We also took a short trip to Portland, Maine, about two hours from where we are and visited the cost. There is no other adjective to describe Maine other than spectacular! It is simply beautiful to see. We enjoyed seeing a few lighthouses, which remind me of my favorite hymn, "Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy." Here are those lyrics and then some pictures to put them into perspective:

1. 1. Brightly beams our Father’s mercy
   From his lighthouse evermore,
   But to us he gives the keeping
   Of the lights along the shore.
   
2. [Chorus]
   Let the lower lights be burning;
   Send a gleam across the wave.
   Some poor fainting, struggling seaman
   You may rescue, you may save.
   
3. 2. Dark the night of sin has settled;
   Loud the angry billows roar.
   Eager eyes are watching, longing,
   For the lights along the shore.
   
4. 3. Trim your feeble lamp, my brother;
   Some poor sailor, tempest-tossed,
   Trying now to make the harbor,
   In the darkness may be lost.
   

We all have a need for a "lighthouse" in our life to show us the way past danger, and to light the right way to go. Many have provided that for me in my life, parents, teachers, church leaders, co-workers, managers, etc. And even now I have great examples for me in the way of the young missionaries of our Lowell District. I will close with a picture of them.

​These has been an eventful few days since our last entry.
First, we’ve been able to continue teaching our Temple Preparation Class that will soon be drawing to a close with two members of that class. Both are eager to attend the temple and make sacred covenants there. We are also eager for them to be able to attend and hope to go with them. We also had the opportunity to attend the stake conference of the Nashua New Hampshire Stake this past weekend. Nashua is only about ten miles from Lowell. We were able attend with a member of our temple prep class and her young son. She also had the good fortune to receive her patriarchal blessing that same day and it was a choice thing to help her receive it.
Secondly, we hosted our first family history workshop and had a friend of the young sister missionaries attend. This young man was very happy to see that in FamilySearch there were records of his grandparents and great-grandparents. He later reported that he stayed up until 2 AM viewing what he could of his ancestors. The next day he was able to show them to his father, who was amazed at the records that were available. The spirit of Elijah is very strong with respect to genealogy work, and it is a great service that church performs in making these records available for free to anyone who wants to be able to see them.

Lastly, we were able to visit one of the great historical sites of the American Revolution in Concord, Massachusetts. The Minuteman Historical Park is just a short drive from us. The park is beautiful with trees and the river. Near Lexington, is the site where the British forces fired the first shots at colonial militiamen. Five miles north at the North Bridge at Concord, is where the “shot heard round the world” was fired when the colonial minutemen first fired at the British Army on April 19, 1775.Ralph Waldo Emerson in his 1837 poem "Concord Hymn" says in the opening stanza:
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood/Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled/Here once the embattled farmers stood/And fired the shot heard round the world.”

At the visitor center we met member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Heber, Utah. They are friends of some of our fellow senior missionaries serving in Romania that we came to know in the missionary training center. It is a very small world in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We meet people that we connect to in someway all around the world.
The American Revolution is a watershed moment in the history of the world, and we are blessed to be serving our mission in a place of such historical significance. It is also not lost on me that Joseph Smith, the prophet of the restoration was born in Sharon, Vermont just 30 years after the “shot heard round the world.” His life was just as revolutionary in terms of Christian doctrine as the early patriots of the American Revolution were in terms of democracy. Those revolutionary teachings included the nature of the godhead, the principle of ongoing modern revelation, the restoration of the priesthood, the translation of “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ”, the need for temples and the restoration of temple covenants, and the doctrine of eternal families. These are just a few examples of the revolutionary teachings of Joseph Smith. There must be something in the soil and air of New England that produces such extraordinary men and women.   
Here are some pictures from that day:

We ended this week with our district preparation day. We love spoiling these young missionaries! We had a BBQ in a park in Nashua. They ate and then finished the day with pickle ball. These young people have become our adopted grandchildren to some degree. 

The past two weeks have brought many experiences that have been rich in meaning and significance. In addition to our normal labors of teaching English and visiting members in the Lowell First Ward, we’ve taught a youth fireside discussion, taught our temple preparation class, and Elder Zollinger gave a talk in the Spanish group. They were all great experiences. We enjoyed teaching the youth (age 11 – 18) regarding entertainment and media and internet safety. It was an engaged group of young men and young women. We will do the same next month on the topic of Family History.

