again and it seems when we arrive at our apartment complex you are driving into a campground. Quite pretty!

a Great Zone Conference

We had a wonderful Zone Conference where we brought all the missionaries in the entire mission together. We found a very budget priced caterer who cooked hot dogs and cheeseburgers on a charcoal grill and we had a wonderful picnic type meal.

We had our pictures taken, and that was fun.

Click on the video below.

We had fantastic training and talks, but for me the bestest part of all was the missionary testimonies of those missionaries who are going home next week. It was truly humbling.

Elder Bevington was among those who bore quiet but powerful testimonies. He was the missionary who was working in the office as Vehicle Coordinator when we arrived and thus became my trainer. He did a good job as a trainer, especially having an old forgetful trainee to deal with. He told me everything at least 7 times, and still I had to call him to ask questions after he left the mission office. In the video above he is the missionary on the left who folds his arms.

He read us a statement from D&C 118 that goes like this. “Let the (missionaries) continue to preach from that hour, and if they will do this in all lowliness of heart, in meekness and humility, and long-suffering, I, the Lord, give unto them a promise that I will provide for their families; and an effectual door shall be opened for them, from henceforth.”

Elder Bevington explained that his parents divorced when he was young and he lived mostly with his father. His mother never attended church. As he wrote to her each week throughout his mission she would reply and sometimes tell him he was getting too “preachy.” He never stopped writing and telling her of his experiences and bearing humble testimony. He then related that in a recent letter she told him not to faint but she was going to attend his homecoming and is starting to come back to church.

He then expounded the scripture in section 118 in a very quiet and soft voice and explained that “an effectual door” was opened by the Lord, just as the Lord had said it would be.

When I was the Stake Clerk at BYUI I watched the face on our Stake President as he came from his office after interviewing a young man who was about to go on a mission. He had a funny look in his eyes, so I asked him what was up. He said, “That is a good young man. I wish I was that good.”

So, that’s how I feel too.

Love,

US

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A Good Day

April 8^th, 2010

I had a remarkable morning with Scott yesterday. President Robbins asked us to drive out to Oxford and visit with some sister missionaries that were having some disagreements over each others driving skills.

We had prayed before going for divine help. We needed to know how and what to say. We sat at their kitchen table and started off with a word of prayer. Scott told several stories to introduce the topic of communication and how to develop that skill. Part way through our training we asked them to teach us how to do a “companionship inventory” because we didn’t think we had done an official one. They told us how and then hesitated to do one because they were still feeling some hostility towards one another. The spirit told us to turn it around and let Scott and I do one for them and then they could grade us. They said, “Sure.” So we did. They liked it and we asked if we could do another one from Preach My Gospel. This one focused on expressing gratitude for things we appreciated in each other. The spirit was in full force and tender tears were shared.

Scott then told them the story of the young couple and the grapefruit story, the 4 families in car accidents and their bank accounts, and of the “Thank You Box” we had in our home when the kids were young. The light went on in their eyes and they wanted to try the “Thank You Box” for the rest of their transfer.

The sisters were so obedient and teachable; we know they will be able to work it out. Afterwards I helped them do their dirty dishes and they were so grateful. It gave me an opportunity to serve them and just visit with them about their mission work.

What a difference between the “before look” on their faces as we pulled up and “the smiles and hugs” when we left. They will be fine. Thanks you Heavenly Father for your divine help and putting the right words into our mouths.

In the evening we went over to Beth Terry’s home. We sawed tree limbs and gathered downed brush. We plan to can go back when things dry out and burn it for her.

Scott visited with Beth and watched silly Trixie (her fat short wiener dog) dig holes in the back yard while I cleaned up her flower pots out front. It was a beautiful evening. Clouds were rolling in and the temperature was just right.

How we have come to love this incredible woman. Chemo has taken her hair and her head is a mass of sores. We feel so bad for her. We have discussed what she is learning from this health challenge and it is this: “How to accept service from others graciously.” That has to be one of the hardest things to learn in this life.

While studying about Christ’s final days, the thought came to me; even Christ had to allow others to serve him. Mary anointing his feet with oil, the disciples finding a room for the Savior’s last Passover, and finally Simon the Cyrenian carrying the cross up the hill for Christ. Even our dear Savior learned to be served! Wow!!

Mud Mud M U D ! ! ! !

