Dear Family,
Last Sunday we received two referrals from the Church’s Call Center in Utah. You have seen the ads on the TV and if you want to request missionaries or copies or whatever, it is called a referral. These referrals are passed on to the missionaries close to the requesting party.
Each request was from a woman here in Camden requesting a Holy Bible. One referral indicated that she was going through some trouble times The other was from an lady who was requesting a Holy Bible for her school We had three Bibles but they were all the soft side copies. I wanted to take a hard bound copy to the school, so I had to order one. They want the missionaries to respond as quickly as possible to the referrals, so we took copies of the Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon and with the help of our GPS we headed out. The first address was in a part of Camden that we were not sure was the best, but you know me...it was day light and we would be out in the open and we would not go in. We found the little house, climbed up a big flight of decaying concrete steps and knocked on the door. The sweetest little black woman answered. We could see into her humble little home so very clean and decorated with simple treasures. She invited us in. Of course we went in, and had a wonderful visit. Her husband had died and her children were all grown and moved away and she just felt she needed the Lord. She wanted a Large Print Bible, but accepted the one we brought. We told her we would get the large print one and come back to visit her. We told her about the Book of Mormon and that it was the word of the Lord, another testament of Jesus Christ. She declined that copy, but did invite us to come back and visit.
The next address turned out to be the Hobbs Elementary School. This is the school that is almost 100% black children. A young man in the 5th grade directed us to the Principle’s office, but it was locked. The young man came right back and got us and took us outside to the Vice Principal who was directing the students in boarding their buses. We told him who we were looking for and he directed us to the Library. We met the Librarian and she was a most vivacious and delightful woman. We told here who we were and that we had brought the requested Holy Bible. She was so excited. She said, many of the children want to have a Bible, but they have no money. As we gave her the one copy of the soft sided Bible, we told her that we had ordered a Hard Bound copy and that we would bring that and several more soft side copies for her. I then laid the Book of Mormon next to the Bible. I explained to her, that the Holy Bible contains the Old Testament that tells of Christ coming in the future, The New Testament which contains the teaching of Jesus Christ while he was here and that The Book of Mormon tells of Jesus Christ coming to the American Continents and teach His gospel to them. It is another Testament of Jesus Christ. She very gladly took both books. Then somehow we got on service we might be able to give and she said....”Can you come Monday March 3rd.? We are having a Dr. Seuss Day and they could use some help in reading Dr. Seuss books to different classes.” So dad and I are going to the school tomorrow and help out in anyway we can. We are very excited
As you know, Senior Couple Missionaries do not have quite all the rules to follow that the young missionaries have while serving their mission. This Thursday we spent half the day with our Branch Member Edward Smith. He is the trapper I have mentioned. We went out about 8:00 on four wheelers to check his traps. I was so nervous, but it turned out to be a wonderful memorable day. It was a cool sunny day and the woods were quite and serene.
He told us that this 1800 acres had been a plantation in the 1970’s. It was planted with Cotton, fields and fields of cotton, then when polyester fabric became popular, they planted Soy Beans and when the price dropped for Soy Beans, the plantation turned to growing pine trees. Weyerhaeuser rents all this property to grow pine trees for paper. We finished up at about 1:00 in the afternoon. 4 Coyotes and two raccoons. Camden is not a mountainous place, but we were on top of the highest hill and could see the whole Wilcox county from the top. It was a beautiful sight and a wonderful day! You will love to see the pictures.Attached is a sample. There really are woods. We are making new memories to add to our most cherished memories....you! We love you and keep you in our prayers daily.
Love Grandpa and Grandma
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