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.