Called to Serve: Visits, Service, Genealogy, and the Spring Mountain Festival

The heading kind of sums up our week. We didn't make as many visits as we thought we should, but we'd

make a plan and something else would come up... I took our neighbor to her doctor appointment one afternoon and will again tomorrow. I spent a lot of time on genealogy this week. A couple of the women I have been helping really needed their information, pictures, certificates, and documents organized, so I have been creating binders with sections for different items; mounting, labeling, and protecting pictures and papers; and just trying to make sense of their pile of precious information. They are very happy with the results and we have names ready for our temple trip. Wayne took his friend Johnny K. fishing and then up to John Parks' to make music one afternoon (fellowshipping, he calls it). Then one morning he roto-tilled a garden space for Dave Vanmetter, who is in poor health. I think they are planning a fishing trip also. He was called on to go with the Elders to give a blessing one evening. We gave blood at the Red Cross Blood Drive and helped out with Bingo two evenings at the nursing home.

Beautiful bright yellow finches at the Burr home

We did manage to teach another lesson to Traci and her friend Kitty and visit some of our favorites that we like to check in on regularly (Margarite Kindrick, Irene Kesner, George Burrs, the Vanmeters, the Bishop and his wife). We also worked a little on our directory "Finding" list - those people no one knows. We have sent out a couple dozen letters to people listed with only PO boxes or incomplete addresses, hoping the post office will help us find them, or that they will get the letter and respond. Not too much luck there. But Wayne has been using an internet address-finding program and that has given us a few more leads. Friday we did find two of the lost. We had a very nice visit with one lady, who is thinking about coming back to church and invited us to return to her home. The other one we found is definitely not interested and does not want us to come back!

Part of the menagerie at the Burr farm.

So it was a very busy week, we even managed to attend the local Spring Mountain Festival here in Petersburg on Saturday. After an early meeting with the other missionaries and our Ward Mission Leader we went to the small parade, then out to a park to a small Civil War encampment and watched a mock attack on a train. We went out to the fair grounds where they had craft booths, a flea market, food booths, various entertainment, and we finally got to watch a little of a corn hole tournament (big thing here - just looks like a bean bag toss to me...). Next week is already looking busy with appointments and lessons already scheduled, apartment inspections, and such. Time flies when you keep busy.

Happy Birthday on Friday to Taivan (turning 11!). We love you.
Thanks to Klora, Kendra, Kyle, and Krista for the wonderful letters and pictures you sent us. We loved them (and love you too).
Here are some pictures of the Spring Mountain Festival :

Pageants are real popular here, so in the parade there were lots of floats, cars, and trucks
with royalty from toddlers to teens with their crowns and banners from various pageants.