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.