January 24th Update

Sunday the 17th Today we had stake conference broadcast in Jonesboro & the missionaries rode with us. President Johnson spoke also. We fed the missionaries lunch. We feed them a lot on Sunday. This afternoon we visited Tara Oglesby. We & the missionaries ate with the Knights for supper.  Sister Knight grows & dries her own herbs & she is a good cook! We had a good gospel discussion.

Monday we fed the missionaries (Waite & Walker) breakfast, cleaned & then we took the Stockbridge sisters shopping!  So I asked Sister Jones where she liked to shop & she said thrift stores! Sister Jones found a nice top & skirt & Sister Creech found a nice dress & blouse at the thrift shop. Then they wanted to go to Old Navy b/c they had never been there before so we did but we weren't there long b/c they said all the skirts were too short! Then we went to Ross & they found 1or 2 more things. I really enjoyed being with them& Barry only complained a little bit! We took them out to eat.

Tuesday Barry's 66th birthday! We had a zone training meeting & we ate supper at the French Market. Wednesday was the world missionary broadcast with Elder Bednar, Elder Anderson & Elder Oaks was the concluding speaker. All the talks were very inspiring. They could not get the signal to work so we listened to the conference on my iPhone. Thankful for modern technology!  We did 2 apartment inspections before the broadcast.

Thursday we inspected 4 more & then we went to Verizon & Barry got a new phone! The girl that helped him said we could come & tell her about our church so we are going to follow up on that. Saturday we were supposed to have a senior missionary lunch but it was postponed because of snow! We just got a light dusting. So we inspected Elder Waite & Elder Walker's apartment & visited 3 little ladies in the nursing home. One of them loves Werthers candy so we always take her a bag.

Today Brianne& Dian Adams, serving as employment specialist missionaries came to ward council & gave a presentation. It was great to see them again!  This afternoon we took a meal to Brother Knight (Ann, his wife is out of town) and to Brother Price, who lives alone & we delivered a birthday candy bar. Another busy week!

January 18th Update

I never before realized what a sacrifice it is to leave home, family & friends to go on a mission so to Barry & Jason & Chris & Kevin I want to say thank you for taking that leap of faith & going on your mission! And the Lord certainly does bless you for that sacrifice as the song says "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven". We have been truly blessed. I am surprised at how close we have become to the other missionaries on our district! We have awesome missionaries and a super mission president & his wife is super too! We visited a man this week who seems to have had a change of heart. When we first visited him in the fall he said he could get more from being out in nature than going to church but when we visited him Wednesday to wish him a happy birthday & take him a candy bar he invited us in & as we talked to him he seemed to realize there was a void in his life & when we invited him to come to church he indicated to us that he might come. We were happy about that.

We also visited with a non member husband & asked him if we could teach him the lessons & he said yes. This surprised us & some of the members too. We have seen some progress in the people we have been working with & progress in the branch as they have worked on being more friendly & reaching out more & there has been improvement in the home teaching too!

The highlight of this week was the special Temple day we had with most of you Saturday. It was a special experience to be there when Mason received the priesthood so that he could participate in the baptisms. It was such a wonderful experience. We accomplished so much that day. It is a day that I will remember forever.

Working Hard & Friendly Goats

January 4th - Lovin' on Hailey & Kaitlyn before their naps

January 7th - Sometimes we hit the wall!

January 9th - We went out in the country to deliver a birthday candy bar & we were met by their dog & goat who I think thinks he is a dog! He didn't want us to leave! Please show them to the grandchildren!

January 4th Update

12/28 I got up early & cooked breakfast for us & the missionaries. I cleaned & washed clothes. Barry vacuumed & washed the car. We delivered a birthday candy bar. & had supper with the Knight's. They are an awesome couple. I really wish y'all could meet them.

12/29 I went home teaching with Barry to four people--we found out that one had moved (& we had just located this guy), one was asleep & one was gone so we left the message with a family member & visited with Walter Morris. We had a dinner appt. with Sister Thelma Kirkland & the missionaries. Jennifer, Tanner, Garrett, Will and Maggie came to see us & spent the night with us. It was great to see them, especially since we didn't get to see Maggie when Nathan was baptized.

12/30 We visited with Jennifer, Tanner, Garrett, Will & Maggie. It was a rainy day so we weren't able to go to Dauset Trails. Hopefully next time they come we'll be able to take them. They left around 2:30 and we delivered 1 birthday candy bar to Sister Rockers & read & rested the rest of the day. Barry is pretty sick.

Jennifer & the kids came for a visit

12/31 We delivered 2 birthday candy bars, made 1 home teaching visit. The missionaries gave Barry a blessing--he has a bad upper respiratory infection. We watched the Ala.-Mich. St. Ball game on the iPad thru sling--thank you Barry. What a game!

1/1 The branch had a brunch & I volunteered to make waffles & I made a bunch! We had invited our investigator & Brother Price but they both were sick. We had plenty of food & good attendance--it was a good activity.

1/2 we delivered 1 birthday candy car to an inactive--he was friendly & appreciative.
It is very cold so we stayed in & rested & read the rest of the day--Barry is still sick.

1/3 we went to church & fed the missionaries!

We have been so far back in the back woods of Georgia that our GPS wouldn't work--I didn't know that was possible!