On Saturday (our preparation day) dad and I took the proverbial bull by the horns and fixed the stepping stones that lead from the car to the front steps of our apartment. Over time they had settled into the mud and mostly disappeared. (Click on the picture and see the bottom stones still in the mud.) Dad dug them up and turned them over. I scraped the dirt off the bottoms to level them up and filled in the holes with-dirt from 3 giant mole mounds that the moles made last fall. Then we put the stepping stones back into place. Hope ya know, we had a hard time, because we had no tools except a tire iron and an ice scraper! It is wonderful. The next day it rained buckets and we were able to go from car to apartment without getting muddy!!!

As we were doing the digging, one of the new tenants (from India) drove up and parked. Then he tried walking to the apartment on the stepping stones that were set off to the side, upside down. I am not sure what he thought was going on, but the look on his face made it absolutely obvious that his thoughts and reality were two different things.

We are doing great and send our love to you all!

Roush update

Dear Friends,

It is hard to explain a relationship in a few words, so you will have to read between the lines here.

We have written about the Roush family several times and how much we have grown to love them as they accepted the Gospel and joined the Church. Now they have moved out of the mission to Louisville, KY and we have been worried about them:

1. They had a hard time getting to church due to the new job requiring 7 days a week
2. They didn’t have a second car so that Tricia could take the kids and go to church when Eugene was working
3. The new ward didn’t know them
4. The missionaries in the new area didn’t jump right on them
5. Eugene made a new friend in the new business and shared the gospel with him but he couldn’t get the missionaries to visit and teach this new friend.

All those things made us worried they might lose their flame before it got strong enough to be self-sustaining.

We were quite anxious. We wrote to them each week and gave suggestions and shared our fears. I told Eugene about “that which Acts” and “that which is Acted Upon” and that he needed to be aware that Satan wanted to Act upon him.

Then last night this note came.

Hi Elder and Sister Earl,

It's Saturday night and yes finally the truck is operational!!! Hip hip hooray!! Sorry, we're very excited.

I really appreciated the email you sent it makes total sense and I will ACT!!!

This week has been amazing. I went with the missionaries to help give a blessing, and then I went to an appointment with them and it was so awesome. I thought I'd just answer “New convert” questions, but I actually helped teach them and gave a testimony. I was even able to throw scriptures into what I helped teach. I never thought in a million years I'd be able to help teach and enjoy it.

Please give everyone back at the Cherry Grove Ward a big thank you for their support of my family.

The young man at my work is now heavily investigating.

Awesome week!!!

Love,

The Roush Family

We are so grateful for the Lord’s good blessings and protection on those who love Him.

Today in Sunday School we discussed favorite stories in the scriptures, and good old George Miller popped up. George is not a famous name in the scriptures. Neither are most of us. The Lord says He loved George because of the “integrity of his heart” and his love of testimony. That’s pretty enlightening. He loves us more when we do what is right. That’s pretty special!

We Love You!

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A Maori Sendoff

Today we were given a wonderful gift at the mission home—a peek of what a heavenly family can be like. A new elder was dropped off at the mission office by his family—all 20 of them.

This Tongan family had taken all their children, natural and adopted, out of school and driven the 5 hours to see their brother off on his mission.

While we waited for President Robbins to show up to do his interview we were privileged to hear this family recite their family motto—all D&C 4—sing to us in Tongan, and have individual children recite Articles of Faith. Once the President arrived and he was introduced to family members it was time for them to go.

The family sang to their brother a farewell song in Tongan. I thought I was standing on the shores of a Pacific Island surrounded by Tongan saints waving goodbye to a love one as they sailed away. The unison of their rich deep voices carried a message of true love deep into my heart and I felt of the mixed emotions they were feeling as they said goodbye for two years and the pride they felt for a righteous brother/son.

Then an incredible thing happened: The brothers took off their jackets and spread out. They then did a Maori Warrior Dance for their brother to encourage him to be valiant. It was loud! It was scary. It was powerful. It was quite the send off.

Then Elder Vakalahi stood by the door and hugged each of his family members as they left. First the brothers filed past and then the sisters. Each was tender and each sibling held a special place in his heart. The last was his little sister of maybe 5 yrs. He picked her up and wept. Last of all were his father and then mother.

I cannot put into words the righteous power this mother had on her son. She hugged him and then spoke quietly to him words meant only for him. Elder Vakalahi hung his head down and listened out of respect and nodded yes. The family left and there wasn’t a dry eye left in the room.

After his interview with President, Elder Vakalahi remained with us in the office for several hours. The office elders surrounded him and had lots of questions for him. They wanted to know how long it takes to cook for that many people and tons of other questions. Elder Vakalahi was so natural and so sure of himself and his family. Everything was matter of fact. No big deal. We even learned how to prepare and roasted a pig from scratch. The office elder’s mouths were watering by the time he finished. I can tell Elder Vakalahi will be a treasure in Ohio!

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