March 21 - 27th

March 21: We fed the missionaries breakfast! Today Jennifer, Tanner, Garrett, Will & Maggie came to see us! We ate out at Zaxby's & then went to Daucet Trails. It is a beautiful place & kind of mini zoo. All the animals that they have have been injured & cannot be released. We had so much fun! We stayed the whole afternoon! We saw this huge snapping turtle that finally came up after we had been feeding the turtles, geese & ducks. The geese were aggressive & tried to run off the ducks & turtles by pecking them. Even the really big turtle did not retaliate, which surprised me. He didn't bother anyone.  It was a great day!

March 22: We had our district meeting in Jackson. Afterward we fed the sister missionaries hot dogs & had a good visit with them. The Elders were all going to do service for the Knoll's so they were going to eat with them. We went to Amy Renfroe's home & finally found her at home & talked with her. She said that they are moving in a couple of months. We went to the Wicklund's & got some co-op food for us & a bunch for the Cockram's & we delivered it & visited with them for a minute. Visited with Duane & fed the cats. He said that he was going to have surgery again (he cancelled it a month ago) next week. We went by Johnny Jones' home but he wasn't there. We went by Brother Hawkins' home. He was sick so we didn't stay but gave him the book "More Than The Tattooed Mormon". He said that he would read it.

March 23rd: Today I ran errands & went by the Big Chic & got 2chicken sandwiches after Jennifer's friend said that they were the best chicken sandwiches ever & they were super good! E. Sadler called Katie Hall & Kay Middlebrooks about visiting them but they were both sick. We went to visit Brother Saylors. He was on the back deck so we visited him there. He is almost blind & can hardly hear so E. Sadler has to talk to him. He can't understand what I'm saying b/c my voice isn't loud enough. He has a Boston terrier & a retriever that he got from Guiding Eyes in New York--both sweet dogs. Later we met with the RS Pres & E. Sadler offered to help her with the visiting teaching routes. Then we ate at Jimmy's Steak House. It was really good!

March 24: E. Sadler & Brother Huddleston went to see Tiffany Brooks. They went to see Fay Peder--she was not home--they talked to her grandfather who lives there too. Went by to visit Tara Oglsby but she wasn't home. Later we went to the Wicklund's & got food & carried a bunch to the Cockram's. Sister Cockram's daughter expressed interest in the church & Barry told her there were 5 lessons & we could teach them & she agreed. Sister Cockram's & her other daughter Debbie are both members & they said that they would like to sit in on the lessons too. Also visited Duane & fed the cats. Then we went to the Book of Mormon class! Busy day!

March 25th: Elder Sadler & John (Sister Knight's nephew) went home teaching. They visited Brother Price, went by Fredrick & Tosha Wilson's but they were not home. Went by Tara Oglsby's & Victoria Thompson's but they weren't home. Visited with Brother Rayburn.

March 26th: Elder Sadler took Brother Price to get a haircut. We met Rebecca & John Guyton for lunch at the Vanilla Bean in Montecello. We enjoyed visiting with them. She really misses her little granddaughter, Scarlette. This afternoon I made the Democrat Deli pasta & 2peanut butter/choc. chip pies to take to the Marchman's tomorrow. Went to the Women's Broadcast at church & we had a little ice cream social.

March 27th: Today is Easter! We took Brother Price to church. The Elders rode with us to the Marchman's & we ate dinner with them. It was delicious! On the way home we stopped by Larry & Katie Hall's place so they could give them a blessing. They are both so feeble that I think they both need to be on the nursing home. Sad situation.

I'm going to close with a quote from the Bible dictionary: "The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them."
So we limit ourselves if we don't ask for blessings!

March 14th-20th

March 14: Fed the missionaries breakfast! Elder Sadler washed the car while I vacuumed. He went to Stockbridge to go bowling with the Elders in our district and Brother Denio & his 2 little sons. They all had a blast! I read & studied & enjoyed a quiet afternoon!

March 15: Left apartment at 6:45 to go to zone conference. Helped with car inspections before the meeting. It was a great meeting. We got home about 5:45 & we were exhausted! Read & studied tonight.

March 16: I cooked breakfast. We walked in the cemetery. I cooked some soup! The Dotson’s gave us a whole box of canned tomatoes & okra so I used 3 jars today to make soup & it was good. We took a nap today—still tired from yesterday! We delivered a birthday candy bar to Brother Sisk but he was asleep. His son said he would give it to him.  On the way to deliver another birthday candy bar we saw Brother & Sister Blair sitting on their porch so we turned around & visited with him. We were disappointed that she went in the house & didn’t come out. He was much more positive than the last time we visited with him. He said he might come to church! Then we went to deliver a birthday candy bar to Brother Tapua & found him at home. To our knowledge no one in the branch has ever visited with him. He was very nice & appreciated the candy bar. He said his son just had a birthday so we gave him another candy bar to give to his son. We also stopped by the Flower’s again & this time they came to the door! She said that during the day when her husband is gone she doesn’t answer the door b/c they live out in the country. We had a nice visit with them & she said that she was going to come to church.

