It may seem at this point that all we have done is play along with getting settled, but we actually have worked. We had the opportunity of attending a baptism for some very cute kids. The Elders have a teaching pool of three families and we have really enjoyed working with them as well. We had a day where we had a goal to meet or visit with 5 new people and ended up meeting more than that. Also, as we stopped at stores (still trying to find a couple things for the house - like chairs) and so many people noticed our name tags and it gave us the opportunity to at least let them know why we are here. Many of them we're sure we'll see them again. We are really enjoying the southern hospitality. We haven't met an unfriendly person yet!
We also have had the opportunity to transport a missionary to urgent care as he broke his ankle and we took a sister into Florence for a doctor's appointment. Elder Lovell has talked to many about working on their family history and we helped a member this evening with the new family search. Many of the people here are first generation members so there's a lot of work to be done for their families.
Our new Branch President has a lot of things on his agenda and is anxious to move forward. We're having a temple day on November 20 so we're excited about that. He interviewed us on Wednesday night and in that interview, Sister Lovell ended up with 3 new callings: Branch Music Chairman, Gospel Essentials Teacher (for new and non-members - word must've got out as no one showed up for the class!), and Assistant Branch Organist. He also wants to get the cub scouts going. At this point we only have 2 Webelos. The hard part is that a lot of the members don't have transportation so it will require some help on that part. Another fun opportunity is that the Primary Presidency are very excited about learning to play the piano. We'll start those lessons next week. There's a grant program where the branch and the members can receive keyboards if they go through the lessons, play in church and have a desire to continue playing and possibly teach someone else. I think I will be busy.
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| The three children baptized (middle, left to right) are Kindrick, Ashanti, & Diamonte. The mom, Crystal, and her boyfriend, Anton, are still taking the lessons. The youngest one is Dashon. Crystal and Anton are very supportive of the kids, and ask a lot of questions. They're great people! |
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| This is Elder Thayne with his broken ankle as we came out of urgent care. |
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| This is just one of those scenes we love. This is where one of the members live. |
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| We are the 3 musketeers - Linda Weatherford, Linda Bell (missionary we have replaced) and me. We are all so much alike and poor Elder Thayne has 3 moms hounding him to stay off of his ankle. We keep telling him if he doesn't listen he's going to marry a Linda so he can continue to be nagged! |
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A baptism already! (and three no less)That's great. And three Linda's. That is neat. You will have to call each other Sister Weatherford, Sister Lovell, etc. to know who you are talking to.
ReplyDeleteWe had an interesting Sunday on October 31. We went to the FHC to teach a Singles Branch how to do indexing. There were at least 35 young adults with at least eight leaders. It was a good experience but a long day. Elder Hall, Elder and Sister Price, Elder Steven Johnson (he taught the class) and Karl and I were the missionaries who went in to help them. That was a first. I hadn't realized that we did things like that on Sunday. Elder Lyon informed us that we would be open on Sunday should the need arise. So...
We have had the warmest October and November we've had I think for 34 years. The year our Kim (who turns 42 tomorrow) turned eight, it was so warm and lovely we had his birthday party outside. This year reminds me of that year. It has been in the mid 60's this week!
Keep up the good work. I include you in my prayers.