Steve: It's the ides of November which means that the holidays are right around the corner and that another week has gone by us at the amazing speed of light.  We continue to have more good weeks and good experiences which makes serving on this Mission so worth- while.  I hope that our fellow Missionaires also have good experiences as they serve.

Our Church meeting times have changed beginning today and that is going to be very interesting.  Our meetings will begin at 2:30 and will run until 5:30 which for us Seasoned Missionaries is either the time for a late nap time or late dinner.  The trick will be to have our main meal in the middle of the day and then see if we can stay awake during our meeting times.  The most common thing in the Church is change, and thus we are striving to work with the changes that have been given us.

During this past week my teaching experiences have been somewhat limited.  However, I have been able to shadow a couple of the Missionairies and that has helped my self confidence a little, but I need some more confidence to feel like I can assist our patrons on my own.  I have made a commitment to our zone leaders to get more involved in my own training which should be beneficial.  I also want to start doing some case studies on my own to see if that will point me in the right direction.  We have a new Church Service Missionary that has finished her training and should be joining us beginning tomorrow.  

During this week I did have some positive experiences including the finding of four death certificates of individuals on my family tree, including my great-grandmother, her parents on my mother's side, and a half-brother to my grandmother on my father's side.  In one of the certificates on my mother side I was able to find the name of my great-great grandfather which I did not have before, now I just to find more information about dates and places for him.  I knew about the half brother before, but I only had a name for him.  I previously had his name from the passenger list when he came to the United States from Prussia in 1892 and his name on the 1900 U.S. Census.  However, during this week I found him living with my great-grandparents in 1894 during a Special Michigan Census in 1894 but after 1900 he disappeared from my radar.  Then this week I found his death certificate showing that he died in 1909 thus answering why I could not find him in the 1910 U.S. Census.  Gustav was only 22 when he died and may have have been married according to the certificate which also indicated that he had recently been discharged from the Navy and included his mother's name.  My great-grandmother was originally Gustav's nanny and came to the U.S. with my great grandfather and married him shortly after their arrival in the U.S.

May your coming week be as good to you as our past one has been to us.  

Lorene:  I don't have much to add this week except to say that I have felt the Spirit of the Lord much this week.  I especially have been filled with gratitude for my many blessings and for the Atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful to be here on this mission and know that the sacrifices we're making to do so are minimal compared to the blessings.  We love you all!