March 17: today we taught Steve the last lesson. We were both  disappointed that he doesn’t seem interested in getting baptized. We picked up a bunch of food at the Wicklund’s and delivered a good bit of it to the Cockram’s. I cooked some Danish rolls (from the co-op) for class tonight—they were good. Barry used the lap top to show the class the last testimony of Bruce R. McConkie & they were impressed.

March 18: Barry worked on income tax & I cleaned & read. I’ve been reading “The Sacrament: Coming Closer to Christ Through This Sacred Ordinance”, “Amazed by Grace” by Sheri Dew (love her!) and “Hearing the Voice of the Lord” by Gerald N. Lund.u

March 19: Stake Conference in Conyers. It was a great meeting. Elder Randal Bluth of the Seventy spoke to us tonight. They asked Sister Knight to bear her testimony!

March 20: Stake Conference in Jonesboro (this is a bigger building so they had the Sunday meeting here). The Atlanta Temple president & his wife spoke. President & Sister Foote (our mission president) spoke and Elder Bluth spoke again. It was one of the most spiritual stake conferences that we have ever been to.

Elder Randall Bluth gave a great talk part of which I have never heard before and wanted to share this.  Elder Sadler wrote it in his journal.  "The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve meet in the upper room of the Temple each Thursday. They asked the Lord last year to tell them what the saints needed to do to help them increase their faith in God the Father' Jesus Christ His Son and in the atonement. The answer came to teach the saints to better honor the Sabbath. They broke this into two parts: during sacrament meeting and throughout the day. They trained the seventies, who in turn trained the stake presidencies, who in turn trained the bishops & branch presidents who were to train the members. Elder Bluth said that they usually receive 5 or 6 "prophetic priorities" but last year received only this one."  He also said that when the priests kneel to bless the sacrament they kneel on behalf of the congregation as a symbol that every knee shall bow.

Also our Stake President, President Johnson, quoted Helaman telling his sons to build upon the rock of Christ (Helaman 5:12). He quoted Neil L. Anderson as saying that faith emits a discernable light and that faith is a choice.

Here is the exact quote from Neil L. Anderson:  Faith emits a spiritual light and that light is discernable. Faith in Jesus Christ is a gift from heaven that comes as we choose to believe and as we seek it and hold on to it.

Then our mission president, President Foote talked. He said he pondered about what to say and it came to him. He said very enthusiastically, It's true, it's true, it's true! The restored gospel is true! Then he bore his testimony. If you could've heard him you would know why we say that he is the very best mission president ever!!!

I’m closing with a quote from Dallin H. Oaks, “For reasons that have not been revealed, this transition, or “fall”, could not happen without a transgression—an exercise of moral agency amounting to a willful breaking of a law (see Moses 6:59). This would be a planned offense, a formality to serve an eternal purpose. The Prophet Lehi explained that “if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen” (2 Ne. 2:22), but would have remained in the same state in which he was created."

March 7th - 13th

Monday, March 7: The missionaries decided that they wanted to try the waffles today so I cooked them & they really liked them! We visited with them for a little while after breakfast & we cleaned the apartment, washed clothes & read & rested.

March 8: We had our district meeting in Jackson today. We fed all of the missionaries at Burger King afterward. We visited the 3 ladies in the nursing home this afternoon. It is Sister Cox's birthday so we took her a candy bar & also so Werther's--she loves them. We also took Sister Hosea & her roommate some Werther's too.

Elder Waite, Elder Ericksen, Elder Mende, Sister Creech, and Sister Worsham in the back

March 9: I ran errands & bought groceries this morning. Barry found a roofer that is a member of the church through President Carrin & he met us at Fay Peder's this afternoon (she had asked if there was anyone that we knew of that could help her with her leaky roof). He got up on the roof & pressure washed the worst area & sealed it & a crack in a sky light & told them if it kept leaking they would need to pressure wash the whole roof & reseal every seam & nail. He didn't charge them for his help. Fay was very appreciative of the help. She has told us a couple of times that she was coming to church but hasn't yet. We ate supper with the Dotson's & taught him the 4th discussion. We ate shrimp & crab legs! Needed players to crack the crab legs! Never have done that before!