​We also visited the New England Quilt Museum in downtown Lowell, MA. Quilts are an interesting study and truly an art form of creative tapestry. Most often they were created from spare bits of material as early American societies made do from nothing and wasted nothing. The result are creative patterns from the smallest pieces of material that intricate and often breath taking. Here are a few pictures from that experience to illustrate the creativity. 

Those quilts remind me of my mother who has made quilts for almost everyone of her descendants over the years, including her great-grandchildren. On May 15th she celebrated her 90th birthday and 67 of her descendants and close friends gathered in Chandler, AZ to help her celebrate. All her six children and their spouses were in attendance, in addition to almost all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Elder and Sister Zollinger received permission to travel to Arizona and attend this reunion. All our eight children were able to attend and all but two our grandchildren. Members of my mother's book club and work mate were also able to attend. It was a terrific experience to honor the great Matriarch of the Zollinger Clan on this occasion. Quilts remind me of Forever Families. We are stitched together with love and care just like these quilts. Each of us is a different shape and sometimes a little worn around the edges, but the resulting family despite some of its blemishes and weaknesses provides incredible warmth and is beautiful to behold. The tapestry of our lives all joined together is worthy of the most prestigious art galleries in the world. I am grateful for the doctrine of eternal families and the knowledge I have that my family is a "Forever Family." Here are some pictures:

​Last Thursday we held another Zone Conference, this time in Manchester, NH with five zones all meeting together for instruction, and to edify each other. These young missionaries continue to amaze us.
 
Take care!

​Here we are in May already and time is moving on swiftly. The weather here is still chilly in the mornings. I am sure that the temperature will start rising soon. We continue to help wherever we can in whatever way that we can. We continue to teach lessons with the young missionaries when needed and enjoy those opportunities.
This past week brought transfers amongst the young missionaries. Every six weeks there are transfers in the mission. Young men and young women that we’ve worked with are moved to different parts of the mission. For us as senior missionaries there are no transfers to different areas unless the mission president sees a need for that to happen. We expect to remain in Lowell for the duration of our mission. But for the younger missionaries it presents the opportunity to experience different locations, companions, and working conditions. It is not always easy for them to be transferred as they grow to love the people in one area, and it isn’t easy for their friends they leave behind either. We’ve been in Lowell since March 4th, and this is the second transfer we’ve experienced. There is now only one young missionary remaining that was here before we got here. She is Sister Fife from Colorado and assigned to work with Spanish speakers. We have 5 new missionaries in our district and the same number have left. It is interesting and faith provoking to me to see how even with the changes, the work goes on.
We still teach English three times a week and continue to visit the members in the Lowell First Ward. Sister Zollinger and I teach the Temple Preparation Class in the ward, and we are enjoying that. Since I am not as busy during the English class, I have been trying to learn Portuguese using the Duolingo app on my phone. There are so many Portuguese speakers here in addition to Spanish that I am trying to broaden my capability.
We had to opportunity to visit Gloucester and Manchester-by-the-Sea this past preparation day and enjoyed a beautiful drive on the coast. We were able to have a nice seafood lunch with very fresh dishes, including my first New England Clam Chowder in New England. It was very tasty! Here are pictures of the places we visited, including the site of the original Massachusetts Bay Colony. I will end the blog this week with them. Tchau!

​Cambodian New Year began on Thursday, April 14, 2022, and ended on Saturday, April 16, 2022. Lowell Massachusetts has a sizable Cambodian population and there are several Cambodians who are members of the Lowell 1St Ward. On Saturday the 16th we experienced a baptism of a friend in the ward, and our first Cambodian New Year. Preparations began in earnest on Tuesday night when the Young Women of the ward made egg rolls under the tutelage of those who knew how to make them. On Saturday night we were treated to the Young Women and Cambodian members of the ward dressed in traditional Cambodian clothing, Cambodian traditional dances, and lots of tasty food. It was an enjoyable evening that again highlights the diversity of the community and Lowell 1st Ward. 

