The Barbecue Project

We started this project a couple of months ago. We were able to get three businessmen in town to donate the materials for the table tops that we put on the unfinished rock stands that had been built by another contractor. We died them a tile red and then sealed them with a red sealer to prevent the grease from discoloring them. The units were donated by a combination of a vendor who cut and molded the steel parts and the welding class at the high school who put them together.

I think they really turned out good. I'm not sure the lady who is the Park Ranger thinks they are so great. She better like them they would have cost here over $2,000 to make and install them I am sure.

We are going to do some painting of a bridge at the park with a special paint that we used on the steps at the cabin. It should do well. Next week I should have the memorial plaques for the BBQ's and we will put them on as well as paint the bridge. If the painting goes well then we may do the picnic tables as well.

It is fun to do these service projects for the community.

When your weary feeling low.

My dear sweet companion has been sick for over a week now. I think he pushed himself to hard with all the things we have been involved with. He is feeling better and it has moved out of his chest. He is just not energized. Don't worry I am keeping things slow and simple until he shows signs of his usual energized self. He has been working on a presentation for District Meeting.
That has given me time to find a few grants for the city of Tompkinsvile to see if we can't help the town get on its feet.
I have a plan for a cell center which would encompass to begin with 100 new jobs and hope it could increase up to 400 jobs. The pay is from 9-20 an hour. Most people work from home but around here there Internet is so slow and unreliable that they can't work at home. So carol had this idea of a Cell center. I have been working on a plan along with finding grants to help this along. We will see how far it will go.
Haven't been àble to sleep it is 4:20 am raining outside and I am wide awake. I hate it..
Good news on Lafayette...we just got the go ahead to proceed in setting up a Family Home Evening. We will do this in stages until we get 20-30 in attendance and then we will hold a sacrament meeting until we get 30-50 then we make a branch and start the proceedings on a building. They have had amazing results in Winchester,Tn. We are hopeful for Lafayette. One things that makes this so difficult is that we live an hour away from it. We are hoping for missionaries and a couple to be placed in Lafayette. It would be such a blessing.
We also have found out we may have to move from our little cottage. This saddens us very much. We are trying to find out from the housing. We heard this from our district leader. So we will check it out to see what we can do.

Grills are done!

Even with Elder D not feeling his best we trudged on and completed the grills. Hopefully, we will get pictures on board soon. We hope to break them in with a cookout this Friday!

Challenges

Challenges, challenges,,,the world of missionary work is filled with challenges. We live and are assigned to a ward in south central Kentucky near the Tennessee border. The poverty rate here is almost 25%, the activity rate in the ward is about 25% and not getting better. The home teaching rate is closer to 20% when it is done and many of the members have not seen a home teacher in years.

One story....We visited a couple with a six year old son. They live in a single-wide trailer along the narrow main highway between Celina TN and Tompkinsville KY, about 4 miles from the TN border. The trailer is on a property in the back of a house that belongs to the father of the husband. It is a trash heap with can, logs, old chairs and other miscellaneous pieces of junk all over. We knocked on the door of the trailer, a dog started barking and we could hear a noise at the door. It was their six year old son. Finally the mother came to the door and welcomed us in. We were met by an unkept house that looked like the outside. The boy was playing a karate type game on an old tv and the father was in the bedroom. We talked with the mother for a few minutes and then the father came out and took over the TV game and started playing it while we talked to the mother. I tried to engage the father in a little conversation, but he was not to be deterred from his game.

I asked him about his work and he said he did a little of everything whenever it came up. They are apparently on welfare of some sort and he does not really try to find a full time job. My thoughts went to the six year old and what he was learning from this couple. The mother is a little slow in comprehension and is not quite as normal as the average person. The fathers seems to be quicker and more normal, but has decided to remain in the life style he has become accustomed to. It is, as one person put it, pitiful.

I am convinced that the welfare system we have is creating more people to be on welfare. It will destroy our country. The father is not interested in the Church...too complicated to explain, just know the parents of both a husband and wife can influence the children's choice about the Church

Flowers or snowflakes?Spring or Winter?