March 10: we visited with Sister Phillips & she said she would try to come to church. She asked us to put her husband on the prayer roll. We went by to see Lisa Sage but she was asleep. We visited Amy Renfroe & also Johnny Jones but they weren't home (left notes). Went to the Wicklunds & got a bunch of food to deliver tomorrow. Went to the Book of Mormon class.

March 11: District call! I had an ultrasound on the nodule that they happened to find while I was in the hospital. Took food to the Cockram's &?Duane. Duane was pretty incoherent. We had a church camp out tonight but we forgot to go--we weren't going to spend the night. Found out that they had a campfire but no one spent the night!

March 12: cooked hamburgers. Went by Amy Renfroe's & Johnny Jones' homes again but they still were not there. Barry called a couple of people & invited them to church. I worked on my talk on missionary work!

March 13: gave talk. Read & studied. The Wicklund's called & asked us to come by b/c they had more food for us! Kim lives with them & she has the white chihuahua puppy that I love to hold! She hears my voice & comes running to me!

February 29th - March 6th

Monday, Feb. 29th  We fed the missionaries breakfast. We cleaned a little & went to Locust Grove to eat lunch with Brother Numa at the senior citizen’s center. They played 2 games of pool after we ate. Brother Numa likes to brag about how good he is but he is really just learning so we just laugh about it. Your Dad & Brother Numa seem to really enjoy playing pool & I enjoy watching them!
Afterward we visited with Ann Owens. She was almost baptized several years ago. She expressed interest in the Book of Mormon class & we invited her to come. She also expressed interest in church history & we loaned her our “Church History” book. Later I called Rebecca Guyton. Her daughter left home & turned over all parental rights of Scarlett to her ex-husband and went to California. This has broken Rebecca’s heart — she has helped raise Scarlett since she was 5 weeks old (she is now about 6 yrs. old) & she doesn’t think that Scarlett’s Dad will let them see Scarlett much.

March 1st We went to Eufaula & saw Dr. Oakley. He told me that the new blood pressure medicine taken with the other I’m taking would cause kidney damage & he told me not to take it any more. I think that the combination of those two pills is what kept raising my blood pressure before we went to the ER. He upped the HCTZ (fluid pill). He wants me to get an ultrasound on the nodule on my thyroid that showed up in one of the tests at the hosp. I got my driver’s license renewed. Went to WM & stocked up on dog & cat food & enjoyed the rest of the day at home. All of the pets look healthy & happy. Shirley is doing a great job taking care of them & that made me feel better.

March 2nd We came back to Jackson. Delivered a birthday candy bar to John Godwin and to Brandi Hawkins. They weren’t home so we left the candy bar in a bag on the gate & called later to make sure that she got it. She was very nice.

March 3rd We did 2 apartment inspections in Stockbridge. Spent the afternoon preparing for the Book of Mormon class & studying. Ann Owens & Sister Kirkland came to class & both really enjoyed it! Afterward we went by the Wicklund’s & got some food (he works at the co-op & they give him food for working). They had a lot—some for the Cockram’s too. Got to hold the sweet little Chihuahua puppy for a few minutes. This was a long day!

March 4th Left at 8 a.m. & inspected 4 apartments. We ate lunch & went to Sam’s. Came home & rested before delivering food to the Cockram’s which turned out to be a good thing because the Wicklund’s called & had more food so we went & got it & were able to deliver all the food to the Cockram’s in one trip. Found out that Duane needed food so we went back home & gathered up some for him. I don’t think that we are going to take him anymore though b/c the last several times we’ve taken food over there a woman comes apparently to see what I brought & we’ve heard that she sells it for drugs. It is a sad situation. The city has threatened to put him in the nursing home & I think they need too. He cannot take care of himself & he went to the pound & adopted a puppy which no one in the world but Duane thought that was a good idea. Poor puppy.

March 5th Barry, the missionaries & 5 other church members helped the Middlebrooks move. One that helped was Ann Knight’s nephew & we fed him lunch (hamburgers) and then he & Barry gave Brother Huddleston a blessing & then we delivered a birthday candy bar to Kamie Patterson. We have been by that house so many times & no one has been home but today we met her husband (nonmember) and he was very nice. He said she was getting dressed so we didn’t get to meet her.

March 6th We took Sister Katie Hall to church. She is in a wheelchair but we manage ok with her & she loves to go to church. Afterward we had lunch with the Stansell’s. They had also invited Sister Ann Owens & Sister Kirkland. We had such a nice visit.

Closing with a quote from Elder Packer: Somewhere in your quest for spiritual knowledge, there is that "leap of faith” as the philosophers call it. It is the moment when you have gone to the edge of the light and step into the darkness to discover that the way is lighted ahead for just a footstep or two. Boyd K. Packer