On a Friday night we were treated to a visit from Richard and Kaye Mason from Los Alamos, NM. We’ve known the Mason’s for about 20 years now. Richard and I served in a stake presidency together. It was great to enjoy a dinner out with them and catch up on family news.

Sunday the 17th was Easter, and we held our Sacrament meeting celebrating the Atonement of the Savior. Elder Zollinger was asked to speak during the meeting along with a youth speaker and a counselor in the bishopric.
We also delivered donations of toys collected by the Young Women and delivered them to the Stake Center where donated items were being collected for Ukrainian refugees. Sister Zollinger had told the young women that we had learned that when refugees arrive by train in Romania parents had been very grateful when their children had been given toys after losing everything when they fled the country. The YW in the Lowell Ward took that to heart and we helped find a way to donate them. That afternoon we were invited by a couple in the ward to enjoy an Easter meal with their family. We had an enjoyable afternoon getting to know them, their son and daughter-in-law and her parents, and most importantly two surrogate granddaughters. We do miss our grandchildren!

​On Monday the 18th we traveled about 50 miles to visit Portsmouth, NH. Portsmouth is home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyards, and important part of our nations defense. A number of submarines have been built there over the years. We were able to tour the USS Albacore submarine museum and tour this experimental sub that was built and launched in the early 60’s. We are amazed at how small it is, but how efficiently it was designed. Since Elder Zollinger served in the US Navy surface fleet this was like Disneyland for him! He only bumped his head once. Here are some pictures:
 

​We continue to support the English classes. This past week we had high attendance at some of our classes. Here is a picture of the classes being held on one evening when we had 26 people in attendance:

​On Saturday, April 23rd we participated in a Stake Day of Service using the BillionGraves app to take photos in the Lowell Cemetery. This is beautifully maintained cemetery with paths used for walking and jogging. We enjoyed taking 200 photos between us for this important family history activity.
We have been on teaching visits with the young elders and sisters and continue to enjoy those experiences. Elder Zollinger also gives a ride to friends of the church most Sundays. This past week he gave a ride a gentleman from the Congo who speaks little English. Despite that he had an enjoyable experience and learned a great deal about his family. We have enjoyed very much the interactions we have with people from all over the world.
This past preparation day we celebrated with the members of our district and zone leadership at a park in Nashua, NH. We provided a BBQ and enjoyed the day watching the young missionaries play pickleball. To end this blog entry here is a picture of us all on that day.

April 15, 2022
We have now been here in Lowell, MA for over a month and I’ve not been very good at keeping this blog updated. I will try to do better. As the title says, Spring is coming. Trees are beginning to bud and bloom. It rains nearly every other day. We are settling into a routine of our duties. One of our fellow senior missionary couples who we trained with back in the Missionary Training Center said in an email, that "senior missionaries need to kill their own meat everyday." Which means we are largely responsible for finding our own work. Some of our work we have decided is seeing to the welfare and comfort of the young missionaries, most of whom are away from home on their own for the first time. We try to pamper them a little bit, and in truth, we enjoy that a great deal. We have the English classes three times a week, and we really enjoy that. We both tutor some of the more advanced students. Lynn teaches a young man from Ecuador, who is very motivated and works very hard on his lessons. I usually tutor a young mother and daughter from Brazil. It always amazes me how much I do not know about English, or about the many rules of English. I am always saying something like, “English is very complicated…” The thing that strikes me about these students is just how driven they are to learn the language of this country.
We have been cleaning up the records of the ward by trying to verify addresses of people and phone numbers. Clerical work needs to be done somehow. This led to a great visit with a young woman from Cape Verde. It is always inspiring to me to learn how people came to arrive in this country. The immigrant ethic is incredible and illustrates too well how we Americans take our life for granted.
We also teach Gospel lessons with the young missionaries from time to time and those are enjoyable experiences as well. These young sisters and elders are excellent at what they do. We are there just as a support and to lend our experiences from time to time. So far, we’ve helped teach lessons to people from Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, and Puerto Rico.
The highlight from last week was to be able to travel to Sharon, Vermont to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial. As we drove the 126 miles from Lowell we enjoyed the beautiful countryside, and we can imagine how even more beautiful it will be as the leaves return to the trees and what it must be like when the fall colors are in full swing.
Here are some pictures of the memorial site:

That is all for now and I promise (fingers crossed) to do better at updating our activities.

