Thursday, August 31, 2006

Elder Anderson and Exploring the Mission

Hi everyone,

It has been a while since we have written. We love talking with you on the phone as often as we can but I hope to tell you more in the email.
Our last few weeks have been very busy and full, and somewhat demanding. I have tried to write things down as they have happened in my journal and I’ll try to make sure to tell you most of it.


Monday August 14th was Zone Leaders Council. We had all the zone leaders come into the mission home for a conference at 2:00 on the Monday afternoon for meetings. We had a dinner at the home, (Hawaiian Haystacks), had a fireside, and then all 21 stayed overnight. That night after the meetings, I was finishing up the potato salad and many of them were around the kitchen snitching. It ended up, that several had big bowls or salad before they went to be….It’s a good thing I made lots.
We had a big breakfast the next morning, with pancakes, bacon and eggs, juice etc. We then all left for the chapel about ½ hour away for meetings and training and lunch.(sloppy Joes, homemade potato salad, vegetables, chips and cheese cake). After lunch, we picked up all the departing elders and sisters (11 of them) there at that building, and brought them back to the mission home for interviews and dinner and a departing fireside. While we were at the meeting house in the morning, the office couple came to the house and took all the sheets and towels I didn’t get washed before leaving for the meetings, to a Laundromat to get them all clean. I was a little weary of cooking but I’m not through yet!

The next morning (Wed.) after breakfast, we took the departing missionaries to the airport. I cried as if they were our own children…mainly because one of them was one of our first assistants – Elder Jones from Orange County Calif. He has only been a member of the church for three years but is so schooled in the Gospel if puts us to shame. He is playing baseball right now for UVSC. He called to say he was doing fine but it was really weird to be home. We rushed back to the mission home after they all left, to square away the upstairs bedrooms and baths and fix dinner for the new elders coming (only 3). Off we went to the airport again to greet them…Elder Adams from Shelly Idaho, Elder Brown from Black Diamond Washington and Elder Shurtz from Canada. They are three great young men and they will add so much to the mission. I took a picture of them when they came off the plane and they loved having that memory. When Elder Shurtz came out of the airport and breathed the hot moist air, he about died .

We took them back to the mission home and oriented them as to what they could expect. We fed them a roast beef dinner (stringy of course), had a fireside, told them who their new trainer would be and where they were going. We then sent them off to bed. They had been up since 2:00 am at the MTC, so of course they were very tired.

They were all up early the next morning and the assistants came to help with a hearty breakfast. After taking pictures in front of the mission home and loading their luggage in the trailer off they went. I’m glad we will see them all every three weeks, at least. Now the fleet elder and referral elder and the assistants take 3 days traveling between Mississippi and Louisiana transferring the missionaries. It is a very stressful time until all are in their new places and the van and trailer are back here at the mission home. And of course, Dad and I went out to dinner….I wasn’t cooking another meal!!!!!!!

The son of the stake president here in Jackson was just called to the Portland Oregon Mission. A lot of the Missionaries that grow up here in the South go to one of the Utah missions so his family is very excited he will be going to the Northwest.

It is great to go into a store around here and when you are leaving they will say, “Have a blessed day”. Don’t you just love that? I hope I can have that part of my vocabulary…Same as “Y’all”.

We had two days to clean up the house and organize ourselves before Elder Anderson of the Seventy came to stay with us on the 19th. He and Parker (the President) had meetings with all the stake presidents in the mission on Sunday. I went to the Jackson Branch and played the piano in R.S. (I had been practicing all week). Can you believe it? I should have listened to my mom….she said that piano was more important than dancing because when you get older you might not be able to dance, but you can always play the piano. I’m not so sure I can either at this point in my life. I don’t think playing is the word for what I did…probably try is the better term. The teacher didn’t show up in R.S that same day, and because I was the only one that had read the lesson, I ended up teaching it. It’s amazing what you can do when you have too . Luckily there weren’t many gospel scholars present. Many of the sisters are trying hard just to learn the basics.

That afternoon after Parker took Elder Anderson to the airport, we packed and took off to stay the night in Hattiesburg MS (2 hours away). We have Zone Development meetings all this week which means we travel to all the zones for training and interviews, and we needed to get part way down the coast because we start early in the morning. After a great and much needed sleep, we started to drive the 1 ½ hours more south…Dad had some work to do so I drove…Needless to say, I got lost because I missed an exit and we ended up getting down on the Mississippi coast late. That’s what he gets for making me drive.

