NEVER GIVE UP

Elders Bogden and Cahoon. As we were driving down the street we spotted our Elders and just had to stop and take this picture. They are working hard finding and bringing members back.

It seems we missionaries (Elders and Seniors) in Augusta, Georgia will be working extra hard reactivating members who no longer attend. Over the past two years many, many people were baptized but have not remained active. Many joined the church for financial aid but when the Bishop stopped assisting them they became inactive. Some even became angry. Many of them struggle with the Word of Wisdom, chastity or just don't understand the importance of church attendance. This morning in Missionary Correlation Meeting we discussed this situation in the ward. The Bishop told us he had a big stack of papers listing those who were no longer attending church for various reasons. He shed tears as he pleaded for our help in finding and visiting these people and bring them back. He promised us if we keep trying he will Never Give Up. These are precious souls. This week we visited one of these sisters. She joined the church and was influential in bring many others into the waters of baptism. She received financial assistance for over a year until about three months ago when the ward stopped assisting her. She became very angry and turned many of her friends against the church also. Elder Berry and I visited this lady last week and she is still angry. She did invite us into her home and we sat down and had a good visit. She feels she needs an apology from the member of the Bishopric he turned her down for assistance, and says that he was rude and judgemental. We asked her if she prayed, read the Book of Mormon, believed the Church was true, if she believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and that we have living prophets today. Her answer to all these questions was yes. We asked her to forgive the bishopric member and return to church that we missed her. Elder Berry challenged her to go among her friends and bring them back to church with her. Many other things were said but in the end she insisted she needed an apology and she might come visit sometime.The member of the bishopric did nothing wrong but the truth sometimes is hard to bear and she does not except  how the church welfare system works. This same story has happened over and over the past few months as Elder Berry and I and the Elders visit. It saddens all of us but we will Never Give Up. We will return to visit this dear sister and hopefully she will have a change of heart.

Sunday morning Elder Berry drove Elders Cahoon and Ultra around knocking on doors waking them up and letting them know the van would be coming to pick them up for church. The people had already committed to come but have a hard time following through so we just give them a little reminder. After all this many of them still don't make it.



There is an older black lady that comes to church every week. She lives in a residential home for patients who need assistance with medication and other things. The area of town she lives in is not very safe but Brother and Sister Brown pick her up each week for church. This little lady just loves to visit and loves to come to church. Elder Berry and I finally visited her last Tuesday. When we walked in she got so excited and said, "oh it's my church, they came to visit me, my church came to visit me."  We hugged and then we saw she was in a wheel chair. She fell a few days before and did lots of damage to her knee and had to go to the emergency room. Her caregiver said she wouldn't be able to go to church for at least a month. Saturday we called to check on her. She was so excited "her church" called we decided we just had to go visit her again that day. We ask if we could bring her anything and she quickly replied she would love some green grapes. We were able to find some green grapes and we had a wonderful visit and look forward to many more. It's fun to spread a little sunshine especially when we're not the ones giving it away.

Saturday Wendy Mills was baptized by Elder Phillips. It was a very special baptism. Since Wendy doesn't have a car we had the opportunity to drive her to the baptism. She is a very special lady.



As a senior couple missionary we have more freedom in our service than the Elders. Wednesday morning we drove to Columbia to the temple. The drive is just over an hour but a beautiful drive through the trees. Whenever we leave town we call our district leader to let him know where we are going and when we will return. It's fun calling our twenty year old district leader to let him know his senior couple is leaving town. Fun because he's in charge not us. When we returned to town Wednesday afternoon we had lots of visits to make and then church that night. The Bishop has interviews on Wednesday night and we hang around visiting with those waiting to see the Bishop. Sometimes people we have been looking for show up and we are able to get addresses and phone numbers. A new senior couple is arriving in Augusta this Tuesday so we have been helping Sister Bowman, over housing, get the apartment ready. The new couple is the Gowens and their apartment is in our complex. The Gowens will be serving in the Grovetown Ward and Military Relations. We have been at the new apartment for deliverers and Elder Berry has been assembling furniture.  Monday Bobbie Cliett called and asked if Elder Berry could help her assemble a piece of furniture so we went over since it was our preparation day. As Elder Berry was working on the furniture Bobbie and I visited. Bobbie and her husband are recent converts. I knew Bobbie and her husband went to the temple Saturday to do baptisms for the dead. I asked her about it. She was a little unsure how she felt because she didn't know what to expect but nothing like what she experienced. We enjoy visiting with Bobbie but having a serious conversation at her house is very hard. She has a house full of people, children, married daughter and her two babies, animals and Elder Berry hammering. We invited Bobbie and her husband to dinner on Thursday at our apartment so we could talk. They came at seven and left at eleven. We hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we enjoyed having them. A senior couple can prepare dinner and teach the gospel while enjoying a meal together. One family we have been visiting and encouraging to come to church has a very hard time getting to church for a number of reasons, some good others not. If a week passes and we haven't been by they call and tell us they miss us and were just wondering when we would come visit them. They love us and we love them but we decided this week if they want to see us they will have to come to church. This senior couple hopes this is a good decision for right now although we will never give up. We have so many experiences and sometimes wonder what to do because there is no instruction book for the varied situations we find ourselves in. Last Sunday when we got home from church and were finishing our dinner preparations for the Elders, the Bishop called and told us he needed our help. A young girl was stranded in Augusta and needed to be rescued. The girl had attended her sisters wedding in Atlanta and was passing through Augusta on her way back to North Carolina to school when her truck broke down. She called her dad in Atlanta and he had the truck towed to a garage. It would take a few days to repair the truck. The girl was stranded at the garage and needed to be rescued until her uncle could drive from North Carolina to pick her up. We found the garage and the girl and brought her back to the apartment for safe keeping. Shortly after we returned to the apartment six Elders and a ward mission leader invaded our apartment for dinner. We just added an extra plate for our girl guest, Vicky Wise. We are thankful that we could provide a safe haven for Vicky and for the organization of the church throughout the world that makes a rescue like this possible and that a senior couple lived around the corner from the garage.

Serving a mission and being a senior couple is very challenging and rewarding as we seek out those members who have become less active. After listening to our Bishops plea today we will strive harder with more dedication to rescue the lost sheep of August Ward.  We will support the Bishop and We will Never Give Up either.

Love, Elder and Sister Berry

Driving down the street we saw this tent set up for a revival. We see them in different areas as we drive around Augusta. Summer is a popular time for these revivals but it sure gets hot here and the mosquitoes are awful.