Sunday, January 25, 2015

We are ON THE ROAD AGAIN this week.  Frankly, it feels GOOD to be out and about in our missions.....as we should be.  And this last week and this coming week we are in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission (NCRM)!  This is the logo on the side of their mission trailer that the office brings to all Zone Conferences.  LOVE seeing this mission vans!

And there is nothing like seeing those missionary cars lined up for inspection!!!  Even Elder/Dr. Allgaier gets in on the 'action' as we are outside getting a breath of fresh air.

 Proof that Elder/Dr. Allgaier is 'back in business' with setting up his little clinic.

As has been their 'procedure' President and Sister Bernhisel invite us out to dinner when we are in the Fayetteville Zones....along with some of the other senior missionaries.  We always go to the Thai Pepper Restaurant because he LOVES Thai food.

President Bernhisel had a hard time choosing which of his 'choice' of foods to start with.....

We have gotten to know some of the Senior Missionaries quite well and we love them.  Elder and Sister Burnside are in the office.  We have even taken 'side trips' up to Mt. Airy, N.C. where Sister Burnside discovered that her great grandparents came from.  Small world.  And YES, Elder/Dr. Allgaier is almost always on the phone.  We just took the foto anyway rather than wait for him to get off.

As we were driving from one Zone Conference to another city for the next one, we noticed a Michael's and decided we needed to stop and do a little straightening of some of Becky's products.  Need to keep it looking good!!  :-)

And while we were in Fayetteville, N.C. we got to have dinner with Frosty and Liisa Berg.  We got to know them in the MTC when we went on our first mission to Finland.  Liisa is from Finland.  We have stayed connected since that time.  They live close by in Pinehurst.  It was fun to catch up with them.

YES, of course we had to stop at the local piggly wiggly to pick up a few things.  I LOVE my piggly wiggly grocery stores!!!  This particular store is located not far from Morehead City, N.C. where we stayed the weekend between the 2-weeks of Zone Conferences.  It was closer for us to drive over here than to drive back to Peachtree City only to have to return back to Raleigh on Monday.  (that would have been an 16-hour round trip for us)

We have arrived on the Emerald Isle for the weekend!

We are staying in a Hampton Inn on the Emerald Isle, Pine Knoll Shores just across the bridge from Morehead City.  As we were walking around doing a little shopping we saw this sign!  Go figure.....laid back, casual living here on the beach.

 The weather was rainy, windy and chilly when we arrived on Friday afternoon but we went down to the beach anyway.  

And a little selfie on the beach.....

On Saturday we drove up to HARKERS ISLAND where we could look across the water and see the CAPE LOOKOUT LIGHTHOUSE.  If you look closely you can see the lighthouse with the light at the top.  The water was too choppy from the storms and we could not actually go out there.  The only way to get to the lighthouse island is by boat.  At least we got to see it!  We explored Morehead City and Beaufort as well.  

On Sunday morning we attended church at the Morehead City Ward.  Such friendly people.  It was a great Sabbath Day.  This is actually about 20 minutes just outside of our mission boundaries.  They are part of the Virginia Chesapeake Mission (newly created mission not long ago).  We did NOT know this when we made our reservations.  And we didn't find out until we got here.  I am sure we will be forgiven!  It is in North Carolina and North Carolina IS a part of our mission!

The sun came out finally and we took to walking on the beach again. Even though it was still windy (that's just the way beaches are, right!) we loved our walk........

We couldn't walk ON the pier because it was blocked off but we enjoyed walking underneath.

Wayne even found a STARFISH!  That was way cool......he did throw it back in the ocean.

We collected a small box full of shells and pretty rocks.  This is just a sampling of what we 'picked'.

And the sun is going down on our wonderful weekend on the beach!  We have enjoyed being here....and working from here!  

And this, folks, is the typical beach-windblown-hairstyle that can't be helped!  That is just life on the beach!

Now, back to Raleigh tomorrow!!!  We love our mission!!!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

A fairly quiet week again this week with no traveling to Zone Conferences.....that is about to change this coming week, however.  LOTS of traveling coming up.

Monday we got to do a few errands locally.  As we were driving, the fog over Kedron Lake was very pretty.  We stopped and took a walk out to the piers so get a good foto.  It reminded us of Finland!

Tuesday, we were invited to attend our first District Training Meeting.  Elder Robinson is the District Leader.  That was so nice of him to do that.  How great it is to be with the young missionaries.  They are full of the Spirit and so on top of everything.

Sister Laser (2nd from Left) was celebrating her birthday that day.  The Elders made a pan of brownies AND a 'cat' cake.  How fun to share in the excitement with them.

NO meeting with missionaries is ever complete without foto ops!  The YSA Elders (the two on the left) along with Elder Robison on the right decided to pick Elder RobiNson up and hold him for the foto.

