Week 14

One perk of being a senior missionary couple is that there are very few rules.  It is assumed that seniors aren't going to do anything stupid, immoral, or illegal.  So on Christmas Eve afternoon we went to see Mary Poppins Returns.  It was delightful--so good to to know that wholesome movies are still being made.

We had a very nice Christmas.  At 8:30 in the morning, half of our district came over for Christmas Breakfast (the other half live too far away--Natchez and Marksville--to use the miles and time to come in to Alexandria). 

We told them they could wear pajamas--the sisters took us up on it

My former student, Lindsay, invited us to go to her home for Christmas evening.  Her sister and brother-in-law were there as well, as they were in the process of moving from Texas to California.  They have two children and Lindsay and Daniel have three, so lots of little folks around.  We had delicious soup and sandwiches, then pie and ice cream after singing Christmas carols by the piano. A very fun evening. 

Lindsay, Kate, and Henry (Andy not feeling photogenic right then)

Because seminary and institute classes were on break, we took advantage of the time to go to the Houston Temple.  We had been having torrential rain on Wednesday and Thursday morning. so the ground was just soaked.  In addition, there were two tornado warnings in surrounding towns on Thursday morning.  The amount of water everywhere would be the subject of newspaper headlines and panic in the streets in Utah.  Here, it's just business as usual.  Some pictures of fields on our drive out of town:

Water water everywhere

The farther west we went, the bluer the sky got and by the time we got to Houston it was 70 degrees and lovely.  We did some initiatory work and a session on Thursday night and another on Friday morning, then returned home.  About a 4 1/4 hour drive each way, but worth it.

It felt so good to attend the temple after a three-month absence.  The Houston Temple had sustained flood damage after Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and had been closed for eight months while repairs were made. 

In the dressing room a woman told me I looked really familiar--we discovered her daughter had been one of my students, and she remembered me from graduation (over a decade ago!).  Then a woman who heard that exchange asked if I'd ever spoken at Education Week, and said she had attended one of my lectures.  Further evidence that running may work, but hiding doesn't.

By day and by night

Today Elder Kerr and I gave the sacrament meeting talks--the last to be given in the Three-hour Block format (as Kerby's sister pointed out; she also spoke today in California).  Then I taught Sunday School--again the last SS lesson in the old weekly format.  Looking forward to exciting changes next year.  

We close this last post of 2018 with gratitude for many blessings and anticipation of a good year to come.  Happy New Year!!

Week 13

Tuesday we drove to Baton Rouge (about 2 1/4 hours) in the thickest fog I've ever seen.  We left home at 7 am and it was foggy the whole way--couldn't see any of the interesting scenery. (And since it was dark when we came home, we still couldn't see the scenery.)  It was Christmas Zone Conference with about 5 zones and really a delightful day.  There were three conferences all together; ours was the largest with about 90 missionaries in attendance.

President Varner shared the following that I thought was very interesting.  When the missionaries are teaching people, they can do three things to help them know the Godhead.  First, teaching them how to pray introduces them to Heavenly Father.  Second, having them read the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, introduces them to Jesus Christ. Third, inviting them to Sacrament Meeting lets them experience the Holy Ghost.  Those three things are so important.  That was a tiny condensation of a much longer and very meaningful discussion.

The Varners' son-in-law is part of Meier's Meat Market family in Salt Lake City and Highland.  They shipped 150 pounds of wonderful tri-tip steak that was cooked for the lunches.  Also, Sister Varner's sisters made individual boxes of caramels and toffee for every single missionary and hand carried them on the plane.  The whole family got involved in making the missionaries happy!

During lunch, some of the missionaries donned silly costumes. They were invited to wear ugly sweaters, but some went a little crazy. There was also a white elephant exchange at the end of the day.  It was a fun and uplifting day.

Santa Varner and our district

The stake center where the zone conference was held is right next door to the Baton Rouge Temple.  It has been under renovation for a while, and was supposed to be open in January.  However, as workers kept prodding, more moisture damage was discovered and now it won't be ready to reopen until next fall.

