Week 42 - Dwight

 

Milo and Mildred Harper Home - After Fire

When we heard the fire house siren go off Monday, we never thought they would have been called to a home that I've been familiar with for as long as I can remember.  A few months ago, a truck ran off the road and drove right through the end of the house.  Then, this week, some brush was being burned near the home and some sparks apparently got into the opened end of the house and started a fire.  Not sure if the house will be saved and it feels like an Albertson dynasty is coming to an end.  Milo and Mildred raised I think 9 children in this home.  Many of those family members now live close by.  This block home represents something good for me - a good family, most of whom I grew up with.  Milo and Mildred are gone and now the house may be gone too.  Sad.  But, their legacy lives on in their children and grandchildren!

My children will be thrilled to know that I made a carrot cake this week (long story).  For some friends that had birthdays one week apart, I made a carrot cake birthday cake (no picture, sorry) and it was as good as I've ever made.  We took it to them on Monday.  Well kids, when we get together I'll just have to make another one!

We went to a junior high softball game Monday afternoon to watch my great-great-niece, Jenna, play softball.  She did really well and the Woodington team won!  That brought back a lot of memories.

Linda and Donald were here for quite a while and left this week.  Sunday dinners will not be the same:( Before they left we had dinner with our good friends Darry and Shelby.  Always fun to catch up with them!

Tuesday was temple day for the missionaries, which is always a treat to go to a session with all the missionaries and our mission leaders.  Zone conference followed, which made it a double treat!

Missionaries gather at the temple

That night we attended the Ruritan Club meeting and were officially voted in as new members!!!  Carrying on the tradition my daddy helped start 71 years (Daddy was a charter member of the Albertson Ruritan Club, started in 1953.)  Later we had a discussion with Alin (Haitian) over Whatsapp.

On Wednesday we continued our missionary and reading lessons with Alex.  He's doing amazing!  Went to the church in Mt Olive to meet with the bishop to try and get Vaguens's Church records recorded.  Unfortunately it's more complicated than we thought - so some work to do still.  So, in case we didn't say, we have Haitian members of the Church.  Haitian Church records are infamous for being inaccurate.  So this one family was showing one brother as deceased (he's not) and one sister as deceased (she's not) and another brother is not showing at all.  We got the two deceased persons' records resurrected, but the non-recorded brother we're still working on.

We've been helping two of  our Haitian friends prepare for their marriage.  We helped them find wedding clothes, rings and flowers.  I think I've been elected as the official photographer.  The wedding is this coming Saturday and it's going to be a blast!!

Thursday I took my friend JR to lunch for his birthday (belated).  He suggested that we go to pizza buffet in Mt. Olive.  All I can say is "never again"  It hurt too much!  Then we drove around to see two of his uncles.  One of them has built a western town in his back yard, completed with saloon, jail, church and other buildings.  He's now building a "hotel".  He has a lot of antiques there and it's really quite interesting.  The other uncle has a nice pond we'll fish in one of these days.

Friday night Sandra invited us to the Dixon "man cave/she shed" for another fish fry.  I told her if I knew we were going to regularly get invited to dinner, she could have doubled our rent!  She might take me up on that, but it will be worth it.  We love spending time with the Rouse family!

JR and our "Fish Fry Feast"

Saturday we went to see our Haitian friend Wilguerson.  He and his fiancée are working on a marriage date and he's loving our gospel discussions.

Our son Jacob and wife Anna were moving some furniture into a new house in Beaufort.  We asked the New Bern missionaries if they could help them move everything in.  Well, not only did the New Bern missionaries show up, but our dear friends Elder and Sister Johnson and the Hermanas (Spanish speaking sister missionaries) showed up as well - so they had plenty of help and were so grateful!

New Bern Elders, Johnson, Hermanas help J&A move in

Today we drove to Snow Hill to pick up Alin, yet another Haitian friend.  Drove from there to Goldsboro (we spoke in the Goldsboro II ward today).  They did a linger longer (pot luck lunch at the church) and we drove back to Snow Hill and finally home to Albertson.  It's been great! And, it's always good to get talks in church behind you!

Of all the reasons I might have thought we were called home to serve a mission, teaching the gospel in my mission language from 45 years ago (French) was not one of them I would have ever considered, but God knows what he's doing and he puts us in places where we can learn and where we can be of service.  We're loving it!  It's not slowing down and we're so happy to be here.  Thank you for your love and support.  We love Jesus and we love you!