WEEK 23 OCTOBER 3, 2016

FUZZY PEACH PDAY

Today we had hamburgers at Eric's Grille, then Burney's Bakery, then Fuzzy Peach.

CASWELL BEACH

One of our favorite things to do is to visit the beach on PDays. There must have been tons of fish as there were numerous fishing boats out, pelicans diving for food and schools of dolphins swimming by. All seemed to be after the same thing - fish!! It was glorious enjoying the beauties of nature.

TRI-ZONE MISSIONARY CONFERENCE NEAR FAYETTEVILLE

Our Tri-Zone Missionary Conference was held in Fayetteville at a farm belonging to President Caplett, who is in the mission presidency. It was gorgeous with plenty of trees and a lake.

MISSIONARY CONFERENCE

Everyone sat in a semi circle under an outside structure with a roof to protect us from the sun. There was no sun, however, only thick clouds. There were several thoughts shared before President James instructed us. We finished the meeting with the departing missionaries baring their testimonies.

LUNCH

We were served white chicken chili on chips with lettuce, tomatoes and guacamole. In the photo (left to right) Junckers, Peggy Hyde, Sister Jan James, Vaughn Hyde, Lane and me.

FEEDING OUR FACES

The seniors enjoying their lunch.

SENIOR PHOTO

This is a photo of all the senior missionaries attending the conference. Lane and I are on the extreme right.

FIRST CONVERT BAPTISM IN A YEAR

Elder Rawlins and Arveseth with Sarah Conner who is the Leland Ward's first convert baptism in about a year.

BAPTISM

Brother Jeff Hollis baptized Sarah with the two Elders as witnesses. The baptism took place at our ward chapel.

             ELDER RAWLINS                                                   ELDER ARVESETH

BODIE AND KAYLA

Bodie Hollis is a returned missionary and he and Kayla are close friends. We are hoping that the missionaries will be able to teach and baptize Kayla as she is not a member at this point.

SARAH'S FAMILY

This is Sarah with her fiancé Blaine Hollis, her mom and two sisters. Sarah's family are not members but are supportive of her being baptized.

HURRICANE MATTHEW

Lane and the two Elders, Rawlins and Arveseth cleaning up a members yard after the damage done by Hurricane Matthew. The same little wooden house I have posted previously.

UPROOTED TREE

Just down the road from the little wooden house we came across this massive tree that had been uprooted.

ROOTS

The other end of the uprooted tree.

TWO STEEPLES

The Baptist Church down the road from our Chapel lost its steeple. We joked that next to the Baptist steeple is the steeple of the TRUE CHURCH.

SERVICE FOR THE RED CROSS

Lane helping the Red Cross, carrying out cots from the temporary shelter at the local school and loading them onto the truck.

MISSIONARY WORK

Three important events occurred this week. Firstly, we had our Tri-Zone Missionary Conference at a farm near Fayetteville belonging to President Caplett who is a counselor to the Mission President. It was a gorgeous venue with a lake, a bridge, pagodas and a river flowing through. We all had a wonderful day. The young missionaries plus all the seniors from 3 zones attended. We started with a meeting. There were a few shared thoughts and talks then instruction from President James and Sister James. The local ward Relief Society fed us white chicken chili with grapes and mousse for dessert. In the afternoon the young missionaries were divided into teams and participated in competitive games. There was an egg and spoon race, sack race, three legged race, pole race and fishing in the lake. We ended with a talk from President Caplett and testimonies from missionaries who were leaving for home in the near future.

Secondly, our two elders had their first baptism. Sarah Conner was baptized by Brother Jeff Hollis. Elder Rawlins gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and Elder Arveseth said the closing prayer. Sister Hollis had organized a beautiful cake and other refreshments afterwards. It was a happy celebration.

Thirdly, we had the arrival of Hurricane Matthew to the south east of the USA. After making its way through Haiti, Matthew hit the Florida coast then made his way up through Greorgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and then up to Virginia. It was the worst storm to hit North Carolina in 10 years and we did get the most damage of all the states. Originally he was supposed to veer away from us out to sea, but at the last minute he swerved inland and did his damage. We were in one of the luckier 

areas, in that we did not get major damage. Cities and areas west of us were very badly hit. We have had 19 deaths and there was about $10,000,000 damage done all in all. Matthew hit on Saturday into Sunday  morning. Our church services were cancelled so we picked up our two elders and headed out to see where we could serve. We called on a few ward members and checked on two of our single sisters. We helped clean up debris but on the whole most of our members' homes were spared. We headed over to the local high school which had been used as an overnight shelter. We assisted by sterilizing cots, then folding and loading them onto the Red Cross truck. Later we took the elders home, fed them and took them to their digs. 

Quite an eventful week. It was our first hurricane and we lived through it safely protected from harm and danger for which we are very grateful.

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK: I remember this scripture was the theme for the year when I was in Mutual many years ago.

"Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers." 

Love to all our friends and family.