After our meeting, we toured the gulf area where Katrina hit….It is amazing to see McDonald signs without buildings or an Olive Garden sign with just a slab of concrete where the building used to be. Beautiful old houses are gone and trees uprooted. Even the casinos are destroyed. These people have been through so much! Since it is on the one year anniversary of Katrina, we hear so much about the experience again

We drove back to Hattiesburg to spend the night and then the next day were 7 hours of meetings and interviews. It is fun to visit with the missionaries and hear their testimonies. There is a new Baptist church that has been built not far from the stake center there in Hattiesburg. It has a swimming pool, bowling alley, tennis courts and basketball courts in it…It is huge!!!!
One of our single senior sisters drove back to Jackson with us because she was going home the next day. She stayed overnight with us…We took her to the airport at 4:30 am the next morning so she could catch her flight….needless to say we were pretty tired, but we had two zone development meetings that day so we couldn’t let down…Dad had to interview about 36 missionaries. We hurried home, packed again and drove the 3 hours to Monroe Louisiana so we could start meetings the next day.

We woke up to a huge thunder storm. I was raining harder than I think I can remember. There was very loud thunder and lots of lightning…It rained most of the day. Everyone was glad to see it because they said it had been a dry summer. It took until 3:30 to finish with the conference, and then we drove another 100 miles to Shreveport for the meetings to begin the next day… We went out to dinner with the stake president there, Pres. Merrill and his wife. They took us to a local eatery where we had cat fish, frog legs, piles of steamed shrimp, okra and sweet potatoes as well as coleslaw and hush puppies. The frog legs were better than the first time I had them. (I and the boys in the neighborhood, went to the pond and caught frogs. The boys killed them and cut off their legs and I cooked them in the fry pan…They weren’t very good like that. I didn’t know that you should bread them and then fry them…I’ll know better next time!). They had wonderful cinnamon rolls at Kelley’s, where we ate,– in fact, that was my dessert. The Merrill’s are great and dedicated people. She has been teaching early morning seminary in her living room every morning for 29 years.

We have been having some problems in this area of the mission because it is so far away from Jackson, and so we were there an extra long time… Dad needed to solve some problems.

That evening we went to dinner with the Lukes (Dad’s counselor and wife). We went to a little bistro owned by some Italian friends of theirs and we had pizza. We hadn’t had pizza since way before we left Oregon so it was great.

The next morning Parker had some meetings with some missionaries and I stayed in the motel room to work on my talk. At 2:00 Parker had to be at the stake center about 20 minutes away. I dropped him off and then I had to kill 3 hours while he was in meetings….so what did I do but go shopping!
I got some stitchery items so that I have something to do while I wait for your interviews etc. Next one who has a baby gets it.

At 5:00 I was back at the stake center for dinner….and what did they feed us? – PIZZA. We love pizza and can’t complain. It’s just funny it happened two days in a row.

Elder Christofferson and Elder Posey of the Seventy were here for the conference. The meeting was going great until Elder Christofferson
got up to give his talk. He said,” We haven’t had a female representative speak this evening so”… and turned to look at me, “ Sister Fuhriman I’m giving you 30 seconds to prepare”. You all know how I LOVE to give talks, especially on the spur of the moment!!!!!
When I got up I said, “I thought I was to speak tomorrow” and he laughed and said, “that too”. I seemed to get through it…your Dad thought it was funny.

At 8:30pm after the meeting, we left for Texarkana which is an 1 ½ hour drive northwest. We stayed in the Courtyard Marriott that night and had the first session of stake conference there. Dad and I both had to speak. Right after the meeting, they had a sack lunch for us and then we drove back to Shreveport for the second session (another 1 ½ hours.)
After our meetings in Louisiana we had to drive about 4 1/2 hours to get back home late that Sunday night. Monday and Tuesday of this week we have been trying to catch up…You can see why no email for a while.

They gave us a bookmark at the stake conference. It comes from a quote of Ezra Taft Benson. “When obedience ceased to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.” I got one for all of you…In fact, I got one for each of the missionaries too.

Some of these wards here have great history. One of the wards is named Red Star. It is out in nowhere and the story is that the name came from the Texaco Star on the sign of the gas station in town. That ward is also on Mormon Trail Drive.

Our office couple is from Idaho Falls. He used to work for NASA and was one of the engineers during the moon flights and walk. She is a quilter so we have some things in common. They are wonderful and calm people – we have learned a lot from them….They only arrived a month before we came.

