Ave Maria Grotto--Cullman

The Grotto is located at St. Bernard Abbey. Brother Joseph Zoetl was born in 1878 in Landshut, Bavaria, and came to the St. Bernard Abbey in 1892. He wanted to be a priest, but due to an accident, he stayed at the Abbey his entire life and in his spare time made incredible miniatures........... The only ones he ever really saw were the ones from his home town in Bavaria and at the Abbey. All the rest were done from photographs or printed descriptions. It was so peaceful and we felt a very real sense of wonder...........

St. Martin's Church in Landshut, Bavaria. He made this in 1954.

 

 The power house at the Monastery. The original is still there........the monastery is still in use. But the "power house" is not used for power anymore......it ran on coal.

 San Juan Capistrano

 

 Santa Barbara

 

 The Vatican and other historic buildings in and around Rome.

Jerusalem.......Herod's Gate in front. The white building is the temple. You can see the wall........

 

 They all sit on the side of a "hill" that is part of an old stone quarry........maybe this helps get a better feel for all of it...........truly amazing.........
 

  Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Portugal

The Abbey Cemetery

"my room"

I had not thought I would have anything to share today.........but when we got to the office this morning, this is what we found.......................an empty room..........

.........an obstacle course in the outer office...........

........and a pretty full "President's office"...........good thing he rarely comes in..........and........thankfully someone cancelled office staff meeting this morning........

Well.......it wasn't completely empty when we got there. A couple of the shelves were being stubborn. Roger got his tools out of the car and he and another Elder persuaded a small, but very persistent bolt to come out. The room is all ready for the carpet layers tomorrow. It will be so nice to not come out of there with sticky shoes........please don't ask me to explain. I have no idea what caused the stickiness. At first I thought it might be my cheap shoes. But when Sis. Newman also noticed her shoes getting sticky, I figured I wasn't completely nuts and my cheap shoes not so bad after all! Looks like my "quiet" week is going to be busy after all!

I was certainly busy all day today: assigning referrals (I'm so glad they haven't got all the bugs worked out for sending them directly to the missionaries. I really love that task!!); entering mileage into the CARS program; filing mileage logs; going through old car files to determine which ones can be thrown away (sold at least two years ago); trying to get some buildings scheduled (not very successful at that!)...........it was a kind of "nose to the grindstone" kind of day........just getting through some things that needed to be done, though not very glamorous. ...........and I'm just now thinking that emptying the room might have been the easy part of that job!!

Yesterday, late afternoon, Roger and I went to Tuscaloosa (we didn't realize that's really where we were going until we were well on our way)......oh well........then back to Alabaster and then home.......near Alabaster this is what we saw...........forgive the blurry trees, please. I had only my iPod. No. I don't hang out the window with my iPod. I'm afraid the wind would carry it away and that would make me very sad.............. It was lots prettier than the pictures show.........I wish I knew how to take sunset pictures..........anyone willing to teach me?

TIWIs

Drum roll, please............here's the post you have been waiting for with baited breath!!!!!

Innocent looking enough, right? I really don't know what the Elders would tell you if you asked them their opinions. I do know one of them said he thought it would be easy to be so worried about what it was going to "say" that you would be distracted from driving safely. And to help the missionaries drive more safely is the whole goal here. This little piece of electronics is about 5X6 inches and about 3/4 of an inch thick. We stick it securely to the windshield in the lower left-hand corner, cord on the bottom, logo up, just as you see it here. Roger keeps the cord out of the way as much as possible (which is really out of the way, if you know Roger) and it plugs into the car's computer.

Every missionary (not the seniors--as they drive their own cars) has a "tiwi card"........this is mine. Roger and I have one because we wanted one and so we can log in and drive the mission cars. It's the size of a credit card. There is a computer chip inside, so when you hold it close or "tap" the tiwi, the tiwi will "say"......"driver logged in". Then they know in Lehi--or wherever the information goes to--that you are driving the car. The tiwi has a GPS in it, so it/they know if you fastened your seat belt, where you are driving (not your destination--where you are at that moment), what time you are driving, how fast you are going, what the speed limit is, if you accelerate too quickly or stop on a dime, if you hit a bump going too fast or take a corner too fast. Those last four give you an "aggressive driving" warning.
And it will talk to you-- "check your speed", "fasten your seat belt" etc. I've never heard the aggressive driving warning, though I tried really hard to get one to see how hard it was. All this data is collected and Roger receives a report every Monday showing which missionaries have been speeding, or driving aggressively. And the missionary is given a red, yellow or green "grade" (for want of a better term) the red and yellow are warnings and Roger has to call the missionary and "coach" them. I don't know how many weeks one has to have a "yellow" to make it yellow for the entire transfer period. But if a missionary "has a yellow" for the transfer period, that's not good. Two transfers in the yellow and the missionary has to watch a defensive driving video and take a test. If he gets a third transfer period in the yellow, he loses his driving privilege for the next transfer period. If he gets a fourth yellow.........he's done driving the rest of his mission. Because of all the information this little jewel gathers, Roger can go online, find the exact place where the violation took place and see it!!!! like on Google Earth!!! It's kind of mind-blowing and a little scary. But it is making such a huge difference in the safety of our missionaries. I wish I could remember the statistics he gave us in the MTC, but I remember thinking then, if something improved my "game" or my "company" that much, I'd certainly use it. Sometimes it is a headache.........but if it saves one life or one serious injury it's worth all the inconvenience. And I truly believe it will make them better missionaries and/or they will be worthy of greater blessings from the Lord. He rewards obedience......as you all well know...........

