What a perfectly lovely Sunday.  It was beautiful, warm and sunny.  Sacrament was very special as we heard talks from the former stake president and his wife who will be serving as President and Sister Jensen of the Des Moines, Iowa mission.  They have been in training here with President Holm and have had a few meetings in the office with the staff.  In Sister Jensen's talk today she stated that the test in mortality is obedience and faith.  How true that is.  One of the things we hear about a lot as missionaries is obedience.  Obedience in keeping our covenants, keeping the commandments and adhering to the rules set forth for us as missionaries...both senior and junior.
Tonight we were able to have dinner with 4 of our local missionaries.  It was tricky here in the 5th wheel.  Usually we only have 2 at a time, but I got brave and invited all 4 of them.  It was perfect.  They cleaned up everything!  I never fail to be amazed at their appetites, but when you spend lots of time on bikes, you burn off lots of calories.

These were our dinner guests, Elder Korth, Elder Hawkes, Elder Brannan and Elder Olsen.  Elder Olsen won the prize and took home all the leftover mac and cheese!!

The announcement has been made.  With all the new missionaries in the field, there were bound to be changes coming and they have been announced.  58 new missions will be added to the list.  This will become effective on July 1, 2013.  We will be losing part of our mission to the newly formed Georgia Macon Mission.  We will lose our Augusta zone to this new mission.  The church expects that this high influx of missionaries will last for the next three years.  Lots of missions will have lots of changes and new ones will be formed.  The need for senior missionaries will grow at a tremendous rate as this all falls into place.  What an exciting time to be serving and be part of the growth of the church.  Some days are so hectic in the office...and we just love it!  There is so much to do with the paperwork, housing, cars and media that we are all kept on our toes.  Elder France orders all of the media and he is trying to stay ahead of the curve with it.

I think he brought in 3 hand trucks on this day.  The missionaries are giving away lots of copies of The Book of Mormon.  This shipment came in on Monday right after transfers..just in time because we were down to two cases.  When the missionaries order, it's always by the case.

 

 

On Wednesday afternoon we hooked up the trailer to the big van and loaded beds, bed frames, kitchen tables, chairs, bookcases, lamps and even a mop as we prepared for another long day of deliveries.  Thursday we pulled out at 7am and started toward Florence, on to Myrtle Beach (and even though we were only two blocks from the beach, we didn't drive down to see it.) We went north to Cheraw and then headed back in the general direction of home with a stop in Hartsville.  We made some missionaries very happy...especially the ones who got new beds! 

Sister Robertson and Sister Jaye were especially happy because they got new beds, a new dining table and some of the chairs from the high council room in Charleston that we picked up a few weeks ago.

 

 

 

Sister Allen and Sister Davis did not get new beds, but they did get lamps, a mop and a new DVD player.  It happened to be around lunch, so we took them out to Subway!  After lunch we stopped at the Goodwill store in Myrtle Beach to see what treasures might be hidden there and it proved to be very fruitful..  We left with 7 perfectly lovely lamps with harps and shades for a little over $70.  Now that's a find!  I'm becoming quite the Goodwill/Restore shopper for items for the missionary apartments.  Good thing too, because I'll be opening 3 more new apartments in the next couple of weeks.  This is so exciting!!!!!

Elder Nair loved his new chair and gave us a GQ pose for posterity.

Elder Ward and Elder Muir got a new bed frame delivered to them as well as a lamp.

Both of these wonderful sisters got new beds.  They were very happy!!

 

We are just having such a wonderful time as we serve here.  Working directly with the Elders and Sisters gives me a great deal of joy.  It is so wonderful to talk with them on the phone and help them with the things they need or the things that concern them.  They all have such great spirits and such a love of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They work hard and are dedicated to finding souls who are ready to listen and come unto Christ.  They teach by their example to others and to each other.  I have had the opportunity to hear so many wonderful testimonies borne by these Elders and Sisters.

 

Lately we have been watching videos on lds.org of senior missionaries and how they feel about their missions.  It is so inspiring to hear the individual stories that are told.  Ordinary people with a desire to serve and a love of the Lord.  They are all over the world and they are making a difference wherever they are.  As these new missions open throughout the world, so many more senior missionaries will be needed.  The church needs seniors who can serve. 

 

I know that our mission has changed us forever and I am so grateful to be here.

 

I want to leave you with the reader board quote of the week.  I was not able to take a picture of it, but I did write it down.

"God wants full custody, not just weekend visits."

 

 

 

What an exciting time this is.  Valentine's Day week was filled with "firsts".  My first beautiful bouquet of flowers while on my mission.  My husband ordered flowers for me as well as for the single sister who works with us in the office.  When Sister Rothman opened up her flowers, she said they were the first flowers she had received since her husband died five years ago.

