Sunday, December 27, 2015

Monday was our day to travel from Cherokee, N.C. back to PTC.  We have grown to LOVE the beautiful Great Smokey Mountains and love being there every chance we get!!  Even with all of the clouds, it was beautiful driving through.

On Tuesday, I had an eye appointment to get my 'regular' shot in the eye!!  (I get them about every 6 - 8 weeks).  I was able to sit in the waiting room and finish this baby afghan!  That felt good to get it done.  I even gave a 'few lessons' to some ladies who asked how I did that!!  :-)

AND.....then it was SHOT TIME!!!  I guess I am getting used to these now.....after all it has now been 3 1/2 years of regular shots!

On Wednesday Elder/Dr. Allgaier and I attended a Georgia Atlanta Mission 1/2 Mission Zone Conference.  We love going to those.....because we love the spirit and get to see a lot of missionaries!  Here is Elder Dimanche signing Elder/Dr. Allgaier's bat (a tradition we picked up from the Kentucky Louisville Mission...where the Little Slugger Bat Factory is......you know about that because you have heard it from us many times!).  BTW....Elder Dimanche is now an AP!!!  We are so proud of him.  He will be great.

 It has been POURING rain all week.  And, look who came inside after having biked over from their apartment.  They were soaked from head to toe, clean through.  Bless their hearts!  If they catch a cold, they at least know where to find us!  Sisters Hunter and Barrett....and they were just called as brand new Sister Trainer Leaders.

Oh how sweet!!  We got a package from Finland.  And look what one of the things in the package was.....a handmade Finnish Flag....made by a little old man up in Lapland Finland.  We are so excited to have that here with us in Georgia.

And, speaking of Finland, this foto is a throwback to our trip to Lapland Finland in winter 2009.  We LOVED visiting there....complete with a visit with Joulupukki!!

 Yup, for those who know Rodney, he came over for a visit to see us, with Bella, of course.  Rodney used to be our neighbor until he moved away about a month ago.  We had him sign our bat too!

On Christmas Eve we were invited to a Progressive Dinner with 3 families in the ward.....The Allen's, The Haycocks (Bishop) and The Hinds.  We ended up at the Bishop's home.  After fix-your-own ice cream sundae's, it was time for the kids to portray the Christmas Nativity story.  It was so cute.

On Christmas Day I happened to look out our apartment window and noticed ALL 3 of the puddy-cats were basking in the SUNSHINE, which we have not seen for a while.  It was so cute.

Dad and I took a chance and went out to dinner on Saturday afternoon to celebrate our 47th Wedding Anniversary a day early.  We LOVE going to O'Charley's and our favorite is the cedar planked salmon.  And we topped it off by sharing a piece of delicious chocolate cream pie!!

 On Sunday, we helped the Elders teach a Primary class.  Not sure who had more fun coloring......the kids in class or Elder/Dr. Allgaier.

And, Elder Norland and I got a little coloring in as well.....

I got a little doily made to send to Finland as a thank you gift to Anu!!  Anu has been my 'personal shopper' for the past couple of years.  She owns a 'Made in Finland Only' on-line store.  Well, as of December 31st of this year, she will be closing her store.  I will surely miss her.  Just my way of saying 'KIITOS PALJON' for all she has helped me with!!

And, last, but certainly not least for this week......Dad and I celebrated our 47th Wedding Anniversary today.  WOW....not sure how that snuck by us so fast.  It is amazing, as we look back, at all that we have accomplished in those 47 years.  I am sure there are things that we don't remember but you kids may remember!  It has been a WONDERFUL LIFE.  And we look forward to many more years.  We are grateful for eternal families.

I remember an anniversary dinner that we were out celebrating on.....December 27th, 1974.  We were at the Bavarian Inn in Charlestown, W.VA.  It is one of our favorite restaurants.  I didn't feel too great while we were eating but we still had a great time.  Well, low and behold, I realized the very next day why I didn't feel so well......WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY.....KEVIN EARL ALLGAIER, born on December 28, 1974!!  Total worth not feeling well.  We were so ready to have Kevin join our family!!!  And we will celebrate that special day tomorrow!!!  :-)

Sunday, December 20, 2015

We have mostly been around Peachtree City this week.....no 'special' assignment to take us on a road trip!  When we are 'home', the Elders love to come and visit and make sure we are ok.  And we never know what we will find on our phone (foto-wise) when they get a hold of it.  Elder Norland and Elder Parkin....

