Breezy Maples Farm

 The Massena Branch had their first Primary Activity Day- We went to a local farm that opens up during the fall. In the picture some of the children are petting Donkeys. they had chickens, ducks, cows, peacocks, pony rides, a bounce house, a "sand box" with dried corn instead of the sand and a wagon ride. Whew! It was more fun than we had bargained for

            

Anya Saunders, Cooper Abernathy

 

 

waiting in line for the pony ride

 

                           

Brielle Abernathy                  

                                                 

  They raise Cornish game hems

 

                                                          

Anya, Kelly and AndiDillon Abernathy

Andrea Abernathy

                                   

                                                                          We all had a great day!

October- Already?

I cannot believe it is fall. the weather here is beautiful. I have never seen more beautiful weather and fall leaves. We are very busy, our phones ring, ring, ring but that is a good thing.
We are loving the area and the people here in Massena and of course the Elders and Sisters. I am including a lot of photos that I have not yet posted so.......

                              L to R Sister Barlow (secretary), President Wirthlin, Brother Barlow

     In August all the Senior couples were invited to a retreat at the mission home in Utica. We arrived Friday evening and enjoyed a steak dinner and a meeting where we could ask President and Sister Wirthlin questions and give suggestions. The following morning we had a huge breakfast, and a meeting where each couple could tell a little about themselves and report their stewardship.

                                                      Sister Wirthlin in center

Early in the afternoon we all traveled to the Herkimer Diamond mine where we all mined for diamonds. We were given a hammer and chisel and pounded rocks. President Wirthlin related this to finding "diamonds" and bringing them unto Heavenly Fathers kingdom. Philip found several, it was fun but hard work... sound similar to missionary work?

                                  Roxanne Abernathy Makayla Nugent, and Makayla her friend

We have two young women in our branch, they are terrific and love the Wednesday night activities. This particular evening they decorated cupcakes..... ( I helped and made everyone smoothies while they worked)

Makayla, Makayla , Cooper and Dillon Abernathy

 

and then delivered them to the Branch President in his office (Philip)

                                             He thought it was great and so did the kids!!!!






On the third Sunday of each month we have a "Pot Luck" it has been a great success and has brought out more less actives.

The lady sitting in the walker is our downstairs neighbor Mary, we invited her and she came She loves the Elders or "the boys" as she calls them. She volunteers with them at the nursing home. Across from her is Sister Miller she is the Primary President with her nephew (green T-shirt)

 

Left- Makayla talking with Elder Huff and John Sterling we have been working with John since before the branch was opened, the sisters knocked on his door, it was raining that day and they had their umbrellas so he always calls them the Morton Salt girls.

Cooper Abernathy , Elder Mecham (West Jordan) and Brother Mayette. Brother Mayette was reactivated and does the ward bulletin, he also recently received the priesthood and often blesses the sacrament.

We love the branch and all the people there, we pray and hope you will too for them and the success of the branch in this area.

A SONG IN MY HEART AND HEAD

Many mornings I wake up with a song in my head and heart, this morning I woke with this song and I am sure it will play in my head all day. I often think that the songs are an answer to prayer

1. It may not be on the mountain height
2. Or over the stormy sea,
3. It may not be at the battle's front
4. My Lord will have need of me.
5. But if, by a still, small voice he calls
6. To paths that I do not know,
7. I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
8. I'll go where you want me to go.
9.  