And THIS is the District that we actually are a part of.  When we are in town!  They are GREAT!

We have come to love all of the missionaries we get to rub shoulders with.  Elder RobIson is being transferred this week.  We will miss him but look forward to seeing him as we travel around the mission.

I was able to finish President and Sister Scholz afghan for them.  Got it in the mail and they received it on Saturday.

Saturday was a typical Saturday.....off to the Atlanta Temple.

Lucy pays us visits quite often.....basically DAILY when we are home.  She has her 'spot' picked out.

We visited the Atlanta Ward on Sunday, today.  It is a great ward and we enjoyed meeting lots of folks.  There is a movie produced for the church called 'Meet The Mormons'.  The first person interviewed in the movie is Bishop Sullivan.  He was there except he is now the Stake President of the Atlanta Stake.  Great leader, great man.  A new Bishopric was put in today and President Sullivan conducted that business.

I was able to finish making a Christmas doily today.  It was quite easy to make and came together quickly.  I plan to make another one as we do our traveling this coming two weeks.  It will be a gift for Sister Anderson, mission Presidents wife in the Tennessee Nashville Mission.  When we were there last time we made some crocheted potholders and gave to me.  I love them and use them every single day.  A fellow-crocheter!!  I like that!!

Well, as I said, we hit the road tomorrow.  We will basically be gone for about 5 weeks visiting 4 of our missions.  Of that 5 weeks, we will be here in our apartment 3 days!  Good thing we pay rent here!!  We LOVE our mission and what we have the privilege of doing!!  :-)

Sunday, January 11, 2015

I can't believe I am getting this posted on SUNDAY evening again!  I am so good....not.  

I finished the crocheted scarf for Sister Lasser.  I will give it to her this week at District Meeting (which will be her actual birthday).  I am hopeful she will like it.  Apparently she loves crocheting and all things crocheted!

Preparation Day on Monday found Wayne and I out and about taking our usual walk and look who we bumped in to.....Sister Echols and Sister Lindsay.  They were cleaning out their car and then going to play a little tennis at the courts in our apartment complex.  They live in the complex next to ours.  Cutie's!!

With Christmas decorations put away it was time to get a cute little Valentine 'something' to put up.  I found this little wreath at the local Krogers Grocery Store.  And it was a really cheap price!

We have a very 'healthy' travel agenda coming up the later part of January and most of February.  I worked hard in getting all of our hotel plans in place and organized for us.  Should be a 'fun' road trip.  Although we have enjoyed being around the apartment the past couple of weeks, we are starting to get the 'travel bug' and get back out on the road again!

I was able to get the afghan finished for one of my good friends, Lu Duke, for her birthday coming up the end of January.  Steve, her husband, put the bug in my ear a few months back that he thought she would really like a black and white one.  SO.....here ya go Lu.  I surely hope you like it.

On Thursday of this week we met Elder and Sister Hardgrave in Newnen for lunch at Mother's Kitchen.  This is a real 'dive' of a restaurant.  NOT fancy at all but the food was fantastic.  I had the fried chicken.  It was some of the best I have ever had.  We surely will go back here again.

After lunch we walked around the town square a bit, visited the visitors center inside the Court House and even had a personal guided tour by one of the local Sheriff Officers.  He just took it upon himself to show us around.  That was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about the area.  Newnen is a GREAT little southern town with a lot of charm.

We have had a broken water pipe in the front yard of our apartment complex.  When we got home from lunch, low and behold, their were folks there to finally dig it up and get it fixed!!  Wayne, of course, was like a little boy in a candy shop.  He was so enthralled with the whole process.  He stood out there the entire time and watched every move they made.  Me, on the other hand, came inside and was able to use my time crocheting!!  :-)

We have been fairly good about taking a walk every day so we can get outside and get some exercise.  This was fun to see the line up of golf carts in the parking lot with most of them 'winterized' with the sides on.

We were able to slip up to the temple and participate on a sealing team again this week.  Saturday is typically 'our day' because it is the slowest day for us to sneak away from the phone for about an hour or so.  It was a beautiful day outside.....although a bit on the chilly willy side.

We decided we wanted to attend the 'Franklin Group' again this Sunday.  We have fallen in love with this little group.  The folks are great.....down to earth southern, hospitality, friendly people.  The office elders, Elders Robison and Robinson, decided they wanted to come as well.  Today was Elder Whalen's last Sunday in the mission field.  He will complete his mission this coming week and head back to his home.  Elder Gordon will get a new companion and continue on in Franklin.

It is such a blessing to have this Group meeting every week.  The folks out in the remote area would have a very, very long commute to get to a regular ward meetinghouse.  The home where the meetings take place is really in the boonies!!!

