Deer, Temple, Cookies, oh my!

First off...Last weekend our three daughters were here to visit and see where and how we live in Alabama.  We have talked and talked about how many deer we see...HOWEVER>>>not last weekend-Not a one!!!  Until Monday evening when we were coming  home from a less active members ....there---- two blocks from our house...4  Big Deer walked right in front of our car.  Almost strutting in front of us.  We just had to laugh.  No one to see it but us.   

We did have a wonderful visit and the Branch members so enjoyed meeting you and hearing your testimonies.  Roy said, “I knew the minute I walked in who they belong to.”  Thanks for coming and thanks to all you who let them come and all you who would loved to have come.

Wednesday was Transfer Meeting and Our Sister Missionary from Price, Sister Williams completed her mission and went home.  We have had three Sisters finish their mission here in Camden and it was hard to see them leave, but what a great blessing for this Branch that they came to serve.  Our new Sister is brand new to the Mission.  Sister Trotter is from Eagle Mountain, Utah and we have a little connection.  Her uncle lives in Centerville and served on the High Council with Elder Hepworth.  Sometimes this is a very small world.

One of the greatest blessings of our mission has been working with members to go to the Temple.  Saturday our dear friend Theresa went to the Temple for the first time.  It was a rainy day when we left for Birmingham and when we arrived, but when we came out of the Temple, the sun was shinning brightly....just like our spirits. So joyful!!!   She was baptized the month before we got here and we have been teaching her and helping her learn all that she would need to know in order to be prepared for yesterday.    

Tonight, we went over to Betty and Roy’s to visit.  The last several times we have been over, their teenage daughter would not even come out of her room, or even talk through the door. 

I know that she loves chocolate chip cookies, so I made a batch before we went over tonight.  She was in the kitchen with her little niece, when we arrived.  She smiled when she saw the cookies.  The family had just dished up their plates for dinner, so we told them we would come back in half an hour.  We returned and I noticed the cookies were almost gone.  The BEST part of the evening “Ro” stayed out in the front room and talked with us.  I told her about our daughters visit and wished that she could have met them and she asked if I had any pictures.  I told her I did and she asked me to bring them and come over so she could see them.  A little later in our visit, she said, she was cleaning out her back pack and found the writing book we had given her last year for Christmas and that we had written in it.  She said, “I didn’t know you have been here for over a year....it doesn’t seem like it has been that long”.   I told her we would only be here until April, so we had to do a lot of visiting in the next few months.  She hugged us both as we left.  We came home ecstatic.

Oh the simple joys of a mission.  We are so very glad that we chose to come out on a mission.  It has been one of the best experiences of our life.  Thank you for supporting us and keeping the family going.  We love each of you.  Love, Grandma and Grandpa