Week Four, 23 May 2016

OUR BABY ALLIGATOR

I saw a baby alligator, about 2-3 ft long, swimming in the pond on the grounds of the condos. It was the first time I have seen one in this pond. You can just see his head and part of his body on the surface.

PREPARATION DAY

Nancy and Mike Madeo (front), Peggy and Vaughn Hyde (left) Lane and me (right). We had lunch in a little town called Calabash. The restaurant was The Boundary Restaurant and the food was very good. 

CALABASH NAUTICAL GIFT SHOP

This is an amazing shop which takes up almost a whole block. It is jam packed with odds and ends for home and family. Literally thousands of items everywhere, beautifully displayed. They had home made fudge as well. Lane and I bought some fudge and I also got two fridge magnets, a crab with moving legs and a cute butterfly.

RELIEF SOCIETY "FAVORITE THINGS" PARTY

The Relief Society held a "Favorite Things Party" on Tuesday evening. Each sister had to bring 5 of their favorite things and present them to the other sisters. One of the items was to be a "give away" and was put on a special table. At the end of the evening we each got a # and were able to choose something from the "give away" table. You could "steal" an item only once. There were delicious treats served. Every one enjoyed the fun and we all got to know each other more intimately.

TAMMY SKIPPER PRESENTS

This is Tammy Skipper sharing her 5 favorite things.

HAPPYY BIRTHDAY ELDER HUTCHINGS

One of our Leland missionaries celebrated his 19th birthday on Wednesday. This also happened to be the day of our District Meeting. The sisters had made him a "Happy Birthday" banner and Elder Martin and I bought him lunch! He had not even let us know it was his birthday. I later sent these photos to his Mom and Dad in Idaho. The missionaries cannot even call home on their birthday!

DISTRICT MEETING

From left to right are Sister Muder, Sister Marshall, Elder Matkin, Elder Chiu, Elder Hutchings, Elder Duke, Sister Buhler and Sister Salakielu (Hawaii). The sisters also made the sash that Elder Hutchings is wearing.

OUR LELAND WARD CHAPEL

Even our chapel is surrounded  by beautiful trees. It feels like you are out in the country. In fact almost all of Leland is very rural and countrified!

FAMILY CEMETERY

This little cemetery is gorgeous. It is at the back of our ward building, is a little overgrown with magnificent trees and an old world feel. It belongs to the Nelsons who allow ward members to bury their loved ones there.


SHIPMAN

This is one of the lovely graves in the cemetery. We actually have a Shipman family in the ward and are teaching a lady who is married to a Shipman.

MISSIONARY WORK
Tuesday we spent 2 hours with a ward member who has been in Leland for decades. He went through the ward list with us to explain which members have moved away and who is "kin" to who. It was well worth our time to try and get some knowledge of our new ward family.  Wednesday was our District Meeting in Wilmington. In the afternoon Lane and I accompanied Brother Brew on home teaching assignments. We enjoyed this as we got to know one of the Child families, also Betty Hufham and Venus Ganey. Because we were running late we just met Venus and said we would return the next day to visit. We raced home to feed Elder Chiu and Elder Duke (on a split with Elder Hutchings). Next day we did return and had a good visit with Venus who has had a really interesting life. On Friday we just chose a road in our area and visited three new families. We dropped some cookies off at Jeanette Shipman's home and met her husband Eric. He is a great guy and we enjoyed our chat with him. We also met with a single mom of 2 who lives on Maco Road. We will visit her again. At 5 we dropped dinner off at the Trochez home. Brother Trochez was involved in an accident and the RS is providing a few dinners. Sister Trochez tutors and has 3 little children at home so it is a great blessing for her to have a couple of meals brought in. We love our mission and are getting the "feel" of it now. Still a lot to learn but so blessed to be in this neck of the "woods"!

Week Three 16 May 2016

MAGNOLIA GREENS

These beautiful white wax flowers are magnolias and grow on large trees all over Brunswick County.

MAGNOLIA TREES

The community is called Magnolia Greens and is built on a beautiful golf course. It is almost across the road from our condos. Lane is very impressed to say the least!

