November 2014

November has been an interesting month.  We have had some great experiences.  Some of them Sister Lay does not want to repreat.  As part of my calling, I am finding addresses of members who have disappeared (and in some cases don't want to  be found).  We had talk to one of their sons and obtained an address.  When we went to the house we thought no one was at home, but as we left, the husband came out and chased us down the road in his truck wanting to know who we were and what we wanted.   He had his hand gun in his hand laying on the seat of his truck.  He asked if we were lost.  Barbara said, "Yes."  I told him who we were and who we were looking for.  He said "I ain't no Mormon" and drove off.  The Bishop just told us he was a blow hard, but Sister Lay said she will not be going back.

Cotton havesting is in  progress, They have defolited this field so it can be harvested.

Here is a field that has been havested. The bales of cotton are lined up on the edge of the field.  The harvester is at the end and they are loading a new roll of yellow plastic wrap.

For perspective, I am in front of one of the bales of cotton with Elders Carlson and Peel.  The bales are about 7 feet by 7 feet and weight about 2.5 tons.  The farmer told me that they get about 700 pounds of cotton an acre from an unirrigated field and about 1700 pounds an acre from one they irrigate.

The ward had a trunk-0r-treat at the meeting house for Halloween.  They go all out in their decorating and dressing up.

Not sure I would want to get my candy from the toilet but the kids didn't seem to have a problem

As expected the kids had great costumes.  I think the Bishop's daughter dressed up as a princess because her sister is Junior Miss Marianna.

I loved the deer horns on the head.

And the contest winner was the new kid on the block

They had a parade in town for the Marianna High School Homecoming.  Why they chose Halloween for homecoming is beyond me, but it all seemed to work.  People got into the spirit of the day and came in their costumes.

This car reminded me of Cary Boyle's car in his garage which he ultimately plans to fix up

Our landlady is on the Nightmare float, front left, with some of her classmates.  They decided to have their class reunion to coincide with Homecoming.

Our landlady's sister was the Homecoming Queen in 1965 so she made her sister come and be in the parade. Her sister said she would do it only if she didn't have to wear a fancy dress, but she did wear her tiara.  Once a party girl, always a party girl.

The landlady's third float had all of her grandchildren,

 the new generation of Marianna High School supporters.

 This float was my favorite because it reminded me of some of the houses we have visited

The whole parade was full of  queens and princesses.  The Homecoming queen had two attendants from each class 9 through 12.  There were more queens than I ever thought possible. 

And our favorite is Junior Miss Marianna. I think  Bishop Sims (The driver) is proud of his daugter.

 National Peanut Festival in Dothan Alabama

The Elders and Sisters at the entrance.

Sisters Bates, Mathison and Wood - Elders Carlson and Peel

A statue honoring Eli Whitney and his contribution to the peanut industry

Chain saw wood carving demonstration

The Stake sells elephant ears at the festival as their fund raiser for the scouting and young women's programs.  (They think they invented the concept of elephent ears here).  It is one of the best funded programs in the state.  They were $4 each.  Across from them was someone selling corndogs for $4 each.  He had them lined up 30 deep or 40. I could not believe it.  Barbara asked one couple what was so wonderful about the corndogs.  They did not know.  Had just heard they were good so they got in line.  It must have taken a good hour to get a corndog.

The Bishop and his daughter hawking elephent ears.

The 4H warehouse had some interesting and fun displays done by the high schools in the surrounding communities.

It's all about PEANUTS!

And the Winner is the peanut graveyard.  They have a marker for each of the significant supporters of the peanut festival who have passed away.

Wakulla State Park

We were also able to go to Wakulla State Park, once with the senior couple and sisters from Crestview and then the following week we got permission to take our sisters. One of them was returning home and had not seen an alligator.

Wakulla State Park is a huge spring that spawns a river right at the spring.  People scuba dive into the spring which is a series of caves that go for hundreds of miles.  They have never found where the spring originates.

Scenes of the river. 

The spring and swimming hole

Cypress knees are roots that stick up and help the trees breath as the water rises

Cypress Knees

The Black Lagoon from the movies Creature from the Black Lagoon, Airport 77 and several Tarzan's.

