Sunday, August 31, 2014

A week of much travel.....2 missions for Zone Conferences.  AND in preparation for my having down time while Wayne is taking care of missionaries via texts, phone calls, emails, etc., I purchased some yarn so I could work on yet another afghan as a gift.  Hence, the yarn pictured below.

Travels this week would take us to the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission.  A gas stop one be one way we would be 'forced' to stop and get out and stretch our legs a minute or two.

And, YES, the gas station with the little convenience store would provide our lunch for us.

Wayne has adapted very well to having his 'mobile office' and working hard while I just sit back and drive, drive, drive.  I would get car-sick if I had to do that!

Our travels to Kentucky would take us right through the heart of Tennessee....Nashville.  SO....it was time to get out and stretch our legs again.  We chose to do that in downtown Nashville.  I made a little page lay-out of our stop there.  It was a fun 45 minutes.  Because we don't get a Preparation Day on this mission, our little side-trips become our little P-Hour or whatever we get.  Also in the foto is us at the Abraham Lincoln birthplace log cabin.  We 'happened' upon this sight as we were driving toward Elizabethtown, KY.  Didn't even know it was there until we saw a sign telling about it.

Part of the Kentucky Louisville Mission goes up into Indiana.  Go figure.  SO.....we ended up in Indiana as well.  Beautiful criss-crossing the Ohio River back and forth, in and out of Louisville.  

A tradition in the Zone Conferences is for the missionaries to sing 'Called To Serve' to those sisters who prepare lunch for the Missionaries.  We LOVE it when they do this.  Powerful!!!

This seems to be one of the older church buildings we have seen.  This is adjacent to the Kentucky Louisville Mission Office.

The bridges around Louisville, Kentucky are so cool and very fascinating.  We loved seeing them and taking fotos.

We had NO idea that the SLUGGER BASEBALL BAT FACTORY was right downtown Louisville.  Been there for over 100 years.  We took another P-45minutes to go visit the factory and take a little tour.  Very interesting.  It peaked our interest in baseball.....which we have never really had before.  Loved that life-sized bat out front!

Wayne found himself a bit on the chilly side while in the hotel in Louisville one evening.  He decided to sit outside on a bench since the weather was so nice.  

On Saturday morning we headed out of Louisville and back down to Tennessee.  However, we discovered that we were only 12 minutes from the Kentucky Louisville Temple.  We went and were able to participate in sealings for an hour.  That was so nice!  Beautiful temple.

Bowling Green, Kentucky was our 'stopping grounds' for 2 nights as we headed back down to Tennessee.  What we didn't realize was that our hotel is right next to the CORVETTE PLANT AND MUSEUM.  Who knew that the corvettes were made right here in Bowling Green!!  We felt out of place with our Honda surrounded by all of the corvettes!!

Had a little 'family history moment' with my cousin Adam Hiatt while here in Kentucky.  He sent me a foto of our great-great-grandparents who joined the church in 1872.  James Dickerson Dean and his wife Esther Hiatt Dean.  I don't recall having seen this foto before.  I love it!

One more little stop we made when leaving Louisville, and also another little P-45 minute stop, was at the Churchill Downs.  What a cool place.  We even had lunch there in the cafe.  It was super delicious.

And thus ends yet another week.  We just can't believe how quickly the weeks are flying by.  We love what we are doing.  We feel very blessed to be able to do what we are doing here in the North America Southeast Area!

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Monday was a FUN few minutes as Wayne accepted the 'ice bucket challenge' for ALS!  He was nominated by David Allgaier.  This is to bring awareness to the ALS disease and to raise money.  He was a good sport.....but the cold water felt good on a HOT Georgia August day!

Tuesday found me back in Dr. Cribbs office for another shot in my eye!  I kind of look forward to these shots because I feel they are helping to stabilize my vision from getting really bad!!  At least I hope so.

From Dr. Cribbs office we headed to a Zone Conference in Roswell with the Georgia Atlanta North Mission.  It was a very FULL afternoon seeing about 16 missionaries!  We didn't finish until about 5 p.m. and then had a 2 hour drive back to Peachtree City!

As missionaries we always SING a song to those who have prepared our lunch for us!  We LOVE to do that.  It is typically "Called To Serve" but on occasion it could be another church hymn.

On Wednesday we had another Zone Conference in the Sugar Hill area for the Georgia Atlanta North Mission.  It was a great conference and a great day.  The lunches that are served are always sooooo good.  Today a Sister made Elder and Sister Sugar Cookies!!!  How adorable they were....and soooo good!  Wayne was again very busy.  After the conference we drove to the South Carolina Columbia Mission.

And there you have it.....SOUTH CAROLINA!

OH MY HEAVENS!!!  We never excepted to see Elder and Sister Winward here in the mission field. We knew them when they served twice in the Washington D.C. Temple as Temple Missionaries.  How good to see them here.

We were in the Simpsonville and Spartanburg, S.C. area for 2 different Zone Conferences on Thursday and Friday.  When we finished on Friday we drove to Anderson, S.C. where we spent the night.  We were treated royally by Patrick Kay's parents, Steve and Lynn, who owe a very, very nice Boutique Inn in the heart of Anderson called the Bleckley Inn.  What a great treat for us!!

And here we are with Steve and Lynn.  I will be making Lynn an afghan!  She was excited about that.  They really were wonderful and so warm and friendly with us!

And just like that we are back in GEORGIA again!!

On this trip we crossed the 100,000 mile mark on our 2011 Honda CR-V!!!  We are surely putting on the miles!

We got home Saturday afternoon in time to attend a ward baptism......2 people being baptized.  It was a very nice service.  When we came outside the chapel we were treated to a very special sunset!!!  It was gorgeous!

