WEEK 31   28 NOVEMBER 2016

PDAY - TABOR CITY

On 21 November 2016 we drove down to Tabor City to visit the area in which Elder and Sister Madeo serve. They stay in a cute yellow house in a mostly black area. They have a branch of about 200  members of which about 70 are active. They home teach about 9 families and teach family history classes. This photo was taken in the foyer of The Boundary House Restaurant in Calabash.

TRANSFER DAY FOR ELDER RAWLINS

We drove Elder Rawlins and Arveseth to Raleigh for transfer day. Elder Rawlins has been transferred to Durham as District Leader!! Elder Arveseth got a new companion who has 6 weeks left of on his mission.

WELCOME SISTER HIGBEE

Sister Smoot's new companion, Sister Higbee

SISTER BINGHAM

Sister Beard's new companion is Sister Bingham.

ELDER JENSEN

Elder Jensen, who only has 6 weeks left on his mission, is Elder Arveseth's new companion.

ZONE LEADERS

Elder Nadault is joined by Elder Shearer as the Zone Leaders.

SUNSET OVER BRUNSWICK RIVER

On our way home form Raleigh we were blown away by this gorgeous sunset over the Brunswick River in Wilmington.


MISSIONARY WORK

We spent Tuesday traveling with the missionaries to Raleigh. Elder Rawlins was transferred to Durham as the new District Leader and Elder Arveseth got his new companion, Elder Jensen. Wednesday was District Meeting in Wilmington. We took pumpkin pie for breakfast. The missionaries enjoyed the feast. Thursday was Thanksgiving and we went to the Bishop's home for a turkey dinner. Since it was Thanksgiving we thought it better not to do visits. Many folk are out of town and many have family from out of town. Saturday we spent 3 hours at the AT&T store to get Lane a new phone as he lost his phone when he went to hit balls at the golf range. Later we took Josh and Samantha to dinner to celebrate their engagement. Congratulations!! Sunday, after 5 hours of church we had the privilege of visiting with Rebecca and Shannon Rudd for a lesson. We discussed the Apostacy and Restoration. We also touched on some other gospel topics. They are such a welcoming sweet couple and we enjoy our time in their home. 

Have a great week!!

Week 29 & 30   21 November 2016

PDAY AT ELIJA'S RESTAURANT

We met the Madeos for a late lunch at Eljah's on the Cape Fear River.

HEY THERE MATIE!!!

We found this fellow outside one of the quaint little stores on the broad walk.

LATE LUNCH WITH MADEOS

Mike and Nancy Madeo with Lane outside Elijah's.

SUNSET OVER LELAND

We get the most beautiful sunsets here in Leland.

PRITCHARDS

Damion Pritchard with his grandmother Denise. We have become friends with Denise and visit her on a regular basis. She has her mother Suzie, her husband Charles who is disabled and Damion living with her,

DISTRICT MEETING 17 NOV 2016

Photo taken with Elder Brazinsky's camera and emailed to me. Don't know how to eliminate all the extras around the edges!

CRAZY CROWD

Elder Peseta, Elder Tebbs, Elder Sprunt, Elder Brazinsky, Elder Rawlins, Elder Arveseth,
Sister Peterson, Sister Beard, Sister Smoot and Sister Burdette at District Meeting.

NORTH CAROLINA RALEIGH MISSION WILMINGTON DISTRICT

Sister Beard drew the members of our district. Lane and I are on the left, the four sisters follow and finally the 6 elders!

WESLEY SKIPPER FUNERAL

On 18 November 2016 we attended an inactive member's funeral. Wesley Skipper was a brother to Denise Pritchard (above).  Elder Martin, the two Elders and I went to support the Skipper family, many of whom are in the Leland Ward. Wesley was cremated. The wooden box with his ashes is on the little table behind the flowers. It was a lovely funeral, very comforting for the family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANE!

For Lane's birthday we went to Ripley's Aquarium with Fred and Louise Carroll. The aquarium is on the Myrtle Beach Broadway in South Carolina.

CHRISTMAS IN THE AIR AT THE AQUARIUM

The Aquarium has about 30 Christmas trees up throughout the building. This tree was in the entrance area.

SHARK TEETH???

This is a replica of a 65 million year old fossil of a shark. I am sure it could have swallowed a human being whole.

LION FISH



SAWFISH


JELLY FISH



OCEAN ISLE BEACH

We ended our day with a visit to Ocean Isle Beach. It was rather windy so we did not linger. What a delightful day to celebrate my wonderful husband's birthday!

CAPE FEAR CHORALE

On Sunday we ended the week by attending the Cape Fear Chorale performing music from Gilbert and Sullivan. Our Bishop's wife, Susan Carroll, sings in the choir.

