On Sunday 18 October Eileen enjoyed "Music & the Spoken Word" followed by the Book of Mormon discussion about Ammon in the Book of Alma as we got ready for church.
We enjoyed attending our Ellijay Branch. Presidents Nicholls and Stallings were here to reorganize our branch presidency with President Nicholls, our stake president, presiding. The chapel and overflow were full!
This blog entry is without pictures which I will add later.
Opening hymn was #58, "Come, Ye Children of the Lord," text by James H. Wallis (1861-1940) and music a Spanish melody arranged by Benjamin Carr (1768-1831).
Sustained Robin Hanks as 1st counselor in the Primary presidency, Diana Stephens and Becki Clark as Sunday School teachers, and Cassie Kelly as 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency.
Sacrament hymn was #184, "Upon the Cross of Calvary," text by Vilate Raile (1890-1954) and music by Leroy J. Robertson (1896-1971).
Sustained Marvin Knight as a high priest. Released Ryan Boland, Craig Chester, and Tony Stanley as the branch presidency. Sustained Tony Stanley as our branch president with Craig Chester as first counselor and Marvin Knight as second counselor.
The first speaker was Jennifer Boland. She spoke of love and serving. She bore her testimony and was thankful for many blessings.
The second speaker was President Stallings. He invited Brother Knight to take his seat on the stand. He quoted from Moroni 6 starting with verse 4. He spoke of the hope that the Sabbath is a delight and made observations about our branch as he read. He bore his testimony.
Intermediate hymn was #294, "Love at Home," text and music by John Hugh McNaughton (1829-1891).
The concluding speaker was President Nicholls. He relies on the Spirit and doesn't write down his talks. Sometimes people say what a great talk he gave and other times they say he was all over the place. He spoke about his first temple recommend interview, meeting with President Harry Spooner monthly, calling President Ryan Boland, and learning in the temple that Brother Stanley should be the next branch president even though he travels a lot. Appreciate Brother Chester's willingness to be first counselor again. He would need therapy if he wanted to be branch president (laughter). He spoke of priesthood keys and partaking of the sacrament under the direction of President Boland before he was released. Ordinances are valid when the keys are here. He spoke of the early apostles and the apostasy, followed by young Joseph Smith's prayer and the First Vision. The Book of Mormon is another witness of Jesus Christ. He bore his testimony.
Closing hymn was #274, "The Iron Rod," text by Joseph L. Townsend (1849-1942) and music by William Clayson (1840-1887).
I met with Claude Miller and made an appointment to visit him to help with his family history. I made a home teaching appointment with Darlene Burgess. I met with Carol Messina and filled her in on the PC in the FHC. She will come in and call FamilySearch tomorrow or Tuesday. They are planning on moving to Montana next Spring. I talked to Connie Reichert about a food order for Peggy Espersen and she said it shouldn't be a problem. David Ashworth asked about my weight loss, so I filled him in on that and the blood sugar situation.
Gospel Doctrine with Darlene Burgess was lesson #38, “Thou Hast Testified of Me” using Acts 21-28.
The purpose of the lesson was to encourage class members to follow Paul’s example and be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ even in the midst of trials and tribulation.
1. Paul reports on his journeys and faces an angry mob in Jerusalem.
2. Paul is taken before the Sanhedrin.
3. Paul testifies to Agrippa, but his testimony is rejected.
4. Paul is shipwrecked on his way to Rome.
When we follow Paul’s example by being faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ in all situations, He will give us the strength to endure our trials.
The hymn in priesthood was #19, "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet," text by William Fowler (1830-1865) and music by Caroline Sheridan Norton (1808-ca.1877).
President Stanley asked us to be mindful of what our first thoughts are in the morning. How much time do we spend in prayer? Deepen our level of conversion.
Brother Cribb announced the move of Melanie Pardue on 27 October. I responded to President Stanley's query that I was her home teacher and he asked me to make sure that she'd be ready for us at 9 am that day. (It was later changed to 1 pm.)
The priesthood lesson was #19 from "Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson" entitled "Leadership."
If you are to provide future leadership for the Church, [your] country, and your own homes, you must stand firm in the faith, unwavering in the face of evil.”
It was taught by Brother David Ashworth. Eileen said that Deb Fisher did a good job teaching the same lesson in Relief Society.
We met with Teri Grace after church to help her with her family history, adding several names to her temple ordinance list. She gave family file cards of her mom and dad to Jay Hanks, our high priests group leader, for the youth temple trip on 21 November.
We hurried home to change clothes, get Eileen's laptop, and head for the Dorsey's in Jasper. We were slowed by the heavy traffic heading south from the Apple Festival in Ellijay. We worked with the Dorsey's from about 4:10 until 7:30 pm.
We called Nora Moulder in Salt Lake City and sang "Happy Birthday" to her voice mail box.
I called Sisters Bayless and Helton again and left messages. I called Ann Godwin to visit her tomorrow.
I began and finished reading "The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife A Parker Pyne Short Story" by Agatha Christie.
On Monday 19 October I reached a new low on the scale at 180.6! I've lost 44 pounds and Eileen has lost 32! I reviewed the 4 October and 11 October blog entries and they are ready to be published. I also worked on the hymns in this blog entry.
I filled the three bird feeders. Eileen made 14 six-week muffins and six went with us. We went into town and deposited the checks from Oppenheimer in the bank, then took care of our mail at the post office.
We visited Ann Godwin and gave her the six muffins. We were briefly her home teachers and continue visiting her. Her husband of over 60 years, Bill, passed away about a year ago.
We had an early supper and drove to Blue Ridge, shopping and getting gas at Ingles for $1.849 with their 10 cent per gallon discount, and then home teaching Darlene Burgess. Before we left I gave blessings to her two grandsons Rollie age four and William age one.
