Christmas Greetings and other stuff!

 I know this is an opening shock to my update but it's our way of saying hello to each of you and wishing you a wonderful Christmas. I realize it has been over a month since my last blog update but it took me awhile to accumulate some pictures for you all and we have also been very busy around here. You realize serving a mission is not all bon-bons and naps. Naps? What the heck are those. Oh yeah, we get one about once a week. They are actually not called naps they are called crashing after work one night and stalling the preparation of dinner with our eyes closed.

 In November we were able to get permission from our Mission President to travel to Anna's to help out for a week after the arrival of their new baby. It's not hard to get permission but they don't encourage it very often as we have a different purpose for these 18 months. I don't actually think help is the right word as that would imply a bit of difficulty. We really suffered as you can tell from the above picture. It was a wonderful week and we loved every minute of it. It was great to be with little Grayson, Adeline, Eli, and Anna and Stratton in North Carolina.

 Introducing Eli Everett Allen. He is a wonder and we love him already!

 We are up early each day and since the Martin Harris house faces east we are blessed with beautiful sunrises most every morning as we depart for work. I just had to get a picture of it this morning. I keep the camera in my pocket much to Elder Nagel's dismay as I am often shouting at him to pull over so I can get a picture of some such thing or another. Actually, he makes sure I have the camera just in case we see something cool. We will probably get ourselves killed one day, but we will have great pictures!

 This was one such day for getting killed. I am fascinated with the farms here. I have such respect for farmers and all the work it takes to provide us all with food. We just had to stop and record the harvesting of this corn crop. This was taken by the field in front of the Branch we attend in Hornell.

 Sister Frost, one of the other FM employees and I were assigned to decorate the sites for Christmas this year. Now let me just start with telling you I usually drag my feet just doing my own so decorating three sites was not on my wish list for the day. Duty calls though so we all lugged and tugged boxes and trees and more from yonder attics and basements. Needless to say it was an exhausting day but I have to admit quite satisfying as well. The above photo is from the Grandin building as is the picture below with the Nativity in the window.

 When I was setting up this Nativity I was crawling around on the floor and at one point took a little rest sitting on the floor. I was looking at the original floor boards with the square nail heads and just sat pondering the people that walked these floors. As some of you know the Grandin building is where the first 5000 copies of the Book Of Mormon were published. I love this building. To think that Joseph, Hyrum, Oliver, Martin,  maybe Lucy, Joseph Sr. and others walked here really touched my heart and made me so grateful I was sitting there. Felt for a moment like a time traveler. I became grateful for the assignment that brought me there that day.

 This tree is in the Welcome Center to the Joseph Smith farm.

 I loved this nativity. It was part cloth part ceramic and is very beautiful. especially the camel.

 This tree is at the Visitors Center to the Hill Cumorah. One of the Senior Sister site missionaries is sitting next to it. She is Sister Miller. When we travel around to the different sites there is always a senior couple there. We love seeing them and visiting with them for a few minutes. They are all so nice and fun to be with.

 I bet Joseph and Mary wish they could have traveled like this to Bethlehem. Bill had the job of working with other FM employees and Elder Frost to set up the two large nativity sets that are at the Visitors center and the Temple. I guess they were very heavy and it took a bunch of the guys to accomplish the job. Bill had the dubious job of carrying the back end of the donkey,,mmmmm boy could I make a few comments on that one.....

 Elder Frost, Elder Nagel, Derek, Geoffrey, Mary Joseph and baby Jesus, and Rick. (can't forget the donkey and sheep)

 On the odd jobs list. There was a bunch of art work at the Toomey barns that had to be shipped back to Salt Lake City. Sister Frost and I inventoried it all and the guys had to crate it up. This sculpture was so heavy it took a fork lift to get it in place.

 The above beams are the floor beams in the basement of the Joseph Smith frame house. As you can see there is a lot of mold growing on them which needed to come off. Enter Elder and Sister Nagel. We had to wash all the beams with Clorox and water. It was a creepy job with all the cob webs (not your kind of job Sarah) and dust and who knows what else. It took us about one and a half hours to do the job and as you can tell by Bill's expression was not a pleasant one. The one solace is that working there reminded me of the knowledge that Alvin Smith helped build this house. I liked thinking about that.

 Frame house second story.

 Lathe work and plaster work on the second story.