Birds in the Park

This bird swims under the water.  You can see their beaks moving through the water.
After their swim, they dry out in the sun by spreading their wings.

Mudd Hen, their feet are not webbed.  

One eating a crayfish.

Alligators in the Park

Old Joe with wanted posted for his murderer

Other animals in the Park

Manatees

 

Turtles

Raccoons

There are also snakes, bears and deer, but we did not see them.

The hand painted ceiling in the old lodge.

The Tourists

Sisters Bates, Wood, and Mathison

Sister Lay was not happy with me for including this picture.

Along with our first visit we went out to St. Marks lighthouse on the coast.  They did not allow access inside the lighthouse.

While at the lighthouse Sister Lay took pictures of the butterflies which are in the process of migrating.

This picture is not upside down.  The butterfly is.  

Next report will be on the football game we have tickets to this weekend at FSU.

September's events

I am sorry it has been so long since we  have updated the blog. Sister Lay has been busy doing nurse stuff and she has not had time to update.  If you can believe it 19 and 20 year olds need alot of help, from sprained joints to concussions toconvincing them that they need to get flu shots.  It has been a little trying where some of the medical issues have resulted in missionaries needing to go home early.  At least the burden of the final decision is left up to the Mission President and his wife and the General Authorieis.  So I decided if anything was going to be posted, I would need to do it.

There have beeen other good things happening.

 Our first out of town visitors, Jeff and Ranell Jones and their family. (Jerry Jones' Son)

Me ordaining a new member to the Aaronic Priesthood.

Visiting Utah to see our new granddaughter Scarlet Rose (held by her sister Violet)

Eating at our favorite resturant the Wharf.  Sister Lay had to try the fried green tomatoes. Otherwise she generally eats their salads or shrimp tacos.  I have a wider variety of items I eat from the salads, shrimp & grits, shrimp po boy sandwiches, catfish with rice and beans and shrimp tacos.

During September while Sister Lay was doing her thing, the Elders and I went out to try and find imformation of some of the member's.  I had been to a house which had a little yipper of a dog and a wasp's nest on the from door.  When the Elders got out of the car to knock on the door, I warned them to look out for the dog.  So they went to the door with the dog barking, close on their heels.  They were so worried about the dog that they didn't see the wasp's nest.  The next thing I see was them running from the door waving their arms.  One of them had been bitten twice on the face.  They were starting to swell. So we went to the gas station to get benadryl.  The next week Sister Lay and I went to visit.  This time the owner was home and when I asked about her husband, she became upset and said he was living with his girl friend and she did know where.  The dog picked up on how upset she was and when I turned to leave the little yipper took a bite out of the back of my leg.  The Elder who was stung by the wasp got a good laugh out of it. The bite is now healed and I have not shown any signs of rabbis.


There weather continued to be hot and humid.  Below is a picture of water coming of the eve of our house during a brief shower.  Tempetures in the 90's and humidity at 100%, not a good mixture.  You look out the window, see it is cloudy and think it is going to be like Washington and then you walk outside and it hits you in the face like stepping into a sauna.

I believe we have survived the summer, with the beginning of October the highs have dropped into the mid eighties and the lows at night have finally cooled off into the 50's and 60's.

September is the month they harvest the peanuts and the Ward has an activity where they have a peanut boil (pronounced peanut bowl in the south).  So I have the opportunity to spend a couple of hours picking peanuts off of the plants with the other men in the Ward.  We probably had a fifty gallon drum full by the time we were done.  They boil them in salty water for several hours.  Not sure how to describe the texture and flavor.  They did have some members of the Ward provide music (with their guitars) and they did an excellent job. Sorry, the video was to large to upload.

We did make it down to the Gulf this past week.  More by bad planning that by any real effort.  We had gone to a doctors appointment in Panama City (which was not until next week) and then had to go to Tallahasse to say good bye to the spanish speaking couple who were going home.  Below is the resturant where we ate on the Gulf.

The food was excellent and you don't need to quess which one of ate which entree.

