Fun & Friends in Florida

These are the Strawberry fields in Plant City just about 45 minutes from our house.

Towards the end of the season they let you go in and pick your own for a very inexpensive price.

Brother King goes there often to visit a daughter and every time he goes he brings us strawberries.

I've made lots of freezer jam.  It's been good to give away to our friends here.

This is backed up so you can the whole field.  Amazing.

That's hard picking to have to bend over and work in the heat.

                                       

                                   This is our front garden.  We got one red lily that was beautiful.

This is the red one with the sun shining on it.

                                                                                                                                                                                        

Great shot, eh?  I thought so.

                                          

This is a picture after the tornado winds came.

See all the chopped leaves on the windows?  

It was hard to get a good picture so you can see the green in front of the green trees in back.

Turkeys

We see them occasionally near our house.  There were 6 of them.

A great restaurant we went to in Tampa one day with the senior missionaries.

It was a luncheon to wish Elder & Sister Mott good-bye. 

 They were going home in a couple of days.

President & Sister Summerhays

These are two of the finest people on the earth.

They are so loving and kind and most importantly, close to the Spirit to lead us.

Sister & Elder Mott 

He was in charge of the housing and the mission finances.

Sister Mott was the mission secretary.  (2 huge jobs)

Elder & Sister Sachel

They came to replace the Motts.

At this point they were feeling a little (a lot) OVERWHELMED!!

Sister & Elder Knight

She is responsible for supplies and mail.

He takes care of the vehicles and phones.

What a beautiful setting for lunch!!

A peacock.

It is mating season.  

I didn't take this picture but all the males were strutting around with open tail feathers.

It was taken at a place where they raise them or something.

Isn't he beautiful?

What little hen wouldn't love him?

Sister & Elder Mott

This is what he is most famous for here.

Elder Mott is so funny.  

When he tells some things you aren't exactly sure if it is the whole truth or not.

Sometimes he starts out with truth and then starts spinning a web to see if you're still listening.

When it isn't true the index fingers go down!!

When they're up you know it is the truth.

When he has one up and one down you're going to have to figure out what is true and what is not.

We love this couple!  

We didn't get to spend too much time together but we made very good friends with them.

They live in Utah so we can visit.

Here is President Summerhays at Christmas doing his 'Elder Mott' thing.  haha

Everyone does it now.

This is our dear Robin Ribakoff.  This was the first time she tried to get baptized.

She is so afraid of the water that she just couldn't go through with it.  

The first time she got her feet wet.  

The second time she got right down into the font and couldn't go through with it.

She is so child-like and she simply starts to say,  "I think I'll go home now."

No matter what you say to her she just repeats herself.

When we got her out of the font she told me that she would give me all her books back.

I told her that the books were hers to keep forever.  We didn't need them back.  

They were for her and Heavenly Father wanted her to have them. 

Then she asked me, hardly looking at me, "Can I still come to church?"

Robin lives in a half-way house.  I'm not sure of all her problems.

I do know she knows the church is true and wants to be baptized.

We are now working with her in the pool at the Harrington's house so she can get used to the water.

She first got her feet and below the knees wet.

The second time she was in and dipping down up to her neck and splashed water in her face.

She wants to try to be baptized again this Friday, Good Friday,

 so she can be confirmed on Easter Sunday.

We are all praying hard for her.  We love her!!  We all love her!!!

She hasn't had a dress but she asked Sister Harrington one day if she could help her buy a dress.

She has the money but needs help to get one.  They went shopping last evening.

Now she has a dress to be confirmed in.

She also mentioned to Sister Harrington that every one seems to have a job to do to help out.

She says,  "Can I have something to do too?"

Is that precious?  Heavenly Father loves this woman!!

This is an osprey nest up on the post.

They have these all over because there are so many birds here. 

I think it's a real nice sight to see.

They make brand new nests each year and they seem to come back to the same post too.

  These are the parents watching over the eggs.

Isn't it a great nest?  They love the Spanish moss from the trees.

I love the Ospreys.

The Bald Eagles make many nests like this too.

ZDM Zone/District Meeting

When we first came here I knew what new members must feel like 

with all the FHE, YSA, things we talk about.

We have ZDM, CT, OYM and many more.

I first I had to keep asking what does that mean??

CT - church tours, OYM - open your mouth,

meaning speaking to people you run into  on the street.

Here is Elder Draper having some sage bit of advice for the Elders..... again.

We are always doing role plays to learn and practise how to teach better.

When we do this, one set of missionaries act as the missionaries 

and another set act as the husband and wife of the home.

They are poking fun at Role Plays here.

These are two wonderful missionaries!!!

They have the spirit with them but that's not apparently obvious in this picture.  haha

Elder Mott had a school bus run into him.  Not his fault but the School bus is part of the county so Elder Mott got the ticket so the county didn't fine itself.  Florida!!

He got his car back and two days later they had come to my recital and went back to find there car broken into.  I felt badly for them.  This was just as they're trying to get ready to go home.

The missionaries sometimes would gather at the office and Elder Mott thought that after a while they should be out working so he would line them up, turn on the music and march them outside.  Then he'd go in and lock the door on them.

Drapers and Motts

We went out for a dinner before they left.

Manatees

I got this from someone else just to show you what they look like.

A darling little lizard.  Our pets here.  I love them!!

 Frogs on our walls outside.  They come into the light to eat the bugs that come in the evenings.

There are four lined up in the picture.

You can hardly see the one at the top just above the crack in the wall.

Bugs and more bugs!!  I don't like these little gnat-like things!  

These are akin to the love bug

The larger bug walks forward and the smaller one walks backwards and they can really move. 

The little red things are babies to the love bugs.

Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see them.

There were tons of them.  Brother King sprayed to kill them.  

There were so many that sometimes you'd look down and the ground was just moving.  

Kind of freaky for me!!!

A few more babies.  They were everywhere!!

A bay leaf tree in our garden.   I can make a lot of stew with this tree.

It smells good too.

This is the grass in our yard.

It doesn't get much better than this.  From a distance it looks greener than it really is.

Thus the saying, the grass is greener on the other side.

Right in the center are new oranges starting to form and there are still oranges hanging on the tree.

(Enlarge the picture to really see them.)

Citrus trees are the only tree that have mature fruit, blossoms and new fruit on it all at the same time.

The grass at the church.

The same grass now looking down.  

We chuckle to ourselves because this grass we try to kill at home and here it is their best grass,

 actually the only grass that will grow.

Nice shoe eh?

I got it at the shoe store right outside of Walmart at Northland Mall.

If they still have them, I'd love another pair. Size 8

Any color would be fine.  Then mail them to me and Jonathan will pay the bill.  Thanks!!

It is so comfortable.  This request is for my children only.

I don't want my friends rushing out to buy me shoes now!!!!!!!  I mean it!!!

Jonathan, don't pay any friends!

We love you all!  We are happy and working hard and we are hot, getting hotter every day!!!