On Wednesday we had our first arrival of new missionaries that included two eighteen year old Elders.  It's certainly added a lot of extra enthusiasm to the mission to know that there are so many new missionaries coming and changes will come as a result of that.
I love being a part of this and I take lots of pictures.  Transfers have become one of my very favorite things to do on our mission.  New missionaries arriving, new companionship's formed, lots of new bikes, lots of luggage...and then off they go with their new companions to serve in the specific area they have been assigned to.

We took this picture in the office with our two assistants to the President.  We all knew that Elder Olsen (the one in the foreground) was going to be transferred and this would be our last day with him.

 

After transfers were over, we went back to the office.  Many of the newly formed companionship's need media items and they come to the office to get them.  It's always quite a happy time for them.

 

At about 3pm on Wednesday, we left for the temple.  It takes a little over an hour to get there.  It is in an area called Hopkins on the other side of Columbia.  There we met up with the departing missionaries.

 

This is some of the foliage right outside the front door of the temple.  It's so beautiful!

 

This is a picture of President Holm and his wife with the departing missionaries.

After a session in the temple, we went to the mission home for dinner.  While these are very special days they are also late days with late meals and late deserts!  This is the last opportunity to spend time with them before they fly out the following morning.  We enjoy a meal, a testimony meeting and a video that has been prepared for the departing missionaries.  I always take a notebook for recording profound things and plenty of Kleenex.

This was the late desert!  It was huge!

 

Today it was cold enough that we actually had some snow mixed in with the rain. It was around 35 degrees when we left the RV to run errands.  There have been a couple of mornings where there has been ice on the windshield, but it doesn't last long.  Most days are sunny and around the 50's and 60's.  The weather has been pretty mild and I like that.  I know that the heat and humidity is coming, and we'll just have to deal with it when it gets here.

Our oldest grandson has a birthday on the 17th.  We have two teenage grandchildren now, one of which is eligible for a driver's permit.  Oh my goodness!  The time passes swiftly!

  So thankful for all we are blessed with!

 

 

 

 

 

 

One wonderful week after another as we make preparations for the tsunami of new missionaries coming into the field.  What a wonderful time to be serving and to see the excitement.  We will be getting (at last count) 27 new missionaries this week.  Seven of them are visa waiters.  To explain: visa waiters are those missionaries that have their call to serve but their visas are not yet ready for them to travel overseas so they are placed in a stateside mission to wait for them.  They are here only temporarily, but we don't know how temporary.  It could be a matter of days or it could be months.  In any event, we put them to work and house them with missionaries that are assigned here in the South Carolina Columbia Mission. Since housing is my assignment, I have been very busy finding new apartments to lease in the areas that President Holm wants to put missionaries.  I also need to find furniture and supplies for these new apartments.  I frequent the consignment shops, Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity has proven to be a wonderful resource.
Thursday we went to Hartsville to open a new apartment.  Our AP's went as well and helped with the unloading.  On Friday Elder France and I went to Greenville and Spartanburg to open two new apartments there and yesterday we went down to Augusta to make 11 deliveries of furniture and other supplies to missionaries in North Augusta, Harlem, Evans, Hephzibah, Aiken and Swainsboro Georgia as well as Barnwell, SC.  It was a day that began at 5:30 and ended at 10pm when we got home.  So glad I don't do that every day!  Doyle drove over 500 miles.  He's my hero! 

The Sisters in Greenville came to help set up the apartment and decided to show Doyle how to put the new table together.  Thank you sisters!

 

 Sister Chai and Sister Peterson in Evans, Georgia helped carry the beds in.

 

The Sisters were so happy to get new beds that they gave us an old desk to bring back with us.

 

Lamps only for these Elders.

Sisters Cottam and Stiemle pose for a picture in front of their apartment in Harlem, Ga.

When the bed frame broke (which we replaced) the sisters got creative and used pass-along cards to support it.  Creative!

 

Today I decided to make a big pot of navy bean soup.  I love making different kinds of soup, freezing it and then using it for our lunches at work.  I know what I put in it, so it's healthy and Doyle and I both love it.  Split pea with ham, chili, navy bean with ham, beef and barley, lima bean and ham.  Yummy!  I need to take advantage of it now, because when it warms up, I won't be able to cook on the stove.  The heat from the gas just gets the 5th wheel too hot!! I bought a large crockpot and I have used that several times, but some beans seems to cook better with a more direct heat.  I tried to make brownies in the oven for the first time last week to give to the elders, but this little oven doesn't bake things well.  I may not try again..we'll see.

Tonight we are going to dinner with some of the other senior missionaries and some of the young missionaries in the area at Elder and Sister Mihlbergers apartment.  It's always fun, so I'm looking forward to that.

As we travel, we see lots of reader boards in front of churches.  I either take pictures of the board or I write the sayings down to use later.  This week, I want to share one I saw yesterday in Georgia:

"On Valentines Day, give your heart to Jesus!"   

