July 24: Primary Celebrates Pioneers

   Mokelumne River Ward Primary celebrated the Mormon pioneers traveling to the Salt Lake valley by hosting an amazing event that included lots of participation, fun, friendship, and learning about what it was like to be a pioneer.  Children and their families were greeted by a welcome sign, and a beautiful map showing the trip made by the pioneers.  Sister Liz Carlston, Primary 2nd Counselor,  greeted everyone as they arrived at the stake center pavilion.  Girls were presented with a gift bag containing a pioneer bonnet to wear.  Bonnets were sewn by Relief Society sisters, Judy Wilcox, Sherrill Adamska, Lori Shore, Tena Peters, and Liz Carlston.

Children enjoyed creative activities such as painting pictures of pioneer wagons, making dolls, and carving from soap.  (See next picture.)  Adults were at every station to help and encourage.

    As well as soap carving, children and their families enjoyed pioneer strength games, testing out freezing water, and gunny sack races , as well as other fun activities.  And of course, everyone had to try  traveling with a handcart.

    The event ended with refreshing drinks and pioneer lessons by Sister Ardell Gillingwater who told stories about her pioneer ancestors, and Sister Tami Woods who explained how some pioneers came to America on the ship Brooklyn.  Primary President Ginny Shull was instrumental in producing this event and was there the whole time overseeing the fun.  Below is a picture of the group as they posed before leaving.

Rex Barnes Served and Blessed by Ward Members

    Ward member Rex Barnes lives on a ranch in Clements.  In  the last part of April he contacted COVID-19 and became very sick.  He was in a coma and ventilator until June 10. He has a daughter Alaina Dahl who lives on the property, and another daughter Danielle Mellot who is from Montana and came to help. At this point, the doctors asked the daughters to allow them to "pull the plug" on him. Unless he had mental damage they wanted to hold out.  His lungs didn't look good but all other vitals were excellent.

   Bishop Holden asked the ward to fast and pray for Rex on May 16.  That was the first day that the doctors were able to lower the pressure and the pure oxygen.  Relief Society service leader Ardell Gillingwater said, "Truly this was a miracle because he improved the next two weeks enough to be moved out of urgent care and to a hospital in Modesto."  He was given blessings by Dave Cundari and Dave Gillingwater.  The next day the hospital was able to take the tracheotomy tube out, and four days later, the feeding tube.  "Another set of miracles!" sister Gillingwater reported.

   While all this was going on it was noticed that the house and property needed a lot of attention. The Relief Society came and helped clean out the house so it would be wheel chair and hospital bed accessible. This job took over two months. Meanwhile the Elders Quorum came and did some work on the ranch and Casey Haynes and Bishop Holden helped get a gate to secure the property.

Sister missionaries also came to help.  Left to right: Sisters Otto, Benton, Ashcraft and Flores.  The little girl in front is Rex's granddaughter Andilyn.  The missionaries also taught her a few lessons.

Robert (Bob) Tyler Passes Away

   Bob Tyler died June 29, after suffering a long bout of cancer in his spine, all bones, and blood.  In this picture taken in April 2021 Bob stands with his wife Joanne holding a picture of themselves when they were younger.

                           Sister Missionaries Come to the Rescue

    Joanne was extremely tired after all the arrangements had been taken care of, and really appreciated the Sister Missionaries offer to help her straighten up her house, and help her with cleaning that was difficult for her to do.  Here Sis. Smith (green shirt) and Sis. Otto, blue shirt  pack things away, clean up the clutter, and shampoo the living room carpet.

      Meantime Sis. Bollschweiler takes control of the kitchen and washes every dish in sight

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    Joanne expressed her thankfulness for the sisters' help.  This picture was taken at the beginning of the project or this room would be nice and clean.  We have wonderful missionaries who not only teach the gospel, but serve at every opportunity.  We are blessed to have them.

 

Threesome of Sister Missionaries Bless Our Ward

     We have three amazing, delightful sister missionaries in our ward.  On the left is Sister Bollschweiler from Kuna, Idaho.  She says, "My time spent serving as a missionary has helped me in striving to become the kind of person I want to be for the rest of my life.  I am forever grateful for the opportunity to serve God and my neighbors !"

    In the center is Sister Otto from Riverton, Utah who gives a favorite scripture: "These things I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world  ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer.  I have overcome the world."  John 16:33

   On the right is Sister Smith from Eagle Mountain, Utah who says:  "Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the time the Lord has given me to serve Him.  I have loved every single person that I've met here and the experiences I've had here have truly changed me forever.  I know that God really does live and knows His children."  Alma 26:16

Beautiful Young Woman in Major Musical

 Samantha McGhie is performing as a dancer and singer in the Lodi Musical Theater for Performing Arts production of "West Side Story." She has been a dancer for over eight years and has performed with San Joaquin Ballet.  She has also studied piano and guitar. After each show she and other performers meet in the foyer and visit with members of the audience.  Samantha is  delightful girl who just graduated from seminary and high school and has been accepted to BYU-Provo.  She is the daughter of Skip and Julie McGhie.

Two Recent Baptisms

 Two boys were recently baptized members of the church.  They are:

Landon Sean Corbin, June 19, 2021

Ephraim Leon Gonzalez, June 19 2021

Spring is Seminary Graduation Time

    Another seminary graduation!  Our ward has two graduates--Bryce Farlee and Samatha McGhie.  This year in seminary has been different and difficult at times.  The senior class was online most of the year, with a few zoom lessons once a week.  After the March break they transitioned to three days in person and two days online.  It required them to be very diligent and not get behind.

