Almost Christmas

Last week we told about our Nativity. This week Mike built a little manger for Baby Jesus and we added real grass hay from the church property. A member family cuts and bales the hay and they get to keep it. It is good for us to have the field mowed and good for them to be able to have the hay for their animals.

Last Sunday I didn't finish our blog until after midnight. (It was a busy day.) I led the choir for choir practice (the choir director was sick) and then played the piano for Relief Society. That evening I accompanied our neighbor John Marshall when he sang Christmas numbers at the Residence, and then I played for group singing after that. Monday night Mike and I gave the home evening lesson at the residence and I played the opening song.

The Marshal family, Jeff and Sharon and their two sons, John and Nathan live next door to us. They are a very nice family. John has a wonderful voice and he had a lead part in their school play which we attended last month. It was GREAT! I asked him if he would sing for us at the Memorial and he agreed. He did a wonderful job.

On the other side of us is Dave. He is divorced and has a son who just got married recently. We had a birthday party for him in October, then we invited him to come to the visitor's center. He did and he loved it, and told his mom all about it. He went back later on his own and saw the Joseph Smith movie. (I told him that I had a son, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson who were in it.) He really enjoyed it. He had a hip replacement a month ago and was sick to his stomach from the pain medications. I asked if he would like the missionaries to give him a blessing and he said he would. The two things he told us about from the blessing were that God loves him, and "he is a good man." He is reading the Book of Mormon and the missionaries (young elders who live upstairs) are teaching him. Every time we feed the young missionaries we invite him over for dinner too.

Rich is one of our neighbors upstairs. His mobile home got washed away in the flood after Hurricane Irene. He lives with a beautiful black cat named Ichabod. He talks to it just as if it were one of his children. We all love it. He explained to me one day that he was able to give up alcohol on his own, but no matter what he did, he was not able to give up drugs. He prayed and prayed and prayed for help and one day his prayers were answered. "God just took it away from me," he said. He is very grateful and thanks God every day for that blessing. He told us that the cat (he found wandering around) was a gift from God too. Rich loves to read. The first time the Elders talked to him he told them he wasn't interested, but as time went on he told them he might consider reading the Book of Mormon. One afternoon I had the opportunity to talk to him out in front of our apartment. I explained that the Book of Mormon was the story of people who were descendants of Joseph in Egypt. I told briefly how they got here and that they brought the writings of the Old Testament prophets with them. He said, "You mean the Book of Mormon doesn't go against the Bible?" "Oh no, It doesn't." I told him. "It is another testament of the Bible, and of Jesus Christ." I explained how the books are cross referenced, and how the Book of Mormon goes along hand in hand with the bible. I told him how the prophet Nephi love to quote Isaiah. He said that he would read it. I texted the Elders and they took one over. We haven't heard how it is going.

Over 300 people visited the Memorial last night (Saturday). Most of those people have not been there before. Friday evening a group came from a neighboring ward. One of the men came up to Sister Johnston (Senior Missionary) and asked if she remembered him. She looked at him and said, "You do look familiar." He then told her that she was the one who gave him a Book of Mormon one year ago at Christmas. He went home read it and was baptized shortly thereafter. She was thrilled to know that.

Mike had an interesting miracle this past week. Last Sunday he looked at the ward bulletin and saw Brother Caswell's birthday on it. On Monday night he wished Brother Caswell Happy Birthday. Let me back up and explain that when we first began going to home evening, Brother Caswell sat alone. Mike started sitting by him every week and visiting with him and they have become very good friends. Brother Caswell has one daughter who had a brain tumor when she was young, which caused her to have some disabilities. His wife left them, and he has raised their daughter by himself. It meant a lot to him that Mike wished him Happy Birthday. (Here is the miracle part) Brother Caswell asked, "How did you know it was my birthday?" Mike said, "It was in the bulletin." Brother Caswell said that it was not in the bulletin. They forgot to put it in, and he pulled out a bulletin and sure enough it was NOT there. They put it in this week with a little note that said (late). Well Brother Charchenko saw it in the bulletin, even though it wasn't there.

We SEND OUR LOVE and wish you all a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!

