Day 8 of my trip took place on Saturday March 14th over two weeks ago.  Either no WiFi or no time to Blog since then.  I promise to try to do better.  I fear so much is lost when I don’t do it within one or two days after the events happen.

Saturday March 14th was a great day!  Spent the morning with Rita and Jerry going to second hand shops (my favorite places to browse).  I discovered a plethora of Sermon CD’s by a minister that I never heard of.  Bought one, listened to part of it and went back and bought 13 more sets.  Each case has 3 to 5 CD’s in each set.  The speaker’s name is Creflo A. Dollar.  Very interesting Bible teaching.  I have had opportunity to listen to several of the CD’s and find them to be enlightening and extremely interesting and in line with the scriptures.  The CD’s were my big find for the day.  I left Branson Missouri midday when both Rita and Jerry left for work.

I drove down to Russellville Arkansas to visit more family.  To my delight my cousin Dale and his wife Judy came to visit me that evening as I was staying with Dale’s mom, my mother’s sister.  Just a short comment on the drive from Branson to Russellville.  It goes through the Arkansas Ozarks.  Very winding roads with severe drop offs on one side of road.  In the past my husband and I actually drove around a sharp curve to realize that the road was no longer there.

“continue reading…”
There are patched and repatched areas of road that the rain just sloughs off and it disappears.  Not a comforting feeling.  Our experience happened to us at night and we were very fortunate that we did not run into the culvert and end up at the bottom of a mountain.  But if you can get past not be concerned about the road crumbling away, there are some of the most breathtaking views imaginable at the lookouts.  Beautiful beautiful scenery of mountain forests and green lush valleys miles and miles away.  The panorama is exquisite.

DAY  9

Aunt Ester who turned 88 the week before I got there offered me a place to stay.  For me it is my feeling of  “going home”.  My mother lived with her for several years and I would always stay with her at Esther’s place when I  visited.   With my family Sundays always revolve around church.  Well, this particular Sunday was quite interesting to say the least.  We went to the Dover Assembly of God Church .  Approximately 40 to 45 people were present.  There was a guest evangelist speaking from the pulpit for both morning and evening services (yes, some churches still offer Sunday night service).  His name was Nathan Middleton.  Very interesting, very straight forward with his message, and he yelled a lot.  I don’t mean than in a disrespectful way, just stating the facts.  I am not quite used to the raised and intense voice of someone speaking so close to me so it was somewhat disconcerting at first, but when I listened to his words the raised voice diminished because his message was so clear and right on.  He reminded me of the old preachers of yesteryear.  He gave a lot of food for thought.  Here are some of the statements that stood out to me..

“God creates miracles out of nothing”

“All we must do is have faith to depend on the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit (The Spirit of Christ) living within us.”

“When the power of God is reached it then reaches through us to others.”

“Jesus prays for us (to His Father) that our faith does not fail.”

“Even when our faith fails God still love us.”

He really did preach an excellent sermon!

To our surprise, following the service, the church hosted a desert buffet to honor three people who had birthdays recently, one being my Aunt Esther.  She was surprised and delighted.  Of course we stayed.

Aunt Esther, Aunt Vela (another sister of my mom) and I drove around Sunday afternoon reading headstones in local cemeteries.  This is one of the events we always do when I visit.  We visit the places where our relatives are buried and look up the old headstones of family past, most of whom I never met.  It is interesting to listen to the stories my mom’s generation remembers about the people who are now buried in those old graves.  Several generations are buried in the same cemetery.  Then there are those buried from my generation.    Not the distant past but the more recent past.  We visited both Carol and Dennis’ graves.  I grew up in close proximity with these cousins so it is I who remember the stories to pass on to the next generation.  If we don’t tell the stories of our family members now departed their stories will be lost.  I realize how many of my generation are already gone and it makes me sad to think of so many dying so young.  Anyone younger than me is young!  I wonder when I will think of myself as old enough to die?   We each have but but one turn on this earth.  I want to fill my turn with as much life as possible.  And I think one of the most enjoyable parts of my life is meeting and talking with new people.  Everyone is a walking story and I want to know them all.

After the cemetery tour Esther and I went back to church for some more fired up preaching.  And it was good!