Sunday, October 26, 2014

Every single week seems to be fuller than the previous week.  How does that happen!!  Not sure....but we love it and we LOVE OUR MISSION!  We have so many wonderful things happen......

Tiger came to visit us for a few minutes in our apartment!  She is such a sweet cat.

On Wednesday my cousin Johnny Marion and his wife, Charlotte, came to visit us.  Johnny made walking sticks for Wayne and I.  I made him a CHEROKEE AFGHAN!  After exchanging our little gifts to each other we headed over to Senoia for lunch at the Redneck Restaurant.

On Thursday we found ourselves driving over to Dunn North Carolina to visit a sister missionary who had to have major surgery.  We needed to check on her so OFF we went.  As we were driving we discovered there was a BRUNSWICK NC on the map.  Of course we had to check it out.

This sweet lady, Cheryl, is the town clerk.  The population is 1,100!!!  400 of those are inmates in the prison.  Funny but true story.

It was after dark when we finally arrived at the Harnett Health Hospital.  We had a very nice visit with the Sister Missionary.  She was not feeling very well but seemed to perk up a bit while we were there.

We went back on Friday morning to see her again.  She was doing a little bit better.  By Friday evening she had the tube in her nose removed and she was feeling a lot better.  Bless her heart.

As we were driving around the country-side we came across several COTTON FIELDS.  It was so cool.  We had to stop and pick a little bit....with the owner's permission of course.

Friday night was neat because Spencer opened his mission call....on Jonathan's 45th birthday!  Great way to celebrate his dad's birthday.  We are so excited for Spencer.  He will be a great missionary.  He will be serving in the Mexico Monterey West Spanish speaking mission.  He will report to the Mexico MTC on March 4, 2015.  GO SPENCER!!!

Elder and Sister Burnside serving in the mission office of the North Carolina Raleigh Mission met us in Mt. Airy.  Sister Burnside discovered her relatives were born in and around Mt. Airy, N.C.  We were able to show them around and help them as much as we could in finding her ancestors!

We had a lot of fun with them......this beautiful fall display is on the south end of Main Street.

A trip downtown Mt. Airy would not be complete with spotting the SHERIFF'S CAR out and about giving tours.  Andy Griffith has surely put BAYBERRY on the map!!

Steven and Audrey, Emma and Matthew drove down on Saturday night to attend the Goins Reunion with us on Sunday.  It was so fun to have them come all that way down!!  We had Gene's GROUND STEAK SANDWICH'S waiting for them when they arrived.

 The famous GOINS FAMILY CHART was on the wall......and we found where we fit in to the family.

The first-in-a-long-time GOINS REUNION FOTO!!!  Great group foto thanks to Elder Burnside for taking it for us.

 And we even got a little family photo with us....again, thanks to Elder Burnside!

 Even though PEAK season was actually a week or so before we got there, the leaves were absolutely gorgeous!!!

 Steven and kids with Mary Goins Wall.....what a sweetheart she is!

Denise Connor talking to us at the family chart.

We drove past the quarry real quick after the reunion.....LARGEST OPEN FACE GRANITE QUARRY IN THE WORLD!  

And, again, gorgeous fall colors.

Quick foto-op before Steven and the kids headed back up to Maryland on Sunday afternoon.

Wayne and I went over to Sharon and Lester Perdue's home for dinner on Sunday.  Sharon is Virgie Willard's youngest daughter.  Wayne and Lester were able to drill the little holes into our walking sticks Johnny Marion made us so we could attach our little souvenir emblems.

The emblems being attached.

It was back to PTC on Monday so we could get to work!!!  The drive was GORGEOUS.....and we can never get enough of PILOT MOUNTAIN!!

We know we are getting close to PTC and GA when we see this PEACH WATER TOWER in Gaffney, S.C.

 And there we have it.....yet another super busy week!!!

Sunday, October 19, 2014

And YET another week......this was a little 'quieter' week because we only had two Zone Conferences in the Georgia Macon Mission and NO overnight stays in Hotels!!!  Nice to sleep in our own bed.  And a little time at 'home' doesn't do any harm at all for us senior missionaries!

On Monday I was able to bake some cookies and share with the missionaries and other folks around.

On Tuesday we had a service appointment for our 2011 Honda CR-V....major 100,000 mile check-up!  After sitting and waiting for 5 hours it was all done and I got a LOT of crocheting accomplished.

FALL seems to be in full-swing here in Georgia....and the sunsets and sunrises are oh so pretty!!!  Love them!!

