PLAN YOUR WORK/WORK YOUR PLAN/NOT

Sunrise

Church parking lot

Sunset

After Sunday dinner and the Elders are leaving

No matter how hard we plan our schedule for each day it seems nothing goes as plans. Our days don't fall apart but they are filled with more important things so we put our plans on hold. For example: a member who lives in assisted living may call and need a ride to the doctor then after the doctor she needs us to drive her across the street to pre admit for outpatient surgery, the Elders call and invite us to accompany them as they teach a single girl, or someone needs a ride to church for an interview with the bishop. The list goes on and on. Saturday we had rides arranged for church on Sunday. We were to pick up Carol Proctor (an investigator) who lives downtown, then pick up Lee Ann (a recent convert) drive them to church and drop them off, then drive around the corner to pick up the Mathis family. Saturday Carol Proctor called and she had another ride. Curtis Fielding had been calling because he, his wife and baby needed a ride to church. Our schedule changed. Now we would pick up the Fielding family drive them to church drop them off, go pick up Lee Ann drop her off at church then pick up the Mathis family (a mother, 2 toddlers and baby), The phone woke us up from a deep sleep 12: Saturday night (or is that Sunday morning). It was Annette Jackson. She and her husband needed a ride to church. Elder Berry wasn't very kind but told her we would manage to get them to church. He also told her he was going to buy her a big clock to put on her wall so she wouldn't call people in the middle of the night and wake them up. Sunday morning we got a call form Christian Smoot who needed a ride to the hospital because his van was giving him trouble and he didn't have money to put gas in his van. The Schedule changed. We went to missionary correlation meeting then picked up Christian and drove him to the hospital. Now it was time to start our rounds picking up for Sacrament meeting. Lee Ann called and wouldn't be going to church because she had the flu. Our schedule changed. Elder Berry dropped me off at the Mathis so I could help Allisa get her family ready for church. Brother Berry picked up the Fielding family drove them to church, then picked up me and the Mathis family. At missionary correlation we made arrangements to get the Jacksons to church but their ride was late so they called us. We were able to track their ride down, the ride was on the way and they made it to church on time. Our schedule after Sacrament meeting can't be written for your understanding in the English language.

Friday was the only day our schedule didn't change. We drove three of our Elders to Columbia, South Carolina for a leadership training meeting and Elder and Sister Atkinson drove four. We didn't have to attend the meeting so we and the Atkinsons spent the day shopping and sight seeing in Columbia. Sister Atkinson noticed at transfers last month that one of the Elders wore a suit that was probably three sizes too small and holes were in both the elbows. He had grown so much since coming on his mission. Sister Atkinson notices all the Elders suits and checks to see if any ones suits needs mending. She mends and even alters suits. Sister Atkinsons's mission was to "check out that boys suit and buy him another one because there was no way that suit could be mended and not enough material to alter it and make it look decent." We checked out that boy and sure enough he had on that same small, ragged suit. We went to the mall, found a Penny's and the Atkinsons bought him a suit. During lunch break the Elder tried on the suit and it was almost a perfect fit. The pants needed to be lengthened and waist let out. Sister Atkinson said she could fix that so she took the suit back to Augusta with her when the meeting was over, did the alterations and drove back up to Columbia the next day and delivered the suit to the Elder. The Elder was thrilled and humbled. Sister Atkinson told the Elder when they returned the new suit they were on a "seek and destroy mission." They were seeking the old suit to destroy it. The Elder refused to let them destroy his suit because he wanted to take it home. So we all decided the suit had character. After our fun and relaxing day when the meeting was over we picked up our Elders and drove them back to Augusta. We saw the sun rise in the east as we drove toward Columbia and saw the sun set in the west as we drove back to Augusta.

We ask ourselves can we serve the Lord on a schedule/Not

Love Elder and Sister Berry