The weather was stormy so it reminded us more of going to the beach in Washington that actually being on the Gulf of Mexico.

All along the route there were signs which said watch out for the bears.  I wonder if they really exist of if it is their way of keeping people from swimming.

The cotton fields are getting ready to harvest.  It adds a new meaning to the fields are white, ready to harvest.

We are continuing to have a great time,  We are still doing alot of driving around Jackson County with an occassional trip to Dothan, Alabama, or Pensecola and Tallahassee, Florida. It is always interesting When they hand me a new name and then I talk to one of the clerks. The say, "Oh, Yeah, he is one that has threatened to shoot the missionaries if they ever come to his place again." I always tell them I will trust in the Lord that he will strike them dead if they try to do anything so foolish.


Love

Elder Lay.

Our Blessed Day

"Have a blessed day," is the greeting we receive where ever we go.  I did not think too much about it until we had one.....

The license tags for our Vehicle expire in August.  Henry, the diligent, got on line and payed for the new tags in early July.  They were sent to our home in Vancouver.  Ellen, also diligent, put them in an envelope to drop in the mail only she was hurrying around and forgot to put our address on the envelope.  OK, no problem, the tags would be returned to her, she would re-mail them and we would get them in plenty of time.............except they did not come and they did not come.

The mission president called Tuesday afternoon and asked if I would talk to the Zone Leaders at their Mission Leadership Council about the health issues in our mission so they could pass it on to the other missionaries.  He wanted me to take 45 minutes and the meeting was tomorrow morning, my portion would start at 11.   OOOOOKKKKKK.  The meeting was in Crestview, about 1 1/2 hours away.

I thought and studied and prayed and prayed some more and knowing the Lord would be there to help me, felt ready.  Got up the next morning ready to walk out the door and my personal phone was no where to be found.  We searched the whole house, car and my purse several times.  We did not have time to search any more, so with a prayer in our hearts we got in the car and headed for Crestview.  The last time I could remember having my phone was at a funeral we had attended the day before.  To say the least, my mind was quite distracted.  I was having a hard time not thinking about my phone.  When Brent handed me the phone he said, "Don't leave it laying around.  It will grow legs."

We arrived in Crestview with plenty of time to spare before my presentation.  It gave me a few minutes to get into the spirit of what was going on in the conference and organize my thoughts.  "We will start with a scripture", I said to the sound of every one getting out their scriptures and immediately opening to the reference.  (Where were these people when I was teaching seminary, I wondered.)  It was a great experience to talk with them about the importance of keeping healthy.  The talk went well and Henry observed even the Mission President taking notes.

One our way home from the conference we decided to stop in at the hotel we had stayed in when we went to a Senior Couple's Training in June.  Henry had left his dress shoes.  We had called to see if they were there, but had been told "no".  But what could it hurt to ask?  Henry went in to inquire. Out he came with a big smile, shoes in hand.

We drove from there directly to the church where we hoped and had been praying all day to find my phone.  I got a nurse call just as we pulled into the parking lot, so once again Henry went in to find the phone.  Within a few minutes he came out smiling with the phone in hand.  I thought I had slipped it into my purse, but instead had slipped it on to the bench where it had sat all that time.

Feeling totally blessed for the day we drove to our home.  Henry went out to check the mail and there were the tags for the Vehicle!!!!!!!!

Talk went well, shoes and phone were found, and the tags arrived.  What more could we ask......

Thank You, Lord!

Have a Blessed Day, Y'll!

The Holy Ghost at Work

The Promises of the Holy Ghost

I was thinking this morning about the promises of the Holy Ghost and how they have come to pass while we have been serving as the mission nurse and member/leader support missionaries.

Nehemiah 9:20 “Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them…”

When we were in the MTC and Mission training we learned so much about what the Lord wanted us to do as missionaries.  We learned the purpose of missionary work was to “Invite other to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the End.”  There were lots of instructions given.  The Holy Ghost helped us to understand the message we are to share and how to share it.  Armed with all that knowledge I wondered how we would be able to get it done.  After all, we are old.  Here are two scriptures whose message burned into my soul when we read them together.

Isaiah 40:28-31 “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?  There is no searching of his understanding.

