Nov. 3, Monday

Today Elder Whiting and I had a real P day. With permission from the mission Pres. we were able to leave our area and drive thru parts of Texas that we haven't seen. We first drove down to Canton where they have the first Monday sale. I'm not sure why they call it that, but it is just a huge flea market. I think it means they will be finished by the first Monday because they were taking everything down and we did not even stop except to go into a store. It was just a small town that thrives on the flea market business once a month. The Donohoes in our ward purchased a bed and breakfast in Canton and pay for it by just renting it out on week-ends and during the flea market. It was interesting to see. Most of the people had left town already. We have heard it is a really big thing.

After leaving Canton, we drove up to Tyler, Texas and ate at the Olive Garden. We saw some really beautiful scenery. Corsicana is relatively flat, but we drove into some beautiful rolling hills and country side. We saw quite a few cotton fields that haven't been picked yet, and some that had been picked. The trees are just starting to change colors. It was about like the end of August in Idaho. We stopped and purchased a few apples from a road stand. They were selling them for $36.00 a box! They have these huge birds down here that look kind of like Vulchers, but they're not. They are black and have a huge wing span. They are usually hanging out to get their share of road kill.

A couple of things that we learned about here recently is that there are alligators in the lakes. I don't know that there are many, but you have to watch for them according to the people who live on the lakes. There are also Water Moccasin Snakes also that are poisonous and hang out around water. Many people here have a "tank." This is a hole that they dig and just have their own small little supply of water. It collects rain water and they have surplus for their animals. The Water Moccasins hang out near their tanks. ALso there is a lot of hay here that just sits in the fields and get brown. A lot of people have signs up with it for sale. The last thing is that many, many people live in Trailor homes that are pretty flimsy. About all they are is a shelter from the storm. They look okay on the outside, but they age and deteriorate very quickly on the inside. People buy them and put them on land because land is not so expensive here and they can purchase a trailor without too much of an investment.

We drove home from Tyler through the towns of "Noonday," "coffee," and "Palestine." There are a trillion little towns with all kinds of names. Some of them don't even have a gas station. We paid 2.08 for gas, but found it for 2.05 when we got back to Corsicana.

Tomorrow is Zone meeting. We are glad because it is such a pick me up. We love serving and if we could just depend on the members the same way that we depend on the Lord, it would be easier. We are going up to see Bob and Milly and teach them on Wednesday.

This morning we wrote a letter to the President telling him we need to be transferred. We will see if he listens to us. Really there is nothing more that we can do here because the members and Branch Presidency are not doing their share. Pres. Smith is a very inspired man and we just ask him to talk to the Lord about us.