We have had a wonderful couple of weeks.  We have visited the families of deployed soldiers.,  So tough on families but we recognize the need they have to have consistent visits.  Last Sunday night we were in our apartment and done for the day when we felt impressed to visit another family.  When we got there she was so appreciative that we would take the time to check on her.  She was having one of those "tough days".  We are very fortunate to be here and love the opportunity.

Last Friday we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial near Sharon, VT.  (Joseph's birthplace) What a beautiful and reverent place.  The following pictures show a little about the place.

Sign by the road leading up to the monument.

Road leading into the site.  Real reverent feel as you enter.  When you get closer you can here soft Church music.

Old wagon road from Boston to Montreal.

Old stone bridge along the Boston Montreal road. Built before Smith's arrived in 1804.

You can see old wagon wheel impressions.

Monument to Joseph.  Total weight about 60 tons.  Erected in 1905.

The granite shaft is one of the largest in the world.  The story of how they got it here is so incredible.

Monument with new rock wall   We are standing at the Visitors Center looking toward the monument.

District Meeting

Every Tuesday we meet in District meeting with 6 Elders and 4 Sisters.  Mom takes her new (very old) sewing machine each week to repair pants etc.  This coming Thursday July 2 we will go to Utica to meet the new Mission President. (Pres Rodgers from St. George)

My Featherweight Singer sewing machine has been really used.  So have my needles and threads been used a lot in hemming pants and sewing on buttons. Family please make certain your children know how to sew on a button.

Good group of missionaries.  Many will be transferred this next week because of an influx of new Missionaries.  Many of them will now become  trainers ect.

Snacking on Mom's bean dip.  It is Aunt Teresa's recipe and it is LOVED  by one and all.

Quick trip to Maine

After visiting the Joseph Smith site we took a quick trip to Maine and enjoyed a terrific lobster dinner.  Our Mission President is always saying that he wants the Couples to take advantage of being here and to enjoy it.  He also said "Go now - I don't know what the rules will be with the new Mission President.  We had a marvelous time!!!

Diane has always wanted to go to Maine and what a wonderful decision it was to go there!

Atlantic Ocean in background  The handsome man in the front you all recognize! 

My favorite.  You can see the "Nubble light house" behind mom

A two lobster dinner for $28.00 It came with baked potato, and vegetable.

The taste was incredible.  Wow do we want to back for dinner!!!!  It only took about 6 to 7 hours to get to Maine.  It was so fun to just be a tourist and enjoy the trip!

Lobster and Steamers dinner.  The food was so good I may never be able to eat lobster in Idaho again.  The steamers were new to us.  Steamers are a "long neck clam".  You open them up then peal off a black part then you dip them in the water solution to wash off the grit and then dip them in the butter then enjoy.  This meal was $30.00.   It also came with the best clam chowder in the whole wide world.

Joseph Smith Memorial

We had the chance last week to visit the Joseph Smith Memorial near Sharon, VT.  Some of the pictures are shown here,  It is a really nice and reverent place.  Such a good feeling.

Sign on main road 

Monument - total weight 60+ tons.  Erected in 1905.

Old wagon road from Boston to Montreal

Stone bridge on old wagon road to Montreal.  Built prior to 1805.

Monument with new rock wall.

Update

It has been a good couple of weeks.  We visited with families and have enjoyed the opportunity to be of help to them.  Our temple prep class is done and one couple attended the temple 2 weeks ago.  We have made some really good friends.  Mom met a lady who has been here for over 10 years and told Mom that she is the 1st friend she has had in all that time.  Mom makes such a wonderful difference here.  This week we helped a young man who was here playing semi-pro baseball for a New York team. He started to get a pain in his arm and it turned out to be a blood clot so he spent 5 days in the hospital.  His baseball career is over for this summer and he went back to Arizona hoping to return next year. We are happy to be here and greatful for the experience.

Spent Monday  with Pres and Sister Wirthlin and 4 other senior couples in Massena NY.  Some of the pictures are below.  They show an 870 foot ship entering and going through the Eisenhower Lock.  It was built in 1959 in a joint US/Canada venture.

Ship in the distance entering the lock.

The lock when full is 47' higher than the river below

Ship is carrying tons of salt going to Quebec. 

Ship droping to the river level..  Drops in 7 minutes.

One of the handsome missionaries.

Ship on the downstream side of the lock.  The best missionary in the world is shown in the blue blouse.

Saturday 13 Jun 2015 we had a YSA activity at Bishop Beuttenmuller's house.  Had 10 show up which is terrific for here.  Three that hadn't been out to include 1 non-member.  Also had a new soldier show up to church today.