Our Nativity

We didn't bring a creche or nativity with us, but it just didn't seem right to have Christmas without one, so we decided to make one. We began looking around for things we could use. We wanted small rocks to build walls with, but it was difficult to find ones of a uniform size. One day, when lookind around behind our apartment for rocks, I found some weathered pieces of sheet rock and some pieces of plywood that were so old that they had come apart in thin layers. We also gathered lots of sticks from the woods by our shop (at the memorial) and brought home a few pieces of slate left over from the roof of the visitor's center. We also found some pieces of birchbark. Mike calls it dumpster diving, but I started looking for everything that had been thrown away (wood scraps etc) that might be able to be used.
We had a great time. Mike built a little corral
(on the right) and some places for hay (on the left). The back wall is made from the weathered sheet rock, and the floor is slate. The boards are made from birch bark cut in strips to look like boards, with some lines and knot-holes painted in with oil paints. We had to soak the birch bark and then it would peel apart in layers, almost as thin as paper. The cross boards are from the weathered wood behind the house and the roof is made of pine needles. The wind blew down a huge limb and it was salvaged for the roof.

It took a few weeks, (some bandaids for Elder Charchenko when his carving knife slipped) and lots of patience, but we were able to make a nativity for our apartment.

The characters (Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus) came from the dollar store. (We have learned well from mom). We had to scrape off the bright colored orange eye shadow, and extra eye-lashes, to transform some unusual looking faces into ones that looked more appropriate. The beard and hair of Joseph came from black pom-poms. We thought you might enjoy seeing the almost finished product. Elder Charchenko is going to make a manger for baby Jesus. It really needs some animals, but we have looked everywhere with no success. It's OK. Mom started out with just a Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.

We hope that everyone reading this letter is having a great Christmas, and we pray that you will remember the REAL REASON WE CELEBRATE. Let's keep Christ in Christmas by reaching out in love to those around us. Smile and be happy

Love and Hugs to everyone!

Making Christmas Come Alive

The little donkey on the left (a neighbor's pet) was donated for the month of December to be part of our Nativity pageant and now he is housed by the visitor's center for children to visit, and pet when they come to see the lights. There are also two sheep. All are very friendly. People used to just drive around to see the lights, but now that the sheep and donkeys are here (and cookies and apple cider in the residence) they come and visit and stay a while. Christmas is a busy time here and everyone has worked very hard to make it beautiful and special for visitors.
Elder Charchenko helped to build the stable and corrals that you see in the next picture.
The live Nativity program took place in this stable.

As many of you know our family (especially mother) has spent many hours building and improving the life-size nativity they put up every year to share with everyone. It was always a dream of mother's to have a nativity. Fourteen years ago they began with Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. They used plastic pipe and chicken wire and donated heads that were no longer used at the beauty school. Mom added beards and mustaches to make the ladies look like shepherds and Wise-men. She also used rubber Halloween masks and painted them. Each year as improvements and additions were made it has become more and more beautiful. All the children and their spouses have helped in some way or another. As many as can make it come to Pomerene the Saturday after Thanksgiving to help put up the Nativity. Each year something new was added. Then one year Mom found a beautiful Baby Jesus online and ordered it. It was FANTASTIC! I will never forget how excited she was when it came. Baby Jesus no longer looked like a doll. He looks like a real baby (as you can see by this picture).


As you gather together this Christmas season with your loved ones, we encourage you to remember the real reason we celebrate.

There is a saying that we have been hearing lately and it is very true...

"Jesus is the reason for the season."
We hope you are finding joy and remembering what is truly important! We send love and greetings. Make it the best Christmas ever!

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

After a month of hard work we had our lighting ceremony at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial. It was AWESOME!
Nothing can compare with being here, but we hope you can feel some of the excitement as we share our pictures with you. Some of the trees took 3-4 days (working all day) to decorate. We had a live nativity complete with sheep and a donkey. Elder Charchenko was working the spotlights and Sister Charchenko was playing the piano so we didn't get any pictures of the program. He did a great job of the lights and the nativity turned out perfectly.



Over 350 people attended each night. We served donuts and hot chocolate to everyone there.

I planned to get pictures of the nativity the second night but a last minute call to bring my keyboard sent me running out the door without remembering the camera. I went home after the program so we could get pictures of the lights.