Baton Rouge Temple refurbishing

We worked a little this week with helping seminary teachers finish up the term and administer the assessment.  Student have to get at least 75% on the assessment, complete all of the reading, and attend class at least 75% of the time to get credit toward seminary graduation.

We also went out visiting members in the Marksville Branch this week.

Yesterday Elder Kerr spent most of the day baking cookies.  We made up goody bags for every household in the branch and handed them out after church today.  Also made them for the missionaries, a few neighbors, and some members of the Alexandria Ward.

To take a break from making cookies, we took a walk in the park in the afternoon.  Not too often in Utah do you take a walk on the first full day of winter in your shirtsleeves while watching a family fly a kite in 71 degree weather!  Some trees have lost their leaves, some still have a few fall leaves, and some still have all their leaves.    These pictures were both taken in the park yesterday.

Sunny, warm winter day

The grass above is brown, but lots of lawns are still green and pretty.  In quite a few places we see gardens with lettuce ready to harvest.  Other greens as well, but I can't identify them as we drive by.

Today we drove the elders and sisters stationed in Alexandria to Sister Ferrington's home for dinner.  She is our Stake S & I Coordinator, and she had invited us all to eat with her today. She lives about 25 miles away in a little town called Deville.  She's a native of Louisiana, grew up on a cotton farm, and is a fifth generation member of the church. We really enjoy her, had a nice meal, then watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas.  A very nice afternoon.

We wish a Very Merry Christmas to all our Family and Friends

Week 12

Not a whole lot of activity to report this week because we were both suffering from nasty coughs/colds.  We did finish our class visits for the semester--a home study evening class in Rosepine on Wednesday and an institute class on Thursday evening in Leesville.  Leesville is an hour to the west, then Rosepine is another 20 minutes to the south of Leesville.  We truly enjoy visiting the classes and so appreciate the dedication of all the teachers.  They really love their students and put so much into their lessons.  Anything we can do to support, help, and love them is the reason we're here.

In case it seems like we do a lot of driving, we had our 40,000 mile maintenance check on the car just before we left Utah, and next week we will have the 50,000 mile check.  We are on the road a lot!  Speaking of driving, here are some random observations about driving in Louisiana:

• Most roads have no shoulders--you are either on the road or in the rut next to the road (made by all the people who didn't stay on the road) or in the big ditch; I've spent most of the mission scared to death we were going to drive into a ditch
• Most roads are very narrow
• Street signs in Alexandria are dreadful--and in some cases non-existent--if there is one, it is tiny, dark, and way off to the side of the road
• Few roads have left turn lanes or protected arrows
• Several highways converge in what the missionaries call the Masonic Circle of Death--it's a traffic circle about 3/4 mile around with a copse of trees in the middle so you can only see the road right ahead of and behind you; it has confusing signage, but I finally know where to get off
• There must be fewer lights per capita in Louisiana than any state in the union--it is so DARK except right in the city, and most of our driving (much of it at night or very early in the morning) is in rural areas
• Louisiana has an amazing network of state roads most of which are fairly well maintained, but it can be extremely confusing, especially in the DARK 
• We are more grateful than we can say for Gretel (that's what we call Google Maps because she can find her way home)
• Louisiana drivers generally seem to be more polite and patient than Utah drivers

A few random thoughts on religion and churches:

• There are churches everywhere--some absolutely huge and some very small, but you can't go far without finding a church
• We've seen all denominations and several non-denominational churches, but the predominant churches here are Baptist (on virtually every other street) and Pentecostal
• People are overtly religious--we are told regularly to" have a blessed day" by store clerks, waiters, etc.  Also, when you ask how someone is, the answer is often, "Blessed, I'm blessed"
• It's not uncommon for people to see our name tags and tell us "thank you for doing a good work" (of course others look at us with suspicion or confusion)
• Lots of churches have marques with meeting information or scriptures, but quite a few put thoughts up.  A couple of favorites:
• Want home improvements?  Bring your family to church.
• Jesus's manger--the first King sized bed.
• A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles. (that one was on an insurance agency marque, not a church)

Back to the week--it was a week of good-byes.  The Nygrens, the Seminary and Institute Coordinating Missionaries in Shreveport, leave for home on the 19th, so the Blackburns, S & I CMs in Ruston, and we met the Nygrens in Shreveport for dinner and then attended an amazing extravaganza at the Shreveport Community Church called Sounds of the Season.