 While we were at the frame house, after we finished the basement we decided to check out the second story. It is closed to the tours and the door is screwed shut. We had had a report of a light being left on up there so used that as an excuse to go investigate. I love the construction of these historical homes. I marvel at what it took to construct them with no power tools. The pioneers were amazing. Then to again think of the actual people who built this house just makes it extra special to see.

 Now this was one of my favorite adventures to date. At the Palmyra stake center there is a beautiful pipe organ. The pipes are all up above the rostrum. It is a beautiful building. One day when we were at the Stake center for a meeting, as I was sitting there in between speakers I found myself wondering how people get up there to work on the organ parts? I decided that the next time we had a work order over there I would check it out. After all, we do have the keys to the kingdom so what the heck!?

 There are three locked doors that finally give access. The first one is right by the rostrum. It leads to a long hallway that runs the width of the building. Then there is another door at one end of that hall. We opened it to see a small closet like space with a ladder attached to the wall. It leads up to a small landing and another small door. Inside these pictures are what you see. It was sooooo neat. The picture of Bill below shows him climbing the ladder up to the platform. If you look real close to the picture above you can see Bill's hand waving between the big pipes. I was standing down on the rostrum. There are tons of these pipes and each one has this allen wrench thing on them I assume for tuning them. Can you imagine that job? We didn't dare touch a single thing as I would guess we would get a one way ticket home but it was so cool to see it all. Imagine what it looks like at the Tabernacle?

 You can just see the little door leading to the pipes. We were so glad we had the camera.... and the keys!

 We had our work Christmas luncheon yesterday. It was really nice. Bill and I went into Rochester to the Dinosaur BBQ to pick up the feast. We all had a nice lunch together then had a safety meeting afterwards that is required each year. As you can see by our above antics, we probably needed it.

 Sister Frost decorated the table for us. This is where we have our daily morning meeting before we are off to complete work orders.

 You know you are true missionaries when you break out the Kraft Mac and cheese for dinner. It was one of those days. I am grateful that I have a wonderful husband who will eat most anything and not complain. It actually tasted pretty good. Threw in some applesauce just to quell my conscience.

And finally, our little Christmas tree at our apartment. It is about 12" tall and we made the little gold star on top at the wood shop. I strung popcorn last night and voila! our lovely little tree. It's real and both Sis. Frost and I plan to try and plant them somewhere around here. We may have to keep it alive until spring but we will see.
What a blessing it is to be here. We are so grateful. To be serving at the very place where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove is a joy beyond expression. We hope all of you rediscover the joy of the season as we celebrate Christ's birth. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and thank you all for your love, prayers, letters, and support as we continue on this wonderful journey.  Much love, Elder and Sister Nagel

It's beginning to look a lot like....

 We went shopping with the Frosts for winter gear. No we did not purchase this but it was tempting.

 On our way to Hornell we spotted a wonderful sign. Who knew?

 This was a shock to our system. On our way to Hornell this past Sunday we kept passing cars with lots of snow on them. Bill kept saying, "where are they coming from?"  The answer was forth coming as the closer we got to Hornell this is what we saw.

 It was really beautiful. A real winter wonderland. Does not bode well for the coming months though.

 You just never know what you will be doing around here. Apparently a deer got hit by a car near the Smith farm and ran into the back yard of one of the missionary homes. We were charged with picking it up and taking it to the woods. We didn't know how big it would be so 3 of us went.

 I got the drag it into the pickup duty with the help of Elder Frost. Bill was the photographer. Now how did I manage that?  It was a small doe. We took her to a nice wooded area behind the Sacred Grove.

 All around our house there are fields and fields of soybeans. We have wondered when they were going to finally cut it down. Well today was the day. We happened to be home to see the big combine cut the soybeans, then load them into the waiting semi.

 All the stuff in the back is the stalks and bean casings being chopped up and left on the ground.
The fields are now bare again. It looks good though.

 Then on the way back from watching the combine Bill spotted a tug and barge travelling down the canal. I left him off on a bridge while he took some photos then swung back around and picked him up.

 On Tuesday 4th, I got a chance to do some fishing in the pond that is behind all our work buildings. It is about a 1-2 acre pond. My brother leant me a pole and a lure and I cast away. I caught 3 nice little bass and thought about Ricky the whole time. I kept remembering how he taught me to fish without a bobber. And voila, I did what he told me and got 3.  Here is a picture of one of them. Notice I took it real close so it would look real big. In actuality it was about a pound I guess and about 11" long.

