Week 6

Another fairly quiet but interesting week.  On Tuesday we went to the early morning seminary class in Natchitoches (nack-a-dish).  Since we were going to the institute class that night, we spent the day in the area.  After class we went to Many to see the actual town.  It had been late, dark, and rainy after the seminary class we attended there the week before, so we didn't hang around.  We drove back to it and along the way discovered this was really logging country.  We passed dozens of logging trucks and many areas of new forest growth as well as areas of active logging.

Typical rig 

Then we drove back to the church to do our studying for the day.  Every day we read three chapters from the Book of Mormon, two or three chapters from the New Testament (a Mission President invitation for the whole mission to read the New Testament between Oct 1 and December 31), a few articles from the Ensign (or a talk or two from General Conference), and an article or training module related to CES.  It really is a great part of being a missionary to have that time dedicated to gospel study. 

After study it was time for lunch and some exploring.  We ate at a famous little restaurant called Lasyone's Meat Pie Restaurant.  Meat pies are rounds of dough filled with ground beef and pork and spices, folded and sealed in half and deep fried.  They are popular and available in Central Louisiana--we each had one and don't feel a strong need to have them again, but they are pretty good.  We then wandered around the historic district, which has many blocks of buildings dating to the late 1700's or early 1800's.  Lots of Queen Anne-style mansions and French Creole homes. 

Selling horseshoes, cookware, and everything in between

The RiverFront is lovely and hosts numerous festivals through the year.  All along the walk were fun fall displays created by local groups.  The next night, Halloween, would be Witch Way to Main Street, with candy, games, and contests.

A meat pie replica, corn stalks accented with cotton, and one of the fun displays on RiverFront

We enjoyed the Natchitoches institute class that night, then made the hour-long trip home.  Louisiana doesn't waste a penny on street lights--I have never seen such long stretches of DARK roads.  I guess that's what happens in rural areas, and we are rural.

Wednesday we were supposed to substitute in Alexandria institute class, and would have done a fine job in anyone had shown up!  Halloween isn't the best night to schedule anything.  But we did have some excitement later that night.  We knew there was going to be a severe storm come through at about 1 am, but a surprise storm cell came through earlier.  At just after 11 pm we were awakened when both our phones started buzzing and showed we were in a tornado warning (a watch means they're possible, a warning means they have been sighted) and to seek shelter immediately.  That was accompanied by the most enormous lightning flashes and booming thunder claps we'd ever experienced.  I'd have sworn the worst of the storm was in our parking lot!  After about 40 minutes all was quiet.  Then at just after 1 am our phones went off again with the same message, but the storm wasn't quite as violent this time. 

Thursday morning we were later than usual going to the gym, and we didn't see signs of much damage along the way.  When we pulled into the parking lot at 7:30, we were the only ones there.  We walked up to the door, and the guy said that the lights had just come on 30 seconds before we drove up.  (The Alberstons grocery store next door to the gym lost huge refrigerated cases of goods because of the power outage--we'd only had a few flickers at our apartment.)

Thursday afternoon we went to visit a member in Cotton Port, and driving on a different road, we suddenly entered a war zone half a mile from our apartment.  A section of several blocks had broken and overturned trees all over the place.  Fences were down, and tree limbs were everywhere.  There didn't appear to be a lot of damage to homes, though there was some.  And we learned this sort of spotty damage had occurred all over town.  News reports varied on whether it was a small tornado skipping around or just strong wind gusts.  Either way, we were so grateful to have received no damage.

More about the Cotton Port visit.  The brother we went to see lives in what seems to be a low income retirement community.  His neighbor was there visiting him, and both of them had such strong accents we could only understand about half of what was said.  However, I thought this was interesting--the neighbor is 86 years old and was born east of Lafayette in very southern LA.  He grew up speaking French, and his father wouldn't let him go to school.  So he had to learn English later--combining the French and Southern accents was actually quite pleasant to hear, just hard to understand.  I attribute the difficulty of understanding the brother to just a strong Cajun accent.

A bird note:  Several weeks ago I saw a flock of about two dozen birds that looked like pink egrets in the pond across the street.  After that I would occasionally see one alone, and I wondered if I had imagined them.  Well, on the way to the brother's house was a pond with several of the pink birds, along with herons and egrets.  The pink birds are called roseate spoonbills. and are quite lovely to see.

We visited a sister in Center Point on Friday, and there were about five male cardinals in her yard--she said there would be lots more in the winter.  Quite a week for my little bird-loving heart!

A few trees are starting to show fall colors, but mostly the countryside is green and lush.  The temperature has been moderate--mostly 70s and 80s, but will get a little cooler weather later this week.

Saturday a family in the Alexandria ward invited us, the sister missionaries, and another sister in the ward over for dinner and family home evening.  It was very pleasant--and they have two YSA daughters who attend institute--one in Alexandria and the other in Natchitoches, where she goes to school. 

And, we officially launched our YSA FHE tonight.  Two girls came and it seemed to go really well.  It's not easy working with YSAs where there is so little structure in place, but we'll keep plugging along.

Finally, my great-nephew Brigham completed his Vancouver, WA mission and went home on Tuesday.  So wonderful to see the growth that occurs on a mission.  So proud of all my great nieces and nephews.