YSA group with Bolt Island in the background.  They enjoyed the day with swimming,  boating, kayaking, paddle boarding, canoeing and eating LOTS.  That is a paddle board in the picture.  Some of them got pretty good at it.  It was a great day!

Large vessel going up the river while we were there.

Panorama view from the backyard 

YSA soldiers feeding a family of 10 ducklings.  This picture really gets to me when you  see them enjoying feeding the baby ducks and then realize that most of them will be deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan in the very near future to fight.  What a price we all pay.  The dock they are on is the Bishops and the boat out at the end on the left is his also.

Some more pictures of the area.

Black River in Watertown

Another church in Watertown.  Some of these churches are so old and we love the architecture of them.

Military Grave Yard in Sackets Harbor - Unknown soldiers - War of 1812 It is a solemn place. 

Flower Library - Watertown.  This is an amazing place to visit.

Condominiums in Alexandria Bay on the St Lawrence River

Early converts to the church in upstate NY

We spent some time with a sweet lady in the ward.  She is a descendant of the Woodruffs.  Not direct to Wilford.  As a little girl she would attend the family reunions and listen to the old ladies talk about the whole family being there except the black sheep's decendants who joined the Mormon church. (She is about our age.  She was baptized when she was 20 Yrs old )  She took us to the Woodruff settlement near here. (Pic Below)  Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer were missionaries here in Watertown and baptised some in this "Cold Creek" in town. (Picture below but exact spot not known)  There were several members here when they moved west to Kirtland.   There was lots of persecution in this area and the area was cursed for missionary work for 3 generations. We met another missionary couple, serving in the Rochester mission, and the Elder served in Watertown 40 years ago when there were only 10 members in all upstate NY.  Now we have 400+ in Watertown and three stakes with lots of branches in Northern and Central NY..  There is a lot more to be said but it will have to wait for another time.

This is Donna Trumbo and mom.  She is related to Woodruffs.  The Church  asked her years ago to put together a history of this area.  Hopefully we can help her to do that.

This is "Cold Creek" there are places that have been dammed up making it deeper.  It is also along this creek where according to Donna that the Saints used to meet.  So much fun history here.

Update in June

Just a note to let you know what is going on.  We have been visiting members and part-member families.  We have been invited back to one part-member. (Dad's a member, Mom and 3 kids are not) One less active brother has been to church twice in 3 weeks.  He hadn't been to church for two years.  Mom just felt we needed to visit them last month and the timing was just right.  We had a great visit and hopefully things will continue. We have a young adult activity this Sat 13 June at Bishop Buettnemuller's home on the river.  Zone conference and send off for Pres Wirthlin on Wednesday in Utica.  We taught institute last Thursday Sec 130.  Really great section.  It was if I was reading it for the first time.  Completed Temple Prep class in Carthage Ward.  One couple will go to the temple in two weeks and one YSA will go within the next month.  We still work with an Addiction Recovery Group and have really enjoyed the experience.  We have become friends with some really great people.  Mom continues teaching sewing classes and she is really well liked.  The wards are being tasked to set up for the Hill Cumorah pageant at the end of this month.  They set up 9000 chairs plus all the other stuff.  We may be going to Sharon Vermont (Joseph Smith's birthplace) with Elder and Sister Miskin on the 27th of June.  We are enjoying the whole experience and happy to be here.

recipe for Adam's dessert

Here is the recipe that several have asked for:

Here it is with a new name!  Several ask for the dessert that Adam always likes so I changed it name.  Now we will all know what we are talking about.  If any on the rest of you would like to have a recipe named after you just let me know which one and we will rename it.

This is our address:
Elder & Sister Brown
1815 Olmstead Drive  apt. 222C
Watertown, New York  13601

Visit from Brandon and Angela

Spent a fun couple of days with Brandon and Angela.  Visited several sites around Watertown, ate dinner at the oldest restaurant in town (Crystals), and had ice cream.  Sunday we went to Carthage Ward where I was asked to sing the musical number so I got Brandon and Angela to sing with me.  We did a really nice job.  It was a good meeting overall.  Afterwards were drove to Palmyra to the Hill Cumorah, Sacred Grove, Alvin Smith's grave site and Grandin Press (where the Book of Mormon was published)
Here are a few pictures.

AT Alexandria Bay across the river from Bolt Castle

Oldest restaurant in town.

Brandon and Angela at the Moroni Monument at Hill Cumorah.  Rained most of the day.

In the Sacred Grove

At the Joseph Smith restored log home.

Sister Missionary from Switzerland who gave us the tour at the Grandin Press.  She is a 5th generation member