MAGNOLIA GREENS GOLF COURSE

FAMILY HOME EVENING WITH THE BRIDGES

We were invited to our first meal with a family in our ward. After dinner we had FHE presented by the family. Molly(6) conducted, Riley(4) said the opening prayer, Robert Bridge (Dad) gave the lesson and Kate(2) closed with prayer. What cute kids! Robert is Young Men's President and gave us the names of three young men that he feels could benefit from a visit.

ELDERS CHIU AND HUTCHINGS

These are the two Elders assigned to our Leland Ward. We accompany them whenever they need us to visit investigators. They are very hard working young missionaries. Elder Chiu is from Taiwan where Lane served his mission and Elder Hutchings is from Idaho where Lane grew up!

ZONE CONFERENCE

On Thursday 19 May we attended a Zone Conference in Lafayette which is about 2 hours away from Leland. There were about 120 Elders, Sisters and Senior Couples in attendance. We were privileged to have a general authority visiting, Elder and Sister Zwick of the 1st Quorum of the 70! Our mission president, President James and his wife were also there. They gave some inspiring talks.

LUNCH

The Stake Relief Society catered lunch for everyone. They served Southern Fried Chicken, BBQ Pork, potato salad, slaw and strawberry shortcake and cream. It was very delicious. The younger missionaries certainly tucked in.

ELDER AND SISTER MARTIN


SATURDAY 21 MAY, OUR FIRST ALLIGATOR

We saw our first alligator on the banks of a lake on Plantation Road in Wilmington. A young couple had been feeding it hot dogs. It is against the law to feed the alligators. They are a protected species.

                                                                                         

 "JAWS" 

"Jaws" must have been at least 8-10 ft long and was about 12ft away.

After being in NC for two weeks, I was so excited to see my first alligator.

MISSIONARY WORK

We accompanied the Elders to visit the Evanco family. They have been married for 13 months. A second marriage for both of them. They were very welcoming. Brother Evanco has only been a member for a few months but has done a lot of reading. He has a great knowledge of the gospel already. On Friday we visited a retired great grandmother who lives a good 30 minutes away. She was babysitting a 6 year old great grandson, Colton. We will try to visit her at least once a month. We have found that there are many appointments cancelled and rescheduled and some calls and texts not returned. We are not discouraged, but will continue to do our best to help anyone who needs our assistance or friendship. Lane and I spoke in church today. I think it went well and many members told us that they appreciated our talks. My topic was on "Developing Faith in Jesus Christ" and Lane's was on missionary work. 

Week Two 9 May 2016

We are almost settled in now. Just a few small things to complete our little apartment. We are delighted with our location and ward. 

PREPARATION DAY

Lane and I drove to Peggy and Vaughn's home in Southport. The scenery here is beautiful. Everything is so green and today the temps are getting to 89 degrees! The air-conditioning is a life saver. From the Vaughns' home we drove to a little restaurant called "Olivers" at Cape Fear which is on a river which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. From your table you look out of windows onto the river. In the photo are Mike and Nancy Madeo, Vaughn and Peggy Hyde and Lane and me. 

OLIVER'S

View of the river out the window of the restaurant.

The Seniors!

CATCH OF THE DAY!

I promised this old fisherman that I would put him on Facebook. He caught a tiny little silver fish! We all had a good laugh about it.

THE REAL CATCH OF THE DAY!

This fisherman caught a sucker trout which was a good size. They were fishing from the pier.

PIER

Lane and I on the pier with the beautiful old homes, which used to belong to the ships' captains, in the distance.

ZONE MEETING

Every Wednesday we have either a Zone Meeting or District Meeting. This week was Zone Meeting. There were four Districts present, about 35 Elders and Sisters and 8 Seniors. The Zone Leaders are in charge and hand out training assignments to the Elders and Sisters. The Seniors basically sit and listen.   At times we broke into our Districts and later the Seniors went off on their own. We shared conversion stories. Above are Lane and me, Vaughn and Peggy, the Junckers, and the Petersens.

