Mena Memorial Weekend

We had to do an apartment inspection in Mena and we also had been asked to speak in Church on Sunday.  So, we decided to make it an overnight trip and left early Saturday afternoon to head down there.  It takes about 1 1/2 hours, but we choose to go on a bit longer route through eastern Oklahoma which was very beautiful, too. Great day to travel---

And while on the way down, our car passed the 10000 mile mark...with the warning lights all still misfiring....at least they don't beep any more.  (It is June 16 now and our car has been in the shop since Monday--hoping to get everything fixed.  No news yet on progress.  Luckily they provided us a loaner car.  Ironically, we got a new car so we wouldn't have to worry about repairs on our mission.  Oh, well, you know what I say about plans!!)

We passed by an actual train  (Gary has been disappointed because we have seen train tracks but no actual moving trains since we got here.)  so Gary drove ahead and found this crossing, drove over it and turned around, so we could....

sit and wait....while the neighborhood dogs were barking at us,,,,

for the train to

pass by.  We loved it!

Throughout the countryside, next to trees and maybe cows, churches are one of the most common sights.

Gary had scouted out the cemeteries near Mena and we stopped at this one to take some pictures for Fid A Grave.  Since then, Gary has been busy uploading them and doing research to connect them in family search to their families.  One of his great joys is matching couples together in Family Search.

Without fail, most of the people have some connection to either Gary or I--distant but connected.  I think the closest was a fifth cousin to Gary.  It is interesting and tender to see the things left around the tombstones.  We took pictures for about an hour and got over 100 or so to upload.

A plane graveyard near the Mena airport--a sober sight and something that it doesn't seem like you would want next to your city airport.

We spent the night in a hotel (not the one I had booked online.  It looked too borderline.) and had a quiet night watching an old movie.

Sunday it was off to the Mena Branch which has a beautiful location right off a small lake.  No pictures as we were in a hurry to get back to Ft. Smith and the YSA branch.  All three of us spoke.  I will post Jean's and my remarks in the following posts.  Gary did an excellent job tying in our visit to the Mena cemetery the day before into remarks related to the power and importance of family history and temple work. 

When I mentioned on my sibling chat that we were speaking in Church in Mena, my brother, Rick, reached out to his friends who have a second home near Mena.  They were in Texas that weekend, but they did text some of their friends who greeted us when we arrived.  That was fun.  This was one of their (my brother's friend's) friends after Relief Society.  We also heard later that one of their friends was motivated by Gary's remarks to start doing the family history for her husband who is not a member and he has been very supportive of that work so far.

The branch was warm and inviting and we enjoyed being with them,  They invited us back anytime but especially on the 3rd Sunday when they have a ward potluck each month with yummy food and also on September 23rd when they have a Hawaiian Lula with a buried pig and all of the trimmings.  They said it can't be missed.  I don't know that I have ever as a guest been invited back for a party in three months.  A benefit of being a missionary, I think.