On Sunday 27 April we enjoyed listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in "Music & the Spoken Word" as we got ready for church.
We were glad to be back in our little branch for services today. It was wonderful to see (for various reasons) Brother Richard Callahan, Brother Harry Spooner, Brother Don Bivens, and Brother and Sister Bill Godwin.
Brother David Schweiger spoke on the Holy Ghost. John 14:26. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." He is called the Comforter and has been with mankind since the days of Adam. D&C 45:9. "And even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me." D&C 35:19. "Wherefore, watch over him that his faith fail not, and it shall be given by the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, that knoweth all things." He knows all things and will be there for all of us. He guides us personally and confirms to us that we are on the right path when we follow the Lord. He bore his testimony about the Holy Ghost.
Following Brother Schweiger we had the confirmation of Brother Kip Cummings who was baptized last week.
Brother David Schweiger (Senior) from the stake high council spoke on his attending many baptisms as he is over missionary work in the stake. The Lord Jesus Christ is aware of each of us personally with our trials and challenges. He spoke on our decisions and the Lord's awareness of them. He loves coming to visit our branch. His wife joined the Church in a little branch in Carrollton, Georgia. The branch supported her as she served a mission. He attended our branch council this morning and testified of the goodness of our branch leaders. He spoke on decision-making and the guidance of the Spirit. "Our lives are the sum total of our decisions" (Wayne Dyer). Spoke of Joseph Smith and his trying to decide what church to join. James 1:5. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." We are often afraid that our concerns are too unimportant to the Lord but that is not so. Moroni 10:4-5. "4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." We must pray with a sincere heart and real intent. He struggled with the decision to go on a mission. He had a testimony but had never asked the Lord if the Book of Mormon was true. He had to pray sincerely about it. Then he prayed whether to go on a mission. He felt in his heart and head in a sacrament meeting that he should do so as an elder bore his testimony. D&C 9:7-9. "Study it out in your mind." His daughter is trying to determine where to go to college. In some training 12 years ago he learned "Simple mistakes repeated over time will have devastating consequences." Life is all about choices. Our ability to choose is our ability to change who we are and what we do. We all make mistakes and the Lord will hope us overcome them through His Atonement. 3 Nephi 27:27. "And know ye that ye shall be judges of this people, according to the judgment which I shall give unto you, which shall be just. Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." Challenges of being a parent. Some decisions must be made far in advance else you may choose incorrectly on the spur of the moment. Challenges may make you feel unworthy. See your priesthood leaders. He closed with his testimony that the Spirit will come to your aid. He told of sharing the gospel with an elderly lady on his mission. With all of her roadblocks she hugged the Book of Mormon as she knew through the Spirit that it was true.
We closed with hymn #2 "The Spirit of God" which will really get one's tear ducts operating!
I attended the family history class taught by Brother John Cribb who is the branch Young Men president. Eileen taught the Valiant class in Primary as, I learned today, Brother Don Bivens is attending the family history class. He is the Valiant teacher normally. We watched a video about looking for individuals in Family Tree.
In our priesthood meeting Brother Jay Hanks taught a lesson using the talk "The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles given in the April General Conference Priesthood meeting.
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| Elder Dallin H. Oaks |
I got five Book of Mormons from the branch library as I have to mail four of them in the next day or so.
Sister Janie Alley gave me a large plastic bag full of plastic shopping bags for the food pantry.
In the afternoon I called the 866 help number for familysearch.org. I got answers to two questions that I had about temple ordinance work and about Family Tree. The sister missionary who helped me is living in China!
In the evening I finished reading "The House of the Seven Gables" by Nathaniel Hawthorne which I had begun on 25 November 2013.
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| Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) |
On Monday 28 April I finished reading "Paul Jones" by Hutchins Hapgood, a short biography of American Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones.
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| Hutchins Hapgood (1869-1944) |
We had a quiet uneventful day. I did some family history and helped a sister from our branch over the phone with questions about Family Tree in familysearch.org using what I had learned the day before.
I finished reading the April issue of the Ensign magazine.
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| April 2014 |
The First Presidency message from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf entitled "A Firmly Set Anchor" was excellent! There were good articles about Church members in Finland and the Philippines. An article entitled "Beyond the Bubblegum Machine" stated, "My trials of faith taught me that the gospel is more than a bubblegum machine that pops out a blessing for our every righteous action." There was a very special family history story entitled "A Visit from Milton" and a very touching story entitled "How Did They Know?" And, of course, many other wonderful articles and testimonies!