We have spent a little over a week in our new home in Lowell, MA. We live in a two bedroom apartment on the third floor of an apartment building. For my wife and I, it is a return to apartment living for the first time in almost 40 years!

We are grateful for our living space and now we almost enjoy the stair climb to our cozy apartment. We do have a dishwasher which at first we were told we not have. In fact it took me three days to realize that we DID have one. Lynn is concerned about my mental faculties at times. It is an object lesson that we don't see something if our brain has been told something else. I'm glad I could share that lesson with you. I'm sure I could create a good TED talk out of that.
Our building is made up of a very diverse population with many languages being spoken. In addition to that , we get to smell the international blend of food aromas at each meal time. Most of the time it is a savory mouth watering blend. From time to time the clash of aromas is noticeable. 
Our bedroom window faces the boulevard that we live it. The apartment is of old construction, which as you can imagine, does not include a great deal of insulation. The sounds of the street penetrate easily, including sirens, garbage trucks, car horns, and honking geese. Fortunately I learned to sleep with ear plugs in while in the Navy a million years ago. My wife envies my blissful slumber.
​
We are assigned to work in the Spanish group in the Lowell 1st Ward. The ward (congregation)  also has a Cambodian Group. In the same church building their is a Portuguese Branch (small congregation), and a Young Single Adult (YSA) Ward. Right now our week is not fully subscribed. But, we help teach free English classes three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8 pm. These classes can have upwards of 20 to 30 people in attendance. Lowell Massachusetts has a very large Brazilian population. The popular grocery store chain, Market Basket, has nearly an entire aisle dedicated to Brazilian food. So, our classes have a majority of native Portuguese speakers. We've enjoyed these classes and helping out the young sister missionaries who are in charge of it. The number of attendees at the Spanish group meetings are small, about 15 people, but they are friendly and welcoming to us. The numbers grows and ebbs at times. We have also gone and taught a gospel lessons with young elders (male) missionaries. We are part of a district of missionaries that includes ourselves, two Spanish speaking sister missionaries, two Portuguese speaking sister missionaries, three English speaking sisters assigned to work with the young single adults, and two English speaking elders. Every Friday we have a district council meeting with them. They all live in our apartment complex and we are only about a half a mile from the church house. We enjoy these 18-20 year-olds and their vitality and enthusiasm. Our preparation days (p-days) are on Mondays. Yesterday our district enjoyed volleyball with a neighboring district of missionaries.

We enjoyed a zoom meeting mission conference this past Wednesday, as well as zoom meeting devotional with Elder Neil Anderson as his wife Kathy this past Saturday as a mission. The amount of technology being used in the missionary effort is astounding, as well as the manner in which the young missionaries use it to teach and inspire. A far cry from my days in Argentina where we used cassette recorders and filmstrip projectors. We had one precious 16 mm movie projector in the whole mission! We live not in the downtown sector, but are surrounded by shops of every description. Here are some back street views with more pictures coming next week.

On Sunday evening we had a nice surprise. Nathan and Maggie Wittwer Mason brought their children to see us. They live south of us in the Boston Mission, but brought us a zucchini bread loaf with chocolate chips to welcome us to New England. We are friends with Nathan's parents, Richard and Kaye Mason of Los Alamos, and also Maggie's parents Julie and Robert Wittwer, who now live in Corpus Christi. What a beautiful family, and how nice to be welcomed in that way. Apologies if I spelled any names wrong!

With that we will end this blog entry for this week.

​We finished our training at the MTC on Friday, February 25, 2022. The second week of our experience was geared specifically for member and leader support (MLS) training. We received training from the Seminary and Institute department where we learned effective teaching principles. We also received more in-depth training in family history/genealogy tools that we can share with those with whom we will work in Lowell, Massachusetts. We really enjoyed this part of the training. Family history is my wife, Lynn’s passion, and she is very good at it and showing others how to do it. Our training emphasized the modern technology tools, such as the FamilyTree smartphone app, and the Memories app. Both are published by FamilySearch.org and are free to the public. It is inspiring to know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides so many free resources to the world to allow you to connect to your ancestors. The gospel principle of eternal families is one that I believe in with all my heart. One of the buildings on the campus has beautiful murals that depict important events in the scriptures and the history of the restoration. I’ve included some for your enjoyment.

