We didn't post last week with all the activities of cleaning and getting ready to leave.  We are now in Joplin, MO at a motel on Sunday evening.  We stopped early and so I decided to catch up on the blogging.  This picture is of our neighbors Bonnie and Tony Cardwell just as we were leaving.  They were great neighbors and very helpful.  Bonnie loved to come over and talk with Sister Peterson.  She told us she would like to have put a log chain around the house so we couldn't leave.

Jack and Barbara were our evening visit on Sunday that kept me from blogging.  We really enjoyed them as they were westerners from Colorado and farmers that we could relate to.  Jack played the harmonica and would play it for prelude for Sacrament meeting once a month.

The last person we said goodbye to was our special friend, Dorothy Moore.  We visited her nearly every week we were here.  She is progressing well and taking the Temple Seminar class.  She wants to go to the Temple as soon as she can.  We promised her we would come and go through with her?  Extra motivation we hope helps keep moving toward her goal.  A couple of hours later we got in the car and left Morgantown.  It was truly a bittersweet moment.  We whimpered and the tears flowed most of the way to Bowling Green.  We had grown to love our service and it was pretty hard to leave.

On our last day in the mission, we attended a senior couples conference.  Pres. McKee has made a friend of a Methodist minister who is in charge of the Upper Room, a special meeting place for devout Methodists.  The prominent feature of that room is this life-size wood carving of the last supper.  We met there and had a message delivered by the minister and then President McKee spoke.  It was a great meeting with some good relations developed between our faiths.  Afterwards we met at the mission home for some training and then we had our exit interview and were free to head home.

We went directly to meet our friends, Doug and Jenny Peoples.  They live in Chattanooga and came to Nashville to meet with us.  Doug was our good friend in the Republic of Georgia.  We took him to Church with us and he came home and joined the Church.  Jenny joined later and she is trying to prepare to go to the Temple.  She had some questions for us about the Church and the Temple.  We met with them and had a great visit.  Doug has suffered from cancer and some depression because of some of the treatments.  I think the visit was good for both.  I gave a Doug a Priesthood Blessing before we left.

Memphis is only about three hours from Nashville, so guess where Sister Peterson wanted to go?  We had to see if Elvis was still alive at Graceland!  We spent about 4 hours there and checked about everything before she was satisfied.

We traveled on to Little Rock and then on to Conway, Arkansas Saturday evening.  Then this morning we met Elder Ackerman at Church and had a nice visit with him and his companion.  He is a great Elder and we heard several good reports from the members about his missionary labors.  He serves in a great area and a great ward.  It was like being home to attend the meetings where he serves.  The chapel was full and participation was great, it was so different from where we have been serving.  We had special permission to visit our grandson because it is not usually allowed.  But since we are still serving till we get home and released, we had a bit of leverage.  We are looking forward now to traveling home and reporting our mission next Sunday.
Elder and Sister Peterson  (On the road again)

Glen and Lori joined us for three days over the Labor Day Weekend and we had a great time with them.  We visited the Carnton Plantation, which is located in Franklin just outside of Nashville.  One of the major battles of the Civil War was fought here involving about 19,000 soldiers from both sides.  About 4000 died and another 5000 were wounded.

This stately home was built by some wealthy farmers prior to the war.  It became a field hospital for the confederate soldiers who were wounded in the battle.  By the end of the battle, every available space was filled with wounded soldiers.  Some of the upstairs rooms were used as operating rooms and the blood stains are still evident in the floor.  It was a very interesting site but also quite sobering as we listened to the tour guide and realized what happened here.

We also visited the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.  Being a holiday, there was no show but we did get to see the building and take some pictures.

We also visited the Lincoln Birthplace monument in nearby Elizabethtown on a pretty sunny day.  Sister Peterson loved visiting this site and was grateful she could return for a second visit.

When we visited here before, the museum was closed.  This time we were able to enjoy the museum and see all the pictures and artifacts gathered about Lincoln.  We were also able to pose as the famous couple.

In our travels with Glen and Lori, we came across this little post office in Quality, Kentucky flying both the Confederate flag and the American flag.  This post office was retired in the late 90's and was bought by a fellow who lives there on weekends and is restoring it.  Quality is in the very corner of Butler County, about as far from Morgantown as you can get and still be in the county.  We actually have a member that lives nearby that we visit regularly.  All in all it was a fun weekend and a little break from missionary work.
Elder and Sister Peterson  (Remember - Count your blessings, not your troubles.)