Any questions? I hope I explained it well enough...........Roger has driven lots of miles in mission cars with a tiwi and it hardly ever talks to him. So I know it can be done! And like I said, I was trying to get one to talk to me.......driving more aggressively than I wanted to. I wondered if the thing was even working!!! till it told me to check my speed. Can't tell you how relieved I was to hear that!!! I didn't want Roger to have to replace it!!

a week for the history book........

Sorry I've been so "quiet" here......but truly, this is the first chance I've had to write since anything happened worthy of telling you about........

Monday and Tuesday were pretty low key days in the office. Well.........wait a sec..........after we put in the time at the office on Monday--what is Labor Day for if not to labor, right? We had dinner that night (5:30) at the mission home with all the senior couples and two other couples who have worked in the mission. Even the sister who just got out of the hospital the day before came!!!!! She was tired and a little wobbly, but it was so good to see her!! I hope it didn't tire her out too much. I made strawberry ice cream for our contribution. It was a HIT!!!!! I must say it was pretty tasty. And so creamy. I was really pleased with it and very grateful that it turned out so well, since I'm not super experienced in making ice cream. We even bought a new freezer and had it sent here so we could make it. (Pres. Hanks had said in a meeting a couple of months ago how much he would love to have some homemade ice cream--hadn't had any for more than two years. So I thought we should fix that!) It was yummy. And I've had comments about it a couple of times later this week. So fun!!

Tuesday was pretty ho hum at the office. It's "temple week", so the missionaries were going to the temple and the Newmans went all day--they have to schedule the couples to go so there will be enough who can stand together. Pres. Hanks really does not want to put his missionaries in that kind of situation! Understandably!!!! Soooooooo............the Newmans were out of the office till about 4:30. That doesn't leave much time to get the day's work done, but we don't get too far behind either.

Wednesday morning we had to leave the office about 10:00 because there were missionaries we needed to see who went to the temple that morning. We were scheduled for the afternoon session. We do two sessions a day: 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. It takes a little time for everyone to get clothes changed etc. because we have to take turns in the dressing booths. And they keep a few dresses/slacks and bundles for the missionaries. A few of the missionaries bring their own, but most don't. And then Pres. Hanks likes to take about 20 minutes and talk to them before the session. That is always a wonderful thing to be a part of.

Someday I'm going to really grow one (or two, or three) of these.........they are so lovely...........

We also went to the office as soon as we could after we finished the session and gave and received hugs from many of the missionaries. They are amazing!!!! Then we had meetings at Ensley--I thought I had a Relief Society presidency meeting (turns out I was a trifle early--a week!!) but Roger had a meeting and I was able to go to the Book of Mormon reading. Again!!! a WOW experience!! I've never seen people so hungry for knowledge and the truth. These are people who would learn much in Primary!! There is one man who struggles so to read. I don't know if he would understand anything reading it on his own........but he's there nearly every week and I can see a little improvement in his reading (there are so many blessings that come from reading the Book of Mormon) and he is always excited--his eyes glow and he sits on the edge of his chair--about the things he is learning. And another good thing.......he's never afraid to ask when he has a question. It is all just such an amazing experience!!

Thursday morning we had to be to the temple before 8:30. It's such a blessing to live so close!! And, again, so wonderful to be there with the missionaries!

Aren't they beautiful!?!??!?!?!!! (Well, maybe not Pres. Hanks......)

 

A great missionary who is going home next month. This is a great young man! Totally prepared to be a leader in the church whenever the Lord calls upon him........really........prepared for whatever!

 

Our "Ensley missionaries".......Elder Briscoe, the newest--3 weeks; Elder Tessa, from France, the District leader, a great young man;  Elder VanBuren, seasoned and a terrific leader full of love and ability; Elder Fanos, another "star" and yet less than three months in the mission...........I love these guys! I don't know what I would do here if I couldn't hug the sisters! I so want to hug these wonderful young men!

We hurried to the office for a few minutes, then home so I could go to auxiliary training meeting at the Stake Center. It was one of those times when I really didn't want to go, knew I should go even though I was tired, went out of duty and was so glad I went!!!!!! Turns out it was a multi-stake meeting and councilors in the women's auxiliaries were there to teach us!! I got to sit five rows back and listen to Sis. Stevens teach. It was wonderful!!!! Definitely food for a tired soul!!!! I came home strengthened, encouraged, uplifted and filled. What a day!!!!!

Yesterday we left about 8:00 for Bessemer to help some sisters with their bike rack....

