Small and Simple Things

In case I've misled anyone, I want to show you that Rensselaer is not just a sleepy farm town.  We have big business as well.  There's Walmart.  A necessity for every city.  And other businesses too.

There's Ron's Barber Shop.  He also runs the auction shop.  He and Craig are on a first name basis.

 Oh yeah, doesn't every city have a roller rink?  OK, we've not been inside yet, but we see people lined up on Friday nights.

And then there is the John Deere dealership just down the road a piece.  I can't begin to imagine how much these tractors cost.  I think a lot of small farmers rent them.  

I don't know what they do here, but it is by far the largest building in town.

This building is right across the street from the last.  It is ConAgra (I think I spelled it  correctly) and it obviously has something to do with agriculture.  One of our ward members works here.  All I know for sure is they work 24-7.

As is to be expected, we have a lot of silo type structures in and around town.  This one is huge.  For the first week, we used this as our "landmark" to help us find our way home.

The streets in Rensselaer are laid out in a unique pattern.  Picture a large box with a smaller box cut out of the center.  The streets in the large box run directly east/west and north/south.  The streets in the small box (the city center) run diagonally like giant X's.  The main highway (231) runs north and south, but as it approaches the center of the city, it slants to the south west across the center of town and then turns south again.  The main east/west road (114) enters the city from the west, slants southeast, then continues west again.  So where they cross, neither road is going the direction you think it should be going.  Sheesh.  Wherever we were, we would just look for the silo to find the north part of town.

As with most towns, some people just cannot have enough lawn decorations.

As we approach "spring cleaning week" which as everyone knows is the first week of May, a lot of people are cleaning up their yards in preparation for planting.  They simply gather the dead plants and whatever else they may want to get rid of and burn them.

Yep, right in the middle of the backyard.  It smells really good.  Like campfires.  California and their silly fire laws.

All over you will see these little ponds.  Please excuse my finger in the corner.  I'm not sure how they are fed, but they never seem to dry up.  At least they haven't seemed to diminish in the 4 weeks we've been here.  And do they have a purpose I wonder.  There are not animals to graze (well, maybe except the deer that are wild and live everywhere we've heard, but we've yet to see any).

Craig FINALLY talked to the man in our small branch who has a tractor.  He was told that they don't plant until May.  Also, they don't till the soil.  Evidently, they don't have to.  Only the north east part of the county tills the soil because there is more clay content or some such thing.

We popped in for a visit, but they were not home.  He promised Craig he would call and let Craig ride in the tractor.

We do, actually, sometimes do missionary work.  We visited with Sister Shelton who has not been to church in a while.  We invited her to come to the Relief Society luncheon.  SHE CAME!!!  There were about 10 sisters there.  We all laughed and had a wonderful time.  Now if we can just get her to church.  All she needs to do is get up, get her daughter ready, and drive 40 minutes to church by 9 AM.  Piece of cake.

We have been several times to help Brother Wagner pack up his house to move.  Never once have we mentioned church.  Then last week, as he and Craig were moving boxes, he said, "I know I need to come back to church.  I'm going to try to get there on May 4th."  Out of the blue!!!!  In our struggling branch, even one more person is a lot.  This Sunday, we are having a pot luck lunch after the meeting.  We're going to give him a food assignment (he loves to cook) and hope he shows up.  Then we are going to invite Sister Shelton and tell her she can eat for free.  Heh heh heh.  If they both come (and no one is holding their breath here) it will be wonderful!!!

So far, we have been tornado safe.
We keep plugging away.

Rensselaer

I wanted to show you around my town.

We have a river.  Craig wants to fish in it.  We understand there ARE fish, but we haven't seen anyone with a pole yet.

This is pretty typical of the streets.  These houses are 70 - 80 years old.  Some of the ones we've seen have wiring so old they would probably be condemned in California.  

This is the house right across the street from the picture above.  A brick house with a wrought iron fence.  But if you could see close up, you would see it, too, is pretty old.

A lot of streets have these back alleys.

This wall and the one in the picture above is what Craig has been working on.  The house belongs to Brian, a friend of our next door neighbor.  He's been wanting to finish this wall in the alley for three years.  Now they  just have to cap it.

Most houses do not have a fence around them.  No one steals their stuff, and they don't mind that the world watches them BBQ.

The first signs of Spring.  Finally.

This is the local ice cream store.  There is ALWAYS a line.  The river runs right behind it.  Across the street is a small park with a statue.

Next to the statue is a swing.

We bought ice cream, walked to the park, and sat on the swing.  The foot pedal allows you to keep the swing swinging without having to pump your feet or brush the ground.  

More sitting on the RR tracks.

Here are some things you only see in small towns.

 Yep

We small town folk just pull right up to the door.

This is Brother Rodriguez.  He is a member but his family is not.  He only speaks Spanish.

We went over to help them paint.  Their kids are awesome.  Wish we could get them to church.

