Week 40

Monday morning about 2:15 I woke to the sound of something hitting metal and lots of thunder and lightening.  At 2:30 am the electricity went out.  The worst part about that is that in each set of apartments the storage shed for one apartment holds the access to fire alarms and sprinklers.  Guess who has it for our apartment block!  The shed is accessed through our little patio, but the back wall of the shed is one wall of our bedroom.  When the electricity goes out, that alarm starts its high pitched beeping, which carries through our bedroom wall as if the wall were paper.  So, for two hours the alarm was sounding (and we have no way to turn it off).  Electricity came back at 4:30, then off again at 4:40, then on and off four more times until it finally came on for good.  It was a sleepless 2 1/2 hours!

Later that morning we couldn't believe all the wind damage to trees virtually everywhere in town.  The sound that woke me was tree branches falling on the dumpster one building over from us.  Pretty wild, and it wasn't even a tornado (there was a tornado 11 miles north of us the week before--some members of the Alexandria Ward were without power for almost four days).

Wind damage a building away from us

At least the storm cooled things off a bit--we didn't come home from the Food Bank dripping wet, which we have been doing for several weeks.  The temperatures have been mostly in the 90s for quite some time. With the high humidity, the heat index often "feels like" 100-105 degrees.  The humidity is always higher in the morning (around 90%), and when we walk out of the highly air conditioned gym in the morning, our glasses fog up--the reverse of glasses fogging up when you go inside a warm building on a cold day in Utah.

The marquee at a little building near here says:

          Lord, whatever you're baking outside--it's done!

And speaking of signs, the marquee at the Lutheran church around the corner says:

God's garden--Lettuce be kind; squash gossip; turnip at church

We did the usual things this week--food bank, prison, institute, addiction recovery--plus a couple of things we generally don't do.  One, we cleaned out the shelves in the little kitchen at church.  It doubles as the library and copy center, and no one has cleaned stuff out of the shelves for years.  Bringing order out of chaos always warms the cockles of my heart (Elder Kerr doesn't have his cockles warmed, but he's great at lifting and hauling). That evening, we went with the elders to an appointment with a man who they've been teaching.  The man has come to church several times, and has had a wild, rough, tough, and frankly scary life.  Yet he really has changed a lot and wants to continue to change.  It was great to be with the elders and to share our testimonies of the reality of repentance and forgiveness.

The last new thing was beginning and facilitating the Personal Finance class in our branch this afternoon.  This is one of four different courses offered as part of the Self-reliance Program of the Church.  There were 11 participants, and they really did participate.  It's a 12-week course and we hope everyone hangs in there all 12 weeks.  We meet from 3-5 on Sunday afternoon, so we just pack a lunch and stay in Marksville.  

One thing I don't think I've mentioned also takes place on Sunday.  Our Relief Society President's husband has leukemia.  For the first several months we were here, she could come to Sacrament Meeting and stay for Relief Society.  Then he took a turn for the worse and she would only come for Sacrament Meeting.  A few months ago he got even worse, and she doesn't dare leave him even for an hour.  We began taking the sacrament to him occasionally, but it got to the point it was too difficult for him to sit up that long.  When she started having to miss Sacrament Meeting, we started going almost every Sunday after church for Kerby to give her the sacrament.  It has been a very special and tender event each week to share that ordinance with her.  She's absolutely delightful, and so was he when he could visit a bit.  Mortality is meant to be a test, and it certainly is good at testing patience and faith.

As mentioned in an earlier post, we meet for church in a yellow triple-wide trailer.  It is frankly not terribly attractive, but this row of crape myrtles beside it help considerably.

At least we have pretty trees

Week 39

Believe it or not, one of the highlights of this week was inspecting missionary apartments--well, one of the apartments.  It started Tuesday morning with a text from Elders Sorensen and Haney:   

     Are we still going to be blessed with your inspection today?
     To our affirmative response, they replied:
     We're looking forward to it.

