One Month as Missionaries! 6-24-2017

June 24, 2017

This week marks one month on our mission - a month full of new places, new people and lots of new experiences. We are learning so much that we can hardly keep track of it all! This past week was busy with lots of variety:

- MONDAY THRU WEDNESDAY: VISITING LESS-ACTIVES & INVESTIGATORS: We have a goal to meet every member of our branch, both active and less-active , by July 15. We are making progress and it's challenging experience. There is a different, distinct culture in rural Ohio ("Foothills of the Appalachians" as our mission president describes it) that we are learning about. We are learning that our mission experience will have some  similarities to an "inner city mission" in some metro areas. 

        - HONORING WORLD WAR II VET: Recently the remains of an American paratrooper soldier were found in the Netherlands and identified as Pvt. Eugene Appleby from Coshocton, OH. We attended the very touching ceremondy as his casket arrived from Europe and was escorted into Coshocton along Main Street by a procession of several dozen police cars, fire engines, motorcycles, etc. 

- THURSDAY: TRANSFER DAY: This was our first experience with a "transfer day". We have about 200 missionaries in our mission - about half of them convened in Columbus for a transfer (exchange of companions and travel to new areas). A highlight was getting to see two sisters from our stake in South Jordan ! Sis. Suzette Hansen who has been here for several months, and Sis. Lindsey Bennett, who just arrived on Thursday from the MTC! They are former Young Women from Kim's years as Stake Young Women President, so it was quite a reunion for the three sisters! We also received a new elder who will be working with us in Coshocton. Elder Cobabe, (from Redding, CA) will replace Elder Cox (from West Valley, UT) who was transferred to Athens. Elder Robison (from Shelley, ID) now becomes a senior companion here. 

- THURSDAY EVENING: We were privileged to visit the grave of Brian Whitaker, son of our dear South Jordan friends Ralph and Ramona Whitaker. Before we left on our mission, Whitakers told us that Brian's grave is in Reynoldsburg , a suburb of Columbus. On Thursday we were traveling near that area and made a visit to place some flowers in behalf of our friends. Brian passed away in 2009 at the age of 32 while living in Ohio. 

- FRIDAY EVENING: We joined nine other senior missionary couples in a farewell dinner for our mission president and wife, Pres. & Sis. Daines. The Daines will complete their three years of service next week and will now live in Spokane, WA. They will be replaced next week by Pres. & Sis. Stratford from Layton, UT. 

- SATURDAY: We stayed over Friday night and then took our P-Day on Saturday while we were in the Columbus area. We visited Ohio State University, "North Market" in Columbus and had lunch at the famous German Restaurant "Schmidt's Sausage Haus" in the Germantown Village. We're learning a little more about Columbus each time we visit from our assigned area in rural Coshocton, which is about 70 miles east of Columbus. 

Thanks for your interest, emails and prayers - we appreciate you all! 

Ohio is beautiful, challenging and VERY humid!

 

Out and About--Coshocton, Ohio

One of our main assignments from our Branch President, besides helping visit less active members in our branch is to help the Church be more visible in our area.  Very few people even know that we have a Mormon congregation in  Coshocton.  He wants us to be involved in the community and meet everyone, so that is what we are doing.  We visit with everyone!  At the bank, the stores, the laudromat and on the street.  One of the fun things we have done is attend the community events, and so far we have been to the hot air balloon festival, the dulcimer festival, the Farmers Market, Roscoe Village, and riden the canal boat!  All great events and full of great people, many who we have had a chance to meet.  It is so fun!  There are so many wonderful people in Ohio!

Zone Conference 6-14-2017 - Columbus Temple and President and Sister Daines

We got to experience our first zone Conference yesterday, and that was an amazing experience!  The young missionaries in our mission are so well versed in teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They know the scriptures so well and have such an enthusiasm and love for the Savior!  It is wonderful to be with them. We senior missionaries participate as well and have much to learn from these young men and young women.  

They are such great examples.

As we were preparing for a group zone photo, some of the sisters had to kneel in the front to get us all in.  As we were getting ready, we noticed the shoes of a sister in front of us whose shoes had worn holes in them.  She departs from the mission next week, and what a sweet visual of someone who has worked hard serving the Lord for the past 18 months!

We got to attend the temple as part of our zone conference and that was a special treat.  
We senior couples did sealings while the younger missionaries did endowments. We even got to be a part of sealing a family of five children to their parents!

