Day 23- Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The view of the Atlantic Ocean from our room.

And all the fun pools our hotel had.

We had a blast at Myrtle Beach, playing in the ocean and swimming in the pools!

That night we went to Columbia, South Carolina and Leonard and I served in the temple.

Day 22- Savannah, Georgia (part two)

We loved exploring Savannah, even in the rain!  Every block had these park squares that were so delightful!

There were many houses to tour, but unfortunately we didn't have time to tour the Mercer Williams house.

This house was quite grandiose!

And looking to the right.

And to the left.  The yard was manicured perfectly and had many statues.

A famous fountain, but I forgot what it's called, ha ha!

My kids were soaking wet, but they were such good sports!

An obelisk behind the fountain of someone famous.

The Gingerbread House.

We found lots of fun and funky Victorian houses on our stroll.

I loved all the lamps everywhere.  We even saw a gas burning lamp outside of a house.

My family strolling under the Spanish moss.

All of the red brick homes were my favorite!

I could move into this law office.

A beautiful church.

Walking past an old cemetery.

The regal entrance to the cemetery.

A cool church steeple.

Yep, red ricks, white sash bars in the windows, and black shutters is a classic favorite!

We did tour the Owens-Thomas house.  This is the front.

The view from the front door looking out onto a park square.

The backyard.

One of the pots had the Starbucks symbol.

The quarters for the enslaved people was behind the backyard.

The master bedroom.

The head slave's bedroom.

The master's children's bedroom.

The slave's children's bedroom.

Visiting places like this is always uncomfortable.  I am so sad that people used to enslave other people as if it was normal.  I am still sad because today people still enslave other people, it's just done in secret. If we could all just treat others how we want to be treated, we would have heaven on earth.

My Testimony

 It's a dandy day!  I loved it when Marty Lybbert used to say that, as I could feel his joy and gratitude.  My heart is full of joy and gratitude to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.

I am so grateful for my Heavenly family.  I know that God is our Heavenly Father and that He knows us and loves us, we are His precious children.  I know that we also have a Mother in Heaven, and how happy I am to know that.  I am so grateful for my brother, Jesus Christ.  He is my Savior and Redeemer.  I can't comprehend his invincible love that caused Him to suffer for my sins and for the sins of everyone else and to die for us.  He did it, so we could conquer death and sin.  How grateful I am for his precious, matchless gift to repent and repair myself each day and strive to become one of his true disciples.  How grateful I am to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  He has born witness to my soul that the Plan of Salvation is the Plan of Happiness and that it is true!

How grateful I am for my Earthly family.  I got to grow up spending lots of time with lots of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and how grateful I am for those relationships.  My parents are divorced and even though that has caused sadness, it has led to more happiness in having more parents, and siblings, and nieces and nephews that I love tremendously.  How incredibly blessed and thankful I am for my husband (and his extended family) and for each and everyone of our children.  My family is my greatest treasure!

How grateful I am for my Church family in the Chapel Hill ward.  Adding up the 3 times I have lived in the ward makes it the longest I have ever lived in.  Many of the faces are the same from over the years, but many faces have changed.  Each face past and present has touched my heart as we gather together to worship God and serve Him, by loving and serving each other.  How grateful I am for the scriptures, the modern day prophets, and for temples all around the world where we can make covenants with God, receive precious ordinances, and serve those who passed on without having the opportunity to do so for themselves.  I love how in our church we are organized by families, wards, stakes, areas, and then the whole general population worldwide.  I feel like our church is a global small town, and no matter where I go in life I can always find family at church.

I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is LOVE, period.  We are commanded to Love God with all of our hearts, might, mind, and strength.  We are also commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves.  It goes beyond that though.  We are commanded to love others as Christ loves us, and He died for us to save us!  We are called to love and help save one another.  And our neighbors include our enemies.  I am not perfect and fall short of my expectations, but I continue to try to love God and others the best that I can every day.  What a wonderful world we will have when we all put loving God and others first!

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.