10. (Chorus)
    I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
    Over mountain or plain or sea;
    I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;
    I'll be what you want me to be.
11.  
12.  
13.  Perhaps today there are loving words
    Which Jesus would have me speak;
    There may be now in the paths of sin
    Some wand'rer whom I should seek.
    O Savior, if thou wilt be my guide,
    Tho dark and rugged the way,
    My voice shall echo the message sweet:
    I'll say what you want me to say.
14. There's surely somewhere a lowly place
    In earth's harvest fields so wide
    Where I may labor through life's short day
    For Jesus, the Crucified.
    So trusting my all to thy tender care,
    And knowing thou lovest me,
    I'll do thy will with a heart sincere:
    I'll be what you want me to be.
15. Yesterday we spent the day at the Massena Harvest Festival, the town blocked off the downtown shopping area and booths were set up. Elder Tollefson and Kincaid arranged a booth with the Chamber of Commerce, along with Elders Mecham and Haddock (Elder Bybee was transferred to Malone- he had been in Massena with us for six months) They worked with several church members and played guitars- one of the members, Brother Garrow had his brother come from Syracuse. He joined them on his violin. Sister Vaisey from our branch set up a table with family history information, the two of us went to every booth and passed out family history cards, we had very positive feed back, The Boy Scout booth was set up next to us  and we got acquainted with them, and will be volunteering and getting some of our youth involved. unfortunately I forgot my camera so I do not have pictures . It was a good time to connect with the community. Two of the women that work at the Chamber of Commerce told us how much they appreciated the help of "our boys" (the elders) and it was not just the help they rendered but the positive attitude they had. Missionary's are a miracle and a blessing  
16.  
17. We have prayed to find the members in this area who we have not been able to locate and that they would have a desire to come back to church. In the last couple of weeks two young women have been found Nichole Plourde and Bobbie Sue Cartner. When we arrived and started going through the branch list Nichole was not at the address that was listed and the people living there had no idea where she lived or who she was. Elder Huff looked up her  name in the phone book and started calling everyone with that last name, no one knew her. Last week Elder Mecham and Bybee told us that a woman had come up to them in Walmart and introduced herself, it was Nicole, we went to visit her and made an appointment for the elders to start teaching she and her family ( it has been 7 years since she attended church) Bobbie who has been inactive since she was 14  moved to Massena about a year ago and showed up at church two weeks ago with a member. We have gone with the Elders a couple of time to teach her.
18. Today  President and Sister Brighton from the Palmyra Temple will be speaking in our sacrament meeting. We are excited to meet them and listen to their message. We have the opportunity to have them for dinner afterwards so we are looking forward to getting to know them.

MORE ABOUT ASAEL SMITH

 

 

I tried to add this to the other post  I entered earlier about Asael Smiths grave but was having problems so I just did another post. The man in the green tee shirt is Brother Hann, he is a member of the Massena branch and the branch clerk. The man in the back on the far left in the blue shirt is Jeffery Francom, he is our district president and lives in Potsdam about 20 miles from Massena.

 

Created on Thursday, 02 August 2012 16:37

Written by North Country Now

On 28 July 2012, members of the Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Association, along with local members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints met at the Union Cemetery in Stockholm, NY to pay tribute to and refurbish the headstone of Asael Smith who was the grandfather of the LDS Prophet and Founder of the LDS Church, Joseph Smith, Jr.

Asael Smith was born 7 March 1744 and died 31 October 1830.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the LDS Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote to those gathering that, “Asael fought for our liberty in the Revolutionary War. In the summer of 1776, he joined a regiment to defend New York’s northern frontier. In his prime of life, Asael Smith gave this counsel to his family, “Bless God that you live in a land of liberty....See God’s providence in the appointment of the Federal Constitution and hold both Union and Order as a precious jewel.”

Asael left a great legacy to his family and the (LDS) Church. He consistently set an example of honesty and integrity in the face of adversity. His writings reveal a deep faith in Jesus Christ and His resurrection. An unwavering concern for his fellowmen is evidenced in his strong anti-slavery beliefs. In the last message to his family, he exhorted them to "Search the scriptures.” These are qualities that would serve us well to emulate.”

Steve and Frances Orton from Provo, Utah; James and Megan Long from St. Louis, Missouri; and Daniel and Kris Patrick from Troy, Michigan, all members of the Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Association, came to the remote Union Cemetery to preserve the original headstone of Asael Smith by encasing it in a new granite marker. The front of the marker has Asael’s name, birthdate, death date, and burial date. Along with these dates, the quote “It has been borne upon my soul that one of my descendants will promulgate a work to revolutionize the world of religious faith” is included on the front of the new headstone. The back of the granite stone was carved out and the original gravestone of Asael Smith was encased in the stone to better preserve it. The headstone was funded from donations to the family’s association and was engraved and provided by Dave Princivalli. Graphics for the layout of the stone were done by Pfidzinger Graphics. (The new headstone also corrected the spelling of Asael’s name and dates to be in harmony with family records.)