Because we were only about 20 minutes from the Alabama state line, we decided to drive over there after church today.  In order to get there we had to drive through ROOSTERVILLE, GA!!!  Yes, indeed.  I certainly could not make up these names.  I LOVE the creative display on the side of their little grocery store!!!

Well, the sign on the side of the grocery store is NOT to be outdone by the rooster in someones front yard!!  So this begs to ponder:

Which came first:

1)  The ROOSTER in someones front yard

2)  The ROOSTER on the side of the local grocery store

3)  The name of the little community ROOSTERVILLE

YOU decide......

We definitely made it to the ALABAMA STATE LINE just a few miles away.  No formal state line sign because we were so far out in the country.  But there was the STATE HIGHWAY SIGN.  Good enough for us.......and officially OUT of our mission boundaries!

It has been another GREAT week in our mission.  Every day is different.  Every day is a great adventure.  We LOVE our mission and are so grateful we have been called to serve!  The Gospel is true.  This work is helping to 'hasten the work' we hope!  In some small way we are hoping we are contributing.........have a GREAT week coming up everyone.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

PLEASE NOTE:  It is SUNDAY and I am writing on my blog!  I am NOT late this week.  I'll take it when I can get it.

Even though the week was a bit 'shorter' for us because of my entry on Tuesday, it was still a very, VERY FULL week nonetheless!  Lots of 'activity'.

I got a box of yarn that I ordered for an afghan I will be making for President Scholz!  He has been asking for a while now and I am finally going to get around to it.  Bless his pea-pickin' heart.  Red-White-Blue.

New Year's Eve came quickly for us.  BP Dixon and Daphne Anderson (Wayne's best buddy from growing up years and his girlfriend of about 10 years) came down to Georgia to visit us for a couple of days.  How fun it was to have them come!!  

On New Years Day I prepared a 'Ring-in-the-New-Year' dinner of Pork Roast with orange glaze sauce, black-eyed peas, mashed potatoes, etc.  I think it turned out pretty good.

BUT before dinner, we went on a short little walk that ended up being about 5 1/2 miles.  We 'discovered' body parts that we didn't know we had because they hurt the next day.

Daphne, bless her heart, was good about picking up the trash along our walk.

 Here is my version of our day with my 12 x 12 layout completed on my iPhone with Becky's Project Life App. 

January 2nd was Daphne's birthday!  How fun to be able to celebrate with her.  We decided to take them to the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta.  Part of the experience was going to the DOLPHIN SHOW.  This was a part of the admission price.  WOW was it totally worth it.  It was a fantastic show.  And this foto below??  Well, Wayne got a phone call and had to take it before the show began.  The sweet young couple sitting in front of us are members of the Church (the guys dad is a counselor in the GA Atlanta North Mission!  Small world).  We had them take a little selfie of all of us.

And here is a foto of the 12 x 12 layout of the day at the aquarium.

It was drizzly weather outside, but HEY we had fun anyway!  We headed over to LEGAL SEAFOOD for a little Birthday Dinner for Daphne!

On Saturday morning we had a couple of hours before BP and Daphne headed back to the airport.  We took them over to Senoia to show them around.  I love this picturesque church there.  It has been filmed in several movies.

On Saturday night I was able to finish a crocheted scarf for Sister Lazer's birthday this coming week. I hope she will like it.  Elders Robison and Robinson told me she would and that sparkly white would be a good color for her.

Today, Sunday, January 4th has been a GREAT day.  We were invited by Elder Whalen and his companion to visit a newly formed 'group' out in Franklin.  We expected a much smaller group than we had once we got here.  There were between 40 - 50 people.  Very nice.  The meetings are held in a member's home.  And the parking.....yup, wherever you can find.

After the 2-hour block of meetings (with today being Fast and Testimony Sunday.....it was wonderful) the group members ALWAYS have lunch together!!!  That was a bit of a surprise to me as I would have brought some food had I known that.  The Elders said they purposely did NOT tell us because they didn't want me to worry about bringing any food!

There were so many wonderful people that we met today.  Just all down-home good-to-earth-people.  I can see us coming here quite often, as our time and travel allows us to!!

We were not the only visitors to the group today.  This sweet family (2 more children had already gotten in the car and are not in the foto) were baptized just 1 1/2 years ago.  They went to the temple just 6 months ago.  They were taught the Gospel by Elder Whalen (foto-Right).  Elder Whalen will be completing his mission in just a week!!  He will be missed.  

The setting of the home where church was held......nestled in the backwoods of the GA/Alabama border.  A beautiful setting.....even in the winter with no green on the trees!

And this, my friends and family, ends another week for us in the Mission Field!  Hard to believe we have been out 7 months already.  Oh my....I fear the time is going to fly by for us and we are not ready for that!!  Have a GREAT week!