We Have A Loving Heavenly Father...

...and He has blessed us with an incredibly beautiful world. Elder and Sister Eastman took some pictures this last weekend, and I just want to share them with you. The amazing thing is you see these kinds of scenes everywhere you look. The cherry blossoms, wisteria and azaleas are the best we have seen in our three years in Georgia. Enjoy and be grateful...

Downtown Macon...The Cherry Blossom Festival is in full swing this week. Macon sports thousands more cherry blossom trees than Washington D.C.

A typical residential view...

Notice the "tree chopper"...he's up there starting to humble "the brother" of the pine that fell on the office. Both trees were totally grounded this last weekend in order to save us from further crashes.

In Macon, residents put pink bows and wreaths on doors and mailboxes to celebrate the Cherry Blossom Festival.

In case the cherry blossoms don't take your breath away, wisteria hangs everywhere.

And the azaleas come in all sizes and colors.

Could it be any more beautiful?

How would you like to take your daily walk down this path?

Senior Picture from February, An Azalea from March and A Horse Pasture from Heaven!

SENIORS FROM FEBRUARY....

We had a seniors' conference in February and I was supposed to post a picture then...I forgot. I've been reminded and here it is. This is a great bunch of missionaries. Top: Me and President, moving down...Elder Harper, Sister Hedrick, Sister Tanner (part of her face is covered), the Bensons, Elder Eastmans; moving down again and to the left...Elder Chatterley, Sister Harper, Elder Larsen, Sister Eastman and Elder Nielson; the sisters in front are Sister Chatterley, Sister Tenney, Sister Larsen, Sister Brumage and Sister Nielson.

AZALEAS FROM MARCH....

This six foot azalea will get you Northern Green Thumbs itching. This particular bush is in Statesboro.

AND A HORSE PASTURE FROM HEAVEN!!!

Savannah and Augusta Zone Conference Pics

Well, I did it again. Somehow, I always manage to miss a few missionaries when I just take candids. So, if your missionary is not here, please know he/she is on my list and will be on next round.
The weather in Augusta and Savannah was beautiful. The flowers are out, the birds are singing, the temperature is in the 70s and the missionaries and members are working hard. Zone conferences are always a blessing for us because we get to see the missionaries.

Elders Sharpe, Alvord, Koelling, Benjamin, Molis, Gawdun, K. Nielsen, Forbes, Manning and Beacham in the kitchen before Savannah Zone Conference.
Elders Kimball, Tanner and Price out in the parking lot after zone conference.

Elders Murray, Poole and Jeff Hall.

The Savannah South Zone Leaders surprised the missionaries with breakfast. Above you see Sisters Tanner and Hedrick and Elders Molis, Diaz, Heiner and Morgan.

Elders J. Clark, Gardner and French.

Standing Elders J. Clark, D. Smith and Murray. Seated: Front, Elders Rich and Thompson; back Elders Spencer and Robertson. Sisters Thomas and Barnes; Elders Rich, Beverley and D. Nielsen talking with President.

Elders Takapu, Price, Beacham, Manning and (seated) Foster.

Elders M. Kimball, Diaz, Skinner and Sharpe

Front: Elders Rogers, Fister and Slade. Back: Elders Ogden and Snow.

Elders Heiner, Morgan, D. Smith, Molis and A. Hall Elders Jeff Hall, Thompson, Robertson, Snow and Ogden

Elders Foster, Skinner, M. Kimball, Fowers, Price and Blackmer.

Cookin' up some breakfast...Elders Forbes, Martin, Bingham, Murray and Gawdun.

Seated: Elders Conlin, Talbot, Beverley. Standing: Elders Randall, Rowell, Wood, Rice, Beard and Bell.

Goin' for the good stuff...Elders Foster, Morgan, A. Hall, Fowers, Beacham, French, Skinner, Blackmer, (I think that's Elder Heiner's nose), Bingham and Gawdun.

Elders Blackmer and Fowers

We can't say enough about our senior couples. Here are two of them...the Bensons and the Nielsons.

