Week 22

Monday afternoon we went to Magnolia Plantation.  Apparently we missed the part on the website about it being closed on Presidents' Day, but we wandered around a little anyway.  We'll go back when it's a bit warmer, and when it's open, because there is a cotton gin demonstration we want to see.  It was really quite blustery on Monday.

Part of Magnolia Plantation

This week was transfer week and we had an elder and a sister from our district going home.  So the Greens (the sisters live in an apartment at their house) treated the district to DELICIOUS red beans and rice and southern banana pudding for dessert.  They always serve a Louisiana/Southern specialty for these dinners, and Brother Green is the cook.

We visited the seminary class in Rosepine on Wednesday.  A new military family moved in the week before, so a delightful young lady has joined the class.  Rosepine and Leesville wards both have lots of people who are stationed at Fork Polk (or who ended their military careers there and stayed in the area).

A new seminary teacher was called in Natchez, so on Friday we went there to train her.  As mentioned in other posts, Natchez is in Mississippi, and I don't care how often I cross the Mississippi River, it gives me a little thrill every time.  This teacher was the stake young women president prior to this call and one of the students is her daughter.  Seems like she'll do a really nice job.

We got home just in time to get back in the car and drive to Marksville for the branch Valentine's party.  Yes, it's a little after the fact, but it was fun.  We had a spaghetti dinner  then played Pictionary.

On our drives this week, we saw so many soggy fields.  It rained quite a bit this week and we were even in a tornado watch on Saturday.  The high temperature was 77, and that warm front hitting colder air creates some potentially dangerous weather.  Nothing happened here, though there were tornadoes in Mississippi and Alabama.  Even though this is normally the rainy season, it has been wetter than usual. 

Soggy fields--way too wet to plow and plant

The redbud trees are blooming all over the place.

Church was interesting today.  Two investigators (mother and daughter) who go to the Pentecostal Church sat behind us, and in the back row a member and her Baptist mother sat.  All four of them were really into the first speaker, and we heard lots of "Amen" all through the talk.  When she finished her talk, the four of them started applauding.  It kind of startled her.  Then her husband, the high councilor, spoke.  He didn't get any "Amens" or applause, so after meetings I told him he has to try harder next time! 

Week 21

A fairly quiet week.  On Tuesday we visited the early morning seminary class in Natchitoches, then drove over to Many to train a new institute teacher there.  This will be a brand new class in Many--pretty exciting to have enough interested young adults (both single and married) to give it a try.  That night we visited the institute class here in Alexandria.

We don't go to district council very often because of other commitments on Wednesdays, but we went this week.  It is always great to see the young elders and sisters reporting their goals and outcomes and to hear them discuss ways to be more effective in finding and teaching.  Wednesday night it was back up to Natchitoches to visit the institute class.

This week we started a new assignment; inspecting the two missionary apartments in Alexandria and the one in Marksville.  That happens every six weeks, the week before transfers.  We did Alexandria on Thursday and Marksville on Friday.  As one might expect, the sisters' apartment was pretty good, and the elders' apartments needed more attention.  There are two reasons for inspections--the Spirit is more comfortable in a clean environment, and when apartments are closed, the mission doesn't want to lose the security/cleaning deposit.  Apparently that happens far more than it should.

For Valentine's Day we ate at a Japanese hibachi restaurant.  On Friday we visited with a few members in Marksville after doing our inspection.

The pink magnolias have been in bloom for a couple of weeks, but now we're starting to see purple ones.  They are soooo pretty!

Saturday was the adult session and Sunday the general session of stake conference.  All of the speakers were good and uplifting, but our vising general authority was Elder Claudio Costa of the Seventy.  He is currently serving as the President of the North America South East Area.  Wow--what an amazing man and what an amazing speaker.  When our mission president, President Varner, spoke today, he said, "We didn't hear a sermon last night, we felt one."  That's so true, and was true again today.  I'll only share one thing he said, "Since I joined the Church 42 years ago, I've never had a bad day.  Sure, I've had problems and challenges, but never a bad day.  That's because the Father's plan is a plan of happiness, and it makes every day good regardless of what is happening."

