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!!!