Can you Bake a Cherry Pie, Billy Boy, or How About Apple Cake

I baked 7 pans of Amish Apple Cake.
Added whipped cream on top.

Sunday, June 21, 2015
We did not have any capilla abiertas or capacitaciones this weekend.  On Saturday we took the trailer and helped the Anderson's deliver furniture around to the different Stakes.  Their huge "Employment Center" in the middle of Plaza Independencia is being closed.  The church is making the transition from the old program of LDS Employment and moving to "Self Reliance".  This program is to be run in each Stake Center throughout the country.  They are sharing the FHC where one is available.  So all the wonderful resources from that employment center are being dispersed.  But alot of the Stakes do not have the resources (truck, van, trailer) to come and get large pieces of furniture. So, we with our handy-dandy trailer are helping.
Sunday was nice to spend in our own ward just to let them know we are not too "menos activos".
Then we had a delicious "Happy Father's Day" lunch at the mission home.  Uruguay celebrates their Father's Day in July, but we decided to celebrate today, because we knew all our kids were celebrating as well and we wanted to join them.

Hna Cook made a delicious butternut squash soup.
Remember it is winter here!

We had salmon again because it was so easy and so good last time.
I baked 1 hour rolls that Candiss had posted on Facebook and they
were perfect!

Wednesday, June 24, 2015
We had a multi zone conference today.  Last week Elder Olivier called and asked for the recipe and the count of how many items to buy for (guess what???)...........Burrito Bar!!!
The missionaries love it!  They were going to do all the preparing and cooking.  Unfortunately, Elder Olivier got super sick on Monday.  I told him to stay home and get better and not worry about Wednesday.  We (Mike and I) could handle everything just fine.  So we did.  We did enough burritos for 75 people to have 3 each.  I initially thought that I had made too many beans again, but we ended up right on the money!  Everything was perfect.  Hectic, but perfect.

Saturday, June 27, 2015
We left Friday because we had some deliveries and apartment repairs to do in the same area as our capilla abierta.  I did most of the driving, just to give Mike a break.  Country driving is pretty easy.

Today was the perfect capilla abierta. It was a blend of two branches, Asamblea y Estacion.
Hermana Sanhueza reported the following: She wrote it in Spanish and Google translated it so it is a bit off.

I'm so happy! .. This week was of miracles!

Saturday we went to an open chapel in Florida and it was so spiritual!

The first tour we did was a family currently being taught by the missionaries.They are a couple with a child of 14 years, They came because they are fulfilling their promise to come.  They shared their feelings of Jesus Christ and the family with us and we really felt who they are,  the elect of the Lord. His eyes shone with such feeling and they were happy to have attended.

Another tour was the sister of a young member.  She had never attended our church before. She came alone to the chapel with her two daughters. As we were doing the tour, talking about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon, she had her eyes with excitement and told us that she had never had that feeling so much peace, so much emotion. She prays and attended another church with her daughters but never had that feeling in that church. We talk about the manifestations of the spirit and how we can recognize them. We shared the plan of salvation and the temple.  She was very interested in hearing more.

Another experience I had was:

In our city named "Hospital" in Durazno, all the members say I look like a member who was a missionary in Paraguay. and is now less active and lives in Florida,(Uruguay). Her name is Anna (name changed for lack of permission). We called her family and visited them a few weeks ago here in Durazno and they told us she was going through bad times and would not give her address for anyone to visit.

Her mother died when she was very young, she joined the church as a youth, her father married again and formed another family, the little sisters were baptized before her mission but her stepmother has not yet taken the desicion. Currently the only active member is her father. 

When traveling to Florida for the open chapel I felt that we should ask for the phone number to invite her parents.

We called her and she said if she had time they would attend.

We were starting another tour with 2 girls and they canceled it and said they had to leave, and then comes Anna! We hugged and she wanted to start a tour. We asked a member to accompany us. It just happened to be that this member and Anna had been friends before serving their missions! They embraced and they began to cry, the Spirit was very strong. I felt like the Prodigal Son, one deep feeling of love. As we begin to share our testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ, we started to cry again and a the Spirit filled the room. She did the tour and she looked happy as we taught the Restoration, the plan of salvation and we were reminded each time and received a testimony of each one of those things and feelings that had to acknowledge the truth of it.