Farewell to the Nygrens (she's in red)

Today was the last day for President and Sister Horner at church.  Last night Sister Misner invited lots of folks from the branch over for a farewell dinner.  It was fun to visit and eat good food, but the Horners will be missed terribly.

Farewell to the Horners (seated to my right)

When we left it was dark, the driveway and road were extremely narrow, and, guess what---

We backed right into the ditch

The front wheels barely touched the road, the back tires were up to axle in mud, and we weren't going anywhere!  It was quite a surprise to suddenly be looking heavenward.    We called Triple A and they were sending a tow truck to get us out, but the host's son-in-law lives next door and came home from work before Triple A came.  He hooked on a chain and pulled us out with his truck.  No damage to us or the car, so now we've experienced my big fear and  lived to tell the tale.

Today was the Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting.  There were four Sunbeams and nine older children.  No little one-liners here; all the older children had pretty massive parts to say.  One family with three children is very musical and those kids sang just beautifully.  We have no choir seats in our little triple wide trailer, so the poor kids had to stand the whole time. But all Primary Programs are heartwarming, and this was no exception.

Week 11

This was a very busy week of "mixing business with pleasure."  Monday morning we taught the Alexandria seminary class at 6:00 am for the last time.  We really enjoyed substituting for those six days, but we're glad the new teacher is on board. 

On Tuesday morning we drove the hour up to Natchitoches to attend that 6:30 am seminary class.  Then we spent the day in town so we could attend the institute class that evening at 5:30.  Just a quick note to any reader in the deep freeze of winter weather, camellias start blooming here at this time of year, and these bushes are outside the church building:

Could get used to flowers blooming in December!

After studying for a while at the church, we went to see Oakland Plantation about 10 miles out of town.  This is one of two plantations at the Cane River Creole National Historic Park, and is one of the best preserved entire plantations in the area.  The plantation was started in 1753 growing tobacco and indigo.  Worms killed the indigo, and the bottom dropped out of the tobacco market, but in 1793, the cotton gin was invented and the plantation turned to cotton shortly after that.  The cotton gin ("gin" is short for engine) separated the seeds from the cotton bolls, which made the crop worth growing. 

Cotton plantations were dependent on slavery for labor, and they prospered until the Civil War, when Confederate troops burned the harvested cotton before the North could seize it, and later Union troops burned whole fields and homes.  Many of the freed slaves stayed on the land to work as share croppers, and many of the house slaves became domestic servants.  The history is fascinating.

The home and some outbuildings--plantation owners had fancier "town houses" for entertaining; this is the plainer home

Inside--notice mustache cup on left of tea set; to keep the mustache out of the coffee or tea; mosquito netting a must on beds

Slave then later tenant cabin

Overseer's cabin

Natchitoches is called the "city of lights" because of it's Christmas celebration.  After institute class on Tuesday night, we viewed the light display along the Cane River (there are fireworks on the river every Saturday in December--we missed those, but enjoyed the lights reflected in the river). 

One last Natchitoches picture--we went into the general store (mentioned in previous post) to buy a white elephant gift for the Christmas Zone Conference, and noticed this cool cash register:

Still works!

We visited the Many seminary class at 5:30 pm on Wednesday (about 90 minutes away), then the next morning we went to the 6:15 am seminary class in Leesville (an hour away in the other direction).  We came home and took care of some tasks, then began the next leg of business and pleasure.  

Natchez, MS is almost two hours away, so when we visit that 6 am class we stay overnight.We left about 11 am on Thursday, and ate lunch right on the Mississippi river bank when we reached Natchez.  The American Queen river boat was docked there when we arrived.