The Junckers and Petersens are serving on a military base, Camp Le Jeaune in Jacksonville. 

MYRTLE TURTLE

See who I met on my morning walk today! I spoke to a guy who is in charge of the condominium grounds and he tells me that there are a few alligators that wander around the ponds in the area. They are protected and it is not legal to feed them.

MORNING FOG

This morning, after more rain last night, we woke up to fog. I had to walk on the treadmill in the complex weight room instead of outside. It was quite spooky.

FARMERS MARKET ON CAPE FEAR RIVER

Today, being Saturday, Lane and I took a drive to the Famers' Market in downtown Wilmington. It was very expensive so all we bought were a scone and some sesame crackers called Benne Wafers. There were mostly baked goods and fresh vegetables and fruit.

CAPE FEAR RIVER

We walked over to the banks of the river for a photo op. The bridge in the distance is a drawbridge which lifts up to allow tall tankers to pass up the waterway. The bridge is up in the photo. As soon as the tanker passes, the bridge is lowered for the cars to cross from one side to the other.

BATTLESHIP NORTH CAROLINA

Across the river is the Battleship North Carolina Memorial. It is a historic landmark. She was the first newly constructed battleship to enter service in World War Two and the most decorated battleship of World War Two. You can see her in the distance. She took part in every Naval Offensive in the Pacific.

HISTORIC SOUTHERN MANSIONS

The downtown Wilmington streets are lined with these old southern mansions. They are very beautiful.

AT LAST, OUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN!

Its so good to be beside the seaside! Lane tested the water and pronounced the temperature acceptable. The beach, Carolina Beach, stretched for miles and there were tons of holiday makers swimming and enjoying the sunny weather. 

SEA, SAND AND DUNES! WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR!

OLDE SALTY'S

We asked a local where we could find some good seafood and he sent us to Olde Salty's on the second floor of a restaurant. There was a Mexican Restaurant on the ground floor. We sat outside and enjoyed the sea breeze, crab cakes and shrimp. Time for a nap so we headed home after lunch.

MISSIONARY WORK

In case you think we are just partying, here is what we have been doing as far as missionary work is concerned. We met with the Bishop and he gave us the names of 6 families (some single folk) who need strengthening. We met with one couple already, Dora and Ich (his ancestors are Japanese but he was born in California) Hoshiyama. We also went with the missionaries to visit a lady investigator who is married but her husband is not interested in the gospel. We dropped by her home again to take her a little birthday treat. She is very sweet and welcoming. We have another appointment on Tuesday with the missionaries to meet with the Evancos. Lane attends the PEC meeting two Sundays a month at 7:30am and we both have to attend the Ward Council meeting on the other two Sundays at 7:30am. We have joined the choir and will be singing at our ward conference in June. Saturday evening we had the missionaries over to dinner. As we walked out to see them off at 9:30pm, a lady in the condo opposite to ours came out too and saw us. She asked, "Are you Mormons?" Turns out she is a member but has stopped coming. She asked if we would show her the way to church on Sunday and has a single mom and her 11 year old son staying with her. She wants the missionaries to meet with them and teach them the gospel. Today a sister at church gave us the name of a single lady who is totally inactive who she thinks would benefit from a visit from us. We will visits her on Wednesday this coming week. The ward is very friendly and we feel like celebrities. We have our first dinner invite from a police officer in the ward. They are Alice and Robert Bridge. We are going to them for family home evening Monday and I am taking dessert. So, you can see, we are busy in between having fun and getting to know this beautiful state.

Welcome to the Martins' North Carolina Mission Experiences.

GETTING READY

Early in 2016 Lane and I became serious about our mission. In January we received a call from President Dennis James of the North Carolina, Raleigh Mission asking us if we would be willing to serve in his area. Lane's sister-in-law and brother-in-law were there as MLS missionaries and had told him we were thinking of serving. We were excited and started the application process. Our call was issued onTuesday, 8 March and we received our envelope on Saturday, 12 March 2016. We were very  excited. We had our farewell talks in the Aspen 2nd Ward Sacrament meeting on 24 April and entered the MTC on Monday, 25 April 2016.

