West Virginia Christmas

December was jam packed!  It was so much fun.  One of the great things about the season was the "He is the Gift" initiative!!  Talk about powerful.  I think many of us were influenced by that special message and it changed everything for Christmas this year, between actions, music, thoughts shared and so forth.  As we thought about how we could "Share the Gift" we chose to be instruments in God's hand and provide a miracle for someone every day.  So every day we prayed to be a miracle to someone and every day we were!  It was a remarkable experience and it really strengthened our testimonies of God's love for everyone and that He is mindful of them. 

We met a lot of new young adults this month and planned two YSA parties and a missionary lunch/breakfast.  We spent two days for four hours each day at the Marshall student center at a display table and met many wonderful young people there. We were given free tickets to the Kentucky Opry in Prestonsburg, where a sister from the Martin ward preforms regularly.  It was a good old Country Christmas program.  So enjoyable!  We also went to Belfry, KY to participate in a Spanish Club auction to raise money.  It was put on by one of our YSA's whose girlfriend painted the Feliz Navidad picture on our wall.

We made fudge and peanut brittle, sent out Christmas cards to family and YSA's.  We took goodies around to some people and on and on!  Best of all we Skyped with the kids at Christmas.  The grandkids were so excited to tell all about their Christmas.  New Years day we invited a family over for dinner and taught them how to play the newspaper game. We had a ton of fun!!

One of the things we asked our grandkids and family to do was to send us pictures or some kind of artwork about Snowmen (do you want to build a snowman?) or any kind of Christmas art. With painters tape we taped them all up on our bare wall. :)  That become our happy wall!!  It was so fun!  Others came as painted artwork or handwork.  So creative!!  Plus, we had a happy wall from Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Then the Christmas cards that came also became happy walls.  So we had a wonderful Christmas.  Here are some pictures, cards and art from Christmas. All of them were Amazing!! We are so grateful.  And since we have no other decorations, they may be up for a long long time :):)

Thanks to everyone for your Christmas wishes and gifts.  We love you all so much and appreciate your support!!  We know this is God's work!  We know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, The Gift!  May we all continue to make a difference in someone's life. :) 

 

 





Thanksgiving and more

Our 48th Grandchild was born November 8, 2014 Elizabeth Ember Hoggan (Ellie) to Joe and Becky Hoggan. We are so happy for them. She is adorable as you can see.  We've had a couple of opportunities to Skype with them and meet little Ellie. We are so thankful for that.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with the Kirby family.  They have a small house, but huge hearts. We felt right at home!  The Zone leaders and district leader were there too.   Sister Kirby fixed a huge meal! And it was delicious.  We had a really nice time.

 

We along with the younger missionaries had a booth display at Marshall University at the student center for two days and it turned out to be very successful!!  The thing that drew the most interest... Yup!  Family History.  It started several really cool conversations.

 

The day before transfers we host lunch for the missionaries here in Huntington.  We served breakfast this time and had a lot of fun with these amazing missionaries.

 

 

 

This is the Paintsville KY seminary class.  Dedicated students and teacher.  All of the units are like this.  So awesome!!

 

Miracles and Tender Mercies

Hello everyone.  Since we last posted, we spent 4 days trying to find or visit with some 27 young adults. We were 1 for 27 :(  We were rather discouraged by Sunday night.  But we looked on the positive side in that we learned some things about many of them, like they've moved or the address was incorrect and so forth.  We have also tried to contact by phone or text with very little results.

But yesterday the Lord blessed us with miracles and tender mercies.  We were able to actually talk to or receive texts from 7 young adults.  And they were all (but one) happy to talk with us.  Finally!  So we were grateful and felt that our prayers and fasting and effort are paying off. 

We attended Seminary last Friday with the Huntington 1st ward. The two teachers take turns.  Here is a picture of the class.  It was a very nice  class.  Her husband baked blueberry muffins for us all.

 

Saturday we went with permission from the Mission President to the Louisville, KY temple with our young adults to perform baptisms.  We had family names and so those were done.  It was a fun trip.  Only two went with us in our car (it is a three hour drive out there and the same back) but three others came from two other towns.  Sadly I forgot to get a picture!  Next time. :)

 

Sunday we attended church in Ashland KY and were asked to speak impromptu. The Ashland ward members were warm and friendly and the Bishop was so very helpful.  And the big NEWS is that Ashland will now have an institute every week!  We requested for it and President Lim (stake President) said yes it was time.  So we are very excited for these Young Adults. There could be as many as 5 attend.  Now we have 5 institute units in the stake.  So grateful!  We feel God working and we feel the faith of the Saints as well.

 

We have a busy week ahead of us, institute in Portsmouth OH.  We will spend the night in a hotel authorized and paid for by the CES budget and the next morning we will attend seminary at 5:45 am.  Then there will be more visits and more contacting.  District meeting on Friday.  Inservice meetings in Huntington and Charleston.  And it keeps going on.  It is so good to be here and we feel the Lord's hand in our lives.