For a Mississippi River Paddleboat Cruise

Cloudy cool day on the river

Before the Civil War, one half of all the millionaires in the entire country lived in Natchez, Mississippi.  Most of them became wealthy from owning multiple cotton plantations in Louisiana, while living in Natchez.  There are about 450 antebellum homes in Natchez, of which about 75 are mansions (unofficial--haven't read those numbers anywhere, but tour guide told us), so most homes were not opulent, but the wealthy had amazing lifestyles.  

In the war, Natchez surrendered very quickly, so avoided much of the devastation of many other Southern cities.  That's why so many homes and mansions are intact and available for tours.  About 50 antebellum homes have been converted to bed and breakfast spots.  

On Thursday we visited Longwood--it was built in 1860-61 and is the largest octagonal home in the US.  It was completely framed and the first floor finished in 18 months, then the Civil War started and the other five floors were never finished.   The wealthy owner was left in poverty after the war, and died soon thereafter.  His wife and children stayed on at Longwood, but could never complete the home.

Longwood

Unfinished upper floors and cupola 

After seminary Friday morning, we went to the Natchez National Cemetery and the old city cemetery.  The rows upon rows of markers to unknown soldiers were a solemn reminder of the high human price of war.

So many unknown soldiers--Union and Confederate

Next on our tour was a home that's only open for Christmas tours--not a mansion, but the home of the first Methodist minister in town.  The owner is just wild about Christmas decorating so opens her home.  Quite amazing.  It's called Sunnyside.

There were at least 10 Christmas Trees in the house

Not far from Sunnyside is Forks of the Road.  It was the second largest slave trading area in the South.  Not a pretty part of our history, but part of it nonetheless.  

Our next mansion is called Stanton Hall, built in 1857.  Again built by a wealthy cotton king who was bankrupted by the Civil War.

Stanton Hall

The final mansion we visited was actually the first of the big mansions built in Natchez.  Rosalie was built in 1820 by a man who owned five cotton plantations.  It became sort of a model for other mansions because of how beautifully and functionally it was constructed.  Members of the second family to own it lived here until 1958.  The Daughters of the American Revolution obtained it in 1938, then maintained it, letting the sisters live there until their death.  All of the furnishings are original to the 1850 owners, and they are amazing.

Rosalie

On the grounds at Rosalie

At the mansions you can't take any pictures inside, so that's why there are only outside pictures and you can't get a glimpse of the opulent interiors we saw.

It was a busy week, but we certainly managed to fit in some fun history touring with our other labors.  

On the weather front, it rained all through the night Friday and all day Saturday.  The high today was 43 degrees.

Today I was called to be the Gospel Doctrine teacher in Sunday School.  That's something I always enjoy, and it will be especially interesting to work with the entirely new format for Sunday School next year.  We have both thoroughly enjoyed the current teacher.  She was an atheist until she joined the Church 10 years ago, and she does a beautiful job of teaching.  She's now a counselor in Relief Society.  I shouldn't say "a" I should say "the"--we only have one.  It's a small branch so everyone pitches in.  Elder Kerr is the unofficial instructor in Elder's Quorum. 

Week 10

Last Sunday morning, we got a text from the bishop of the Alexandria Ward asking if we could substitute in seminary all week--he had submitted names for the new teacher, but the call hadn't been issued yet.  So, we got up at 4:45 am every day last week (and tomorrow) and taught the four students in the 6 am class.  Despite the early hour, it was a pretty neat experience.  We spent about 90 minutes today starting the orientation for the new teachers (a substitute was called, as well as the regular teacher).  Gave us even more admiration for the early morning seminary teachers of our youth!

Wednesday we had the interesting experience of being companions to a young elder for the day.  It was transfer day and due to limited space in the vehicle taking elders down south and picking up the new elder, this missionary was stranded here from about 9 am to 5 pm.  He is delightful, but I'm afraid it was a rather boring day for him as we were busy preparing lessons and other house-bound things.

When we went visiting this week, we met a woman who lives in a unique house.  It was built about 30 years before the Civil War in Marksville.  We've never seen the movie Twelve Years a Slave, but it's the story of a free black man from the North who was captured and carried to the South, where he spent 12 years as a slave.  Well, the lawyer who finally won his freedom was named Waddil, and this was his house!  It happens to be on Waddil street.  The house was originally on another site and was moved to this one with logs, horses, and slaves.  This woman has lived there eight years and has been fixing it up since she bought it.  Her mother and sister live just two doors down the street. 

