Noah, Where's Your Ark?!

We didn't expect to need a boat to get around our kitchen, but this week was surprising.  An incredible deluge hit us one day, and our kitchen flooded.  We were just going to leave for District Meeting and walked straight into a huge puddle by the stove.  The water was gushing down the hill, which is our backyard, and into our back door.  The Sisters, the Elders, and the Zone Leaders were helping us mop up and attempt to stop the river.  Lynn was outside in his Sunday clothes trying to not get washed away while digging a trench for the water to follow.  Eventually we all succeeded and went onto District Meeting.  Of course, I'm exaggerating the severity of the flood waters, but not the storm.  A river ran off our hill for the entire day.

The apartment we arranged for the Elders has also been flooding.  We couldn't figure out the source of the water, but each time we went over the floor was in standing water.  Finally, the landlord came up from Georgia and discovered a hole in the roof over an inside stairway beside the apartment.  The water would dump in through the hole, run down the stairs and under the wall of the apartment.  Now we have the problem solved and the apartment ready to receive the new Elders this week.  I'm so glad, because we are tired of mopping!  Everyone in the Branch is excited to have the young missionaries come.  What does that say about us? ;}

Last Sunday the Smiths from Kingsport, TN drove 3 1/2 hours to come and train us on leading the Addiction Recovery Program.  We are beginning classes this week (if somebody comes).  There are so many people who have compulsive eating, smoking, chewing, or drinking habits, among others.  We hope some will want to rid their lives of these demons and decide to receive help.

We also are starting several more FHE groups in various locations throughout the Branch.  Some key people will host them in their homes, although they won't fill all the assignments.  Those will rotate among the participants, just like in a family.  There are quite a few single, empty-nester, and less-active members that could benefit from such a group.  We hope they will become as successful as the one we already have going.

Each Saturday we call less-active members and/or investigators and re-invite them to Church.  Sometimes they come, sometimes not.  At least, they will know that they are not forgotten.  We hope perhaps some of them will come take a Church tour with us.

We are doing more in the community as time goes on.  We now work in the Food Pantry two full days a month, the local Soup Kitchen eight times a year, the House Raising Committee (like Habitat for Humanity), and we are participating in a fundraiser to care for the River Trail and a 5K to raise money for hospital equipment.  Lynn is also good to carry garbage bags on his walks to collect trash.  Our Mission President encourages us to do as much as we can with/for the community.  Good PR is always helpful, because certain religions here openly preach against us.  One church even withdrew its support from the House Raising fundraiser because we Mormons get to participate.  The House Raising committee was outraged!  We appreciate that they, at least, are more fair-minded.

It is disheartening to find quite a number of families living in less than desirable conditions, often by their own choice.  We hope to help them learn better ways, but "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."  We mortals sometimes just don't get what the Lord is trying to teach us.  Sure hope I get it sooner rather than later.

We seem to have dinner company at least once a week now.  I suppose we may need to feed the Elders more than that, and maybe let them use our laundry facilities if they run out of money for the laundromat.  We will also be their transportation to other towns or out-of-the-way places, since the roads are too dangerous for bicycles.  They can bike around the towns within city limits though.

Our crazy Zone Leaders

Elder Ary & Elder LeSueur
Asheville Zone Leaders

Our Great District Leader, Elder McDonald
and wonderful Elder Parkinson
Is that title overhead prophetic?

Sister Sellers & Sister Lee
Fantastic Sisters in Cherokee, NC

District Meeting before transfers

Beauty on the River Trail

River Trail peace

Lake Hiwassee near Murphy

Hiwassee Dam, part of the Tennessee Valley Authority

Derrick that travels on rails to open spillway gates
 on the dam, we think

Week 7

Last Sunday we enjoyed our first real Southern meal--fried okra, fried pork, mashed potatoes swimming in melted butter, corn-on-the-cob, fresh tomatoes, cake.  Bro. & Sis. Frady have a small 10-acre farm with goats, dogs, cat, chickens, stream, and a 1/2-acre garden.  He is a convert of only two months, and what a great guy!  He became interested in the Church due to the amazing woman he was dating.  They have been married just six months.  It is wonderful interacting with him and others in the Gospel Principles class.  

We visited quite a few less-active members this week.  We called them, too, on Saturday to re-invite them to Church on Sunday.  One actually came!  Others promised to come next week, but we'll see.  At least we made contacts where none had been made for a very long time, thanks to the friendship of banana bread!  Returning to Church is a step, of course, but so important in helping them find happiness and a way to work through their problems.  We
more and more feel the sadness in our hearts for all these people who seem lost or wandering, unaware of what God really has for them, our brothers and sisters.  

We have practiced our Church tour and are ready to begin.  We have designed the tour around the pictures in the church.  In a twenty-minute tour of our little building we teach very succinctly the story of the restoration, of the plan of salvation, of apostles and prophets, baptism, priesthood, women in the Church, Young Women, Primary, and family history and temples. The tour culminates in the chapel with a visual testimony about the Savior and the sacrament, accompanied by sacred music.  We are anxious to use this tool to acquaint people with the Church and the gospel.

We miss everyone, but the busier we are, the better.  This is a wonderful experience and a relationship-building one for us together and with our Father in Heaven.  We appreciate the prayers offered for us.  Thank you all!

Jeff & Cory Frady

Jeff Frady & Snow & Sitka, the Pyranees dogs
They guard the animals from predators.

