When Talents are Shared, ALL are Blessed.

by Mark and Karen Spear

Everyone has been blessed with special talents. They are gifts from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Sometimes you may think of music, art, or sports as the only talents that a person may have, but there are other talents that aren’t so obvious. You may be talented at being a good friend or being dependable. Perhaps it’s easy for you to fix things that are broken. Maybe you give good talks. Not everyone is given the same talents. Last Friday night, the Massena Branch members were able to share some of their special talents.

4th Annual Massena Branch Talent Show sponsored by the Branch Young Women

Glow Stick Dance by the Young Women. Awesome special effects!

When We're Home Alone...hilarious parody on When There's Love at Home:

Pictures painted by the Elliott family.

Broderick has been writing Poems since grade school:

Aubriella & Elise sing new Aladdin Song: Speechless

Aubriella plays the piano:

Elise sings and plays piano:

Declan shows off his singing talents.

Craig tickling the keys on the piano:

Rebekah sings:

Maxwell jams on the sax:

Aaron shows off his skills on the violin:

The crowd!
More Crowd!
Karen sharing about her true love: the St Lawrence Seaway. Her dad worked at the Seaway and this plaque with samples of products that were carried on the ships was given to him when he retired.

Karen talks about Seaway - she is the queen of the ship chasers!

Carlena sings and signs a song:

Leah-Mae shows off her makeup skills with Elise as her model:

Everette dedicates his version of the Old Rugged Cross to his mom:

Chris shared some stories of when he worked for the fire department.
Sharon's crocheted blanket - she said it took her about a year to complete.
Three leafed clover tongue roll. Sister Penrod will definitely be able to convince some young man in the future to marry her with this impressive talent!

Sister Potts repeating all 50 states in alphabetic order in one breath! We dare you to try it:

Sister Weise singing and playing the ukulele:

John Sterling's chocolate cherry cake.

Listen to John talk about his cooking talents:

Branch Leaders having fun at the beach:

An Amish family on the way home from church. There were multiple buggies and young men riding bicycles all dressed up in nice clothes.
We traveled (about 2 hours) to Plattsburg Branch to share a presentation about the BYU PathwayConnect Program during the 2nd hour of church.
Three Plattsburg members with Karen. The sister seated on the right, Josephine Arogyasami, shared her conversion story with us. She is from India and joined the church in 1984 while still living in India. Her husband came across the Book of Mormon and sought out the missionaries and joined the church - they were Catholics. It took her 3 more years before she joined. She was called to be the first Relief Society President in India.She has her PhD in Biology and taught for about 18 years at Southern Virginia University, the unofficial church college in the eastern US. She currently serves again as Relief Society President.
We were so excited, the branch Sacrament program was their Primary program - they have 9 children in the primary. This 11 year old daughter of the Branch President has already joined the Young Women's program, but got volunteered to help with the program - her mom is the Primary President!!! She sang the second part of A Child's Prayer while the nine Primary children sang the other part. It was very sweet - she did an awesome job.
The Plattsburg Branch had a Potluck after church - the tables were still decorated from a Fall Festival party that they had the previous week.

While in Plattsburg, we had to drive by Lake Champlain which was about a mile away from the church. Karen has read about this area during the Revolutionary Ward and the War of 1812 and wanted to see the lake.
In early 1777, British General John Burgoyne led 8,000 troops from Canada, down Lake Champlain, and into the Champlain Valley. The goal of this invasion was to divide the New England colonies, thus forcing the Continental Army into a separated fight on multiple fronts. Lake Champlain provided Burgoyne with protected passage deep into the American colonies. Burgoyne’s army reached Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence in late June 1777. During the night of July 5, the American forces fled Ticonderoga as the British took control of the fort. However, Burgoyne’s southern campaign did not go uncontested.

On October 7, 1777, American General Horatio Gates, who occupied Bemis Heights, met Burgoyne’s army at the Second Battle of Freeman’s Farm. At Freeman’s Farm, Burgoyne’s army suffered its final defeat and ended their invasion south into the colonies. Ten days later, on October 17, 1777, British General Burgoyne surrendered his army at Saratoga. This defeat was instrumental to the momentum of the Revolutionary War, as the defeat of the British army along the Champlain-Hudson waterway convinced France to ally with the American army.

Lake Champlain briefly became the nation's sixth Great Lake on March 6, 1998, when President Clinton signed Senate Bill 927. This bill, which was led by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and reauthorized the National Sea Grant Program, contained a line declaring Lake Champlain to be a Great Lake. This status enabled its neighboring states to apply for additional federal research and education funds allocated to these national resources. However, following a small uproar, the Great Lake status was rescinded on March 24 (although New York and Vermont universities continue to receive funds to monitor and study the lake).

Another busy week in Paradise. Non-pictured activities:
Visit the Cardiologist - Not experiencing any problems, just trying stay on top of things.
2 Hospice visits
Help move a few things for Ellie who is being taught by the Sister Missionaries
Young Women’s - final preparation for Talent Show
Clean the church
District Council in Potsdam - reporting and training - lots of role playing
BYU PathwayConnect Preparation and Gathering
Mission-wide Conference call –Light the World - One by One - more on this next week!
Bible Study – Elijah - Old Testament Prophet
Missionary Correlation Meeting
Piano Lessons for two children in the branch
Dinner with Rita who is being taught by the Sisters
Handing out Talent Show Invitations (Texting, Calling and Facebook, too)
Shakes, Spoons Game - they even let me win once.
More boxes for Sister Webber who is moving this Saturday
Lots of visits and delivering of treats to members and friends of the church.
Dinner to Bro Keesling and the Vaisey's
Feed the missionaries - always one of the highlights of our week