This was the last Zone Conference that President and Sister Daines will do with our zone before they depart the mission on July 1^st.  It was wonderful to spend the day with them and feel of their enthusiasm and testimonies of Christ.

We are assigned to Coshocton Ohio- and we LOVE it here!

Just a quick report from our new "home" in Ohio! Kim has maintained our blog up to this point  - so it's now my turn to add a post updating our mission to this point. (let me know if you'd like to view the blog and I'll see that your email address is added to the access list).

- We arrived in Ohio about a week ago after a fun crosscountry drive of 2,000 miles! Stops along the way in Denver & Limon, CO; Salina, KS; Hannibal, MO to visit Mark Twain; Nauvoo, IL: Temple visit, visiting the historic sites; then on to Ohio. 

- We stayed in the Columbus area for about a week while we looked for a house/apartment in Coshocton (pronounced: kuh -SHOCK - tun) where our mission president has asked us to serve. Unless we are asked to move into the mission office for an administrative assignment, we will likely spend our whole mission here in Coshocton.

- Coshocton is a small country town of about 10,000 population located 70 miles east of Columbus. It has a rich history as it was a booming "canal town" during the heydays of the Erie/Ohio Canal from 1830-1850. It is located at the confluence of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding Rivers as they form the Muskingum River - a sizeable river about 100 yards across. Until about ten years ago, it was a busy, industrial town but many key industries shut down and the downtown area is now teeming  with poverty, welfare abuse, drugs, general decay / decline / apathy.  It's a new world that we're just beginning to learn about and understand.

- However Coshocton also has a beautiful upside! The Roscoe Village canal district has been beautifully restored is now a popular tourist attraction drawing hundreds of visitors daily. It features a beautiful lane called "Whitewoman Street" (named after Mary Harris who was kidnapped by the Mohawk tribe in the 1700's. She grew up to be the wife of a Mohawk chief and she became a respected, famous leader in Ohio.) Her namesake  street is lined with very attractive restored shops, restaurants, historic recreations of 1800's craftsmen like blacksmiths, weavers, candlemakers, etc. and a team of draft horses pulling canal boats up and down the reconstructed canal and locks!  It even has it's own website: www.roscoevillage.com   We found a third-floor apartment over the Medbery Marketplace Deli in Roscoe Village- it's like living in Gardner Village or on Main Street in Park City. So our mailing address is: 

Paul and Kim Blanchard

C/O Medbery Marketplace 

403 North Whitewoman Street

Coshocton, OH 43812

- Our assignment is to help strengthen the small branch in this struggling small town. The branch has about 100 members with about 30 people attending church on Sunday. They do have a small chapel and that is a huge asset - but the local economy and welfare culture are  challenges to building the branch. Kim and I have a lot of opportunities to meet new people every day, especially since we live in a very attractive, popular tourist attraction which draws hundreds of visitors each day. We also teach an Institute New Testament Class on Wednesday evenings which is a helpful draw for both LDS and non-LDS adult students. There will be many opportunities for us to be of service in this challenged-town; we are looking forward to the experiences. 

So all in all, we are having the time of our lives! Living and working together in a small beautiful village in a lush green countryside with really nice, humble people. Life is good and we're thankful for our countless blessings. Being missionaries is even better than we dreamed - we're learning that wearing a black name tag 24/7 is a new and exciting experience! Thanks for your support and interest as we prepared for this incredible adventure! If you're ever out this way, let us know - we'll take you downstairs for some famous "Velvet Ice Cream" and then for a ride on the canal boat behind King & Max the Belgian tow horses!

Best wishes,

 Elder & Sister Blanchard

 

Going East Day #5- Bloomington, IL to Columbus! 350 Miles - ARRIVING AT OUR MISSION!

Well we finally made it to Columbus, Ohio!  After driving across Illinois and Indiana we were thrilled to see the welcome to Ohio sign.  Whoops went up when we drove up to the mission office. Our odometer read just over 2000 miles!! We were so tired! We had a delightful evening having dinner with three other senior couples, the Forsyths, the Cannons and the Seversens and then went to the Mission Home and spent a wonderful hour meeting and getting to know President and Sister Daines. We love all of them! We were then taken to our temporary apartment and unloaded the trailer and dropped into bed about  1 a.m.  We are so happy and grateful to finally be here!