 

 

 

 

 

Another fantastic week behind us!  For those of us who are older, we understand more clearly the swiftness of the passing of time, and how time really does gather speed the older we get!  Of course staying busy and purposeful makes a big difference.
Last Sunday we travelled about an hour and a half to the town of Union and spoke there.  President and Sister Stowell from Wenatchee are serving there and they wanted us to come up and give talks and have lunch.  As you might well imagine, we both gave talks on missionary work.  It was a great day and we were able to visit with some of the people of the branch and see new territory.  The church building is very small and sits on land outside of town.  The branch has 125 members, but most don't come on a regular basis.

 

On Tuesday, Doyle and I headed for Charleston to pick up 90 chairs from the stake center there.  They got new ones and wanted to get rid of the old ones.  Together we loaded all of the chairs and were full to capacity!  We told facilities maintenance that we needed all of them for missionary apartments.  Some of the missionaries saw them when we got back to Columbia and wanted to know how they could get some.  We do have a current need, but we will need lots of chairs for new apartments when all of our new missionaries start flooding in.  We also had 50 new twin beds delivered on Monday, so needless to say, our storage sheds are very full.  Doyle and I will start deliveries this Thursday of the needed furniture items to apartments in Augusta and surrounding areas.

 

 

 

 

We drove a Chevy Silverado pick up pulling a trailer.  The trailer was completely filled top to bottom thanks to Doyle's excellent organizing skills and the bed of the truck was stacked full also.  I took a short break to supervise once we arrived back at our storage sheds.

 

Thursday was our anniversary, so we worked until 2pm and then left for Charleston for a little get-away.  Doyle had booked a room right on Folly Beach about 10 minutes from Charleston.  What a delightful place.  And what an incredible view!  We were not disappointed.  We took pictures off the balcony as soon as we got there. 

This is a view of the hotel from the beach.

 

For dinner we found a little hole in the wall sushi place.  It was more a bar and grill, but she did sushi also.   It was a fun place, only a couple of blocks from the hotel and the people were very friendly.  She gave us a couple of stickers and I took a picture of them. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunrise was most spectacular!  I loved watching the dawn of a new day!  The next two mornings were not nearly as clear and colorful, so I'm glad I got up and took pictures!  For those of you who know me well...early mornings are not my best hours!

First thing Friday morning we went to see an old lighthouse a couple of miles from the hotel, wandered the beach and picked up a few sea shells.  We were amazed at the lack of waves here on the Atlantic.  Whenever we go to the beach on the west coast, the waves are pretty high, but here it is a gentle rolling in of the sea. 

Our next stop of the morning was the Angel Oak Tree.  It's on Johns Island a little off the beaten path, but well worth the drive.  What an unbelievable tree.  One of the most spectacular things I've ever seen.  It's between 300-400 years old, 85 feet high, 25.5 feet in circumference and has 17,000 square feet of shade.

 

 

  While in Charleston we went on a tour of the city, enjoyed the beauty of some of

the very old homes and did a tour of one of them.  We went to Battery Park, went to the City Market, ate lunch at Bubba Gumps, seafood of course! 

These are some exterior pictures of the house we toured.  It is the Edmondston-Alston house and it sits right across from Battery Park with a view of the water and Fort Sumter not too far in the distance.  It's not a porch, it's a piazza!  They loved them then and they still do here in the south!  This house was built in 1825, with the kitchen in a building to the rear of the main house and quarters for the slaves behind that.

Below are pictures of Bubba Gump's where we had lunch.  Heavy on the seafood and the hundreds of sauces that can be used.  The décor was all about the movie and the memorable lines by Forrest along with the clothes and different props used.

 

"Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what your gonna get."

 

On Saturday we went to Fort Sumter where the opening shots of the Civil War were fired in April 1861.  This place has fascinating history.  It is operated and maintained by the National Park Service and requires a half hour boat ride out to the man-made island where it sits.  It was originally 3 stories high, but the shelling during the Civil War reduced it to the one level that can be seen today.

 

Another work week is right around the corner and we are grateful for the things we have been able to see and do this weekend.  We look forward to many more explorations of the old south while we are here.  We only scratched the surface in Charleston.  We didn't make it to the museum, aquarium, the battleship in the harbor, and so much more.  We will be more careful where we park next time.  Signs are deceiving and we returned from Ft. Sumter with a ticket on the windshield of the car.  I thought...well we already have a ticket so why move?  Wrong!!!  They issued another ticket every two hours!!  We ended up with three of them neatly stacked under the windshield wiper.  A valuable lesson...park at the Visitors Center for $10 or less and then take the free trolley!  Learned that one to late!

Looks like we are members of a different ward as of today.  Boundary adjustments on the wards at home have moved us from Rocky Reach to Eastmont.  Not surprising at all.  Doyle had mentioned many times that he was just waiting for the lines to be drawn along 15th.  Now they are!

 

Have a wonderful week everyone!  We love our mission and we love all of you!