I love the green in Florida.
I love the vines that grow to make a blanket of green over everything.
It is a paradise here!!!
These vines grow over the wires and up the posts.
This vine is growing up the inside of a big oak tree in the shade.
I love the big billowy clouds here.
They get so big with all the humidity in the air.
This is the wall surrounding Busch Gardens.
YOU CAN'T SAY YOU WEREN'T WARNED!!
They go all the way around.
I guess they aren't kidding, they don't want you to climb the walls.
This dinosaur is in Tampa made out of wire.
This is our garden in front of our house.
Brother King just planted the poinsettias.
Hope they'll be beautiful at Christmas time.
This tree is in the front garden. It is starting to blossom now.
The first flowers are yellow and then they turn red and then pink.
It's beautiful all through the transition!
Florida has some of the most beautiful skies you can see!
Don't you agree?
They even have 'sun dogs'.
I love looking up!!
The moon in the day sky.
This is a beautiful plant that we have in the side garden.
It stands about 8 feet high.
The yellow blossoms on that tree are now all over the ground.
They get tracked everywhere.
You can sweep them up but more just fall.
What a great sign outside the baptist church.
President & Sister Summerhays took these elders out for dinner.
We were invited to tag along.
Do you see what the meal is served on?
...... a garbage can lid!!
There are some of the yellow trees with the red and pink flowers changing.
More sky in Florida. I love these clouds.
Notice the color in the sky!!! Amazing!!
There are so many different kinds of clouds to make it very interesting.
More of that same beautiful kind of tree. I love them!!
This is just outside of an Amish restaurant in the side yard.
Pretty cool!!
This is the fence behind.
We took Sister Wright here for some pie that was delicious!!
Sister Wright was my pianist for the choir for our
"Song of the Heart" fireside.
We traveled to many zone conferences to rehearse the mission in small groups.
When the trees grow here and get into the wires
they just cut the tree to fit around the wires.
This is a good example of that!
Notice all the different clouds in this picture.
Someone lives in this house.
People here are really struggling with economics in the country.
Here is another vine growing up the wire.
This is a church in the strip mall.
One of the yellow trees.
Our lonely mailbox!! 126
This is a Palatka Holly tree.
Here is a close-up of the berries.
They get so heavy they cause the tree to really bend down.
This tree is in our neighbours yard.
It is amazing how far that one branch has grown out.
In Florida to make gravel for the roads they have to grind up sea shells
because they have no rocks here to grind into gravel.
Some of the yellow blossoms are still on this tree
but the red blossoms are just coming out.
This flower is a Confederate Rose.
When it opens in the morning it is pure white but changes throughout the day
to turn pink, first a light pink and then a really dark pink.
The blossom lives for one day only.
This is a 'bird of paradise' flower.
It's just a different variety than the usual one.
Beautiful flowers on a random vine.
The Gourds for Thanksgiving.
This is a Confederate Rose.
This is first thing in the morning.
The new blossom is pure white while the wasted blossom is bright pink.
More Confederate Roses.
An plant that is an 'air plant'.
It needs only air to live. They are all over here.
This is our home away from home.
There is the yellow tree with orange trees up the side of the house.
The big oaks are in the back.
Another variety of flower in our gardens.
An orange hibiscus in the back garden.
This is another blossom from the plant that stands about 8 feet high.
They are so delicate and beautiful.
This is a beautiful home that we have next door.
Our neighbours, the Brannens, live there.
They are also members of the church.
This is our home from the back yard down by the lake.
The house is right in the very centre of the picture.
We live on 5 acres.
A nice little neighborhood we came upon in our travels.
This home is close to our home.
Notice the rust on the tin roof from all the humidity.
A bright, BRIGHT, little, LITTLE shop close to home.
I took this for the vines growing on the house.
This is another absolutely beautiful home.
We have so many brightly coloured homes.
Someone told me it is the tropical influence you find here that make people like bright colours.
This is such a tiny little home.
They come in all colors and all sizes here.
Here's another fun house for the colors.
....green, orange & yellow!
A big green house. There are many bright green homes.
We are on a bridge here.
You might not recognize it because of the foliage on both sides of the bridge.
The bridge covers over the swamps.
There are so many kinds of greenery in this photo.
Here's another interesting home.
There are quite a few homes with the castle influence on them like this roof line.
This home is a bright pink and wine colour.
A little church on the side of the road.
More vines that blanket the grass and plants.
These vines are growing up the fence.
Bright colours are everywhere!!
This road is going under a bridge but notice the small retaining walls on the side of the hills.
They are those little spots where there is wood built to hold up the dirt.
I'm not exactly sure what these ones are doing, being so small.
We thought they were kind of funny.
Here's another look at them coming through the tunnel the other way.
This is very close to where we live and even closer to the Elders' and Sisters' homes.
We just don't think it will be great food when it features fried chicken AND Chinese food.
We'll find other places to eat.
A church we passed.
Confederate Rose.
See the little lizard.
These blue flowers are everywhere here.
They grow on bushes and cover them.
The 'bird of paradise' flower.
