Mission and Branch Activities

December was filled with a lot of fun activities, in addition to completing our institute classes. Institute finished on Dec 13 and we have really missed having our students here. Nearly all have left for the holidays to visit friends or be with their families or go out west to visit boy friends in Utah, etc. One of the first projects we had in December was completing the scrapbook of pictures which Mom has been making the whole time we have been here. It is about four inches thick and has pictures of all the many activities of the branch during fall semester. You can see many of the students gathered around to see it in the picture. We put it on the coffee table near the chairs and couches where we hold FHE each week. They really enjoyed it seeing themselves and reliving all of the activities that we have done. One of our FHE activities in early December was making pies. We divided the branch into work groups, some had the job of pealing and cutting up apples, while other made pie crusts, and a third group mixed pumpkin filling. Those making pie crusts had quite the challenge in following the recipe, rolling out the crust and them fitting it into the pie tins. You can see some of that where Mom is helping in one of the pictures, next to Kari Gregory our relief society president. Another FHE evening involved making cookies to send to the missionaries serving from our branch. We have three out from the branch and we made batches of cookies to mail to each of them. Finally, another project involved making quilts for humanitarian aid, this was done as a service project by the relief society.

December involved our dress up day where students wore their Sunday clothes to school and also wore missionary tags which Mom made for them. You can see a picture of the tags that she made. She did a great job and they looked so authentic. During one of our last classes we invited Oscar and Louie to come to have lunch with us prior to our lesson at noon. The students at the Institute have gotten to know Oscar and Louie as well. Finally, one of the young elders in our branch had a birthday in December and one of the sisters in the branch had mom help her in fixing a dinner at the branch building for the young elders and for Mom and Dad. Mom got the potatoes all cooked, but we couldn't find a masher, so she had to use a can of soup as the masher. It worked fine, except after awhile she noticed that the label was wet and coming off in pieces into the mashed potatoes, so we had to spend some time picking out the pieces. Well, that is it for our projects for December. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Merry Christmas!!

We just wanted to wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! The kids had fun singing songs. Rex is in his favorite outfit.....his underwear. We love you all!!!!!!!!

Isn't This a Great Photo?

Classic Sister and Elder Schill. I've uploaded this and some other classic photos in the LaMont and Carrie Nielsen family photo archive (link in the right column).

The Virginia Schills spend Thanksgiving in Kalamazoo

We appreciate so much the Virginia Schills driving so many miles to spend Thanksgiving with us. We had a break from our missionary responsibilities so it was relaxing just to hang out with Mike, MaryAnn and their family. We went to a park near our place while the turkey was cooking. It was cold outside but we still enjoyed walking on the trails in the park and playing on the children's playground. The apartment smelled wonderful when we returned. MaryAnn had brought all those miles four homemade pies plus ingredients to make one of her famous tossed salads, cheese roll, salmon spread with different types of crackers, homemade cranberry sauce and soda. Mike did a great job of carving the turkey. We had a delicious feast and ate way too much. In the evening we played the white elephant game, candy game and told the things we are thankful for that bless our lives.

more photos

Fun at the KUB Building

We went downstairs in the branch building and played all the games. It was a great place to go when it was so cold outside. The Virginia Schills loved our building. Mike even played a hymn on the old pipe organ while we sang. The children had fun exploring the building and showed me areas that we had never seen like the room behind the organ making it possible to get a close up view of the organ pipes. We never found a way to get into the steeple and see if it housed a bell.

Trip to Lake Michigan & Holland

While Mike, MaryAnn and family were visiting us, we took a trip to south Haven to see Lake Michigan.The children thought it was neat to have patches of snow on the beach. It was so cold that I had to use Oscar and Louie for my gloves. We drove to Holland and went into a large store that made wooden shoes. Mike and MaryAnn bought us a pair of small wooden shoes and had Elder Schill and Sister Schill burned into the wood. They will be a wonderful keepsake.

