Tristan's baptism

Tristan was baptized Saturday, July 30th. This is one of (probably 3) the highlights of our mission! Tristan's family is the family we have been taking co-op food to for almost a year. His great Grandmother, Sister Cockram is a member a long with his great aunt but they have been inactive. So Tristan told us that it was our example that got him interested in the church. One night he prayed for a way to make his life better. Elder Sadler and the missionaries knocked on his door the next day. He quickly dismissed them and sent them upstairs where the rest if the family was (they have one apartment upstairs and one downstairs) and then realized that that was the answer to his prayer so he went upstairs and told the elders that he wanted to take the discussions. He has been on fire ever since. It has been such a wonderful experience seeing him turn his life around! Last night Elder Sadler took the Elders over (their car is in the shop) and he told them that he had been to all of his neighbor's asking them if they would be interested in taking the discussions!

July 18th - 24th

Monday, July 18th: we went to visit Melissa & kids & while we were there we went to visit Uncle Billy & Aunt Betty but she didn't feel good & slept while we were there. The kids didn't want to give Uncle Billy a hug at first but he won them over with candy & brought them a little rocking chair & toys to play with. Then he showed them The chair lift on the stairs & let them ride it. They loved it! Nathan said that he wished he could ride on one of them around the world! They also loved the slinky & played with it on the stairs. We played games & read to them when we got back to Melissa's. We got to see Kevin for a bit & then rode home in the Atlanta traffic.

Tuesday, July 19th: Today is Elder Dickson's birthday so I made him a cookie cake! We fed them (missionaries) breakfast & later had our district meeting & afterward we found out that Dylan got his mission call! He is going to open it tonight!!! I went visiting teaching with Ann Knight. We visited Brenda & Dawn. We had supper with the Knight's & the missionaries and afterward Brother Knight set up his computer so we could skype with the family. Dylan announced that he is going to the TOKYO JAPAN MISSION! We were all shocked because we thought he would go to a Spanish speaking mission since he knows Spanish. We are so excited for him & he is super excited too! After that we inspected the Elder's apartment which finished our required inspections.

Elder Schenk & Elder Dickson

Elder & Sister Ralston

Sister Curtis & Sister Larsen

Elder Mende & Elder Walker

Wednesday, July 20th: Today is transfer day & Elder Schenk is going home. We will really miss him. We also got to say good bye to Elder Walker & Elder Compton. Elder Walker cried & I did too. We love the missionaries & have really enjoyed working with them. Elder Hanson, who was in our district earlier, is coming to Jackson! Later Elder Sadler went with the missionaries to make some visits. The 1st person wasn't home so they went to visit Triston. He had question so the missionaries set up a time to teach him tomorrow. Little did we know that this was the start of one of the highlights of our mission!

Thursday, July 21st: Elder Sadler went with the missionaries to teach Triston the first discussion. It went really well! On the way home Sister Wicklund called & said that she had some co-op food for us to deliver so they went by & got it & took most of it to Triston's family (Cockram). I made brownies for the Book of Mormon class. Tristan came with the Knight's & the Elders! We took him home & he asked if it was ok for him to come to church Sunday! Wow!

Friday, July 22nd: Today is our 46th anniversary! It doesn't seem that long. We walked (in the cemetery) & then went to Longhorn's for lunch. We had planned to take the Carrin's a meal (she had surgery) but found out that Sister Sherwood had already planned to. We went to see Ann Owens & took her a box of co-op food!

Saturday, July 23rd: we had a senior missionary activity at the High Museum of Art. President Foote gave Elder Sadler & me a Temple recommend there. We told him about Dylan serving a mission! He expressed his love for us. He is a great man. We ate supper with Jody & Melinda Jennings. He was one of Elder Sadler's young men in Magnolia! The AP's were there too. We had a great visit.

Sunday, July 24th: Tristan did come to church! And to our surprise Ann & Bill Wicklund & Kim came to church too! Devin Godwin is leaving soon for his mission in Orem, Utah so he spoke today. We had a linger longer after church. Later we visited the Cockram's & the missionaries taught Tristan another lesson. It was Sister Cockram's birthday so we took her a birthday candy bar. She seemed down & asked for a blessing; the Elders assisted.

