Another great week in Pikesville

The best news first!!!!! Look, there is water coming from the shower head.  This is the cause of much celebration.   We no longer hves a small-flow (very small) shower where you had to stand right under the head to get any water.  (See  Book of Mormon,  Alma 18:5)

This is the view down our street.  I am making these pics larger so Katie can see them.  This is the nicer side of the neighborhood.  Anyway, we have been busy trying to meet people in the community.  It is slow go.  One evening we went with the Elders to dinner at a member's home....way up the mountain (what isn't up the mountain?), She had a nice home.  3 years ago a tornado came through and really messed up the land and completely destroyed her next door neighbors home and killed the wife.  However, Sis. Shackleford's home was okay.  She fixed a big meal of stuffed bellpeppers (stuffed with Venison....not my favorite), potatoes, rolls,  veggies and fruit.  We are learning to eat southern food.  Sorry I didn't get a picture.

We had a bright idea how to do service in this community.  We wanted to help with family history.  We went to the library and spoke with the head librarian because they are sponsoring an event where people could bring in their civil war heirlooms to be cataloged and scanned.  We offered up our services to help doing anything they needed.  We were met with an iceberg.  She did tell us it was the year of the commemoration of the civil war and she was trying to find some grave sites of soldiers from Bledsoe Co.  We offered and offered again to help, but she wasn't buying.  Finally we turned and left out the door only to have her run after us and say she changed her mind and gave us 2 papers with the name of 2 men who she couldn't find the graves of.  We took them and tromped through the Brushy Cemetery that was about 10 miles out of time.  We found both of them and took their pictures.  Of course, Findagrave.com helped.  I don't know why she didn't look there, but it worked for us.  Well....end of the story....she was thrilled and the iceberg melted a little.  We are hoping to do more for her.  One thing that was interesting was that in the course of the conversation she told us she was very upset because she found that someone had put a headstone on the grave of a deserter.  I guess she didn't think his family would like to know where he was buried.

On Friday we returned to the home of the Curtis's.  They are the elderly couple I put a picture up of last time.  She had fallen and hurt herself and couldn't get the rest of her beans and blackberries picked in the garden.  The Elders and Darryl went and picked  the beans & blackberries.  She asked me to sit on the porch with her and sort the beans.  We did and she told me her life story.  We only got half way through because she had me laughing so hard.  They are the typical old couple who when they are apart they each blame the other for things that didn't work.  They had been married for 57 years.  I asked "Are you going to plant a garden next year?" she said "He says that next year we will only plant 1/4 the size of the garden."  I said "Is that enough?" She says "Well, he says it is." With her statement she makes the funniest puppy-dog face.  That is very typical of all her answers.  Jack then prepared a snack for us.......pulverized cabbage (no dressing or anything in it), sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumber, fried onions and bell peppers, pork & beans & wierners, slices of polish sausage.  But the good part was the fresh Blackberry pie.

Saturday the town had a World War II reenactment.  This is what it looked like.  Sorry, I couldn't get too close.  It didn't last long because one of the soldiers got flour in his eyes (from the fake gun powder) and fell to the ground screaming.  It took so long to get him settled that we left.  We walked down main street and chatted with some of the community people.

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This is the road we got lost on Sunday on the way to  pick up the Cadds for church.  This was the good part of the road.  The rest of it was filled with rocks that were about 3"x3".  It was mighty rough.  The part that didn't get filmed was much narrower.  The car barely fit.  We won't be travelling that way again.

For my older LDS friends.....do you remember this?  These little flags were standard decor in the Primary (the childrens Sunday School) when I was a kid.  I even remember the song that went with them.  This Primary is a little out of date, as is the whole ward.  This is in the church where we travel 35-40 miles each week to attend.

Last night we had a tornado warning.  The Elders had to sleep here in our house (under the orders of the mission president) because they live in a trailer.  Inasmuch as we have only 1 bed in the house, they slept on the couch and the floor.  It was pretty uneventful until about 11pm when we had a thunder and lightning storm. They were dazzled.  We were not because we have much louder storms in Tucson.

Today is P Day (Preparation Day), the day when we get to do whatever.  The Elders are here using our wifi to e-mail letters home.  That is Elder Strandling facing the camera.  He is amazing.

Well, that is all this week.  Brother Dunn is doing good.  He bakes bread about 3 times a week and then we try to find someone to give it to.  We went to the Pioneer Day potluck on Saturday and ate local Cuisine (all fried).  Brother Dunn's stomach wasn't doing too well Sunday morning.  We have only cooked 3 meals in our kitchen so far.  That is nice.We think of all of you often and wonder how you are doing.  Let us know!  We enjoy the pictures of your horses and our grandkids on facebook, and try to keep track of you that way.  Please excuse my bad typing and worse english.