Well, last time we talked I had barely survived the rain storm that made me vow to never wear white again after labor day. It rained for several days and then cleared in time for Jennifer and Harve Crotts to bring the sunshine back to Nashville. It has cooled considerably. It has been in the 60s lately. The fall colors are still not in full bloom.
We worked real hard in the Mission Office on Monday through Thursday so we would have time to play on Friday. The Crotts arrived in Nashville on Thursday afternoon. It was good to see someone from home, and the 7 dozen tortillas didn't hurt either (5 regular and 2 Jalapeno). Tim and Emilee were wonderful to go and buy those for us so we could have good tortillas. We are planning some great chimis and green-chile pork. We gave 1 dozen to the mission president.
Because we had worked so hard all week, we were able
to take Friday off and do some sight-seeing with the Crotts. We toured around Franklin, TN, where the battle of Nashville was fought in the civil war. There are some beautiful old homes there, Then we took them down to Pikeville, Tennesse for the grand tour. There is nothing like it. Whoever thought I would miss Pikeville.......not me! But I guess it says something about that little town if I was so happy to go back for a visit. This is a picture of the Crotts in front of the little blue house on Birchwood. They are with Elder Hansen and Elder Westra (his new companion). They came and met us at the empty house so we could run in
and use the bathroom. We were all hungry, but no one was brave enough to pic a place to eat in Pikeville. So, we went up the mountain and visited some of our favorite people. This is the Pendegrasses. They were so happy to see us. Kari is holding a counted cross stitch book in her hands. She showed us her beautiful cross stitch project which is in progress. She is planning on handing that finished work to her mother on the day of resurrection as her mother is raised from her grave. I hope that works for her.....I didn't have the heart, nor the knowledge, to tell her that may not happen. Her daughter, Valerie, is still making jewelry and caring for her many cats. We should all be as sweet as these people are. I know you have probably been wondering what
William Sapp (the kind hermit) has been up to. Well, we visited him too. He is still building his little house. That is it behind him (the black one). He has done alot, and that is good because it is getting cold up there. He said it was too cold to sleep in his little travel trailer the other night, so he slept on the floor in his unfinished cabin. I'm not sure where he found room on his floor to sleep on. He was happy to see us; but we were awfully happy to see him too. I think the Crotts enjoyed that too.
We would have visited another family, but they were out of town. Darn, I really wanted to see them. So we wound our way down the mountain and went to Crossville to lunch at the Sister's Cafe. This is where Harve thought for sure they forgot to put the 1s in front of the menu items, because
everything is so cheap. We had a hot roast beef sandwich (open faced) with potatoes and gravy, rolls and green beans for $4.50. that is a ganga.
Saturday we went to the Nashville Temple for a sealing. (This is an ordinance in the temple in which husbands and wives are sealed to each other & children are sealed to their parents in eternal families. This means that if we are faithful to our covenants, our family relationships will continue for eternity. People sometimes also refer to this as "temple marriage".)
Of course, some of my favorite Tennessee people were there.
I'll bet you can tell who the couple is and their children.
Then, the Crotts and the Dunns went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was so much fun. We were able to watch a short film about all of our favorite old-time country singers. Can you remember Tennessee Ernie Ford, Minnie Pearl, Patsy Cline, Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers? This picture is of one of my favorites......Don William's old blue shirt and his worn hat. He sang one of my favorite songs "Lord, I hope This day is good". Jennifer and I sat and watched the film so long that the men gave up and left us to go downstairs. But we got even with them. When we got home, we left them to nap while we hit the one-day sale at Macy's. We got some great buys, and then we finished it off at J. C. Penneys.
The next morning we went to Church. The Crotts were able to make contact with a young man in our ward who served a mission in Tucson. Then after the 1st hour of church (yes, we do go for 3 hours...broken into different meetings) they left to continue on their trip. It was really a shame because when we got to our Sunday School class, who sat right in front of me?
David Archuleta. He was the runner up on American Idol several years ago and has since done very well as a performer. We had a great chance to visit with him. He is very shy and he is very humble. He would only introduce himself as David from Utah. He said he is in Nashville often to record and to collaborate on writing his music. The picture is fuzzy because I had to take it very quick. We were in a small room with just a couple of people, and he was kind of hiding from some girls who were trying to take his picture.He said it was okay for me to take the picture. He gave a wonderful fireside (a meeting where someone speaks) for all the missionaries in the Nashville Mission that night. It had been a secret as to who was coming to speak, until we saw him at church. At the fireside he sang and shared experiences from his mission to Santiago, Chile. The format was that he sang 4 songs and he answered questions from the audience. One of the questions he was asked "What was the biggest thing you learned on your mission?" he responded by saying: "I learned of the power of forgiveness and how it is for everyone and of the Atonement of Jesus Christ." He stated that repentance is God's plan for happiness. He shared several very touching stories. He was so shy when he started on his mission that sometimes he would just ask to sing a hymn to someone. He and his companion sang a lot of hymns. He did sing the song Glorious from the movie "Meet the Mormons". It was a great night for us to be there. I wish you all could have been thee. He was so inspiring. He also spoke a lot about how missions change who you are and the need to be sure you don't go back to your old ways when you return home. When he got home he had to take over his career and had to change managers twice so he would have people around him who would understand his values and priorities. They all said it was about HIM! He would be rich and happy....but he found that that did not make him happy. He knew what would make him happy. That is why he left and went on a mission in the first place. He found joy in serving others and putting the Lord first in his life. The last song he sang was "I"m Trying to Be Like Jesus". I got a short video on my phone of him singing, but was unable to get it to load on this. Sorry.
This is a picture of all 250 missionaries who were at that fireside. I have a yellow circle around David Archuleta and around Darryl. I am in the picture also. Can you find me? Me either! But I was there.
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