Our Mission Thanksgiving

So much to be thankful for.....each other, our family, the missionaries, old and new friends, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are so blessed to be serving Him, through serving the missionaries, in the New York South Mission.

This Thanksgiving we celebrated twice.  First at our ward, Rego 1st Ward.  Here are some pictures:

This is bother Nunez and his daughter.  His sweet wife had to work on Thanksgiving. He has been such a blessing to us.  He is from the Dominican Republic and has been in the United States for few years.  His wife served a mission when she was younger and he is a convert.  They tell us they are planning to move to Arizona when we leave.

This young man, KC, is from Ghana.  He told us that the missionaries came to his neighbors home, but he was not home.  It was such a hot day KC invited them over for a drink of water.  Then he noticed their missionary name tags and he thought, "Oh, no.  I don't want them in my house."  It was too late, he could not be rude.  They taught him the gospel for 3 hours.  He excused himself, went upstairs, prayed, and knew the gospel was true.  Since that time he has gone to school at BYU for three years and wants to become a teacher.  Such a delight to visit with him.  He is such a happy young man.

This is a picture of Richard and I having lunch.  The man next to Richard, brother Galloway, is in our ward and for the last few years has planned the Thanksgiving lunch.  Next to him is his new neighbor of 10 days.  Through an interrupter, we learned he is from Russia.  It was so interesting to learn of his country and what brought him to the United States.  He talked about how Russia is crumbling from all the sanctions.  He was well to do in his country,.  He had a car, but no gas.  Groceries were limited. Banks could not do business because they had no money to lend. He sold all he had to come to the United States.  As we had lunch, we taught him some English words like water, fork, spoon, knife, water, etc.  He is an intelligent man and should be able to speak the English language soon so he can then get a job.

In the evening we celebrated our second Thanksgiving.  The senior missionaries and about 8 (jr) missionaries who live close to the mission office had a wonderful meal and enjoyed each others companionship.  The missionaries were so excited to have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  Mashed potatoes instead of rice, rolls with jam, turkey and gravy.....it was so joyous to hear their voices oohing and awing over the dinner.

Here are a few photos:

Elder Smith giving the "thumbs up"

Elder Williams and a Sisters Staker and Mejia 

Elder Johnson with our two Office Elders.  Next to Richard, Elder Powell and on the end Elder Reese.

That's me with Elder Powell.  He loves to tease me.

We weren't able to spend the day with our children, but we did get to talk to most of them on the phone.  So blessed!  We love each one of you so much.