So far, so good!

Hi.

Since we have been here we have done about 1200 miles it may be more than that.  We have tried to get contact with about 35 people on the Ward inactivity list.  You have no idea how hard that is.  We are doing about 100 plus miles a day and some days we don't find anyone.  We leave notes and then call back.  We have gone to some very scarey places.  I bought Pepper spray and keep it in my pocket.
We have been yelled at and ignored.  We have had a guy threaten to call the police and kick us out of his house.  In eighteen days we only got into four houses for a short time.  We have ten people that told us to come back.  We ask them if we can put them on our Home teaching route. If they say no we want no one to visit us at all, we offer them the Bishops envelope to take their names of the records of the church.  Only one lady agreed to do that because her husband that was kicking us out insisted on it. Most of the people that we have visited are either really sick, really poor or really struggling with life. Also, when I say poor this is poor like we don't know.  I am sure we will be able to get some of these people back to church and the church may be able to give them some help

I am quite bored the service is too much like hard days in realestate. I want some action.  It will be better when we do visits to the people who said we can go back. We have the day off tomorrow and then Zone Conference the next day in Pensacola.  So we have to be up really early it is over an hour away.  So I look forward to those two days.

On Wednesday we start in a totally new area.  We met the Branch President today and he gave us a whole new list to start on.  It will be a long week. It is just hard to find people home.  We try to go in the evening sometimes,  but the missionaries told us we are not supposed to do that.

In the new Branch today we also had to fill in half of the sacrament talks,  So, just like me, I took most of the time. Poor Elder Teasdale left with about five min.I told him not to worry he has seventeen months to have his say.

The people that we have met in the Ward are fabulous.  We enjoy them when we see them.  Everyone is so busy we do not like to take their time.  A few ladies that I really like have five or six kids and work jobs. So they are super busy to say the least.

My dear husband says that it all sounds very negative.  Well it shouldn't, it is just a lot of work. It is like working a farm you have to do the work to do the harvest.  We love the gospel and know how it can lift people and that is what we are working for.  I love it that the church try to find the lost sheep what
other church would do that.  We did have a couple of experiences with the missionaries with people they are teaching that are ready for baptism, and that was really cool experience.  I know a couple of people that we talked to if they could get the spirit back into their lives they would be so much better.
They still believe the church, but life is so hard they are struggling.  I know we will have good positive experiences once we get to see  more people. 

We went into a Five Guys burger place for a veggie burger and fries.  We had stayed out going to places and it was late and we hadn't eaten.  I looked round the restaurant, it seemed like a long wait.  I started studying the people that were eating.  I looked at each table and decided that one young man with an older guy looked very happy to me.  I looked very discerningly at the other people at the tables.  They all seemed sad, cold and disagreeable.  I thought to myself, I wouldn't feel comfortable teaching any of these guys.  I was drawn back to the young man and the older man dressed in sports clothing. The boy was about seventeen and very animated talking to the fortyish guy wearing the same type of sports shirt. They laughed, shared stories and gave off a feeling of fun and enjoyment.  I was so impressed with them.  I thought how great it would be to talk to them and tell them about the gospel. I thought it would be hard to make them happier.  I wanted to know why they seemed so happy .I told Mick about them and he started to watch.  I said they are really enjoying each other, is it Father and Son or is it his Coach. We went back and forth discussion what a great feeling they had between them, and how much they were enjoying each other.  How could anything in the world make them happier than they seem,  Then all of a sudden they were heading for the door. I had to know, Is it his Dad or a Coach.  I ran out and got to the young man as he was getting into a big huge truck. " I am sorry to bother you"  I said, I have just got to know. Settle this question for my husband and I, we have a difference of opinion. 'Is that your Dad or your Coach'. Its my Dad,' he said and he pointed at my missionary badge. I just carry on talking telling him how much we enjoyed watching them, and what a good feeling we got from them, we could see you have a good relationship, and enjoy your Dad, and we are happy to know it is your Dad.  I told him my husband thought it could be his coach. He pointed at the badge again.  His Father was still waiting for him to get into the truck. Then, I told him what the badge said, and told him it was the Mormon Church. He said I know I will see you at church on Sunday. He leaned into the truck and told his Dad I was the new Sister Missionary. I was so surprised, well I should say shocked. I said hello to the Dad, and he welcomed me and told me he would see me on Sunday.  The area is huge and there are not many Mormons. What are the chances of that happening. I was so happy that the special spirit showed in them and that we saw that.  I met the family on Sunday.  The mom is so dynamic too.  They are the best family. You can sure tell they are good people.  They have five kids.  They are the best part of our mission experience so far.  I will try to see more of them.  It is great to witness the light
of Christ really is tangible.

I am tired and it is my bed time so I hope this all makes sense.  I am not going to proof read.

