We Need Less WiFi and more Nephi

by Mark and Karen Spear

October 6, 2019 - In his Saturday morning General Conference address, Elder Terence M Vinson of the Seventy quoted a father who said: “What we need here is less Wi-Fi and more Nephi!”. And then he continued saying that there is no treasure, nor any hobby, nor any status, nor any social media, nor any video games, nor any sport, nor any association with a celebrity, nor anything on earth that is more precious than eternal life.

Two other fun, memorable sayings from Conference:
“Studying the scriptures with ‘Come, Follow Me’ as a guide is strengthening our conversion to Jesus Christ and His gospel,” Brother Mark Pace said. “We are not simply trading one hour less in church on Sunday for one hour more of scripture study at home. Learning the gospel is a consistent effort throughout the week. As one sister shared with me, ‘The goal is not to make church one hour shorter; it is to make church six days longer!’”

And who would have ever thought? Dragons, the Hobbit and Harry Potter all in one Conference Talk...we LOVE Elder Uchtdorf. (President Uchtdorf quoted Dumbledore: "It is our choices that determine who we truly are, far more than our abilities".) He certainly veered off the standard mention of an airplane in his talk, but he scored a TEN - he was still definitely flying high!

What a blessing! We have truly had a feast. I invite each of you to read and re-read these talks given to us by the Lord's Anointed. Let me know your favorites.

First Presidency
The Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah where General Conference is held.
Our grandson, Brandon and our son Ryan at General Conference on Sunday morning. Their family drove down from Meridian, Idaho to attend conference. Ryan and Brandon stood in the line for those who didn't have tickets and fortunately, they were able to get in. The Conference Center seats 21,000.
Lisa (Angela's mom), Angela (married to our son Ryan), Kathleen( our granddaughter), Heidi (married to Angela's brother). They were able to attend the Women's General Conference Session on Saturday evening. Our other Grandson, Cody got to attend conference on Sunday afternoon with Grandpa & Grandma Plumb.

Karen and I made this invitation that we handed out to the Branch members and friends. Conference times are later on the East Coast as you can see!

All Sessions of General Conference were broadcast via satellite transmission to the Massena Branch Chapel.

And just in case a measly invitation wasn't good enough - Karen made 9 dozen cinnamon rolls to hand out with the invitations. Which involved a small miracle in our lives. When we were here in Massena for April 2019 General Conference there were no Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls to be found, high or low. I even went to the bakery manager at Walmart and asked her if they would be willing to add Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls to their store products. She actually went up the line and asked the store buyers and they said NO! So, Karen found a recipe for Cinnamon Rolls using Rhodes bread dough. They were good, but a lot more work. So we went to Walmart to buy bread dough this last week and lo and behold: They had Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls available for sale! You have your miracles and we'll have ours! This definitely qualifies!

Thank you Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls for coming to little Massena, New York!!! You helped our Cinnamon Roll tradition for General Conference to live on!
Karen made Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup, Salad and Bread Sticks for a light dinner before the Women's General Conference Session. 15 Sisters came and had a nice time together. (That's a big crowd for our little branch!)
Last preparation day, we drove across the North Country to enjoy the fall foliage and we were not disappointed!
Just look at how beautiful it is! Everyone should be able to see this in person - it will take you breath away.

Just driving down the tree-lined road is a beautiful adventure:

We helped Carlena along with her Sister take High School Senior pictures. This is one that her sister took and the one she decided to use - it's a beautiful picture of this special young women.
Sister Penrod was sneaking up to photo-bomb our picture taking, but we caught her in the act!
Sister Penrod, Carlena & Sister Wiese - Sister Penrod's hands were cold, so she wrapped them in my stocking cap. (She ain't seen nothing yet!!! It gets cold in the North Country.)
Nature Nuts had a lesson on squirrels this week and made a squirrel using leaves for the tail.

Nature Nuts starts out every week with a little song and dance. Karen was asked to help because they were a person short - make sure you watch the video - she hasn't lost a step!!!

Joel is teaching 60 kindergartners about turtles. Fortunately, the broke up into 3 groups of 20. But Joel and Thomas are two special guys - they are so good with the kids.
Time to clean the upper windows at the Nature Center.
We had to give a Massena Branch member a ride to Canton, so we popped in on Denise who was baptized in Massena in April of this year and then moved to Canton. She was doing great and it was good to catch up.
As part of our trip to enjoy the fall leaves, we stopped at Whiteface Mountain which is one of the higher peaks in the Adirondacks at just under 5,000 feet.
The beautiful scenery from the parking lot at the top of Whiteface Mountain.
Someday, we'll figure out how to take selfies!!!
From the parking lot, you walk into a tunnel and take an elevator the last 27 stories to the actual peak.
Here is the tunnel that walk in to get to the elevator. They just finished updating the tunnel (including the copper awning) and installing a new elevator this summer. It was very nice.
View from the peak. Lots of trees and water all over New York.
Another view.
Rock outcropping that leads to one side of the peak.
Just a beautiful site - not as big as the Rockies out west, but just as awesome.
They have a meteorological station on top of the mountain.
Chris finishing up house painting job
Everette pulled Seniority - he's older and picked the shorter ladder!
John making a mercy run - bringing food for Everette & Chris - John is a good friend and helped by getting the "boys" to the job and home and brought some food a few times. Thank you John!!!

Another busy week in Paradise. Non-pictured service:
Visited Bob & Eva at Massena Hospital late Sunday night. He's getting better!
Went to Singles FHE on Monday night at the Rest Home.
Took Michael to Canton to School on Tuesday afternoon.
Picked up Michael from Canton on Tuesday night
Went with the Sisters for a lesson with Danielle on Tuesday night.
Went to Young Women's on Wednesday night and made treats for a couple of the YW that haven’t been coming
Watched Seminary Virtual Gathering with Young Women
BYU PathwayConnect – Week 4 on Thursday night - We have 22 students who are working hard.
Attended Bible Study on Thursday afternoon
Early Friday morning – gave a ride to Charnay to work
Late Friday night – picked Charnay up from work
Watched all 5 sessions of General Conference
Potluck on Sunday between Conference Sessions.