For the Day of Service on Saturday we went to the local food bank with the elders and sisters in Alexandria. 

Top:  Elders Peterson (fresh from MTC this week) and Dickerson, us, Sisters Sleight (new to district) and Martin

We live in a pretty nice neighborhood.  Less than a block from us this cozy little cottage is for sale.  It's 20,000 square feet plus a 3,000 square foot entertainment house, 5 bedrooms, 6 full baths, 3 half baths, 4 fireplaces, and many other features on 4 acres.

It's yours for only $1.7 million

But the entry alone is worth it!

 Weather report:  The middle of the week was quite cold, but yesterday the high was 80 degrees and today wasn't much lower. We watched the Christmas Devotional, and when they showed the grounds all covered with snow, it really looked like Christmas.  The two YSAs are going home to Utah this week for the holiday, and they got very excited about getting back to real winter weather. 

It was a busy week because of seminary preparation and teaching, but not a lot else to report.

Week 9

Busy week and long post to follow, so hang on!  Tuesday we visited at three homes in Marksville, and especially enjoyed visiting with the Relief Society President and her husband.  We had never met him because he suffers from leukemia and is too weak to leave the house except for his weekly blood transfusion.  But what great people and what interesting lives they have led.  We left with 18 fabulous brown eggs from their 9 chickens. 

We had quite a lovely little excursion starting on Wednesday.  The couple from Shreveport drove the two hours from there to our apartment, then we drove us all about an hour and a half to Lafayette.  We joined the couple from Ruston (also two hours north of us, but east instead of west) at the Acadian Cultural Center.  It is actually a national park, and had a very interesting movie about the history of the Acadians--the French Canadians who ended up in Louisiana and morphed into Cajuns.  I naively thought they left Canada willingly--they were forced out by the English, who were suspicious of their "Frenchness" and their Catholicism. First they went to New England, were they were not welcome, many went back to France, but didn't really fit in after generations in Canada, and finally migrated to Louisiana.

Just an aside--for the first time today we heard some of the older Cajun members of our branch speaking Cajun French to each other.  Any relation to the French spoken in France is coincidental.  It was fascinating to hear, and for most older Cajuns, English is a second language.  A fascinating heritage that is dying out.

Anyway, after the cultural center, we went to Avery Island where Tabasco Sauce has been made for 150 years.  The man who started the company was a banker, but after the Civil War, he couldn't get back into banking in the South.  He decided to make pepper sauce to add some spark to the very bland post-war diet, and the company has been going every since.

In Lafayette there is a lovely cathedral with an incredible oak tree and a very interesting cemetery (notice that most are above ground because of the high water table at sea level).

Several years ago I did some consulting at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette.  I remembered the interesting feature of a swamp full of alligators in the middle of campus,  so we went to look at that.

A couple of 'gators on a platform on lower right

Thursday we drove to Baton Rouge to the mission home, where the Varners hosted several senior missionary couples, the mission nurse, and a woman who is being baptized tomorrow (and her two sons).  A lovely time with delightful people.  Then we and the other two couples in our group stayed the night (in three of the 6 or 7 guest rooms in the 5700 square foot home).

President and Sister Varner middle top--the mission home below

Friday we toured the state capitol (tallest in the nation [34 stories], built in 14 months, completed in 1932, and very impressive).  Huey Long, the governor who had it built and one of the most corrupt of politicians, was assassinated there in 1935.  There is an observation deck on the 27th floor.

Senate and House chambers, main hall, Huey Long

Then we went to the old state capitol.  When we walked in, we were greeted by four sister missionaries who do some service there every week.  What a fun surprise.

With missionaries on spiral staircase with stained glass dome above

We drove home from there.  

Today we had a Linger Longer after church.  This room is the chapel, we have Relief Society and Sunday School here, and it becomes the cultural hall for other activities.

