Week 71

At the food bank on Monday we said good-bye to our favorite worker.  His parole date has finally arrived and he left the Rapides Parish Department of Correction for good.  We've commented that never in our lives did we expect to be praying for someone to get parole, and now we pray that he'll be able to quickly find work and be treated well as he makes his adjustment back to regular society.  Our experience working with parish (county) jail prisoners at the food bank and inmates at two federal prisons has changed our lives. 

Mardi Gras season is upon us (officially starts on January 6--Epiphany--and lasts until Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins [February 25 this year]).  Every weekend there are Mardi Gras balls, king cakes have been in stores and bakeries, and decorations are showing up.  The parades will be held closer to Mardi Gras.

We bought our first king cake of the season this week--cinnamon this time, and it's very good. The meaning of the cake, the colors, and other aspects of Mardi Gras are described in the February 10, 2019 blog post, so I won't repeat that here, but it's pretty fun to be in a place that celebrates it.

Our cinnamon King Cake

On Tuesday I went to the dentist, and even the dental office is celebrating Mardi Gras!

Celebrate everywhere! Sign says "A smile is good for the soul"

On a more serious and meaningful note, Alice was baptized on Tuesday evening.  She is a delightful addition to our branch.  Kerby gave the talk on baptism and I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.

Sister Alice

After the prison on Wednesday we went up to Many to visit the home study seminary class there.  We realized that this round of visits will be our last before we return home.  It made us kind of sad, and the teacher even got teary as we said good-bye.  It has been a rich experience to get to know the youth in the stake and their seminary teachers.  It's a challenge to have members so few and far between, but the folks are fabulous.

On Friday we went to the temple with Frankie from our branch.  We did an endowment session and then did sealings.  While in the sealing room, in walked our friend Lynn from New Orleans.  She and her husband will be returning to Utah in April after six years here.  We had lunch at Olive Garden before we headed back to Marksville and she back to New Orleans. 

Lynn and Frankie--so good to have friends

We're enjoying a balmy 77 degrees today (after highs in the mid 50's for a couple of weeks--that's not bad, but this is lovely). 

In a few minutes we're picking up the elders and sisters to go to Sister Ferrington's for dinner.  She's been such a delightful friend during our mission.  We realize more and more how many people we're going to miss when we leave Louisiana.