On the right I am standing underneath the covered bridge all made of lights.


There are two beautiful buildings here. One is the residence and the other is the Visitor's Center.
The residence is the home of the Director and his wife (Elder and Sister Shuck). The other one is the Visitor's Center. The residence is a beautiful home with restrooms and a large office (4 computers, printers and internet) for all of the missionaries to use. The Visitor's Center has a
large hallway, two large rooms and a small theater.

There are 6 of us who have been working on lights, keeping two 65-foot lifts busy almost all day every day for three weeks. I will send more pictures in our next blog. I took a lot of pictures before I realized that you can not take night-time pictures
without a tri-pod. After we got the tri-pod set up, the pictures turned out great, but we were almost out of battery. Hope you enjoy the ones we got. Love to everyone. Hope you had a SUPER GREAT THANKSGIVING!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This morning (Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving) we woke up to 7 inches of snow and it is still snowing. It is beautiful!

When I write I am talking to mom, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles, friends etc. so instead of saying Mom & Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, or Mike and Janie, I decided to just stick with Elder and Sister Charchenko, since that is our title while we are serving the Lord at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial.

We had an amazing home evening Monday night. Everyone (missionaries, ward members, and guests) was given a turn to tell what they were thankful for. It was a great opportunity to really get to know each other as we shared the things we are grateful for. Elder Charchenko choked up (as most everyone did) when he said he was grateful for the church. He said, "It saved my life." He really does not believe he would be alive today if his life had not changed because of the gospel. He expressed gratitude for me, and for ALL of his family. We are both grateful for our family! When it was my turn I said I am grateful for the love that I feel from everyone, starting with Elder Charchenko, his family (especially Richard, Judi and George), my family (brothers, sisters, aunts & uncles, hundreds of cousins) and our children and grandchildren (who are so precious and special to us). I am also grateful for the love I feel from the Elders and Sisters here, and the members of our South Royalton Ward who are so good to us. One of the Sisters at Home Evening was not a member of our church, but she was delightful as she shared her experiences with Mormons. She said, "Mormons are the most Christian Christians I have ever met." She plans to be baptized but is waiting for her family to get used to the idea, especially her daughter in college.

I WOULD LIKE TO ENCOURAGE ALL OF YOU TO TAKE A FEW MINUTES ON THANKSGIVING DAY TO SHARE WHAT YOU ARE GRATEFUL FOR. It helps you feel the Spirit of Christ when you do.

WE LOVE YOU ALL AND ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOU! HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

P. S. We have had 3 weeks of amazing warm and dry weather so we could put up our Christmas lights. WHAT A BLESSING IT HAS BEEN! Elder Charchenko and I were on the lift after dark last night trying to finish up the last trees. It was calm and did not even feel that cold. The lights are going to be SPECTACULAR. I WILL SEND PICTURES.

WE ARE STILL DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS
and HAVING A LOT OF FUN

This week was the same as last week as far as the weather goes. Monday through Thursday was absolutely gorgeous, and dry, with sunshine, and no wind! On Friday (the day this picture was taken) it got really cold, windy, and even snowed on us for a bit. Would you believe that Mike got cold and called it quits before I did. That is pretty unusual.
We are anxious to see what the trees are going to look like all lit up at night. If it wasn't so cold, we could decorate them at night so we could see what they look like.

The lighting ceremony will be Friday after Thanksgiving. We have a live nativity on Friday and Saturday night. There are two stakes and each stake takes a night. Then we serve donuts and warm cider to everyone who comes. We are looking forward to seeing the nativity.

Everywhere we go the people are very positive toward us. We ask people at the grocery store, or clothing store if they have seen the lights and 9 out of 10 say, "Yes, I go there every year." Then they tell us how beautiful it is and how much they enjoy it.

Yesterday I went to a Craft Fair at Sharon Elementary. It was fun to see all the creative things people made. One person painted walnuts red, and put a little green top cut out of felt and they looked like strawberries. Another person made purses, bags, and all kinds of containers out of empty juice cartons (like juicy juice). She cut squares and crocheted them together. Last night the Congregational Church in Sharon had a fundraiser dinner which was also held at the Elementary School. We had Pork Roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked squash, rolls, and salad, with pie for desert. Four of us went with our missionary name tags on and we had a great visit with the people at our table. The lady across from us told us that she knows a lot of Mormons and she recently went to a funeral at our church. She said, "I feel more comfortable with the people at your church than anywhere else I go."