Elders Beverley, Bell, Thompson, Ogden and Snow

Macon, Douglas and Albany Zone Conferences

We returned home last night from the Douglas Zone Conference. We were in Albany on Wednesday and Macon on Tuesday. We are continuing to train the missionaries on working with the ward missions and being Preach My Gospel missionaries. President and I focused on accountability, Elder Wood trained on humility and Elder Morgan on bearing testimony. Next week we will be in Augusta and Savannah. I'll post pictures from those meetings next week. I took lots of pictures in Macon, Albany and Douglas, but I still managed to miss a few missionaries. I'll try to get them next time around. Douglas: Elders Summerhays, Redford, Hartley, C. Clark, J. Clark, J.W. (a young man from Vidalia preparing to serve a mission), Elders Faux and Holyoak.

Macon: Front: Elders Stallings, Pettingill, Collings, Williams; Back: Sisters Miller and Orme, Elders Hoskin (hiding) and Corbridge.

Albany: Elders Brunson, Ilfra, McCarty, Joseph Hall, Jacobsen.

Macon: Elders Ramsten, Woody and Crane.

Albany: Elders Stoddard, J. Wayman, Barnett

Albany: Sisters Stokes, VanPatten, Redmond, Craw and standing Sister Chatterley. Grinning in the background...Elder Brunson.

Macon: Front: Elders Hutchings, White, Day; Row 2: Elders Beckman, Spendlove, Jackson, Mortensen; Back: Elders Garner and Horan (hiding); Elders Wall and Moon.

Albany: Elders Parker, Hickman, Silva, Murray, Kunz, Teare

Douglas: Elders Hale, Wood, Sister Barlow, Sister Oldroyd, Doctor Oldroyd (Area Medical Advisor), Elder Barlow.

Macon: Elders Horan, Garner, Ramsten, Williams, Hoskin, Collings, Jackson, Stallings.

Douglas: Elders Kimbal, Schaat, Levesque, Gropper, Redford, Hartley, C. Clark, Morgan, Wood, Barnes.

Albany: Elders Barnett, Morgan, McCarty, Joseph Hall

Albany...coming back from lunch: Sister Chatterley, Elder Godfrey, Elder Lokhorst, Elder Teare, Elder Carlson, Elder Fuhriman, and Elder Dilts. (I'm not sure who is standing in front with the back of his head to the camera, but he has a nice neckline on his haircut.)

Macon: Elders McKee, Hutchison, White, Day, all others have been identified in other pics!Douglas: President (back), Stake President Timothy Fussell and his wife Tammy; Elder Jenson, Sister Jenson, Elder Park, Sister Moyes.Albany: Elders Chatterley, Warr, Johanson and Nelson.Douglas: Sisters Jenson and Moyes; Elders Kimbal and Barnes.

Springtime in Georgia

It's springtime in Georgia. President was in Waycross yesterday and said South Georgia has even more flowers than Macon. The flowering pears and the azaleas are beginning to bloom in Macon, but are really gorgeous farther south. We will be in Albany and Douglas later in the week so I'll get some pictures and post them this weekend. Macon will be in full bloom by the end of the month. There are literally tens of thousands of flowering cherries in Macon. They are just starting to bud. Macon hosts the annual Cherry Blossom Festival starting on March 28 to April 8. It is the most beautiful time of the year. Add to the cherries, pears, and azaleas the dogwoods, wisteria, magnolias, and a ton more I don't know the names of and Southern Georgia turns into heaven. From now until the end of July there will be lots of flowers in Georgia.
The mission home is starting to turn green. You can see the azaleas beginning to bloom.

A flowering pear down the street from the mission home.

A close-up of a pink azalea in our flower bed. Notice the "pine straw" which is used as a ground cover in most flower beds in Georgia. The pine needles are slightly acidic and keep the weeds down. They actually bale the pine needles and then you shake out the bales around the flowers.

A deeper pink azalea...the home you see is our neighbors'.