Letter from Colin:

My new address is:  925 Piney Grove Rd, Deep Run, NC  28525

           Well, never would I have ever thought that I would miss little old Edenton as much as I do, but being there with Elder Pendlebury, and then Elder Pitts, and all of the amazing people I got to work with, members and non members made it so enjoyable to be there.

         The last day I was there we got to say good- bye to two of my favorite people I've met on my mission. They gave me a tie clip that they had made with the longitude and latitude of Edenton on it, and I've worn it every day since. As we said good-bye and walked out, we looked up the street and walking towards us were the two other people we wanted to say good-bye to, but hadn’t got the chance to see, so it was just about perfect.

         Later, our good friend, John Cavinee, came to pick us up to drive us to Elizabeth City to catch the transfer van (The Cavinees are the non-member family who feed us Sunday nights) and in the car there was the sheet music that his vocal quartet was going to sing, and it was arranged by Mack Wilberg!  I told him all about how he is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir director and all about how the Tabernacle was built.

         At transfers Elder Pitts was worried about his new companion, but when we met him, he's from Washington. I asked what kind of car he drove and he said he drove a big diesel F250 back at home, so I told the two of them not to worry--they'll get along fine, seeing as they're both Ford diesel kind of guys. They'll be fine working together. I, on the other hand, am still extremely worried about being here with Elder Garcia. This is going to be very, very, umm---challenging for me.

         Here in Albertson (All-Bur-sun) there is not much by way of anything. There's not even a grocery store, and there aren't really any main roads--it's all just back-country roads everywhere. When we finally got here, 3 hours of driving later, we got to our house. . . .Well, it's not really a house; it's a little single-wide trailer... in a corn field... I went out back to put up my bike in the shed, and when I opened the door, the whole door broke off from the shed and almost flattened me. Then we went inside the trailer, and it was full of everything John Deere Tractors: Clocks, posters, signs, lamps, plates, cups, silverware, EVERYTHING--I'm talking, the room we have our beds in is bright John Deere tractor yellow with a green John Deere tractor wall clock and tin sign! Turns out the landlord, who used to live here, is a tractor mechanic and in the Bishopric. The best, and most red-neck part, of the whole trailer is on top of the cupboards above the fridge. . . up there is sitting a taxidermy squirrel!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Turns out after visiting at the landlords’ home last night, which, mind you, is a super-big nice brick home he built--a serious upgrade from their old trailer that we live in--his wife was telling us how he taxidermied the squirrel, but when they built the new home she wouldn't let him take it to the new house, so it sits in ours. But we got a washer and dryer and hot water--so I got nothin’ to complain about. . . although to get enough water pressure to take a shower you have to turn the AC and all the lights and appliances off! At least we have air-conditioning!          Within a half-mile distance on our road there are about 25 houses--and 20 of them are Members’ homes. The Albertson Ward is the oldest ward in the whole state. The first church building here was built in about 1907, the branch was made a branch officially in 1930, and then a ward later. Our neighbors next-door are 88 and 95 years old. Brother Harper is 95, and is one of the original members in Albertson when it was first a branch, so just about everyone is related to that family. We have 26 different “Harpers” saved in our phone’s contacts--and that's only some of their direct relatives (children and grandchildren). The original church building has been moved and is now down the road and being used as a haybarn.

         At church on Sunday there were about 180 people attending--so significantly more that both of my other areas! People kept walking up to us and asking when they can feed us dinner or lunch. The family we ended up eating dinner with last night raises and slaughters their own pigs. The last two they killed were named, "Barbie and Que." We had "Barbie" for dinner, well parts, anyway, but we only had a few pieces of the Boston butt, which is probably my favorite cut of pork, and it was so amazing, but the member was frustrated because, "it didn't cook right," so he picked the whole thing up, opened the back door, and fed it to the DOG!!! But it's okay, we have lots more pork in the freezer in the trailer. The last missionaries here slaughtered and butchered a couple hogs with one of the people they were teaching, so I've had pork at least once a day for the last 5 or 6 days. In all reality, there are probably just as many hogs as people in this area.

         I would give anything to have Elder Pitts here with me, but at least there is a piano in our trailer. It's out of tune and about 90 years-old, but it works. Well, until next time, I hope y'all have a blessed week.

 

-- Elder White