Just in the last week, all over this part
of Virginia the trees are budding out
in great profusion, announcing the
arrival of Springtime!

This is typical farm land scene
taken from the side of
the road in Goodview on our way from
a visit with Merle Dutton at Smith
Mountain Lake

This is the beginning of a storm rolling in from across this part of Virginia from the south and west. It is wonderful to experience these rains and the atmosphere afterwards.

This is looking of to the southwest from our veranda as the storm apporaches.

We just received word yesterday during our Stake Conference meetings that Elder Liddiard is leaving us. We were afraid this was going to happen. He has been here in Bedfors since the beginning of his mission last November. He will depart on Transfer day this Wednesday. Elder Cowley will receive a new companion.

So, of course, we needed to get the elder's over for a pancake breakfast. Elder Liddiard thinks our buttermilk pancake receipe is pretty good!

Here they are going at it this morning in our kitchen. They each consumed 10 apiece and plenty of bacon! We sure do enjoy watching these missionaries eat!

Elder Cowley on the left. Elder Liddiard on the right.

The first day of Spring brought flowers! These popped up out of the ground next to the roadway in front of our neighbor's home. We are seeing them everywhere these last few days!

Our Vinton District met at the Vinton
Chapel on Wednesday, March 17, for
our regularly scheduled District
Meeting. We enjoyed a great spirit of brotherhood and love for the work! It is a sacred privilege to be associated with these excellent young men of the Church who serve here in this mission. Left to right they are:

Elder Hansen from Idaho, Elder Richards from Ogden, Utah, Elder Stanvich from Oregon, Elder Reed from Washington, Elder Liddiard from Elk Ridge, Utah and Elder Cowley, our District Leader (a distant relative of Matthew Cowley, a well-known Apostle of the Lord).

Elder Reed presented each of his fellow missionaries with a copy of a pencil sketch he made of the Savior. It was very well done. I should have taken a picture of it to post to this blog. He will be completing his 2-year mission and returning home this next week. So, we were all saying goodbye. He is such a fine elder. He is the one wearing the 4-leaf clover for St. Patrick's Day.

They all kidded me about forgetting to wear a green tie. I pulled out my green ball-point pen and stuck it in the breast pocket of my jacket ( a poor substitute).

This is Elder Cowley, our District Leader.

He is an excellent missionary. Orem, Utah is his home town.

This picture was taken during a break in our most recent Zone Conference at the Roanoke Stake Center.

Did we say the snow had melted away?

Well, this is the scene today as we got ready to make a visit to one of our shut-in members. We had a very nice visit with brother and sister Hille at their mobile home on the east side of town. By the time we were ready to leave from their home the storm had really started to set in and we decided to postpone our drive up to Big Island to check on the Hancock family. They live on top of a rocky hill only accessible by a rutted gravel trail. Our Nissan Altima is a great road car, but is much too low slung for some of the off-road places our members reside, especially in stormy weather. So, we'll try them when things clear a little later in the week.

This picture was taken from the car window just before I completed this blog, up at the Welcome Center in Bedford, while the snow continued to come down.

With the melting of the snow this past week, we began to see the return of the deer to our yard, foraging for something edible.

We counted 8 deer scattered about the property. I took several pictures through the upper bedroom window. I think only three are visible in this photo.

These are the missionaries presently laboring in the Roanoke Virginia Zone. President and Sister Thornock joined in for the picture. (Regretably, Sister Chapman was ill and not in attendance).

Our new District Leader, Elder Cowley of Orem, Utah is in the front row on the extreme right. His companion, Elder Liddiard of Elk Ridge, Utah is standing next to me in the back row.

This picture was taken at the conclusion of our most recent Zone Conference, held at the Roanoke Virginia Stake Center in Salem the last Wednesday of February. It was a great Conference with excellent instruction and inspiration from President and Sister Thornock, the Assitants and our Zone Leaders.