The Spirit of Place

What a grand experience we had two days before Thanksgiving November of 2010. This is a picture of the Kirtland Temple just as nightfall fell. It is a beautiful temple and stands as such a beacon on top of the hill. The missionaries had been invited to participate in a non-denominational Thanksgiving Celebration hosted by the Community of Christ to be held in Historic Kirtland Temple.

I had the honor of being able to sing a duet that evening, but most thrilling of all was to be able to direct a women's choir of about 60 voices, all seated in the four corner choir lofts. What sweet, uplifting and spirit filled moments those were. I made Mark take a picture of me before I left the house as a remembrance of this monumental experience. Who'd ever thought? Our mission gets more exciting all the time. The women sounded like angels as they sang.

I am going to post again in a few days and wish you a Merry Christmas too. But I want a picture of all the snow we have out at the Johnson Farm first and it has been too cold to stand out in the blowing, snowing freezing temperatures long enough to take a picture. We have lots of snow and the winter has not officially even begun. There was so much on top of the Restroom, (which has a long slanted metal roof) that when it warmed just a little bit, it all slid off, taking the outside light and part of the rain gutter with it. Glad I wasn't standing under it when it landed.

MY SPOT IN OHIO

This is my spot in Ohio where I work every day of the week. I love this place. Every day it feels like we are entering a temple. What more could we ask for. And besides we had wonderful people come see us in October. Cousin LeeRen and Beverly Walker (serving the Columbus Ohio Mission) along with son Jaylin and Leah stopped in to see us. What fun that was. We came early so we could have them all to ourselves, but of course some one else saw the gates open and came on in too. We love having company.

You see also inside my life and apartment. I am alive and well and living to the fullest every day. I bet you thought I disappeared, but we are here. Truly! I have lost a bunch of pictures though. I was going to upload some pictures of other guests we had in October, but my computer is hiding all the pictures so I can't find some of them. Does your computer ever get testy and ornery with you? It thinks it is so 'pretty'.

My companion, Mark or Elder Orton as I call him here, is also doing well. Winter hasn't quite arrived and we are enjoying the not-so-cold days where we can still get out and run errands. We did get new tires for the car in preparation for the snow we keep hearing about. We don't like slippin' and a slidin' all around the town or the country or even the parking lot.

Fall Leaves Fall all around the town

It has been too long since I have written and now the leaves are winding down on their color and intensity. This is a picture from our bedroom window here in Ohio taken two weeks ago and now the tree is almost bare of leaves.

We have enjoyed this time of year with breathtaking

scenes before our eyes daily. Each day as we drive to work, the view has changed in some way. Incredibly beautiful!

We have been in the field of labor for four months. We love Ohio. Of course we have not gone through a winter yet and so that opinion may change in a couple of months. I will let you know, along with pictures. But I will always love Ohio because of the great work the Lord was able to do through the prophet Joseph Smith and other faithful saints. In their poverty they performed miracles with the Lord's direction.

We meet such impressive people here every day. It is such fun to get to know neat people from all over the world. In a short time giving a tour and visiting with people, we grow to love them, and want to take them home with us. We had visitors from Australia last week, and when we finished our tour and our visiting, we hated to let them go, knowing we would never see them again until the eternities. They were the best of the best. And today we met people who are children of people we knew in Eagle, Idaho and who know my brother and are in the same ward as one of my cousins. Itsy, bitsy world isn't it? Last week met people who knew some of Mark's brothers and cousin. I know we are probably having far too much fun for missionaries, but how can we help it?

We had some wonderful visitors this month, which made our month zip by. The Fitches (mission president in South Africa, Jim & Sheron) and what great friends they are and how wonderful to be with them. Then we had Mark's brother Ferrin & Peggy, Daryl, Randy, Pam & Kimball come to visit and we had such a good time with them. And then the same day they left we had our good friends the Carters from Corrine, UT and their friends the Jeppesons who are now our friends. We must tell you it is very exciting to have company out on a mission. Come see us anytime!!!!! And if you are Senior missionary age, come join us. "The field is white already to harvest" and the laborers are few.

My Own Sacred Grove

This is our own Sacred Grove at the Morley Farm near Kirtland. It is a lovely place. You must take time to go there sometime.

The Farm is closed from November to April as everything we do is outside. From the photos I hope you can see why we love this place also. We only serve here every ten days and otherwise we are an hour away at the Johnson Farm closer to where we live. These are both very important places in Church History and we feel such a pleasure in serving at both. Come see us anytime.

Isn't Elder Orton cute? We are so thankful to be such good friends as well as good companions. We see some other couples who are not so happy serving side by side and being together 24/7. But since that is one reason I marriede Mark Orton in the first place, it works perfectly into my plan. I am thankful we can communicate, talk, visit, laugh, dream, share, have fun and plan for the future (forever). Even though this is Missionary work, we manage to have our version of fun too.

Tornadoes were all about us on Septembr 16th. We had taken our Prep Day down to see some sites a couple of hours away. We were near a place named Wooster. After we arrived home, the winds and rain decended in amazing torrents; beating against our windows. We learned later, the tornado hit in Wooster where we had been only shortly before. No matter how exciting being in a tornado might sound to you, I was very happy to be snug in my own place of abode here in beautiful Ohio.

LAUNDRY ANYONE?

DRAFT HORSES & WATERMELON
Set yourself back in time a few years and enjoy the beauty of a perfect day on an Amish farm. We travel about 20 minutes from our apartment in order to purchase some of the most delectable fruits and vegetables anywhere. Watermelon are so big, juicy and sweet, one needs to sit on the lawn, bust one open and sit for an hour devouring it's heavenly juices. I tried to pick one up last week and it was too big for me to lift comfortably.