After the tour, she gave us her address so that the missionaries could visit her. She lives in Piedra Alta where Hermana Fragapane and Hermana Aquino serve. Now get this! Hermana Aquino is from Paraguay, and Anna knew and visited her family. Hermana Aquino went with them to many missionary discussions there in Paraguay. So Hermana Aquino was a missionary for Anna and now she is still a missionary for Anna here in Uruguay!!!

It was exciting to help and she returned to feel what you felt before inactivity. Now the mission will visit and help.

Another experience this week was out with the bishop to the talks. The told us he quit his job to work more years in the Lord's work, his boss went to look for him back home he said that this God first and then earthly things. Now he is taking a difficult decision, and says he will go to the temple to fetch guidance and answers.

I am happy here and I'm taking to the last minute of my mission to help those miracles for the Lord.

(Hermana Sanhueza goes home this next change)

These two branches gave one hundred percent and the results were incredible! 33 no miembros all brought by members. 8 menos activos. The BEST ever!

YouTube: Capilla Abierta de Asamblea y Estacion

"I want to play the piano but I have no piano at my house."
Elder Burnett: "You can come to my house and play the piano."
"Where do you live?"
"I live in the United States, in Utah."

"Uhh..., I have to ride a plane to get there and I do not have
enough money right now. Maybe soon though!"

Anna and friend. Read the story above.

Can't do these wonderful capilla abiertas without these faithful missionaries!

Romania Records Found

Thursday, June 18, 2015

I am forever grateful to indexers. Ancestry.com released this month records from Romania. When I did a search for my great grandmother, Wilhelmina Rosa Kasch, I received no hits. I was disappointed but some Rosa Kasch's did come up in the search, so at least I felt comfortable that the correct spelling for this time period was Kasch and not Kas with an umlaut. I decided to try her father. Minnie as she was known had written the name of her parents for my mom and some dates. So I typed in Endru Kasch with his birth date, marriage date and the name of his spouse, Sari Ilyes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! The first hit was Andreas Kasch married to Sara Illyes. The places matched and the date of marriage was only 1 year off. It had the name of his parents including the maiden name of his mother. We have finally linked to the next generation. This Romania line has been blank all of our lives! I was so excited that I facetimed with mom (who is dealing with cancer and just lost all of her hair today). I didn't tell what I had found but guided her through the same search I had done and let her enjoy the same excitement and of course, she did. I added the names of Andreas' parents to family tree under my mom's account and reserved the temple work for her to do. 

But here are my sacred thoughts about the timing of all of this. Yes, we have been waiting for a breakthrough for years. We are engaged in a mighty work and it is marvelous to behold. The magnitude is beyond my comprehension, but it is still about the "one's". My mom is going through a really hard time in her life without her eternal companion. I am so far away, but other family have been a huge blessing and they have been with her. I have very strong feelings that this discovery will lead to finding other family members in Romania. This will give my mom focus and something to look forward to doing during the rough times of cancer treatment that may be ahead. The timing is perfect for her (the one) and for me (the one). I feel I have given her something even though I am so far away. And of course the blessing of being able to do the work for Martin Kasch (the one) and Anna Kurmes (the one) is also a wonderful opportunity. This work is all about the "one" and I thank Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for giving all us "ones" the opportunity to return to them as families united in love and purpose, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". 

Friday, June 19, 2015

Another "one" blessisng for my brother Dallas today. I am going to use Julie's words.

Wednesday of this week:

"We went to a liver specialist and he said that everyone has spots on their liver and most people never know that they have them.  Most of them are pretty round in shape.  Dallas has one spot that is not round in shape but very oddly and randomly shaped and larger than the other ones.  When they did the CT Scan the die/contrast was not in his liver enough at the time they took the picture to get a good look at this oddly shaped spot so the liver doctor ordered an MRI with contrast so that he could determine what this odd spot is. He said that VERY rarely does cancer originate in the liver, it usually starts somewhere else and then spreads to the liver. He said that depending on what he finds, he might need to do a biopsy of the liver, but that will be determined by what he finds in the MRI.

