Called to Serve: Keeping Busy in BEAUTIFUL West Virginia

West Virginia countryside

Welton Park, just outside Petersburg

I just can't help adding pictures of how beautiful it is here now. This is our first Spring in West Virginia, and I know I've said it before, but it is just breathtaking around here. On Monday morning we went to a park on the outskirts of Petersburg for our morning walk. The tree-covered hills are on either side of the park and we just had to take more pictures. It was a lovely walk. After the walk we went to Walmart in nearby Moorefield, visited Wayne's friend Johnny, then picked strawberries at another friend, Dave's. Nice P-Day.

Found a turtle in the road, wish we could have kept it.

We had a pretty busy week with visits, lessons, meetings, etc. Caught up with a couple of elusive less-active ward members and had great visits with them. Taught lessons to Traci and to the Parks. Had a great second visit with our new friend Cathy and set up an appointment with her for next week to teach a pamphlet lesson. Worked on genealogy. Wayne went fishing a couple times (and the less active friend that he went fishing with on Saturday morning did come to church Sunday - so fishing can be considered missionary work, he assures me...).

So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday got pretty busy. Here's how it went. Thursday after our walk,

New baby, Carter

showers, and packing we gathered up food that members had made for a new mom and delivered it way out past Mathias (about 45 miles from here). Fun to see Ariann and her new baby, Carter (I am her visiting teacher). They seem to be doing well and they appreciated the food and the visit. Then we drove several hours to Rockville, Maryland, about 5 miles from the Washington, DC, Temple, where we did some shopping and spent the night in a hotel! Quite a treat - both the shopping and the hotel. Traffic is so bad around DC, that since we were supposed to be to the temple at 9 am, we thought we had better go the night before. Good decision.

A beautiful day at the Temple

Elder & Sister Kunz

We met the Mission President and his wife, and the other senior couples in the Maryland Baltimore Mission at the Temple Friday morning. A member of the Temple Presidency spoke to us in the chapel before our endowment session. One of the things he said was: Making temple covenants matters, keeping temple covenants matters more. Too many people think that they have it made when they are married or sealed in the temple - but keeping those covenants is so important and requires our best effort. It was a great experience to be in the temple with our good friends. Afterward we all had lunch together at a nearby deli. It was a little sad though, because our best friends, Elder and Sister Kunz from Ogden, Utah, are going home next week. She was just diagnosed with breast cancer and needs to be home for treatment. We will miss them, they were in our zone and we saw them often at meetings and activities. We drove back home to Petersburg in time for Wayne to sing at the nursing home Friday evening. Saturday morning Wayne got up early and went fishing with his friend Johnny. He actually caught a fish this time, a nice trout that we had for Sunday dinner today. But his fishing trips aren't about catching fish. They are about building relationships and fellowshipping... While he was gone I walked over to the church for the baptism of a ward 8-year-old, Seneca (pretty name, pretty girl). In the afternoon we worked on lessons, talk, ward bulletin, home teaching reports, and genealogy.

Today (Sunday) was a great Sabbath Day, but tiring for us old folks. We began with Ward Council at 8 am. Church began at 9 am, with Sacrament Meeting. I (Janie) was one of the speakers. Pretty good attendance, with several less-actives, including Wayne's fishing partner, showing up. Then Wayne and I taught the Temple Preparation class. We love that. Then I taught the lesson in Relief Society. Whew! We needed to come home and take a nap, I think, but instead we had our yummy trout dinner, then picked up our car-less Elders Farr and Plumb, and went on a large visiting route. We covered many miles, saw a couple of shut-ins, several inactive members, and our Elders Quorum President, who is down with back problems. Left at 2 pm, got back to our apartment just before 9 pm. Think we'll call it a day, and relax tomorrow. Thanks to my awesome grandchildren who helped me with my talk today. Great comments and suggestions. Looking forward to more pictures from the Thuesons who are enjoying a trip to the Oregon Coast. We miss you all. Yes, we are tired at times, but having a wonderful experience and loving not only the gorgeous area we are blessed to be in, but also the wonderful people, and especially the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.