     Seminary teacher Teresa Sroufe said, "I love the teenagers and here are the great ones that persevered when their world crashed.  It's been an honor.  They teach me more than I taught them.  They are going to do great things!"

In the picture are Sister Sroufe on the left and Brother Scott Malm (in back with a mask) teacher their freshman year.  Students (L to R) are Bryce Farlee, Isabella Brando, Samantha McGhie, Aidelyn Cortez-Ojeda, and Bianca Simmons.  Isabella and Bianca are from Vineyard Ward.

How Does One Propagate a Succulent?

 

   To answer that question we couldn't resist these cute pictures of Megan Blackwell explaining it to the sisters of Relief Society in their monthly evening activity.  Most sisters knew what a succulent was (a plant that needs a small amount of water,) but the question was asked--What does if mean to propagate? She had to answer a lot of other questions too, but Megan explained everything and it was a delightful presentation. Propagate means to create another plant from a leaf or cutting.

 

    Christy Mecham who is the RS Activity Coordinator, set up the event and came up with a good selection of succulents for the sisters to plant in little containers to take home.  In this picture you see the sister missionaries dipping into the soil to prepare for planting their cute little green succulents.  Above them are some "succulent cupcakes" made by Jill Disch for everyone to enjoy.

Young Men Help Needy Pomegranate Farm

   It was hard work, but six Young Men and their leaders spent several hours picking up brush and hauling it out of a pomegranate orchard in the foothills. The brush was there as the result of  pruning the small trees by Cliff Kerr, Mark Wilcox and Mike Lewis. There is hope for harvesting some pomegranates this year from an orchard that has been neglected.

      After the work was finished, the young men  enjoyed donuts brought by youth leader Riley Broughten.  Other adult leaders working with the boys were Eric Fairbanks, Colby Holden, and Chene Mogler. Brother Kerr said he much appreciated their help and enjoyed getting to know them better, as well as having a great out-of-doors experience.

 

Youth Service Project A Success at DeBenedetti Park

   For the joint Young Women/Young Men activity this month, Bishop Holden contacted the City of Lodi’s Parks Department, indicating our desire to do a park cleanup project. The original plan was to clean at Lodi Lake.  The Parks Department was surprised and impressed at the willingness to help and mentioned that DeBenedetti Park was in more need of their service. DeBenedetti is mostly used for soccer games, but with Covid-19 having shut down the soccer programs, the fields have been a bit neglected.

    The Young Men and Women with their leaders met at 9 am, opened with a prayer, grabbed a donut and a water bottle and paired up. Armed with gloves, trash bags and trash pickers from Bishop’s truck, they spread out.

   One of their most interesting find was a snake carcass, but mostly they found bag after bag filled up with food containers and cigarette butts.

   The weather was perfect with a slight breeze to keep them cool. Young Women's secretary Kaela Burke commented, "It was impressive how many kids willing showed up at 9 am on a Saturday morning and how hard they worked to beautify our town. It’s hard not to feel close to our Heavenly Father while giving service with happy faces."

What's Your Favorite Quote?

     This is the first Relief Society activity in over a  year that actually took place "in person" instead of watching something on Zoom. The meeting was held on the outdoor pavilion and sisters enjoyed a nice spring breeze as favorite quotes were shared and explained.  Four sisters shared their quote with the entire group, then everyone else shared theirs with those sitting at their table , all the while eating the delicious cream pies that awaited them.

    The sister in the upper left picture is Cyndi Parker who told about the Parker quote, "The Parkers can do anything."  She didn't think she could do it, but just a few weeks after having her first baby, she bicycled across the Golden Gate Bridge with the extended family.  In the upper right picture Judy Wilcox shows a quote she embroidered in Primary.  It says "Greet the day with a song, make others happy, and serve gladly."  She has tried to do this throughout her life.

Three Friends Baptized on Same Day

     Andrew Boyer and Nathan Merrill of Mokelumne River Ward, along with Grant King of Vineyard Ward were baptized April 10 and confirmed April 11. All of them were born the month of March 2012 and have been buddies their entire lives.  

     They had first planned to be baptized in March of 2020 but had to postpone due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  So they have been waiting and waiting and were very happy to finally be baptized together.

     This was the first baptism to be held in the font inside the stake center since the pandemic began over a year ago. Baptisms to this point were usually held in a member's swimming pool or spa.  Due to a larger amount of people attending a baptism for boys from three different families, the program was held in the chapel with masks and social distancing in place. Then each boy and his family were taken to the font.  On the program a special song was sung by five young girls, all sisters of the boys.  Jenny Haynes gave a talk on baptism, and Cindi Brink spoke on the Holy Ghost.  After the service and baptisms, the three families and friends gathered on the outside plaza for sandwiches and desserts.

From left: Adopted grandfather Dave Gillingwater baptized Grant King;  Andrew Boyer was baptized by his brother James Boyer; Nathan Merrill was baptized by his step-grandfather Glenn Weeks.

    Since all the boys were nine years old they were considered "convert baptisms."  They had the privilege of being taught five missionary lessons by the Elders from Vineyard Ward and the Sisters from Mokelumne Ward. Sister Caldon and Hermana Flores were also witnesses for the baptism of Nathan Merrill.