I would like to share a couple of stories from the Visitor's Center. About a month ago a lovely couple came to the visitor's center from somewhere in the midwest. Sister Fisher (I love Sister Fisher) took them on the tour. This is what she said about it, "I remembered them. After a while all of your tours run together, but this was a special one and the Spirit was really strong." They asked a lot of questions. After they left the lady wanted to tell someone how much she enjoyed it. She looked everywhere on line trying to find a place where she could make a comment. In the end she wrote a letter and someone at the MTC found it online and sent it to our Mission President. This is what she said: "I have been a catholic all my life but I never felt the spirit of Christ until I came here. I have never been so happy in my life." She praised the Memorial and the people, and said she was very grateful she had come.

The next story also comes from Sister Fisher (her husband is the Elder who is 5 foot 24 inches tall.) Here is how the story goes: One day a lady arrived all by herself. She looked like a biker. She was riding on a Harley motorcycle, dressed all in leathers, with a bandana. She was all by herself. She seemed to enjoy the tour and Sister Fisher wondered if she might be interested in the church. As she was getting ready to leave the biker lady told Sister Fisher (who lives in St. George) that she is a Temple worker in the St. George Temple. Her husband had passed away, and she was on a road trip across the United States. That is what you call a paradigm shift.

Quick update on Hurricane Irene: There were 450 homes lost, 32 Bridges destroyed and 10 million dollars damage.

MESSAGE FOR TODAY: COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS!

Love and greetings from Vermont.

Does it look a bit cold?

This first picture is the view out of our front window after the first snow. The snow plow had already gone by and the roads were clear. We got 4-5 inches. We were supposed to get about 10 inches, but the big storm went around us. We didn't even loose electricity. I was explaining to my mother that the Joseph Smith Birthplace is protected. The heavy rains from Hurricane Irene moved in an unexpected direction and came down just west of us. When we went in on Monday after Irene, the flowers were just as beautiful as when we left on Friday. The same with this snow storm. Thousands were without power because heavy snow brought down trees that knocked down power lines, but we were fine. Our apartment is just south of the memorial and we have the same weather they do. Two more storms after this one went completely around us, making it possible for us to put up Christmas lights all week.
Mike caught the sunrise just right in this snowy picture of LDS Lane. We woke up Sunday morning (Oct 30th) to a beautiful blanket of snow. Brother Ronnie Johnson, in our Bishopric, keeps the roads plowed. Elder Charchenko and Elder Starley went in about 7:30 to shovel the walks at the visitor's center, and by 9:00 (when I went to Choir Practice) everything was plowed or shoveled at the church. I wore regular shoes to church.


The week after the snowstorm the weather was beautiful. The snow melted quickly and we were able to go up in the lift to put up lights. I took this picture of Mike when we were above the rooftops decorating the Birch Tree in the background. The temperatures were cold but the sun was shining 4 out of 5 days. I never realized that the temperature doesn't really make much difference in how warm (or cold) you are. What makes the difference is whether the sun is shining or not! Monday through Thursday we had sunshine and it was great. Friday morning we were told that it was supposed to be warmer that day. Well the thermometer said it was warmer, but the wind came up and the sun went behind the clouds and we were really cold.

One thing you might notice in this picture is that there is still green grass. From what I understand it stays green all winter. When the snow melts there is green grass under it. In the picture below you can see the truck and the garage roof below us. We worked on these two birch trees all week and we are still not quite finished.

One more interesting thing before I close. Above I mentioned that Friday a big wind came up (just before lunch) well that turned out to be a blessing too. I will explain. Every day when we come to work, the Elders (and sometimes Sister McGreggor because she enjoyed if) would get one of the leaf blowers and blow off the lane, then Elder McGreggor would run the big tractor with a lawn mower that picked up leaves and compacted them. Keeping the lane beautiful is a big priority here. Well the McGreggors went home to Idaho and the rest of us have been up in the trees putting up lights. I noticed that the leaves were getting bad, but there didn't seem to be much we could do about it. Well, just before lunch, and while we were eating lunch, the wind blew all of the leaves off of the roads and driveway and when we went home Friday (and when we came in for an hour on Saturday) the roads were clean and beautiful! We love you all!

