MORE TREATS THAN TRICKS

This place is beautiful.  We love it.

This has been another wonderful week.  Tiffany is home from the hospital and seems to be doing good.  Hyrum took good care of the children while she was gone.  We are going to teach them again tomorrow.  We are also teaching a new girl who wants to get baptized before her great grandmother dies.  We want her to have the lessons first and be sure it is what she really wants.
We finally finished our 14 home teaching/visiting teaching families.  It was a good experience.
Halloween was fun in that Scott and Tiff sent pics and i phoned the kids in their costumes.   It was fun to see  kids.

Jennings feet

 Tiffani's family made us decorations.  We were at a less active member's home so we didn't do the Halloween tricking  stuff.

This is how they bail their hay.  Great yard art.

                                       At Halloween Murphy has ghost leaves that dance.

We finally got a new mission phone so now when we are talking to someone it doesn't start ringing another person's number.  We can even dial out now.
Zone meeting was Friday.  I really bomb out on the roll play part.  I just don't do a good job and it is so hard form me.  The elders are very patient.  Dad does a great job.  Zone meeting was in Waynsville NC.  The Blairsville missionaries came to Murphy at 7:30, and we fixed them a waffle and sausage breakfast then took them to the meeting with us.  It saves them miles.

 After the meeting we had to go to Asheville so Elder Bayles could interview a young man for baptism.  He was great and passed.  He stopped smoking in one day.  He knew it was the right thing to do.  We took the elders home by going on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is so beautiful.  We got home at 8:00.  Asheville is two and a half hours away.
                                   We gave a little girl her first lesson Saturday.  She loved it.  When we asked if we could come again and teach her more she said, "How about tonight?"  We did.  She has set her baptism date for next Saturday.  She does not live in our mission but the boundary is less than a mile away.  A member from our branch will be taking her to church.  We're hoping her mother will join in.  She is less active.  We know we cannot count this as an investigator baptism in that she is just 8 but the most important thing is that she will be baptized and attend church.  The numbers don't matter.
Elder Bayles got a phone call from Pres. Craven today asking if he would be our district leader.  He is such a good missionary.  I love him.

For some reason barn art is popular.

Bear claws on barn.

sheep in the barn

Dad and I were on the way to a lesson when we realized we had not eaten that day and were hungry. (shocker!)  We stopped at an ice cream shop built in  the late 1800's. (not as good as Granny's)  It was a very fun place.

inside store

candy shelves

                                     

out back of the shop  old wagons

old barn

                                 
                                                     

check out the bellows

One of our favorite places to go to visit some investigators is a community called Hanging Dog.  We pass an awesome old home on the way.

Have you ever seen a sign with fractions?

This is a beautiful lake and camping area.

                                               
Today was stake conference.  We watch it on TV as Asheville is so far away.  We were so excited because we had 3 less active and 3 investigators there.  You just pray for such days.  We have 3 baptismal dates and hope you will pray with us that they will be held.  The restored gospel is so true and we want all to have it  I love Elder Bayles.

Tues. Aug.28th  We left Bro. Comelison's at 9 A.M. and walked six miles to Denton arriving there at 11:25 A.M.  We there got on the train that goes to Thomasville & after waiting until 1 P.M.  We started, but talk about the "Slow Train through Arkansaw",  I think this one beat it.  At every switch it would stop & back around for 10 to 30 minutes and at every place of upgrade road it would stop & the conductor & brakeman would get out and put rocks along on the rails to get it to go again. and when it got to the water tank it stopped for half an hour taking water, part of which was carried by hand, but at last we reached Thomasville at 3:30 P.M.  having been three and a half hours going 21 miles.  At Thomasville we went to the P.O. & enquired the way to Bro. A.S. Morris's and after walking three miles we got to his place at 5 P.M.