1/21/2018 Last Week's Kind Of

 Trying to reconstruct last week's blog -

           so first, more Manatee - we forgot to post this picture showing the needle fish swimming above the manatee.  Nobody seemed to know why, only that when the manatee come into the springs, the needle fish show up. They don't touch the manatee, just swim above them. 

This is a stock photo, but it shows a manatee surrounded by little fish which are eating algae, parasites and dead skin.  Sounds pretty disgusting,  but the manatee and the fish seem to be enjoying the trip to the beauty salon. 

This announcement came out online here - The Florida Gators will be using the Michael Jordan logo, which is is owned by Nike and used to promote the Air Jordan brand of sportswear.   Also of interest, University of Florida basketball team is now ranked second in the SEC.  It is not against the rules for senior missionaries, so we might try to catch a game.

The first Gender Neutral bathroom we have seen.  It was at the theater where we saw The Greatest Showman.  The theater we went to also had chairs that recline, feet up and everything.   It must have been a pretty good movie because I didn't even sleep.  (One of our YSA's said that when they remodeled at her work, they kept the Men's and Women's but added a couple of Gender Neutral.

At many road work sites, and it seems there is road work being done everywhere, a world of orange and white barrels.  Anyway, there are piles of what looks like sawdust by color, but is sand.

The theme of our Zone conference, held in Jacksonville.  It is taken from 3rd Nephi when the Savior blessed the children one by one.   The picture is one our children grew up with and still is a favorite.  Our time here is like Alma 32 and the seed.  We know the seed of the gospel is good because it is "delicious" to us and "it swelleth and sprouteth and beginneth" or continueth to grow.  It is not a perfect knowledge, but our faith has increased.  We are grateful to have the health to be able to serve.

 
Gainesville Florida LDS Institute Building.  You can see on the right the yellow bar that leads into the parking area which is under the classrooms.  Our office is one of the windows at the left top.  It is great, we go from our garage to the Institute garage.

and we have our own parking spot.

Our apartment - Asbury Park Apartments.  The garage isn't very wide, but it opens into our kitchen, we have no complaints!!  We also have good windows and a skylight, so plenty of light.

A couple of the missionaries from our area who are headed home, one serving in the YSA, had to have a ride into Jacksonville, so we took them.  Elder Hornfischer liked words, had a 1971 (the year Mike and I met) unabridged Webster's dictionary he gave to Mike before he left.  He had picked it during his mission.  

At Jax airport

This is the Jacksonville skyline as you cross the St. Johns River, not sure what the big rusted piece of equipment is, but zoomed in so you could see it.

  
 A poem we like by Carol Lynn Pearson:

This radio set called prayer

Is designed for remarkably simple repair

When it is not working

There is no doubt

Which half of the set is out.

1/21/2018 Just lost the whole thing

Hi all - after about an hour and a half and ready to post, I did something and it is all gone but a picture of a tree .. so .. will post next week.  Sorry about that.  And I don't even know how to do an emoji sad face.  :( 

        We are doing well and enjoyed being able to watch the reorganization of the first presidency last week.  It is comforting and testimony strengthening to know that our Father is in charge.
         
and will share this thought from Elder Hales.

1/14/2018 Bookcases, manatees and campfires

One of our responsibilities is apartment inspections - this building project of water-filled gatorade bottles and boards is amazingly sturdy - as well as inventive.   Guess it has been there a while because our elders don't know any history on it.  So the question is, if they built it all at once, who drank all the gatorade?

The elders had just been corrected by our CES secretary - you do not use metal spoons in teflon pans.

Because there is so much water there are often these small bodies of water - this one just by the side of a big mall in Orlando, and people are fishing - and catching fish.  We may have mentioned before that the first week we were here, we got as much rain as we do in Bunkerville in a year.

We want you to meet the people we serve with.  This is our branch president, President Davis, his wife Teresa - fun, kind and generous Southern folk - and two of their children.  They are a very musical family.  The girls were home for break, so attended the branch.