I was able to finish an afghan for ERIN TRIMBLE!  Hopefully she will like it.  It has been a fun one to make with such bright colors.  

And this concludes another week and almost another month.  I don't know how the weeks go by so quickly!  Just amazing.......

Sunday, August 17, 2014

We finished up the first part of Zone Conferences in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  We ended the week on Saturday with a Zone Conference in Waynesville, NC which was about a 30 minute drive to Cherokee, NC!!!  What a blessing for me especially.  I have wanted my whole life to some day go visit this place.  And we found ourselves right there!!!  Love our mission!!

Sunday we attended church in the Cherokee Ward.  The location of the chapel is a perfect setting situated right on top of a large 'hill'.  Of course the whole town in nestled in the Great Smokey Mountains so everything is pretty much on a 'hill'!  About 65% of the members in this ward are to some degree Cherokee Indian.  Nice!!

After church we met John and Charlotte Marion at this great little restaurant for lunch.  It was nice of them to come up and meet us so we could spend a little more time together.  Delicious meal.  We will definitely go back here again!

After lunch with John and Charlotte we headed back to our hotel in Waynesville, NC and who showed up just as we got back but the sweet Sister Missionaries.  We had given them a referral to the less-active lodge owner where we were staying!  Amazing that we 'found' her.....or actually she 'found' us, since we were wearing our missionary tags while we were there!!!  The Sister Missionaries are going to be working with her to see if they can get her to become active again!

Monday found us driving back into Tennessee to continue on with the rest of the Zone Conferences.  We drove out of the Great Smokey Mountains and right into the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Gorgeous view!!

And just like that.....TENNESSEE again!

We were in Kingsport, Tennessee the first night.  Still a great view out our hotel room of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We LOVE being with all of the missionaries in our 9-mission area.  They love to 'catch up' when they get a rare little 5 - 10 minute break during the Conference.

Wednesday we drove back to Knoxville, Tennessee where we began the conferences a week earlier.  We decided to have some Pizza Hut Pasta for dinner.  Had enough to last us for 3 meals!  And we couldn't pass up the ginormous CHOCOLATE CHIP cookie they offered.  That was good too. 

And with the last Zone Conference being held literally 2 blocks from the Mission Office, in Knoxville, that finished our week-long trip to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.

It was good to be back to our wonderful Peachtree City, GA.  And we found that we were loved with a lot of 'LOVE NOTES' from the UPS and FED EX people.

I needed to do a few errands on Friday, which included a stop at Michael's to pick up some 'needed' yarn!  Yes....needed!  And found some of Becky's new Project Life products....Heidi Swapp's design. And, YES, I picked up some of these too.

I had ordered a new tea towel from Finland.  It came while we were gone.  TOO pretty to use so I have it as a wall hanging by our front door.

Sunday after church we had a little KNOCK on our front door.  And who should it be but some of our sweet missionaries.....Elder Thompson and Elder Laws.  They are so sweet.  We just love them.  Elder Laws had something 'stuck' in his throat.  Elder/Dr. Allgaier and Elder Thompson did a little 'surgery' and successfully removed it!!  Elder Thompson is an aspiring Doctor-to-be!  He will be great.  

ANOTHER GREAT WEEK!!!  We love our mission!!

Sunday, August 10, 2014 found us in the heart of the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  Well, maybe on the far eastern border of the mission boundaries.  On Wednesday of this week we headed up to Tennessee.

Our first Zone Conference was in Knoxville area itself.  That was nice.  It was a very pretty drive through some of the mountains of eastern Tennessee.  The 'page layout' below is from the new Project Life App on my iPhone that I get to try out with Becky's newest product.  It is very easy to use and I am loving it!!

We got to 'Hide and Seek' one of Becky's Project Life Core Kits for her....right there in Knoxville.  This restaurant where we hid it was actually right across the street from our Hotel.  It was 'found' in 22 minutes flat from one of Becky's fans, who actually left work to come and claim it!

We find that most of the missions like to take Zone Conference fotos at each of the meetings.  Wayne got to take this foto for President Griffen.  It is so fun to see this great missionaries.  What a great force for righteousness they are!!!

YES......North Carolina is a part of the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  We are soooo lucky that we get to travel to some of our most favorite places!  It felt like we were at home being in North Carolina.

There were no Hampton Inn's in Waynesville, NC where we stayed.  Bummer....we found a Lodge to stay in though.  It ended up being a Bed and Breakfast.  It was a fairly nice place but we miss the conveniences of our regular hotels!  

CHEROKEE, NC is actually right in the area where we were attending the Zone Conference in Waynesville!  I especially was soooo excited to finally be in Cherokee after decades of wanting to go there.  I have been told all of my life that we have Cherokee blood in us from my father's side of the family (Grandma Knight).  How neat to finally have gotten here.  However, there is basically NO cell service around.  BUT, we were told, that 'tree over there....that has the best connection in town'.  For real, this is what we were told by a clerk in one of the stores!  Poor Wayne gave it his best shot in trying to stay connected to his 9 missions!

The GREAT SMOKEY MOUNTAINS are more beautiful than I had imagined they would be.  We were thrilled to be here in this area.  Our mission is surely taking us to places that we never thought we would get to see!

We attended church on Sunday, August 10, in the Cherokee Ward, Asheville NC Stake.  It was so neat to be here.  60% of the ward of Cherokee to some degree.

 There was a Michael's in the little town of Waynesville.  SO...we had to check out Becky's products and make sure they were straightened up.  Wayne took care of it this time.

 Bless his heart....Elder/Dr. Allgaier does such a great job of taking care of our 2450 missionaries in our mission area.

 Another little layout I did with Becky's PL App....

 Tomorrow starts another week....and we continue our travels here in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  We should be home by Thursday!