FOUR SEASONS IN THE SACRED GROVE: Summer

The Sacred Grove in the summer is serene, peaceful, and beautiful!  The trees have all their leaves and there is beautiful foliage on the forest floor.  When I make a post, especially one that is mostly pictures, I like to post a message with the pictures. My cousin, Ken, who lives in China brought my attention to a beautiful hymn.  So, I will intersperse my pictures with the words to the hymn.  If you want to hear the hymn go to the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fwfdij6HGo

These pictures were taken in June, July and August 2010 and are posted in that order.

THIS IS MY FATHER'S WORLD

Verse 1:
This is my Father's world,  and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.

This is my Father's world: I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; his hand the wonders wrought.

Verse 2:
This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white, declare their maker's praise.

This is my Father's world: he shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear him pass; he speaks to me everywhere.

Verse 3:
This is my Father's world. O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father's world: why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad!

Verse 4:

This is my Father's world, the battle is not done.

Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied and earth and heaven be one.

In March 1992 Predsident Hinckley spoke to the students at Brigham Young University and listed 10 "I Believe" statements.  He said,

"The earth in its pristine beauty is an expression of the nature of its Creator.
 . . . the creation continued until “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).
I interpret this to mean that it was beautiful, for “out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight” (Gen 2:9).
I believe in the beauty of nature, and I see and believe in the beauty of animals."

The Sacred Grove is amazing in all seasons, and in the summer it is a wonderful experience to walk beneath the trees and shrubs and experience the beauty and sacredness of this special place.  I am so thankful for the opportunity Elder Watts and I have to be here in Palmyra so near the Sacred Grove and to walk weekly on the paths within.

FOUR SEASONS IN THE SACRED GROVE: Spring

"We now pause for station identification."  If you grew up in my era you will recognize this phrase as one that interrupted your favorite TV show right during the climax.  That is sort of how I feel about my blogging.  On November 21 I started a series of 4 posts about the Sacred Grove during each season of the year.  My first post was winter. Then I stopped, not for "station identification", but for "holiday celebration".  Now that the holidays are over it's back to the Sacred Grove visits.


I hope you enjoyed strolling through the Sacred Grove here in Palmyra, New York during the winter season.  Next we will enjoy the grove during the Spring.  In the spring of 2010 it was delightful to watch the snow melt and the Sacred Grove come to life. The pictures in this post were taken from April 2 - May 20, 2010.


Since the event that made this grove of trees significant and sacred happened in the early spring, it is fitting that I share that story as you enjoy "Spring in the Sacred Grove."  So. . . in Joseph Smith's own words:

"While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionist, I was reading James 1:5, 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God . . . and it shall be given him.'"

"I at length came to the determination to 'ask of God.'  I retired to the woods to make the attempt.  It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of 1820."

"It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for. . .I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally."

"I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God.  . . .I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me."

"When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air.  One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--'This is My Beloved Son.  Hear Him!'"

As Joseph Smith told people what he had seen and heard, he began experiencing opposition and persecution.  Yet he said, "I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me . . . for saying so, I was led to say in my heart: I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, . . . " 

Like Mormons all over the world, I too know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ in the Grove.  I know because the Holy Ghost has borne witness of this truth to me.  I also know, that we can have our personal prayers answered as we go in faith and humility to our Father in Heaven.  I invite each of you to pray daily for your needs, questions, and righteous desires.

Coming next week: Summer in the Sacred Grove.

CELEBRATING THE HOLIDAYS: VI - A Visit Better Than St. Nick!!!

Besides wrapping gifts for school children, watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, mailing Christmas cards, and decorating, what else can cheer up holiday homesick senior missionaries more than a visit from grandkids.  Of course it's always nice to see their parents too.

Picture at Grandin Building

So, imagine how happy we were to see our oldest daughter, her husband and their three kids when they arrived here two days before Christmas!  It was fun to do many of our traditional activities like hanging stockings . . .

. . .opening new pajamas on Christmas Eve . . .

 . . .leaving cookies, milk, and a note for Santa . . .

. . . and enjoying a nice Christmas meal.  (It's not that exciting cooking for two, so we were glad to have a group to cook for.)

Christmas morning was fun too!!!

On other days we loved taking our family on tours around all of the Sites.

The Smith Family Farm (above) and the Sacred Grove (below)

The Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site

The Peter Whitmer Farm

The Hill Cumorah Visitors' Center

We also enjoyed Skyping with our other children in Oregon and Minnesota.  We are so thankful for all of our children and their families and the kindness and love they showed us during this Christmas Season while we were away from home.  We are also thankful for the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ that gives us the knowledge of the wonderful principle of Eternal Families.

