Wedding, Baptism, Cake Auction

 <>

 

Baptism picture - Elder & Sister Lovell, LaSonya, Jimmy





Jimmy & LaSonya with their cake



 


May 21 was one of those days that we will never forget, when all the challenges, encouragements, discouragements, prayers, late night talks, discussions, etc., are worth every moment spent.  After spending several hours a few days before trying to get a marriage license for Jimmy and Lasonya, she found out that they could get one in Florence for $30 less and they didn't need birth certificates, etc., so we went to Florence and beat the adversary again.  On Saturday we started with a wedding for them (which I thoroughly enjoyed putting together), then Lasonya was baptized, followed by the Young Women having a potluck dinner and cake auction.  It was a wonderful day! We found Lasonya a dress for this important day that was perfect for her, a sister in the branch made (and donated) a beautiful wedding cake, then we decided the potluck was their celebration dinner as well. Elder Lovell had the privilege of baptizing her and when she came out of the water, she looked like an angel. We're looking forward to the day when Jimmy decides to get baptized as well.  Her countenance as well as her voice is softer since her baptism.  In fact, she glows! This step was not easy for her, she had many obstacles to trip her up, but she endured and she endured well. Watching her and Jimmy grow has been a wonderful experience. We love them and enjoy being a part of their lives.



Pres. Harvey auctioning off a half coconut cake - It went for about $50  because Heather (in the blue) & Joyce (end of table) were always bidding against each other. Joyce always won. I made the bread on the table (1of 4) - they sold $21-$26. These two sisters made it so much fun!



Hats

Marion Branch Sisters in their spring hats

Florence Ward Relief Society quite often will invite the Marion Branch sisters to their activity.  To celebrate the anniversary of Relief Society, we were invited and one of the activities was to make a hat out of styrofoam plates and bowls they had painted.  We added a tie out of netting and then some flowers. It was fun to see the creativity of the sisters. We then went into the Relief Society room for a luncheon and program.  What a great time we had! These sisters each have such unique personalities and when we are together, we have a great time laughing and playing off each other's uniqueness.

Bro. Brayboy

Bro. Brayboy and President McConkie


We've been fellowshipping Bro.Brayboy and his family since the first of December.  We have become very close to this family.  Bro. Brayboy has a beautiful testimony and one of his favorite experiences is when he had the opportunity to meet Bruce R. McConkie.  He said when he started to talk, it was like a drum pounding into him. He said he didn't hear what he said, but he could feel the power that radiated from him. We told him that our mission president is Bruce R. McConkie's son. We made arrangements for them to meet at one of our zone conferences in Florence.  It is the first time he has been back inside a church for years. His comment was, "I finally broke the ice."  He has since been to our Stake Conference Saturday evening meeting.  He said that it felt good and right to be there.  We have yet to get him and his family to church on Sunday but we won't give up.  We've taught his wife and children two lessons, but their house is like grand central station so it's kind of hard. We had his two daughters (ages 13 & 11) over to make some cakes, read the Book of Mormon, and they made pull-apart pizza for dinner.  The Elders also came over for dinner, then taught them about having the spirit.  Just as they started to teach, a revival tent in the vacant lot across the street started up.  It's really hard to talk about the soft whisperings of the spirit when you can hear the "enthusiam" from the tent as if it were in our front yard.  The adversary is sure working hard to keep us from teaching them.

Elvis



Sister Weatherford and I putting name labels in their books

And here we meet Elvis

Sister Weatherford is a retired teacher and she loves going back to the school to help with special occasions.  When they had the RIF (Reading is fundamental) program, she asked if I'd like to go with her to help.  It was wa lot of fun.  The theme was Rock and Roll and the librarian found Elvis! She had a video of him playing while the children came in.   After they picked out a book which they got to keep, they came to us so we could put their name in the book, then they had a cupcake walk. This elementary was mostly black. They were so cute and I love their unique names.  I am so impressed at the manners the children here have.  They always answer with "Yes, Ma'am" or "Yes, Sir".  They were also very excited that three  of the children came directly from Africa.