He went in this morning and had the MRI done – the doctor should have the results by tomorrow but we don’t know that for sure. Just waiting for that . . . .

After they did the MRI he went to the same day surgery for the endoscopy and the exploration of the bladder to determine what was in there.  After the surgery the doctor told me that there were two almost golf ball sized tumors in his bladder, one at the bottom of the urethra opening and one on the top of the urethra opening, each acting like a stopper/flapper when he tried to urinate. One of them was growing into the prostate and that is what made the prostate appear so HUGE in the CT scan.  He said the prostate is doing well and is not a problem, his PSA levels were way low so there is no cancer in the prostrate.  He did have to remove a tiny piece of the prostate because of the tumor but other than that the prostate is not a concern.

He said the tumors are cancer, he said there are two different types – I am sure there are more scientific names for these two types but this is what the doctor told me when he explained it so here we go . . .

One: is called “surface”  - this is not really a concern, treatment would be that Dallas would have to go in the office every three months and have a “scope” done in the office to see if there were any more growing and the doctor would be able to easily remove them in the office, basically just keeping an eye on things and making sure that if anything grows, they can be removed quickly before they get to big or have a chance to become “deep”  He said that it could also include a type of chemo that they would put directly into the bladder that he (Dallas) would need to keep in there and not urinate for two hours.

Two: is called “deep”  - there is a muscle that surrounds the bladder, he said the “deep” kind has gone through the bladder wall and penetrated the muscle surrounding the bladder.  He said that once the cancer is outside of the bladder it can/will spread anywhere in the body. He said that if it is bad enough that the bladder will need to be removed and then obviously more aggressive chemo treatments to try and stop any further spread of the cancer.

This is concerning enough BUT remember the liver lesion . . . and that liver cancer usually comes from another place in the body? The two problems together give us even greater cause for concern. We are not trying to “borrow” trouble but it is a possibility and in the back of our minds."

I could have never imagined that my Mom and my brother would end up with cancer at the same time, within weeks apart!  Prayers offered again in earnest.

Friday:

"A little more background – Our home teacher is a ER Doctor, he is the one who got the ball rolling on all of this, we let him know the update yesterday and told him that we would not get the labs back until mid to end of next week and he told us that he would “put the hurt on someone” so that we could get the results faster.

We just got a phone call from the Urologist (thank heaven for home teachers that are doctors) he said that it is stage Ta which means that it is very superficial, very low grade, or in the terms he described to me before “surface” which is VERY GOOD NEWS!!  He said that if it had to be cancer, that this was the type we were looking for.  Treatment for this will be that Dallas will have to go in every 3 months for the doctor to take a look in his bladder to see if any more tumors are growing. If they are and they are small enough, he can take care of them right in the office.  Bladder cancer never goes away, but this type is VERY manageable and controllable. He will not have to have any chemo. Basically, just keep an eye on things and monitor everything.

Our home teacher also read the MRI report and he said that it looks to him like a Hemangioma which is a noncancerous spot on his liver, which he said that liver spots are very common and everyone has them and most people don’t even know they have them.

Dallas said that this is the best birthday/Father’s Day present ever!!"

Thank you Heavenly Father.  I will serve with all my might, mind, and strength to continue to try and show my thankfulness for our family's blessings given this month, in this world and in the spirit world.

Change Week, Again! So soon!

Friday, June 12, 2015
The beginning events of change week.  The office elders always like to come and learn from Elder Burnett and enjoy a meal with us.

Fresh guacamole, salsa, chips and tacos.

We were supposed to have only 4 elders, but 2 more called and asked
if they could come a little late. I had a sense that that might
happen, so I did cook enough.

B to F: Elder Oliver, Delgado, Rogers, Olivier

Last two on right: Elder Torres, Bauer

Saturday, June 13, 2015
Capilla Abierta for two branches, Piedra Alta y Ferroviario.  It was a little different because of the soccer tournament America Cup and Uruguay played today.  Our numbers were few even waiting until the game was over. But it is also cold outside now as winter has arrived.
These two branches prepared well. Great references were given by members and non members. I noticed at least 3 non members that stayed most of the evening. Good fellowship was enjoyed by all who attended.
YouTube: Piedra Alta y Ferroviario

Missionaries ready at 4pm, but it didn't really start until 6 pm after the soccer game.