MISSIONARY WORK

Some of the highlights of the past two weeks:

We had another good lesson with Josh and Samantha discussing the Plan of Salvation. We are also visiting and teaching Shannon, Rebecca Rudd's husband who is not a member, every Sunday afternoon. He is a very attentive student and enjoys our lessons. It was very dark the night we tried to visit William Wesley Skipper. We could not find the home amidst the trees. We had to use our cell phone lights to see our way.  We were not successful in our efforts. When we arrived home we called Dyion Skipper who is Wesley's cousin to find out if we had the correct address. We found out that Wesley had died that MORNING!!  Wesley is also the brother of Denise Pritchard and son of Suzie Skipper, both of whom we visit fairly regularly. Next day we went to visit Suzie and Denise to express our condolences. A memorial service was held on Friday 18 November 2016 at our church. Weslsey had been cremated and his ashes were in a wooden box on a small wooden table in the front of the chapel, with a beautiful green plant standing beside it. I enjoyed the lovely funeral service. Lane was asked to say the closing prayer. The two elders attended with us and after a quick lunch in the church hall we headed for Lumberton (1 1/2 hours away) to take the missionaries for their interviews with President James. Our newly baptized member, Osey Saunders, gave his first talk in church on Sunday. It was outstanding. He told the story of his conversion. 

THOUGHT FROM DYION SKIPPER:

 When someone was going on a long journey, his father always used to say, "Drive carefully and remember the Holy Ghost never travels faster than the speed limit!"

Have a great week!!

week 28   November 7, 2016             "MORMON HELPING HANDS"

SAFETY MEETING     SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER

Before we go out to our project we all meet in the Relief Society room for a safety meeting and a prayer. Today two of the sisters in the ward had sandwiches, fruit, cookies, pastries and water ready for us to pack into brown paper sacks to take for lunch.

CREW

Some of todays crew: Bishop Carron, Elder Martin, Elder Arveseth, Elder Rawlins and John Carron.

KATIE MOORE

This is Katie Moore. She is a 69 year old widow who owns the single wide trailer that we worked on. Her husband of 48 years died in May this year so she has had to face this trial on her own. She was very upbeat and spunky and not going to let this get her down. She has lost almost everything and only a few belongings were salvaged.

GUTTING THE TRAILER

The men had to remove all the floors, duct work for the air conditioner and furnace, part of the wood panelling, cupboards and vanities that were all under water. The inside of her trailer had stood in 4 feet of water so everything up to the water line had to be thrown away. 

RUBBLE ON THE SIDEWALK

Wheelbarrows and garbage cans were used to carry all the rubble out onto the country road sidewalk ready for the city to pick up and take to the dump.

WATER LINE ON THE BRIDGE

Katie's trailer stands about 40 feet from a canal leading to the Cape Fear River. Five miles away is the Black Foot River which rose 22 feet above its banks. With both rivers rising the whole area was under four feet of water. When they were allowed back after the evacuation, Katie's nephew took her in his motor boat to see the damage to her home. This is the wall of the bridge over the canal. You can see the yellow water line showing how high the river rose.

SAFETY MEETING      SUNDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2016

Sunday was another day for Crisis Cleanup by Mormon Helping Hands. Our two faithful sisters, Bess Skipper and Gwen Cannady were ready after church on Sunday with items of food for us to put into sacks for our lunches at the sites.

SAFETY MEETING

We were given permission to come to church in our work clothes to save time going home to change. We packed our lunches, had a prayer and headed out to 3 different projects.

ANOTHER FLOODED HOME

Pat Sneedon is a member of our ward whose home was flooded. We were assigned to her home to help with the clean up. All her belongings had been dragged out of the home and were sitting on the grass in front of her home. You can see the carpets (there were about 5) spread out on the grass.

PAT SNEEDON

This is the owner, Pat Sneedon. Lane and I visited Sister Sneedon the first month we arrived in Leland. At that time she told us she was in a flood zone but had never been affected by any flooding in all the years she had lived there. Well that has now changed. Her home was under 3 feet of water and the black mould could be seen throughout the house growing on the walls.

SIDEWALK PICKUP

We hauled all the furniture and debris to be thrown away, onto the sidewalk ready for pickup by the city. They will take it all to the dump. You can see the empty yard in the background which, a few hours earlier, had been strewn with the rubble.

MISSIONARY WORK

We had our usual visits with owners moved, one had died, some not interested and some not willing to answer the door. We did find Brother Lines who is retired. He left the church when he was 15 years old. We were amazed that he is Kayla Lines', who is being taught by the missionaries, grandpa! He was very pleasant and invited us in for a chat. We left him with a pamphlet. We also had a good lesson with a young couple who have been inactive for a number of years. We will visit them again this week. We made our second visit to the county jail to visit an incarcerated member. We took him a  Gospel Principles Book and hope he will read it.

PRE-EARTH LIFE SCRIPTURE

"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou calmest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1: 5)