Our adventure this week was a trip to New Bern, NC for a church meeting and our newest calling - to teach Institute this summer.  We went a little early to look around and  LOVED what we saw.  This area was founded by Swiss colonists- naming it for Bern, Switzerland.  There is a lot of history here.  There's a place where the Civil War was fought, beautiful historical buildings, and the Tyron Palace Complex where the governor lived in Colonial times - so we really want to come back again and take a tour.  Young singles from our branch live here and travel to church weekly.  This is a picture of the bridge we crossed coming here. (The bridge is much longer.)

        We had fun finding bears throughout the city.  Each one was painted differently. (Cute one on right belongs to me.)
  

 
       For you Pepsi fans, this is the pharmacy where Pepsi-Cola was created.  It was first called "Brad's Drink."   Wish I could show you more of this beautiful place.   It felt like a mini vacation to us and became our date night for the week.

       Our evening ended with a wonderful fresh fish dinner and hush puppies before traveling home.  Hope you had a great week last week.  Thanks again for your assistance, letters and prayers.  We love you!!!!!

Hello everyone!  We are still alive!  One of the highlights we experienced lately was a Zone Activity Training Day in Kinston.  We were in training all morning and then everyone changed into their activity clothes.  Elder Myers had fun playing some volleyball.  Our shirts say, "Then I saw a pillar of LIGHT" on the back.  We also had our first "pig pickin" with the vinegar barbeque sauce, hush puppies and all the works - SO GOOD!!!! 

     On Saturday morning we drove out to a  farm near Ayden, where there were lots of chickens, calves, pigs, goats and several acres of strawberry plants.  Wow, I have never seen so many strawberries!  There were lots people out picking that morning and there were still tons of berries left in the fields.  We picked a little tray full and came home.  We found that we had SO MANY berries, we made strawberry jam for us and our neighbors.  Elder Myers didn't feel too badly about that since his only bottle of jam ran out a long time ago.   Don't you think this strawberry looks like an eagle?

 

   
      Following President Cotterell's suggestion to have fun and get to know the area better, we then went to a Pirate Fest in downtown Greenville near ECU campus.  Saw lots of exciting pirates, ate kettle corn while walking through their market and took a ride on a trolley car where we learned about the early history of Greenville.  It was very interesting to us and we have a new appreciation of beautiful Greenville.

       Then it was "Break the Fast" on Sunday.  My texting is really improving  - not as fast as the kids can text, but I have it down to two hours when contacting the kids in the branch who volunteered to help out.  Because I was given this assignment with 5 min. notice, the only meal I could think of was the Funeral Luncheon.  So that's what we had -  ham, salad, rolls, dessert and funeral potatoes - you know the meal.  Funeral potatoes was a new thing for the kids.  Can you believe it -it was the first time some had ever tasted them.  Good thing I left off the green jello.   :)

   Our very sad news is that the Sister missionaries in our area were transferred and one went home.  We cried.  :(   We will miss them A LOT!  Heavenly Father gave us some very special sisters to help us get started on our mission. 

       Today, we have decided that we will survive as we have met the new Sisters and Elders.  They are great!  Yes, we are still helping with discussions, visiting the YSA's and our other callings.  These are just a few of our other adventures.  Please pray for someone's "get-along".   It's slowing us down a bit even though he is exercising everyday.  We appreciate and love each one of you.   Thanks for you continued help, love and prayers in our behalf. 

      We had another WONDERFUL WEEK beginning with General Conference.  Hope that you enjoyed it also.  It was a little different viewing from the Church but we enjoy being with the other missionaries. 

        We did some service projects this week too.  This is a BEAUTIFUL place,  so why do people throw trash from their cars?  We decided to pick up the trash on the way home from our walk not knowing how we would get it all home.  We prayed to be able to find some grocery sacks along the way and as we walked, we found sack after sack until we had six sacks filled.

      We went with the Sisters to wash the cars of an investigator.  It was fun!  He bar-be-cued two whole chickens.  How kind!  FINGER LICKING GOOD!!   He even came to church today and we were so happy to see him.
 

 
       
       Thursday night was special to us when we found someone we could help.  As we went around dropping off  our usual "come to church invitations", we found a girl who was unable to go home for the long Easter weekend.  So we have been getting to know her better for the past couple of days.  It teaches me that Heavenly Father truly loves us and is mindful of everyone and their needs.

        It was the Sisters and Missionary couples day at the Raleigh Temple with our Mission President and Sister Cotterell.  What a wonderful day!  We felt like we were glimpsing into heaven.  We love our Mission President and his wife.  I think Elder Myers favorite thing is when Pres. Cotterell counsels me to "Have Fun!"  I'm working on it.   Hope you had a Happy Easter!!  Thank you again for all you do for us.

                                                   

Week 3

Hello again, Last time, we e-mailed  but we're going to give this a try.  We took some pictures of the pollen so you could see it.  It feels soft like powder.  Most people don't like it but it was new and fun to us.  We also took some pictures of the trees around the church house.  This is really a beautiful area!   The mulch around the trees is called pine straw.  It is pine needles piled up around the base of the trees.   

We finally got our MATTRESS - 2 stops at the store and 2 visits from the delivery guys - including a hack saw to cut off the bolts holding the head board on our fine furniture.  Whew!  I think it came because the Salesman got the idea that we were going to give him a new discussion at each store visit.  We were also able to hear the native language from the delivery guys.  You have to listen very carefully to understand what they're saying.

We have been on the ECU campus and around Greenville finding the kids.   We were inviting them to come to the Church house to watch General Conference.  Wasn't it Great!!!  Took pictures of some squirrels while we were on campus.  They run all over the place. 

We had a special experience when we went to find Donte - a football player for ECU who is a new convert.  He wasn't home. We saw some kids down on the ground floor watching us, and when we explained that we were looking for Donte, one boy, his roommate, ran up the stairs to let us in the room.  We had a Conference Invitation to leave.  Elder Myers started talking to him, explaining that we were from the Church and asked him if he had a church.  He said, No, but he was looking for one.  GOLDEN MOMENT!!!  It was worth a whole week of searching for young singles.  The sisters are going to help us out with teaching him.  They know one of the coaches who is LDS also.  YEA!!! 

We have had a lot more success this past week getting into the Dorms.  The Lord put people there to open the doors and escort us to the rooms.  It must have been your prayers.  Thank you!

Last week we had rain.  It had been raining hard during the night so when I woke up and looked out the window, I saw the ground was all covered white. I thought SNOW!!!  I woke Elder Myers up to see it but he wouldn't believe me; said it doesn't snow at 65 degrees.  Double checking I saw that it was white blossoms.    Later we went outside to take the picture.  I guess you call this Spring Snow here like we have Summer Snow (Alkali) in Emery County.  Thank you so much for your letters and e-mails.  It is so good to hear from you.  Thank you for checking on our house and everything else that makes this mission possible for us.   We love you very much!  Keep reading your scriptures and praying for us.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is TRUE.