In addition to members of the Joseph Smith, Sr. Family association, local members from the Potsdam Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints aided in the placement of the new gravestone and witnessed the rededication of Asael Smith’s gravesite. After the stone was set, Daniel Patrick provided some words on the life and history of Asael Smith. The gravesite was blessed and rededicated by Steve Orton.

Related Article:

http://northcountrynow.com/news/stockholm-potsdam-have-connection-origins-mormon-religion-now-receiving-extra-attention-romney-

 

Preparation Days

Labor Day we went to Norwood, about 16 miles from Massena and helped Sister Wilson and Blevins with a family history booth

 

 

Boat house close up

later in the day we traveled to Alexandria Bay . and toured the Bolt castle.

 

boat house, notice the main house in the back- ground

 

 

We enjoyed another wonderful P (preparation)day . We recently found that the childhood home of Almanzo Wilder is located about thirty miles from us near Malone, New York.  We have our Zone Conferences in Malone. You may remember the book Farmer Boy written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie books and television show) . Farmer Boy is my favorite written by Wilder. It is Laura's book about the childhood of her husband Almanzo and one that I enjoyed reading to our youngest sons Scott and Tyler. In fact Scott told me several months ago that he had been reading it to his sons.

this is the original home of Almonzo and his family

this is the creek they talked about in the book

replica of barn

 

Massena Branch Baptisms

It has been four weeks since the branch opened. The opening was wonderful, our mission President Joseph B. Wirthlin presided. our District Presidency was present, Jeffrey R. Fracum, Brian Erath, and
Jeremy Evans. We had forty four members, non-members and investigators in attendance.

 

Left to Right back row: President Francom, Elder Hussey ,President Evans, Brother Cook (counselor in the branch presidency), Sister Cook, Brother Stevenson, John Scott Sterling, Elder Huff, Sister Huff, John Martin, Sister Erath, President Erath, Harold Nason.  Right to Left : Crystal Nason, Brittany Nason, Cody Nason, Michelle Nason, Janet Hann, Richard Hann (branch clerk), Amy Gotham, Sister Wirthlin, President Wirthlin, Cecil Garrow, Ellen Miller (Primary President), Richard Bacilieri, Sister Stevenson Front row left to right: Donna Ward, Barbara Garrow, Dillon Abernathy, Brielle Abernathy, Roxanne Abernathy, Andrea Abernathy, Cooper Abernathy, Ed Saunders and daughters, Molly and Morgan Aragon, Larry Nason.

                                          





We have been working hard and were anticipating five baptisms on June 28th. However, that changed quickly as those we thought were strong and ready made some disappointing decisions. Amy and her daughter Morgan were the most disappointing. Amy has a good friend Renee' that joined the church several years ago and introduced her to the church. We had been teaching Amy for several months with Elders Bybee and Hussey. Amy was excited about the gospel and reading everything we had given her, she was living the word of wisdom, and had discontinued her use of coffee for weeks before she told us. She had even started paying her tithing. Shawna (our oldest daughter) had sent gifts for them with wonderful letters from Grey and Clare bearing their testimonies of their baptism. We hopefully will be able to see her baptized and enjoying the blessings of the gospel in the future.

                                                                                                     

Elder Huff giving Jo-Jo a haircut

 

 

 

Elder Huff Jo-Jo Molly and Morgan

 

 

We did have the baptism of Crystal and Brittany Woodward, we met them one evening as we were fulfilling an assignment from the President Curtis, the Potsdam branch president. We had been asked to visit a less active family, the Bunnells who live in Brasher Falls about fifteen miles from Massena. After our visit with them, which was outside and in a very wooded area where Philip had a turkey attack him (he was not hurt, I just wish I would have had my camera). As we left the Bunnells we looked at the list of other members in the area and saw the Nason family, Sister Bunnell knew the family and  gave us directions. We visited with the family for a short time and learned that they were raising two nieces because of the death of the girls mother. Brittany and Crystal had  had the missionary discussions several times but because of transfers and there location baptism had not happened. We introduced the family to Elder May and Tibbett's and they began teaching them however shortly after they had started teaching a new area opened and Sister Wilson and Blevins took over teaching, then our branch opened, the boundaries  were changed and Elders Bybee and Hussie took over the teaching. Brittany and Crystal are shy but were very excited on their baptism day. They continue to come to church with their family and take part in their Primary class.

