Sunday, August 30, 2015

Another L.O.N.G. week.....but FUN and all good!!!!  We left Mt. Airy, N.C. on Monday morning.  My cousin, Mary Goins Wall, wanted to see us before we left town.  The only way that was going to happen was if we stopped by where she works as a cook (a little local diner in Pilot Mountain) and let her fix breakfast for us!  And we did just that....she called to see when we were going to be there.  We told her 10 minutes.  She asked what we wanted to eat.  We told her.  When we arrived 10 minutes later.....there it was.  Fixed and ready for us to eat.  Now, that is what I call service WITH A SMILE!!!  Good to see her.

I asked Mary where I could get some good stone-ground self-rising cornmeal to make good cornbread.  She told us the Mill was just down in King.....(King Milling Co.).  And guess what?  We were going to drive right pas there.  We stopped and bought a 5-lb bag of cornmeal.  I just may have to order more of this good stuff!!

On our way to the Great Smoky Mountains and over to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission, we drove past Winston Salem.  I love that skyline.  I grew up with that skyline!!!  I never tire of seeing it.

It occurred to me that we have acquired a 'science' with our checking in and checking out of hotels.  We do it a LOT.  And, here is what our routine looks like!!  Simple, efficient and gets the job done.

We made it to the CHEROKEE INDIAN RESERVATION!!!  Again....LOVE coming here.

 We have passed this TOWER several times.  This time we stopped to climb it and take a real birds eye view of the Great Smokey Mountains.  It really didn't look that high, but guess what!!  It WAS high.

A view from ON TOP OF OLE' SMOKEY!!!

 At the tope of the Great Smokey's is the NC/Tennessee State Line.  We got a foto last time.....and we got another foto this time.

We stopped again in Cherokee....We love how they have 2 languages on the road signs.....English and Cherokee.

And spotted in the mountains was this mama bear and her 2 cubs.  They were enjoying a little lunch.  They did not seem bothered at all with the crowd of people watching them.  But, MAMA made sure nobody came close to them!!

Hampton Inn is our 'choice' of hotels.  This night was a sleepless one for me though.  We found out earlier that day that we had been charged an extra $150 because 'we had smoked in our last hotel room in High Point, N.C.!!!'  True story folks!!!  And for 2 people who have NEVER IN OUR LIVES smoked anything, we were appalled and floored that we had been charged and we never even got a phone call to tell us about it.  Fortunately, I 'found' the charge on our credit card and called the hotel to see what was going on.  Upset!!!  You are darn-tootin' I was upset....and still am a week later.  They eventually took the $150 charge off our charge AND gave us a free night (we stayed there 3 nights).  I am still not completely satisfied!!!  Stay tuned for the 'rest of the story'!!  :-(

We love the Zone Conferences we get to attend.  And in the process, we get to visit a LOT of different chapels.  They are all so pretty and are for the most part in beautiful locations!!  This one was especially pretty!!

This collage tells a whole bunch......from the sack lunches prepared and served to us, to a ginormous spider the elders found outside the building to our meeting Sister Roberts.  She was the sweetest little thing.  She joined the church just 10 months ago at age 83!!!!  And she is just thrilled.  She was 7th Day Adventist prior to joining the church.  She is planning a trip to the temple in December.  I made her a little Atlanta Temple cross-stitch hanging.  That is the temple she will be going to.

President Griffin just fell in love with Sister Roberts and the feeling was mutual for her toward him.  EVERYBODY loves Sister Roberts.

As we finished Zone Conferences in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission on Thursday, we headed south to the Georgia Macon Mission.  It was honestly good to be back in Georgia again after being gone for 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, we drove right through the heart of downtown Atlanta and right past our home in Peachtree City and kept on going......to Waycross, GA!!

More views of our Zone Conferences.....this one in the Georgia Macon Mission.  Elder/Dr. Allgaier gave presentations everywhere we went.  And a different one in the Macon Mission.

 We stopped for gas somewhere past Atlanta.  Couldn't help but chuckle about this sign....apparently, Barefoot is not something to do with shoes (or no shoes) but rather an alcoholic drink.  Who would have thought!!

 And those COTTON FIELDS!!!  We LOVE them.....and they are in full bloom right now.  Can't wait to see them at harvest time.

After Zone Conference in the Douglas/Tifton Zones, we drove an hour or so to VIDALIA, GA where we spent the night.  We were just too tired to drive another 3 1/2 hours home.

When we got home we had lots of mail.....2 weeks worth!!!  One of the fun packages was from David that he brought to the U.S. and mailed to us.  How fun was that to get!!!  GREAT variety of cookies from Ms. Shen!!!  And a 'specially made just for me' purse fob!!!  I love it!  Somehow I lost the one I got when we were in Hong Kong last September (2014) and I was just sick about it.  He had this one made.

Not only were we greeted by lots of mail on Saturday afternoon, BUT the Elders showed up to greet us AND to bring some clothes they want me to repair for them....pants and shirts!!!  Oh my!!