I invited many less-active members and friends to our Fall Festival on Saturday the 24th.
I indexed Petitions for Naturalization in Billings, Montana.
I finished reading chapter 23 of "Gospel Doctrine" entitled "Political Government."
I began and finished reading "Motive v. Opportunity A Miss Marple Short Story" by Agatha Christie.
On Tuesday 20 October I reached my goal of 180.0 pounds! I celebrated with a bowl of Kashi cereal topped with blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries with 1% milk. First time in 7 1/2 months. Blood sugar was 83.
I printed our mission forms for the doctor and dentist. I made appointments with Raisig and tomorrow we'll drop off the dental forms at Codelli's.
We visited Sabrina Bayless and saw Michelle briefly. We shopped at Walmart and then went to Zaxby's. We were there for our Kids Ferst fundraiser and enjoyed our chicken salads. Kim Kazy and her daughter Jessica came after calling us and they had a nice chat with Eileen.
On the way home on Big Creek Road a good-sized deer trotted slowly across the road in front of our car. There was no danger of hitting him and it was nice to see him.
I began and finished reading "The Tuesday Night Club A Miss Marple Short Story" by Agatha Christie.
On Wednesday 21 October we volunteered at the food pantry. It was slow today but we helped more patrons than last week, reaching 99 patrons.
Then we drove to Dr. Codelli's in Blue Ridge to drop off the dental forms for our mission. We went to Ingles and then Walmart where we got 3.764 gallons at $1.909 with their three cents off.
Eileen enjoyed "The Kitchen" that I had recorded on the Food Channel and two episodes of "Cake Boss".
After supper we went to church to cover the family history center from 6-8:20 pm. Janie Alley came by from 6:30 pm on. Roger Widmann had stopped by the food pantry this morning to let me know he'd be here tonight but he didn't make it.
I emailed a reply to Jane Colmenares as she's back with us working on the Wiki in England.
On Thursday 22 October I dropped Eileen off at the 1st Baptist preschool for her to read to the kids as part of Read for the Record. I mailed cards at the post office, got two tickets for the play next week, The Canterville Ghost, and returned for her. We shopped at Ingles and dropped off our trash and recyclables at the dump on the way home.
Later we visited Bill and Kim Kazy at their home. After supper we visited Claude Miller (5-6:20 pm) in Jasper to gather information from him about his family history. We stopped at Kroger for a couple of Walden Farms salad dressings and saw Billy Townsend! He has been inactive for some reason for a few years. He expressed that he needed to come back to church!
I was very successful at working on Brother Miller's family history!
On Friday 23 October we mailed the Kids Almanac to Cubberleys and attended the Kids Ferst meeting at Head Start at 10 am.
We went to Bryant Physical Therapy and then to Walmart for some items whose coupons expire tomorrow. We got birthday cards at Huff's Drugstore.
At home we enjoyed watching "Secrets of the Longleaf Pine" that I had recorded on PBS. A lot of it was about species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker, gopher tortoise, indigo snake, pitcher plants, and Florida harvester ants.
I finished reading the 16 August issue of the Church News. I enjoyed the article about the "Cedar City Utah Temple," "Prophet to celebrate 88 years" about President Monson's birthday, "Mexico City prepares for rededication of beloved temple," "'We don't freelance'," a new stake created from a district in Thailand, and "The fire of pure testimony" by Sister Carol F. McConkie. The last article included the following which I posted to Facebook:
“Keep the fire of your testimony of the restored gospel and your witness of our Redeemer burning so brightly that our children can warm their hands by the fire of your faith.” President Boyd K. Packer (April 2003)
I printed a bunch of documents for Brother Bond and began researching Lyman Bond's daughter Susan born in 1874.
Eileen made her cookie fingers and the cauliflower crockpot chicken chili for the branch's Fall Festival tomorrow.
I watched the Toronto Blue Jays - Kansas City Royals ballgame. The Royals won, 4-3, as the Blue Jays had runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out in the top of the 9th and couldn't score :(
On Saturday 24 October we slept late which is always nice. That means I slept a little longer than usual and read while Eileen slept longer. I got my weight back under 181, so I enjoyed my Kashi cereal and berries for breakfast.
Eileen made Kristen's cornbread for the Fall Festival tonight. It was very popular!
I finished reading "Zero Sum Game" (the first Star Trek Typhon Pact novel) by David Mack which I started on 15 October. I got it for my birthday from Colleen or Heather.
We printed the instructions for our CSM Wiki project involving the Poor Law Unions in English parishes. Eileen selected Devon and I selected Hampshire. We sent a question to Jane Colmenares.
It was odd this afternoon when I felt a bit shaky and checked my blood sugar. It was down to 47! I had some sugar-free chocolates, turkey bites, and nuts in the car. Eileen's on the other hand had gone up from 94 this morning to 116 this afternoon!
We went to church for the Branch Fall Festival at 5 pm. We brought Eileen's spicy crockpot chicken chili, Kristen's cornbread, and finger cookies. Trunk or Treat started about 7 pm. I took some pictures to send to the Times-Courier. We sat with Janie Alley, Jan Pardee, and nonmember Oscar Poole. I chatted with Lynn Edwards about family history questions that she had. I met Gary and Diane Jones and arranged to call them to walk on their family history. Janie arranged with us to meet her at church on Saturday 7 November at 2 pm instead of on 1 November to work on her family history. Jay Hanks brought spicy chili, too, and two or three of the others were pretty good, though not spicy.
I published the 4 October and 11 October blog entries.
I began and finished reading "Finessing the King A Tommy & Tuppence Short Story" by Agatha Christie.
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