L to R, back row- Elder Huff, Larry Nason, Elder May, Elder Watkins, Elder Bybee

front row- Sister Blevins, Sister Wilson, Crystal Woodard, Michelle Nason, Brittany Woodard

front and center- Cody Nason

We also had the baptism of Cooper Abernathy (a child of record) He is the oldest in his family, he has a brother Dillon, and two sisters Andrea and Brielle.

Elder Bybee, Elder Hussey, Cooper, Elder Watkins, Elder May

 

 

 

It is official!!! the Massena Branch will open June 2,2013. We had a cleaning party last night( May 15,2013) and had a phenomenal turn out!  Members and non members helped us get the branch building back in shape. I had more photos to share but am having a hard time placing them, so I am posting what I have for now rather than delay the posting further.

 

Massena Branch

Larry Nason and Brandy Blue

    
Sister Cook at the organ             

Brandy Vaisey

      Kazz (engaged to Brandi)              

 

Brother Cook and Grandsons





We are still waiting for the okay from Salt Lake for the branch to open, in the mean time we are working closely with Elders Hussie and Bybee. We have been going to appointments with them and helping teach. The elders found a young mother who knew a member of the church (Renee) but had not been able to find where church services were because the branch here was closed, the sign on the door had faded (we immediately made a new one) We have been teaching Amy (the friend) and Rachel (the sister of Renee), they have attended church three times now and their children really enjoy Primary. We see Amy regularly in the library. Yesterday she told me that she had downloaded the Gospel Library on her phone. She was excited to tell me she had read the introduction to the Book of Mormon while she was waiting for an appointment. YEA! a righteous use of technology! Amy has two daughters Molly and Morgan and a son Joe-Joe(Joseph). Molly and Morgan love Primary. Sunday Molly had a handout with CTR on it, I asked them if they knew what it stood for, Morgan the 6 year old blurted out "CHOOSE THE RIGHT".
I am including a picture of our District, which is now changed- they had transfers and because of the increase of Elders and Sisters President Wirthlin split our district- we will no longer have the other Senior missionaries in our District, we are sad we had become good friends, however they are completing their mission in mid May, but we will not have as much of an opportunity to get to know the couple that will be replacing them. I am sure more changes will be coming, we are just glad that we do not get transferred like the Elders and Sister do.

We always take a funny one too!

As you see my posts decreasing you will know that the work is increasing. We are enjoying working with Elder Hussie from Roosevelt, Utah and Elder Bybee from Salem, Oregon. These two wonderful young men are very hard workers and very obedient . Working together as a team has allowed us to increase the work in this area. Last week we had nine investigators come to church. This is amazing, considering the animosity toward the church in this area.

 

We had the opportunity to go on a youth outing several weeks ago, a member of the Ogdensberg branch is a Apache helicopter pilot stationed at Ft. Drum, New York. He received permission to take a youth group on a tour. We were shown where the Air Traffic Controllers are trained on simulators and then the actual controllers talked with us about their jobs.

We had the "weatherman" tell us his job.

 

 Then we saw the different helicopters:

 

The helicopter pilot (in the uniform) that arranged the activity will be leaving next month for Afghanistan. This is his second tour. The young man getting into the "Black Hawk" in this picture is his son.

Then everyone that wanted to was able to fly on the simulators. Philip got motion sickness so he spent that time visiting a young officer about the church.

We are still volunteering at the Public Library in Massena twice a week. We enjoy helping and getting to know more people.

The St. Lawrence River had a ice breaker come through several weeks ago to clear the river for the barges that will be coming down for grain and supplies. The Eisenhower Locks are located here. It is interesting to watch as they go through the locks.

 

 

Since the weather is getting better we are taking walks every morning near our apartment building. We found a great 2.5 mile walk that includes a apple orchard. The trees are budding and we are looking forward to the beautiful apple blossoms soon.

 

 

There is also a Cider House near by that will start selling apples, cider and cider donuts in late August.