Susan always does a great job of taking pictures when it's her turn to write. Me, not so much. Sorry for all of you that read this for the pictures. There ain't gonna be many this time.
From the time I can remember and all the years growing up in Albertson. North Carolina, there was a ditch beside the road in front of our house. It always had water running in it, and many tadpoles and crayfish became playmates to my brothers and me. Not too far from our house, there was a large hole close to the ditch that for years never got filled in. I was told that that there used to be a very large tree where that hole was and that when Hurricane Hazel came through, the tree was blown down. Hazel came through in 1954, a few years before I was born. It slammed into North Carolina as a category 4 hurricane, the only category 4 hurricane to make it that far north. It was kind of a "perfect storm" scenario. With record setting temperatures around 102 degrees in early October, and very warm ocean water temperatures, the climate was ripe for severe weather. The damage caused was massive. The small coastal community of Long Beach had 352 buildings out of 357 that were destroyed! And of course, our big tree was blown down, leaving a hole that remained there for years, causing a little boy to wonder why. While Hazel was North Carolina's strongest storm ever, the state has had many other storms of note. Diana was a category 2 storm that brought about 14 inches of rain in 1984. In 1996 Fran was a category 3 and brought 24 inches of rain. Floyd came through in 1999 as a category 2 and also brought 24 inches of rain. Matthew crossed the state in 2016 as a category 1 with 19 inches of rain. And who can forget Florence in 2018, which was only a category 1, but moved very slowly and dropped a whopping 36 inches of rain and caused severe flooding throughout all of eastern North Carolina.
I'm thinking about storms this week because Tropical Storm Ophelia just came ashore this weekend. We happened to be at the beach Friday night and did get a picture of the wind blowing the surf.
While we were down there we drove through Sneads Ferry. Apparently, it was named after Robert Snead, who had a river-crossing ferry in the mid 1700's. It's known for it's shrimp festival. The only thing I remember about Sneads Ferry as a boy was going there one time with my dad to buy of all things, shrimp.
You may ask, "why were you at the beach when a tropical storm was heading your way?" I'll tell you. We went down there to meet and hang out with a long lost cousin of mine, Durward Potter. He's my first cousin, twice removed. I've been communicating with him and his uncle, George Potter, all week, sharing family stories and photographs. Durward and George are both descendants of my uncle Benagy Potter and I've had such a wonderful time with them electronically this week. The week was capped off by Susan and me meeting Durward and spending about 3 hours with him. They had been asking around about the Potter Family Reunion, that years ago was held annually at the old Church building that my grandfather helped build in Duplin County. They left a message with the sister missionaries in Albertson and they gave me Durward's number and it's like a little miracle that we found each other and have been able to share so much. I wish I could share all the new photographs I've received, but I will share this one from 1969 of the attendees at the Potter Family Reunion. The others I will make sure make it onto FamilySearch. Mama and Daddy are in this picture as well as Durward and his family, along with a lot of other Potter family members. I was 11 and was probably playing in the woods, because I don't see myself anywhere in the picture! See if you see anyone you know.
We did do more than hang out at the beach this week. We met a lovely couple, Clifton and Betty Huggins. We had a wonderful discussion and felt the Holy Ghost bearing testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have an old store behind their house that they have restored in all its glory and it was quite amazing!
We visited again with our friend Greg Harper with the sister missionaries that are now in Albertson. We discovered that Sister Johnson, full-time missionary at Albertson, is the granddaughter of Dave Larsen. Dave Larsen and his wife bought our house in Cedar City a few years ago and, unfortunately he died earlier this year. Susan was able to help comfort Sister Johnson as she reminisced about her grandfather. We also had video chats with all our kids and families in Utah. We discovered that we may want to do them more often since our grandkids are too grown since the last time we saw them!
We were able to teach several individuals and families, the Faisons, Melissa and Angie. We have grown to love these wonderful people and are glad that God put them in our path. Serving as full-time missionaries is a lot of work, but brings so many blessings.
In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Helaman taught his sons, " And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
The storms of life come, as they always do. Sometimes they can be very hard to weather, but if we are built on the rock of Jesus Christ, exercising faith in Him, believing Him and His promises, following Him, then those storms "shall have no power over" us "to drag" us "down to the gulf of misery and endless wo." Believe in Christ. Believe his promises, because they are sure. He is our rock, our sure foundation. We love him and love you all!
I really enjoyed reading this.
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