Bits and Pieces

We hit the halfway mark of our mission last week

A candidate whose novel I am editing got a thumbs up from her editor

We had a tornado watch last week

I am going to a class Sunday on how to speak in church for my talk the following Sunday

Attending my first BYU Management Society Meeting Friday Night

I learned one of every 19 citizens in Atlanta has a criminal history

I learned this while researching how to help felons gain employment

One came in today, my second in a week

I love my homemade soup made from vegetables I dried from my garden and brought with me

One of my most discouraged candidates is starting a full time job tomorrow

One of my favorite candidates needs to quit her job as the chemicals are making her sick

Elder Ballard said we need to be in a hurry about building up the Kingdom of God

Conner is my first grandchild to serve a mission: The Phillippines

We lose the spirit because we never thoroughly intended to have it

The Spiritual Mind is ultimately the Lord's Mind and through it we have direct access to Him

Senior Missionary Outing to the National Infantry Museum

This is the National Infantry Museum in Ft. Benning, GA where the senior missionaries gathered on Saturday for a tour and outing. It is a magnificent museum which does not glorify war, but rather honors the men of the United States Infantry who have defended the American People for over 240 years. It was a sacred experience to tour the galleries, watch the movies, read the histories and learn of individual acts of heroism performed by many who never returned home. I am humbled and grateful for their service.
This is Iron Mike who stands at the entrance of the National Infantry Museum. The infantry motto is, "Follow Me". "The Last Hundred Yards" is a meaningful term to the infantry, as after the planes, helicopters and tanks do their work, it is the responsibility of the infantry to go the last hundred yards and capture the ground to win the battle.


You may be wondering why I included this photo....it captures sacred soil. In front of the parade stand is a grassy field that originally had soil brought in from every battle site where the US Infantry had fought over the last 240 plus years. It was then seeded and is as you see it today, so when these young infantry soldiers graduate from Ft. Benning and march on this field, they are literally on sacred ground where their forefathers fought.
Sister Peterson and I at the Fife and Drum upstairs in the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia. We had a lovely time visiting over lunch with the Ingalsbes, Smalleys, Despains, Combs, Gibsons, and Scotts. President and Sister Satterfield were both sick and unable to join us. They were missed.

Derek Came A Visiting

Friday night at midnight Derek flew into Atlanta to spend the weekend with me. He is interviewing for a residency program and had been to Arkansas and North Dakota....a respite in Atlanta, and flies out tomorrow for Rochester and Albany, New York. It has been wonderful having him here. He changed the overhead light bulb in my closet, something I have not climbed up to take the time to do. Had a look at my dark dashboard but wary of removing the dashboard cover to replace the bulb. I can make do with a flashlight and don't do much driving at night anyway. I made enchiladas and guacamole for lunch and then beef stroganoff on Sunday....two of his favorites. Saturday dinner was Hibachi Grill....fresh and plentiful....knew he would enjoy. At church he recognized a med student he had classes with at BYU. In Nebraska at church he recognized Ben Davis from the Richland Stake. The world is a small place when you are a member of the Church. Satisfying! For Christmas, Larry Fuller, a fellow temple worker whose wife I used to visit teach at home, sent me Joseph Smith's Lectures on Faith along with some questions about the text, which I am studying. You think you have a fairly good understanding of "Faith" and then you read something like this and see you are just a babe. Also read Larry Barkdull's article, "Faith - An Intelligent Force": http://www.ldsmag.com/church/article/9156?ac=1 which took Faith far beyond the definition of it's being a belief in things not seen, which are true....So grateful to learn. Friday I got an upbeat email from a candidate wanting to look into schooling. Tonight he wrote, devastated he has lost his job and has three daughters and another on the way. If I didn't have complete faith and trust in Heavenly Father and the SAvior and their promises, I could not handle the pathos of this missionary call, but God does not lie, and the blessings are there through faith, obedience and hard work. Absolutely true!