Their mom works 12 hour shifts at some place in town where her job is to pick up pieces of pipe (that are cut?  manufactured?) and tie them into bundles.  She works 5 AM to 6 PM.  She doesn't speak English either.  She is having surgery this week.  She has a tumor in her stomach (not sure if it actually in her stomach, but lower abdomen).  She is the sole provider and is very worried about missing work while she heals.  I gave the kids my phone number and told them I would tutor them for free.  Hopefully they will call me.

I wish we could say that we have had some very spiritual and/or wonderful missionary experiences.  Mostly, we visit, and reach out, and paint, and help people move, and build brick walls, and try to build relationships.

Two experiences of note:

Went to see Kelly Shelton.  Her husband restores old cars (instant bond with Craig).  She wants to come back to church but is ashamed of the many things she has done wrong.  Aren't we all.  She cried when I hugged her good-bye.  I'm taking her a Primary CD for her daughter, and a talk by President Uchtdorf, "Come, Join With Us."  

I passed a woman slowly carrying groceries up her walk.  I jumped out of my car to help her.  I told here we were here on a mission for our church.  She asked which church.  I told her the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I said some people call us Mormons.  Had she heard of us?  She answered Yes in a not-very-nice voice.  I said, well, yes, most people have heard of us and some in not a nice way.  I thanked her for letting me serve her and she asked if she could hug me.  I didn't do any preaching.  BUT, I KNOW WHERE SHE LIVES!!! BWAWAHAHAH

The sisters are having a meeting with a local minister on Friday.  They want us to come because they are not sure how it will go.  This should be interesting.

For my non-member friends.  You may be interested to know that the church gains nothing by having people join.  We do NOT have a paid clergy.  Not one penny of tithing paid by the members goes into anyone's pocket.  The only thing we gain is joy, and the blessings of their service.  Because there is no paid clergy, the members must do all the jobs.  Everything from cleaning the building, teaching Sunday School, being Scoutmaster, printing the programs, visiting the sick, taking meals into those who are in need, EVERYTHING is done by the members.  We need all the help we can get!!!  LOL

So we just keep plugging along.

Sisters and Elders

We went to our first Zone Conference.  For those who may be new to this whole missionary thing, let me explain.  We are in the Illinois, Chicago Mission.  Each mission is divided up into zones.  I'm not SURE, but I think in our mission there are four zones relating to the four Stakes or four church geographical areas in the mission.  We are in the Valparaiso Stake.  I don't think our zone has a name, but it covers the area of the Valparaiso Stake.  Here we are:

 Aren't we a good looking group?  Can you spot Craig and I?  We are standing on the the floor, on the left side.  Craig is standing right next to the Mission President (President Woodbury).  Sister Woodbury is in the yellow shirt, kneeling on the floor.  Craig and I are the only senior missionaries in this zone.  There are 34 other missionaries in the zone, including a "Zone Leader".  The young man in the gray suit standing amid all the sisters and the tall guy behind him are the Zone Leaders.  They are awesome!  About 1/2 of this group are Spanish Speaking, and we even have one Russian speaker.

Each zone is divided into districts of 8 - 10 missionaries.  Each district has a District Leader.  Although we are invited to district meetings, we haven't been yet.  It's not mandatory and it's about an hour away.  Each "companionship" meets with the District each week and then all the Districts meet with the Zone and the President each month.  It's all very organized.

In our little city of Rensselaer, we have had six missionaries:

The two on the left are English speaking, the two in the middle are Spanish Speaking, and the two on the right have no idea what they are saying half of the time.  As of tomorrow, the sister in the stripes and the sister in red are leaving.  We will be left with ONE English speaker, ONE Spanish speaker, and the two old guys.  Every Wednesday, the sisters give Spanish lessons.  Craig has finally mastered how to say, What is your name.  Next thing you know, he'll be teaching in Spanish.

Here are the four sisters together with our Branch President and his wife.  We had dinner at their home on Sunday.  Sister Portwood cooked a full on Easter dinner:  turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, gravy, corn, fresh green beans, salad, rolls.  Cheesecake for dessert.  Oh my!!

So, what have we been doing?

I think I've used 15 pounds of flour in the last three weeks.  This batch was for a baptism, and for some families we will be visiting tomorrow.

Last weekend, we took three friends to see "Grease" at the local college:  St. Joseph's College.  Their claim to fame is that the football scenes of "Brian's Song" were filmed there.  That was a movie from the 70's?  maybe?

You just buy tickets at the door.  No reserved seating.  $5 a seat.  Not bad for a live production.

The couple behind us had a daughter in the show.  She played Cha Cha.  We chatted at intermission.  You can also see that the theater was full.  We were on the second row.

Here are our friends.  Right next to Craig is Lynn (she is the property manager here at the apartments).  Then Stacy, our neighbor, and her boyfriend, Brian.  It was a fun night.

We had a Relief Society social last week.  Our Relief Society President worked hard to make things nice for the sisters.