 ...this is the "middle of town".........well, maybe a couple of miles from a busy shopping area! We came back to the office--Roger cleaned up some files in the cars program while I boxed up the "little" things in "my room" and moved them out because they are finally going to replace the carpet in there next Tuesday. RAH!!!! I had kind of decided I would just live with it--that it wasn't so bad--but my shoes got sticky again yesterday and I'm really glad they are going to make the change. Though I'm not all that excited about moving everything out. The assistants are going to get some Elders to come do nearly all of the rest. I left boxes of things........just boxed up the cards, pamphlets and single books......it's hard to explain, but I wanted to "pack" those things so hopefully they will stay nicer. I'm sure you understand :-). I just finished that in time to go with Roger to Oxford--that's east of Birmingham..........Bessemer is south-west but very close. We got to take two very lovely young women to supper last night. So delightful!!! However, it was good to get home and have "nothing" to do........ Another very full, busy week. Looking ahead we are going to have a couple of rather quiet weeks--though we will be getting ready for transfers--which will be the end of the month.........so maybe not so quiet..............I love it!!!!!!

....a sweet day.....

We had a totally delightful day yesterday...........I was going to tell you about it last night, but I was too tired. And we've had a full day today--our p-day. But we went to Sylacauga to see some missionaries. Then Roger sold a car. We went grocery shopping, and then to the Newmans to watch the BYU-Nebraska game...........WHAT A GAME!!!!! Well..........really, what a second!!! Okay. Now for yesterday............GO COUGARS!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a "senior outing". Roger made arrangements with a beekeeper near Huntsville to see his operation. We left early because Roger wanted to find his place and talk to him, if he could. It was a misty morning in September........beautiful!! It was a peaceful drive......

The Tennessee River was............. 'course, you know there are so many dams on the river it doesn't "run" in many places.....at least that I've seen........but it's still beautiful.

We got there in plenty of time, so we drove around--and found ourselves on Monte Sano and a road called something like "lookout ridge". But everything was private--there was no "lookout point" and in most places the trees were "in the way". This is from in front of someone's driveway.

If you look carefully in the upper right hand of this first picture you will see something............it's just above the top little branch poking out from the tree........ I doubt I will ever get tired of seeing it and it still fills me with awe and a sense of wonder at "our" audacity! I can hardly fathom that we really thought we could do it! And then we did!!!!!

We met the other couples at a restaurant recommended by Pres. Nolan (Pres. Hanks' counselor) who lives in Huntsville. The restaurant is 1892.........and I learned why when we got out of the car--well, we took the mission van so we could all ride together out to the bee location and we could talk more easily. So.......I got out of the van and right there was one of those historical marker signs. The area we were in was settled in 1892 as a part of Southern reconstruction. After the trolley lines were put in, people could move farther away from their jobs, so this area was settled and started to develop economically. It was more detailed than that, but that is the gist. The food was delicious, though I really need to try to learn how to choose the good food!! I would have traded plates with anyone at the table, except I would feel badly to take their wonderful-looking food. Mine wasn't terrible. It just was rather plain by comparison--my favorite part of my meal was the sweet potato bun around my barbequed chicken. Sorry........I'll stop whining.

We all then drove to Bill's Honey Farm...........

Pres. Hanks was excited to learn about bees and honey production. And it was so fun to watch him. How I wish I could converse with people as easily! He was "up front" and "unafraid"--if I can say that. The waiter at the restaurant hadn't been in the room three minutes before Pres. Hanks asked him if he knew anything about Mormons. And when Ben said he didn't know much but would like to know more..........well, Pres. Nolan gave him one of his personal "I'm a Mormon" cards and Elder Millyard gave him a card about the Book of Mormon.

Bill's bees he took us to see.

And his neighbor and friend was harvesting his corn. We had seen the field completely brown and dried up.........totally unsuitable for silage!! Roger thought they would harvest the corn kernals--and sure enough, that was it.......and as always, so interesting to me.........everyone enjoyed it.

Bill also took us to see his grapes........huge grapes that he called something else, but i don't remember what it was......starts with an 'm'. He lets people come pick their own...........

He also had some pecan trees........I don't know if that's what's behind me and Sis. Newman. I wanted to take some pictures, but my camera was in the van..........

 

 On our drive home we saw this stunningly beautiful cloud...........and then the river again, this time the west side of the road...........and the cloud some more........

 I don't know how to fix this and I'm too tired to play with it anymore............

Picture me..........flying--well, figuratively, down the freeway, hanging out the window with my camera strap around me neck, trying to take pictures of this cloud before the trees get in the way, or trying to get one when the trees are out of the way............it was breathtaking in more ways than one!!! But so lovely.........

We stopped at a nice restaurant one the way home to get something to eat. Roger was determined that I have something good, that I wanted............I had some delicious cedar planked salmon......and this was his dessert (only I ate 2/3 of it!) .....some of the most delicious creme brulee I've ever had!!! It topped off a most delightful day...........perfectly.............