6.6.2013
Dear Family & Friends,
Been a while since we wrote home; time to re-connect for a few minutes. Missionarying and life goes on in WI. You may be interested to know that last Sunday was the annual “Blessing of the Fleet” at Kenosha Harbor, as announced in the Kenosha News. Although it was rainy weather, the minister was at his designated spot to do his best for the boaters who wanted to be “blessed.” I am not sure how the man of the cloth was able to call down a blessing on “the Sabbath Breaker,” and other sister crafts that sailed past him Sunday. This may be one of the “mysteries I wondered if there might be a “blessing of the not fleet.” That is me. I may look into that further.
What are the chances??? We checked out a book from the local library, on Shelley’s recommendation, that had an interesting surprise in it. Since we have no TV, we spend some of our free evening time reading to each other. Anyway, as we were reading along in the book, we turned the page and a 5 Euro note fell out of the book. We both looked at the Euro, then at each other, and then up at Jordan’s picture on top of the cupboard, and said, “Wow! Jordan!” The note resulted in a personal letter from us to Elder Jordan Max Jones in the London South Mission. The 5 Euro note accompanied the letter. How does that happen?? Who knows? Anyway it brought us momentarily closer to our missionary grandson. Hope Jord can use it in the Motherland.
Flowers continue to bloom. We love their color interspersed with all the green. First it was the crocuses, then the daffodils, then the irises, now we see lilacs and some occasional poppies. It is interesting how they each seem to come in their time, but each adds brightness and beauty to the landscape. Almost all the trees are leafed out now. We begin to better understand why thickets may be called that. One could easily become lost in the amazingly dense stands of trees, bushes, ect. Not sure how each gets enough sunlight to make a go of it, but somehow they do. There are so many shades of green mixed together. Amazingly beautiful!
La familia Hernandez is continuing to prepare to go to the temple at the end of June. We travel west to Elkhorn (about 50 miles, one way) each Saturday morning to meet with them. They are unique compared to so many that we see and work with. They are legally married. They are faithful to each other. They have three beautiful children. They love each other. They have solid jobs. They are firm in the Restored Gospel. After reading Elder Scott’s talk (April 1999 Conf.) together, we committed them to include a request to Heavenly Father in each prayer that they offered, that He will help them be completely prepared for June 29th. Little Alexandra, the oldest daughter (age 10), was asked to offer the opening prayer in our Primary class Sunday. She offered a sweet prayer, including a request that Heavenly Father would bless her family to be ready to go to the temple on June 29th. “A child shall lead them.”
Eric & Lupita. We continue to accompany the elders in teaching Eric and Lupita. We have mentioned them before. Lupita was baptized a few years ago, then went inactive. She has two little girls, Emily (2) and Zayra (2 months), from different fathers. She is under church discipline. She and Eric are living together, un-married, as Eric is legally married to a different woman. He needs to get a divorce before Lupita and he can marry. Eric is a non-member. We were assigned to visit Lupita when we first came to the branch. We searched out her address and phone number and went to visit as HT/VT. She was very warm and welcoming. Said she had had no contacts with the church for more than 2 years. We began to re-teach her the basics of the gospel. She soaked it in. After a few visits we asked if we could meet Eric. He agreed. We had a wonderful first visit, inviting him to listen to the elders. He agreed. We have since been accompanying the elders on the teaches. Eric is very receptive. Now his younger brother, Miguel (19), has moved in. Miguel began listening to the elders last week. Sunday they were all at sacrament meeting. Zayra was blessed by the branch president. Lupita gave her testimony. She expressed her gratitude for the Skinners knocking on her door. She wants to be back in full standing in the church. Eric wants to continue being taught. Only problem is going to be for them to get legally married. As they were taught the 10 commandments last night, we promised them Heavenly Father would bless them to be able to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way of progressing spiritually, IF they would obey the commandments. Miguel has accepted a baptismal date. It will be interesting to watch the Lord’s hand in these people’s lives.
Pain in the knee. Aging and pain seem to go together. My left knee has been giving me fits for quite some time. Pain along the lateral aspect has made it very difficult to flex the knee. Finally we went to Dr. Rocco. His specialty is sports injuries. He examined both knees and then confidently said I had “ilio-tibial syndrome.” The ilio-tibial band connects to the knee on the outside just below the joint. He says he commonly sees it in bikers. He said the first order of treatment is to “identify and eliminate the offending behavior.” He began asking what I was doing that required me to bend the knee. Since all we do is walk, there was little I could come up with. Then he said, “Do you pray on your knees a lot?” Vicki began to laugh and confessed for me that I do spend a lot of time on my knees. Dr. Rocco looked at me and said, “You know you can pray standing, and besides you will be closer to the Source.” We had a good laugh. I said, “Dr. Rocco, that comment is going to cost you.” I handed him a Mormon Tabernacle Choir pass along card for the concert in Milwaukee on June 15th, and told him his wife would like to be taken to the concert. Anyway, we determined that by icing the knee and using ibuprofen the pain can be managed. If it persists, the next step will be a cortisone injection. I am now a stand up praying Pharisee.
Music instruction. Vicki’s music students have moved on from directing music, to learning the basics of keyboarding. The young people are really enjoying it, and Vicki finds it very satisfying to be able to share something that has the potential to bless the branch for the future. Sunday we did not have any accompanist for sacrament meeting. The hymns were “sung” without. If you have not been in a congregation of Spanish-speaking members singing hymns a cappella, you cannot appreciate how important the accompanist is to a branch. It is good for me to see Vicki blooming in this way. There are times when a husband just needs to be quiet and let his wife shine. She is amazing!!
Zone Training Meeting. Tuesday was our monthly ZTM. The Milwaukee South Zone gathers at Elkhorn chapel. It is the most central location for the Zone. We transported two sets of elders and a set of sisters with us. One of the items of business was the all mission meeting that will be held on June 15th in Neenah. That’s about 3 hours north of here. Elder Dallin Oaks will be the Apostle present. We will have two hours of instruction will him. It will be a special time for the missionaries.
Burlington WI is located about 15 miles before Elkhorn. On the way home we stopped to take a picture of our missionaries at Mormon Road in Burlington. A little bit of Church history. In 1835 Moses Smith and his family migrated from NY state to Wisconsin and settled at what is now Burlington. Two years later an LDS congregation was established there. After the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum’s martyrdom, James Strang, brother in law to Moses Smith, led away some of the members from Nauvoo to Burlington. Strang was shot to death in 1856 by one of his dissident followers. Many of this group eventually formed the Reorganized Church in 1860. Mormon Road in Burlington has an old rock building and a marker placed by the WI Historical Society commemorating the “Mormons” who settled Burlington. Interesting little bit of Church history in WI. Grandpa Skinner would have loved to visit this spot. Church history was his specialty. I thought a lot about him as we stopped by to visit Mormon Road. I surely miss him!
How thankful we are for this senior missionary calling that has brought us to WI. Thank you for your prayers in our behalf. We love you, each one!
Charles & Vicki
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