On February 23, 2022 , it was Sister Zollinger’s birthday. We were able to spend it with some wonderful friends from our Los Alamos, NM days, Ken and Rita Spencer, and their son, Michael. Rita is from Bradford, England, the same town Lynn is from. We were joined at dinner at their house by our daughter, Victoria (she will always be Vicka to me), her husband Randy (Cord to me), and their children Brooklyn and Damian. It was a great meal with great conversation. The Spencer’s are great people and we respect them a great deal.
During our training we became good friends with Elder and Sister Nielson from California, who are headed to the Colorado Colorado Springs Mission. We enjoyed visiting with them and discovered many things that we have in common. We hope to continue that friendship. Also, Elder and Sister Borchardt who are now in Argentina. We found out that they are from Mesa, Arizona and we will be a continue our friendship when we return home. Elder Borchardt and I served in the same mission as young men, in the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission at the same time. We had a companion in common and served in at least one of the same areas. It is a small world in the church. Other senior couples we got to know well were Elder and Sister Probst who are now in Romania and doubtless will be working with the Ukrainian refugees and the Elder and Sister Aldous who are now in Ghana Accra. 
​
On Friday the 25th we packed up our bags and headed to Lehi, Utah to spend one last night near our daughter, Victoria. We enjoyed a nice dinner and then tried to get some sleep.
Saturday February 26, we started our long journey to Lowell, MA. We drove to Cheyenne, WY. It was very cold along that drive, but we had clear roads and clear skies. It was windy, like it always is in Wyoming. I thought I would die freezing filling the car with gasoline in Rawlins. 

​Sunday morning, we left for Lincoln, Nebraska. It was another uneventful drive. I’ve driven this stretch before. We noted the world headquarters for Cabelas, in Sydney, Nebraska. We stopped in Lincoln for the night and were able to meet with Mike and Cheryl Davis, and their daughter, Kari, also from our Los Alamos days. It was good to catch up with then and reminisce about the days when their children were young. They are doing well in Lincoln Nebraska.

​Monday morning, we made the drive from Lincoln, Nebraska to Joliet, Illinois. I-80 is a long, straight, drive. Everything blends together. On Tuesday we arrived in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. We are worn out by the driving and welcomed our hotel each night.   

​Wednesday morning we began our drive to Syracuse New York. We noted that we could make a short detour in Buffalo New York and see Niagara Falls. The day was cold but the weather was clear. Seeing Niagara Falls is on the bucket list, and we enjoyed the beauty of the water and the majesty of the falls. It was worth the short detour. We also noted that Palmyra New York was also enroute to Syracuse. The cradle of the restoration of the gospel and the boyhood home of Joseph Smith and site of the Hill Cumorah where he received the ancient record now known as the Book of Mormon. I was able to walk the short trail to the monument at the top of the hill. It was an icy walk and treacherous. I fell once coming down but it was worth the slippery walk.

We spent the night in Syracuse New York and then set out for Lowell Massachusetts the next day. This was the easiest drive of the entire journey. We continued our week long association with tollways trusting that the bill would somehow make it to us when all was said and done. New York and Massachusetts had no toll booths, just electronic billing. Soon we arrived at our apartment and found sister missionaries and two young elders ready to move our boxes into our two bedroom apartment. Their help was greatly appreciated. There is a companionship of sisters working with the Spanish group, the same group we will be working with in the Lowell First Ward, another companionship of three sisters working with the Portuguese Branch that meets in the same building. Another companionship of three sisters working with the Heritage Park Young Single Adult ward in the same building, and a pair of English speaking elders working in the Lowell First Ward. The Lowell First Ward also has a Cambodian group that is affiliated with the ward. Lowell is a diverse community, and we plan to get to know the history of the area. We went to a local Boston Market for lunch and a silver haired manager there gave a us a friendly rundown of the area. There is a very popular folk festival in the summer as well as a seafood festival that attracts a lot of visitors. We look forward to it.  Our journey was nearly 3400 miles from Arizona to Lowell Massachusetts! We look forward to our time here as we settle in!

