Thursday, September 26, 2013

This morning, we were up early, 0530 and off to Macon for our first couples conference in our new Georgia Macon Mission.

On the way to Macon, we stopped off for a few minutes in Eatonton, GA birthplace of Joel Chandler Harris, father of Br'er Rabbit, Uncle Remus and other wonderful story characters. We spent about 30 minutes on the way down with the intent to stop back in on the way home to visit Uncle Remus' Museum. 
Here are some photos of both visits.
 Sisters Gowans and Meacham with Brer Rabbit

 A close up of Mr. Rabbit
 In front of several of the stores in the small downtown area, we found colorfully painted statues of  Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear.




 Town Hall
 These little flags hung on many of the light posts
 Downtown, the City Hall was just to the right



A monument to the confederate soldier and to their wives


 The Museum Grounds


The Museum

We had a wonderful time with 10 other couples who also serve throughout the mission. We also had the opportunity to meet with the other Military Relations Missionary Couples and discuss with them the nature of their service, some of the things they do to minister to their families and students. Each base is very different which offers each missionary different challenges. For Benning is a Basic Training Base with the Air Born school there. Fort Stewart is still different from Benning and ourselves; so even though we have opportunities to discuss our Posts, we don't always find what works for one will work for another. We each need to seek Heavenly Father's guidance on how to best serve. The conference began a little after 1000 and concluded a little after 1400; here are some photos:
 Elder and Sister Cole
 Elder and Sister Johnson
 Elder and Sister Sperlein
 Elder and Sister Butler
 Elder and Sister Bush
 Elder and Sister Foster
 Elder and Sister Bardwell
 Elder and Sister Castleton

After returning home from Macon and our joyous experience there, we had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy Leyna Allen-Sanders' baptism. Leyna, way back at the end of 2012 had been visiting her paternal grandparents who are members of the church. She became very excited about being baptized as she is of age. However, she had some obstacles. Her mother, who is a member, was not active, her step dad was not a member. Upon returning home, she informed her mother, as only she can, that she wanted to be baptized. Her mother, remembering the covenants she had made, and seeing her daughter's enthusiasm, realized she needed to make some changes in her life. We were notified of the family, but we did not have a complete address, nor did we have a telephone number, so we could not do anything with the information we had. Finally, we learned that they were friends with a good, active member of the church. We were finally able to make contact. We took the young full-time Elders with us to meet the family. Sister Sanders agreed to sit in with Leyna as we taught her the missionary lessons. Dad also agreed, but only sat in once and then he left on deployment. Sister Sanders began taking Leyna to church; not every week, but she slowly began going. Her activity increased and our lessons finally concluded, but we visited frequently. Meanwhile we waited for dad to get home from his short 4 month deployment and waited for grandpa to make arrangements to fly out to baptize Leyna. Dad returned home at the beginning of summer and a week later came out to church with his wife and with Leyna; Elder Gowans immediately told the young Elders to set up an appointment with Brother Sanders for a visit. They did and two weeks later, a big miracle later, he was baptized and confirmed a member of the church. His miraculous conversion was truly just that, a miracle. We will relate it to you when we see you in person. Immediately after his baptism he was ordained a Priest, but then went in for surgery so he could not baptized Leyna, as they planned, until he was healed. Well, it finally happened this evening, it was a wonderful event. 
The Sanders Family!
Mom is expecting little brother in a month.

After the baptism, we went up to Evans to visit the Krenz family. A beautiful family with 5 children. Oldest brother is serving a mission in the Ukraine, Older sister is living in Virginia where she is finishing high school and then 3 younger brothers still at home. We had a sweet visit with them. 



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