We had our office staff meeting on Tues. the 29th. After the meeting we took the missionaries to the local lunch place – Hamils…It is an old building where everyone eats on a long table or there are some individual tables in another room or outside. It is a buffet (which the missionaries love). We had all sorts of salads, (corn, cucumber, potato, green, coleslaw and lots of others)….Fried chicken, barbequed beef and pork, beans and rice etc. The desserts were great…peach cobbler, banana pudding and bread pudding. We ended up eating outside because there were so many people there…We were on redwood picnic tables under a patio cover…sometimes swatting flies but the food was great…needless to say, I didn’t cook dinner that night.

The missionaries are bringing over a man and his fiancĂ©e to the mission home tonight for dinner and then to teach them a lesson. It is really great to see how the missionaries interact with the investigators and teach…I definitely have a lot to learn!

Dad couldn’t believe how long this email has become, but I keep remembering things I want to tell you.

We love y’all!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER! I remember so well the Sunday you were born!!!!!!!

Mom and Dad

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Museum and Lukes

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your cute cards and letters and e-mails. We are really doing okay, and we are glad you are all there to lend encouragement….It’s sort of a turn-around since it seems like only yesterday we were doing the same for you. David, we hope you made it home okay. Jen and family hope you are having a fun time at the lake. Catherine and Matt, you are finally home for a while and Diana and Brett, your camping experience with Cameron reminds us of Jennifer’s first camping night :)

Mom has a new “pink” cellphone . My new number is 601-862-7591. It doesn’t have my great ring but maybe when one of you comes you can help me with that.

What a two weeks this has been. We have been home about three nights in the last ten and have had 21 seniors here at the mission home for a conference this last weekend.

On the 28th we drove to West Monroe, LA to speak at a missionary fireside. We had dinner before the meeting in the home of the ward mission leader. He is young returned missionary that was here on his mission. He met his wife here and after he returned home, he came back, they dated and were married.



They have two little children and it was fun to be around them. The little boy is three and when you ask him a question he responds with “yes ma’am”. All of the missionaries are courteous in that way…Parker says he feels like he is still in the service because they all say “yes sir”.

The next day, we went into Monroe to the Biedenharn Museum and Gardens. It is the beautiful old home and gardens owned by Joseph A. Biedenharn, the first bottler of Coca-Cola. It is a beautiful setting by the river and a tree-lined road. He has a whole room of coke memorabilia and they have an old coke machine that you can get a coke for 5 cents…..I got you one, Chuck. Our tour guide asked us a lot of questions. She was from Atlanta, and the mission office was above where she worked. She said they were always the nicest people, and she was very nice to us…so glad others made a good impression on her. It made her want to visit with us.

The Museum also contained a large collection of bibles that Biedenharn’s daughter, Emy-Lou, had collected, including some very rare Gutenberg pages. We were not able to see the collection because they had had a fire last April that damaged a great deal of them. The fire was arson caused. The gardens were beautiful and it was a great break from the stress of the last few days.





We drove on to Shreveport, LA for church the next day. We had to speak in two ward Sacrament meetings on Sunday. In the investigator class in the Shreveport First ward, there was a whole room full of new converts and investigators, we met some great people. One man and his family had just joined the Church and they are planning on going to the temple next year. Another was an older black sister – grandmother- type. She told about her experience to try to quit smoking. It took her desire to go to the temple before she could “kick the habit”. We find a lot of investigators here have that problem.

After the first Sacrament Meeting an Elder Gardner introduced himself to us. Logan Wilkes was his first companion, and he credits Logan for helping him have a successful mission. We had a wonderful visit with him – his younger brother was just called to the Baltic Mission to speak Lithuanian.

After Church, we went to the home of Parker’s counselor, David and Karen Luke, for dinner and a missionary discussion.





The missionaries were teaching two of their daughter’s friends. He is one of the best member missionaries we have met. They have people in their home all the time so the missionaries can teach them. They are a beautiful family. His wife plays the harp, as well as piano and sings. They have a son on a mission in Guatemala and three daughters – 17, 14 and 10.
They are not ashamed of the Gospel and many of their friends have joined the Church. As they eat their meals, they read the Book of Mormon and discuss it. It was a very uplifting day and one we will not easily forget. It certainly made us want to live better. This family could live almost anywhere they wanted, but they choose to live here where they can be of service to the Lord doing missionary work.