 

Here is a picture of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Milton.  I've always wanted to see one for myself.  They are an old store chain that's been around for many years, but we never saw them in Utah or Idaho.  Most of them were in Midwest or east.  In fact I don't think there are very many of them left around anymore. So when we saw it I had to take a picture :)  Then we went in and Elder Hoggan had fresh baked pastries and I had chicken pot pie both made right there in the store.  Delicious!! 

 



 

Well, .... that's all folks!   Love you all.  God Lives.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  The gospel is true!!  Have a great week. 

 





CES Broadcast and other

Our First Young Adult activity was a success!  Nine young adults attended and several young adult leaders and the Stake Presidency.  We didn't get everyone in the picture but here is a good one of most of them.  Dinner was a potato and salad bar which we prepared and that went well.  The young adults then planned some future activities and then we had the CES Devotional Fireside broadcast streamed in from SLC.  Elder Halstrom's talk was powerful.  We hope you get a chance to watch it.  There were more YA who were going to try to come but couldn't make it.  But we felt for the first activity the YA have had in a very long time, this turned out great!  Our next activity is going to the Louisville KY temple to do baptisms on Saturday.  We have 5 committed to that.  We will drive some of them out and participate with them.  Very excited about that. :)  The next activity will be to join with the Stake for their Fall Ball on November 22nd.  Then we are in the planning stages for a Christmas activity in December. 

 

Last week we attended seminary in Ashland KY but I forgot to get a picture.  There were 7 seminary students!  That is fantastic and they were all on time.  They have a great group.  It takes us 50 minutes to drive there. It starts at 6:15 am. :)

 

We have been trying to contact YA on our list, both by calling or going to see them.  Some of the phones are not working numbers anymore and addresses don't always pan out.  We have visited with the Huntington 1st and 2nd ward Bishop and the Ashland KY Bishop and they have been helpful in determining information about some of the young adults.  Some have moved, some have married, some are not interested and some are away at school or on missions.  We are just enjoying the process and having a good time getting to know those we can. 

 

We have been invited to dinner a couple of times and have several future offers for dinner.  Everyone is so warm and kind, even those who aren't members.  West Virginians are great people and we feel blessed to be here. 

 

The graveyard reminded us of Germany.  They keep silk flowers on their graves all year long. 

 

It looks like a blanket of yellow snow!! Very Pretty.

Can you see the deer? She and her two fawns were just casually walking around everyone's yards and the road.  We see deer a lot here.  We also saw some cardinal birds this week and last.  The saying is that if you see a cardinal, then it is going to rain.  And it did both times we saw the cardinal.  We also saw what we think are blue jays.  Beautiful birds. 

We had no couch so the mission got us a new one.  The three tables are new too. The lamps were some old ones they had.  They have tried to make things comfy for us.  We are grateful. 

 

 

Pictures on campus at Marshall University. "We Are Marshall".  Well we aren't but it seems to be a nice school and they have a winning record in football. :)

 

Today we went to Gallipolis Ohio for seminary (one hours drive) which started at 6:40 am.  It was at a member's home.  They had lots of different animals, one of which was a turkey.  Beautiful!  I think he's on the list for Thanksgiving dinner. :)  Ohio is more open and more farmland than we've seen in Western West Virginia.  It was pretty there.  The town is situated on the Ohio river and so is Huntington.

 

We are very grateful to serve here in the West Virginia Charleston mission!!  We know this is God's work.  We love our family and miss them and we know the Lord is watching over them.



 

 

 

 

 

 



Welcome to West Virginia... and Kentucky.

Finally, we have a little break in our schedule.  It has been very busy and even fast paced at times so there just hasn't been the moments we needed to put together another post.  But here we are. :) 



Going back now from when we left the MTC On Wednesday after class ended and we tried to say goodbye to Anthony, we traveled to Bruce's that night.  We were so tired and overwhelmed when we got to Bruce and Millie's and Uncle Dave and Aunt Florence that we forgot to take pictures of them.  So sorry you guys. :(  But we had a nice visit with both of them.  I believe Millie posted a picture on Facebook.  Thanks Millie.:)  Bruce took care of our dental work and Millie brought the kids over so we could visit while he worked.  Darling kids.!!

On our way out to Dave and Florence's we passed through the beautiful Rocky Mountains.  Made us so homesick!!  But we got a beautiful picture of Vail, CO.  At Dave and Florence's we watched the BYU game and ate the great dinner they provided.   Thanks so much. 





We made a side trip up to Adam ondi-Ahman in MO and spent some time there.  It was very beautiful and special.  And it wasn't raining. :)  While there, we met a group of LDS Chinese from mainland China who came to attend General Conference in SLC.  They were in the process of touring the church history sites when we saw them. We couldn't believe it!  They came at great expense and sacrifice to make this trip. They were so friendly and excited to see us. They thought we were the on-site missionaries.  But they were still happy to see us and visit for a little while. So we got their picture!!  It makes us so happy that there is a growing number of LDS Chinese in China and its coming from the members themselves.  They said there are many of their youth who go on missions, outside of China of course.  And we met several of them at the MTC.  The gospel is being taught in China. :)



At Leah and Chris's we made Pasta.  Talk about fun!!  We had a great visit with them and the kids. Good times. :) Oh and you can see Grandpa in the background helping out too. :) The night before this we were in Normal. Illinois attending Madison's college soccer game.  She played really well and they won, despite the fact that this huge girl (opponent) took her out TWICE, on purpose!!  She is a valuable player on the team. Thanks for the fun Leah and Chris!

