Hello Everybody!!
I've been having some internet issues over the past week and was unable to post sooner.
I figured I'd share some info about our Memorial. As I stated before, our congregation has about 27 publishers (I think). We had 58 in attendance at the Memorial! That's pretty good, but we were expecting more. However the day before the Memorial and the day of we were having a snowstorm. Down here when it snows everybody pretty much stays home because the roads can get bad pretty fast.
So all in all, we were quite happy to have the 58 in attendance due to the weather conditions!
So two weeks ago we had our Circuit Assembly. I'm in WV Circuit #1 and we go all the way to Salisbury, NC for our assemblies. It's a five hour trip, but everyone is so grateful to have an assembly hall that we all willingly drive there. I got to go to the Pioneer Seminar again, what a treat! So on our way to Salisbury we stopped to hike at Pilot Mountain State Park, which is outside of Winston-Salem, NC. Here's some pictures from our hike!
This is a panorama from the top of Pilot's Knob.
If you look hard, you may be able to see the highway that we got off of.
Here is Herb, our fearless hike leader!
Molly and I stopped to take a little rest on some rocks. I made the mistake of wearing sandals because I didn't know we'd be walking. But it wasn't too bad!
Another scenic outlook.
This is Pilot's Knob as viewed from the highway.
The pictures above were taken from the very top of it.
And now for some pictures of the Salisbury Assembly Hall. I found out from a friend that it is the largest in the US and the most used assembly hall.
The stage.
Front lobby:
The outside view from the front.
This was a neat map of assembly halls in the US Branch. To give you an idea, I live in the little pointy bit of Kentucky that's wedged between West Virginia and Virginia. My circuit used to go to the London, OH assembly hall, but that is almost as far away as Salisbury and much more crowded.
So our circuit had an average attendance around 958, so it's a little smaller than DE Circuit #1. But we have 157 pioneers and there was a 50% increase in pioneers since last year! What amazing growth!!!
It was so encouraging to see the rest of our circuit. Up until now I felt a little isolated because we are so far away. My congregation is at one edge of the circuit and their are congregations at the other end of our circuit which is about 5 hours away.
So now here is some pictures from my adventures over the past month. We went kayaking a few weeks ago, and we drove right down into the river to unload!
This is Johnny, he was getting all set to launch.
Out in service a week or two ago we stopped at this house. This is where Johnny and his 7 siblings grew up. There were 10 people living in this little house! Right now it is unoccupied.
Last week Pike County had something called Hillbilly Days. It's kind of like a county fair. But they shut down Downtown Pikeville (our 'city') and you see these cars parked all over the streets and fair vendors all over. They also have craft tables. Hillbilly Days is held to benefit the Shriners Hospital. So you can probably imagine some of the characters you'd see here. We went on a rainy day, so the crowd wasn't too bad. But the day before, it was sunny and the streets were packed!
This picture was taken this week. Up in the top of this barn is Johnny and a boy named Jonathan. This was taken at Rachelle's bible study's home. Her study Ernestine is in the pink jacket and is Jonathan's aunt, but she raised him. Anyways, Johnny was waiting outside while we had Ernestine's study and Jonathan came along and started talking with Johnny. Long story short, they ended up playing pool in the top of this barn. The whole time, Johnny was witnessing to Jonathan and they would pause to read scriptures. Jonathan agreed to a Bible Study.
Last but not least this is the guard pony we encountered this past Saturday. We pulled into the head of this holler where I have a call and the little pony came running down the hill. I got out and it let me pet it and scratch it a bit. But after I went to the door, the pony wanted to chase our car down the holler. Yes, it was loose and not fenced in! Or sometimes you will see horses tied to stakes in the yards here as well. Saturday we also had a softball game at the local park. I switched my work days so that I could go to the game. So if anyone would like to come experience seldom worked, we also like to play sports and hike! So come ready to explore and play!!
