Sister Johnson at work

If you can call shopping work - I guess it is, especially shopping for the basics like food at one of the South's classic supermarkets. It's actually a pretty good place to shop.

Of course Sister Johnson has to leave everything better than she found it. Without being sentenced to community service, she has taken it upon herself to pick up the litter scattered along the road to our apartment during our morning walks. It's turning out to be the neverending task - as soon as she gets one section cleared, the local rednecks trash it up again.

The Best of the South . . . . and the worst

Freshly roasted, lightly salted local pecans are my new all-time favorite treat!! They grow in most everyone's backyards here, and if you can get them before the squirrels do, they're yours. We got these from a local member. They are delicious!!

On the other hand, there are Chittlins - we have been warned never to eat them, even if fried, and especially if boiled. If anyone would like some, they are cheap, and I could send you a bucket - unrefrigerated of course for maximum effect. If you'd like me to explain where they come from, well its the tubular membrance through which a pig's s**t passes.

Two pictures that confirm we're in the South

What's more "Southern" than daffodills blooming in mid-February and Piggly Wiggly. Well, there are probably a lot of things, but these are 2 that I took pictures of. The cows are out in the fields grazing on new green growth. The locals say there is lots of rain for this time of year, so if you're not getting moisture anywhere else, we're getting it here.

Finding the lost sheep

Our branch surrounding West Point is about 60 miles square. There are approximately 100 members, spouses and children of record on the branch roster. Weekly attendance has run from 18 to 27. There are some on the records that no one in the branch has ever seen, or heard from, so Sis. Johnson and I have spent some time trying to locate and contact them. Some addresses are nonexistent or can't be easily found. Some people have moved. A few are not really happy to see us, having not sought any contact with the Church for many years. But a few are really overjoyed that someone has sought them out.

We met a sweet sister in Aberdeen who is poor, has health problems, and doesn't really have the means to come to Church and participate. But she was so glad to see us. She lives with her 77 yr old mother and 99 yr old grandmother, and they are all delightful. We will continue to see her on a period basis.

We met another kind brother who has lived in the area for 2 years, but hasn't made any effort to get involved - for no particular reason. He has a good history of activity in other areas he has lived, but is now retired, has had a few relatively minor health problems. We did not get to meet his wife, who is also a member, but we will be back to see them, with an invitation to join with us in activity and fellowship.

The picture is of a Confederate cemetery in Okolona, MS. The battle of Shiloh was fought a ways north of here in 1862, nearly 150 years ago. Some of the Confederate wounded were evacuated by train to Amory, where there was a field hospital. Over 800 of them died while here, and are buried in the old cemetery. Just seeing the rows of headstones made me think what a futile and terrible endeavor that war is, and what a waste of lives. During the Civil War, over 212,000 were killed in action, total dead 625,000 (the majority of these died of wounds, disease, terrible unsanitary conditions, etc), and 412,000 wounded but did not die. To see "only" 800 headstones made quite an impression on me, and this is only a very tiny fraction of the deaths and tragedies. Before we leave, we should get a chance to see some of the battlegrounds, and learn more local history of the events of the Civil War.

We just took a road trip to Sturgis!

For those of you who think that Sis. Johnson and I are just on some big road trip around the country, here may be a clue.

Only this is not Sturgis SD, the home of the famous motorcycle gathering, it is Sturgis MS, a little town only about 8 mi west of our apartment in Starkville. We had to make a run out there to see it, and Ackerman. Probably won't need to go there again.

FYI, there is also a town in Alabama named Eutaw (say it: U-t-a-h). It's between here and Birmingham, on one of the county roads. We'll have to go there and have a picture taken of it before we leave.

Additional phone number

Cell phone reception in our Starkville apartment is horrible (we are just on the edge of both ATT and the church's Sprint coverage). Typically, calls are dropped multiple times.

Therefore we have a new phone number that rings through VOIP to a land line in our apartment: 801/447-5060. This has voice mail so messages can be left. So you can call us whenever you like and update us on what's happening with you, how things are at home, and anything else you would like to talk to us about. We have no restrictions on talking to family and friends, so let us hear from you. In fact, we are encouraged to keep in touch!!!!

