August 25, 2011

Elder and Sister Blattman’s Missionary Weekly Journal
August 25, 2011

Today’s news had an article about the expected Alzheimer’s epidemic in the U.S. as Baby Boomers age into their waining years. So we have discovered a new business plan for Sarah. This business is located on the West block of apartments where we live. When we’ve looked in through the windows there are a perpetual number of elderly folks bent over staring at a plate of food. The expressions on their faces are never evocative of “Yum!” but more of puzzlement, like “What is this stuff, Soilent Green?” If our Sarah had this business there surely would be some brightly decorated cupcakes or something else to brighten their meal.

Sister B. wouldn’t go close to take the photo. Perhaps she thought that someone would rush out and capture her. We thought it would be fun to photo-shop our pictures in the window but it was a step beyond our tech level.

It’s raining again today – 14 inches so far this month. Hurricane Irene is projected to dump a lot of rain by the end of the week to create an all-time record monthly rainfall. That happened while we were in Australia nearly 40 years ago. We are excited to use our umbrellas. Sister Blattman made a demonstration emergency pack for Zone Conferences last week. We may need it this week if Irene becomes belligerent.

Jake stopped in for a visit on the weekend. We picked him up at the airport and whisked him right over to the Liberty Bell and historic area downtown. After stake conference Sunday morning we went to Valley Forge and Bryn Athyn Cathedral. We really enjoyed the visit and break from our routine.

We are studying in preparation for our presentation prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament at the Seminaries and Institutes conference on Saturday. Our lesson may not be very sophisticated but it will be heartfelt. Sometimes we think we are better at demonstrating teaching techniques than explaining doctrines.

August 18, 2011

Elder and Sister Blattman’s Missionary Weekly Journal
August 18, 2011

Summer Seminary is completed this week. It kept us hopping and the summer went by very quickly as a result. At the end two of the boys got up and thanked Sister Blattman for the excellent lunches. We know they liked that part. We had a lot of fun with them, memorizing scriptures, playing games, and eating Sister Blatman’s fine lunches. Tuesday, this week, we went downtown to the State Historical Society where the kids each got to read from an 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon and learn about Thomas Kane who befriended the Saints and who lived nearby in Philly.

Then we went to the Independence Mall where we stood near the place where the church rented a carpet store and held services. The actual spot is now occupied by the Independence Visitors Center where you get tickets to go see the Liberty Bell. On that corner, in 1840, Orson Hyde preached and requested help to send him to Palestine to dedicate it for the return of the Jews. A man came forward and gave him a purse containing gold coins for his trip, requesting only that he be remembered in his prayer. In his prayer, Orson Hyde said:
“Do Thou also look with favor upon all those through whose liberality I have been enabled to come to this land. Particularly do Thou bless the stranger in Philadelphia, whom I never saw, but who sent me gold, with a request that I should pray for him in Jerusalem. Now, O Lord, let blessings come upon him from an unexpected quarter, and let his basket be filled, and his storehouse abound with plenty.”
After that we went by a chapel where Joseph Smith delivered a sermon to 3,000 people in January of 1840. The building is now a Jewish Synagogue and we just looked at it as we drove by.
As part of our final class we had ‘Brother Joseph,’ speak. He was the first member to join the Church in Haiti, the first missionary from Haiti, and then the first mission president to Haiti. He worked for the Church for a number of years as a CES director for the Caribbean area. Before he came we expected an older man but he turned out to be about 10 years younger than us. (It seems like everyone is younger than us nowadays.) A humble man, he now works for Target and spoke gently with the kids about their goals.
There is a lot of brown in the photo. Perhaps we should have chosen a lighter background. The old white guy really stands out.