Tuesday Aug. 18, 2015

Finally ready to start our blog (thanks to Tianna). I realize that we are getting a late start with the passing of information Because we were talking about our mission and realized that we had already been out over 5 months. Lets begin at the first. We went to the mission home in Provo on March 9th and had an absolutely wonderful time there. What a spiritual high it was. We left late in the afternoon on the 13th for Georgia.  We stopped in Grand Junction, Colorado our first night, When we got to our hotel I went in to get our room while Sister Rumsey stayed in the car. While she was waiting, a young man and his 6 or 7 year old daughter passed by and he said,"look at all the stuff in that car." And the girl exclaimed, "Holy Crap." We did have a car full of stuff. When we were heading for the elevator with our suitcase a young family was coming down the hall and a tiny little girl yelled , "look it's the missionaries." That was fun and it made me realize that we are always being watched. How important it is for all of us to be on our best behavior continually.
      On the rest of the trip we were able to go through 4 Temples that we had not been able to attend previously. We also got to go through the Liberty Jail visitors center. Ran into some Hooper friends, serving a mission, there. We finally arrived in Georgia Wednesday afternoon Mar.18th and unloaded.
      After a couple of great days in a zone conference we got to our area to stay. Then we started out to meet the members in the outlaying areas and especially the part member families. I tell you that Sister Rumsey can get us in to homes that Elders alone could never get in. The Branch President and other leaders think she is an angel, And guess what, she is. It's getting late, I'll try to do some more catch up my next free moment.

Thursday Aug. 20, 2015

      Sister Rumsey is a little under the weather so I will take a few minutes and add a few more comments. It was on Saturday evening Mar.21 that we arrived in Ellijay to embark on our missionary journey. The next morning in Branch Correlation we were given info. on a member, Gary, to go and find. No one had met him.yet. On Wed. the 25th we had the time to begin the search. Our GPS took us on an interesting ride; winding and twisting through the mountains on gravel roads. Finally it said get out and receive walking instructions. We continued on up a cow trail in the car. Just over the crest of the mtn. we came to a beautiful home. We went up and knocked, no answer just dogs barking. So we headed back to the car. As I reached for the car door to open it for Sister Rumsey, a cheery voice called out, ".it's the missionaries, come on in." We had a nice visit with Diane. She told us that her husband was a member and that she was a member of another church but they both love the missionaries. As we later departed Diane told us when her husband would be at home and that we should come back sometime and have dinner with them. On Sat. May 16th we made it back to the top of the mountain in Blue Ridge to meet Gary and see Diane again. While Gary and I visited in the living area the ladies visited at the kitchen table. Before we left Diane told Sister Rumsey that they had some questions they would like us to answer and also do some Bible study. We are excited to go back there.  Fri. May 29th Early in the day we were involved in a couple of service projects. Later in the afternoon we headed for Blue Ridge to see Diane and Gary. We first answered their questions and then taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel and why it was necessary. Diane accepted a Book of Mormon and promised to read and pray about the things we had been discussing. She also committed to be baptized after she receives an affirmative answer to her prayers.