Couldn't resist posting this picture of John-Evan and Evan.

The bird feeder by the Ronald McDonald House.  Both of our mothers would have loved this.

And now to our Manatee trip.  When it is cold, the manatees come in from the gulf to the springs which stay around 74 degrees.  The Haddocks had been before and they said this was the most they had ever seen - probably because of the unusually cold weather.

And it was a very cold day - it ranged from high 30's to low 40's during the day.  We did not bring warm clothes with us, but we went with the Haddocks and they outfitted us so it wasn't bad.  He is a counselor in the Mission Presidency, lives in Gainesville.  

We started at the wildlife center in Crystal River, about 1 1/2 hrs from Gainesville, then a trolley car takes you down to the springs, no overhead electric cables, but it once "belonged" to a trolley.

People pay to snorkel and swim with the manatees. You are not supposed to touch the manatee unless it touches you, but the manatees often swim up close, and you can let them touch you.  Then you can make a one hand/flat-handed touch.  It is actually illegal to touch them with two hands.   

Our Heather, Taylor-Lorum's wife, her parents, Rick & Carol Denos, would love this.  We really liked the looking part and will leave the swimming and snorkeling to them.

You can also take a canoe or larger boat, which, as much as I like to swim, would be my choice.  Here you can see the swimmers, a canoe and the pontoon like boat.

The manatee is a large marine mammal with an egg-shaped head, flippers and flat tail.  The average Florida adult manatee is about 10 feet long and weighs between 800 and 1200 pounds.

 They are also known as sea cows due to their large stature and slow, lolling nature; but they are more closely related to elephants.

 The springs are amazingly clear and a beautiful color 

It is interesting that although the springs are green and lush, the grounds away from the spring are more dry - but that isn't bad, it means no ponds and alligators. 

We received this interesting text one evening from one one set of our Elders:  

Do you know a simple way to get the campfire smell off your clothes?

We had to smile - then called.  It was a trench coat and jacket - both not washable items .. so we told them it would have to be dry-cleaned, but if it wasn't very bad, just hang in an open area and let them air out.  This was the scene when we walked into the institute the next morning.  It worked, wasn't as bad as they thought.  They had finished off an activity with some members by roasting marshmallows and having smores. 

This is kind of fun - we have it in our office at the Institute.  We don't know how to post this so you can see it move - but you can get the idea.  The magnetic field is between the top of the world and the C and you have to get it just right, and it will hang and slightly turn around.  What an amazing world we live in, we can't even fathom all the things that we have here.  What is the scripture - All things denote there is a God.  Alma 30:44

Closing with this great promise from President Hinckley:

and a story:

   A couple of weeks ago a tall, clean-cut, blond and tanned young man walked into church at the Institute.  The Elders welcomed him - as did the YSA.  After sacrament meeting, he told the Elders the story.  His parents were members of the church, lived in SLC, but after a divorce when he was 3 he moved with his mother to Florida where he has grown up.  He has been to church off and on, both with his mother, and when he would visit his dad in Utah but nothing steady.  He has not been blessed or baptized.  This has been a discouraging time for him, things haven't gone as planned and it was a dismal and rainy day.  He was trying to get a picture for his class (he wants to teach some kind of art & photography that they use for therapy or something like that)  Anyway, he was having a hard time getting the picture exactly as he wanted so crouched down, and then saw by his foot a Light The World card that had been dropped.  He brushed off the dirt and mud - read the contact information and decided to come to the Institute for church.  He wants to be taught and baptized.  We pray that will come for him.

Our thoughts and prayers are with ya'all.  

1/7/2018 Continuing on ...

Lots of pictures this time -- probably more interesting than my chatter.  The week seems much more exciting when we live it than when we write about it. 

There are more reasons to go to the Skechers store than just shoes.  These free gumballs are the best ever.  One lady filled her pockets and after tasting them, I see why.

We do love like this tree that is just across from the Institute Building.  There are many old, big, spread-out branch ones throughout the city, but this one is the very best.

