Last Saturday, we made a three-hour drive to the Atlanta Temple. Here is a picture of the Angel Moroni statue on top, up in the beautiful blue Georgia sky.
With us came a new member, a sister who was baptized last April (before we arrived in June). She had prepared to do two Temple Baptisms, for her two deceased grandmothers. Sister Katherman helped her with that and also helped her at the Temple.
This sister is not very tall, so the water in the baptism font was high on her chest, and it was a little scary. And, she is also very fearful of water to begin with! But, she had great faith and was baptized for and in behalf of her two grandmothers, along with five names supplied by the Temple. What a great day for her family!
And, I was able to attend a Temple Session there too. That was a nice experience, since we haven't been able to go to the Temple for several months.

A member of the Church in town has a husband that was injured a couple years ago in a motorcycle accident and is a quadriplegic. So, they use a hydraulic lift machine to transfer him from his bed to a motorized wheelchair. But, the lift has a lever to adjust the legs of the machine to get around the width of the chair, and the lever no longer works since a part broke.
The first picture is the lift mechanism showing the rod (which is connected to the lever) and the part below on the floor. It's supposed to connect that rod to the bolt sticking out on the leg of the machine.
But, the second picture shows that the connector part was somehow split open and no longer connects the rod. 
We searched for parts with medical suppliers, to no avail. But, a company named Fastenal here in town found the correct part and actually gave it to us for the family at no charge! Very generous of them! (We thanked them with some chocolate brownies made by Sister Katherman)
​So, we will go and install the new part later today, so the lift will work properly from now on.

The neighboring city, Lyons, Georgia, holds an annual event at a big sports park, which is a Bar-B-Q competition and fall festival event, and they call it "The Real Squeal" (since much of the meat cooked is pork). We had a booth there and handed out about 100 copies of the Church pamphlet, My Family, which is a booklet that helps people to start on genealogy and family history. We also handed out about 50 copies of the "3 Ways to a Happier Family" booklet from the Church, along with 3 copies of the Book of Mormon. It was a great, although tiring, day! The Elders are following up with a fellow there that asked, "What does y'alls church believe?" 

Here are a few pictures of some recent sights here in and around Vidalia, GA. We were traveling a few days ago and came around a corner to see a cotton field in full bloom, seemingly ready for harvest. Never seen one of those before! very pretty!
And, we saw some trees along a country dirt road, apparently planted in straight rows like a "crop" of timber to be harvested sometime many years later. We see that often here...
Several trees, usually the oak trees, also seem to gather a blanket of moss. 
Lastly, we saw an offer to buy dead rattlesnakes for $3 per foot... Not a business that i would want to enter!

Saturday September 12 began with a steady, light rain. We teamed up with the Elders (Elder Bleyle and Elder Vaughan) to assemble the Family History and Family Helps booth for the Downtown Vidalia Music Festival event. With the rain, we got pretty soaked and then went to McDonalds for breakfast.
​We and several Ward members handed out information on how to get started in family history/genealogy and also some pamphlets and videos on how to have a happy family. We invited everyone to the free class to be held on Beginning Genealogy at the Church on Sept 15. 
The day later cleared up and the event was fun. There were lots of other booths and food vendors, together with some classic cars and music. we met many people, including the Chief of Police. 
The class itself had six non-members attend and Sister Katherman provided a great beginner class for them. Three of those signed up with her for follow-up work on the computer with her. 

Our city of Vidalia observed a 9/11 Remembrance at the City Park, with banners, flags, the High School Band, and a speaker from the local Army base. it was nicely attended, and the band played America the Beautiful and Taps. The speaker discussed Patriotism and the sacrifice of our armed forces and first responders in defending freedom. At the end of the ceremony, after a wreath was presented in remembrance of those who lost their lives that day, a girl scout said "Have a blessed day" (which is a common saying here). 

In the first picture above, there is with us Elder Lyman (on the right) who finished his two-year mission and returned home to Blanding, UT. Also with us is Elder Vaughan, from Farmington, UT. Elder Lyman did a great mission and we wish him well in his future!
The second picture is us with Sister Schmidt, (on the left), who also finished her 18-month mission and returned home to SLC, UT. And, also with us is Sister Barber. Sister Schmidt is the daughter of John Schmidt, who is one of The Piano Guys. He gave a concert in Statesboro! She also did a great mission and we wish her well too!
The third picture is the lineup of luggage for the new arriving Elders and Sisters at the Transfer Day in Macon. There were about 20 new ones arriving and about that many finished and went to their homes.Quite a bit of logistics involved!
We drove up to Macon to pick up our new Elder serving in Vidalia with us. He is Elder Bleyle, and we tied some of his luggage on our Rav4 roof so we could also bring his bicycle.  

As we were driving one day on a country dirt road, we came across a field of sunflowers. It was such a beautiful sight that we stopped and took a picture.
There are lots of crops grown here, including cotton, soy beans, corn, tobacco, peanuts, and of course, onions. And, there are lots of pecan trees, as well.

Sister Katherman was introduced as a professional genealogist at the Ladson Genealogical Library in Vidalia. The event was called Ladson After Hours, and was attended by about 33 people. 
She gave a brief presentation about her background and offered to do one-on-one coaching at the library. Everyone gave their attention to her and Martha Powers-Jones, the Library Director, (well, except for little Maren Young, who is just two years old).
Sister Katherman has also been helping members of the Church with family history at the church building. 

Here is a photo of us and our good friends, the Full-Time Missionaries in our Vidalia Ward. The tall one is Elder Beckman and the other is Elder Lyman. They are really great young men... they work hard and help the people with lots of service, as well as being deeply devoted to the Lord and being great teachers of the gospel. 
Elder Beckman has been transferred to a different location. He will continue serving in a ward near Columbus, GA. Our new one is Elder Vaughan. (sorry, we don't have a photo of him yet)
Yesterday, we visited a new member in a neighboring town. He is Ricky and he also just graduated from boot camp and will soon get his active duty orders. A very nice young man! He was baptized during his boot camp in MO. 
We have been visiting many people and inviting them to attend church. Several of them came last Sunday, so that was fun! One sister has recovered from her illness and can now drive herself to church. (We had transported her before) 
And, we have enjoyed teaching with several members by ourselves and also some with the Elders. One sister asked a very deep question: "How can I find God's purpose in my life?" We had a great scriptural discussion on that!