It seems like Mother Nature is confused as the rest of the world as we are approaching the end of March and it is still snowing. Elder Donaldson and I thought we were serving in a southern mission that would be warm. I didn't bring a winter coat but I have learned to layer well when preparing to go outside.

Why do we make life so hard on ourselves? Just a little more than a month ago a woman in mid thirties was taught and baptized into the gospel. She has had a very difficult life and it was awesome to watch her grow in the gospel as well as her personal life getting it on track. Two weeks ago I noticed something that gave me a red flag and I mentioned it to the Elders. As Bob and I taught her the new member lessons...we realized that she didn't really comprehend the restoration and what it meant. We met with her the second time and still she didn't seem ready to move on so we went through the restoration video and then had. A nice discussion asking her questions and making sure she "Got it". The next time she didn't call and I finally got a hold of her. We re-scheduled. I ran into her brother at Walmart and he said she moved down to Cookeville where her X and baby girl live. She share custody with her X. I called her talked to her and asked her what was the happiest moments in her life she said her baptism. I asked how she could let that feeling go so easily Yes,I understand she wants to be this eternal family but she isn't ready. I feel like I am hitting my head up against the wall and letting her down at the same time. It is so frustrating. Anyway, we are still working with her but only by text.
Another couple in the ward was preparing to go through the Temple when we first got here. I remember her husband told me how much he loved this woman. Now 2 weeks after we got here they are getting a divorce. Today, I have spent most my time talking to the sister who finally checked herself into a hospital because of depression or to the Louisville Mission to get missionaries over to the hospital. During this 4 weeks she has also lost her job,and will probably lose her house plus her 1st x husband is taking her back to court to try and get her boys away. This is her 3rd marriage I believe.
Oh this week in Walmart I met the Lady who unsure of how many years ago was told never to come back to the ward....it was a mistake come to find out they wanted her cousin. However, she told me she was becoming Catholic. She is still angry. All I can say is embrace Abigail and forgive already. She said I looked normal. I laughed.
We have had some great experiences with the towns folk. Old Mulkey service project was a success. Still have work to do but have a great start.
This is all for now. Good night

Long Day

We are being talked about all over Tompkinsville. The word is out and thwe word is good.....The Donaldson's have arrived by storm.

The Power of Habit

In Tompkinsville where we are we find that so many people are unemployed ,underemployed and most in the poverty or below level especially members of the ward. We ask ourselves often how we can help. In the book Power of Habit, It states, "Cultures grow out of Keystone habits. For instance, when researchers studied an incoming class of cadets at West Point, they measured their grade point averages,physical aptitude , military abilities, and self discipline. When they correlated those factors with whether students dropped out or graduated, however they found that all of them mattered less than a factor researchers referred to as "grit" which they defined as the tendency to work "strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress. "
"Studies have documented that families who habitually eat dinner together seem to raise children with better homework skills, higher grades, greater emotional control, and more confidence. Making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity, a greater sense of well-being, and stronger skills at sticking with a budget. It is not that a family meal or a tidy bed causes better grades or less frivolous spending. But somehow those initial shifts start a chain reaction that help other good habits take hold. (Who knew your mamma was so smart) LOL
If you focus on changing or cultivating Keystone habits, you can cause widespread shifts."
It is these Keystone habits we are trying to cultivate in the members and the community here in Tompkinsville .


"Keystone habits offer what is known within academic literature as "small wins." They help other habits to flourish by creating new structures, and they establish cultures where change becomes contagious.
This is what we need here in Tompkinsville. People are always full of excuses. Bob is so good at taking away they excuse. I am learning much from him.
We teach Beverly tonight and will answer questions she said she had for us. It should be good.

Today, I asked the Elders to give me their sheets and I would wash them. They put them in the washer and I just started it not paying attention. When I pulled them out of the dryer each elder had only given me 1 sheet each. I told them I was writing their mothers. So funny. The Elders will be with us probably til the weekend. We found them an ok apt. But it needs a scrubbing and fixing a few things but it is better than some apts. I have seen. Looks like furniture will be here Thursday from the mission so that is good. They are great young men but getting ready in the morning is a challenge makes me wonder how we did that my whole life with 9 people and 1 bathroom. We have become spoiled.