I will be attempting to forward our home phone to this Vonage number (it is actually a local Farmington number) so that anyone calling our home will get forwarded here. That is not set up yet, so use the new number for now. We are usually in the apartment until later in the mornings, and of course in the evenings.

We will continue to use our cell phones whenever we are out of the apartment. As you have seen, cell coverage in our area is also spotty, so we will just have to deal with that.

eat like kings

I don't know about Southern Cooking but the Southern growing is sure fiiiine. We have been given huge beautiful brown eggs (loads of them), blueberries, roast dinners with mashed potatoes with enough butter in them to turn the potatoes yellow!, pear preserves, and green tomato salsa. I'm going to be a tubby. Still haven't found the place to do my hair but I have been asking. People are sure easy to love and hope good things for. I think I am a lousy preacher though, not very bold. I think I pretty much like them the way they are, I need more vision. Dad is cool, always asks to leave a blessing on their home and they really like it when the missionaries pray for them. I got warned about fire ants and how to catch a lightning bug. Can't wait to catch one. Sat. and Sundays are long days.

My bike's good for something!

I haven't got to ride my bike since we got here, mostly due to the rain. At least it has another rain-related function: drying out our jackets

What's up with the weather??

For us mountaineers, the flatlander weather in the South is something to get used to!

First of all, they call this the "rainy season", and its not hard to figure out why. So far, it has rained more than half the days we have been here. And by rain, not just the light little showers that we have back home - it really comes down. We have a "weather radio" in our apt (all missionaries here have them). It broadcasts an alert if there is any severe weather or tornadoes forecast.

We had a band of weather sweeping SE today. We were scheduled to drive about 40 mi up north with a member, to visit several families in the Cedar Bluff and Houston MS areas. He lives NW of us, and gave us a call just before we left, asking to cancel because of rain and winds. There was only moderate rain in Starkville. We decided to go to our area in West Point city to see some members, with a stop at Wal-Mart first. While in the store, the rain REALLY started to come down, we could hear it on the roof. We waited in the entry for about 10 min and watched it come down. It was not letting up, so I made a dash to the Liberty with the umbrella and still got half soaked. Pulled it up next to the store and Sis. Johnson jumped in with the bags.

We decided to head to WP anyway, and for most of the way there it was raining turkeys and deer (cats and dogs have already been swept away). When we got to WP, it started to let up and slowly decreased to a mist by the time we had finished visiting our families. Then it was a slow drive through the fog all the way home.

The people here are very gracious and kind. Our badges really create a lot of respect, we are treated kindly wherever we go.

We're meeting the members and neighbors

We continue our contacting of less and inactive and non members.

This week we went into a couple of homes that are not representative of the South, but it appears they are present in some numbers. As an example: Down a gravel road to a muddy walkway to a single-wide with everything in the front yard and porch except an engine block swinging from a tree, through the broken (literally) front door, into a living room that hadn't been cleaned for months, or even years.

Sister Johnson just swept aside a scruffy little dog and empty coke bottles, and sat down on a pile of dirty clothes that were on the sofa, and started talking to the sweet sister. Never even fazed her. I knew she would get this experience soon, and she responded just like I knew she would, with her sincere interest and sweet attention, engaging and completely non judgemental nor offended, nor hesitant.

Most of you are unfamiliar with the circumstance in which a lot of people in the world live, in conditions much worse than this, unfortunately. When poverty gets stacked on top of ill health and mental problems and lack of socialization and disfunctional families, domestic violence, alcohol/drugs etc, etc, etc, the downward spiral seems almost hopeless. These fine people just need a hand up, some encouragement, and the will to make their own circumstances a little better with the resources that are available to them.

On the other hand, we have met some of the other fine people in the land, and everything is scrubbed just like in Mormonville. So it really depends on a person's individual will and their ability to cope with adversity and challenges. We love all these people, and hope to be able to help each of them in some way.

You should know that Sister Johnson is the same person that left you a few weeks ago, and that everybody loves her here, just like they do at home.