Now here is a day's work for any woman or household of women. This is Amish country and we often see the efforts of hard working, fast moving Amish men and women in their daily chores. To you ladies I would say, no more whimping about doing laundry in a nice washing machine and dryer. This if a full's day's work for these women, from morning til night. Until recent years I have always had Mark build me a clothes line to hang the large items such as sheets, towels, diapers (back in those days) etc. I loved hanging clothes and the smell and nostalgia they bring with them, if the days were balming and warm. However, I am very, very happy and thankful to have modern equipment and appliances in my home. Even running donwstairs and paying high rates to do a batch of laundy beats this, especailly when the days begin to get cold.

There will be more to come on this blog at some point of our mission. Mission work is moving along, we are not as busy as we were a month ago. But it is starting to pick up again for September and October. It is wonderful to be here and we are anxiously awaiting October when we will have three sets of company. Lucky us! We hope to work our schedule so we can spend a few hours with people we like and love.

BACK IN OHIO

Hello Friends of the Blogging world! I may not be very consistant, but I do think to write once in awhile.

Ohio is green, wet, humid, hot and very beautiful. I think I am beginning to rust from the moisture, as my joints seem to be creaking lately. The good part is that I don't need to use moinsurizer much out here. My skin loves it, my sweat glands do not. And missioanries have to be fully armored in dress and senior sisters don't always seem to be able to wear the cutsie, shorter sleeves to keep cool like the thin younger ones do. I always have to layer myself in order to try to hide a few buldges, bumps and splotches. I am not fooling anyone I am sure, but I keep trying. It was so very hot this morning, I thought, "Oh, who cares anyway" and put on a shorter sleeved blouse to wear. Well, I suppose the only one who cares is little-ol-me, and I just couldn't do it. I have to cover up those grandma wings, RS muslces, bat wings, floppy jobbers or whatever they are called. I am not sending that picture because I did not take one, nor would you want to see it if I had.

The little towns out where we are surrounding Kirtland and closer to John Johnson home in Hiram, are old and quaint and set back in time. Speed limits are slow on the state highways and no one seems to be in a big hurry. These twonships were in exsistance in the early 1800 and so show signs of wear and weariness, but are very charming. We love driving through them and have fallen in love with many spots and think if we had family out here, we might even like living here. Elder Orton finds a new home every few days that he will "Buy" when we are finished out here. There are some rare and old beauties.

Maybe I will spend enough time one of these days to figure out how to send a picture so you can see how far back in time we are. The Amish people live close by and we took some wonderful pictures of a farmer on his reaping machine pulled by large Belgeon horses and then of two men going along in the fields stacking those piles of wheat into shocks. The children run barefoot and are healthy and tan, the women work ever so hard along with the men. Their farms are immaculate, clean and beautiful. We buy produce from some of them.

Until next time.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT

How lucky we feel. Our first assignment will be at the John Johnson Farm in Hiram, Ohio, where wonderful things transpired. We will live in a small town close by and live in an apartment for the first year of our mission and then move into Kirtland to work in the Visitor's Center right in Kirtland. To even set foot in those sacred places near Kirtland will be an honor. We hope we get to have a little tour of Mark's Great Great Grandfather's house (Joel Hills Johnson). We have visited there often and so have seen the saw mill he built and the temple that he milled the lumber for and built shingles for. But I am sure we will look at everything with new eyes as missionaries.

We leave one week from tomorrow for the MTC for only two days and then we will come back, sleep in our own bed on Tuesday night the15th. We will pack our car & top carrier, and head East on Highway 84 on Thursday the 17th. We will take our time and arrive in Kirtland about the 21st of June hoping that our apartment is empty and we can move in and begin.

These last few weeks have been so furrious, fast and unfriendly almost, with so much to do. But we are excited to get started, so we can come home sometime before we are too old to move. That may be at any time now.

My sister Loa and her husband Boyd were here the last two days and we had such a great time. They just returned from Kenya, Nairobi mission and we haven't had quite enough time with them, so it was very good to be together before we leave. Loa helped hem some jackets and pants and that was very helpful. Now I can look like a sister missionary instead of my closet looking like one.

Change is in the Wind!

And we have wind! And snow! And rain! And very little sun for MAY! However, the change came last week with our mission call. the mission office was kind enough o call and tell us that we will not be leaving until the 14th of June because there is no couple's housing yet. Hurray! We needed that extra time. This whole thing has happened so very fast that we needed just an extra few weeks to get used to the idea ourselves.

Perhaps there will be time to plant a few flowers. Perhaps there will be time to plant a few vegetables in the grow boxes. I am not promising anything you understand, only hoping. Not that I will be here to enjoy them, but it makes me feel like a real person when I do those things.

we don't have a date yet for when we will be speaking and saying our goodbyes. I will let you know. I certainly don't know anything about blogging, so enjoy my blunders and botches. It's all part of the game.

Annette

MISSION CALL TO YONDER OHIO

It finally came in the mail on Wed, late afternoon. We will serve where Mark's Great, Great Grandfather built the sawmill, built a home, sawed all the lumber and made the shingles for the Kirtland Temple. That's is a privilege and an honor for us. We will be serving in the Historic Kirtland Visitor's Center. YAHOO!! We leave May 10. Isn't that day after tomorrow, almost?

That's all folks!

Happy Birthday Mom! I hope that this will be helpful to you on your mission. Post lots of pictures and lots of news. I love you!---- Shar