The beauty of knoxville

 

I can hardly believe another week has gone by – they seem to fly!!!  We are really busy and so that is nice.  Learning more each  day and able to do more on our own without having to interrupt others to help us out.  Important and not so important stuff:

 

      Told you we have had a lot of rain – more water than we have seen in ten years total.  Thursday evening we were taking a car to some elders – dad was driving the elder’s car & I was driving ours, when a thunder storm – a deluge – hit.  The water was coming down in sheets – we couldn’t see the road, the car in head of you, the side of the road.  It was horrendous!  We pulled into a parking lot to wait it out – we were there with several other vehicles – all just waiting.  The rain came and came and came – it was 20 minutes before it was just normal rain and you could safely travel.  If that rain had come in St. George, our house would now be in Vegas!
      We took Elder Mann home to Maryville on Wednesday.  Their home is in the Smokey Mountains and for here, is fairly high on the mountain side.  It was like driving in a storybook adventure.  We went through canopies of trees – one place reminded me of the Igabod Crane, where he starts down the lane through the tunnel of trees and meets the headless horseman.  It was breath takingly beautiful but if it had been dark it could have been very scary.
      We are getting ready for the Asheville, North Carolina missionaries to come into our mission – happens on Monday, July 1^st.  So I am doing LOTS   of paperwork so we will be ready and it is so neat to see Elder Laws Casper’s picture and name.
      There is to be a Zone Conference in Asheville on Friday, July 5^th.  Papa will be there – I probably won’t—with everyone gone someone has to run the office and since that is my job that is most likely where I will be.
      We have been watching the fireflies at night – what a fun sight.  The kids around here really do catch them in bottles to watch the light up.
      I have seen a real cardinal.  I know I am not big on birds – but this is the first time I have seen an actually cardinal.  They are tiny birds and the males are bright red – it was kind of fun to see them.  I was in the car and they couldn’t get me so it worked out great.
      Papa and I spent last night and this morning cleaning out kitchen drawers and cupboards and cleaning them up so we can use them for the next months.  This is a darling house but Pam Dosch just left everything and said use what you want and do what you need to make it work for you.  We are doing that.
  Last week for Father’s day, I did a roast/potatoes & gravy and orange Jell-O for dad.  We had the sister missionaries from down stairs up and it was almost like a family – but we missed all of you.