Pigeon Forger, Gatliniburg, Sevierville

The 4th and final area on my mission was Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and Sevierville. This area was at the foot of the Smoky Mountains. I arrived November 13, 1997 and left June 11, 1998. My first companions were Sister Randall and Sister Saunders. Sister Saunders was transferred in December. Sister Randall finished her mission in March 1998 and my new companion was Sister Hansen, who was my companion for the remainder of my mission.

The following photos are of the baptisms we had while I was in this area:


Jr. Albertson - November 30, 1997


Sharon Bordeaux - March 15, 1998


Brenda Heath - March 17, 1998


Joan Albertson - March 17, 1998


Ann Leatherwood and Heather Turner - April 12, 1998


Susan Bordeaux - April 20, 1998

We had the opportunity to help Jim and Rikki Diepeveen with their new house for some service.









Sister Randall and I decided to give the Elders an idea of what it was like to ride a bike in a skirt. We took a couple of our skirts to one of our meetings and let the them use our bikes. We all got a good laugh from it (even the Elders laughed about it after the fact).









Christmas 1997. The photos I took did not turn out well, hence the post card I scanned.







Here are some photos of the Great Smoky Mountains and surrounding area.

Mom and Dad Anniversary - 1996

While looking through my photos I came across these two photos. I do not entirely remember which siblings were involved, but I know some of us asked Sue Wiscombe for help and she came up this really cute idea I got a good smile out of it and thought you all would as well. I know it is hard to read it on the post, but if you click on the photo, you might be able to open it to view it on a larger scale.

For All You Chocolate Lovers

Clinton

My third area was Clinton. I Arrived on June 19, 1997. My first companion here was Sister McCarthey, who had just arrived from the MTC. We were the first missionaries the Clinton Ward had in quite a while. Here, we had a lot of area to cover, which meant traveling several miles to each nearby town. We often asked members of the Ward to help us with transportation. On September 24, 1997 I got a new companion, Sister Rawson.

I was transferred on November 12, 1997.

Our car and apartment (the apartment is bottom right).

Sandy Mercado (a member who drove us to many places) and Sister McCarthey.

The Howard family. They fed us many meals and helped with transportation.

Me, Sister McCarthey "my daughter", and Sister Stahl "my mom". Because this was a new area, Sister Stahl and her companion were asked to spend a day and help us get new contacts. We used this opportunity to get a photo of me with my "trainer "and "trainee".

This church was just down the street from our building. They would often put up a message and these were the two that I got pictures of.

Other signs we got a good laugh out of:

The fall season:

Are You Ready for Some Football?!!!

Weekend with the family

On Thursday I traveled to Boise, Idaho to visit my sister Brenda, her husband, Andrew and their two children: Keagan and Deker. On Friday, my sister Marie, her husband, Joe and their children: Veronica, Tyler, Samantha, Brenna and Braelynn arrived. Friday evening we all went to a little place not to far from Brenda and Andrew's to pick black raspberries. On Saturday morning we all went to downtown Boise and rode the paddle boats and went to a fun place that has a small river and wildlife area which shows the life cycle of fish. We then went to a park and ate lunch and let the kids play on the near-by play ground. On Saturday the rest of our family arrived and we had a great dinner hosted by Brenda. After dinner we walked to a park and had a family photo taken then let the kids play on that play ground (they needed to run off some energy!). On Sunday Andrew blessed Deker and after church Brenda and Andrew had our family, Andrew's family and several friends over for dinner. It was great to have the entire Smith family together again (24 and one on the way - if I counted correctly). A big thank you to Brenda and Andrew for their generous hospitality. Here are some photos from the weekend.