You can see that the tables were set up in the same room where we have Sacrament Meeting.  There is no cultural hall.

The sad part was that only 8 sisters came and one of those was from the stake.  Even so, it was a nice night.

We have meetings set up for tomorrow with about four families that live in Wheatfield (about 30 minutes away.  So we just keep doing what we're doing and hope we can help someone.
Oh yeah, tractors are out in force and Craig is looking forward to his first tractor drive.  Should be this week!!!!

Is It Spring Yet?

Ever since we arrived in Indiana, everywhere you look is brown.  Fields are stubble, waiting to be plowed.

Like this.

Then, randomly, we were driving yesterday and we saw this:

Woo Hoo!!!  We were so excited, we took the picture.  Still not sure if the field is planted, growing wild, or just full of weeds.  BUT, it's not brown and that is a welcome sight.

Although a lot of the houses are old (we're talking 100 years old), randomly we find some really nice homes?

Case in point.  Well kept, nice yard.  When we stopped to take the picture from across the road, however, a very big German Shepherd came out to greet us and he was not happy.  That happens a lot here.  The yards around most country houses are huge.  Lots of room for gardens, swing sets, toys, etc.

We also saw this cool mail box.  So cute.  

Notice the road.  This is a pretty good road.  No stripe, but paved.

Relatives????

Craig has found a member who will let him drive the tractor.  Most of the big tractors have GPS tracking, so the lines they make are really, really straight.  He's pretty excited and wants to carry around his baseball cap and ipod so he'll be prepared in case there is a drive-by tractor occasion.

We continue to meet the members, and have only had one door slammed in our face, one family who immediately called the Branch President to complain about our coming to her home, and one lady who would not talk to us but let us visit with her son who told us all about raising pigs.  We later found out that that same son turned the dogs loose on the last couple that went there and threatened to shoot them with the shotgun.  I guess things like that are allowed in the country.

The theme of our last Girl's Camp was "I Can Do Hard Things."  I keep repeating that to myself each day.

We have zone meeting tomorrow at the stake center.  Oh yeah, the stake center is an hour and 15 minutes away.  Luckily we don't have to be there until 9.  The baptism on Saturday is at the nearest chapel, which is only 50 minutes away.  Good thing, huh?

We are having a Relief Society social on Wednesday.  We set up two (yes that is 2) tables.  We have 9 people signed up to come.  It will be a small, but fun group of sisters.  With only 8 active men (or there abouts) their turns in the bishopric come up more than once.  The Relief Society President was telling me that in addition to that calling, she was teaching seminary, playing the piano in Sacrament meeting, and teaching cub scouts.  Yep, they are REAL women here.

Meeting People

Here is a picture of the branch

First of all, notice that it is Jasper county.  Yeah, don't take that too seriously.  We also include several adjoining counties.  The two yellow stickies in the center indicate Rensselaer.

The name, by the way, is from Killaen van Rensselaer, the original landowner of a large region of New Netherland.  Back to the map.  You may notice a dark line on the stickies.  Those are names that have been highlighted.  Specifically, those are names that the Branch President has asked us to focus on.  Right.  Keep in mind that each yellow sticky is an average of 25 - 30 miles away from the center of the map.  The reason the stickies are on the edge of the map is that the map doesn't continue out far enough for me to place them where they actually go.  Each day, we choose a direction.  Monday, we went to Lake Village in the upper northwest corner of the map.  We contacted two members and stayed for about 45 minutes at each home.  (Neither of them were on the President's list, but both are inactive and we were heading up that way anyway.)

Here is a view of our apartment.  (Random insert)

Tuesday, we headed directly west.  We had three families on our list.  We couldn't find one.  We spoke for 30 seconds with another as she was heading out, but she invited us back and was very nice.  The third sister never came to the door.  We left cookies and note.  She called back to thank us and explained she was sick.  Her husband is not a member.  BUT, he has a really, really big tractor and Craig is dying to ride on it.  She thought that could be worked out and invited us back next week when she is feeling better.

We're having dinner at the Stake President's house on Friday (he is in our branch).  They are up in the northeast corner - on fast time.  We will make our visits in that area as we travel up that way.  I still have cookies, so we may head south today and make some visits, dropping off cookies along the way ------- like Hansel and Gretel.  

This is the building where we meet.  It's actually very nice inside.  There were 12 sisters in Relief Society.  The RS President conducts, plays the piano, and gives the lesson.  The Primary chorister is also the YW president.  She does primary the second hour and then does YW third hour.  She is amazing.  She lives at the very top of the map.  She and her husband were the first to hold sacrament meeting in their home and wait for the branch to be organized.  

We have heard great things about the former missionary couples in the area.  I'm very nervous about having to live up to their example.  I feel very inadequate.  Everyone is counting on us.  I know that of all the couples at the MTC, the Lord designated that we would be the ones to come.  That must mean something.  We must let Him guide us.  I plead for that each day.