More Fun Events - Sept. 22, 2013

Elder Crestani - darling, isn't he?!

Waiting in the drizzle

Emergency rain poncho - stylin'!

Shivering Elders but buff elderly lady  :)

And awaaay we go!

Success!  Our second FHE group is officially off the ground.  It started small but has great promise for more attendees.  A recent convert brother brought his non-member wife, and the FHE was hosted by a great member woman and her non-member husband.  We enjoyed a short lesson and discussion, then we played Chicken Foot (a variation on Dominoes).  Of course, refreshments followed. :)  Our third FHE group inaugurates this coming week.  It is a non-threatening way for less-actives and investigators to gain exposure to the gospel and enjoy some sociality.

We continue to visit a couple in Robbinsville up North.  He served as the first Branch President in Murphy years ago.  He has carried hurt feelings for a long time and still refuses to come to Church.  However, they allow us to visit them about every two weeks.  We have begun having a short lesson and discussion, beginning and ending with prayer.  Last time we even began with I Am a Child of God.  He has agreed to allow some others to come next time.  Little does he know that we are holding a FHE ;), which he wouldn't agree to earlier.
Then we took turns riding in the Bulldog up an old wagon trail up the mountain, crossing three streams, bumping over boulders and fallen trees.  It was a blast!

Our Food Pantry turn was this week again.  It's always a lift and a humbling experience to serve less fortunate people there.  We even encounter people we know.  We try to make them feel comfortable and not embarrassed.  Who knows when any one of us may fall into the same circumstances?

We were able to visit a few less-active members away out in the woods.  They are always surprised that we bother to find them out there, but also pleased.  It's always an adventure.

The Addiction Recovery Program is held each week.  So far we have had one person come once.  Oh well.  We go anyway in case someone shows up.  We have had business type cards printed with the information about ADR to pass out to anyone who might be interested in getting the help.  Hopefully some who need this will actually start coming.

Occasionally we get  a distress call from someone needing help with a broken-down car, or in need of a ride somewhere, or desiring a blessing.  Lynn has given more blessings here already than he did in a year at home.  It's a privilege and a spiritual experience for him and me, too.

Saturday the young Elders ran the 5k Hospital Run.  Lynn and I did the 2-mile Heart Walk.  It was to raise funds for equipment for the hospital here.  It rained steadily the entire time, so we were drenched, but the weather wasn't cold. It was really fun!

Autumn is beginning here, but the leaves haven't really started to turn color much yet.  The temperatures are cooler and more comfortable, and a jacket is beginning to feel good.  We miss the wonderful Utah fruit, and I even miss bottling peaches!  Fruit here hasn't been good this year.  Guess we just have to settle for canned stuff from the store.

Mike Crubaugh, lawn-care man and great member

Elder & Sister Roner from Mission Office

Taking off on the Bulldog

"I wasn't born in Murphy, but I got here as soon as I could."    :)

Amazing Grace!

We have had such a marvelous experience this week that I could sing!  And that's saying something!

Since our Branch had an organized temple trip planned, we were allowed to attend with them.  We travelled to the Atlanta Temple on Saturday morning.  As we entered the temple, I got so excited!  I felt a rush of, "I'm home!  I'm home!"  It was SO GOOD to be back in the temple!  It's not just the fact that the temple is now hours away, but that we are not free to attend anytime we desire.  

Our wonderful Sister Donna Orstrom received her endowment and was sealed to her departed husband.  Most of the able Branch members were there.  It was a lovely, spiritual experience.  We also performed endowments and sealings for family members of another man in the Branch.  

When it was time for us to leave the temple, I wanted to find something to delay our departure.  I didn't want to leave that sacred place of peace, protection, and inspiration.  I felt like pleading, "Please don't make me leave!"  However, we still had to go home to Murphy.
Every time I have thought or spoken about it today, those awesome feelings have come rushing back and renewed the thrill in my soul.  We are so grateful for God's grace and goodness!

Friday the 13th was Lynn's (Elder Ogden's) birthday.  That is reason enough to discount the fears of it being an unlucky day!  We spent the day in Waynesville in Zone Meeting.  I baked his favorite cake and took enough to share with the entire Zone, 30 of us.  To his embarrassment, everyone sang to him.  :)  That evening our Branch Relief Society President invited us and the young Elders over for dinner with her family and some non-members.  She went out of her way and even made Lynn's favorite enchiladas for dinner.  Later Elder Bacon had us all act out the story of Amalakiah deceiving Lahonti and ending up king.  The kids loved it!  The lesson was:  Don't come off the mountain!  Deceiving ones will gradually coax you away from what you know is best and right, then trap you!  Don't come off the mountain!
It was a great evening.