I was out doing a few errands one day and happened upon this little 'snowman guy' on a back road.  At least someone is hopeful that we might have snow (or not) here in Georgia.  Just in case we don't, they wanted to make sure they had a snowman anyway.  Made out of sticks.  Very clever I thought!

Elder/Dr. Allgaier started a little puzzle.  The Elders joined in to add a few pieces.  Here they are putting the LAST piece in!

On Wednesday we attended the Transfer Meeting for the Georgia Atlanta Mission.  President and Sister Foote got a text message from Sister Owen, a Church-service Missionary in the Mission Office.  She said she was being taken to the 'local' hospital by ambulance and would not be able to attend the meeting, could she be excused!  We were asked by President Foote to leave the meeting and head to the hospital and find out what was going on.  We were happy to help with this.  We did and we found her at the hospital.  Elder/Dr. Allgaier and Elder Hardgrave gave her a blessing.  She is doing fine and was discharged later.

I was able to finish Aunt May's afghan before we headed out to North Carolina on Friday!  YEAH!  This is Rodney Turner's Aunt.  She chose her colors.  Rodney will pick it up this coming week when we get back to PTC.

When we headed north to Cherokee, N.C. on Friday, we had no idea what we might see along the way.  Well, we happened upon this Talulah Gorge in North Georgia, close to the N.C. State Line.  What a cool place this was.  And I had to love the homemade sign....nothing fancy here.

It was quite the sight.  Very large gorge and very deep.  In 1970 a guy walked a tightrope across the gorge.  Don't know that I would have done that!

A few more miles up the road and we were into my beloved North Carolina!!!  I always feel so good when we are here.....'home' for me!

We chose to drive up to Cherokee for the weekend....even though we had no 'official' assignment.  We can go anywhere we want within our mission and we are always on 'call'!  So, while here we are still 'working'!  SO....it was back to the Reservation we came.  Most likely the last time for us while on our mission.  We only have 5 months left and a lot of other ground to cover.

We had dinner at Granny's Restaurant on the edge of the Reservation.  We had eaten there last year when we were here.  We liked the buffet and it was cheap so we figured why not!  Our waitress was Denise.  We fell in love with her at first meeting!  She immediately recognized our missionary tags.  She told us 'I am one of you but I am not active'!  We told her we could help her with that.  She proceeded to share her story with us throughout the night....in bits and pieces.  What a sweetheart she is.  I found out that she likes to crochet.  I told her I crocheted as well.  On Saturday morning I made this little dishcloth for her with the intent that we would see her again on Saturday afternoon and I would give it to her then.  Indeed, we did see her and I did give it to her.  We met her husband on Saturday afternoon.  He is a non-member.  She shared her concern with going back to church, even though she wants to.  We are going to try and help her with that.  Even from a distance we can encourage her.  We have left a signed copy of a Book of Mormon with the Senior Missionary Couple assigned to be in Cherokee.  They are going to deliver it for us, along with a handwritten note by me and a couple of other things.  I will be anxiously awaiting to hear how this goes!!

On Friday evening we went to the Festival of Lights and Legends held in Cherokee next to the Museum.  It was beautiful.  It was C.O.L.D. and snow flurries were flying around.  We found out later that the road from Cherokee to Pigeon Forge was closed because of snow!  

We went to a few of the local shops on Saturday afternoon.  Just because it is a 'must' to do when in Cherokee!!  Elder/Dr. Allgaier was 'attacked' by a local bear.

We took a drive on Saturday late afternoon, in time for the sunset, to see what kind of view we could find.  We found a little bit of snow along the way.......

AND....we found a GORGEOUS sunset at the top of the mountains.  This has to be pretty close to heaven because it is just so PRETTY!!!  LOVE IT!

On Sunday we attended church in the Cherokee Ward.  We loved being here.  They remembered us from last year when we were here.

This is Phyllis......mother to Denise!  We found her sitting right inside the door as we arrived.  Elder/Dr. Allgaier was finding out all about the beginnings of the Ward here in Cherokee.  She loves to talk and share lots of information.

 Elder and Sister Gardner are serving their mission here in the Cherokee Ward.  They are doing a great job.

 What a beautiful Christmas program the ward had today.  The Bishop is very musically talented.  He sang a beautiful solo and then he lead the choir in the Christmas Cantata!  Just beautiful.

While talking with a few of the local Cherokee Indian's who are members of the church, I told them about my Grandma Goins.  I told them I had been taught all my life that she had Cherokee blood in her veins.  I asked if there were any 'Goins' living here in Cherokee.  OH YES there are lots of them!!  I hope some day that I can make a connection and find how I am linked to the Cherokee Indians.  What a great legacy that would be for my father's side of the family!  Someday.....someday!

