Dear Friends and Family,
All is well in the Atlanta Georgia
Mission. We continue to learn new things to love about being here.
This week we had zone conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Stake Center
next to the Atlanta Temple. The temple opened early both mornings to accommodate
special sessions just for the missionaries. Carol and I were the witness
couple for one session each day and it was a wonderful sight to look over our
shoulders and see all of the great elders and sisters dressed in white with
smiles on their faces and light in their eyes. It was a great time.
Thursday we had 10 elders and 2 sisters
here at our apartment for district council meeting. It was a marvel to
sit and observe them counseling with each other and teaching each other.
Knocking on doors is a challenge here because the neighborhoods are so far
apart but also because people are not responsive. The missionaries seem
to be having modest success contacting on the street and making connections
there. Then they offer to share a video about Jesus Christ. If the
person is interested they ask for their Facebook information so they can send
the video and often they are also able to set up a time to have a video chat on
Facebook messenger.
Two weeks ago we attended zone
conferences in the Tennessee Nashville Mission. On the Monday night
between conferences I convinced Sister Merrell to go with me for family home
evening and have dinner at BB Kings Blues Club in Nashville. The food was
good and the live music was terrific. Sister Merrell felt uncomfortable
in that setting while wearing her missionary badge, but I, being the more
carnal, sensual, and devilish half of our partnership, thought that it was
great. She refused to dance with me but even if she had accepted I
wouldn’t have done it. The band that was playing that night had a blues
guitarist who was amazing. I promised her that next time we are in
Nashville for zone conference we will go to the temple, but reminded her that
it was not open on that Monday evening.
Last week we spent Thursday morning
serving at the Midwest Food Bank here in Peachtree, City. The food bank
is a large warehouse that is the distribution center for many charities
throughout southern Georgia and into South Carolina and Alabama. During
the month they receive donations that come in on trucks and they stock their
shelves. Eight days a month they have what they call Load out days where
agency partners (various churches, ministries, homeless shelters, etc.) come at
scheduled times to pick up their share of food and additional products.
We participated on one of those load out days. Our job that day was to be
part of a team that assisted the agency representatives in filling their
order. On our team we had a very nice lady (who it turns out likes family
history) who led the team, an older gentleman who pushed the big cart and Carol
and me. Carol and I were the pickers. We loaded whatever was needed
by the agency onto the cart as we moved up and down the aisles of the
center. We were happy to note that the spaghetti and spaghetti sauce we
loaded that day come from our church and had the Deseret label. We
usually filled 3-4 carts for each agency and then the carts were wheeled to a
loading area where the young elders moved the food into trucks, cars, vans—whatever
the agency brought. The thing that surprised us and actually delighted us
was that after we had completed filling the order for each agency our team
stood in a circle with the folks from that agency, held hands, and had
prayer. We repeated the process 6 or 7 times over the course of the
morning. We met some very fine people who are doing God’s work all over
the South.
We have signed up as volunteers for Meals
on Wheels. Several of the sisters in our ward share a route that they
take every Friday. A couple of them have busy summers planned and will
not be around so every other Friday Sister Merrell and I will take meals to
8-12 persons here in Fayetteville. When we went to pick up the food today
we were met by a very kind man who is the program supervisor. When he saw
our name badges he said, “You will be able to bring a new element to
things”. When we asked what he meant he said, “you will be able to pray
with our clients”. Well, we are embarrassed to say that we hadn’t thought
of that. But we did have prayer with a couple of persons today at their
door. Not all of the situations led to prayer but those we prayed with
seemed grateful for it. One man is on hospice and must not have air
conditioning in his small apartment because he comes to the door in boxer
shorts. We knew this ahead of time so Carol didn’t go to the door with
me. But I asked him if he would like to have a prayer and he seemed
touched that I would ask. As I left he told me, “God bless you and Happy
Father’s Day”.
Two Saturdays ago we joined another
senior couple who work in the office and went to the site of the Battle of
Pickett’s Mill. It was a civil war battle that was fought as Sherman
marched toward Atlanta and then on to Savannah. I had never heard
of the Battle of Pickett’s Mill but maybe that is because the Confederates won
the battle. Anyway, they staged a re-enactment of the battle and there
were several hundred men dressed in Union and Confederate uniforms battling
there in the same ravine where the original battle was fought. We also
saw President Lincoln and General Robert E. Lee sitting together quite
congenially. I will attach a couple of pictures.
We are going to zone conferences in
Louisville, KY this week. We are going to teach the missionaries about
stress and anxiety. And, according to the wishes of the lovely Sister
Merrell we are going to the Louisville Temple on Tuesday evening. One of
the conferences is near the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. We plan to
visit there also.
My work as a medical advisor remains
quite interesting. There seems to be no end to the interesting situations
these young folks can get in to.
Hope you are all healthy and happy,
As they say here in Georgia, “Have a
blessed day”.
Love,
Elder and Sister, Mom and Dad,
Grandpa and Grandma Merrell
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