The man across from me is 86 years old, and a true Cajun

We have much to be grateful for, and this was a wonderful week for reflection and learning.

Evolution of the word Cajun

Week 8

Wednesday we served a Thanksgiving dinner to our district after their council meeting.  Lots of cooking Tuesday and Wednesday, then transporting over to the church.  It was fun and the eight missionaries were very appreciative.

That night we substituted in institute because the teacher was in a car accident on Tuesday.  Her car was totaled, but she wasn't seriously hurt--just shaken up and sore all over.  Anyway, we always enjoy teaching.  A part-time Church Service missionary from Salt Lake was there taking pictures of us and the class.  He's employed as a business consultant, and when he travels, he also looks for opportunities to photograph missionaries in action for use on websites or other materials (that's his service mission assignment).  He had arranged a couple of weeks ago to come, but we just expected to be in a supporting role, not teaching the class. 

We started trying to make ministering visits at a local prison several weeks ago (there are seven LDS inmates there), but our messages were not returned.  Finally we got through to the chaplain on Tuesday.  He told us that the orientation and training (which is only held every three months) was on Thursday, and we needed two letters of recommendation each, an ecclesiastical endorsement each, and a set of application forms each by Wednesday.  Well, we scrambled, our friends and stake president scrambled, and we got the letters off on Wednesday morning and everything else scanned and attached to e-mails at 3:45 pm Wednesday (would have been sooner if not for the district dinner).  Then we waited to hear from the chaplain. Well, he had left work early at 3:30 on Wednesday, and was in Alexandria for meetings on Thursday.  He met us in a parking lot on his lunch hour, took our hard copies, took pictures of them to send to the person in charge of the training, and said he'd call us with the ok so we could go down later that afternoon.  Half an hour later he called and said there were now some new forms that he didn't know about, the person wouldn't let us fill them out in person at the training, and we'll have to wait until February.  I guess the bright side is we're first in line for next time.

This week we finally drove around the LSU-Alexandria campus.  We pass it every week on the way to and from church, but have never actually entered the campus.  It is tiny.  But on one side of the campus are some of the most amazing oak trees.  These pictures do not do them justice, but we've never seen trees like this at home. We see them a lot here, but not generally where we can pull over and take pictures.

We went to visit an early morning seminary class in Dry Prong on Thursday, and when we left here at 5:25 am, we actually had to scrape frost off the windshield.  We had a freeze!  The high was in the 40s that day and two others this week, then it was up to 70 degrees today. 

It's fun to learn people's stories.  We went to visit a young single adult on Thursday night, and met her wonderful family.  The YSA, her mother and two younger sisters came here from Honduras a few years ago.  The mom met a man at church, they married, and now there is a darling little toddler in the family as well.  The family treated us so well and invited us to come back at Christmas-time for the annual tamale fest.  We never could quite make out what brought them from Honduras to Alexandria, LA, but maybe we'll get the rest of the story later.

Friday we went visiting a part member family, and had a delightful time with them.  They live in a trailer on a 6-acre "compound" next to the wife's mother's house.  It is absolutely beautiful, and is bordered on the back by a branch of the Red River.  The river is full of alligators (which you seldom see in the day, but if you shine a light across the river at night, you see the glowing eyes--just like we were told a few weeks ago).  They have actually lost two dogs to the alligators!   The mom, who is a member, is a nurse and her job is to fly with illegal immigrants who are being deported.  Some regulation requires a nurse to accompany all deportations, and they fly several days a week, going to many countries with over 100 people per trip.  The daughter and her sister are both flight attendants on these trips.  Who knew there was such a thing??

To get to their house, we went through Pineville, very aptly named as we drove through mile upon mile of beautiful pine forests.

The Alexandria ward had a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night, so we went, and enjoyed it very much.  My former student sat at our table and we had a nice visit.

Lindsay, Henry, and me

Elders Allen, Riley, Haymore, and Dickerson; Sisters Martin and Parkinson

We had our second successful Family Home Evening with our two YSAs tonight.  We cooked dinner, they gave the lesson.

                                                            Happy Thanksgiving