This past week was full of projects that needed to be completed. I was madly pushing myself to finish quilts to gift to the departing missionary couples. Three couples are finishing their six month temple missions. I wanted to make something special for them to remember Palmyra. After all was said and done, I made three table runners with a floral fabric that depicts seasons and I called them, The Flowers of Palmyra”.

As well, I needed to finish a baby quilt to gift to my friend, Wanda, who is soon to be receiving her first grandson. Her daughter is due in 5 weeks and we’re praying that all goes well. Our local quilt shop in Palymra has a quilting service, so I had them quilt the baby quilt and what I call, “Penny’s Big Girl Quilt”.

I quilted the table runners myself and thought that I would mark the grid that I wanted for quilting. Well, that took way too long for my liking so I sat for a couple of minutes and a thought came to me. I have painter’s tape in my art supplies and decided to try marking the lines with it. That went so well, that I carried on with that method. I had premade the binding for all the projects but realized that I needed fabric to make the quilt labels. Then I was running out of white thread and Jenn (shop owner) graciously lent me a spool of white thread so that I could finish quilting the runners. She has been so delightful to work with!

It took me awhile to think about the coming week where our friends return to their homes because I was so busy with the task at hand. I was suddenly hit with sadness realizing that my friends won’t be at the temple working alongside us any more. There will be a slight adjustment in the scheduling for our shifts and we will be working with Rick and Tonya Gurr as well as Glen and Bev Parker.

The temple president’s house has a large room in the basement that they offered to us temple missionaries to have our last get-together in. Charlie made the chili con carne, I made a 7-Layer salad and the Stevens’ brought dessert. There was also cornbread and rolls provided by Parkers and Mexican layered dip made by Kinnersleys. Gurr’s looked after the drinks. We had a great time and after the temple president and his wife finished their meeting, they came down to join us.

The funny thing that happened was when Dan accidently spilled a drink (we’re on carpet), Eileen jumped up and got a tote that had rags and carpet cleaner in it. She came prepared!! Eileen has a cute saying about, “When I was domestic…”, well, her domestic side definitely rose to the surface.

We took photos, cleaned up, put the tables and chairs away, and were off for the night. I learned that Glen Parker is quite knowledgeable about genealogy. He did some amazing things while they were on their mission in Denmark. Neither him or Bev speak Danish but they found great information to fill in the blanks and correct a lot of the work.

On Saturday, there was a Halloween Trick or Treat event in the afternoon going down Main Street of Palmyra, and the businesses were handing out candy. It made it tricky for parking when I went to pick up Penny’s quilt. The kids seem to be having fun though; it was about 10 C. Another thing that I found funny was that it was warmer in Alberta than here in New York.

Apple harvest has finished and we are getting to try varieties of apples that are amazing. We have been recommended to look for different varieties. There is one I tried that was spicy and sweet, wow, it was delicious. It may have been a “SnapDragon”. Erik went to help the Wilson’s with some power washing as they are preparing to leave for their mission in eastern Europe. They still have apple trees on their acreage as well as ten acres that they lease out (full of apple trees). Erik brought home a bag of apples for us and they have been delightful.

In our little Branch we have a couple who were married on Saturday. The Branch put on a wonderful celebration for them as well as gorgeous photos on the beach at Lake Ontario. Then on Sunday, we had Compartir and the cultural hall was decorated for them as a reception. The thing I have learned about Latinos is that they love to decorate for any party or occasion. The decorations are always great and festive. I had signed up to bring a dessert and I made those squares that I posted last week. They turned out well according to the members of the Branch. It was great to give them away to missionaries as well. More contraband is gone from my household, haha!

Sunday evening, the temple missionaries were invited to attend a devotional with the Historic Site missionaries and a member of the Presiding Bishopric, Elder Budge. His wife is orginally from Ithaca, NY and she was excited to come along on this trip. We met in the newly renovated Hill Cumorah Visitor’s Centre in the theatre room. The last eight sister missionaries will be leaving to their new assignments this week and there were tears shed during their last song. Wanda turned to me and said, “Oh, oh, they’re done!” They are all going to different areas in the USA for the remainder of their missions.

Elder Budge explained the role of the Presiding Bishopric and what they oversee. The Presiding Bishopric is a council of three men who work under the direction of the First Presidency. They manage such matters as humanitarian aid, welfare programs, tithing and fast offerings, physical facilities, and the organization of membership records, among others. They also travel frequently to minister to Church members around the world. He talked about meeting with the First Presidency weekly and trying to resolve their issues with the temporal things that the church is experiencing. The First Presidency says, “If you have an issue, come with some solutions so that we can discuss them.” Oh, to be a fly on the wall! He did open the floor up to questions and my hand shot right up. I wanted to know where the two new missions are going to be in Canada. He couldn’t remember because there was 55 new missions announced. Well, I learned that the Halifax Mission is getting resurrected as well as a new mission in Toronto.

One of my favorite couples, the Cruz’s have received a job promotion with the Facilities Managment for the church. They just moved here 9 months ago and are now heading to Florida. They are orginally from Brazil and are what I call, “True and Faithful Servants”, full of honor and a desire to serve the Lord. We will really miss them!

So there you have it, many of us are finishing up assignments and moving on. We’re finishing up projects so that we can move along. I have my next baby quilt to start because the baby is due in a week. It’s progress and makes me think about what’s next for us. We still look at real estate listings trying to find something but then we also look at the next mission opportunities available.

I can attest to this because most times I am amazed at how I accomplish things. Knowing that the Lord helps me as well as sending others to help keeps me humble and full of gratitude. These days, I feel like we need all the help we can get and because He is most powerful, I willingly take His hand.

Choose your goals and be a finisher! Your faith will grow not by chance but by choice.

Enjoy your week, stay well and use your heavenly angels to help you along. Te amo!