                                          

                We were proud to wear the missionary badges issued to us - Elder and Sister Martin!

         

                                         

                         Called to serve in the North Carolina, Raleigh Mission in the Leland Ward.

                                         

Our week in the MTC was wonderful. We met many other senior couples all going out to serve. Some were MLS (Member Leader Support), some going on legal missions, humanitarian missions etc. One couple were assigned to the Ukraine, another to Hong Kong, Eastern European, and two couples to South Africa! Amazingly I met an old friend from South Africa, Jenny Snyman (Tonkin). We have many parallels in our lives. We were both single for many years and now married wonderful men and both going on missions. She and Ace Robison are flying to South Africa on their mission! It was great to make contact with her again. Above is an old friend of Lane's brother Craig, Elder and Sister Kelly. Lane and Phil "found" each other and would stop and chat at every opportunity that presented itself.

                                        

At the MTC everyone was put into "Districts of about 8 people" for training purposes. Left to right above is our morning teacher, Sister Fisher. She is a returned missionary and such an excellent teacher. Next are the Sutherlands, Cullums, Martins, and the Brittons.

  

                                        

Our afternoon teachers were a returned missionary sister and Elder Yazzi who served in Texas. Lane and I are not in the photo. It was Friday and our last day at the MTC. We were excused early as we were going to my granddaughter Maddy's graduation from UVU.

                                        

  The gardens at the MTC were beautiful! After the graduation we returned to the MTC to check out! 

                                                                     LEAVING

We spent the weekend packing and getting ready to leave on our 4 day cross country trip to North Carolina. We managed to get away by noon on Monday 2 May 2016. Our car was loaded to the roof. I was amazed that we got everything in!

                                               

We could not see out the back window!

                                      

Packed to the hilt!



Not even space for a mouse.

                                                               CROSS COUNTRY TRIP

We traveled via Price, Grand Junction, Denver, Kansas City, St Louis, Louisville, Knocksville Tennessee, Charlotte NC and on to Raleigh and finally Leland.

Crossing the magnificent Colorado Mountains

  

Glenwood Springs, Colorado rest stop.

         

                           Glenwood Springs was a beautiful rest stop in the Colorado Mountains.

            
                         The ski lifts and resorts in the Arapaho National Forest were breathtaking!

               
                        The freeway in Covington, Illinois

      

Pisgah National Forest, White Oaks, NC. The freeway had hundreds of trucks traveling both ways. The scenery was gorgeous with green trees lining both sides of the road. Later in the evening it started pouring with rain as we crossed the Appalachian Mountains. It kept raining for about two and a half hours! At times we could hardly see where we were going. We finally got to the home of Sister and Elder Scott, the missionaries serving in the mission office. We collected our keys and headed, in the rain to our destination - Leland North Carolina. We arrived at our condo at 12 midnight. We unpacked, made the bed and, after a 14 hour drive that day, we fell gratefully into bed.

    

      BRUNSWICK POINT COMMUNITY,  OUR NEW HOME FOR THE NEXT YEAR

Our apartment is the bottom left on the ground floor. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It is in a huge community with about 300+ apartments, a swimming pool and a weight room.  It is well kept and we love it. We have a Super Walmart, McDonalds, Arbys, Dollar Store, Applebees and more within 3 minutes drive. In fact our community is almost in the Walmart parking lot but it cannot be seen because of the many trees growing all around. It feels as if we are in the country. There is a pond nearby which is home to a 10 - 11ft alligator! There is a sign up at the pond that alligators are protected and you are not allowed to feed them! Lane and I took a walk there this afternoon to see if we could see "Jaws". That is what we have named the gator.

Peggy and Vaughn have kept us busy visiting other senior couples and we went to Smithfields of lunch. This is a well known restaurant that serves BBQ pork sandwiches, banana pudding and Hush Puppies which are like little fingers which taste like corn bread. It was all delicious.

                                         

                                               BBQ Sandwhich and fries at Smithfields.