Week 76

This is a day that sort of snuck up on us--our last Sunday in the mission.  I spoke in church, we were both released from our branch callings (Sunday School teacher and counselor in Elder's Quorum presidency), and we had some tearful good-byes and hugs.  We love the members of the Marksville Branch, and it has been such a privilege and pleasure to be with them for the last 18 months.

Our dear sisters

Leading up to today there was, not surprisingly, a lot of eating.  Monday night we went with Sister McDavid to one of our favorite Cajun seafood restaurants--Steamboat Bill's.  Tuesday Brother Bonham, our Seminary and Institute (S & I) Area Coordinator came up from Baton Rouge to take us to lunch at another Cajun favorite, Rosie Jo's.  He also loaded up all the S & I office supplies and equipment we've been using during our mission to take back to the LSU institute for storage.  Tuesday evening, the Greens had their traditional pre-transfer dinner for our district (and for the first time, it wasn't a Southern specialty--grilled burgers and brats).  Wednesday was Kerby's birthday, so I made one of his favorites, crawfish etouffee.  Today after church, Sister Ferrington fed us one last fabulous meal, including her fabulous coconut cake.  She knows that Kerby doesn't really like coconut, so she made him an apple pie.  He was in heaven.

Because there is not a couple replacing us our apartment is being closed.  We had to pack up all the furniture and furnishings provided by the mission and get them to Baton Rouge for storage.  The senior couple responsible for finance and housing told us there wasn't a lot of room in the storage units, so they wanted us to pare down as much as possible.  That means our couch went to a member of our branch, and a lot of things that would be usable if someone were simply stepping into our apartment went to Goodwill or the dumpster. 

We rented a U-haul truck, and with the help of the elders and sisters in Alexandria we got everything loaded Saturday morning.  Then we drove down to Denham Springs (Kerby driving the truck and me driving our car) to meet two senior couples and four young elders to unload the truck into storage. Interestingly, Elder Beardshall (half of the senior couple pictured below) was in the Alaska/British Columbia mission at the same time Kerby was serving there.  They didn't know each other well, but did remember each other from short interactions 50 years ago. 

Loading top, and post-unloading bottom

We're staying in a motel now--tomorrow we'll finish packing our personal belongings, load the car, and clean the apartment.  First thing Tuesday morning, March 10, we'll head west.  One night in Texas, two nights in Denver (because there are four darling grandchildren and their wonderful parents there), and arrive at Nora's sister's home in the afternoon on Friday the 13th. 

We did lots of "for the last times" this week--last time at the food bank, last visits with our inmates, last S & I video conference, last visits with some of our branch members in their homes, last trip to Baton Rouge (and last look at crawfish ponds and rice fields on the way to and from BR).

When we finished our previous mission in Oklahoma in 2017, I was able to do a "by the numbers" recap of the many things we had done during the mission.  That's harder to do this time, because it was such an entirely different type of mission.  We learned a lot about ministering to the one.  We saw some people change dramatically.  We marveled at the dedication and testimony of seminary and institute teachers.  We marveled at the tremendous resources the Church makes available to help members in every aspect of life--Come Follow Me, Addiction Recovery Program, Self-reliance materials, seminary and institute manuals, hidden gems in Gospel Library, etc, etc.  We loved and were loved by wonderful people who welcomed us so warmly.  Elder Kerr baked more cookies and cinnamon rolls than you can shake a stick at, and we loved taking a bag of goodies with us as we made member visits.  We put 42000 miles on our car getting to all those visits, meetings, and Louisiana explorations. We did some things that were easy for us and we did some things that were hard.  We grew closer to each other and to the Lord.  And we know that every one of us is a beloved daughter or son of Heavenly Parents with a loving Savior whose greatest desire is to have us return to Their presence.