Serving at the Philadelphia Temple VIP (pre- open house)

A few weeks ago our grandson Seth and Mackenzie came to for a quick visit. We got to share our first inside visit of the Philadelphia Temple with them!!!This room is the side waiting room next to the temple

Early morning

At sunset

sun on

Early evening Moon on the adjacent

Full Moon ( middle of the night!)

I can not express the joy that we had watching the temple being built and finally this week taking people through. By some luck I happened to take the very first official VIP group through which included two Catholic Priest. We are continuing these last few days serving at host for the open house of the temple. This is a glorious way to end our mission here in Philadelphia,

The Grand finale

Looking down to the Art Museum as we approach our final week here in Philly, We will post some of our favorite sites that we see every day.

We loved sharing walks in the green hills  

 walks our in the beautiful  green mts. (this is near Craig's home in Virginia)

Nancy came up for a short visit to see her sister and we had a fun visit down memory land in Valley Forge Branch/ward/stake.

Our finale day at HSP 

 we at a brunch with the staff and our Family Search team went our to lunch. The best part was the people we worked with and finding my Woolley ancestors in  Chester County

a mixture of friends and fun

Ocean City, New Jersey with some Senior Missionaries turned out to be the perfect way to spend a Saturday Evening. We ate at the famous Crab shack then played in the water and walked along the board walk

Had to get in the water

the food and the friends were the best

Men and hats

Ole dance

We finally got our first chance inside the Philadelphia Temple grounds.  BEAUTIFUL

the temple is ready and so are we

Happy 4th with Lit Bro Craig and family

Lexington town , a few minutes from Craig and Jill's home in Buena Vista, is home to Washington and Lee University. Part of our weekend celebrating the 4th of July, we spent learning more about the South, the Civil War, Democracy, and our continued love of family and our freedoms.

The Blue Ridge mountains are the skyline that surrounds the beautiful campus of Southern Virginia University, where Craig and Jill's family live and work. We got a chance to visit, play, and of course, eat, with Dallas, Chelsea, Candace and Craig and Jill and all their extended loved ones ( including Candace's dog!)

On the drive out we went to Gettysburg, right during the annual reenactment of the big battles.

We stopped in Charlottesville to see Candace off before she goes to Bermuda, with her new Au Pair job. Tough Life! 

We took a lot of photos, sadly, my photos of the grandkids didnt turn out. Spending time with family is a great way the hasten end of our work here in the East. We have had so many wonderful Historical side trips. This area of middle Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia are some of the finest in America, the Blue Mountains covered with rich green, rivers, and creeks make for great memories.

Before we left we taught Institute at Penn and I was reminded of how much I love to teach. In the preparation I learn so much more. And serving the Young Single Adults is always a joy.  HAPPY  family celebrations and LOVE of our country, even now, as things in America are not as great as I pray for.

Our time here is Philly is swiftly closing

Exploring areas around our Philadelphia Pennsylvania Mission is one of the fun things Jim and I do when we get some time. This is the site of the Brandywine Battle during the Revolutionary War. This area was settled by Quakers who did not believe in taking another life. This is the area that my Woolley, which included the Dilworth family settled after they left England.

This weekend we honored President and Sister Anderson who served for 3 years as our President. We loved being able to help them with their mission goals. Just as happens all over the world they will give the keys to the Mission Home and after a brief welcome they will return to their greatly missed family and we will serve with our new Mission President Randell. The beauty of the transition is that it is a clean slate with the new leadership. The seeds planted by President Anderson and soon to be us will be harvested by the next missionaries that come here.

Here we  are with Elder and Sister Black that just started serving here.

So long farewell, President and Sister. You now become M_R S and Mister.
No ties, no skirts, just jeans and sloppy tee shirts
Less grind and meetings, now long extended greetings,
Alarm Clocks gone, just dance and sing along.
No phones a beeping, just catching up on sleeping.

We're sad to say we can not tell a lie, still Missionaries, that's the reason why

The sun has gone to bed and must we.It's 10pm and I'm a MISSIONARY.Good bye, Good bye, Good bye.

Fun with Friends

When one is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints..one is never far from someone who knows someone ..you know. When we first moved into the Independence Ward in Center Philly, we found a newly married couple who just happened to be from Simi Valley, Ca. Here I am with Lisa at her baby shower.

What is not to love, but these cute little  Amys

Sister Loretta finding big books to scan as we finished the last books in our Brown and Green collection

Of course Honoring Fathers on this day is Jim, who has been my friend AND companion through thick and thin as we work our way. We celebrated yesterday with a hike, thrift store shopping, and a yogurt. He loves the deals and even decided to get a few more things even shoes, after he said that we will have to ship our shoes back home as we dont have enough room for all the deals we found here in Philly. The biggest deal is that we found each other! Happy Father's Day to all the dads in our lives! I love YOU.

Temple Walk Challenge

Yesterday our stake held our Temple Walk challenge honoring the 22 miles that John Rowe Moyle did when he worked on the Salt Lake Temple. Every week he would walk 22 miles leaving in the dark. One day a cow kicked him resulting in amputating his leg below the knee.  He carved a wooden leg and continued to serve. His hands carved "Holiness to the Lord" which greets all at the Salt Lake Temple today.

We had a 9 mile walk which went along the Fairmount park , and the Schuylkill river on Kelly drive, stopping by the Art Museum for lunch and a talk from Sister Carr.

We continued on to the Temple site. It wad great visiting with the sisters in our Philadelphia stake.

Since I live right by the Temple, I was home at the very end.

The Aptments which we live in have a great work out area and pool. In the mornings I share the weight room with Dr. Terry, who specializes in OLD people!. She has been encouraging me to lift heavier weights and I have been chatting with her about having more children. It has been great living right by the temple and having a place to swim. Senior Missionaries need to keep healthy and strong both physically and mentally and spiritually.