"Here goats, c'mon goats!"

Billy is of New Zealand stock

My new friend

bumblebee nest

turkey back - beautiful irridescent feathers
Bro. Frady is a great turkey hunter

Some of our wonderful Branch sisters

Feeeeed me, please!

Service Week

Monday Laurel finally decided she HAD to go shopping.  Well, it took maybe thirty minutes to exhaust Wal-Mart and Burke's Outlet.  That was not very fulfilling.  She looks forward to a weekend in Chatanooga or Knoxville sometime.  Meantime, she feels a bit of withdrawal from one of her favorite activities with her friends.

That evening we had a single mom and her children over for dinner and FHE.  They are good kids that need some skills lessons, so we are attempting to help there.  

This week has been one of service.  Tuesday we helped fix and pack 60 lunches for the local soup kitchen, then spent a few hours handing them out.  Normally the Branch provides a variety of hot soups, but the church that hosts the soup kitchen had conflicts that day, so bag lunches were the order.  After that we attended our weekly older singles FHE.  In the evening we attended a committee meeting for the Home Raising foundation.  (They are like Habitat for Humanity.)  Wednesday and Saturday Lynn spent the day assisting our Branch President remodel his kitchen.  Termites were having a heyday there, so they are having to rebuild from the studs out.  They still have more days of work ahead.

Thursday was District Meeting again, then we took off for all-day training in Knoxville.  We ferried the young Elders to an exchange then we all went onto the mission home to spend the night.  Friday morning while all the district and zone leaders had training, the senior couples of the mission held their own meeting.  We enjoyed a wonderful taco salad bar for lunch.  The afternoon was spent in a 3 1/2 hour meeting with Elder Kopishke of the Seventy.  His training was excellent!  We are all motivated to recommit, reanalyze, and rejuvenate our efforts.

We now have a trailer hitch on our Avalon with a detachable bike rack.  We will be hauling the Elders bikes around when they are assigned here in a couple of weeks.  The roads are very narrow, windey, and dangerous, so we will transport them with their bikes to locations where they can work for a day.  Then we will pick them up and bring them back home to Murphy.

Saturday we were able to visit a former branch president and his wife.  She is not a member but is very willing to come to church with him.  He, however, got his feelings hurt years ago and will not return.  So sad!  We hope and pray that somehow we may be able to make inroads with him.  This is an all too common circumstance here, along with life styles that people don't want to give up.  It is disheartening to see so many people turn their backs on the blessings that they could be enjoying...and need!

Our granddaughters recording hymns for us to use in missionary work

Elders & Sisters  singing

One Month Anniversary!

August 1 marked the one-month anniversary of the beginning of our mission.  We have made many new friends and had some great experiences.

Monday we had a farewell FHE with Melanie and Brad, the two youth we have been teaching, along with their wonderful grandma, Donna Orstrom, and the Brown family.  The Brown's daughter, Cherokee, has been instrumental in bringing us people to teach.  She sat in on every lesson with Melanie and Brad.  They have now returned to their home in Ft. Myers, FL.  We pray for their continued success in learning the gospel.

We were very sad for a time after learning that our last youthful investigator, Tara, a 12-year-old black girl, decided that she didn't want to continue with the lessons.  She is used to being entertained at church, we believe, so she finds our services too "boring."  :<  We will still visit her occasionally to keep in touch.  She is really sweet and cute.

We received great practice and instruction at our zone meeting this week.  Pres. & Sister Irion were there to buoy us up and give wonderful teachings.  We learned about justification, sanctification, and qualification.  We learned more about the Holy Ghost and practiced teaching about it.  One of my favorite stories was about a lady who had been baptized and then received the gift of the Holy Ghost as a member of the Church.  She said, "The Holy Ghost is like an old friend who had guided me in the past but had now come to stay."

Friday evening we finally enjoyed a date by going to dinner and a movie.  Monsters University was the only choice available, but that's okay.  It was good to reconnect with our Friday nights.  :)  We miss joining with our dear friends for these dates sometimes.

An interesting farming feature here is that the grass grows so easily and abundantly that the farmers just cut and bale the grass as hay in giant rolls.  They don't grow alfalfa.  People spend many, many hours  on their riding mowers mowing their hills, yards, and roadsides.  I guess they have to in order to keep the grass at bay.

We have been visiting our neighbors up and down the street.  Most are widows or widowers.  
They have all been friendly and kind, inviting us into their homes and onto their porches.  We take them banana bread and just visit so we can get to know them.  They are lonely and need visits, and we enjoy them.

We have been wonderfully enriched by the deep spirit of the strong Saints here.  They bear humble testimonies of the gospel truths without apology or embarrassment.  Many are in part-member marriages or are single parents, yet they remain strong examples to their families.  Others yield to ease or temptation.  We are trying to visit and help wherever we can.

We love you all, or in Southern vernacular, all ya'll!

Laurel, Melanie, Brad, Sister Orstrom, Lynn

Cherokee, Stephanie, Brendan, Bobby Brown

A lovely old Victorian in Murphy (for sale!)

Tiny downtown rest stop in Murphy

Very old abandoned building in town

Former train station/now Farmer's Market site

"Haun's Mill" built by a member on his property

Charlie the chameleon..no, it's NOT me holding it!

Laurel's "wake-up" prayer rock
Made in FHE with the older singles

Flip side - "good night" prayer rock

Lynn's prayer rock.  The last r is around the edge.  :)