Atlanta Temple open house

The Atlanta Georgia Temple had been renovated and the open house was in April. We thought it would be a great opportunity to take some inactives and investigators to the open house so that they would be able to feel the spirit in a temple and encourage them to set a goal to attend for themselves. In order to go out of our mission boundaries, we have to get permission from our mission president.  He told us he could not give us permission to do so but he would call the authority over him.  A couple of days later he called us and told us that he also could not give us permission so he called one of the apostles.  He was told that it was a great idea and so we went. It was a 6 hour trip one way and we had to do it in one day. That's 12 hours traveling time!  It was a beautiful day and well worth the time.  We had 22 in our group - which included 6 active members working towards going for themselves, 7 less active, and 4 non-members (9 of the 22 were youth).  The experience has had a great impact on everyone and we're so glad we were able to go. Time will tell the end result but it will never  be forgotten.

Elder Lovell leading Bro. Moody who is

 legally  blind. He's really making progress

preparing to go to the temple for himself.

Group picture in front of the temple. (2 missing)

Southern Storms & April Temple Trip

Keith (Left) is deaf mute & did his first
baptisms for the dead. He loved it.
Sister Woodard (3rd from left) was happy
to start temple work again for her family.

We didn't realize how much danger we were in until we started receiving phone calls from home to make sure we were okay.  We had heard that there were chances of severe weather for Saturday afternoon so thought it was still okay to attend a session at the temple in the morning.  So, we loaded up our car early and went to Columbia.  After the baptism session, President Harvey said they were headed home because of the oncoming storm.  We asked the sisters who were with us if their faith was strong enough to stay and without hesitation, they wanted to stay. We felt very special because it rained alot while we were in the temple. When we got out it was sunshine. We stopped at Cici's Pizza (pizza buffet) because it would be quick. While we were eating the rain dumped down, but the sun came out again when we were finished. Then it changed -about 20 miles out, it was as if we caught up to the storm. The rain was heavy, lighting and thunder were close, but didn't last too long.  The rest of the trip was light showers until we got close to home and then it came down heavy again.  The rest of the day was mild.  We found out later that a tornado touched down just a couple miles from where some of our members live.  It's very interesting that most severe weather stays on the west side of Highway 95 and we live on the east side.  We were told this evening that there were more than 200 tornadoes in this storm, more than they have had in one storm.  More than 40 people were killed.  Most of the damage was in North Carolina. We feel so blessed!  Our branch is safe, we have not heard of any damage.

Thank you so much for concern for us, for your prayers and your love.  We love all of you.

Temple Trip #3 & 4



Sister Eva Young with her parents and 2 sisters.


Each time we go to the temple the members are taking family names.  This has made our Branch Temple trips very personal and very spiritual.  Sister Eva Young (in the wheelchair) caught the spirit when her sister, Lisa, went back to the temple. This day, she went for the first time. While there she was sealed to her parents, her Dad was sealed to his deceased parents, and his brother and sister were also sealed to his parents completing that family unit.  It was a beautiful day.






Sister Scott is the one in the middle



Our next temple trip was a lot of fun when Sister Scott (90 years young) decided to go with us. While waiting for the sealing session, we visited the baptismal as the Weatherford's grandchildren were there. Sister Scott went with us and while she was sitting there, she was invited to do some proxy confirmations. She was delighted! We had a sealing session full of family names while a couple of sisters did endowments. Others at the temple had just one couple or one child to have sealed and asked if they could join us.  It became so full that we only got half of our names done and President Harvey had a pile of names and only got one done. I have had the privilege of taking one of Elder Lovell's deceased cousin's through all of her ordinances.  Each time I have felt her presence so strong that emotions were very evident (I know, I cry easily anyway). This time I could feel her anxiety with each sister sealed and the sigh when her name wasn't presented. By the time it was her turn, my emotions were on the verge of sobs.  Elder Lovell was the same throughout the sealing of the whole family. The spirit of the temple is really spreading through the branch. More are getting their recommends and others are working towards them.  This will really be a blessing for the branch.