We learned from the Baton Rouge Temple Matron that the Angel Moroni was placed this Wednesday, that the stone facade should be in place by April 15, and that all the reconstruction should be done by August 15.  When the re-dedication and opening will be has not been announced.

Week 20

We entered the MTC five months ago today.

On Tuesday we spent the afternoon in Marksville trying to visit less active members.  We had a gap between visits so we went to the Tunica Biloxi  Cultural and Educational Resources Center.  It was fascinating.  We'd never heard of this tribe until we began driving by the casino quite often.  Just a note--Willie Nelson and family performed at the casino last year, and I suspect never in his life did Willie expect that one day he'd be performing in Marksville, LA, population 5,500.  Anyway, this tribe had very astute traders and worked with the French, Spanish, and English.  All of whom alternated between trading/commerce with the tribe and trying to enslave them.  This was one of many tribes relocated to Oklahoma in the 1800s (the Trail of Tears).  After native American tribes could leave Oklahoma and return to their homelands, the Tunica had difficulty proving that they were a tribe so they could be given Sovereign Nation status.  They were inadvertently helped by a grave robber in the 1960s when he dug up over two tons of artifacts (also destroying all the bones in the process).  When the goods (called the Tunica Treasure) were confiscated, the tribe was able to prove it had existed and was given sovereign status. 

The education center and the casino next door

The Center has one of the best archeological conservation/preservation labs in the country.

Some of the Tunica Treasure

Still in our gap of time, we drove to Grand Lake near our little church trailer.  It was nearing sunset and we thought the view was lovely.

The dock and the cypress trees at Grand Lake

And two more Marksville history notes:  I mentioned the home of the lawyer involved in returning Solomon to freedom in a previous post.  

More on Mardi Gras:

We bought our first King Cake this week and quite liked it.  There are different types, but it's sort of like a cross between a sweet roll and a cake with a filling.  We chose cream cheese, but there are other flavors.

The hidden baby and the King Cake

Here is the message on the cake box:

• At long last our journey was joyfully fulfilled.  The star we followed shined brightly over the stable where we found the holy baby Jesus.  This is now known as the Twelfth Night of Christmas, January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany.  With much revelry, this is now the beginning of Mardi Gras Season and is celebrated with the oval shaped King Cake commemorating our journey and decorated in the carnival colors of green for FAITH, yellow for POWER, and purple for JUSTICE.  As it is served, look for the baby Jesus, for you who gets the symbol buys the King Cake for the next party.  Enjoy this delicious cake and celebrate as we did.  In the name of Tradition, The Three Kings, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar

We also decided to put a little Mardi Gras decoration in our apartment: 

A plate of Mardi Gras orbs and some tinsel just for fun

Our weather has been pretty mild--got up to 79 degrees on Monday, but the high was in the 40s for the last two days.  Outside the food bank on Monday beautiful big yellow irises were in bloom.  The pink magnolias are blooming all over town.

On Tuesday we visited the seminary class in Many, and on Thursday we oriented the new seminary teachers (husband and wife) in Leesville. As always, we're so grateful for the dedication and testimony of our teachers. 

 Friday night was the annual Evening With a General Authority for all Church Education System employees and volunteers.  Elder Rasband was the primary speaker, following a few remarks from Elder Clark.  Elder Rasband was asked by President Nelson to be on the city's suicide prevention task force, and his remarks were quite sobering.  He talked a lot about the importance of providing love and support to young people, especially those who are struggling.  Our leaders are so incredibly in touch with events, and so in tune with the Spirit!

