I have the most wonderful story to share.  It was told today in Relief Society by the sister teaching the class.  It touched my heart!  It confirms that Heavenly Father directs and guides us IF we will listen.

A senior couple decided that they would like to go on a mission and so they submitted their papers.  When the call came they were shocked and saddened to see that it was a call to Siberia.  They did not want to go because of the cold and other health concerns.  They turned the call down.  They waited one year, as required, and submitted papers again.  They looked forward to serving, but when the call came a second time, it was again to Siberia.  It was hard to believe that this would happen a second time.  Again, they turned the call down for the same reasons.  Another year passed and they submitted papers for a third time.  The couple waited and prayed.  The call arrived and again it was to Siberia.  At this point, they decided that they needed to go and do as the Lord would have them do.

The church has a program of providing blankets and other items to prisons in some countries.  This couple was called to minister in this way.  One day as the sister was trying to speak with a prison guard she became so frustrated at the communication problems that she said out loud, "Doesn't anyone around here speak English?"  From a cell down the corridor a voice said, "I do."  The sister heard the voice and went to the cell to talk with the man only to find that it was her own son who had vanished while travelling some 3 years earlier.  He had lost his papers and had been picked up by the police and could not prove who he was, so they threw him in prison.

The missionaries were able to prove who their son was.  He was released from prison and went back to the U.S.  The Elder and Sister had learned a profound lesson and determined that they would stay and complete their mission.

Are we listening?  In our fast paced world with so many things to keep us busy and so much technology to distract us, are we taking quiet time to reflect, ponder and listen?  I hope that this story will remind each of us to do just that!

Greetings from beautiful South Carolina!  What a wonderful Saturday.  The weather was in the mid- 70's with a little wind but nothing to serious.  The weather channel said we might get some wind today from Hurricane Sandy passing by  out in the Atlantic.  I spent the day cleaning, reading and helping Doyle do a few things.  I just had no desire to go anywhere!  He built me a really nice step platform to place at the bottom of the RV steps...complete with a welcome mat attached to it!  What a guy.  He also sprayed the perimeter of our site to help keep the bugs at bay.  The famous Palmetto bugs are found everywhere here.  Also commonly known as cockroaches.  We have decided the best way to combat them is to keep them out in the first place. It makes me uncomfortable to even talk about them  let alone living with them!!!

The campground we are staying in is only about 12 minutes from the mission office and the local mall.  It is huge!  We are about 10 minutes from the chapel where we are in support of the Chapin Branch.

We walked around the campground for the first time tonight.  It has a large pond on the opposite side from us full of carp and turtles and lots of other things I probably don't want to know about.  The squirrels are everywhere and just as busy as can be.  I watch them running about and jumping from tree to tree.  It's fun!

Our campground has electric meters on each monthly site.  The rates here are over 13 cents a kilowatt hour, so the electricity is provided to a $100 limit and then we pay anything over that.  Certainly not like Douglas County PUD.

 

Our spot for now.

 

 

And finally a gorgeous sunset to cap off a simply lovely day!

Elder and Sister France with our official name tags.

We have just completed the first week of our mission as office specialists in the Columbia South Carolina Mission.  So much to learn but such a wonderful opportunity to grow in the gospel, experience the joy of working with other missionaries and hopefully having time to see some of the local area.


Elder and Sister Stowell 

On Tuesday we were able to meet with our Mission President and his wife and all of the senior missionaries in the mission.  Brother and Sister Stowell from Wenatchee were there to greet us.  It was such a wonderful, spiritual meeting.  We received instruction from President Holm and his wife.  Doyle and I were asked to introduce ourselves and bear our testimony.  It was a tender moment.  The meeting lasted for three hours and then we all went to the mission home for a wonderful harvest dinner.  The meal consisted of homemade wheat bread, squash soup (so delicious), beef stew, apple slices with cream cheese dip, green salad, pumpkin roll and pumpkin cheesecake.  These wonderful meetings that include dinner occur once a quarter.  Everyone looks forward to the fellowship!

Elder and Sister Bowman

My job title is Housing Coordinator and Elder France is multi-tasking as an executive secretary.  I also produce the monthly newsletter that is sent out to all missionaries in the mission.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to go look at one apartment, but my companion, Sister Bowman and I both decided that it was not where we wanted to place Elders.  Elder and Sister Bowman are the senior missionaries we are replacing in the office. They are from Provo and have a home very close to the MTC.


We also work with Elder and Sister Decker and the Assistants
to the President (AP's).  We have a wonderful and delightful single sister working as the receptionist.  Her name is Sister Rothman.  Elder France calls her the "energizer bunny".  She stands on her feet all day and handles the phone and all the mail for the mission...which is a formidable task....and many other things that I don't know about, to be sure.




Elder and Sister Decker and Elders Abrahamsen and Olson





We have not had much time to explore and from what I can see at this point, our explorations will be pretty limited as there is much to do. President Holm did tell us to be sure and take our p day on Saturday, but we'll see how that works out. We have been assigned to support the Chapin Branch on Sundays and sacrament begins at 11am. I'm sure we will be involved in many activities with our branch.

The news is all about Hurricane Sandy right now but from what we can gather from the news and weather reports (which are limited as we do not have TV yet), our area is not in danger.  Hopefully it will stay that way.

Don't be shy.  We would love to hear from you too!

 


On Friday, October 19th we arrived in South Carolina!!  Our trip was long and tiring, but we made it safe and sound.  We left home on Thursday, October 11.  The route Elder France chose was the one with the shortest mileage which took us through Idaho, Montana,Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri,Illinois, Tennessee and into South Carolina.  We drove through a lot of really beautiful country!  We did stay one extra night in South Dakota so we could go to Mt. Rushmore.  It is an awe inspiring place with an incredible story.  It started out as a 5 year, $500,000 project and took 14 years at a cost of $1 million.  Not one life was lost during all those years even though they used massive scaffolding, used dynamite, and hung off the face of a rock formation.

 

 

Margie, this next picture is for you!  We had to stop and look at this wood sculpture!

 

Yesterday we checked out our local area, did some shopping, located the church building we will attend and found the mission office where we will work.  We have been asked to work in support of a small branch here as well as being office specialists during the week. This afternoon we went to the Mission Presidents home and met with him, his wife and the other senior missionaries that work in the office.

 

We are very excited to finally be here to begin our mission.  We know that there are many individuals who are waiting to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We pray that we might be instruments in his hands for that purpose.  We will we working with wonderful young elders and sisters who are filled with a love for the Savior that radiates from them as they share gospel principles with those who are ready to hear it.  We are grateful for your prayers in our behalf and so thankful for a safe journey.