At our Ward Fall Festival right before Hallowe'en.
They had great games for the children down this hallway that the YW put on.
Here I am with a family we were teaching.
Here is Samantha. the girl with her mom, Sarah and her grandma, Teri Schultz.
We have been seeing Teri since we got here and now we are seeing her daughter too.
These are great ladies!!
This is Sister Rosenberg and Sister & Brother McKinley.
(Winnie R. & Barb & Bob M.)
These are the Hopkins boys.
The Bishop is on the right and his son who just left for his mission, Nick, is on the left.
Nick is in the MTC over the Christmas week.
We had many non-members and less active members attend our Fall Festival.
The little "Bee family" are investigating the church.
This is Heady (sounds like Haiti, the country) with her daughters, Tanai and Janellee,
and her nieces and a nephew.
Elders Gonzales & Call serving in Lake Hamilton Ward, our ward too.
This is the Fernandez family. Miller is a member, and his wife,
Yasmin is being taught by the Elders with their little girl.
This is Bryon and Liz Volmer with their little son, Jacob.
She is the Relief Society President here.
The witch is our Elders Quorum President with two of his sons.
In the forefront, we have Blue, the father, with his boys. Blue is a great cook!!!
He usually cooks for all the ward parties.
Behind them at the table I am sitting with Alex & April, our investigators,
and Brother Sam Mariammal. We only use his first name, last name is too hard.
He comes from India and is the second person that was baptized in India.
New members of the ward from Utah, the Ericksons, Jim & Val.
They are great friends.
This is Brother and Sister Bastine.
We love this couple.
This is Daniella and her mom, Sister Hernanez.
Daniella married Josh Brannen from next door and her mom lives just across the road from them.
These are our neighbours and they are wonderful people.
This is Taylor Friddle, our new Primary president.
She has a great presidency to work with. The Primary is in good hands!!
This is the Cox family.... or at least part of it.
Brother Cox is the High Priest Group Leader
and Sister Cox is the Young Women President.
Wesley, their son, is sitting by Sister Cox and is still 15 years old and very tall!!!
This is Heady Torres and her family again
with Sister Wright at the back of the table and Sister Vincent in the front.
Sister & Brother Hernandez, our neighbours.
Melissa Hamm
She is so beautiful isn't she.
She teaches in Primary and is such a nice woman.
One of the game rooms the Young Women did.
This is Sister Driggers with her grand-daughter, Alia.
I'm not sure about that spelling.
This is me & Teri sitting with Heather (Driggers) Maise standing.
Heather is married and lives in the Winter Haven Ward.
She is so good to the missionaries in her ward.
This is the Driggers family.
The little girl belongs to another daughter and the dad is Ron.
He's the big scary man in black on the end.
This is Hunter Alcantar.
His mother is Melissa who is so ill.
The desserts!! - a were-wolf cupcake!!!
We love this little girl. She likes to play with Elder Draper.
Here is Blue Sewnarine with his two little boys, John Ross & James.
This is Brother Elridge and Sister Jacquelyn Henderson.
Sister Henderson is the lady who almost lost her leg when we first got here
from stepping on a staple.
Sam Mariammal, from India.
This is a dead Southern Belle.
Doesn't she look just like Scarlett O'Hara?
This is Melissa Hamm's daughter, Andrea.
This is another cute little girl from our ward - Mindy Mier's daughter, Madison.
We have Jarra (J pronounced as a Y and roll the Rs)
with Sister Wright and one of the little Bee cousins.
Janellee with Sister Wright
Sister Wright with Tanai.
A plate of were-wolves.
Worms in dirt for dessert.
Cute little cupcakes
Madison & Mindy Meir
Mindy teaches Relief Society.
This is Cindy Hopkins, our Bishop's wife.
She is one talented lady. She can do everything!!
These are people we are visiting, Evan & Ellen Wheeler.
The sky the night of the party.
The sun goes down very quickly here.
Isn't that a beautiful colour?
Trunk 'n Treat
Taylor Friddle, her maiden name is Cox.
Everyone in this ward is related.
These are the Powell girls, Leanna on left & Jordan on right.
Their Dad, Brad is the 1st Counsellor in the bishopric.
Their mom Kristin, is a counselor in the Primary presidency.
This is another Friddle girl, Joanna, but she is married to Jonathan Padgett
who was a missionary in New York under President Larry & Sister Flora Spackman.
Sister Jacquelyn Henderson I think comes from 'under the sea'.
Melissa Hamm handing out treats for Hallowe'en.
Here I am with Ron Driggers.
This is the Clayton family. Breley with her mom, dad & little brother behind.
Her Dad is 2nd Counsellor in the Bishopric.
At the end of the evening it was a difficult clean-up due to the hay that came into the church.
I don't think that will ever happen again. It was almost impossible to clean up.
The vacuums are horrid and didn't suck up anything.
More pictures are coming soon. This was a fabulous party. One of the first times when everyone really tried to bring friends, non-members and less-active members. If they keep up the good work the work will be progressing much more quickly. This is a good ward!! We love them!!!!
We also miss and love all of you at home!!!!