 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

 Even the youths all faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall;

 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Matthew 4:18-20  “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.”

The Holy Ghost taught me through these scriptures that the Lord would be with me and give me the power to do the things I had to do.  I prepare myself spiritually, mentally and physically. Then all I have to is go and follow him.  He will make of me what he needs.

At the Medical training in Salt Lake the next week, this scripture added to my understanding of why it was so important to have my body and mind ready to serve and the importance of having the Holy Ghost as my constant companion.  This scripture took on a whole new meaning….

“What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”  1 Corinthians 6:19

We as a church have built  lovely temples for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ all over the world that we can go in and worship.  But where is the temple to the Holy Ghost?  According to this scripture it is our body.  We are the temple of the Holy Ghost and as such must keep ourselves worthy to have him dwell with us just as Heavenly Father promises when we are baptized and partake of the sacrament.  My assignment as mission nurse is to help the missionaries understand that keeping their bodies healthy is part of keeping the Holy Ghost with them so they can be good effective missionaries.  Missionaries maintain and preserve temples of the Holy Ghost as they share the gospel with others.

John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

There are three promises here.  Comforter.  I felt his comfort even before we left.  Every time I would get panicked about leaving all the family and the familiar surroundings, all the things I love, a wonderful feeling of peace and comfort would come over me.  Even now I am here the same things occurs when I get worried about those I love at home.  I have not been “homesick”.  It took me two years to feel like Vancouver was home when we left Farmington, but I have not had those feelings here.  I know it is through the Holy Ghost that I have been comforted.

Teaching all things.  I continue to learn the job I am to do.  When I picked up the phone from Elder Steed that Friday morning I wondered how in the world I would be able to remember all the training and know what to say to the missionaries who call.  It has come to me what to do.  The Holy Ghost has taught me things to say and where to go to look for the answers.  He has sent thoughts to my mind that I know were not mine.  This is the Lord’s work and he is there all the way along to teach me and add to my understanding of situations, illnesses and the solution to the problems.

Bring things to your remembrance.  I have remembered things from my training that I have not thought about in years.  We had some Elders who had congestion in their lungs.  I taught them the breathing/cough technique we used to help people re-inflate their lungs and get rid of the mucous after they had been on the heart/lung machine for their open heart surgery.  Illnesses we have had in our family or friends and the treatments they have had that worked have come to my mind.  One girl called the other day with stomach pains that I knew because of what Amy went through was acid reflux.  The doctor who helps me agreed.  I received a strong witness my knowledge had come from Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost. 

2 Nephi 32:5 “For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.”

Henry and I were out the other day looking for people whose records we have but they have not come to church.  We were to find out if they lived there and invite them to church.  We easily found the road and a mail box with their number on it, but no dwelling.  There was an old trailer house by the mailbox, but it had a different number on it.  We drove to the end of the road.  Where we found a house that was totally creepy (Holy Ghost again warning us to not go there).  We drove back toward the mailbox with the number on it.   To the side of the mailbox was what looked like a trail that might be a road.  I said to Henry, “That is a road.”  He said, “I don’t think so.”  I drove where I thought the road was and sure enough it was a road, a jeep road, but a road nonetheless.   When we got to the bottom of the road, there was a lovely little area with a manufactured home, a RV trailer and several sheds.  We knocked on the door and a man answered.  When we told him who we were he said his wife was the member.  She was in the shower and he did not know if she would be interested or not.  We got what information we could, thanked him and were driving away when out of the house came the daughter waving us down saying her mother wanted to talk to us.  Within a few minutes out came the mother.  Sure enough she did want to talk to us and she wanted her children to be taught the gospel.

Long story short we told the sister missionaries about them and I was blessed to be able to go when they had their first teaching appointment.  The mother and father had been praying and wondering which church to have their children go to.  The mother had been married to someone else whose family are very active and had joined the church.  She had loved the gospel and church, but gotten lost with the divorce and all that had happened.  She cried almost the whole time we were teaching her.  “Tears of Joy” she called them.  She bore testimony to us of the Holy Ghost bringing to her remembrance the joy of the gospel as we talked with her. 

