SUNDAY MORNING ROUNDUP

Sister Berry and the trusty old Buick "This is where the rubber meets the road"

Sister Berry with Carol Proctor in front of Columbia Temple

Sisters apartment in Harlem

Sister King and Sister Serafine - headed for Harlem, Georgia

"I can't believe what I'm seeing"

7 new bikes=7 new Elders=0 miles

We have no idea where this bike came from

Wednesday - Transfer day

Welcome to South Carolin

Lots of White Shirts

Elder Boyd - Last hamburger with Augusta Zone - Going home

Elder Caldwell and Elder Muhlestein

Elder and Sister Atkinson

Elder Millward - Last transfer-Going Home

Before we arrived in Augusta there were many baptisms. Many of these converts have become less active. The ward is working hard to reactivate them which is a challenge. The van makes two trips each Sunday morning around the city picking up less active and investigators but return to church with only two or three people each trip. In the past the van was completely full on both trips. New plan-Sunday Morning Roundup-a car would go before the van, the missionaries would jump out, knock on doors, wake people up and tell them the van would pick them up in thirty minutes. Elder Berry was the car driver with two Elders jumping out and knocking on doors and letting people know the van was on the way. The van would follow behind and make the " round-up". It was a good idea but not very successful but we will try it again next week. Each Saturday night we meet with the Elders planning out our pick up route and calling people to remind them the van will pick them up. The ward council has been assigned recent converts, who don't have transportation, to pick up. Even with all the efforts that have been made we haven't been very successful.

After the roundup Sunday Elder Berry and I went to pick up a family that lives near the church. The family is a mother with three small children, 3 and 2 years and 10 months. When we turned the corner a fire truck was parked in front of her house. We parked and rushed to find out what was going on. When the mother stepped out the back door to feed the dog, the three year old boy locked the door and the mother couldn't get back in the house. She knocked on the door but the boys didn't know how to unlock the door or understand what she was saying. She ran next door to the neighbor's house and called the fire department. When we got there the firemen, mother and neighbor were looking in the bedroom window trying to get the two year old boy to unlock the window but he just wasn't strong enough. Finally the firemen had to break the glass on the front door and unlock the door. The ten month old baby was in her bed and out of danger. We stood at the window and entertained the boys while the firemen broke the window but when the boys heard the noise of glass breaking they took off running. Members going to church saw the fire truck and told the Bishopric. Brother Johnson got there right after we got in the house. There was so much going on but he made sure everyone was OK, saw us there and left. We walked in the chapel just as the sacrament song began.

This past week was very busy. Transfer week always is. Monday along with Elder and Sister Atkinson we had our traditional transfer dinner for the zone. We decided to start during the Elders preparation time so it wouldn't take away from their missionary time. We cooked hamburgers and just watched the Elders enjoy visiting together because Wednesday some would be gone and replaced by new Elders. We love all the missionaries, miss those who leave us and love those who come to replace. This was our third transfer since arriving in Augusta and we were thankful that our district remained the same. Wednesday we didn't have to transport any Elders to Columbia but we were asked to pick up two Sisters and drive them to Harlem, Georgia, a small town west of Augusta. The Atkinsons drove up a truck load of Elders and only returned with one. Sisters and Elders don't ride in the same vehicles. So Wednesday we made the trip to Columbia and picked up the Sisters and drove them to their new assignment. They do what is called a "white wash", when two Elders are removed from an area and replaced by two sisters or the other way around. The sisters are in our zone. The Sisters were so excited to be serving together and assigned to Harlem. Transporting Sisters is more fun than the Elders except they have more luggage. We had to put some of their luggage in the Atkinson's truck. The Sisters visited with us while the Elders usually sleep. I thought it would be hard to leave the sisters at the apartment in a strange town to them but it was just natural to hug and be on our way. We know they are under the watchful eye of Heavenly Father and they are doing His work. Our second trip to Columbia was made Friday morning. We picked the zone leaders up in Akin, South Carolina, part of our zone and drove them to a zone leaders conference with the President. We dropped them off and they drove a new car back to the Elders in Aiken. Our zone leaders live in Stevens Creek, Georgia so we asked them if they had been on exchanges the day before with the Akin Elders. They laughed and told us they spent the night there so they could get an extra hour of sleep that morning. They teased and said we could have slept over too and got an extra hour of sleep. The plan was for us to meet the zone leaders in Akin because the "Elders would need their car to drive back to their district after dropping off the new car. Saturday we drove a recent convert, Carol Proctor, to Columbia to visit the temple. We drove around the grounds, took pictures and went in the waiting area. After the temple tour we had lunch and then returned her home. I think she learned much and gained a greater understanding about the purpose of the temples. We never realized before how challenging and different some of our beliefs are until we started serving the less active and fellowshiping the new members. Saturday night is still a party night for many of these people and it's hard for some of the new members and less active to get up on Sunday although our meetings start a 1pm.

We are thankful for our third companion-our trusty old Buick. With the aid of it we spend hours searching, transporting, and "rounding up" the less active and investigators most every day of the week. Even though we run into dead ends, missed turns, turning around, going back, backing up, picking up, dropping off and through it all, the old Buick never complains but goes where we want it to go as long as it gets plenty of gas.

We love serving. We love what we do. Page 270 of the Hymn book expresses how we feel. Elder Berry ask that you hum this hymn during the week.

Love,

Elder and Sister Berry