It has been a great week....with Christmas next week, we anticipate a fairly 'quiet' week travel-wise!  We will be attending a 1/2 Mission Christmas Zone Conference in the Georgia Atlanta Mission.  But, more about that next week.

In the meantime, everyone have a GREAT week.  Be safe....watch for reindeer.  Love you all....

Sunday, December 13, 2015

As we were leaving Peachtree City today and heading to the South Carolina Columbia Mission, we got a text from Elinn.....just letting us have a little 'update' of the homefront!!!  We really appreciated that.....makes us realize just how much we DO miss home.  And we can't believe how Madi is still 'hanging in there'!  Bless her little heart......and love those Christmas Cactus blooms!  WOW.....

And here we are......SOUTH CAROLINA, again.....

Poor South Carolina is STILL drying out from the 26+ inches of rain in November.  But the swamps were very pretty.....

And, YES, we even went to Swan Lake again.....only this time I would NOT let Elder/Dr. Allgaier get near any of the Swans.......it took him 2 months to recover from the last visit here in December 2014 and when a Swan attacked him.

We were invited over to Sister Romano's home.  She is one of the mission nurses.  We love working with her.  And just look at that collection of Precious Moments!  She is a die-hard collector.  She has thousands.  She and Sam Butcher, owner of P.M., are personal friends.

 We had a beautiful sunset as we headed over to the Sumter, S.C. Festival of Lights.  

 We loved attending this last year.  And this year was NO disappointment either.

These are part of the 200 gift bags that were made for the missionaries by Sister Romano and a couple of other sisters in the stake!  ALL handprinted design on each bag.  Filled with goodies.

You know you are TRUE companions when you dress alike!  And look at those 'foto bombers' in the background.  Elders are good for that.

We were met by this friendly, festive guy when we checked into our hotel in Simpsonville, S.C.

As we left Simpsonville and headed toward Savannah, GA (actually in Statesboro, GA), we were taking an exit ramp in Augusta, GA and happened to be the first person on the scene when this accident happened.  Elder/Dr. Allgaier was able to assist in calming 3 women and 3 children down until the police were able to arrive.  I called 9-1-1.  Everyone was fine....just shaken up, as would be expected.  We were on our way from the S.C. Columbia Mission to the GA. Macon Mission.  President and Sister Cottle had invited us to attend a 1/2 mission Christmas Zone Conference on Friday.

One thing President Cottle likes to do at his Christmas Zone Conferences is share different types of Christmas stories.  He is such a GREAT story-teller.  He has a real gift!!

The Mission Office missionaries and Sister Cottle (Mission President's wife) served the food.  They had me join them in the foto-op!

We LOVE President and Sister Cottle.  We will be forever friends with them.

President Fuzzle is a counselor in the Mission Presidency.  He wore his apron while helping so he wouldn't get his suit messed up.  He is such a GREAT guy!!

We drove home on Friday night.....got home late (at least late for us!).  On Saturday morning we were up at 5 a.m., left our apartment at 6:45 a.m. and headed over to Tucker, GA to attend a 2-mission conference with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  It was a wonderful 2 1/2 hour meeting.  About 450 missionaries in attendance.  And he shook hands with every single one of us missionaries before he started the meeting.  That was amazing to see that many missionaries!  What a great spirit.

Elder Lamb is one of our 'grandsons'.  We arrived shortly after we did and we just kind of adopted each other.  He is such a GREAT missionary.

After the meeting, Elder/Dr. Allgaier was able to 'see' a couple of missionaries and check up on a few medical concerns going on.  Here he is drawing a diagram for this Elder to show how his hand injury looked on paper!!!

We stopped at our local Kroger Grocery Store on the way home to pick up a few things.  Saw this cute little PEANUT parked outside.  We have no idea why it was parked there or what it was doing.  It was just cute!

I got another afghan finished......headed to the west!!

The Elders were teaching the 15 - 16 year olds in Sunday School class today.  We were invited to help them.  It was fun.  The weather was so nice we decided to move class outside by the fire pit!  Sure....why not.  We are in the south where the weather is nice in the winter-time!

AND, last but not least for this week, Elder/Dr. Allgaier learned how to do this from one of the young men at church today.  He wanted to come home and try it out for himself!  Good job Elder/Dr. Allgaier!!

Y'all have a GREAT week.....be safe and have fun.  We will report next week.....Love all of you!