The Massena branch includes smaller towns around the area.Some of the members are attending church in Potsdam which is about eighteen miles away and others are attending in Malone which is about twenty seven miles away depending on where they live.We have found some wonderful people in Hogansberg that have been attending the Malone branch since the Massena branch closed. We have met the Garrow family and the Cook family which are among the most faithful we have had the privilege to visit. One of the members is Bill Cook, he made a car with his fourteen year old grandson and they race it (the grandson does the driving.)

Last week we had the privilege of going with the Potsdam branch to the Montreal temple. We rode to the temple with Elder and Sister Benson who are serving in the Ogdensberg branch. We got lost, the highway system is crazy, and all the street signs are in French. However, we made it to the temple in time for our session and it was in English since there were more English than French speaking (yes, they did take a count.)

 

 

Maple trees with sap buckets

We continue to meet branch members,and wait for approval from Salt Lake to re-open the branch. we are teaching a less active sister,attending District, Zone and all conference meetings.We have had some wonderful experiences and taken many pictures along the way. The picture above was taken on the way to a "sugar shack" where they make the tree sap into maple syrup.

The picture on the left is a reverse osmosis machine that removes water from the sap before it is put in the apparatus at the right, it then continues to condense the maple sap and creates the maple syrup, we learned that it takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup.

 

packaged syrup ready to be sold.

Week Three

It was a week of firsts for us. We gave our first lesson to an inactive member and took her to church with us on Sunday. We started volunteering at the public library in Massena, (we help on Tuesdays and Thursdays for two hours), and we also attended our first Zone conference. I am so impressed with the young elders and sisters, they are such a good example of the gospel. We also had the opportunity to have an interview with our mission president, we really enjoy him and appreciate all that he does in this area to push the work forward. We are still waiting for the approval from Salt Lake to reopen the branch. In the mean time we will continue to visit the members of the branch and seek out those are ready to accept the gospel.

On P-Day this week we visited Asael Smith's grave site. I took some pictures and I am also including a link to an article from the Massena newspaper, it is very interesting.  It is so great to be close to all this church history.

http://northcountrynow.com/obituaries/tribute-asael-smith

This is the original headstone that is now imbedded in the  back of the new headstone shown below.

zoom in to read the wording on the bottom

Our Second Week

We are learning to navigate the town and meet people. We have had some wonderful visits and spiritual experiences, and a lot of disinterested people. Before we left for our mission and we were getting ready to leave for our mission I ran across a letter that our son Matt sent to me, I thought about some of the things he said in his letter this week. As we were visiting people I could not get it off my mind. In his letter he talked about expecting the best of people, giving them the benefit of the doubt, and treating them as they will become. I have found it easier to see the potential others have no matter their circumstances.
Next week we have our first zone conference in Malone, NY. We are looking forward to it and meeting more of those serving in this area. Sunday we have been asked to speak in Ogdensburg, NY.
In our travels this week I took a few pictures we thought we would share

 This first picture is right outside our apartment building

 This picture was taken on our way to Potsdam on Thursday

Maple syrup anyone?

This was taken on Hwy 37 right outside the Mall