Sumter Special Meeting

Today was our first Special Meeting on these South Carolina rounds.  I had the privilege of translating in both of the meetings, so I didn't get to take any notes, but we had a wonderful day.  It was wonderful to use Spanish again, and our Mexican friends are lovely!  I look forward to spending more time with them in the coming months.

Here are just a couple of thoughts that I remember from our day.

• When we're faced with life's experiences, we don't want to think, "How can I get out of this?" but rather, "What can I get out of this?"
• We think of midnight as a time of darkness, but really, it's the first minute of a new day.
• Praying is not something that we forget to do.  If we don't pray, it's usually something we decide not to do.  God is waiting for us in the place of prayer.
• Jesus was a root out of dry ground.  When you pull a root out of dry ground, the dirt falls right off of it.  Jesus was in the world, but what was of the world did not cling to Him.

For those of you who like to follow me on the map...

...here is a list of the towns where the Sunday morning meetings in my new field are located.

• Ashwood, SC
• Marion, SC  (This meeting is in Spanish.)
• Murrells Inlet, SC
• Rocky Point, NC
• Sumter, SC
• Wilmington, NC

A few more flowers

Again, the pictures can't do justice to the reality of it.  There are flowers everywhere.  I could take pictures continuously, and it still wouldn't capture it.  Somehow, though, I keep trying.  :-)

Swan Lake

On Saturday, Jennifer G. and I visited Swan Lake in Sumter, SC.  It was a beautiful day, and the park was gorgeous, which you will be able to see for yourself as you scroll down (and down and down and down...).

Yeah, they look pretty, but they're not all that beautiful when it comes to disposition as it turns out.  Jennifer and I were chased by what appeared to be a people-eating swan.  Fortunately, we managed to escape, but we steered clear of the birds after that!

Fleece was delighted to join us on our outing!

Kamela L. & Jennifer G.

Fleece decided that "cyprus knees" were not the most comfortable places to sit.

Lots of cyprus trees

Can you see Fleece?

I decided to do a 360-degree pan from where I was standing on the bridge pictured above.  This is what surrounded us as we walked through part of the park.

Well, as you can see, it was hard to know which pictures to select and which ones to cut out.  It was all so beautiful.  However, at the same time, the real beauty couldn't be captured by my camera.  That means, y'all will have to come visit SC in order to experience the real deal.  I'll look forward to seeing you if you have time to work me in.  :-)

SC by the numbers

• $3.55 - lowest gas price I've seen  (Usually it's in the &3.60's somewhere.)
• 87 degrees - highest temperature I've seen "posted"
• 134 - miles from the "north end" of our field to the "south end" (if I've figured right) - most of it coastline  :-)
• 41 - number of people that I have met from my field  (There may be more that I do not now remember!)
• a lot more than that - people I have met since coming to SC

South Carolina - Day #1

The alarm woke me up at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning.  Needless to say, I was not at all ready to get up.  However, getting up was a necessity since we had to depart for the airport at 4:45.  We made it out the door pretty much on time and arrived at the Indianapolis airport at about 5:30.  Boarding passes were printed out at the self-serve kiosk with no problems, and we passed through security without a hitch.  Our flight to Memphis was scheduled to leave at 7:00, and we made it to our gate with plenty of time to spare - make that plenty of time to nod off continuously as we waited in the extremely comfortable chairs in the waiting area.  Despite it all, I was quite excited to be in an airport again.  I love to fly!  Flight to Memphis was without incident, unless you count the way our pilot seemed to be fighting with the wind as we landed.  That was an interesting feeling for sure!  Our layover in Memphis was about an hour, and then we headed for Charlotte - another uneventful flight.  We had a bit of a wait at the Charlotte airport for our ride, so I made use of the time pacing around the baggage claim area, which served the purpose of stretching my legs a bit and also waking up.  Daniel F. picked us up around noon, and we drove to the town of Rock Hill, SC.  There were nine of us in the home of an elderly lady there for lunch.  And what a lunch it was!  Fried chicken, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, carrot casserole, green beans, fried okra, and possibly a few other things I'm forgetting at the moment.  Dessert was apple pie, chocolate cake and strawberries.  After lunch, we rolled on out the door and headed for Cassatt where we met a few more people and dropped off Daniel.  Then, Alice and I made our way to Columbia to the home of a widow lady for supper, Bible study and the night.  (We also made a quick stop at CVS to replace all the liquids and sharp objects we had of necessity left behind in Indianapolis.)  All in all, a lovely day, and I was quite ready to crawl into bed when I was finally able to sneak away to my room.  I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow, and my alarm woke me up the next morning at 8:00.  I think I was tired!