To our children: Keep hugging those grandkids for us.

A Walk Back in Time

One of the things you can do when you visit the Joseph Smith Memorial is walk the trails and roads through the countryside. The old Turnpike Road, the main road through this part of the country, was built more than 200 years ago. The stone walls were built along the sides of the roads in the 1700's. There are stone walls EVERYWHERE here.

Mike loves taking pictures everywhere we go and he took a lot of pictures of this tree with the delicate pink leaves.

I like taking pictures of the rock work and the rock walls. I have taken a lot of pictures of the stone bridge too. The stone bridge was built on the Old Turnpike Road so wagons could cross the brook. (We call them streams.) Many of you have heard me talk about the Stone Bridge. The pictures just don't do it justice.















I am totally fascinated by the rocks here. The one I am sitting on is HUGE! It was moved to it's present location (as a bench) by the use of a front end loader. Someone (a very long time ago) cut it and shaped it and moved it without the help of machinery. Mike is standing by the foundation and cellar of the Solomon Mack home. Solomon was Joseph's grandfather. Because wood was so difficult to cut into boards, when people moved (in those days) they took the boards with them, leaving only the foundation. It is still pretty interesting to me.
We took these pictures last Saturday. This Saturday (last night) it started snowing and we woke up to 5-6 inches of snow this morning. It was beautiful, but melted before the days was over. Can you believe it is going to be NOVEMBER? We have been in Vermont 10 weeks. It has been amazing. We love you all. Write when you can.

October in Vermont

We are still enjoying the fall leaves. Don't you think these leaves look like flowers? Our Bishop and his family just made a quick trip to Utah for their daughter's wedding and back. They said the fall leaves were beautiful in Utah and along the way, and they wondered why Vermont is SO famous for its leaves. When they got home and saw the brilliant RED leaves they remembered why. In Utah and surrounding states, they saw beautiful yellow, gold, and orange leaves, but they didn't see red leaves (like these) until they got back home to Vermont.

We are just beginning to put up Christmas lights. The tree just to the left of the lift is the one we are decorating first. We spent all morning working on this tree, and then took these pictures right after lunch. We spent the entire day and were only half finished with it. (Of course we are still learning)


Elder Charchenko works the lift from inside the basket. In this picture he is standing right behind the controls. He enjoys working with all kinds of machinery and has had a lot of fun with this one. I guess you could say HE IS LOVING IT! It was fun to spend the day working together. The lift works like an arm. From this basket he can drive the machine around down on the ground, raise the arm, extend the arm, bend at the elbow and wrist, swivel right and left, and rotate the bucket. It's amazing how well he can operate it. Can you imagine what Suzy and Alan could do if they had one of these?

This is what we look like at work. You can see a bit of the shop behind us. It has been getting a bit cold (especially up in the air) so I am wearing thermals. We just went shopping yesterday and bought new thermals, Smart Wool Sox, gloves for Mike and an insulated sweatshirt with a hood. THE SOX ARE GREAT. Thanks Jeremy and Erin for telling us about them.

Hope everyone who reads this is well and happy, and doing great. WE ARE! Love you all.

Patriarch Hill

Mike took me on a lovely drive to the top of Patriarch Hill. We went in the big Gator. It was a fun outing for us. I took a picture of Mike in the Gator and he took a picture of me eating apples from a tree up at the top.

The small picture was taken, looking down from the top of the hill. I wish the picture was clearer, but you can get an idea of what it looks like. Vermont is a series of mountains and valleys. You can see the view in this picture because the leaves have already fallen off the tree.

Fall is a lovely time for a drive in Vermont.

(It does not matter what I do, the pictures don't go where I want them to go. Hopefully you will enjoy them anyway.)
















The bridge below was damaged by the floods after Hurricane Irene, so you can no longer drive on it, but it still makes a beautiful picture.
















The leaves have been gorgeous this year, and we feel really blessed to be here.

