SOUTHERN COMFORT

winter in the Smokeys

We were privileged to have a visit from the mission president, President Craven and his wife, on Monday.  It was for the zone interviews.  They came right to our home.  The Blairsville elders met them here for their interviews.  It was wonderful to have them in our home.  They are so diligent and work so hard to cover this mission.  We are going to get 100 new sisters in the next few transfers.  Wow!  We will also have more elders.  Forgot to take pictures.  We love our missionaries and President and Sister Craven.
We are trying to improve our study habits.  We study 3 hours a day; one together, one alone and one on the 12 week training program together.  That's a lot for me but I'm doing it.
We visited with Addie, a sweet less active lady, and then went on to FHE.  We hurried after that to buy Robyn a birthday cake and ice cream and then hurried out to her home.  Her daughter was so excited to surprise her mom.  We just love them.  They have come a long way.

We hurried from there to RS.  It was a good lesson on how you never accept "I'll try."  That is immediately saying I'm not going to do it but I'll say that to get me off the hook.  I had never thought of it that way.  We took Tiffany home and got home at 9:00.
Wed. Elder Bayles gave an excellent district meeting.   It was on revelation through church attendance.  After meeting we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch.  We love to take the elders to lunch.  After lunch we headed to the Ottingers to give Bro. Ottinger an article o the Blue Mountain.  He loves anything Elder Bayles has to say about his cowboy days.  He  is from SLC but not a member which we do not understand because he has such a great wife who wants him in the church so badly.  They live in an elegant home high in the mountains.  After that we went to see the Murrays.  They are the ones whose son swims for BYU.  We think they're getting closer to baptism.  We certainly hope so.They loved their Christmas trip to Utah.

We have started our walking in the morning again so we're not quite so fat when we get home.  We visited 3 homes after studying and then went to the Hancocks to give a lesson on testimony.  It was far too confusing to teach anything.  They have a new dog.  I have no idea why they didn't say no to it.  They also have a huge golden retriever.  They don't have space for a rat.  The new dog is not trained and out of control.  Caleb had a game that night so we went and watched him.  We got home late again.

laundry in the mountains

Friday we visited 11 houses of less active and previous investigators.  It was a long but fun day.  We did meet with a man and his new wife  They got married in Oct.  It is the 4th marriage for both.  They were fun to be around.    We traveled new roads to find places.  Some of the things we saw were very interesting.  Elder Bayles went past a true Hillbilly or Mountain man or Red neck, I'm not sure which.  (My vote is hillbilly)gwb

notice the chickens on the roof

 I asked Elder Bayles to turn around so he could see him.  He was so country.  I asked Elder Bayles to turn around again so I could take a picture.  When I had him stop he couldn't believe I was going to snap a shot right in front of the man.  I got out and walked right up to him and said, "May I take a picture of you?  You are a real man of the country?'  He said I could and was so nice.  I explained who we were and where we were from and why we were here.  He was very nice.
 We were on very rocky, muddy,mountain paths.  One of them was really weird.  It said dead end on the sign but Lea said it went through so against Elder Bayles' wishes we tarried forth.  It was one ramshackle hut after another with all kinds of dilapidated cars all over the place.  The path finally got so tiny and dark (It was raining.)  he turned around.  I must say I was getting very nervous.  We thought someone could disappear in that place and no one would ever find them.  The next day we learned that the body of a probation officer had been found in there, Carter Cove, just a short time ago.  I guess it was all over the TV station and news.   I'll listen to Granddad more often. (Right!)  We went home after finding a few more homes and got home at 7:30.  We are tired but happy. (to be alive)  We had Christmas turkey soup for dinner,  I forgot the noodles and milk and had to add them later but it was good.
Today we went out to Robyn's home with 2 members of the branch to see about fixing her porch.  People have fallen through the boards.  The members are going to go next Saturday and fix it.  She is so thankful. Driving to her mountain we passed a true Southern comfort spot; made just for me, I think.

After the men left I visited with Robyn and dad went through the beautiful woods to find sticks.  Go figure.  How are we going to get all his sticks home?  Walking through the woods we sunk 2 to 3 inches in the rich soil.  What a place.  Robyn pays $12 a year rent.

These kind of places are everywhere.  It is an old shoe store that is now a flea market.
I love my companion.  We certainly do have some fun times.
We have a flood warning out for today.   How can you flood in the mountains?  It all just goes down the hill and to the river.

Fri. Sept. 30th  This morning we took a walk down to the Sound & had  a boat ride & got some oysters & tried eating them, but they did not go very good  We will leave this afternoon at 3 o'cock for Kingston whence we will meet our companions.
Mon. Oct, 3rd  We went to the circus & spent the night at Bro. Andrew's.