I sat for a few minutes to get a bit more work completed on an afghan I am making for a special friend of Becky's who recently had one of their sons pass away at the age of 17 years old.  I am honored that I can make this for her.  Almost done!!

AND...such is life in our fast lane.  We have driven about 3,500 miles this pas month.  I know because we just did our month-end report that we have to send in to Salt Lake City!!!  No wonder we feel pooped!!!  But it is all GOOD!!!  We love our mission.  More travels coming up again this week. Everyone, have a great week!!!  Love y'all.....

August 23, 2015

Sit back, relax and prop your fee up for a spell.  We have had a very busy week!

We headed back up to the North Carolina Charlotte Mission again this week.  Tuesday found us driving back up......I think our car can just do 'auto-pilot' these days!

We stayed in the same Hampton Inn for 3 nights straight (unheard of for us normally!), so we were thrilled to make that our home base and 'spider out' from there.  However, on WEDNESDAY we found ourselves in a bit of a major backup on the highway.  There had been a car accident and the highway we were to take was completely closed.  We were about 1 1/2 hours late.  Nothing we could do about that.  All of those school busses were late as well.

The chapels we were in this week were just as varied as any other week of Zone Conferences.  We love to visit them all.

At Thursday's Zone Conference we FINALLY got to meet Elder Killian, mission nurse!  How wonderful to meet him.  His wife is also a nurse with him but she had to work and couldn't be there that day.

 It just so 'happened' that on Wednesday evening as we left the Zone Conference, we dropped by a Funeral Home in Winston Salem to see a cousin that had passed away on Sunday.  We had gotten word that Frances Joan Kirkman Carroll has died.  J.C. Kirkman, her brother-my cousin, was going to be there.  J.C. and I remember each other and it gave us a chance to catch up on our lives!  I love these tender mercies that happen on a daily basis!

Thursday evening after Zone Conference was over we slipped over to Faye and Ronnie's home in High Point.  And, the tender mercy for the day, Uncle Wendell had arrived at their home.  He had driven from California.  How good it was to be with him.  We have not seen him for a number of years.  We went out to dinner and had a great evening.

 On Friday the Zone Conference was held in the Greensboro Stake Center.  We had heard they have beautiful paintings hanging throughout the building.  And, indeed, they did.  This painting is one of my favorites!  The Savior is teaching Mary while Martha is working preparing food and trying to listen at the same time.  I often say I am more of a 'Martha' because I am always trying to get so many things done.

I happened to look over and spotted Elder/Dr. Allgaier having a conversation with President Alexander, the Mission President.  What a great man President Alexander is.  We have surely enjoyed getting to know he and Sister Alexander.....one of our 3 brand new mission presidents.

And it was time for Elder/Dr. to give a brief presentation to this Zone.  He always does such a great job with informing and educating the missionaries on good health practices.  And at lunchtime he takes care of their individual needs by seeing them one at a time, at least those who have medical questions or concerns.

When we finished Friday, we headed up to Mt. Airy, N.C. for the weekend.  That IS a part of our mission.  Notice Pilot Mountain in the background.

The FUN thing about our trip to Mt. Airy was that three of the Senior Missionary couples from the NCCM were there for a day as well.  They asked us to show them around and we were happy to do that.  We started out by meeting them at the top of Pilot Mountain.  Even though you can't see the 'view' from the top, we WERE at the top.

On Saturday morning we headed over to the JAIL, WALLEY'S FILLING STATION and to see the SQUAD CARS.  

 And, lest we not have our foto taken at the squad car, we all took advantage of the foto-op!

Sitting on the front porch and shooting the breeze is just the thing to do.....

And, of course, we all had to try out Otis's jail cell!!!!

If you reach real hard you can actually get the keys off the wall!!!

We traveled on up to the top of the QUARRY, The World's Largest Open Face Granite Quarry in the World!!!  I am still impressed with it after all of my lifetime of seeing this place.

On to downtown Mt. Airy and see what Mayberry has to offer.  We found a little friendly game of Chess on Main was fun.....Elder Adamson and Elder/Dr. Allgaier had fun playing....

After doing the usual things downtown and around town with the 3 senior missionary couples, they had to head back down to Charlotte.  We then joined Sharon and Lester and Wendell and Elders Jackman and Anderson and Gary (who drove up from Boone, N.C.) for dinner at the brand new Cracker Barrel on Highway 601.  That was so fun!!!

We headed up to Lester and Sharon's home for a little visit.  Lester was so good to attach another 16 medallions on our walking sticks for us!!!  Bless his heart.....16 of EACH of the two walking sticks that is.

We went to Mt. Airy Ward for church on Sunday.  I had crocheted a red & white doily for 'the other Esther Johnson' (as I call her....since my mother was Esther Johnson and they were in the same ward).  I was glad to be able to give it to her.

After church we headed to Sharon and Lester's for lunch.  After lunch we decided to take a drive to a family cemetery.  I had been wanting to visit my great-great grandparents graves again....Dr. James Dickerson Dean and his wife, Esther Hiatt Dean.  They are the ones who joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1872 in Mt. Airy, N.C.

