COLD FOR THE SMOKIES

Weather is nothing like Utah but cold for here.  We love it because of no snow.

Granddad was wonderful leading us at dist meeting.  The mission president has invited us all to memorize D&C 121:33-46.  I still haven't memorized D&C 4.  I'm certain the grands will have it before we even get home.  I'm still on the first 2 sentences.  Dad's way ahead of me.

love this sign

We went to a convert's father's funeral.  We are so blessed to have the knowledge we have of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  The funeral was so hollow.

what a sign

We have a new investigator we have loved since the first meeting.  I think we told you about him last blog.  He asks such great questions and is moving right along.  Only the Lord knows what will happen.  Please pray for the Holy Ghost to guide him and surround him with the truth.  He's pure country.
A sweet lady took us to a Chinese place for Valentines Day.
We spent much of this week with Elder Bayles in bed with either a bad cold of the flu.  He is asleep now so I hope he gets to feeling better.

left-over Christmas wreath from Main--Bert

hearts made by Clara and Lauryn

Friday was very interesting.  We told our little family we would do some laundry for them.  They have moved to another home way up in the mountains and had 25 huge black garbage bags of laundry.  Their old landlord would not fix the water so it took them 3 hours to do one load of wash.  We kept telling them to just do 2 loads a day and they could keep up.  They obviously didn't.  We gave them some money to go to the laundromat but they spent it on their car.  The last time they had done laundry was before Tiffani came the that was Dec. 28th.  So that wouldn't happen again we spent 6 hours at a laundromat doing only 3 bags full.  That's how much was in each bag.  We were very anxious because the ward was doing baptisms in the Atlanta temple and we wanted their son, who was newly baptized to go and he had nothing to wear.  He had worn the same clothes for 3 days. We were excited when we finished and took it up the mountain to their home.  We called to let them know we would leave it on the covered porch if they weren't home.  They called us to let us know they were home.  We told them again where the clothes were because they hadn't checked and told them to take them right in the house and put them away because some might be a mite damp.  At 6 o'clock we realized we had left a 2 load of Levis in the washer.  We hurried and called them and asked if the father would go down and see if they were still there as the laundromat would close at 7.  It's about 10 or 15 min. from their house.  He called us when he got there to say it was closed and all dark.  Elder Bayles told him to go around to the back and see if he could find anyone.  He found the worker in a truck doing drugs with someone.  She let him in and they searched every washer and dryer but no go.  We were just sick.  There were 14 pair of Levis and many other shirts, pants and socks etc.  We called them back and said not to worry that we would replace everything.  We had a 6:00 appointment so we could do nothing.  I was just sick all evening.  I tried to figure in my dreams how much it would cost but knew that some of the things had sentimental meaning to the kids.  I prayed to Heavenly Father if there was any way could he please find those clothes.  We got home at 9:30 and still no call. (the lady said she would call if anything showed up)  We had called the family and asked for the number of items and what sizes and to call back if they remembered anything else.
The next morning I prayed again asking Heavenly Father if He would forgive me for being so careless and if at all possible help find those very needed clothes. We were just ready to go to the stores to shop when Scott and Tiffani and Erik all called at the same time.  We were going crazy with the phones.  By the time we got off I thought it would be good to call the father again to see if they had heard anything.(They don't get up before 11 so I know I couldn't call earlier.)  When I reached for the phone it rang and was him telling us the lady had found the clothes and they were in the dryer.  I said a prayer to thank our Father in Heaven for his tender mercies to me that day.  Needless The little girl had been given some black tights with white bows and she was so sad until they had been found.  Our Father in Heaven cares about every child, person and thing.  He is so loving.
After coming off the mountain we went toward Robinsville to find the homestead and birthplace of a member in Caswell.  He sent us a map so we would be sure to find it.  He was even further up the mountain above the Nantahala Gorge.  It started snowing quite heavily but we stuck it out.  What beauty we found.  We found the home and took pictures to send him and hurried back to Murphy where it wasn't snowing.

homestead in the snow

tabacca barn in the Smokies
  What a great day.

We love the Sabbath Day.  It was a good meeting.  Brother Adamovitch was the speaker and he did such a great job.  I could have listened to him the entire meeting.  We had  one investigator who we really like and that is all.  After meeting we had a ward council planning meeting and then up the mountains for dinner with a family.  They live just up the mountain in Hayesville overlooking Chatuge Lake.  We love the mountains.  We had a great time and a wonderful dinner.

 We tried to find a Bible referral on the way home.  It ended up almost in Tennessee and no one was home when we finally got there.  We'll go again.

Thurs. Oct 20th My birthday comes again & I am 21 years of age.  After eating breakfast at Kings 7 spending the greater part of the fore-noon there, we went down to visit another family of friends by the name of Squires.  There is one member of their family a member of the church, we had dinner there, but I was not feeling very well I sat around the fire freezing, they called it a chill,after I got over it we went down to Sister Jefferies'.  I was so weak I could hardly get there.  We got our meal and stayed over night.
Oct. 21st We stayed here at Sister Jefferies until after dinner, then we went dow to Squires' and stayed there the rest of the afternoon.  I also had my second chill here.  We spent the night with a family of friends by the name of Squires.
Sat Oct 22.  We left here about 7 o'clock in the morning on our way to Orange Co.  After walking about five hours we arrived at J.W. Gates having walked twenty-two miles.  After we got here I felt pretty bad I also had another chill.  We stayed here over night.
Sunday Oct 23rd  Sunday I got up feeling pretty well this morning.  We sat around the fire talking & one thing and another to pas the time away.  In the afternoon about 4 o'clock my chills began to come on again and I had another shaking.
Mon Oct 24th I had to stay in bed all day on account of having the chills I had a light chill in the afternoon.
Tues. Oct 25th I had to sit around in the house again today I felt quite bad in the afternoon & tried to sleep my chill off.
Wed Oct 26th  Today I had to stay in the house all day.  I sat around the fire all forenoon and in the afternoon I had another chill which made me feel quite bad.  At night I felt some better.
Oct. 27th I felt pretty good today better than I  have been feeling for some time.  After breakfast I sat around the fire until noon reading and one another.  After dinner I sat around the fire until about two o'clock.  I received three letters from home after reading them I took some tea and went to bed to keep off the chill.  I stayed in bed all afternoon and never had any chill.  I ate some supper the first supper  I have ate for some time.