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| President Dieter F. Uchtdorf |
On Tuesday 29 April after a very quiet day on Monday we covered a lot of ground today. Our first stop was the local dump on the way into Ellijay which is very handy for us;
we went to Rite-aid Pharmacy only to find out that our doctor's office had not called in our prescription renewal (which is not the first time that's happened); North Georgia Diamond to pay on our layaway (and Eileen signed up and paid for a future delivery of 10 lbs of Vidalia onions);
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| North Georgia Diamond in Ellijay |
Walmart for a number of items and gas, now up to $3.589; Squiggles car wash;
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| Squiggles |
Ingles Supermarket (primarily for items that Walmart didn't have); Rite-aid for our prescription renewal (they had called the doctor's office);
Ace Hardware for a refrigerator water filter (and Eileen found some other goodies);
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| Ace Hardware in Ellijay |
CSB (Community & Southern Bank to deposit a check and get money for our upcoming vacation);
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| Community & Southern Bank |
the Times-Courier newspaper office to get the last three issues we missed while in Arizona (it comes out weekly);
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| Times-Courier newspaper office |
and the Legacy dry cleaners to drop off one of my suits. We were glad to get home!
As soon as we walked in, Debby Van Gelder, Eileen's visiting teacher from church, called to see if she could visit. She stopped by for a visit with Eileen. Each sister in the congregation is visited monthly by other sisters who share a spiritual message and just chat about how things are going.
I forgot to mention that I had a phone call from the Red Cross when we were in Arizona. I had given blood recently in Ellijay and had been selected to receive a $25 Walmart gift card. If we had been home, we could have gone to a dinner and had my picture taken to be in the newspaper. I received the gift card in the mail today!
I did some more family history research on relatives who had passed away in 2012 as well as one who was born in 1902/03. I had to wait a couple of years until 110 years had gone by and I could assume that he was deceased. But there is so much more information online now, I found that he had passed away in 1969 and his wife in 2001!
On Wednesday 30 April we were up early for Eileen's hair appointment at Barbara's Hair Designers. I mailed four Book of Mormons at the post office.
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| Barbara's Hair Designers |
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| Ellijay Post Office |
We enjoyed lunch with Ralph and Holly Hughes at Okinawa Steak & Sushi in Ellijay.
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| Holly and Ralph Hughes |
Then we headed north to Blue Ridge and stopped at the Taste of Amish store.
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| Taste of Amish |
After that we visited Darlene Burgess in Blue Ridge whom we home/visit teach as part of our church responsibilities. We shared with her two stories from the April Ensign, "A Visit from Milton" and "How Did They Know?" as she had already read the First Presidency message.
On the way home we stopped at R&A Orchards to pick up the latest copy of the Times-Courier. Our picture in front of the Gilbert Arizona Temple was in this issue.
In the evening we started packing. I finished reading "Monsieur Lecoq" by Emile Gaboriau. It was so good that I could hardly put it down! But the author left you hanging at the end, so I must read the next book "The Honor of the Name."
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| Emile Gaboriau (1832-1873) |
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On Thursday 1 May we were up early and on our way by 9:15 am. I got my haircut and then mailed birthday cards to grandchildren Ashton and Megan (they were both musical cards that needed extra postage).
By 10 am we were headed for Paducah, Kentucky. We stopped in Dalton at Jimmy's Slack Shack (right across from North Georgia Toyota) where I bought three pairs of jeans. We mailed a birthday card at the nearby post office to Sister Laurene Mathis who served with us on our mission and lives in Franklin, NC. The postal clerk said "yes" to my two Book of Mormon questions! Then onto I-75 and I-24 toward Nashville.
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| Cracker Barrel in Manchester |
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| Inside Cracker Barrel |
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| Yellow fields along I-24 |
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| Yellow fields along I-24 |
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| Cliffs along the interstates |
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| Huge tires |
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| Huge hoses |
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| Crossing the Tennessee River on I-24 |
We reached the Comfort Inn in Paducah about 4:15 pm CDT (5:15 pm EDT). We gained an hour heading northwest. The desk clerk said "yes" to my two Book of Mormon questions!
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| Comfort Inn in Paducah |
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| Lobby of the Comfort Inn |
We drove to downtown Paducah on the Ohio River and enjoyed the old area.
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| Glisson Vineyards and Winery |
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| Glisson Vineyards and Winery tile wall |
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| Eileen in front of tile wall |
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| Winnie the Pooh and his hunny pot |
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| Kirchhoff's Bakery |
We had dinner at Max's Brick Oven Cafe on Market Square which was very nice!
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| Eileen and Ben in front of the mural of Max |
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| Eileen in Max's |
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| Ben in Max's |
We looked around some more in the area after we ate.
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| Market House Square |
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| The Market |
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Dedicated to the Commitment and Ability
of the Inland Mariner, July 1998 |
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No. 1518 is the last "Iron Horse"
owned by the Illinois Central Railroad |
We enjoyed the murals all along the Port of Paducah!
