One month anniversary

Hi All! We have officially been missionaries for one month now. Time has flown by for us – so much to do and so little time. We had our first baptism Friday evening when Millie Yoder was baptized by her husband Barry, who has only been a member for two months. Barry had a stroke a while ago and is rather unsteady, so another member, Bro. Grass, was also in the font. So many people all squashed into the small baptismal font. Bro Grass was there is make sure Barry didn’t lose his balance – his job was to pick up whoever fell down!! Luckily, no one did, but I have never seen anyone baptized in slow motion before – it took forever to get her completely underwater, but everything went well – no repeat necessary! It was Millie’s birthday too, so we had cake and ice cream afterwards at church and there was a good turnout of branch members. It took Dad over 2 hours to fill the font because we kept running out of warm water, but we were just happy that it all went pretty much as scheduled. We invited another new member, Bonnie, to come and she did. She even came to church today too. It is my hope that she and Millie become buddies and grow together in the gospel. Hey, it worked for Kathy and Fauna who didn’t know each other until I asked them to decorate together for a Relief Society meeting and the rest is history!!

The week had two major highlights. One was the baptism of course, and the second was our trip down to Hershey on Saturday. It was my early Mothers’ Day present – it was wonderful. The Hershey area is very pretty – the entire town was created by Mr. Hershey in the late 1800’s to make milk chocolate, which he pioneered in this country. He had no children and no siblings, so when he died his entire empire went to a trust that still runs the company and divides the profits among the town's schools, hospitals, etc. His wife, who died pretty early, wanted him to start a school for orphaned or disadvantaged children, and it is still running today. Completely free tuition, housing in very nice homes (there are about 25 homes just for these kids and one set of dorm parents in each house), food, clothing, and a weekly allowance for all the children, ages 4 to 18. Then the trust sends them off to college and pays for that!! I am amazed at the degree of commitment to keep this wonderful program growing. Anyway, the town is lovely, and the economy is good. Even during the depression, the Hershey company employed everyone who wanted a job, and found them a home to live in. The city had zero unemployment during the entire depression. Today, the schools in town are state of the art with indoor pools, skating rinks, etc and the Middle School is a showplace and the landmark of the town. The Middle School??? Amazing! We did not go to the amusement park at all but it has 11 cool roller coasters – Lynnie and I are going back to Hershey in September, so we will go on every one of the roller coasters! Sure we will. Just being around that much chocolate was exciting for me, and we learned all about how they make it which is pretty complex. NOTE TO GRANDCHILDREN: Milton Hershey would be a great person to write a Biography Book Report on-he is a definite pioneer, successful businessman and historical figure!! I can see everyone in class loving it and getting a piece of chocolate!! I am mad at myself for not knowing about him before this so all your Dads could report on this interesting man.

We are excited to talk to you all on Sunday. Hopefully, Ty can call us for a few minutes, and then have a chance to do a conference call with whoever can make it work. This is his last call home, so I would rather you talk to him than me if you have to choose.

Now that our upstairs neighbors have moved in with their two 100 lb dogs (honestly!), it is pretty noisy around here. The dogs only get taken out once a day to poop on the lawn that Dad has agreed to mow. They get frisky at 7:00am and start barking for some reason. The upstairs has only wood floors, so we hear them all night walking around. I am hoping I get used to it. I am making a list of all the reasons I love this little apartment – I will send it soon. The dogs will not be on the list.

Our love to every one of you. I am thinking about my wonderful, beautiful daughters in law and feeling so grateful for them in my life. They are such good wives and mothers and I love you all for the way you treat our sons. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO VICKY, SANDY, DEVON, BECKY, RACHAEL, AND HEATHER. We love you. Mom and Dad