January 12, 2020 - Things to look for in our Blog this week: 1. Discussion with Faraja, Bahiti & Eunice 2. Our Fender Bender, parking and parking tickets! 3. Transfers - Godspeed Sister Weise 4. Balmy weather (I'm sure that I'm jinxing myself on this one.) 5. Buffalo Science Museum 6. Food orders - caring for the poor 7. Lunch at Duff's Famous Buffalo Wings 8. Family Traditions
Elder McOmber, Sabina (our awesome translator), Faraja, Bahti, Eunice (3 siblings that have been coming to church and are being taught by the Elders) and Elder Nielsen. We invited them over to have a lesson in our home. There was such a sweet spirit as we discussed the Book of Mormon. Faraja told us she felt warm - it was a sweet, sweet testimony shared in one word. Bahti gave such a tender prayer at the end - out of the mouth of a babe - children can be so humble and sincere.We were parked in front of a members house where we were visiting. We were inside the house and did not see what happened - we didn't hear anything either. And then we saw the fire truck lights flashing. When we stood up and looked out the front window - what did we see? Our car was smashed - a guy coming down the street hit our car so hard it pushed it 90 degrees and spun the back of our car down the road about 20 feet. He jumped out of his car and ran away. He was gone by the time the police got there and we didn't see him. They didn't catch him while we were there. Our car has a LOT of damage - everyone thinks that they will probably total it.When our car spun around, it looks like the front of his car also rammed the driver and passenger doors and damaged them. Fortunately, it appears the car is insured. We don't know why the driver ran - maybe he had been drinking or maybe the car was stolen???This is not the street where our car was hit, but I took this picture to show how narrow the streets are - and this street is wider than a lot of them. On one way streets they can park on both sides because you only need one lane for the cars to be able to drive on the road. Although a lot of the time, you can't park anywhere on the one way streets during the day in the winter so they can plow the roads.This is our street which is not one way - we park on one side of the street for 3 days and then the other side of the street for the other 4 days. You have to move your car at 6:00pm on the day the side of the street changes.Guess who forgot to go out and move his car to the other side of the street? We came out to go to an appointment a little after 7:00pm and had a $40 ticket on our windshield. Lucky us. I also learned the hard way that you can't park within 20 feet of an intersection. I got a little closer than that and they gave me another $40 ticket.Elder's McOmber and McSpadden - it was transfer week and Elder McSpadden got transferred. He had been in Buffalo for our about 6 months and his Swahili had gotten really good. We'll miss him.Elders McOmber & McSpadden, Karen and Mark
Watch this video as the Missionaries introduce themselves in Swahili:
We picked up Sister Turville in Lockport and took her to the Colvin Chapel in Syracuse - she was headed to Glenville which is the other Ward that meets in Jessy's building near Albany.These Elders and Sisters are on their way home - they served faithfully and all things come to an end. They will go to Palmyra and the Sacred Grove this afternoon, spend the night in the mission home and then fly home tomorrow.If you didn't notice, one of the Sisters eating pizza was our dear sweet Sister Weise who served with us in Massena. (I taught her everything she knows about miniature golf and turned her into a champion!) She's finished her mission and is heading home. She didn't know that we had been asked to transport someone for transfers, but she happened to be looking out the windows from the church foyer and saw me drive up and get our of our car (It hadn't been smacked yet). When she saw me, she shot out the door of the church like a bullet, screaming the whole way and gave Sister Spear the biggest hug ever!!! (Oh yeah, then I got a handshake.) It was one of the most tender moments of our mission. We certainly learn to love these young missionaries. Sister Weise will be one of our best friends forever. We were so happy to be there to tell her goodbye. Saturday, January 11th, 2020 in Buffalo, New York - it was 57 degrees at 8:00am in the morning. That is unheard of - we're loving it.And it kept getting warmer and broke a record for the high of 67 degrees for this date, January 11, 2020. Wow!We took a little trip to the Buffalo Science Museum on Preparation Day. For those of you that know me well, you know that my step dad was Bob Buffalow. (Buffalo with a "w" on the end.) So, it's hard for me to write Buffalo - I almost always write Buffalow. So, I had to get my picture taken with a buffalo - I'm going to have to remember to do that each week - there are buffalos everywhere.It's not a buffalo nor a buffalow, but it looked awesome. A couple of handsome old things.Karen - Beauty and the Beast.I found another buffalo.
The museum had a spot with a green screen where you could give a weather report. It was fun - the sound quality is poor, but it entertained me! I'll keep my day job...wait I don't have a "real" job...I get to serve the wonderful people of New York every day - how great is that?
We helped distribute food orders on Saturday. There were lots of volunteers and helpers. They deliver food orders about every 3 weeks. The Bishop's Storehouse is about 1 & 1/2 hours away in Palmyra, so they just started delivering everything to our Buffalo Ward Building.The food orders are separated by each Ward in the Stake and but into plastic bins.The bishop in each Ward or Branch President in each Branch, has the responsibility to care for the poor and needy within the boundaries of his ward or branch. One resource available to accomplish this task is the bishops’ storehouse—a place where those in need can go to obtain food and other supplies at the recommendation of their bishop.Duffs Famous Buffalo Wings - they claim to have the BEST Buffalo Wings. The Anchor Bar claims to have originated Buffalo Wings. (We will have to try the wings there, too!) This is the original location of a regional chain dispensing spicy, saucy wings in a no-frills setting. Their website says: Our wings are famous for a reason. Duff's has been committed to serving the highest quality wings with our "famous sauce" recipe since 1969. One of our fans said it best: "This is the place you come for the best wings of your life".They did have good wings.We tried the Mild Medium Sauce - it was plenty spicy. I can't imagine what HOT would be like - I think their bucket gives a pretty good description.My daughter and her family showing that they too continue our family tradition of taking Christmas photos on the steps.And Ryan got in on the tradition too - his family is modeling their Christmas pajamas.
Another busy week in our NEW Paradise. Non-pictured activities: Amos & Kiza finished translating the first 5 chapters of Handbook 2 into Swahili.
Missionary Coordination Meeting Wednesday night. Lots of things to review
Met with Igor our Ward Mission Leader again. We made it through about another third of the Ward List reviewing Ward Members that we should reach out to.
We visited several families this week: Went with Elders to teach Esterina and her family, dinner at our home with Elder & Sister Sonnefeld, went with Elders to teach Furaha and her family where we met Chalimpa – we visited him later in the week, had Baruani family over for FHE and milk shakes (not sure if they like ice cream like we do!) – we taught them how to play Moose! Moose! It was fun. Went with Elders to teach Makenzie and her friend.
We only made 2 trips to the church giving rides this week – some of the members and those being taught were sick.
BYU PathwayConnect Gathering on Thursday. The second semester has begun. We missed everyone over the holidays, it was good to get back together.
Fed the missionaries at least twice!!! We love having them and it makes it easy to do some planning.
And probably another dozen things that I didn’t get written down!