When we got there, Elder Haney met us at the door dressed in a suit.  Elder Sorensen joined him, also in a suit, then whipped out a lint roller and said, "Oh, Elder, is that a bit of lint on your jacket?  Let me get it for you!"

As we moved through the apartment it was spotless.  In the bedroom, they had put "hotel quality" folded towel animal figures and a mint on each pillow.  When the light in the closet was turned on, it shone down on a perfectly polished solitary pair of shoes.

To finish, they had Pillsbury cinnamon rolls hot out of the oven to thank us for our efforts (they assured us it was not a bribe).  Even without cinnamon rolls they earned all 100 points.  When they moved into the apartment, it was in serious need of improvement, and they have really transformed it.  We're just glad they had fun in the process.

With crab and elephant, and the lovely tie display

Let me get that for you

On Saturday morning we met Sister Ferrington half-way between her house and ours (at a business owned by her ex-husband) to transfer some things for the seminary graduation.  She asked us if we like tomatoes, and said she'd pick some for us.  Out she went into the garden at the business, and now we have 8 tomatoes fresh off the vine.  Unheard of to pick tomatoes this early in Utah.  We like this long growing season!

Picking fresh tomatoes on June 22

The true highlight of the week was attending a baptism for a man in our branch.  Chris's wife has been a member her whole life, though less active for a while, and they have two darling little boys.  Chris started attending church with his wife a few months ago, occasionally at first, then steadily, listened to the missionary lessons, stopped smoking, and is now a member of the church.  He is a wonderful guy, and the whole branch is so excited.

Chris and family

Today was the stake seminary graduation.  We've been working on putting the program together for a couple of weeks.  There were five graduates and 21 others who received certificates of completion.  It's no small thing to complete a year, let alone four years, of seminary. I gave a talk and Kerby presented the graduates.  Our teachers are wonderful and dedicated folks, and the students are pretty great, too.

Week 38

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday.  It is always good to hear council from President and Sister Varner.  Even though primarily directed at the young proselyting missionaries, there are always a spirit and messages applicable to all.  President Varner talked about how Amulek had forsaken all his gold, silver, and precious things to preach the word of God (Alma 15:16) and stated that technology may get in the way of completely submitting our wills to the Father.  To be effective missionaries, frequent and/or improper technology use is a "precious thing" that needs to be forsaken.  A very interesting discussion followed as missionaries gave their suggestions on how to control tech use while still using the cell phones appropriately.

This just was not a problem or issue in the 1970s when we were young missionaries.  Most great tools can have a downside, and "phone addiction" is a problem for lots of folks, not just missionaries.  Interesting to think about, especially in light of what may be lost in the time that is taken over by technology. 

We returned from the prison Wednesday just in time to stream the Global CES Faculty Training Meeting.  It was two hours of fabulous messages from Chad Web, the Church Education System administrator, Bonnie Cordon, Young Women General President, Elder Kim B. Clark, and Elder Jeffery R. Holland.  The time and resources the Church puts into seminary and institute is amazing. Elder Holland said that probably 30% of the time in council meetings is devoted to youth issues, including CES.  Helping youth and young adults learn about and gain testimonies of Jesus Christ and His gospel is a high priority, and it is a privilege to be part of that in Louisiana.  Wednesday evening was our institute class, and we love teaching that.

Friday we went to Dallas to attend the temple.  We arrived in the afternoon and did initiatory, endowment and sealings Friday, and an endowment session on Saturday.  Friday the worker held back the curtain in initiatory, and it was Susan Liu--the first person I taught on my mission in Taiwan 42 years ago!  She and her husband were just about ready for baptism when I got to Taiwan, and my Chinese was too poor to add much to Sister Christy's final lessons, but we remained good friends throughout my entire mission.  I knew her family had come to the states in the early 80s, but we lost track of each other until she called about 20 years ago to see if she and her daughter could stay with me for a few days--she was taking Grace to the MTC prior to her mission to Taiwan.  That was a joyous occasion

And now, another 20 years later, here was Susan being an ordinance worker in Dallas. We were both so surprised and so delighted to see each other. She was going off shift, so she did an endowment and sealings with us.  Then she had us join her sister and brother-in-law for dinner (great Chinese, of course).  We had a wonderful time and it just made me so happy to see her.