It rained pretty much the entire way out here.  But we were blessed because the worst of it was either in front or behind us.  Including Tornados.  After we left Leah's to head for Evansville, Indiana to spend the night, it rained and rained.  And then all of a sudden the sun was shining and there were two huge complete rainbows straight in front of us on the freeway.  It was so huge I couldn't get a whole picture of it.  But the colors were so vivid and beautiful we just drank it in.  It stayed there for a long time too.  It was as if the Lord was saying "I'm watching out for you and things will be fine.  You have a wonderful new beginning ahead of you.  Enjoy!!"  I know that rainbow was meant for us.  A beautiful message from God.



So this is where we live.  It is a townhome with two levels, with the bedrooms and office upstairs.  So we do a lot of climbing up and down.  We do try to be very careful  coming down. The Lord is blessing Beth that her legs are getting stronger and sometimes, she can run up them.  That helps her to get up easier. :)  Grandpa is so strong he just breezes up them!!.  All that jogging I suppose.  He is still struggling with the pain in his foot from the jogging, so we are going to see the doctor next week.



We've attended institute four times, two of them in Kentucky this week. Few students attend and in fact, out of 440, 18-30 year olds, on the rosters, only 55 attend a church meeting of some kind.  So we have our work cut out for us.  But we plan to utilize the young missionaries as well as the members of each ward and branch.  The Stake President is really concerned and we have counseled with him on what he wants us to do.  So we are moving forward with that plan.  And we will just love them to pieces! 

We have also attended a couple of different seminaries and they are doing better than institute, but still there is room for improvement there as well.  We are over that too, but for now the stake pres. wants us to focus on the Young Adults.  So here are some pictures of some of the classes we attended.  And actually when we went to Pikeville Kentucky where the missionaries teach the lesson, no one came.  But they rarely do apparently. So a lot of work is needed there and the missionaries are really trying. 

It is beautiful here is West Virginia.  Lots and lots of deciduous trees and of course they are turning color too.  Because there has been so much rain (we have only had 2 or 3 days of sunshine since we've been here) and no freeze yet, the colors are not as vibrant as normal, but it's still very pretty.  We got invited to dinner last Sunday by a member family who kind of live up in the mountains. We had soup and bread. They were really nice and have all the comforts.  There are lots of people who live way back in the mountains and valleys, they call them the Hollers, where people still live without water and bathroom facilities and electricity.  Some even won't let you on their property and have guns to make sure you don't come on their property!!.  I don't think we will find ourselves out there, although, the missionaries tell us that there are members who live out in the Hollers and they said the people are really nice.  So.... !!

The accent in their speech is very evident, but even more so in the small towns in Kentucky.  I'm starting to talk that way in my head unconsciously and then I have to stop myself.  Once in while I have almost made fun of them without thinking!  Just to be funny.  But that would not be good.  They are very proud people.  But they are also very warm and kind, too and friendly.  The RA doctor spent an hour with us the other day just chatting and talking.  Never had that happen before. :)

Have you ever heard of the Hatfields and the McCoys?  They were two families from Scotland and Ireland who settled in the Eastern Kentucky and Western West Virginia in the 1860's.  They ended up fighting and feuding all the time.  Pikeville, Kentucky is where some of them are buried.  The conflict lasted many years.  Interestingly enough, in 2003 the two families signed an agreement on CBS morning news, saying the conflict was finally over. :)  In April in Pikeville, Kentucky, they have their annual Hillbilly Days.  We've decided we have to go to that long enough to take some pictures. :)

The goal industry is struggling here in this area. Many plants have been shut down.  It has to do with the Environmentalists.  But the problem is that more than 7000 people have lost their jobs. So the economy is really hurting here and many people have moved away including members of the church.  So many of the wards an branches are struggling. 

 

 

There is an interesting sign at one of our churches.  Definitely not the usual church authorized logo.  We've heard they have been asked to take it down.  I guess they will eventually.  :)

 

 

 

We sure do love you all and miss you so much.  But we know that what we are doing is very important.  Rose and Doug, the Campbell children's Aunt and Uncle were here just a few years ago as missionaries doing the same thing we are doing, (I know, crazy huh?) and many good things were happening when they left.  Now there is little going on.  Rose has been in contact with us and helping us. So we have a lot of work to do to build it back up again.  But people have to want to also. 

 

Our hope is that your faith stays strong.  That you teach your families good things and love them to pieces.  We know this is God's work to rescue the lost in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. We know that Jesus Christ is having the earth prepared for His second coming.  He IS coming.  And when He does, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is the Christ, the Savior of the world.  General Conference was so powerful. Read and re-read the messages from the prophets of God.  We love you all so much!!!  Stay strong!!   Hugs!  Grandpa and Grandma