North Carolina Here We Come!

Monday, January 13, 3014  The long anticipated journey begins....

An early sendoff surprise. Nikki came bearing "Daylight" donuts and HUGS....

A packed car and a few tears

and we were off on our adventure

 Breakfast at McDonald's in Park City

High Winds and blowing snow through Wyoming

 

First night we stayed in Sidney, Nebraska

    Ate a delicious dinner with a buffalo in Sidney.

Driving though Nebraska going out of our way to go to Omaha

to see Winter Quarters Temple. It was well worth the extra time!

Winter Quarters Mormon Pioneer Cemetery. 

This is the only picture we took there because it was FREEZING!
If you know Tom at all, you know that cemeteries are his favorite hangout
and even he didn't want to spend any time prowling around
because of the frigid temperatures.
How did our Pioneer ancestors survive the trek?!

We met two great missionaries, Sister Lewis and Sister Frisbee in the Mormon Trail Center.

Sister Frisbee is waiting for her visa to continue serving in Brazil. When she found out we were on our way to North Carolina, Charlotte she was so excited because she has a brother serving in our same mission, Elder Plants. We can't wait to meet him and share this picture with him!

 This is the Kansas City Temple where we able to perform sacred ordinances for our ancestors.

It is a beautiful place to feel close to our Heavenly Father and to find peace and feel renewed.

We continued on our journey and saw the St. Louis Temple in the afternoon.

One of the highlights of our trip was visiting with a longtime friend I grew up

 with in Hayward, California, Fawn Stewart Silva and her husband, Denny. 

What a great reunion that was to be with them 

in their beautiful home and meet some of their family.

 After spending the night in Mt. Vernon, Illinois we were delighted when we arrived in Tennessee!

We took a little drive around Nashville and then made our way to the Nashville Temple.

Our last night on the road, we stayed in Knoxville, Tennessee anticipating an easy drive to Charlotte on Friday morning. However, Tom had a recurring episode of vertigo 

in the middle of the night, which left him unable to even get out of bed. Yikers! 

I sort of panicked and posted my angst on Facebook. 

In just a short time I had many family and friends posting encouragement, 

suggestions and prayers in our behalf! I was amazed and knew that everything would be OK. 

About 2 hours later, Tom was able to make it to the car and I drove the 4 hours to Charlotte, 

through the beautiful Great Smokey Mountains. 

I wish that I had been able to stop every few minutes and take pictures!

Friday, January 17, we arrived at the North Carolina Charlotte Mission Office.

Now our real adventure begins!

PS. We haven't had internet in our new apartment so this is being posted almost a week later. I've got lots more to share since we arrived but I'll save that for next week. We send our love to our family and friends. Thank you for all the love and support you so generously give us. 

We are richly blessed!