Here's two I put a bucket so I could show Bill. It was so fun and very relaxing even though I only fished for about an hour. Hopefully I will get a chance again but it's getting colder fast so I'm not so sure. I let them go. Hopefully I will catch them again in the spring and they will be lots bigger.

Around the world in 80 days anyone?

 Last Monday we were at a house returning some equipment when I looked around and spotted this hot air balloon. First of all, I LOVE hot air balloons. They have always fascinated me and I just love seeing them. One of the things on my bucket list is to go for a ride in one. You can imagine how excited I was. Look at those beautiful trees too!

 It seemed to be coming in for a landing what I estimated was the next country road over from where we were. I told Bill, "Quick, lets go over to Yellow Mills road and see if it landed there". It was probably about 2 miles to get over there so I told him to "hit it". This was pretty early in the morning. About 8am or a little after.

 We zoomed over there and low and behold a picture of my dreams. The balloon landed in a large grass yard of a big county house. I wondered what the land owners thought if they even saw it.

 We watched them take the balloon down. It only took about 10 minutes or less to go from the top picture to the bottom one. Isn't it pretty?  What a perfect way to start the week. A good omen for sure!

 They packed it up in a small uhaul type trailer. So fun to see.

 Got some spooky mail this week from Amy, Will and Tyler. I was so happy as my refrigerator was bare (both inside and out). Just love all my pictures. Made me happy!

 This past weekend we were invited to attend a Senior Missionary retreat out at the Seneca Lake Girls Camp. We began Friday at 1pm and it lasted until Saturday 3pm. What a beautiful setting this is. The camp is beautifully set on Seneca Lake. I guess the church owns about 200 acres here. Some is wooded and some fields that a farmer rents. There were a bunch of golf carts (you know how I love those) and we took them all over the camp. This picture was taken from the one I was riding in looking back at the other carts.

 The dock on Seneca Lake. It was a beautiful 2 days albeit very windy a bit chilly.

 We got to stay in our own bunk house all by ourselves. WE had the pick of bunks 16 in all.

 A personalized bunk house.

 They even gave us a goody basket consisting of some root beer and chocolates.

 This is for you Gary Futral, I tried the biscuits and gravy....not a fan....but not too bad either. Thought of you! We had a wonderful time getting to know all the other MLS, FM and Office missionaries. They are scattered all over western NY and it was a fun get together. We had several speakers, some get to know you activities and games and great food. I guess they do this twice a year so we will look forward to the next one for sure. The only down side was that at 4am I had to go to the bathroom and that required a trip to the restroom ranch a little ways away. No boogie men got me so I guess it was ok.

 Just another beautiful tree I couldn't resist taking a picture of.

 While we were at the camp our Mission President pulled us aside and told us we were being transferred. We were attending the Rochester 4th ward on Sundays but he has changed us to the Hornell Branch. It is in outer Mongolia. Took us 1 1/2 hours to get there. It was a beautiful drive along Canandaigua lake, through Naples, Past a little town called Atlanta (of all things) and we drove forever on and managed to find it. This is the building.

 This is the view in front of the building. Just forests and fields forever. It was a wonderful little branch and the people were very sweet and welcoming. We will love being there on Sundays and some Saturdays. The winter drive should be hair raising so I will probably return bald. We decided we better carry an emergency kit with us as all the roads are very rural and endless.

 Some of the scenes along the way were amazing. The fall color is nearly gone but enough is holding on to still make you love the trip.

 Tons of vineyards along the way. The leaves are turning so the rows were pretty colors and the grapes looked like they would burst on the vine.

 This is Canandaigua Lake along the road we were on.

 More color.

 More lake and color.

 More grapes.

 The rows of grape vines. It was all so awe inspiring to see.

 Another beautiful sun RISE. Yep it's 7am in the morning and we are seeing way too many of these. Just kidding, never gets old to start your day off like this.

 Not far from here we passed a farm with these llamas....

 And two Yaks! This one posed for the camera. What the heck do people do with Yaks is what I want to know!

 Then a little further was a field of sunflowers. Now this has got to make you happy!

Sunny side up!  It was sure pretty!  Hope you all like the photos. We love you all and hope you have a great week. I'll keep my camera in my pocket, you just never know what you'll find around here.