3 words

Our first full week in Tennessee can be summed up in just three little words, "Coffee County Fair".

Our bodies can also be summed up in three little words, "Tired, Exhausted, Pooped".

Our feelings about serving a mission here in Tennessee – 3 words:  "We Love It!"

Now let me explain myself.  The Ward had a booth at the fair that was staffed and worked by the missionaries.  We were having a drawing for two prizes.  One was a big framed picture of Christ and the other was an assortment of "Thrive Food Storage" products.  To enter you simply needed to fill out a short 4 question survey!  The last questioned asked was if the person was interested in learning about the church.  Those that said “yes” to question 4 became our referrals for the missionaries to contact.  Ward members were also scheduled to share and work at the booth in shifts.  Of course our shift was easy to remember - we were there! 

So here is how our week went;

• Monday and Tuesday we were away from home from 3PM – 10PM
• Wednesday and Thursday we were there from 8AM – Noon, then back at 3PM – 9:30PM
• Friday and Saturday we were there from 8AM – 9PM.

Needless to say, we did nothing to get our home set up and put into order.  The frustrating part was that we, (all 8 missionaries) were there by 8 as instructed, but couldn't get inside until about 9-9:30AM. 

The fair was lots of fun!  We ended the week with 444 referrals and a one day record of 171!

This is a pilot program in Tennessee, and it is fabulous.  I can't imagine so many people stopping by a church booth at a fair in Oregon.  We talked to lots and lots of little children, of course we gave out free cookies and balloons with CTR on them which gave us an opportunity to explain what C-T-R meant while the parents were filling out the survey.  It was a busy, exhausting, and fun way to start off our mission.  We got to meet lots of people and also had a chance to get to know the young missionaries here.  If we learned anything from the young people this past week, it was that we are old and cannot possibly keep up with them even though we tried our best!

As the sisters were sending around the missionary dinner calendars I told them no thanks, they didn’t need to feed us.  Remember, ward members are encouraged to feed the missionaries to help with their finances, which is great, but this ward has 4 sets of missionaries!  I just thanked them, explained that we don't eat dinner, and we would really prefer that they feed the Sisters and Elders.  I have a little slow cooker that Elizabeth sent with me and we use it.  I made up a pork roast that we ate for several days.  We also ate at the fair every day, so we are doing just fine. 

Speaking of "fair food", when I heard we would be at the county fair I was thrilled.  Fair means SCONES!  I couldn't wait.  Monday after some searching we found the scone/funnel cake booth - so exciting.  I stepped right up and ordered my scone… I could taste it… and – NO SCONES!  They only make scones on Friday Evening.  It was so hard to wait till Friday, but I made it.  Back to the scone booth and ordered MY scone.  Sorry!  The boss decided NOT to serve scones this year.  WHAT???  So sad!  Saturday on the way to the fair we stopped at Wal-Mart and I picked up a bag of Rhodes frozen rolls and stuck them in the back of the car then put them in the fridge when we got home.  Sunday after church I made my own scones.  They were great!

We are getting settled in little by little and the 5th wheel is starting to feel more and more like home.  We love being here in Tennessee and the KOA seems to be a perfect fit for us. This is a grand adventure.  I now go if we go out to the main road and turn left we can go to Wal-Mart or Home Depot and if we turn right we can go to Wendy's or Sonic!  What more do we need?

Papa is excited about only paying $3.08 for gas.  We travel a lot so he likes when we save.  The church is about 30-40 minutes away. 

Our primary duties while we are here, as we understand, is to work with less active.  They want a branch here in Manchester, but there are several things that have to happen first.  The first Sunday we went to church here a lady came up to me and introduced herself and said, "I live in Manchester, we want a branch there, so get busy."  WOW no pressure.  We really can't do anything more until we meet with the bishop. We hope to do that this week.

As I said before, we love it here, are settling in but still missing ya’ll lots and lots.

I'll end with 3 pictures...