There is still some work to do there, but it is happening.

2 Nephi 33:1  “And Now I, Nephi cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.”

I went with the sisters to find a member whose sister they were teaching.  When we knocked on the door her 9 year old granddaughter answered the door.  The Lady called from inside the trailer, “Let them in.”  When we walked in she icily said, “Oh it’s missionaries.  Did my sister send you?”  She did not act too happy to have us there, but this is the south and they are nothing If not hospitable.  We began visiting with her and the subject came to scriptures.  The granddaughter said she read the Bible and loved the Psalm, The Lord is My Shepherd.  I said, “That has been written into a hymn. The sisters would like to sing it for you.”  (Surprise!)  They did not know the words, thank you LDS Library and I-phone, or the tune, but thank you Spirit they were able to wing it.  When they began to sing the Spirit filled the trailer.  The power of the Holy Ghost was brought unto the hearts of all present.  The singing was not perfect, but the spirit was.  The Grandmother and the granddaughter are now both being taught by the sisters.

Myriad are the scriptures that speak about the Holy Ghost testifying of the truthfulness of the things we are teaching.  One of my many favorites... 

 Moroni 10:4-5 “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”

We have been blessed to be the teachers of the new member lessons to 3 new members.  One of them is an African-American man who is 72 years old.  He was looking for a church to join when the sisters happened to walk past his house.  He had just  hung up the phone from telling his daughter he had not found a church yet. The rest is history.  It has been a witness of the power of the Holy Ghost as the old teachings of his life have been stripped away by the truths we have shared with him.  You can see the confusion turn to acceptance as the Spirit testifies to him.  He was able to get the priesthood last Sunday.  Henry ordained him to the office of a Priest.  It was a great experience for both of them.   His understanding of the priesthood, what it is and its power are being enhanced by the Spirit every time we meet.  He has gone from thinking the priesthood was something you went to college to get to having the real priesthood bestowed on him.

It is a thrill to watch the Holy Ghost in action.

4th of July Fun

FSU on the 4th

The Seminole Warrior

Statues at the entrances to the stadium

Seminole Family

The coach

 No worries about political correctness here.  They are allowed to keep the Seminole as their mascot because they have a working relationship with the Seminole Tribe.  It is all laid out for us on a plaque along side this statue of the Seminole Family.

Good Sportmanship

Can you hear the roar?

Anyone excited about THIS  season?

Close up of the south entrance

The stadium is the largest brick building in the world

Every building on the campus is made of this same red brick.  It is a beautiful campus. Sports are definitely king.  Tennis, Baseball, Swimming, Circus Training, every variety of sport was evident.  Anyone have a ticket they will share with Henry?

Circus Tent used for training

Baseball Stadium

Integration Statue
First African-American Homecoming Queen
First African-American Undergraduate Student
First African-American to wear an FSU athletic uniform

Wrestling on the 5th

We got a new bishop this month.  He was a professional wrestler.  I say was because he had to give it up to be the bishop.  He had one final match.  We got special permission from the Mission President to attend.

Our Hero "The Public Defender"
aka Bishop Sims
Bottom Right

 With the sister missionaries out side the tavern where the match was held

Some opponents were easy to love

Some were easy to hate

Action

And Reaction

Missionaries at the Match

 "The Public Defender"
The one with a shirt on.

Public Defender in action

Reaction to flying body slam off top rope

More dangers.

Added entertainment on the walls.

Every wonder if professional wrestling was fake?  It is.  Entertaining to watch the wrestlers strut around and act tough.  More enteratining to watch the crowd get into it; especially enjoyed the "plants" in the audience who helped us all get into the action.  Most entertaining to watch the bishop's family.  His girls were totally bored while his son was enjoying every moment.

Knowing there is more purpose to life than an entertaining moment, we were all happy to return to the "real world" of Missionary Work;  Proclaiming the Gospel and inviting others to come unto Christ.  What we are, who we become and what we do to serve the Lord and help others determines where we will be in the next life.  Our bishop, who gave up wrestling with tears in his eyes, obviously knows this is true and so do we.