CELEBRATING THE HOLIDAYS: V Christmas Cards

The theme of the past few posts has been about the things Holiday Homesick missionaries do to keep from being so homesick.  One thing that is very satisfying for me is sending and receiving Christmas cards.  I LOVE sending them, thinking of each recipient as I address the card and the good memories I have of the times we spent together, whether it was very recent or many years ago.  It reminds me of a Girl Scout song I learned as a kid.  We sang it in rounds - Make New Friends.  In case you don't go to the link, the words are:

Make new friends,

but keep the old.

One is silver 

 the other's gold.

Besides sending Christmas Cards, I LOVE receiving them.  I love all kinds of Christmas cards, traditional cards, Christmas letters, Christmas cards with family pictures, and yes, even the electronic cards.  And being away from home this Christmas made them even dearer to me than ever. 

Every single card we received was a treasure, but we were especially touched by the one in the picture below.  It arrived very early in December addressed to Elder and Sister Watts.

On the left side of the card was the following scripture:

And his name shall be called

Wonderful, Counsellor,

The mighty God,

The everlasting Father

The Prince of Peace

ISAIAH 9:6

On the right side of the card was the following message:

May the peace and joy of this Christmas season be in your hearts and homes as we celebrate the birth and mission of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And it was signed by The First Presidency (of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).  It also had their picture below the message.  We know it was sent to all the missionaries and that they didn't individually sign it, but we love it anyway.  It will always be a reminder of our mission Christmas.

CELEBRATING THE HOLIDAYS: IV Decorating

Decorating, for me, is an important part of the Christmas season. I guess I inherited the tendency from my mother, the only person I know that hangs Christmas ornaments from the ceiling (or she did when we were kids). When I was a child I thought it was magical! Now, our youngest daughter does the same. I like to decorate our entire house – it is fun for me. But, when we left Oregon in January, we didn’t pack any Christmas decorations – there simply wasn’t room.

And, it wouldn’t make sense to buy many decorations here, because going home there won’t be room either. So, I was not expecting much to happen in the way of Christmas decorating on our mission. I seem to remember stories of missionaries cutting out paper trees and putting them on the walls of their apartments (maybe our kids). In Elder Watts’ case, as a young missionary, he got a Christmas tree for free on Christmas morning.

For us, now as adult missionaries in New York, little by little, things started looking hopeful as far as decorations go. On our way to our mission last January, we stopped in Utah to see relatives. Our oldest daughter gave me my Christmas present, that didn’t get mailed. It was three very beautiful Christmas decorations, two ornaments and a cute box.

Then, last February, when our neighboring missionaries left, they gave us their beautiful lighted wreath and an artificial tree.

Another daughter and her husband gave us two more tree ornaments, relevant to our mission, a crystal maple leaf and a fox ornament.

When we moved to our new apartment in November, we found a table centerpiece and another wreath.

So, the day after Thanksgiving we hung a wreath on our door and another one on our wall. We put up our “Charlie Brown” artificial tree, with lights and decorations that came in the box.

To my delight we found some other decorations in the box including a darling nativity set.

We did buy ourselves some stockings – I couldn’t get through Christmas without stockings.

Next, an unexpected package arrived in the mail from yet another daughter, gifts for the 12 Days of Christmas, most of which were more decorations. YEAH!

As we went to work at the Smith Farm one morning shortly after Thanksgiving, it so happened that the Facilities Management team was there to decorate – so, they were kind enough to let me help.

The next day, at the Hill Cumorah Visitors’ Center, Elder Watts and I were there doing some organizing in one of the storage areas and to my delight, the Facilities Management Team was there doing some decorating, and again, they let me help. Let’s see . . .organize a storage area or decorate for Christmas . . .I choose decorating.

To me, these experiences testify that God is mindful of me and my insignificant desires. I love everything about the Christmas season and I especially love that we reflect on our Savior, Jesus Christ and His birth. And I love knowing that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me. He loves each of you too – that is the good news of the Gospel!

Here are some of the decorations from the Sites in Palmyra and Fayette:

You might also enjoy going to the following link to read about Christmas in Palmyra at the Historical Sites.  Elder Watts is quoted and Sister Watts has some pictures posted.  http://www.mormontimes.com/article/18922/Experiencing-Christmas-at-LDS-Church-sites-in-Palmrya

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE