Rattlesnake Scare

On Wednesday night, we had an indexing class for the Young Men/Young Women.  As I knew they would, they loved it and took right to it.  Our branch goal for the youth was 150 and the three of them have already surpassed that goal.  Then we got home about 9:00, we had a voice message from our neighbor, Miss Ruby.  She said “ I don’t mean to scare you, but a man came to my front door about 7:30 and said...tell the people next door they had a very large rattle snake crawling up their front porch.  I know you don’t have a gun, so PLEASE be careful.  Drive over here and get a shovel so you can kill it if you see it!”   Well she didn’t mean to scare us, but it sure scared me.  Three times before I went to bed, I turned on the porch light to be sure it wasn’t on the porch. 

As we talked with people the next morning, we learned that rattle snakes often have a “path” that they follow. Then Nancy, a neighbor two houses up the street said, “ I killed a rattle snake in front of your drive way this summer.  I backed over it several times with my car.”  The neighbor across the street said “she thought she could smell a snake”    I didn’t know they had a smell, but folks here say “Oh, yes they have a smell!”    Miss Ruby said they don’t like moth balls, so I went to Fred’s to get some.  The Black man who helped me said with big eyes, “Put them everywhere, even some in your house in case they get inside.”  Needless to say that I have been very very careful where I walk and when; and I keep my eyes looking out about 3 feet in front of me, searching, searching. 

Another first in my our life.  We were over at Edward Smith’s, our trapper, gardener friend,  he had “pulled up some green plants and to my surprise, there were peanuts growing among the roots.  Lots of peanuts on each root.  I picked off a few, cracked them open and ate one.  They taste sort of like a peanut, but the nuts are soft and chewy.  Edward brought us over a big sack of peanuts he had taken off the roots.  First I filled the sink with water and rinsed them off good.  Lots of muddy sand in the sink.  Then I wasn’t sure what to do with them, so checked Google and then called Theresa Runnels, a member and close friend.  She said to put them in the crock pot, cover them with water and cook them over night.  It was morning, so I cooked them all day. Since I like Salted peanuts I put salt in the water.   Then I took them out of the water and “roasted” them in the oven.   They taste pretty good, but still need to “dry” more.  It is a lot of work.  I will never look at a bag of peanuts in the store again, without thinking of my experience with peanuts.   You may get a little sample in your Christmas box...if they turn out. 

Wasn’t our General Conference wonderful?  So much good that can help us in our day to day lives.  WE love y’all and are so grateful for your loving support.  Keep the pictures and texts coming.  Love, Grandma and Grandpa

Roll Tide

Boy, it has been a very busy week.  Of course, Monday is our P-Day.  We start by going to exercise at the local exercise place.  We have met several people there who have become very good friends, they are not interested in our gospel message, but they enjoy our friendship and they missed us when we came home for the wedding. We then pick up the Sister Missionaries and go to Hardee’s for a drive though breakfast on our way to Thomasville for Dry Cleaners, WalMart and Doughnuts.  We get home about 1:30 and the Sisters spend the afternoon doing their computer work...letter to the President, Family and whatever they do.  We just let them use our computer and Dad’s Laptop.  That is the Day Grandpa does his service here at our place.  He mows the grass on the 6 or 7 acres of our Land-Lady’s property.  He has the use of a John Deere and a zero-turn mower.  I wish you could see him.  You know grandpa, he does everything pretty meticulous, so the lines are straight and the property looks great.  He calls it his “plantation”.  Ms. Ruby is our Landlady and she is such a wonderful friend.  Her husband passed away 14 years ago and she recently started having extreme back pain. Looks like she is gong to have to have surgery and Grandpa taking care of the property is a huge help to her.     

Wednesday we had our Branch Council.  It was the best one we have had since we got here.  We heard reports from some of the Council on things they have heard from the Less Actives.  Phrases like, “We need to come back to Church.”,, “The Missionaries are helping us so much”. Yes, I know about Time out For Women and I am so glad you got to go”  So we are encouraged to keep going.

Thursday we had our Zone Training.  WOW...these young Elders and Sister are fantastic.  The meeting was so powerful and so motivating.  Makes me wonder what I was doing when I was their age.  They truly are a chosen generation.

Friday, we started with our Branch hosting the breakfast for the Wilcox Academy football team and cheerleaders.  Evidently all the other churches host one of these breakfasts.  This is the first time that the Mormon Church as been invited to host.  It was a great opportunity to have 42 young people come into our building, see our pictures a d Jesus Christ, have one of the members give the devotional message and another sister member give the blessing on the food.  There was a great spirit in the building and so many of our members were there to set up, prepare and serve the breakfast.   Then we dashed to Tuscaloosa about 2 hours away to tour the Football Stadium of University of Alabama.  WOW.  The stadium seats 101,000, BYU doesn’t seat nearly that many.  They have a section where the seats are $600.00 per game.  Then we went to DREAMLAND for lunch.  Tony Hanks told us about DREAMLAND and that it was a MUST in Alabama.  It was oh so good!  Its just sort of a hole in the wall place, where they give you a white paper plate and a black plastic fork.  Then they bring Barbeque Ribs and Sausage, baked beans, cole slaw and potato salad.  A real Southern feast!!! Tony had on a Dreamland Apron and he held a bottle of their famous sauce.  He orders a case every year.  Now we now why.  We will definitely be going back their.  Then we went to a State Park named Moundsville.  It is an ancient Indian Camp where the Indians built mounds about 20 – 30 feet high, all built by bringing buckets of dirt and dumping them.  You can’t imagine how long it took to build these mounds, basket by basket. The tribal leaders lived on these mounds and their special tribal sacred places were also on these mounds.  It is estimated that at one time there were 10,000 Indians living in this area.  This outing was for the Senior Couple and we sure enjoyed being with the six other couples.

Then to top off a busy week, we were blessed to have two days of General Conference.  How very blessed we are to have the Gospel in our lives and so many wonderful leaders to give us council and direction especially at this troubled time in the world.   Tonight we are very tired, but truly blessed especially for our membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We hope you are feeling that way too.  We love you all and are grateful to have each of you in our lives.  Be Strong, Be Faithful and Stay Close to each other.   Love, Grandma and Grandpa

Git'r done

We had such a wonderful weekend with y’all.  It was fast I know and we hope we got to spend enough time with each of you.  We DO love our family and extended family too.   The best part was being at the Temple with you.  It is a parents dream to have all of their children, their spouses and our three grandchildren there  in the Temple.  That is what this life is all about and we thank you for the lives you are living and the choices you are making. 

The evening with the Andrew’s family was very special.  They are a wonderful family and shared with us the things they enjoy.  The pork was delicious!!  I have to admit I was a little taken back by the WHOLE pig thing, but it is Brother Snarr’s favorite thing to cook and it was delicious.  So was the corn.  Andrew and Shayla were so gracious at the Temple and at their reception.  They were so happy to meet all their guests and it was a wonderfully warm atmosphere.  Sue and Cal hosted a wonderful evening including their dance....like the old Star Palace days when they were dating. It was a special blessing to have Aunt Ann, Aunt Joan and Uncle Frank come down. It is truly a blessing how well Ann is doing after her serious fall We did miss having Caitlin with us, but we understand her commitment to school and her team.  GO EAGLES!  We will see you in the spring.  On Saturday, I  enjoyed the drive up to Bridal Veil Falls.   I haven’t been up there since I went with my parents. The whole weekend was just wonderful!!! 

We got home Monday about 3:00 and jumped right back into things.  The termites, the Pee Wees and the J.V. teams  had games starting at 5:00; so of course we went to give them and their families our support.  We were sorely missed!  And they were so glad we came back.  Tuesday we went over to Montgomery for our final golf game with Elder and Sister Kelly.  They are from Tampa Florida and have served their mission on Maxwell Air Force Base.   We have become very good friends and it was hard to say good bye.  They complete their mission tomorrow.  Tampa and Salt Lake are not very close, but technology will keep us connected.  The two men would take one cart and golf and the two sisters would take the other cart and talk, talk, talk.  A mission has so many wonderful blessings. 

Ryan in a text message said: “ Great to see you both, you look and sound awesome. It was fun. NOW GO GIT'R DONE.’”  We will get back into our missionary mode, with renewed goals and commitments.  We know our family is being blessed by our service and your sacrifice.  We can’t tell you how much you each mean to us and the love and support we feel from you.  Love you y’all!!!

Grandma and Grandpa   

Spiritual Payday

Thanks for sending us the pictures of Shayla’s shower.  It was so fun to get the photos as the shower was happening, it really let us feel that we were there.  