We got back to the motel that evening quite late but in plenty of time to receive our nightly phone calls from the missionaries but grateful for the day and the wonderful people we had met.

The next day was our first Zone Conference which was in Shreveport (we have three days of conferences). It was fun to see the missionaries, see the hoods of their cars up for inspection and the smile and greetings we received.



The conference seemed to go well…Parker’s assistants are terrific teachers. We learn so much from them, and I know the missionaries do also. The spirit is always so strong when they teach. What would we do without Elder Jones from Orange county (a member of the church for only 1 year before he came out on his mission) and Elder Cahoon from Bountiful?



I know they will be taking over a mission like ours some day…they could even do it now! 


We drove back to Jackson, a 4 hour drive, so we could get to the airport to meet Sis. Pancheri. She is 76 years old, and this is her second mission. She was in London just a short time ago. She is so fun…We stopped to get something to eat and visit, and then took her to the mission home for the night. We had to leave early the next morning for another zone conference so the office couple took her down to the Mississippi Coast where she will be serving.



After Zone Conference, in Clinton ( ½ hour away), we packed up and drove to Hattiesburg, MS. for our conference the next day (3 hours away). There are some huge Baptist and Methodist churches in this town. The Temple Baptist Church covers, at least, 25 acres.



On the drive back, we stopped at a fish house, and had our first fried dill pickles (they may be our last).  Our grandson, Parker would love them!



Thursday, we just had time to regroup because Friday started our Senior Conference.



All the senior couples and singles came into Jackson in the afternoon on Friday. We had dinner here at the mission home and a fun evening of “getting to know you”. We have some great people serving here… Elder Bush, A WW II hero written about in SAINTS AT WAR; a sister that will have been on her mission longer that she has been a member of the church, a couple that have been to the Mississippi Jackson mission twice, a couple that were in Samoa for two missions, and several others that have been on other missions before coming here. One couple has 12 children and two of them have 10 children. We even have a couple whose grandson is also in this mission.

The next morning for breakfast, Brother Peterson made his famous Sourdough pancakes (with some Oregon blueberries thrown in).


After breakfast, we all went to the Branch building for instruction and discussions for about 3 ½ hours. About 12:30 we went back to the mission home for lunch. We have some wonderful seniors that are making a great difference and we are so grateful for them…one of our favorite couples goes home (to Bend, Oregon) next month and we are sad about that.

Sunday, at the Jackson branch, two of the New Orleans Saints Football players were in church. They practice here in Jackson and so they come to the branch to church when they are in town.

I had a great experience the other day. I received a phone call at the mission home from a woman. She said she was in a terrible situation, in a drug-infested apartment complex, and she needed help to get out. I thought, “oh no, someone wanting financial assistance”. I told her that we have no money here and that we can’t help her except I can send two missionaries to teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ if that is what she wanted. She thought for a moment and then she said, ” Yes, I would like that”. I thought, “This is too easy”. I got her name and address and phone number and called the office elders who have that area. They went to see her that night with the office couple. Her baptism is set for the end of the month. She was at church of Sunday, and she is coming for dinner tomorrow night with the elders….The elders call her “my referral”.

We went to the baptism Thursday night of Margaret Hill. Her son, and sisters and grandchildren are all members. Every time they would have a church book in the house she would throw it out. She didn’t want anything to do with the church. She went through a lot of sets of missionaries, until Elder Mudrow challenged her to read the Book of Mormon and pray….Now, she joins the whole family as a member.

It is starting to get easier for me to understand the Mississippi accent. A lady called here for the former mission presidents’ wife. Sister Blake had purchased a baby blanket at the cat and flea festival and wanted to check the address. She was telling me all about the festival and what a great thing it was to go. It wasn’t until we were in Meridian and they were raving about the Canton Flea Festival held the second Thursday in October and the second Thursday in April that I realized the lady had been telling me about the Canton (a town about 1 hour away) Flea Festival, not Cat and Flea Festival. I guess the whole town is flooded with thousands of shoppers who start gathering at midnight the night before. Parker and I stopped at Canton on one of our long drives through Mississippi. It is like going back into the 50’s when you look down their main street. I loved the town because outside the old city hall there was a banner hanging which said, “God Bless America and God Bless Our Little Town”. How could anyone not like a town like that? 

Hope all is going well there. I told the elders last week, that Mississippi was one of the coolest places in the USA. The eastern states and California were much hotter. It brought a smile to their faces.

Life is good and the missionaries are AWESOME!!!!!

We love you all,

Mom and Dad