 Sharon and I got down on the ground to have our foto taken and couldn't get up to move to the next grave marker.  So, we decided to just SCOOT!!!  Why not!!

 At least we made it to the other marker.

We also found our great grandparents not too far away as well (Grandpa Marion's parents).  Uncle Wendell joined us for this foto.

It has been a very, very FULL week.  We never lack for 'something' going on....and YES we are on a full-time mission and loving it.  Amazing how we can accomplish a little bit in such a short amount of time!!!  Off to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission tomorrow and for the week!

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Another FULL week....don't know how this happens consistently but it does and we love it!  We LOVE our mission!!

We were kind of all over our mission this past week.  We started out on Monday driving down to the Georgia Macon Mission home and meeting with, and helping to train, the new Mission Nurse.  That is part of what Elder/Dr. Allgaier does.  And the Mission President's wife is in on that training because she is ultimately in charge of the medical well-being of all of the missionaries in their mission.  L to R:  Elder/Dr. Allgaier (AMA), Sister Finlinson (Mission Nurse) and Sister Cottle, Mission President's wife.

President and Sister Cottle decided they wanted to provide lunch for us.  They are just the BEST!!!  We surely love them and have become great friends.  President Cottle wanted to make sure he helped out with the lunch.....got a foto of him 'stirring the pot'!!!  He didn't really know what he was doing, but he was so cute trying to figure it out.

The Cottle's had invited the other office couples to join us:  Elder and Sister Westbrook and Elder Finlinson since his wife was already there.

 L to R:  Sister Westbrook, Sister Cottle, myself.  We decided we wanted to take a little selfie!  Sure....why not.  I used my apple watch to do that!  We 'act' like we know what we are doing.

Wednesday was a busy day....we started out by going to the first Transfer Meeting for President and Sister Foote of the Georgia Atlanta Mission.  We have come to love Sister Perky (sister missionary to my right).  She would be going home having completed her mission.  We will miss her.

Elder Dimanche was talking to Elder/Dr. Allgaier.  We have come to love him as well.  He is from Haiti.

L to R:  Elder Norland, J.T. (Jack's son and both recently baptized), Elder Barton, Jack and Elder Facey.  Always good to have a little 'groupie' shot.

When we finished Transfer Meeting we headed over to Dr. Pastor's office for dad to have his regular eye check-up appointment.  It was a quick visit, fortunately, because we had a 5-hour drive ahead of us.

I think I have lost track of how many times in the past week we have seen this PEACH!!!  It is located in Gaffney, S.C.  Not far from the N.C. state line.  We LOVE this peach.  Not sure why Georgia, who claims to be the PEACH STATE, doesn't have a nice peach like this.  South Carolina wins!!!

And YES-SIR-RE, there she is!!  Our beloved NORTH CAROLINA.  Again.....

We are attending Zone Conferences this past week in the North Carolina Charlotte Mission.  This would be the first round for the new mission president and his wife....President and Sister Alexander. It is amazing to us just how varied each of the church buildings are.  All wonderful, some older, some newer....all unique in their own way.

It never stops to amaze us how inspired these mission presidents are.  They are each and every one amazing.  The Lord's work is in GREAT HANDS with these GREAT LEADERS!!  With their great leadership, we have GREAT missionaries.

It is always very reassuring to us when we pull into a church parking lot and see all of the missionary cars lined up and being inspected.  Then, we know we are in the right place at the right time.  That I have not written down wrong information!!!

And there is LINE-UP!!

After Zone Conference on Friday, we headed back down to Atlanta to our apartment.  I REALLY, REALLY DO NOT like the Atlanta traffic.  Have I said that before??  Well, I really do mean it.  NO time is a good time to be driving in, around or through Atlanta!!  Seriously!

Because of 'running into' one of my Jones Cousins 'by coincidence' last Sunday in the Salisbury Ward on our way back to PTC, I have been digging a bit to find more fotos of the family and other relatives.  Here is a foto I found (which I had never seen before) of L to R:  Aunt Virgie, Uncle Wendell and my mother (Esther Charity Marion Johnson)....two of my mother's siblings.  In front in the wheelchair is my great grandmother Susan Esther Dean Jones.

Back to the apartment.  I was determined to finish Rodney's afghan.  Rodney is our neighbor.  We have come to love him and appreciate his help with many things!  He has a spare bedroom and is very kind to let family use it when they come to visit us.  He is so sweet.  And we love his dog, Bella!!!  I made her an afghan as well.

And.....Meet Rodney with his Atlanta Falcon's afghan.  Made just for him the way he wanted it.

We got some GREAT fresh peaches in South Carolina on our way home.  We gave some to Rodney, some to the Elders and we kept a few.  I decided to make a fresh peach sonker.  The Elders came over and ate 2 sonkers!  I made another one for us to enjoy today.  It is a GREAT recipe!!!

And, that, dear family and friends is our week.  This next week or so is shaping up to be a packed one or two or three again!!  Stay tuned.....Stay safe!!!  Love everyone!