Day #1 by the numbers:

• approximately 1 hour of sleep the night before departure
• 4 states (IN, TN, NC, SC)
• 18 new people
• about 3 hours in the air
• about 4 hours in the car

And now for a few pictures:

The front yard of the home where we stayed Wednesday night

There are so many beautiful bushes and trees in bloom right now.  Several of them are new to me.  I am planning a separate blog post featuring them later.

Alice and I ready to depart on Thursday morning

The rug is finished!

Instead of going to bed like a good girl on Tuesday night, I decided to finish Karmen's rug so I wouldn't have to take it along with me to South Carolina.  I stayed up until a time which shall not be mentioned but which was much closer to the time my alarm was set to go off than I would have liked for it to be.  Anyway, the finished product was beautiful, and I am very anxious to see it in Karmen's bathroom (or bedroom or kitchen or family room or wherever she decides to put it).

Fleece approves

It's actually much more beautiful in real life.  You'll have to visit Karmen in order to see it in its natural habitat.  :-)

The Last Lunch

Grandma & Grandpa R., Sharon, Valerie and I enjoyed a final lunch together at Mika's Coffee Shop in Eureka before the grandparents and I departed for Indianapolis.

My scrumptious and beautiful strawberry salad

The crew minus Valerie (the photographer) and Grover (Where was he anyway??)

Guess what it is #10 - Answers

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South Carolina, Here I Come

Reality is slapping me in the face.  The time has come for me to bid a temporary good-bye to Illinois and head to my new "for now" home - South Carolina.  I'm sorry to leave and glad to go.  It always seems to work that way no matter where you're leaving and where you're going, and really, I'm glad.  It would be terrible if you were glad to leave and sorry to go!  Tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa Rodgers will take me to Indianapolis.  Then bright and early Wednesday morning, Alice and I will fly to Charlotte, NC via Memphis and then catch a ride to somewhere in SC.  I'm not even escaping winter!  By this time next week, I'll know a whole bunch of people I never knew before and feeling at home in places where I've never been before.  Glad for that confidence.

A few facts about South Carolina:

• The capital city is Columbia.
• SC entered the Union on May 23, 1788 and became the 8th state.
• SC is the nation's leading peach producer and shipper east of the Mississippi River.
• SC is known as the Palmetto State.
• The area of SC is 31,055 square miles.  It is the 40th largest state in the US.
• There are 47 state parks in SC.

I'll try to share more fun facts as I learn them.

A Visit to Davenport Elementary

I enjoyed spending parts of two days in Mom's first grade classroom while I was home.  We sang songs, read books, played games and in summation, had a really good time.  Today was extra fun because my friend, Valerie, came too.  Here are a few shots of today's visit.

We brought in pizza for lunch.  Grover and Fleece are very excited!

Valerie was a visitor.  I was a substitute.  Guess we should have looked at our badges a little more carefully!

Val shares our favorite song of the day.  We all had fun trying to "Be Like a Duck."  All three of us adults kept an eye on the door as we paraded around the room flapping our arms and quacking, ready to stop at a moment's notice and try to appear normal at the presence of a visitor.  :-)  In reality, though, it felt good to release our "inner child."