On the temple grounds and at restaurant with Sophia and Randy

On Saturday, Kerby ran into an old friend from St. Joseph, MO--Jerry Jensen--at the temple.  He had relocated to Dallas a few years ago.

After the session on Saturday, we went to the Dallas Museum of Art before heading home.  It was a nice museum and we especially enjoyed the impressionist paintings. 

Chihuly glass disks in window; Big Man, Little Man (notice tiny little figure on the left)

The drive home was uneventful and pleasant, just long.  As mentioned in a previous post, we'll be very happy in November to spend just 2 1/2 hours going to the Baton Rouge Temple instead of 4 1/2 hours to Houston or Dallas. 

Week 37

Kim and Doug are expecting their fourth baby in October.  They sent us flowers to deliver some very fun news about this 9th grandchild:

Kim and Doug are expecting a boy!

A little more family news--Kirk and Kathy will be moving from Germantown, MD to Columbus, OH later this month.  Kirk has accepted a job as a health economist for Abbott Labs--leaving his job as an economic analyst for the FDA. 

This was a fairly typical week--food bank, Marksville visits, prison, institute, addiction recovery--until Friday.  Last week was Stake Girl's Camp, and instead of actually camping, they stayed in the dorms at LSU in Baton Rouge and had a variety of activities there, at the institute building, and at the stake center (plus an urban hike--so it was kind of camping. . . ).  On Friday they had several learning sessions to choose from.  Elder Kerr taught a class on finance and I taught one on health and nutrition, which we repeated four times.  We really had a good time with the girls, and they seemed to enjoy our classes.

It was wonderful to see the progress on the Baton Rouge Temple next door to the stake center--the last picture we posted of it was January 20, and it was still covered in scaffolding.  Now they are working on the landscape.  It should be finished in mid-August, open house in October, and rededicated in mid-November.  It will be so nice to have a temple only 2 1/2 hours away instead of 4 1/2 hours away!



When we finished our classes, we drove over to LSU campus to see Mike the Tiger, the real live tiger that is LSU's mascot.  (In case you wonder if football is important around here, the stadium holds 102,321 people!)  We knew they had a live tiger near the stadium, and I'd sort of pictured a pathetic little cage with a pathetic tiger in it.  It turns out Mike is the most spoiled captive tiger in America!  His 'habitat' is huge, beautiful, and beautifully kept.  He is cared for by the veterinary school, and he looked like a very happy cat.  In fact, he really is magnificent. 

Facts about Mike and a mosaic outside the habitat

Mike's habitat and bronze likeness

Majestic Mike

I've mentioned before that the French influence is felt all over the state, and more so as you go south.  Notice the "kneaux" in the sign above.  That French 'eaux' (pronounced o as in no) is used a lot just for fun.  Signs and sweatshirts declare "Geaux Tigers" some restaurants say "bistreaux" and there are other examples that I can't remember right now.  A bit of silly fun.

On our way home we drove through acres of lush green farmland.  Since the cotton was open when we got here last September, we don't know what young cotton plants look like.  The picture below could be cotton, soybeans, or something else, but the three closely spaced rows separated by wider furrows look so pretty.  Will report later on what it is.  The bottom picture is sugar cane.  It will be well over six feet tall when harvested next fall.  It takes a full year from planting to harvest.

Mystery crop on top and sugar cane on bottom

Week 36

For several weeks, the roadsides have been flanked with black eyed susans--so very cheerful.  The crape myrtles have begun blooming. First the white ones opened, and now the various shades of pink, red, and lavender are blooming.  We loved them in Oklahoma, and we love them even more here (because there are more of them to love).