Thanks to all who have written to us. We love you all and hope you are having a great fall. Can you believe it is the middle of OCTOBER? We have been here two months and it is hard to believe. We have had lots of opportunities to do missionary work as we travel about and with our neighbors. We gave a birthday party for our next door neighbor Dave and invited all of the neighbors. It was great. Sharon and family who live on the other side gave a huge plant (a yellow chrysanthemum) to Dave and she brought one for us too. Dave asked if we would plant it at the Birthplace memorial. We invited him to come and see it and have a tour and he came. He LOVED the tour and he is what missionaries call "Golden". He even called his mother and told her he wanted to bring her up here. To make a long story short he is having the missionary lessons. We love you all. Hug the grandchildren for us.

Story of the Monument

The Miracle of the Joseph Smith Monument


Today was our first opportunity to hear the story of the monument.
Junius F. Wells (Son of Daniel H. Wells) began in the 1890's with the desire to find the birthplace of the prophet Joseph. He asked about buying the property, but at the time the church did not have the money. Several years later, in March 1905 Brother Wells met with a contractor regarding a granite monument for the birthplace of the Prophet. The contractor said such a monument would be feasible, so in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith, Brother Wells received approval to proceed with plans to purchase the birthplace site. Wells planned to purchase the 68 acre farm of the original Solomon Mack farm (Joseph's Grandfather) but in the end, purchased the entire piece of property which consists of 400 acres (including a beautiful Stake camp called Camp Joseph - which is a story for another day).

The monument came from a marble quarry in Barre (pronounced Berry) 40 miles north of the memorial (Top Picture). Mike and I drove past it yesterday. It is the largest marble quarry in the world, and has provided some of the finest granite in the world. Brother Wells determined that the shaft of the monument should be 38 1/2 feet tall, with each foot representing a year of the Prophet's life. He wanted a "perfect shaft" from which to construct the main section of the monument. It was July 24th and he was told that it would take eight to twelve months time to have it ready, but he explained that it must be done before December 23rd or the object in view (the 100th anniversary) would be defeated.
Rush! Was the word given, and no expense was spared to finish the work. After a long search an appropriate piece was found and cut out of the mountainside. Then it was formed and polished. According to the Herald News of December 28, 1905, the shaft is the "largest single spire of polished granite in America."

It was a herculean task to convey the monument to it's present location. The entire monument weights 100 tons. The one piece shaft weighs 40 tons all by itself. The stones were carried by special railroad cars to Royalton. A new iron bridge had recently been constructed across the river, but it was not strong enouth to support the massive load, so the older wooden bridge was strengthened (practically rebuilt) with additional supports (at the church's expense). From Royalton the stone were carried by a specially built wagon that weighed ten tons with tires 20 inches wide. It was pulled by TEN pairs of draft horses. Traveling was extremely difficult because the road bed was soft and the tremendous weight of the stones frequently forced the wagon deep into the mud. To help with this problem, the wagons drove over wooden planks which were continually moved from the back of the wagon to the front. Then they came to Dairy Hill Road (a road we drive every day). The first part of that road has a 12% grade. When we drive up that part of the hill it is so steep that our car only gets 3.6 miles per gallon. Well, needless to say the horses could NOT pull it, but they did not give up. They got teams of oxen and used block and tackle to move it. The horses were still hooked up in the front but they put ropes around trees and used teams of oxen going the opposite direction to sort of "wench" the wagon forward. They would go about 30 feet and then have to stop and reset their tackle. It took them 31 days to travel the two miles up the hill.

Now remember it was winter. Wells had been told that during the prior winter there had been snow on the ground from November 13 until the middle of March. Because of this it was widely believed that the Vermont winter would prevent Wells from completing the monument before the anniversary. Well, it ALWAYS snowed in November, but NOT THIS YEAR.

There was another problem. About a quarter of a mile up Dairy Hill Road was an infamous mud hole called "Mr. Button's Mud Hole." The day before the wagons were planning to cross the mud hole, it rained, making it especially difficult. The wagon wheels sunk in the mud so deep they could scarcely be seen. Extra horses were called to pull the wagon back out of the mud, and plans were made to try again the next day. The men helping just shook their heads and said, "What are you going to do now Mr. Wells?" Brother Wells said he was going to go home and pray, and he asked them to do the same.

