May 2015 Another Month Gone By

Another Month Gone By

District Activity at the Florida Caverns

The Marianna District minus Sister Lay

Normal Entrance Filled With Water

Sisters in the Wedding Cake Room

The Donald Duck Room, Wonder Why?

The South America Room because of the shape of the pool

The Heart of the Caverns

The Christmas Room

The bottom side of a sink hole forming

The Sister on the top right has returned home after a successful mission

The final dinner before Sister Mathison and our District Leader Elder Doberneck leave  

We do get to have fun with the son of a new member

And the grandson of the couple we went to the temple with

Time rolls on for Sister Lay even though she remains 19

Elder Lay with other ministers at the day of
prayer where he represented the Church

Mission Highlight

Another highlight to our mission. Brother Clements going to the temple for the first time and being sealed to his wife.

A flower in the pot by our garage

A surprise in this wet climate

The normal being a magnolia blossum

In our travels we pass by interesting areas.
This is the bombing range for Fort Elgin

I wanted to stop and tell him he wasn't ready but the traffic was hectic

Senior Missionary Conference

The Couples on the Beach

Sister Lay with Sister Smith (the Mission President's Wife)

Getting their feet wet

Activity at Senior Missionary Conference

Gulf World Marine Park

The President on the left wanted a picture with the snake.
Notice he has the tail and Sister Smith is missing

With the bird

Our prize for coming in second place in speaking Southern.
In the South you can say anything you want about someone as long as you end it by saying
"Bless your heart" or "Bless their heart".   "He has the biggest ears, Bless his heart"

The Gregory House in Torreya State Park

The Gregory family lived right on the river so they could conduct trade and get their goods to market.  In the 1930s the CCP moved the house to its current location on top of a bluff overlooking the river.  The family was all wiped out by two different bouts of yellow fever.  Should be fair warning to anyone wanting to visit.  Watch out for the mosquitos.  They are plentiful and hungry.

The back of the house which faces the road

The front of the house which faces the river

The view to the river

Elder and Sister Lay 

The Sisters on the balcony

The Torreya Tree for which the park is named.
 Unique to this area.

One of the world's rarest and oldest known trees grows among the bluffs and ravines of Gadsden and Liberty Counties, Florida. Local settlers were already familiar with Croom's rare tree. They called it the "stinking cedar" because of the strong odor it gave when cut or bruised. Despite its smell, however, they used it for a wide variety of purposes ranging from fence posts and shingles to Christmas trees and riverboat fuel. The tree's popularity almost spelled its doom.  It is estimated there were 600,000 Torreya trees living in the Apalachicola River Valley during the early 1800s. Only around 200 survive today.

Modern scientists report that the Torreya once lived across North America and is one of the oldest known tree species on earth. This is interesting in light of local legend that the Florida Torreya was the Biblical "gopher wood" from which Noak built the ark.

Images of furniture inside the house

The taller the headboard, the more important the person

Cival war trunk of a Gregory

Made from a spinning wheel

The predecessor to the Singer Sewing Maching

Notice the short steps and railing on the staircase.
 Gives us an idea how tall the people were.

The Sisters on the hike to the river

At the Apalachicola river

 And we bring to close another day with beautiful sunsets in Jackson County, Florida

We are still enjoying our mission and we are so glad that we did not sign up for just one year.  There are still things to do and if Sister Smith had her way, we would extend another 6 months.  Not sure Sister's Lay's mother would approve.

P.S.  There must be a Yankee that lives in that house since there are flowers out fromt.

As expected Sister Lay must have things presentable.