Cheery Black Eyed Susan all over the place

Crape Myrtle close up

Crape Myrtle can get quite big

To celebrate Memorial Day, we went to the Alexandria Zoo on Monday morning.  To be honest, I've always thought it would be a pretty dumb zoo.  We were delighted to find a very nice zoo with lots of gorgeous tropical birds, a pair of white tigers, a pair of lions, and many other great animals.  It is too small to have elephants, giraffes, zebras, rinos, etc, but we had an absolutely delightful morning exploring what they do have.  The white tigers and the lions were especially active and fun to watch (usually we've just seen lions sleeping).  The display of bayou animals was very interesting, as well.

The weather has been unusually hot for this time of year--lots of days in the 90s over the last few weeks.  After working at the food bank on Tuesday, we came home dripping wet.  These desert-dwellers haven't acclimated to the heat and humidity yet.

We had a very pleasant drive into Marksville environs Tuesday night to visit members.  The areas we went were very agricultural (as are many places we go here), and the variety, size, and volume of farm machinery we see is fascinating.  Many machines we've never seen before and have no idea what they do.

Our prison work is going well, and we appreciate that the inmates we work with want to learn and participate in the Come Follow Me discussions.  A few hours later, on Wednesdays, we teach institute.  Quite a contrast between a nice stake center and a prison, where every move is monitored and controlled.

We learned from the Alexandria bishop that the Addiction Recovery Program participant requested that we start it up again.  So on Thursday evening we began that program again.  Even though there is only one person, it feels so worthwhile and his struggle inspires us.

Elder Vern P. Stanfill of the Seventy came to Baton Rouge on Friday to be at a stake conference today.  Typically, General Authorities focus their attention on the young missionaries (and he did meet with district and zone leaders and the sister leader/trainers on Saturday), but Elder Stanfill had requested an evening with the senior missionaries.  So all but three or so couples went to the President's home for a lovely dinner Friday night.  After dinner, Elder Stanfill spoke with us for awhile, then opened the floor to questions.  He assured us that all mission calls, whether to young missionaries or to seniors, are inspired, and that missionaries are sent where they are for a reason--and not necessarily the same reason.  The responsibilities General Authorities have and the pace they keep is amazing.   It was informal, comfortable, uplifting, and fun.

Most of the senior missionaries and Elder Stanfill (2nd from right on second row up)

We stayed overnight in Baton Rouge, and the next morning we and Sister Moravec, the mission nurse, went to Oak Alley Plantation, about an hour south of Baton Rouge.  It is the first sugar cane plantation we've toured, and it was very interesting to learn about that crop.  The plantation itself is fabulous--with an alley of old, old live oaks leading from the Mississippi river (ok, from the street this side of the levee) up to the front door.  Spectacular!  This plantation has been used as a backdrop or the complete location for a lot of movies and episodes of television shows, as well as commercials and fashion magazine layouts.

Looking toward the house and toward the levee

Back of the house and massive oak tree 

Six authentic reproductions of slave cabins were used to teach about the lives of  the slaves (or enslaved persons, as they were referred to during the tour).  Originally there were 20 cabins housing about 200 slaves.  Apparently the sharp implements the slaves used to cut the cane were quite dangerous, as one display described medical care for the slaves.  It was easier to amputate than repair a broken or crushed bone, so the doctor held on retainer did a lot of amputations.

Slave Quarters--Two families of 5 per cabin

The slaves were able to raise some animals for food and grow gardens and even some corn to sell.  One interesting fact was that the plantation owner paid his slaves for corn for the animals because it was cheaper than buying it elsewhere.  That seems like a little bit of humanity in a horrific system.

The original owner was extremely wealthy, and that shows in the opulence of the home and surroundings.  We knew that cotton created a lot of millionaires, but apparently so did sugar cane.  A short video about modern cane production makes it even more incredible that it all used to be done with human labor.

Blacksmith shop and kettles

Sister Moravec and me by huge impatiens and huge oak