Sunday, November 22, 2015

 AND.....it was off again this week for Zone Conferences in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  We LOVE our mission and the beautiful country we get to see as we drive around!  

 On our way to the eastern part of the mission, we passed by the MAYFIELD DAIRY and have said for the past 1 1/2 years that 'one day' we were going to stop and take a little tour of the factory.  Well, today was that day.  It was a nice little diversion for about 30 - 45 minutes.  AND we got a free cone of ice cream at the end of the tour.

Believe it or not, we actually had to go to the Western part of North Carolina to get to our first Zone Conference.  Because that part of NC is in the TKM!  Go figure.

There are always Zone Conference fotos during the lunch break.  AND President Griffin ALWAYS does a selfie with the missionaries!  It is so fun to watch them do this.

I have to say that is was probably our LEAST favorite Hampton Inn to stay in!!!!  It did NOT have a regular overstuffed chair for me to sit in.  Elder/Dr. had his desk and chair but ....... well, what can I say.  Oh well, at least we had a comfy bed to sleep in.

And then compare this room to the last one!!!  Well, there is really NO comparison.  This was a FANTASTIC room!!!  And it was actually cheaper than the room with NO chair!

We found out that the Church leased a really neat building for a chapel in downtown Chattanooga.  We had to go see it after Zone Conference.  This is a pre-Civil War building.  General Bragg actually had this as his headquarters during the Civil War.  So neat that the Church could lease it for our meetings!  Very special indeed.

It was great to see some of the fall foliage still shining with brilliant colors as we traveled around.

Prior to Zone Conference starting, I noticed Sister Griffin (Mission President's wife) talking to a few of her 'children......Sister Missionaries' in a far corner.  Just too cute not to take a foto of them.

Yup, and President Griffin at another Zone Conference taking his selfie.

We made our way on Friday afternoon up to the Kingsport TN area where the last Zone Conference would be held on Saturday.  We decided to stop in the Visitor's Center just to see if they had any books on the local area.  These two gals were very helpful and didn't mind their foto being taken.

They told us about the beautiful new CAROUSEL which had just opened this year.  In fact, we were told, that every one of the horses/animals on the carousel were hand carved by the local townsfolk!  It took a few years for all of them to be completed and then the carousel to be assembled.  And the result is BEAUTIFUL!!  Rides were only $1!!!  Can't pass that bargain up now can you.....

These two sweet ladies helped prepare the lunch for the Zone Conference.  It was delicious.  

After Zone Conference on Saturday, we headed back downtown to see if the Christmas parade was still going.  In fact, it had just barely started.  So we got to see most of it.  AND, of course, Santa arrived!

We have seen some beautiful sunsets up here this week.

Tennessee has certainly been good to us this week......and we appreciate that.

 We attended church in the Kingsport Ward on Sunday and got to see of the Elders we had seen at Zone Conference.

After church we drove back downtown so we could see Church Circle one more time and get a few fotos.  This area reminded me of what Joseph Smith must have felt when there was a different church on every corner and was confused as to which one to join.  Hence, James 1:5!  And the rest is history.....thank goodness we have The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today!

Driving back to our hotel we saw some pretty Christmas decorations.  

And that, my family and friends, is our travels and adventures for this week.  I am sure there will be more to write about next week!!!  We are always amazed at the adventures we have!  We LOVE our mission.  We LOVE our family for supporting us!  We truly feel blessed.......see y'all next week!