Apartment Inspections

and why take a freeway if a scenic byway will do?

We added three new places to inspect at the end of May due to losing another senior couple who was serving in Fayetteville.  That meant that we had to visit an apartment in Fayetteville, one in Prairie Grove and one in Siloam Springs.  These are all missionaries outside of our zone so it was fun to meet some new missionaries and to learn a bit about them.

This time inspections covered four days.  We did Greenwood on Wednesday night after we met with the Greenwood bishop, we did Van Buren, Siloam Springs, Fayetteville, and Clarksville on Thursday (fitting in Institute as well--which was cancelled at the last minute because none of our class members could be there.  Oh well---).  Friday was the two apartments in Ft. Smith and then up to Alma and Prairie Grove.  And Saturday we made the trip to Mena.  Look that up on a map and see why we are putting so many miles on our car!

We got to drive on some fun small roads and saw a few interesting things along the way.  There are even more, but it becomes a bit awkward to take pictures of "unusual" things sitting on someone's front porch or on their driveway.  Some of these I just took as we drove by; some we actually backtracked to get a photo--some things you just want to record--Some one should write a photo book on the things you see on scenic byways in Arkansas.

Narrow roads, little hills, and trees on every side----

Water towers in  most towns...

and your local tank---every town needs one!

These are things INSIDE an apartment.  Above their wall of pictures of Christ and their smoke detector is this weird thing.  We don't know what it is--maybe a dehumidifier?

In the same apartment, they had this cute Peanuts cartoon.  Charles Schulz had a daughter who joined the Church and was serving as a misisonary at the time he made this cartoon.

Love the flags flying along the main streets of these small towns

This view never gets old, but you need to watch for the deer...

And they still have construction along these country roads

Since Institite got cancelled in Clarksville but we had to wait to inspect the elders' apartment, we ate dinner at a local Chinese restaurant (only fair) but we saw this funny sheep on the store a few door down.

And a cool sunset

We also visited a local cemetery which had a small area dedicated to the Confederate soldiers who had died in the war.

a marker for two siblings who'
both died within a year of their births

Cemeteries are such snapshot of life.  You can sense the stories of life and loss as you walk around and read the headstones.  How sad when you see children buried near the same time--likely times of illnesses or when three or four children of the same parents are buried near each other over time.

On to the less serious stuff---

Heading into Prairie Grove--this sight required a photo for sure!  Notice the fig leaf!

We asked the missionaries where to go for lunch and they sent us to Fredrick's.  It is actually a gas station/store/and restaurant all rolled up into one.  It was a busy place and apparently where the "old" men in town meet to drink coffee and talk.

For the first time since we arrived, we remembered that it was Freeze Friday for our zone and posted a picture on our zone site of us eating ice cream from Fredrick's.  By the way, the hamburgers and French fries were great.

The first cutting of the grasses.....

The green hills just keep on going in the distance

We had to go back to get a picture of this bicycle man......

Life in the country

Abd the green tire frog---he made us laugh!!!

I wonder how often they have to trim the trees around the electrical poles to keep this clean edge on the forests on both sides.

If you are going to have a scarecrow, put a smile on his face!

On the top of the gate into a farm;; Psalm 126:5-6.  That reads: 

5 They that sow in tears shall reap in ^ajoy.

6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious ^aseed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his ^bsheaves with him.

Part of the green everywhere is vines which will climb trees, poles and old houses.

This is an actual town that they "figure it is five miles north of Van Buren".  Hence the name "Figure Five."  So the internet says when we looked it up because it seemed like such a odd name for a town.

It is hard to get the sense of the ups and downs of the hills and valleys in this area of the world.

Heading back into the Van Buren/Ft. Smith area after our trips to parts north.

And the missionaries all did a great job getting their apartments ready for inspection.  We did get a good laugh in one of the apartments--which will remain nameless but was NOT one of the Ft. Smith's apartments that they had a sign over their workout equipment with their girlfriends' names on it--to encourage them to exercise more diligently--they said!  I wished that I would have taken a picture of it, but they were already pretty embarrassed about it! It was removed right after we left.