O Remember, Remember!

Monday we drove out to a little cemetery on a hill in Big Oak Flat to honor Memorial Day.  And even though we have no one buried there, it felt good to listen to Roland Elliot play his annual rendition of taps and say a few words.

There are evidently even a couple of civil war soldiers buried in this little mountainside cemetery.  We were happy to have a time to remember once again my dad's sacrifices serving during WWII. 

Well, one of the sweetest experiences of our mission happened a week ago. 
The Pine Cone Singers presented three performances of "Showtime II".  I told Dennis he cleans up nicely!

By the time of the performances, my job as rehearsal pianist had ended, and I got to watch my favorite bass take his place in the thirty voice choir.  I enjoyed the whole experience down front, all three nights.  And it was pretty incredible. 

He cleaned up pretty well, too! 








Here's a panorama of the crowd at the last performance.   They always perform in the Evangelical Free Church, which is the only venue in town that can hold enough people.  It's very nice. 

Here's their 'performance accompanist', Jason, with his girlfriend and his parents.  He comes clear from Stockton to play for them.  He and Dennis have worked together several years.  He's a lovely young man (and a great pianist!).

This is Sandra, a key member of the group.  She's the one now moving back to Idaho to help care for a very tiny granddaughter (2 lb at birth).  Boy, are they going to miss her.  She reads, plays piano, carries the alto section! 

Here's another sweet moment from closing night:  it was Barbara and Paul's fiftieth wedding anniversary!  Yes, she was a child bride.  If you remember, she's also the person responsible for helping us land that 'miracle piano' in our home so I could even consider playing for the group. 

Now I wish I could explain to you what a beautiful, memorable experience came next.   At the cast party that followed, they gave 'tributes' to all the singers who were moving.  When they came to us, the president said the kindest things.  They gave us a beautiful bouquet and a handmade card containing individual messages from choir members. 

But my favorite gift is the signature necklace all ladies in the choir wear.  It has all white pearls, except the one black one in the center... for Dennis.  They had them specially made.   The fact that they wanted me to have one meant they considered me part of 'the family'. 

The rest of the evening was filled with hugs, laughter, and tears.   It was such a moving evening that I didn't take one picture.  Too personal.  It will be ours forever. 

And so, we say good-bye to another great mission experience.  But my great companion also made sure to hand out our home information (on the back of Articles of Faith Cards) to all our friends. 

Oh, and we also just said farewell to a fellow Senior couple, the Spaffords.  Here we were together at the Calaveras County Fair where Fred helped with the Family History booth.    Now they've headed back home to St. George.

And at a farewell dinner some weeks ago, Sister Spafford sincerely said the line you thought only young Elders and Sisters felt:  "This year has truly been the happiest of our entire life." 












And so, our mission days move on.   Sometimes it's helping with a 'Cinco de Mayo' activity at the Youth Center.

Sometimes it's making lunch for our wonderful 'lunch bunch' at the Little House.

And sometimes it's taking a young lady home from church, because she was the only one in her family that got up and got ready to attend.  We told her President Nelson also went to church alone.   She is absolutely golden. 

Well, we are continually blessed with new experiences and opportunities.  And we are so grateful.  We love our Savior, and we love all of you.   Here's to a happy summer for you all!

Serious? May already?

Well, I guess I should know by the beautiful almond trees on our weekly trip down to District meeting in Oakdale.

I love these trees.  And there are just perfect rows extending 'forever' in some areas.  I think California must provide about ninety percent of the world's almond supply!

Well, some sweet things have been happening here lately.  One of the sweetest concerns this young man...who turns out to be a relative of Fred's some eleven generations back!  Huh??  Well, this is briefly how that came to be:

Several weeks ago he came into the youth center with an old, mildewed and battered photo album he had discovered in a water-damaged attic.  He asked Fred if he'd like to see a book 'older than my grandfather'.

As they leafed through the pages, Fred found some names and dates and asked his young friend if he'd like to try to find them on Family Search.  The young man didn't recognize any of the pictures.  So they retired to the computers.

They found the woman's name right away, along with her pictured husband!  And just 'on a lark', Fred decided to hit the button saying 'view your relationship'. And "voila", it showed Fred Meese and the man in the book shared a common eleventh great grandfather!  

Both our searchers were delighted at their discovery!    Fred has also now connected via email with the son of the lady in the album so they can send it to him.  Miracles, miracles.  

Here's another sweet occurrence:

You may remember this man.  We visit he and his mother quite regularly.
He has some pretty significant balance issues from a stroke two years ago.  After our last visit, where he could barely get up from his chair when we left, we talked on the way home:  "What Ron needs is a lifting chair!  But where in the world would we find one around here!" 

Well, the Lord provides.  Elder Meese said, "I'll call Bob Smith.  He seems to know sources for a lot of things."  Bob answered, and said (unbelievably) he was just about to place an ad to sell a lifting chair he had...in perfect condition!

The man at the left (coincidentally) showed up at Bob's just as they were transporting the chair to our car.  And the next day,  another wonderful less active member of the branch agreed to deliver the chair with Fred.  It has been a heaven sent blessing to Ron, and his Mom.

Last week's Youth Center assignment for us was to teach the kids about edible flowers.  So we brought a flat of nasturtiums and pansies.  We also cut some up in a salad, which was not a big seller.  But the treat below went over much better!  hahahaha

The previous week we made 'sky jello with fluffy clouds'.   All month we were honoring mother earth for 'Earth Day'.










Things are going well at the Book Nook on Saturdays.  I get the 'sitting job' in the corner, checking publication dates and pricing books.  I love working with Pat, who along with her husband, spent their childhood in Salt Lake.

Blaine's actually a member, although he hasn't attended since his teenage years.   He has now quit "hiding out" from us as he says and is very enjoyable to visit with in our Core and Balance class.




The Senior Couple up in Murphy's ends their mission at the end of May.  I had to put in this 'exit photo' I took with President and Sister Palmer because it made me chuckle... I took it at the Mexican restaurant where we had the Senior dinner last week, hence the unusual backdrop for missionaries!  hahahaha  They both shared beautiful testimonies with us saying this has been the best year of their lives (even SENIOR missionaries say that!)

Here's the best experience of this past week.  We welcomed Elder and Sister Johnson to our home for the weekend!  Maybe you remember that they served in Groveland before us, living in this home.  About half way through their service, Sister Johnson's cancer returned and they had to return home to the Huntsman Center where she has been in and out of the hospital over 100 days in the past year.

(The photo has Elder and Sister Johnson on the outsides and President Whitmer by Fred)

They said if she could regain her strength, they would love to come back to hug the people they loved...and had to leave so abruptly.  Well, Friday they came back.  She's weak, 60 lbs. lighter, but ready to go and in remission once again.  And they were delightful house guests.  How often do you get to talk at length with the missionaries who preceded you in the work?!    That calls for a Linger Longer after our meetings - which is exactly what happened. 

And so, good-bye for now from all our Spring friends, who have returned on our morning walks!  And by the way, there's no jacket needed this week on our daily morning trips.  It is gorgeous with a capital G, and we're hoping for these perfect temperatures and morning breezes to last several weeks!  (dreaming?)

Anyway, we send our love from beautiful Groveland.  The gospel is true and we are happy to minister in this part of the vineyard.