Heat wave hit Alabama!

All is well in the south. They are having a "winter" heat wave. Heat records for Christmas time are being broken.  In fact: this morning at 5 am our air conditioner came on because is was over 75 inside. Our outside low last night was 70 and our high was 82. What a marked difference to Rexburg's overnight low of -20 degrees.  (But really - air conditioning at the end of December?) However, that said: we are NOT complaining!  ;-))

Mom & Sherry Johnston - Evergreen Public Library Genealogy Room

This is Sherry Johnston - one of our new GREAT friends. She is in charge of the Evergreen (AL) Public Library Genealogy Room and is AMAZING. We get to spend every Monday with her. We go to help her - but she spends most of her time teaching us. She has a photographic memory so she can go on and on and on with incredible stories about the area. Evergreen, AL in Conecuh County so she is the "goto" source for information about the history of people and places. Uwanaknow how the city of Burnt Corn got it's name (I did) - just ask her. If you want to know about Mormons in Conecuh County - she will go to the shelf and pull out a book with the information and history. Yep - she IS Amazing!!!

Last week when we got there - she had brought us these beautiful gardenias. Yes, they are real and are are grown outside and aren't frozen and yes, it's December.

We have found out from many sources that Sherry is VERY well respected for her work and knowledge. After the first of the year, she is going to start inviting various groups to the library to meet us and so the three of us will be there to help those coming, take the next step with their Family History. It also sounds like sometime during the year, she wants to have a "meet and greet" with her connections to all the historical societies in southern Alabama and northern Florida (17 counties). What a blessing she is in our lives!  We love you Sherry.

 It's pretty fun in Branch Council.  It's our 3rd Sunday here, so it seems everyone's getting more comfortable with us. Today the YM Pres. said, "Well they didn't take me out back & whup me r nothin'.  There are only 3 active young me.  He explained how dedicated they are by saying, "If you asked 'em to move a mountain with a spoon, they'd ask where ya want them to start!" The 2nd counselor in the Br. Presidency said, "Whatever trips his trigger." I asked him to repeat it, & told him I was going to write it down:)

Fun drive to Grove Hill, AL to find members.

Pres Fralick (Branch President) sent us some names of people to visit that were members of the Grove Hill Branch - about an hour away. That branch only had 15-17 attending and they closed the branch. So here we are looking for the members - only about 10 miles looked like this. The day was worth it - we met Alvin! When he answered the door, his eyes lit up when he saw our missionary name tags and said: "Come in!".  He told us he had just been praying that the Lord would send the missionaries. It was obvious he needed a connection. He joined the church in 1990 and has lived with and cared for his parents. His father passed away a couple of years ago and his mom is bedridden. Had a great visit and he said he could come to church next week! We told him that the Lord and his Branch President loved him - because they sent us to see him!

                                     

We are having a great week!  We spent Monday at the Evergreen/Conecuh County Public Library working with the director of the research room there.  She has received permission from the “board” for us to volunteer there!  Elder Price recovered her Family Search username and password for her & “wowed” her with some of the capabilities of the church site. We met the director of the library & have a “take you & your twin brother out to dinner appointment” with a 70 year old employee there.  He loaned me a book to read, & we have one to share with him:)

Tues we went to Daphne to meet with the Zone.  Elders Dixon & Moss did a terrific job training the zone!  We met many of the Elders, plus the Sr couples, Taggert, & Burgess.  Sis Burgess is anxious to learn more about using the Family Search site with some of their contacts in Pascagoula, MS so we will travel there when she is ready for us. She has spent time with the online training - but doesn’t understand well enough to help others.

Wed we spent at the Monroeville Museum & were even able to help 4 new people begin their Family History.  (3 visiting from out of state, but we will hook them up with help in those areas)  As we were leaving the museum the Sites Director told us how much they appreciate our being there to help them - he said it is very comfortable to have us there.  He invited us to a symphony at the Southern AL Community College in Monroeville.  He’s going with some friends & wants to meet up with us there:)  

Last evening we had a great appt with the Monroe Branch President, Pres. Fralick. He gave us a key to the building so we can invite people to use the family history room there. He also gave us permission to contact his sister, the only branch Family History Consultant. She stays home on Sundays to care for her bedridden brother, so we have not met her.  We want her to feel that we are working with her not taking over her calling, so we will visit her at her home this week. We offered to do whatever Pres Fralick would like us to do to strengthen the branch.

Our first time in the Old Courthouse in the Monroe Museum. (Our new home.)

This is the Monroe County Heritage Museum where we are welcome to meet & greet people and help them with their family history as many days a week as we'd like!  Because Jim & Minion Smith and Leon & Sharon Christensen preceded us as Sr. Missionaries here, the staff has welcomed us with open arms! This is the courthouse used in the movie, To Kill A Mocking Bird. The author is 92 but still lives here. Her father practiced law in this courthouse, & she watched him from this balcony! Volunteer townspeople have performed the To Kill a Mocking Bird play here in the courthouse each summer for the last 25 years!

Met SOOOO many people this week! Great fun!! Great people!!!

We arrived on a great week--the week of the play, Voices at the Crossroads, held at the Museum.  We volunteered to help, so they let us pass out the programs & usher!  So, here we are--welcoming people to their Courthouse/Museum.  Everyone was introducing themselves and then asking about us.  It gave us a chance to say that we are here for 18 mos. to serve a Family History mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the research room at the museum  & invite them to come let us help them research their family history! We probably met 200 townspeople + the church members this week.  Gave us such an opportunity to spread goodwill! We have 4 wonderful young Elders serving in our branch,

One moment in Monroeville history worth catching on video was when 10,000 people came to town for the Hog Festival!

Beautiful Singing Voices!

Mission Leadership Conference - our first one! GREAT group of leaders.

On Tues., our mission pres. invited us to a Mission Leadership Conference with all of the Zone Leaders & Sister Missionary Trainers in the mission.  Pres. Bradley Smith from Salt Lake & his wife were so gracious & excited that we are here!  When we asked him how he would like us to spend our time, he said that he trusted our inspiration on how much time we should spend supporting the young missionaries, the branches, & generally spread goodwill for the church throughout the mission!