Catch up

This entry is going to be long so go to bed now.......just activities of the last week we want to remember!!! First I'm going to add the pictures of Diana
Alden's baptism and confirmation. Because of distances, baptisms here in New England are held right after the block time and then the confirmation is the next Sunday during Sacrament meeting. It's been fun for us to meet with them and the missionaries since last November and we've gotten to know them quite well. Both Jim and Diana work for the Army in intelligence and they ARE very intelligent fun people. We've had dinner at their house with the missionaries a couple of times--the last time before Elder Peterson went home on March 13th.


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On March 8 dad confirmed Diana and gave her a very nice blessing. I even snuck the recorder in so she has a copy of it. After the block there was a Linger Longer and WOW!!! You should have see the food!!! Our ward is probably one of the biggest in the region so the food table was the length of the cultural hall!!! After that we went to Higham as reported in the last blog entry.
As usual we do our thing at Emerson Hospital every Monday. It's a funny group of oldsters-----some much older than we are, but with enthusiasm. On the other end there are a few young volunteers---some from High school and some in their 20"s.
On Wednesday we went to Marlboro to Bishop Cooks Independent Business Council. We're supporting him getting a support group going for small business owners. They're meeting once a month and now just trying to get a mission statement and working out the organization and "stuff". The New York office thinks we should have a walk-in "office" of some sort here but the Belmont Chapel, which seems to be a "known" in the region just doesn't have the space. They're building a stake center now which will be finished about the time we're supposed to leave and they have designated an employment office there. But we feel like we would go there and sit and do nothing as people won't travel from New Hampshire and Connecticut! We suggested going to 3 or 4 different locations twice a month for several hours in the areas that need the most help but that doesn't seem to satisfy the leaders need for "real estate"!!! That isn't realistic around here!! So we will probably just wait for the new center. Again, sitting in one location here in this region isn't realistic either!!
Thursday was the Temple session for the missionaries leaving for home. The Boston Temple is either in a feast or famine mode. Our session was practically filled---especially since 8 of the senior couples were there. They cancelled the 3 pm session as not a soul was there! We were there once as the only couple, one other male and 3 other females!!!
On the 13th we headed for New Haven. It's a 2.5 hour drive, we got there a little early so went for a drive to the beach!!










We were invited to stay with Danny Young, a counselor in the New Haven Stake presidency!! Here's a 60 yr old man named Danny!!! He's been in New England his whole life and built his business from nothing years ago. Obviously, he's done very well. His four sons work in the business in different areas so they don't get on each others toes (that's what he told us). It's a roofing business and they do it ALL from small sheds to commercial buildings. Below you'll see a pix of his home that he built 20 years ago. It's gorgeous!! All wood floors, not a speck of dust on any heater baseboard, a bathroom for every bedroom, and a livingroom that is decorated with Fisher Price, Tyco cars, and toys and a big soft carpet!And they live on Kimberly Lane!!




Each of the bedrooms had an antique double bed and "by looking at you I can tell you'll need two beds" so we had two rooms and two bathrooms!!! Their big activity for the night was watching the Glen Beck special at 5pm!!! Which we did! And seeing the group in South Jordan, I loooked for Sean but the picture was too small. Were you there Sean???
The Young's youngest daughter has a rare form of cancer since she was 15, she's now 23. Her whole stomach has been removed, it's incurable and she has a lot of pain so they have a lot of concern over her. She married a non-member guy last November that has been by her side for a number of years. So they live in the home too and he works for one of the sons. The missionaries came over and stayed for dinner too and then gave him another discussion.

Saturday we did a career workshop for the New Haven Stake. There were about 16 people to start and more trickled in during the day. It was a good group. Most interesting to us was their chapel!!! It's an old business building that has been remodeled and is 4 stories high!!!

We've seen this in the Boston area where they can't build a chapel but it was surprising in New Haven!! But it's cool----they reverence it like we would any chapel!
We talked a lot with the Youngs about the problems they see in their stake and region. One of their biggest concerns is the high school graduate. The ones who go to Utah and college out there, meet Mormon girls, get married in the Temple and go on to stay active. But the kids that stay near home for college and work become inactive right away and that's it!!! They try and try with activities and singles wards but the inactivity rate is extremely high. And it hits every family--bishops, stake presidencies (obviously) and the reactivation rates are very low. That's a point for being in Utah!!!!