A good reminder

We had a great Relief Society lesson yesterday. Our lesson was from Elder Wirthlin's talk from the last General Conference. We talked about charity and in the talk Elder Wirthlin related a story about an elderly couple who had been married for many decades. The woman was slowly losing her eyesight and she couldn't take care of herself like she used to. Without being asked, the husband began to paint her fingernails for her. He knew that if she put her fingers up to her eyes then she could see her fingernails and it made her smile. He loved to see her happy so he continued to paint her nails for more than five years before she passed away.
I immediately thought of Deb and how it was hard for her to not be able to do her hair or make-up anymore. I have so many memories of Deb in the bathroom getting ready. I was only 7 or 8 years old & I loved to sit on the edge of the tub and watch her put on her eyeliner and puff her hair up & put a clip in it. I thought about Nancy who was so great to Debbie. She would faithfully come over every week and cut Deb's hair & style it and put her make-up on for her. I am sure she was busy in her own life and with her job, but she was such a great example to me of someone who had charity. It made Deb feel so good and pretty. I can think of many examples of charity that I have seen others do, but that experience just really stuck out in my mind yesterday. It was a good reminder for me each week to see Nancy come over and serve Deb. Elder Wirthlin talks about how some of the greatest act of love are the simple acts of kindness and caring that we extend to those that we meet. I just wanted to share it with all of you. It was a good reminder to me on how I should be living my life.

Hey everyone, we went to the BYU-Utah rivalry game...and like every year it was amazing right down to the last second. It was a fun game to be at. Here are two videos of the game winning touchdown and us rushing the field afterwards with friends (you can see ashley and chris thomas on the second one) Go Cougars.

Jeff & Ashley were able to visit us this weekend. We had a great time. We fed the ducks at the park and played games. We wish they could have stayed longer.

Fun with Jeff & Ashley

No More White Walls! Jeff and Ashley's Condo

A lot of you have already seen our place but we wanted to show those who haven't seen it. After a year of wanting to paint our condo, Jeff painted it a few weeks ago. I'd like to take some of the credit but he pretty much painted the whole place! =) Even more impressive, he did all of it without a ladder . . . which I am still trying to figure out. It feels so much cozier and it is so nice to not have white walls!

October Activities

October brought us past the halfway mark in our fall semester institute classes, and also included several branch parties and Halloween activities. We had a fall outing with the branch at an apple orchard near K'Zoo which included a hay ride, a corn maze, lunch together on the lawn and lots of fresh-pressed cider and donuts. Then we had the big regional Halloween dance which included students from all over southern Michigan and northern Indiana which was hosted at the institute. We helped decorate and undecorate for that, plus a FHE which included pumpkin carving (see pictures). Then on Halloween night we all got together at a member of the branch presidency's house for chili with half the branch there in costumes. It made for fun as the trick or treaters came to the door. If it sounds like CES missions are a lot of fun that is certainly true, since we are having fun all the time. However, we do have some serious lessons in our institute classes and in our branch callings. So we have the best of both worlds, great spiritual missionary effort and lots of great fun and good times with the branch members. We love them all very much. In October we car pooled for a trip to the Chicago temple with about 15 from the branch where we did baptisms and then got together for tacos and Mexican food afterwards. We pushed a bunch of tables in the restaurant together and all sat at one big table--see picture. It was extra warm in October and we have only just started to have frost on the windshield in the morning. You grandchildren will be happy to know that we have three different types of squirrels in Michigan. The missionaries have named them Nephite squirrels (light brown), Lamanite squirrels (black) and Jaradite squirrels (grey). We have lots of Nephite squirrels living in our housing complex and they are all busy gathering nuts for the winter. We see them scampering out of the trees as we leave for the church each morning. We have missionary work going well in the branch. Today, Nov 4, we started a forty-day branch fast for missionary work. That involved having each member of the branch sign up for a different day over the next forty days to fast and to offer prayer for three things: 1) that they will know who to talk to at school about the gospel, 2) that they will have the courage to talk with them and ask them to meet with the missionaries, and 3) so that the Lord will bless the teaching of the missionaries so we will have several new members join the branch. We are also having a campus dress up day when all of the students wear their Sunday clothes to school on the same day along with missionary tags that we are making for them. They have all committed to do this, which is no easy undertaking on the largely secular campuses. Well, that is our news for this month. We are really enjoying our mission and all the wonderful letters that we get from our grandchildren. Thank you. Elder Grandpa and Sister Grandma.

Dragon, Princess, Hot dog!

We hope you all had a fun Halloween!

November Pics

Fenway for Game 1

Although I didn't have a ticket, it was fun to hang out outside the park to see the fans and the action before the game. Unfortunately, no one offered to give me their ticket.