Week 19

Busy, educational, enlightening week.  On Monday we picked up a rental van and drove to Vicksburg, MS.  We went to the National Civil War Memorial there; the Union victory at Vicksburg was a decisive turning point in the Civil War.  Fascinating and sobering:

A few of the many, many monuments at the memorial

A little later in the afternoon, we met the Blackburns (the missionary couple from Ruston doing what we do) and drove to Birmingham, AL, where we spent the night.  On Tuesday morning we drove to Montgomery, AL and visited two civil rights areas there.  First was the Rosa Parks Memorial.  She has been one of my heroines for a long time, and the memorial was so very well done and so very informative and interesting.  For part of the display, you stand in a room with a bus, listening to the narration of the events on that bus while watching video through the bus widows.  The video reenacted Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white man and her resulting arrest.  That led to the Montgomery bus boycott that was the beginning of integration in the South. 

The next site was the Dexter Avenue King Memorial where Martin Luther King, Jr. lived--it was his first position after graduation from divinity school, and put him in a position to become a civil rights leader.  It was extremely interesting.  So many people had to exhibit so much courage during those difficult days.  Race relations in the US are still problematic, but at least we do not have systematic, legal segregation.  Hard to believe how long that was part of life in the South.

After visiting these sites, we headed to Tallahassee, FL, for our US Southeast Area Seminary and Institute Coordinators In-service meeting.  As we entered Florida, we were amazed to see the devastation from Hurricane Michael in October, 2018.  This was so far inland that we simply did not expect to see thousands upon thousands of tress just snapped like toothpicks.  This went on for miles.  We also saw destroyed structures.  Hard to believe the force of the hurricane-strength winds that far from the coast.

We were anxious to get to Tallahassee in time for the "boil"at the institute--shrimp, crab, crawfish, potatoes, corn, etc.  When we got there, we saw lots of cars around the stake center, so we thought the dinner might be there, but going inside we could tell that wasn't the case.  So we walked outside to go to the institute building.  On the way, I tripped on a speed bump.  When I got up, this is what I looked like:

Takes a lot of courage to show this pathetic face!

My lip was cut on the inside and bled for a couple of hours, but no teeth or bones were broken in the process.  Biggest concern to me in the split second I felt myself falling was my knees--falling on fake knees can cause some real damage.  Fortunately, my face took more of the blow than my knees, so though they are stiff and sore, the knees seem to be okay.  I am healing nicely and look much better today.

There are 28 area coordinators in the Southeast area, plus the four missionaries, and two men from the central office in Salt Lake, so the meeting was small and personal.  The first day was mostly about a new process for providing training and support for stake seminary and institute teachers.  We'll be involved in that indirectly, but won't be doing all of the things taught that day.  Important to be aware of them, though.  The next day we had some marvelous presentations on "deep learning"--learning that involves the mind, heart, body, and soul.  It looks at developing the power to know, do, and become more like the Savior. 

Just a note about lunch that day--they brought in wings and pizza.  The pizzas were at least 30" in diameter!!  Have never seen anything like that.  They were already cut in wedges, but there was a pizza cutter in case you weren't game to take on a whole piece.  Very fun and very good.

This is an odd thing to include, but we could see the grounds crew was mulching around the institute building while we were there.  In the South they use pine needles for mulch.  We took a little walk around the building at break time, and saw these cool "bales" of pine needle mulch:

The third morning was three presentations about three different doctrinal topics.  Again, very interesting and inspiring.  During the whole meeting, I had so many flashes of insight and understanding that my notes couldn't keep up with them.  I just hope to recapture some more of them as I think about the meeting.

We adjourned at noon, and headed back to Birmingham.  We went straight to the temple, and were able to participate in initiatory and endowment ordinances Friday night.  We stayed overnight, and did sealings Saturday morning.  Wonderful to be there!

Birmingham Temple

The rest of Saturday was spent getting home.  We dropped the Blackburns off at their car (they'd left it at a member's home in Vicksburg) and arrived at our home at about 7:30 Saturday night. 

For FHE with our softball players tonight we had Chinese food in honor of Chinese New Year (year of the pig) on Tuesday.  I hardly ever make it, but the sweet and sour pork and cashew chicken sure tasted good.  Happy New Year!!!