Elder Zwick of the Seventy was here in our mission last week.  We went up to Birmingham for a Wednesday night Fireside and then stayed over night for the all day meeting with the Mission.  The emphasis was on the Ward/Branch Mission Leader to spearhead missionary work.  I don’t think this is a change such more emphasis on it.  We don’t have many members for all the callings, so Dad and I are the Branch Mission Leaders.  We have our work cut out for us.  We have been working with and meeting with the less actives and they are so glad to see us and to talk with us.  You would never know they are less active until Sunday, when they don’t come to church AGAIN.  But we just keep loving them.

We completed our Book of Mormon Reading Challenge.  Not everyone finished the book, but almost everyone said that they felt the spirit more in their lives.  We gave out awards:  “Reading the Book of Mormon is a “SPIRITUAL PAYDAY’   We attached a PayDay candy bar to the award. 

Next we are going to read the New Testament .

We have also had some success with the Temple.  Our youth have a temple trip on Oct. 27^th.  We challenged the Branch to find family names that the youth can take with them.  Today, several of the Sisters said they had names ready and you could feel their excitement.  That is our next big goal, to have a Branch Temple Session before the end of November.   It’s a 2 ½ hour drive up to Birmingham and most of the Sisters work, so it will take all of a Saturday or part of Friday and Saturday, but the experience will be so good for the Branch. 

 Thank you for being such a wonderful thoughtful family.  We love you!!  Love Grandma and Grandpa

It's a Snake!!

Some interesting events this week.  Monday night we were invited to Margaret and Jarrett’s for dinner and family home evening.  There son Stone didn’t get through football practice till 7:30 so dinner was late, 8:30.  After a lovely dinner, Jarrett asked his boys to take out the garbage can to the street for garbage day the next morning.  All of a sudden there was commotion outside....
“It’s a Snake!”  “It’s a Rattle Snake!”  Then there’s a Boom.  The sound of a gun.  By now we are all outside ...I am still safely on the porch, watching from a distance.  With one shot, Jarrett hit the snake, but of course they can still move.  It was about 4 feet long.  Jarrett said if it had bit anyone of the boys, we would have had a hard time getting to the Selma Hospital where they have the nearest snake anti-venom.  That medicine is $12,000.00!  But it is the only thing that can save your life if you get bit. The Sister missionaries were very brave and touched it and held it once it was safe.   I finally got brave enough to go off the porch and I leaned down ‘til I was about 6 inches from it.  That was close enough for me.!  Definitely not your typical family home evening lesson.

Tuesday Night we were invited to the Football game.  There is no soccer in Camden!  The major family name in our Branch is VICK.  That night we had SEVEN Vick members on the field.  The “termite” team, the Pee Wee and J.V.  Each age group also has a cheerleading squad and we had 5 girls on those teams.  Many of them are from the less=active families and they so appreciate that we come to support and cheer for their children.  I noted that we sat in our seats at the game and almost every less-active couple game over to talk with us.  The Kids are especially excited to see us there. Not in the Mission Hand Book, but a most wonderful fellowshipping experience.

Friday we had the Annual Camden Branch Fish Fry.  Boy, talk about FRIED FOOD!  Fried Catfish, Blackened Catfish, Fried Chicken Strips, French Fries and HUSH PUPPIES.  So GOOD!  (also cold slaw, baked beans, watermelon, brownies and cake)  They cooked 30#’s of catfish.  I don’t think it is anything like catfish at home.  It was so good, so light, and so tasty.  We had about 35 people in attendance.  A great evening.  I am getting the recipe for the hush puppies....y’all love them!   They dip them in ketchup but I suspect y’’all  use ranch. 

Many of the Branch members have been so concerned about us coming home for Shayla’s wedding.  They want to make sure we are coming back!  We are so glad that we have been able to serve here and give this small branch our love and our service. 

Be grateful for every calling and opportunity to serve in the church.  Our Heavenly Father wants us to learn and be prepared to serve others where ever we may be.  I am so grateful for callings in Primary, Relief Society, the Choir and even my piano playing for the primary when I was about 13.  He has a plan for us and is trying to prepare us for our current and future service to Him and His children.  We are so proud of each of you and your faithfulness to the Gospel and to our Family.  We send our love and prayers!!!! 

 Love Grandma and Grandpa