Love to you all
    

Missionary Splits

What a busy day.  We went to find the lost sheep. Well we didn't do too good, the Missionaries found four people. We have to put on our route for monthly visits. We found one lady who was too sick to see us, but told us to come back. I will tell the Relief Society about her.  They looked very poor.  I do not know if she needs help, but we will find out. We found one guy that had moved to Washington. The funny part was the first lady that asked us to come in was really nice, and was very happy to see us.  Then, her husband showed up, and told us to leave, and that if we ever came back he would call the cops.  She was afraid of him you could tell.  She told me on the quiet that she goes to his church , but she never takes communion.  She wrote a little note saying, take me off the records of the church. I felt sorry for her, she said she was raised in the church.  She was in Florida before.  Her Husband said he didn't know how the church knew where they were.  Funny, I do not think he knows the church very well;  we are trackers and record keepers.  I wanted to explain to him about the good Shepard, but I thought I may get a swear word back. I am happy to track the lost sheep.
We have been record keeping all day long, sorting people and making new lists.  We thought we would be able to get out and do some more visits, but we never got finished until it started to go dark.
Also, it has started to rain again.  We are supposed to get the same amount of rain in this area as in Seattle.
Well forget the supposed to we do!!! rain and more rain.  You should see the size of the gutters they are so big; It is frightening.  Kids, even adults could slide down them.   

It was a good time

We have got to know the missionaries in the last week.  There are five and they are special.  How do kids manage to grow up so good in this crazy world.  There is a lot of work to do so we are coordinating with them and other church leaders.
We went to dinner with the Mission President and all the missionaries. Let me tell you when they say southern fried food, they mean it, everything is fried.  If you put anything down in a southern kitchen they will fry it. I think fried ice cream balls were invented in the south.  We do not eat the meat.  They had lots of meat lots of fried pork.  We had fried okra and fried mustard greens and green beans and buttery potatoes. Even dad couldn't eat the food.  I almost forget dessert was fried apples very sweet fried apples. The gravy was so bad fatty and cold.  Believe it or not that was the busiest place in town.  Everyone else loved it. They have a guy going up and down the aisles throwing bread rolls at you if you hold up your arm.  The roll throwing is the big attraction of the restaurant.  They have advertisements for it outside. The Stake President and his wife were wonderful and the missionaries love them. It is fun to go into a place with all those missionaries and us four older missionaries, we are quite the view.  People in the place come out of the woodwork to see us all. Well,  all in all it was a beautiful day and it was lots of fun.  to finish the day with a dinner was real fun.We had just had a very spiritual district meeting.  I always manage to cry at something and have a couple of the young men crying. They are so spiritual and are so hard working. It was a good time!

Eight days have passed.

We arrived late at night into our area in Alabama.  When the lady at the camp site knew It was my first camp site in Alabama. I got a big Alabama hug and all the accent and excitement to go with it. We were very upset when we got out of the Motor Home the next morning to find a HUGE cell tower about thirty feet from our door.  All the places around are full because of the Snow Birds ( people coming here for the warm winter away from Canada and US winter weather) so we spent a couple of days resting and then tried to find a place. We chose the place we wanted and then prayed for a vacancy.  This place told us that they wouldn't have one till the end of April. We decided to send them an email a day ago and this morning they called and said they are ready for us to move in.  We are moving in two days.

Life moves so fast that we can hardly stand it.  We met some people at the ward on the Wednesday 1st Feb.
They are such fun people and everyone wants to hug us.  The bishops wife is bubbly and fun.  The Bishop is a very busy attorney he works 12 to 14 hours a day.  We do not know how he does it all, and then he has five kids.  He is a great guy.They have got us set up with a bunch of work with the in actives. Twenty to start in this ward  and go until we have figured out where these people are. We will try to get them back and then they get choose if they want to stay on the church records.  

 We both have coughs, but mine is ferocious.  I almost choke.  I am so very happy that Michelle gave me the Young Living lozenges.

 

This a a picture of the wonderful district missionaries.

The cute young one is our teacher.

We still have no camera so this picture was emailed to me.

  

Sunday

We had a great visit to a ward on our way down, it was a little different.  I took sacrament before the Bishop.  A guy in the congregation was trying to get the young man to do the Bishop first but that was not synchronized properly. They had too very young deacons and two missionaries, and about 120 members.
When the meeting started the Bishop a very happy boistroouse guy, introduced us from the stand. " Yes, we have a couple of visitors with us today.  I think their names are Elder and Sister Teasdale is that right"  I agreed and responded that we are on our was to the Tallahassee Mission.  He raved about how great that was.  Then he asked for the other missionaries to stand.  A couple and two young missionaries stood up. He raved about missionary service again.  Then he asked how many other members had served in the passed.  I was surprised how many people stood up.  Then in a loud voice he said, "what yall still sat down fur, yall need to serve missions!  Then, he raved about serving missions again telling people to serve, before we were told to sit again. Then He told of a young boy that won the local spelling B.  Also of a boy that won the local choir boy singing.  He told of badges the boys got at the scout outing and was so proud of all the things that had been done.
At the side of us was a girl about Kaitlyns age she was very pale and very skinny. She wrapped herself in a big cubs blanket and did not look well.  Her bro and sis looked the same. I felt sorry for them.  If I put Kiera next to the little girl it would be sad.  Kiera would look like the bloom of beauty and the girl would look half dead with her thin hair and her grey skin.  I hope our children all appreciate the wonderful blessing of having good food and good bodies.Those poor children looked like they were having a hard lime. The Meeting was so good the spirit was great and i loved the talks one from the Bishop and one from his Councilor.  They really tell  it how it is, They are so very bold, they should come and speak in Mapleton.  Then we were asked to go into a class where they were teaching an investigator.  We had the greatest time and the whole experience was great.  We even got a dinner appointment.
We spent the rest of the day until seven at night traveling to our final destination.  It was a difficult drive as we had to go through the city of Mobile.  We are so very happy that we went through on Sunday night.  It was hard without traffic it would have been really difficult in the usual city traffic.

