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!