On Wednesday we had Zone Conference in Columbus.  As a BONUS we were just 30 minutes from Fort Benning where Sarah Shupe Porter lives.  Her husband is military.  He is gone a LOT.  We were able to go visit Sarah and her two adorable little girls.  What a wonderful visit we had there!!

Sarah has 2 dogs!!!  LOVE everyone's pets!!!  Just like they are our own.  And Winston seemed to like us as well.

Low and behold.....Sister Cottle, Mission Presidents Wife for the Georgia Macon Mission, is a HUGE Becky Higgins Project Life!!!  We hit it off and shared each others current books that we are working on.  How fun is that......

I emailed a couple of fotos to Becky and she put them right on her BLOG!!!  Sister Cottle was so excited that she is 'famous' and on Becky's Blog.

Saturday was a 'special day'......5 of our senior missionary couples decided we needed a little lunch break.  We headed over to Senoia for lunch at the Redneck Gourmet Restaurant.  SO fun!!

The second half of the table of senior missionaries!

On this beautiful fall day we decided to take a walk on one of the golf cart paths after we had our lunch.

Sunday was a nice relaxing day.  We even got a NAP (much needed) after lunch.  All is Well....All is Well!!!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

After spending a very nice and relaxing weekend in Boone, N.C. it was time to head back to Raleigh where we would have more Zone Conferences this week.  Before leaving Boone, however, we went to the little Russian Store in Boone (Golden Cockerel) to talk about having a Temple Nesting Doll made for us.  This is Christy who is helping us with that.

The fall colors were so beautiful.  It was definitely NOT peak season but it was beautiful nonetheless!

We would soon miss these mountains and the beautiful colors.  We would love to come back here again someday!!

Wednesday while attending Zone Conference in the Raleigh Zones we got to meet yet another mission nurse.....Sister Webber.  This mission would be so difficult without the assistance of the wonderful mission nurses!!!  It was good to meet her and put a face with a name!

Something awfully STRANGE happened on Wednesday afternoon....for some reason our apple account locked us out and we could get NO EMAIL.....and it lasted that way for 2 whole days!!!  NOT a good thing to have happen when we depend on this for a LOT of our communication with the 9 missions we have responsibility for.

Thanks to Kevin's help we were able to FINALLY get back ON on Friday mid-day.  And you can see how many emails were coming in!  Oh my heavens did we feel sooooo relieved to see this, even though it was daunting to tackle all of these while we were still trying to see 'patients'.

Meanwhile, back in the hotel and on Thursday when we had NO Zone Conference to attend, Wayne was trying to work and I got to work on my afghans!  I started one for Gary and Gail (bottom) and one for Jen Chandler (top).  It is nice to have TWO going at the same time so if I need a change of 'scenery' I can work on the other one!

 

 Tradition has it that the missionaries sing 'Called To Serve' to those who prepare lunch for them at Zone Conferences.  The NC Raleigh Mission has added an additional verse.  I finally got the words from one of the elders.  Here ya go!!  Great verse.

On the way back to PTC on Saturday we stopped in Anderson, S.C. to drop the afghan off to Lynn Kay.  I had completed it about 3 weeks earlier with the intent of dropping it off as we were attending Zone Conferences in the N.C. Charlotte Mission.  But, with the emergency call to get back to GA and head to Hong Kong we didn't make it by there.  She seemed excited to get it.  I hope it works out well for her.

Bless his heart!!!!  He works so hard....and on the way home he was soo sleepy that he finally fell asleep.  Not sure how restful it was but at least he slept for a little bit!

 We KNOW we are getting close to Georgia when we see our PEACH....actually located in S.C.

We are covering a HUGE area of our mission now.  Feeling accomplished....and like we are getting out and about like we are suppose to.  The green dots indicate those areas where we have attended Zone Conferences.

We end (or begin) this week with my birthday being TODAY!!!  How cute was that of Kevin to make a little GOOGLE BIRTHDAY on my computer wishing me a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!  I don't know how he does that.  

And Brat ja Sistra Zaretski made this birthday greeting for me....our dear Russian friends in St. Petersburg.  We love them.  I feel loved on this my birthday.  I don't like getting older but I DO appreciate all of the well-wishes!!  Kiitos Paljon, Spasiba, Achoo everyone!!

The Elders and Sisters who have apartments right by our apartment here in Balmoral did a GREAT job in surprising me on my birthday.  They were so sweet.....let me share a few fotos!:

Elder Thompson made me some brownies!!  Baked them himself!!

And the Sisters decorated our front door for us......

What a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!  I feel so blessed......