That night Wells recalled, "It commenced to snow, but the thermometer dropped in three and a half hours by 35 degrees, and the north wind blew the storm (snow) down to the sea." The following day the wagons traveled over FROZEN MUD, and it didn't snow until after the monument pieces reached the site. After nearly SEVEN weeks of hard labor all the sections of the monument were transported to the birthplace site.

Now can you imagine hoisting a 40 ton granite spire to a height of thirteen feet and standing it upright...in 1905? It was no easy task. special machinery was brought from Pennsylvania and on December 8th the spire was placed and the gigantic task completed, within the time set, without so much as a scratch on the polished surface, and with no serious mishap or accident. It was indeed a miracle.
This afternoon (Sunday) we drove up to the monument and our dear friend Sister Fisher told us the story and gave us a reproduction of the original newspaper from 1905. It tells the entire story, and it is amazing. The weather was perfect today and we enjoyed just being there in that beautiful and peaceful place. We miss you all, but WE DO LOVE IT HERE. We send our love and hope you are all well. Thanks to the grandchildren who have written us letters. We will write back soon. We love you all!

Fall in Vermont

The New England States are famous for their covered bridges. Vermont lost a few during Hurricane Irene, but many are still heret. Covered bridges are very important here because we get about 60 inches of snow in the winter.

The picture of the fall leaves was taken by our chapel. The road in the picture is LDS Lane coming down from the monument. It's a beautiful site, especially in the fall. Only a few trees are turning because we haven't had frost yet. Because of the heavy rainfall, many of the leaves are turning brown and falling before the frost. All my life we have prayed for rain. Since I've been here, it is the first time I have ever heard people pray for the rain to stop. We had 2-3 sunny days last week and it is raining now.

This is our apartment building. It used to be a motel. There are three apartments upstairs and three downstairs. Our apartment is downstairs in the center. We have the apartment that was once the home of the hotel manager, so it is the largest and nicest of all. You can see Mike (very tiny) standing at the door. the door just to the right of him is storage. A section was added on behind that goes clear across the back (one story) and it is all part of our apartment. We have a nice kitchen in the front with a laundry room off to the side. We are the only apartment in this complex that has a washer and dryer. WE ARE TRULY GRATEFUL! In the back we have a nice living room, office and bedroom. Because we are in the middle, it stays warm. In the morning when it is 45 degrees outside, it is a comfortable 70 degrees in our apartment without turning on any heat.

The first picture was the Sharon Trading Post but it is missing because of a problem with Blogspot. Some of the pictures were deleted.The trading Post is OVER 200 years old. It was a feed store/farm store during the time of Joseph Smith's birth (1805) and it is very probable that his grandparents (Lucy Mack's parents) went there. We have to drive about 30 minutes to shop at a larger grocery store, so we stop here frequently for things we forgot. It is amazing the things they have. Just about whatever you need. The next picture was taken from the parking lot of the Sharon Trading Post, looking east. Notice the tree starting to turn colors. People come from all around to see the fall leaves. A person from New Hampshire visiting the monument told me the colors are prettier in Vermont than in New Hampshire. As I understand it, Vermont is famous for it's brilliant fall leaves. We have tour busses that are coming this week to the monument, and they are coming now because people want to see the leaves. You know how we have "Snow Birds" in Arizona, well, the people who come here to see the fall colors are called "Leaf Peepers."

Mike and I had to laugh when we first heard the expression and it still makes us laugh. When we go for a drive and one of us will say, "Look at that tree over there," we just laugh and say, "We're Leaf Peeping."

The village of Sharon is very old and was founded in the 1700's. The pictures below show the gift shop and the Sharon Church.

We drive by these every day. It is sort of like going back in time. The church and gazebo above remind me of the movie Polyanna. Well it is time to close.

WE SEND OUR LOVE AND GREETINGS FROM SHARON VERMONT AND WISH EVERYONE WELL. To our Children we say HUG THE GRANDCHILDREN FOR US, and to our friends and family, we love and miss you, so WRITE!

