How is your summer going?  We are having a great time here!  We traveled to Havelock to watch our YSA branch play a soft ball tournament.  We also helped cook a lot of hot dogs that day!

          Stopped by the beach on our way home.  Another time we took the sisters for a picnic and on Preparation Day we all went hiking at River Park North (unfortunately I forgot my camera.)

         The temperature is really starting to warm up now - 95 degrees plus humidity.  It is funny to get out of the car and have your glasses fog up.

         Many beautiful plants are still blooming - Crape Myrtle trees are now in blossom - whites, pinks, and purples. 
          Today we spent time on ECU's campus with our Branch Pres. and Institute Director from Raleigh trying to move the Institute program forward and set up a class there for the fall.  As we were walking, we were stopped by a young man who hasn't come to Church in a few years.  He happened to recognize our  missionary name tags and stopped to talk.  A blessing from Heavenly Father - we now have an appointment with him next week.  We are so thankful for the tender mercies of the Lord.  We really are blessed!  We look forward to seeing you soon.  Love you very much!

     We love our missionaries here! This was us on Memorial Day.  Transfers have changed our district since  then.  We have two new missionaries here in Greenville.

                        We love our Greenville YSA Branch.  This was our first night at Institute

     We had a very special day on Saturday June 2 when all the missionaries drove to Apex for the North Carolina Raleigh Mission Conference.  We were blessed to have Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder L Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder M. Keith Giddens of the Seventy come.  We were all able to shake their hands.  It was a very unforgettable experience!  We were spiritually blessed on that day.  We have promised to be better missionaries.

     Yesterday, we were in Kinston for a Zone Conference with Pres. and Sister Cotterell.  They are getting us prepared and ready to receive a new Mission President at the end of this month.  We love the Cotterells.  They are such wonderful people!  We have learned a lot from them. 

     The Institute continues - and wonder of wonders the young singles still come.  No one has died from Break the Fast meals either.  Whew!! We feel VERY BLESSED.  We know it is the Lord who is helping us.  

   We hope you are all doing well.  We hope you are reading your Book of Mormon daily -  it is ESSENTIAL.  We love you and appreciate your love and support.   We'll be seeing you soon.  Take care!

     We're just trying to keep up with life.  Institute has really taken our time.  With GREAT help from the director of the Raleigh Institute and our Branch Pres. we had 300 pamphlets printed up.  Then with the talents of our daughter-in-law, Brittny, we got some AWESOME posters made for the church houses in our Stake and some for the University campus.

     We were given a tour of ECU by our Branch Pres. to help us be more effective.  He teaches at the University.  We traveled to Kinston, Woodington and Washington to meet with the missionaries, to give them the pamphlets and a list of the young single adults.  On Tuesday we were in New Bern at a Stake Priesthood Meeting to pass out our posters, etc. 

     Institute Opening Social was a success - a MIRACLE from the Lord.  Only with His help were we able to pull it together.  Our lesson is that when you are serving him, He will make up the difference and it was HUGE.  We also survived a Super Soaker that night - 7" of rain.  It rained for several hours.  Roads were flooded, and there were power outages in certain areas.  

     We have enjoyed spending time with the Elder and Sister Missionaries.  They have come over on preparation days to play tennis and beach volley ball.  This is the last week we will have with Sister Matthews as she is going home next Tuesday.  It is so sad to have her leave.  These pictures were taken at Town Commons by the Tar River where we ate our lunch on the bridge.  (Not us in the canoe)

Great Quote,   "Embrace the day with an enthusiastic welcome no matter how it looks.  The covenant you made with God to which you are true, enables you to become enlightened by him and nothing is impossible for you."                                               Elder F Enzio Buche of the Seventy    

We love each of you and appreciate all that you do for us.  Wish we could be there with you on your special days. 
    

     Another great week!  Thanks so much for the Birthday wishes and surprises!!  Our family is really being blessed!

     On Friday and Saturday, we enjoyed a Couples Retreat with our Mission President and Sister Cotterell, sisters from the office, and all couple missionaries in our Mission.  Highlights included a trip to an aquarium, dinner and a special testimony meeting in Morehead, City.  It was soooo good to be with them.

    Next, morning we were on our way to Harker's Island where we took El's Local Yokel Ferry over the Sound to the Outer Banks.  We passed  Shackleford Banks with it's wild horses, and enjoyed some time at Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The day markings on this lighthouse are a diamond pattern - they create a compass.  Black diamonds for North and South and White for East and West. 

       We caught a wave from the Atlantic Ocean - or rather it caught us by surprise,  gathered some sea shells and returned back to Harkers Island.  The Relief Society fixed us a very nice luncheon after which  Elder Best told us the history of the Island.  When the missionaries first came, another religion burned down our Church house, the school house was burned next, and the missionaries were driven off the island.  But the members living on the island remained strong and faithful and now today they are very numerous, and a great strength to our stake. 

     We know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.  We love our Savior, Jesus Christ very much and are grateful for the Atonement.  The Book of Mormon testifies of our Savior and we will draw nearer to Him as we study from it's pages daily.  Thank you for your prayers, kindness, and upkeep of our house.  I hear good things about the yard from everyone.  We love you all,  Elder and Sister Myers

Hello,
 Another week has gone by quickly.  The weather here has been pretty nice.  We thought a couple of days were WARM but they tell us we don't know what WARM IS yet.    Thought I'd send a picture of where we live.  We are grateful to have such a nice place.

                                           
With the warmer days, we are getting to know some critters.  I had a close encounter with a MONSTER SPIDER in the middle of the night.  I couldn't scrub off the feel of stepping on him.  Thank goodness Elder Myers was here to the rescue.  Hope we didn't wake the people upstairs. 

         We took a picture of this cutie at the Church  for our grandsons to enjoy.   And now thanks to Sharon, we have applied an extra layer of "Defense" around our house and had the bug man over twice.

     We enjoyed another wonderful day at the Raleigh Temple and a trip to the Raleigh Institute where we learned more about our new calling.

     Our Branch is really changing now.  Some kids are going home for the summer and some others are coming here.  We have some GREAT kids in our Singles Branch.  Next Sunday will be interesting.  It's Mother's Day (Happy Mother's Day to you Mom's) and the attendance will be SO small, we have been told that we will have Sacrament Meeting with the 1st ward and the rest of the block in the Bishop's office.

   We took this picture of a Magnolia on our walk to share with you.  They are so BIG and beautiful!!
   

        We'd like to say CONGRATULATIONS to Bill & Gaylynne, Weston & Maren on their marriages and Lindsey & Adam on their Temple Sealing.  We wish you the best!  We're happy for all the new babies, Nixon, Benson & Boston!  Wish we could be there to support you in your school plays, programs, summer sports and High School Graduation, David.  We are also saddened by the death of Stacey Gordon. 
     You are always in our thoughts and prayers.  We love you very much, and as always appreciate all that you do for us while we are here!   Take care!

        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.