We spent an hour in the Cherokee County Museum one day.  We will return again for there is much more to see and study.  It is so interesting to see remains of former days of this area, both white and Native American peoples.

As per the rest of the country, we remembered those lost on 9/11.  I'm not sure those memories will ever dim.  Time helps ease the trauma and pain, but the memory is still vivid.

Sister Casper, the secretary in the Mission office, became very ill several days ago and passed away Friday night.  She and Elder Casper have only been on their mission two months longer than us.  We are all very sad for him and the entire family.  She was Senator Orrin Hatch's secretary for many years previous.

I will never forget this sight.

Some of our heroes

A memorable tribute

North Carolina wildflowers

Wildflowers or weeds, still pretty

Zone training on laying a solid foundation, in building and in testimony.

Elder Crowell--no, mustaches are not allowed.  :)

Elder Hunt's creative cufflinks

A creative old-fashioned still

Native stone art

Cherokee knives (front one from the jawbone of a bear)

Hand carved fiddle

Fairy crosses (enlarge and read the story)

Worthwhile prayer

Anyone read Cherokee?

Keeping On Keeping On :) Sept. 8, 2013

We are holding FHE the first Monday of every month with a single mom and her family.  We bring one child to our house to help fix dinner, then the family comes over later for dinner and FHE.  The kids love it, and it gives all of them an example of what they can do together.  We played JENGA last time.  We got the tower up to 27 levels before it fell!  Everyone was nervous and anxious that they would cause the fall.  We laughed a lot and had a good time.

A couple that we are trying to continue teaching has been unavailable for some time.  His business is keeping them so busy that we haven't been able to meet with them.  Lynn has been writing epistles instead.  He teaches a good lesson via the letter then does another one the next week.  We hope to see them before long.

We enjoy preparing food and serving it for the Soup Kitchen every several weeks.  We meet many people who need a good meal and a good visit with someone friendly.  This is also our experience working at the local Food Pantry.  It makes us appreciate our own blessings, but it also softens our hearts for those who are down on their luck or are even suffering from their  own poor choices.  We feel ever more how much we are all part of Father's family.  We know He loves all of us and wants us to come home to Him.

Our one FHE group is gradually growing, and the others are soon due to start.  We love all these people!  We so want to see their lives succeed!

The Addiction Recovery Program is now underway.  One person has started coming.  We have ordered business-type cards with the info of the meetings so we can hand them out and post them.  Smoking is the biggest problem we see here.  Chewing and drinking are also big.  Of course, there are other behaviors or emotional problems that plague people.  We hope some will take advantage of the help the program can provide.

After District Meeting on Thursday we took the group to a nearby pizza buffet for lunch.  The Zone Leaders were there as well, so we needed a place that could feed them A LOT for little.  :)  It was a great deal, and the elders were all so happy!  This time we met in Blairsville, GA.

One struggling family asked us to visit them the other day.  They actually had been on our minds and plan to visit.  As a result, we arranged a meeting with them and the Branch President, and they came to Church.  We think (and hope) they will come more often now.  Their family needs the gospel, as we all do.  We find it interesting here that even when families are rather poor or have terrible living conditions, they are still loving and quite close. The parents might have bad habits, but their kids are always great.  They love their parents and the parents love them.  It's great to see.

We visited one man who recently moved here.  He lives in a RV trailer out in the sticks on the edge of the woods and a hayfield.  We drive down a grassy lane through a cornfield, cross a creek (no bridge, so wade or risk the car), drive through the hayfield and find his
unique dwelling place.  He has no running water (uses the creek and a rain barrel), no internet (a tv with VCR and tapes), barely any cell reception, not sure what he does for power, just him and two big dogs in the wilderness.  What a guy!  He is an active member, and he even invited the elders out to his place for dinner.  Guess we'll drop them off at the cornfield and pick them up later.  They're excited!

Saturday we made our first trip to Asheville.  Laurel attended the stake women's conference, and Lynn prepared his Sunday School lesson.  The conference was wonderful with speakers, music, and an original reader's theater.  Later we were able to get some vital shopping done at the huge mall.  Thank goodness!  Murphy only has a Wal-Mart and a Burke's (like a mini Ross).  (It took me less than hour to exhaust those resources!)  We at last own a decent cheese slicer!

Today, Sunday, Lynn returned to Asheville for Priesthood Meeting.  He has been Churching it since 8:30 a.m., returned about 9:45 p.m.  This is the first time we have been apart for more than an hour since we started our mission.  It was strange!  We are so used to being together, and we like it!

