Weekly Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

The highlight of our week was seeing Holli and Ben and Eliza at our door on Saturday morning. Their AirBnB is literally next door to our apartment.  They didn't know we were that close when they made the reservation.  We had a nice breakfast, went out to visit the Flanagan's and they gave us some of their delicious pepperoni rolls. We were going to visit Blackwater Falls, but it was windy and cold and Holli wanted to visit our downtown antique shops.  After shopping we headed out to the Flight 93 Memorial and Visitor Center.  It was an emotional experience. Those brave individuals sacrificed their lives to save hundreds of lives. They have a tower with forty wind chimes, one for each passenger on the plane.  When the wind blows (and it was really blowing when we were there) it plays a melancholy song which blends together beautifully. We went to the visitor center and walked through the displays. There was one section that played voicemail recordings of passengers calling loved ones to let them know what was happening to to say their good-byes. On the way back we stopped at the Penn Alps restaurant and had a nice dinner.

Holli, Ben and Eliza went  church with us and they all participated in some way.  Our organist was gone today so Holli played the piano, Eliza sang a special musical number (it was beautiful) and Ben helped bless the sacrament. Eliza went with Mom to Young Women's. Mom had two other young women visitors. So she had three girls, none and from our branch.  Mon taught the Young Women Sunday School lesson and I taught the adult Sunday School lesson.  Needless to say, the branch was very grateful the Ritchies were with us today.

Friday was District Council meeting. It was good to be there. They had transfers last week but we only lost one elder to transfers.  The new missionary is Elder Bradshaw from northern Arizona.  The sisters were assigned to a different district for a couple of weeks but they were back now.  It's good to have Sisters around.  After District Meeting we went out to lunch with the Institute and Seminary Director (Bro. Fuhriman) and the Seminary Secretary (Sis. Hart).  They took us to a yummy Indian food restaurant.  I really liked it and Mom was a good sport and tried a couple of things. Basically she liked the naan. They had an ulterior motive for taking us out.  They asked us (me) to teach an on-line Missionary Prep course for the graduating seniors in our area.  I told them that if they would take care of the technical part of it  we (I) would teach the lessons.  We will meet on Sunday evenings for four weeks beginning the middle of April.

Tomorrow we head out with the Ritchies (Ben's mom is with us) to Gettysburg and Amish country and into Washington D.C. We are really excited for this trip.  We will tell you all about it next week.

My scripture is from the Sunday School lesson today.  It is found in Matthew 11:28-30. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  Jesus addresses all those who labor and are heavy laden.  That is all of us. I don't know of anybody that doesn't have some kind of burden sometime in their life, some more than others.  He invites us to come unto him, to yoke ourselves with Him and to learn of Him. He promises to give us rest, rest unto our souls. HIs yoke is easy and His burden is light. He doesn't say our burdens will be taken away, but they will be lighter to carry.

The pictures are the plaque at the Tower of Voices, the Tower of Voices, the writing on the barrier says "A common field one day, A field of honor forever, the crash site, Mom and me.

That's it for this week. We love you and pray for you daily.

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandad

Jamee and Kerry

Sister and Elder Cooper