Montreal Temple Visit

Last Saturday we traveled to Canada with two other couples to attend the temple. Even though it's called the Montreal Temple, it is located in the town of Longueuil, in the province of Quebec. The exciting thing for us was that many of Mike's ancestors were born in Longueuil. In fact the Patenaude and Trudeau families lived there for at least four generations.

We hope to make another trip to visit the churches and cemeteries.

The grounds of the temple are absolutely fantastic, and we enjoyed our visit very much.

We ate lunch at a local restaurant and the food was quite good. We took our car, and Elder Charchenko drove. We were really glad to have a GPS so we didn't get lost.

The couples who went with us were Elder and Sister Starley from Utah, and Elder and Sister McGreggor from Idaho. They enjoyed the trip as much as we did.
It was very interesting driving through Canada and seeing everything around us written in French. It would have been fun to have had Jeremy with us to read the signs.

All of the people working in the temple spoke French, but most of them understood a little English. It was definitely like being in a foreign country. For a while it looked like the session would be in French and we would be using headphones, but in the end it was the other way around. It was pretty evenly matched between English and French speakers that day, so the session was in English and the prayer circle in French.

We hope all of you are well and happy. (Remember Happiness IS A MATTER OF CHOICE!)

PLEASE HUG ALL THE GRANDKIDS FOR US EVERY DAY.

Love, Elder and Sister Charchenko

We love you all. Make it a great day and make it a great year. Love Elder & Sister Charchenko

Late Summer

Oh how lovely was the morning.....
We just had to stop and take a photograph this week on our way to work. The humidity and the sun made a striking picture.

Brother Charchenko loves it here. He has become the "resident electrician" because every time there is a project that involves wiring or electrical repairs, he gets the assignment.

He has always been able to fix just about everything (as his children will tell you) and he has had the opportunity to fix, build or repair a lot of different things since he has been here. He has even helped plant the fall flowers when he's not busy with other projects.



Sister Charchenko loves working among the flowers. The sisters (three of us) with the help of our husbands, just spent several days planting hundreds (over $2,000 worth) of burgundy and yellow chrysanthemums. It was REALLY hard to pull up the spring flowers that were still blooming so we could put in the new ones. We transplanted several because we didn't have the heart to throw them away. It is quite a miracle when you can dig up a fully grown plant that's blooming and transplant it to a different spot and it not only survives, but thrives. The Joseph Smith Memorial is truly a place for miracles.

We send love and greetings to all of our friends and family. We are having a great experience, and we appreciate your prayers.

Love, Grandma & Grandpa, Mom & Dad, Mike and Janie, and Elder and Sister Charchenko

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are a few pictures.

The house on the left is the top story. The foundation is on the right of the picture. The bottom story was demolished.

The pictures of Mike and I were taken at the end of a long day working in the mud. The mud had dried by the time we
took pictures, so we don't look as dirty as we really were, but I can't remember ever being so dirty. I thought shoveling mud would be like cleaning out the corrals after milking but it was much heavier and stickier, and very difficult to shovel.

The day this picture (below) was take I was pulling posters, bags, and boxes of "stuff" off of the top of a very large walk-in cooler and the muddy (smelly) water just poured down on me each time I pulled something down. I spent a couple of hours standing on a ladder handing down all of the stuff that was up there. I used a golf club and a rake to reach a lot of it. After lunch I spent the entire afternoon with a large floor squeege, sweeping the floors to get out the last of the muddh water. While I was working in the restaurant Mike was working in the trailer behind taking out sheet rock and insulation. By the end of the day we were both beyond tired.

The day before these pictures, Mike and I were both working in the mobile home (behind) and the young women (who were amazing) were working in the restaurant in front. Sharon, the lady who owns Sandy's restaurant, said, "I can't believe what these Mormons have done for me, and the YOUTH... I have never seen kids work like that."

Below is a picture of her restaurant where we worked for 2 days. The water came up to the eves. In the beginning Sharon (the owner) was not going to re-open, but after all the help she changed her mind. All in all it was an amazing experience. Since then we have had rain all day and all night (again) but the river didn't raise more than a foot or two. When the hurricane came through there was so much water coming down that it was like a bucket pouring water instead of rain drops.
This is the first time in my entire life I can remember anyone praying for it to stop raining!

We love everyone, and will write more later. Elder and Sister Charchenko

It looks much better now.