temple

We had a great day we went to the temple. It was a wonderful day the sun was bright and the birds were singing.  The man that ran the session even prayed that we would travel to our destination in safety. We have taken a rest and today was good. We are going to leave early in the morning so we do not get caught up in all that awful Dallas traffic.
We ate at the temple and the food was good.  the cook said the Mission President comes in to eat and they are vegetarians.  She had cooked a special soup for them, but had just added the chicken to it after they left.  We did get some great seven bean soup and a vegetarian pasta dish.  So we are fed and rested and all ready to hit the road again tomorrow. 

technology can be frustrating.

It isn't bad enough that we are traveling a long way and are tired; our son set us up on a new Gps,  a new ipad. The gps took us to an airport toll gate.  We got into a right mess. Dallas Fort worth Airport with about 10 to 15 lanes all paying their money.  We were in the wrong lane to get through and we couldn't go back.  With a forty three foot motor home and a car behind we had to back up. We had to move four lanes over, not an easy task.
We finally did it, with a lot of stress because we couldn't tell what the agents we saying.  I took over yelling at them through the window as they wouldn't let me out onto the road.  They said we were on the road the Gps said, but it was not the way to our next place I-35 east.  We were told no problem, you just have to cross this road with your motor home and go through the turn around across the street. I was sure that couldn't be right.
I asked again to be sure. They have fifteen lanes for sure and the cars were all zipping through the the booths like their plane was leaving in five minutes. Elder Teasdale said, " I am going through watch out for me.  What the heck watch out for what, the color of the first car to hit us. I wanted to close my eyes and pray, but we drove through.  I can't believe we were not hit; it was like running the gauntlet We thought we were alright when we crossed, but the way out was too small.  A guy came and moved some of the barriers. It was still a close call as there was a big hole in the road. I don't know how we managed, it was crazy.  Our Gps has set us wrong twice, now I am nervous, they keep changing the roads.

Technology problem number two.  We wanted to take a picture of our super dirty car behind us covered in salt and mud. That seems like an easy thing, No!  First I showed Mick how to used the camera. He went to the back of the coach came back grumbling that the stupid thing wouldn't work. and put it on my lap.  I held it there while I was eating a sub sandwich.  When I finished I went to take the picture.  I decided to start again. It worked great!  I was happy, went back to the coach and emailed the picture out to Paul so he could see the mess the car was in.  After I did that I played the slide show that came up.  What a horrid slide show it was. It was me rushing, eating my sub with an ipad on my knee filming my every gobble. Never leave my husband alone with an ipad camera on you never know what will happen to it. I never knew it was so ugly looking up someones nose while they ate a big sloppy sub. It amazed me how often I got the lettuces stuck in my teeth. even my nose wiggled as I ate.  I did get the biggest laugh out of it.  Needless to say I was very happy that an ipad has a delete button.  I wasn't going to let dear Elder Teasdale get a laugh too after he did that to me.  Not that he knows what he is doing anyway.

We are going to the Dallas Temple tomorrow to try to get our head back on.  We only have about 700 miles or a little less to go.  Pray we do not have any more technology problems

Finally we get on the road

What an awful morning. Our slides on the coach were frozen open with ice blocking them from closing.
It was awful jugs and jugs of hot water and hours of work; we finally got them closed.
We are not sure if we did damage or not. We did not do too well with our emotions either.We both left crying. It has been a hard three days trying to leave. We got to Moab utah and all was well. We decided to drive on monticellio, and then we ran into a snow storm. We only have twenty five miles to go, but it is not a good feeling. The roads are still dry. We have had to change all our batteries,big job,q huge batteries, rip all our dash apart and spent about 20 hours fixing that due to a power serge. Then, having to get the coached unthawed, it has been crazy as everyone was in fragile emotions. Just before we left I fell again on the ice. After two back fractures this summer I am really feeling like a very old lady. I worry that I am falling apart; I hurt again.
Snow finally stopped and we are almost there.

not left yet!!!

The M.T.C. was great we learned a lot of stuff and met wonderful people;  if only the world was like that.
We are now sat at home, all ready to go with the motor home packed, and the house all ready to leave. My poor husband he had it planned so well.  We are really happy to be leaving and now we are snowed in.  Paul just called and said we are not able to leave.  He has checked the roads and we are snowed in until perhaps Wednesday.  Now we have to go shopping for food.  We do not want to live in the driveway in the motor home until Wednesday. So we will be living half in the house and half in the motor home We will post and let everyone know when we finally leave.  Pray for warm weather so the snow will melt and we can go through the canyon.