 The ant hills are interesting - more oval than round like they are at home .. Not sure why -- any ideas?  Wikipedia says that some species actively sculpt the materials into specific shapes.  Looks like Gainesville Florda has talented ants.

We do enjoy their signs - the road department must have a good sense of humor .. this was at a dead end road in one of the developments.

 They have a Farmer's Market each Saturday - this was back from the first week we were here.  It is only a few miles from our apartment.  Mike always thought a Farmer's Market was inexpensive produce.  However, this is mostly unpesticide grown, probably very good, but far from being inexpensive.  There are a lot of fun shops too, and many booths where people bring their goods - from produce to clothing to jewelry and on and on .. Everyone, those with the goods and those attending are fun and friendly.  

We wish Aaron Michael was here for this booth - many, many different kinds of cheese.

The missionaries use this sometimes when they go on campus.  It does have some pages in it that they can talk about.  Kind of fun - and always brings questions.

The nativity set that Taylor & Heather's Madelyn Marie made.  She did one a couple years ago out of duct tape.  She is quite an artist.

Many of you will know Brent and Dana Wainwright.  They invited us to their home for Christmas Eve dinner.  We enjoyed them and their family and more southern hospitality.

 We see boiled peanuts advertised everywhere, but this is the first time we actually tasted them.  Some of the missionaries really like them, some not.  Everyone should try them.  We are on the fence right now.  They boil them in salted or Cajun flavored water.
          However, we are not yet ready to try deep fried alligator tail bits.  The consensus is that the taste is good, just kind of rubbery in chewing.  Not sure if we will ever weigh in on that one.

This picture for David Stratton. Huge Financial center in Orlando.

We had a Christmas dinner for the missionaries in our zone.  They all do very well - and are fun to be around.  Elder McMullin - the Zone Leader, a talented viola player and Elder Birch who is as tall as our Christmas tree.

 The Sister Training Leaders - Sister Eberhart and Elwell.

 Three of the Elders - Elders Masino, Jengh and Kautai.  Elder Masino said it was fun on campus this last week even if he didn't understand much. They met up with several Chinese students (usually the international students are the only ones left on campus during a holiday) and after a few brief introductions, when Elder Jengh said he was from Taiwan -- the rest of the conversation was in Chinese.  Elder Kautai is Tongan from Texas.

 Our sister missionaries - Sisters Studdert and Beecher. 

 You can see that along with being a great missionary, Elder Masino is also very talented --

Elder Hornfischer's Root Beer over Rocky Road ice cream.
Tune in next week for our big trip to Crystal River to see the Manatees.  It has been unseasonably cold here - the coldest since 1989 - so the manatees come into the springs where the temperature stays about 74 F year round.  It was pretty amazing.

  We are grateful for our testimony of President Monson and are certain he continues to serve where he is.  We are also grateful for the mantle that falls now upon President Nelson, who is much loved in Europe. He was very instrumental in opening Russia for the gospel.  

In May of 1993 he was at a conference in Saratov where he met with church members, and individually blessed each of the children who were in attendance. President Reshetnikov, a very dear friend, posted this on FB of President Nelson holding his daughter, Sasha after he had blessed her.  

When Mike was working on the history of the Church in Saratov, President Reshetnikov, District President when we got to Russia and later sustained as the first Stake President when Saratov became the third stake in Russia, took us to all of the buildings they had met in, twelve since 1993.  The one below, location #2, The House of Teachers, where the Russian Saints met on the top floor from 1993 through 1994, is where President Nelson blessed the children.  

A fun story to close:  Many years ago Art Linkletter (who most of you won't remember) had a TV show called "Kids Say the Darndest Things."  He was interviewing a young LDS boy, probably about eight, and asked him what church he belonged to.  "I'm a Mormon." the boy replied.  "So," asked Art Linkletter, "what would you be if you weren't a Mormon?  With only a slight hesitation the boy answered - "I'd be ashamed."