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