We pray for all of you and thank you for your love and prayers.  We and all the missionaries really need them!  Love all ya'll!!

New Murphy Elders - Crestani and Bacon

Post District Meeting Pizza Lunch

Asheville Stake Women's Conference Reader's Theater

Tree in our front yard - don't know the variety, but it's pretty!

Another day, another mile...or 10 (2nd Anniversary!)

Last Sunday we enjoyed dinner at the mountain home of the Boyds, members in our Branch.    Like many other families, their home is at the end of a long gravel road on the top of a "knob",  or small mountain.  They have only 6 1/2 acres, nearly all of which is woods.  Their water is from a natural spring.  It is the type of living many of us dream of.  However, they work in Atlanta during the week and spend every weekend here.  That's a lot of driving!

Every few days members invite us to dinner at their home or at a restaurant.  They are so kind.  I expect this to diminish, however, since the young Elders are now here.  That's okay, because we can cook for ourselves easier than they can.

We visited Bro. & Sis. Barmes on Tuesday.  He was the first Branch President when it was formed in Murphy in 1980.  Sadly, he has become inactive after having his feelings hurt.  He has allowed us to visit them and discuss the gospel, even have prayer.  His sweet wife is Baptist but is willing to come to church with him, if he will only come.   We pray that he will have a change of heart and rejoin the Saints here. 

Wednesday we experienced our first transfer day in the mission.  We had to rise at 4:15 a.m. to get ready in time to leave by 5:30.  The Cherokee sisters were with us overnight so that they could ride with us to Knoxville, thus the single bathroom was busy!  The meeting was thrilling!  We all stood and sang "Called to Serve" as the "goldens" (new missionaries) marched into the chapel.  We heard their testimonies and those of the departing missionaries.  (sniff, sniff)  Then President Irion announced all the transfers, new companionships, new district and zone leaders, and the new Elders we would take back with us to Murphy!  We now have young Elders and us oldies in Murphy!  Elder Crestani is from Sandy, Utah, and Elder Bacon is from Green Bay, Wisconsin.  It is wonderful!
We focus on the less actives and they focus on investigators.  We work closely together, planning together every Friday morning.  Lynn is the Branch Mission Leader, so this works out well.  One of the new Elders in our district and one of the departing Elders are from Aurora, Utah near Richfield.  That made Lynn happy.

The chaos of all those transferring missionaries sorting out their luggage, bikes, finding their new companions, their rides, saying good-byes, etc. was something to behold!  Our new Elders are on bikes, but the roads are pretty dangerous, so we now have a hitch and bike rack on the back of our Avalon. :}  We are to transport them when needed to other locations they can bike around.  Right now they are working Murphy pretty well.

After our District Meeting on Thursday, we fed all the Elders a build-your-own hogie bar.  Those boys can certainly eat!  I think we'll need to increase our food allowance now that these Elders are with us a lot.  :)

Later we visited a shut-in couple, the Kodras, and held a mini Sacrament Meeting with them.  We sang a hymn, had prayer and a brief message about the sacrament, then Lynn and Bro. Kodra blessed and passed the sacrament.  We were all so moved by the strong spirit that was present that we were all in tears.  It was a very special experience.  We were allowed to do the same for another shut-in, Sister May, on Friday.  Her non-member son-in-law even joined us.  He is not interested in the Church, but he serves members that are in need frequently.  There are many really good people all around.

To top off the day, we had a beginning lesson with an investigator and the Elders.  He is a 17-year-old boy, the boyfriend of the one young woman in our Branch.  He is a fine young man and reminds us of the quality of friends our granddaughters have.  He has been raised Pentacostal but is so impressed by his girlfriend that he decided to investigate.  We pray for him to realize the truth of what he is being taught.  

One of the stalwart families in the Branch is moving to Charlotte, so we have spent some time this week helping pack and load them.  They will be sorely missed here.  Even though we were dirty and sweaty, it was a good experience helping and then meeting less-active and non-member people who were there.

Our sadness is that there are so many people who don't see what they are missing and what they could have.  Sometimes they make appointments with us, then be sure to be gone when we come.  However, we keep trying and praying for them.  They aren't hard to love, even in tough circumstances.

We love our mission, we love our Branch, we love our friends and family at  home and miss you!  Thanks for your enduring support and love!

Love the rocking foot stool!

Much nicer than dandelions!

Not your ordinary Avalon rig!

Funky hotrods

Mini car show at the burger place

Glad my finger didn't hide this great old Ford!