....When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.  Mosiah 2:17

July 11th - 17th

Monday, July 11th:  We fed Elder Schenk, Elder Dickson, Elder Walker & Elder Mende breakfast. Elder Dickson washed our car! He had a business washing cars before his mission & has washed our car several times & does a great job! I talked with Rebecca Guyton on the phone for a while. We visited Julie Bateman (new move in) for a while. She says that she is going to come to church. We visited with Jim & Brandi Hawkins for a while on their porch. We had a good visit. We told them that we would love to have to them come to church & he told us that he had been thinking about it!

Tuesday, July 12th: We had a district meeting in Jackson. We took the Elders to Subway afterward. Elder Sadler went with the missionaries afterward to visit with Sister Jackie Menard and then taught Gary Knight the last Temple prep class.

Wednesday, July 13th: Had an appointment with massage therapist. Between this & the Chiropractor my back is so much better. We had lunch with Betsy Jennings Pressley at the Vanilla Bean & really enjoyed visiting with her. We took a birthday candy bar to Hal Winer--he wasn't there so we left it on the door. We had supper with Thelma Kirkland & the missionaries. She is such a sweet lady!

Thursday, July 14th: We had apartment inspections today in Twin Oaks & Snellville. We went to the Wicklund's & got the co-op food for the Cockrum's & delivered it to them. Had our Book of Mormon class tonight.

Friday, July 15th: We had lunch with Sister Guyton & John & had a good visit. They have just moved to a smaller home It is nice! We took the Elders by two places in Monticello while we were there. We took a candy bar to Margaret Martin--not sure if she was there but no one came to the door so we left it on the door knob in a bag. Went by to see Sister Denninger but she doesn't live there any more. Tried to find Lonnie Letford & Jo Ann Wise (new move ins) but we couldn't.

Saturday, July 16th: We found out that we are not supposed to feed the sisters & elders together so we made a special trip to take the sisters (Larson & Curtis) out to eat. Afterward we went to the Krispy Kreme to get some donuts for Kim (her birthday), Gary & Ann & the Carrin's (she had just had eye surgery). Then we went to the KFC to get some chicken for the Carrin's but Elder Sadler turned too soon & we ended up at a hotel. When we came out with the chicken there was an ambulance & police car parked behind our car. A lady was really sick. Elder Sadler tried to back out but cut the tire so we waited a long time until they left & then tried to change the tire. The jack was so flimsy that when Elder Sadler pulled the tire off the jack collapsed (Can this day get any worse? It does!). So there were 3 people trying to help us at this point. They found a jack but it would not go under the car so they finally found another jack that just barely fit under the car & we got the tire changed. We went to Pep boys & got new tires & a front end alignment. They said it would take an hour but it was over an hour & a half. We finally got on the interstate about 4:40 & only went a little ways before all lanes were blocked for over an hour b/c there was a wreck & a fatality. We finally got back to Jackson about 6:30 & delivered the donuts but not the chicken since it sat in the car all afternoon.

Sunday, July 17th: Today we took Sister Katie Hall to church. She lives way out in the country & is in a wheelchair. It means so much to her to get to go to church. We fed the missionaries lunch. Later I visited with Sarah--a neighbor who had foot surgery. Elder Sadler worked on family history & is collecting names to take to the Temple.

We can take heart that our honest effort to keep our covenants allows God to increase our power to do it. Henry B. Eyring

July 4th - 10th

Monday July 4th: we ate at the Red Lobster & went to Sam's. We cleaned some & Elder Sadler worked on genealogy. I called Kay Middlebrooks but she wasn't home. We went to see Judy Deeter but she was asleep. We got to see the fireworks behind the church building with many other church members. Loved the fireworks!

Tuesday, July 5th: Today is p-day so we fed the missionaries breakfast. We fed Cat Cat for the Knights (they are out of town). I went to the doctor -- have a kidney infection. I rested while Elder Sadler worked on genealogy.

Wednesday, July 6th: Today is Will's birthday. He is 13!!! We talked to him on the phone & wished him a happy birthday. We visited Ann Owens, Katie Hall & Kay Middlebrooks today.

Thursday, July 7th: we had zone conference at the Decatur building today--1st time we've met there & it is only one block from a Krispy Kreme store! So after the meeting we got some assorted donuts for our Book of Mormon class, some for the missionaries & some for the Wicklunds & Kim--it's Kim's birthday. They had a fit over them as did everyone in the Book of Mormon class! Picked up co/op food from the Wicklunds for us & the Cockrum's family.