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| Eileen along the Historic River Front |
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| Ben along the Historic River Front |
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| Along the Ohio River |
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| Along the Ohio River |
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| Whaler's Catch Restaurant in Paducah |
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| Whaler's Catch Restaurant in Paducah |
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| Gazebo in the park |
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| The Market |
The statues of Lewis and Clark plus the Indian, dog, and little boy were very well done! William Clark returned in 1827 and laid out the town, renaming it Paducah.
We saw a barn quilt as we were returning to the hotel from downtown Paducah!
Back at the hotel I downloaded our pictures from our cameras to both laptops as well as going through those taken by our iPhones.
On Friday 2 May we were up early and enjoyed the best breakfast ever at a Comfort Inn! It was wonderful!! There were ham slices, sausage patties, well-made scrambled eggs, biscuits, and sausage gravy!!!
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| Breakfast at the Comfort Inn |
The gal who oversaw the breakfast area and the desk clerk both said "yes" to my two Book of Mormon questions!
We were on our way by 8 am. We stopped at the Metropolis rest area and took my picture as Superman! There is a Superman museum and giant Superman statue nearby.
We reached the Vacation Villas at the Summit near Clarksville about 2:30 pm. We were too early to check in, so we drove around the resort, and then into Clarksville (the cute tourist information center wasn't open) and south to the IGA Market in Ellsberry.
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| Cute tourist information center |
A little after four pm we checked in and the person on duty said "yes" to my two Book of Mormon questions! We went to villa 165-A and unloaded the car.
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| Eileen on the front porch |
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| Vacation Villas at the Summit |
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| Parking at Vacation Villas |
Then we drove north to Louisiana and west to Bowling Green to the Walmart. It appears to be a new one as neither of the two map apps on my iPhone nor the GPS in the car could find it! We had to ask directions.
We went to the nearby Pizza Hut for supper enjoying four personal pan pizzas. We were back at the resort by 8:25 pm.
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| personal pan pizza |
Back at the resort we engaged in our usual evening activity with the Whites as we played Mexican Train. As well as Lynda played as always, one bad hand enabled me to win the game by three points! A rare occurrence indeed!
On Saturday 3 May we were up early as we were headed for Nauvoo. Allen is nursing a cold so he stayed home :(
We left "home" about 9:20 am and had a very nice drive through Hannibal and north to Nauvoo. We made a "pit stop" in Ursa, Illinois, and Eileen bought three yummy Blue Bunny ice cream sandwiches. I especially liked the Big Mississippi Mud sandwich!
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| Nauvoo Temple |
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| Lynda and the Nauvoo Temple |
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| Eileen and Ben and the Nauvoo Temple |
What a coincidence!! On the way to the sealing office we ran into Owen and Pat Fletcher whom we had served with for years in the Washington DC Temple. They were on vacation for their 50th wedding anniversary. We did sealings of children to their parents and 14 sealings of couples. The celestial room was beautiful! Here are pictures of the different rooms in the temple.
When I entered the brothers' dressing room I saw a brother who looked familiar. He said that he was Brother Garrett from Florida. When we got down to the desk on the first floor where our ordinances are recorded and our family file cards are stamped, Sister Garrett knew right away that she knew us when she saw our Ellijay address on our cards. She and her husband occasionally came to our branch and on Fast Sunday in April when we were in Arizona they came to our branch and bore their testimonies as they were preparing to leave for a six-month temple mission in Nauvoo!
We took lots of pictures of the temple, the beautiful flowers, and the Joseph & Hyrum Smith Memorial. Temple grounds are always so beautiful!
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| Ben and the beautiful flowers |
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| Eileen and Lynda by the flowers |
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| The Prophet's Last Ride |
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| the Joseph & Hyrum Smith Memorial |
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| Memorial and Temple |
On the way home we got gas in Eolia for $3.399. Most gas prices have been in the $3.40s in this part of Missouri.
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| Barn quilt in Illinois |
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| Seen along Route 96 |
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| Mark Twain in Hannibal, Missouri |
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| Eolia Christian Church |
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| Lovely home in Eolia |
We got comfortable back at the resort and picked up Allen, then had supper at the Village of the Blue Rose Restaurant in Clarksville. The view of the Mississippi River was very nice as well as their bird feeders on the deck.
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| Approaching the Village |
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| Village Barn |
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| Village Restaurant and B & B |
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| Lynda and Eileen |
Back at the resort we played Mexican Train. Lynda won easily and I was dead last with 2 1/2 times as many points as she had. If she hadn't had one bad hand, my score would have been six times as high as hers, which is not good at all.
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