Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with 7 other Senior Missionaries and really had a good time. In the attached photos are two from our Thanksgiving Dinner. Clockwise from Sister Black is Elder Bean, Sister Bean, Elder Dalling, Sister Dalling, Sister Smith, Elder Call and Sister Call. We also took a few pictures of our apartment inside and outside to give you a feel of where we live. Every morning we enjoy watching the ducks and other tropical birds in the pond behind our apartment.

Mighty Prayer

We are doing fine and have had some wonderful experiences here in Florida. Our mission has been involved in "Mighty Prayer" since Zone Conferences a few weeks ago and every morning at 9:00 am we knee in "Mighty Prayer" to find new investigators, to soften and turn the hearts of our investigators and to be unified in our companionships and the mission. President Hale has asked us to extend an invitation for our families and all the members within our mission to add your "Mighty Prayers" with our missionaries "Might Prayers" to move the work forward. We appreciate your faith and prayers.

Arriving...

We had a wonderful visit with Cathie and George Hargreaves (Amy's Parents) yesterday evening and this morning. They live in a beautiful area near Brevard, NC. It is lush forest and small hills. It is located southwest of Asheville, NC. They took us to a nice Chinese buffet Wednesday night and fixed us a wonderful breakfast. They are truly wonderful people and we appreciated their hospitality. They run a great bed and breakfast if you are ever in the area. We love and appreciate them a lot.

We traveled from Memphis to Nashville in heavy rain, sparce rain off and on from Nashville to Knoxville and no rain to Asheville. This morning it rained hard from Brevard, NC to Columbia, SC and then it was clear all the way to Jacksonville. We can feel the humidity already and it was about 82 deg F when we arrived.

We talked to our Mission President yesterday and he indicated that we will likely only be at the Plantation location for 2 months at which time a new set of office couple missionaries will arrive and they will take over the apartment and then will be relocated to an area near a ward or branch where we are needed. Of course, we will go wherever we are needed. We are having dinner Sunday evening with the Mission President and his family.

Oklahoma visit

We had a wonderful visit with Ryan, Janalee and family yesterday and today. We got to see Makena and Alana perform in a very patriotic program put on by all of the kindergarten students. They did a great job and during a slide presentation honoring the service men from the children's families, a photo and write up of Ed Black (Ileen's father), Bill Black (my dad's brother) and Duane Bateman (my mom's brother) were shown while playing patriotic music in the background. It was very moving. They also honored those veterans who were present. After the presentation, we got the attached picture.

Ryan did a great job on my neck and back. I asked him for the 18 month special and he delivered. I am feeling much better tonight.

Traveling

We traveled to Albuquerque New Mexico yesterday and to Amarillo Texas today. We attended Sacrament meeting at the Academy ward in Albuquerque this morning. It was a wonderful meeting. We will continue onto Oklahoma tomorrow and enjoy Family Home Evening with Ryan and Janalee's family. We are excited to be getting closer to our new home!

Our MTC Experience

We are so blessed to be able to serve a mission. The Spirit at the MTC is marvelous. We have been taught, developed lesson plans, taught lessons and listened to Sister Julie Beck- the General Relief Society President. Being with over 2000 missionaries has been an experience we will never forget.

Our first day at the MTC

We have had a wonderful day at the MTC. It is so inspiring to see the young missionaries and to meet the couple missionaries (71 couples and single sisters came today). We had three one hour orientation and training meetings today and tonight we have a reading assignment to prepare for tomorrows training. They had an overflow group so we are at the Super 8 hotel and was given a suite with a jaccuzi. Tomorrow will be a very full day. Thanks for all of your love and support.