 We started our journey to Provo, Utah and the MTC on Thursday, February 10th. We had been set apart as missionaries the previous evening by President Hyrum D'addabbo, a counselor in the  Queen Creek South Stake  presidency. We love President D'addabbo, and appreciate his kindness that he showed us that evening. On Thursday morning we got into our heavily loaded car (no cranny was unoccupied) and drove from our home in San Tan Valley, Arizona to Lehi, Utah where we spent a few days visiting our daughter Victoria's family, and the family of  our son Ian, for the weekend. On Monday we then reported to the MTC to begin two weeks of training as senior missionaries assigned to member and leader support (MLS) in the New Hampshire Manchester Mission. Below is a back view and front view of our car. The back barely had room for our luggage at the end. You can see how stuffed the front is from the second picture.

On Monday, February 14, 2022 we entered the gates of the MTC and received our room assignment and began our orientation. On that day, 30 senior missionary couples and senior sister missionaries began their service. We come from all walks of life and parts of the country and Canada. Some have served multiple missions, and some had served missions as young men and women. It is inspiring to see so many who are willing to serve wherever they are called to go.  In our small district one couple is headed to Ghana Accra Mission. The other couple is headed to the Hungary Romania Mission. Many are headed to missions overseas where they will speak English but live in Germany, for example. One couple are Tongan, the parents of 14 children in a blended family with an astounding 44 grandchildren! You've never met sweeter people. I even met a senior couple where the husband served in Argentina at the same time I did. He was a year behind me, and his first area was my first area in Haedo. We lived in the same apartment with the same German landlady, Gertrude. We've formed some new friendships that we hope will continue on after this experience. The picture below is of a portion of the 30 missionary couples including ourselves.
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The  first five days of training  were filled with learning how to teach the gospel and how to work  together doing it. This requires a learning each other's strengths. Our teachers were both young men, aged 22 years old. Brother Tanner Monroe in the mornings, and Brother Trevor Rich in the afternoon. It is very hard to think that at one point I was that young. Even more incredible are the young men and women here that are being trained for missionary service at the ages of 18 and 19. How young they look to me now. Just to add insult to injury, here I am at age 21 in Lujan, Argentina.

It has been 43 years since I was here at the MTC. This is a beautiful campus with a number of new modern buildings that have excellent training facilities.  The  majestic mountains that lie to the east of Provo are still the same. Here is one photo to end this blog that doesn't do justice to just how beautiful these mountains are and some pictures from around the campus. Until next week!

Well, it almost seems impossible, but here we are just one week away from reporting to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah. My amazing wife has been preparing things for weeks, while I am my normal procrastinating self. I prefer the "think" method that Professor Harold Hill from the Music Man used. My preparation consists of thinking about it, and that has predictable results. Thomas S Monson said, "when the time for performance has come, the time for preparation has passed."

We will leave sunny Arizona on Feb 10th and spend a few days in Utah with family before beginning our training on February 14th. The list of seemingly small disconnected items that you need to do and remember to bring is endless. You cross one item off and 10 more pop into their place. During the last few weeks we've had five Zoom sessions that consisted of two hour pre-mission training with Elder and Sister Spencer to get us ready for the MTC. They were terrific with loads of good advice, having been missionaries in Cambodia and New York City as a senior couple. We've connected to our New Hampshire Manchester Mission office staff and the Mission President and his wife. We found out where we will be living in Lowell, MA, and even found out that I have 2nd cousin once removed living near where we will be. We will just miss the big snowstorm that hit the Boston area, but I am sure we are not going to miss the rest of the snow this winter. We will drive from Provo to Lowell, MA starting on Feb 26. 

We've had our granddaughter here with us for the past couple of days for a gymnastics meet in Phoenix. She is our oldest grandchild and is now 11. She is a terrific gymnast and can do endless flips that make old people wonder if it is even humanly possible to do that sort of thing. Time is passing by quickly when your grandbabies are getting so big. She has an enjoyed being with her boy cousins, a 4 year old, and 2 year old twins.

That's all for this post.