March in the Mission Field

Shanteria's Baptism

I guess the baptism Saturday is some of our happiest news.  Shanteria is a lovely 9th grader whose grandmother is a member of our ward.  She has been involved with Early Morning Seminary and Young Womens all year.  She is very bright and has been a dedicated student.

From Left:  Elder Cawley (California), Shanteria - 9th Grade, Elder Loper (Idaho)

Doesn't she look happy?  We really had nothing to do with the baptism, but we are all part of the team so we claim all the happy moments.  Again as with our last baptism, the YW and their leaders were the real teachers.  Shanteria has such a wonderful family.  We hope they also will recognize the blessings and growth that  have come to Shanteria and will want the same in their own lives.

Shanteria's family.  Her Grandma in our ward is the lady in blue on the left.
She usually wears fluffy, glitzy things and spikey hair.  She teaches Relief Society.
I hardly recognized her.  Would you believe she is nearly 67?
The children are Shanteria's siblings.  Her Mom and Dad are behind her on the left.
 Her other grandparents behind on the right.

The Elders who taught her, are the ones in the top picture.  We are nearly to transfers, so may lose one of them.  It is strange to see them go in and out of an area so quickly.


Macon Zone Meetings
This shows our zone at last transfer.  There were some large changes.  I think I already mentioned splitting the zones in another post.

Sisters on the left are special friends.
S Bradford,  S Hathaway, from Gray and S Snider,  S Porter from Dublin

The other half

One of our Young Elders lost his Mom to cancer, but decided to stay out in the field, as she would have wanted.  I'm sure he has had some difficult times, but he is out here faithfully serving.

One last picture so you can see Elder Williams (centre).  He is brand new in every sense.
He has been a member about three years and is new from the Missionary Training Center.
He is full of enthusiasm and ambition.  We think he is a great addition to our zone.  

We have interviews this Friday, and are trying to work in our Apartment Inspections in the next two weeks before transfers.  We have seven apartments.  It is interesting and a nice change of pace to spend a few minutes with each companionship in a more casual setting. We find out a little more of what is happening in their areas.  That is eight Elders and six Sisters that we get to know a little better than we otherwise would.

"Bill" - Update
We are still trying to figure out how to get his bills paid.  We are hoping his communication will improve, so he can go with us to the bank to get bank drafts or something to go directly for his utilities, etc.  They know him there, so they may take his scribbled signature, if they don't think we are trying to bilk him out of his money.

Bill in his new place in the Georgia War Veteran's Home

The only personal things he had when we cleaned out his house, were these two old rather tattered pictures of his parents.  He was adopted as a young child in Germany.  We put them in this frame to preserve them and hung them up in his room at the Veteran's home.  We also put up the only pictures we had of him, so his spot would seem a little more homey.  He seems grateful.

St Patrick Day's Dinner

Our friend Robin is always bringing us new foods to try, and often suggests we have dinner with some of the other investigators.  We are trying to get her connected with other ward members as we don't want to take time to be as good a friend as she needs.  One day she brought us a roasted chicken from Sam's Club and some freshly grated parmesan to broil on fresh tomatoes.  Another time she brought chocolate silk pie.

Robin

This week she came by with a big corned beef roast.  We had never cooked one, but Doug dutifully looked up a recipe on the internet, and we had a great corned beef and cabbage dinner to celebrate the 17th of March.

 One of our guests - Bonnie who teaches voice at the local college, could not come at last minute, but our High Council visitor that day was a friend from the Dublin ward, and he came over for dinner.  It was pouring rain, and he had a meeting in Macon that evening, so was glad to stay for a bit with us while the rain slowed down.  We had a wonderful Gospel discussion that lasted through the entire meal and longer.  It is often when you least expect it, that there are opportunities to talk about things that really matter.

The Van
Our faithful old grey van that has gone nearly 200,000 miles, did not quite last out the mission.  We were just coming home from the Church where we walk one morning last week, and turning into the driveway when the motor began to bump and bang, and we knew it had thrown a rod.  We decided in the interest of time, money, and loyalty - Doug's to his beloved van- to have it fixed (new motor).  We didn't want to rush getting a new car.

Luckily someone in our ward runs a used car place.  His mechanic found a good used motor and installed it within the week.  We had a rental sedan for a few days and were both glad to get back in our "luxury" van.  We felt like royalty, once more, in our high regal seats, looking down at all the poor folk who drive fancy sedans and sports cars.  Sedans are not very useful on our country roads out here in Georgia.