Friday, July 8th: we delivered the food to the Cockrums. Visited with Brother & Sister France. We went to see the Flowers family & also Brother Winer but neither of them were home so we left them a note. Tonight Brother Swafford asked Elder Sadler to come give him a blessing. He keeps asking for blessings but never tries to improve his life--Elder Sadler is getting really frustrated with him. A ward member told me that he has been getting blessings for years from ward members but never tries to do the things that he knows he should to improve his life.

Saturday, July 9th: Went to the grocery store. Made 10 loaves of banana bread with all the bananas that we got from co-op. We went to the nursing home & visited with Mildred and Dorothy & Geraldine. We enjoy visiting with these sweet ladies.

Sunday July 10th: we picked up Danielle & took her to church. She lives out in the country as does most of the members. After church we fed the missionaries. We had a supper appointment with the Wicklunds & Kim Hard. They also invited the missionaries. I love to go there--they have 6 dogs including the little white chichichua dog that I love to hold.

The Savior gave us the scriptures paid for by prophets at a price we cannot measure so that we could know Him. Lose yourself in them. Decide now to read more and more effectively than you have ever done before. (Book of Mormon Institute Manual)

June 27th - July 3rd

Monday, June 27th: We fed Elder Dicksen & Elder Schenk breakfast. We cleaned & Elder Sadler played golf with our Elders & Elder Mende & Elder Walker from Stockbridge while I made some pecan pies. We had supper at the Stansell's with the Elders. She is a great cook!

Tuesday, June 28th: We had our district meeting today with Elders Dicksen, Schenk, Walker, Mende, Sisters Larson &  Elder & Sister Rolston & the ZLs Elders Crane & Snedeker. The meeting went well. After the meeting we took all the Elders (inc. ZL) to the Hibachi Grill & they all enjoyed it. This afternoon we did some planning for the week, E. Sadler worked on home teaching & I talked with Rebecca Guyton for a while.

Wednesday, June 29th: the Wicklunds got home last night. This morning Elder Sadler & the Elders helped Bill unload the Uhaul (they brought some stuff back from where they used to live). It was very hot & the boxes were heavy but they got it done. I took Kim to the doctor. Later we had an appointment with Carrie Denio (who is the new RS Pres.) to help her with the visiting teaching appointments & tell her about members that she hasn't met yet.  We had supper with the Knights & the Elders who had been helping Brother Knight with repairing his car. Elder Dicksen knows a lot about cars & was a big help.

Thursday, June 30th: We went with the Elders to take Shundra to her Mom's. She is tired of her husband running around on her. But when we got there she said she wasn't sure her mom would let her move in. Then she asked about the women's shelter so Elder Sadler called & said she could come & just look at it but she decided not to do that either. Later Elder Sadler took Auther Price home teaching. He made copies of the notes for the Book of Mormon class. I made chocolate chip cookies for the class. Tonight we had the Elders, Ann Owens & Thelma there. We couldn't pin Ann down on a baptism date yet. She has smoked for a long time now so that is a problem.

Friday, July 1st: We went walking. We visited with Thelma Kirkland & then Marshall Saylors. They are both pretty lonely. I took Thelma a fern. She really liked it. Brother Saylors has some good war stories! This afternoon we fed Cat Cat--the Knight's cat as they are out of town for a few days. Sister Stansell brought us some co-op bread which we took to the Huddleston's. We ate supper at a steak place here & it was good. Later the Elders came over & downloaded the branch roster to their GPS. Barry Jr. texted me & said that Dylan had an appointment with the stake president & had turned his papers in! So, waiting on the mission call! So excited for Dylan!

Saturday, July 2nd: Took the Elders to Conyers for Ruth Morrison's baptism. Elder Schenk taught her. It was a wonderful baptism service. Later called Katie twice but didn't get her. Called Kay but she was asleep. We had a mission fast call. It is special to fast as a mission for the names on the list that are sent from missionaries all over the mission.

Sunday, July 3rd: Aurther didn't feel like coming to church so we had no riders today. We had 71 people at church but Ann wasn't there & neither were the Harper's. Later we fed Cat Cat & visited with Lisa Stage on her porch. We called Thelma & Ann to check on them since they weren't at church. I called Kay but she wasn't home.

Preach the first principles of the gospel--preach them over again: you will find that, day after day new ideas & additional light concerning them will be revealed to you. Huron Smithl