The Ranch

We have now been at the ranch for three weeks. It is an amazing place! Beautiful. Peaceful. A world away from the glitz of Orlando. We've been having fun exploring the ranch, taking pictures, getting to know the people here, and generally "settling in". We live in a 4-plex of 1 bedroom 1 bath apartments, comfortable with more storage space than we expected. Reminds us that we can do with a lot less than we are used to and be happy and comfortable! When we arrived, there were 5 missionary couples here: 4 couples from Utah and 1 couple from Bartow, FL, a couple of hours away. Three of the UT couples have left for home and the FL couple will leave next week. We are expecting a couple from Idaho and a couple from UT next weekend with the remaining couple of our new group arriving from NC in mid May.

We can now answer the question "What will you be doing?". "Missionaries for Farmland Reserve Inc

primarily focus on preserving and enhancing farm properties." There are 70-80 buildings on the ranch and many (most) of the 90 employees and their families live on the ranch. As you can imagine, it's a wonderful place to raise children. CK has been helping get a house ready for new occupants, i.e. replacing flooring in the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. He was working with Elder Law, a stonemason from UT, until Elder Law left for home a couple of days ago. He's also working on a small house used for interns who come to the ranch from various universities.

SK has been busy learning about the ranch because the sister missionaries conduct tours of the ranch. Also, they work on humanitarian projects for local charities. Both of us will soon have callings in our new ward, the Ellsworth Ward, which is on the ranch, about 6 miles away. We meet with the other missionary couples at 6:45 AM on weekdays for a devotional, on Monday nights for FHE, and twice a month for Sunday dinner. We have a day during the week when we can attend the Orlando temple. Temples

Family Home Evening

Check out the ranch website: http://www.deseretranchflorida.com/

   



Welcoming Committee! Zollingers and Millers

 Our Apartment

View from our front door

Elder Kennedy and Elder Law at work

The Carroll House Visitors Center

Some of the "locals"





Setting Apart

On Thursday, March 31st, we went to the St. Petersburg Stake Center to be set apart as Agricultural Church Service Missionaries by our Stake President, Nathan Emery. Our youngest son, Patrick, and our Bishop, Dan Russell were also in attendance. Afterwards, we went to dinner with Pat and Bishop Russell. Setting Apart



L to R Elder Kennedy, Pres. Emery, Sister Kennedy,
Patrick, Bishop Russell



Trip To Salt Lake City

We left for SLC on March 24th, stopping over in Phoenix for 3 days to visit family and friends,arriving in SLC on the 28th. The weather in Phoenix was much like St. Pete (without the humidity!), but SLC was cold!

Although our hotel was across the street from the Farmland Reserve offices, our training on Tuesday (29th) was on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Building about 2 blocks away. There were 11 other couples there who are going to ranches in the U.S. and England. We especially appreciated getting to meet two couples who will be with us at the St. Cloud ranch. The training was interesting and informative. Topics included an introduction to the company, an overview of farms and ranches, risk management, financial matters, as well as specific missionary training presented by Elder and Sister Estes.



Elder and Sister Estes
Directors of Missionary and Volunteer Services


Florida Ranch Missionaries
Mannings, Kennedys, Yates


Dinner with granddaughter Maggie!
(a student at U. of Utah)

"We have felt that good farms, over a long period, represent a safe investment where assets of the Church may be preserved and enhanced, while at the same time they are available as an agricultural resource to feed people should there come a time of need."  Gordon B. Hinckley  Ensign, May 1991, p.54