Week 52

One year ago today the Kerr couple rolled into Alexandria, Louisiana for the first time.  It's absolutely amazing how familiar everything is now, how many people we know and love, and how many experiences we've had in that year.

Kerby had a nasty cold this week, so we skipped the food bank on Monday and going to Marksville on Tuesday so he could try to recover.  On Tuesday we did go to the Green's for lunch--their farewell to a couple of missionaries being transferred.  They always cook some LA specialty; this time jambalaya.  Always fun and always delicious.  That evening we had the elders over for dinner.  We appreciate our elders and sisters so much.  The growth these young people experience on their missions is remarkable and we really learn to love the ones in our district.

Folokwe, Rowe, Sorensen, Glade

We had a good Come Follow Me lesson with our men in the Oakdale prison, then we went north to Natchitoches (since haven't mentioned it for a while, will remind you it's pronounced nak a dish) to attend both seminary and institute.  Even though seminary is a daily early morning class, on Wednesdays they meet at 5:30 pm, right before Young Men/Young Women.  There was a little overlap in class times, but I went into institute to help them with some registration problems. 

Our Thursday trip to the Pollock prison was for naught.  We had been escorted in and were expecting our prisoner soon when there was an announcement that the compound was on lockdown and anyone walking on the grounds needed to get back to their cells immediately.  The chaplain said it might only be 10 minutes or so, but when there had been no change for more than 30 minutes. he escorted us back out.  There is something very eerie about being locked inside an empty prison yard. 

Leesville got a new seminary teacher this week, so on Friday we went out to do her orientation.  Between here and there are several massive cotton fields.  The plants are starting to be defoliated and the harvest will be in a couple of weeks. Here is the progress since a couple of weeks ago.

The cotton field

Looking down a row

Some time in the spring I described love bugs.  Well, they're baaaack.  Coming home from Leesville diving through the love bugs was like driving through a rain storm.  The windshield was just covered in bug splashes, and when we got home the front bumper looked like this:

Top--dead ones on a bumper, Bottom, live ones on a truck hood

And speaking of wildlife, when we came out of a restaurant on Saturday, this little frog was sitting on our car by the windshield wipers.  How he got up there is yet to be determined.  When and how he got off is also a mystery.

Tiny hitch hiker

Soybeans are harvested when the plants are completely brown--we saw this big combine in harvest action this afternoon.

Such huge equipment

We had our next to the last Personal Finance class this afternoon.  This is an incredible program, and we have enjoyed facilitating it so very much.  Everyone in the class seems to be enjoying and benefiting from it.