The youth are always enthusiastic.

...but the elderly also come with their strong commitment.

Two hermanas on the end are members of the branches.
L to R: Hna Fragapane, Hna Dowdle, Me

Elders Shurtz and Da Fonseca

Sunday, June 14, 2015
Ice cream social at the mission home. We are saying goodbye to Elder Delgado, a financer who is being transferred and goodbye to Elder Gutiérrez, assistant to President, who is going home.
Hello to Elder Martinez as the new AP and Elder Cruz a new financer.

June 15 - 18, 2015  Monday - Thursday
New oros arrive and valientes depart.
YouTube: Week of Changes

Elder Delgado, financer being transferred

Elder Mendenhall going home

Elder Tucker going home

Hermana Marcos

Crackers, is there anything better?

Friday, June 5, 2015

Mike was asked to participate in Concilio today. He had 45 minutes for each session and he did 3 sessions. His topic assigned to him by the assistants to the president was, "Ways to Help Ward Councils".
I was busy cooking so I did not get to hear his whole presentation, but part of it was "Why does the Lord use councils?"
He asked them to define synergy and one Elder came up with a really good concept.  You take one ox and he can pull 7 times his own weight.  You would think then that if you put two oxen together you would get double that making it 14 times. Actually, synergy is created and they can pull 17 times their own weight combined.
Mike described it this way.  You have the Bishop and he is represented as Flour.  You have the counselor and he is represented as Salt.  Then you have the High Priest Group Leader and he is represented as water.  When you mix all those together, you get a cracker.
He then handed out a cracker to everyone.
But, what happens when you had the Relief Society president (yeast), the Primary president (sugar), Ward Mission leader (cinnamon), Young Men, Young Women leaders (walnuts).  You end up with a something much more enjoyable....

Audible gasps were heard as he pulled out the hidden cinnamon rolls I had made. As he passed out the cinnamon rolls, he asked, "What does the icing represent?"   The icing "on the cake" so to speak is the confirmation of the Holy Ghost that all that has been discussed in the council has been done under the influence of the Spirit.
Hopefully, whenever they eat a cinnamon roll, they will recall the importance of councils and why everyone is needed.

There for Mom via Facetime

Thursday, June 4, 2015

I am so grateful for the ability to facetime with my best friend, my mom.  She started her chemo treatments today and I was able to be there with her via facetime. Rhonda and Dana were of course there too.  We talked with her doctors and learned the process and what activites Mom could do and some of the things that might be expected to happen.  The best news was the chemo treatment itself is only one day.  What we thought to be four days of treatment only meant that the first day was chemo and the last three were just taking her medication.  That was a huge relief.  She can go out and receive visitors as long as they are healthy and the public places are not too enclosed or full of alot of people.
Mom received a nice blessing from Dallas and Bruce the night before, so today she looked comfortable with this whole new thing.  Round 1 was today and she will do this five more times at three weeks apart.  We figured she should be all better by end of September.

I took pictures of me and mom!

Signing paperwork.

Three different drugs were given via an IV.  The first one was red.

 

As you can see, mom was quite comfortable and doing some reading.

There are no words that I can express my deepest feelings of love for my mother, my teacher in all walks of life!  I want to be just like her when I grow up!

Surprise! Happy Birthday

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

"I spy with my little eye, something that is huge!"
We had a very unusual object outside our apartment this morning.
Click the youtube link to find out.

YouTube: http://youtu.be/O8MqAKEMops

Not sure what they removed, but our large LG sign is still atop the building.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

We had oro training today which means cooking breakfast and lunch. But watch the youtube link and you can see how much they love Elder Burnett!

YouTube: http://youtu.be/jQUSM11VifQ

Always having fun whenever possible!
Love you! 

President and Hermana Cook treated Mike to "Garcia's", our favorite restaurant for great steaks! It was a nice evening with just them, a real treat for us.  Mike received several calls from home and he got two new ties. One from the Cook's and another one from the office elders.