Week 33
Sometimes we don't know what to expect when the FHE activity is announced--so Disney Food Art meant nothing to us.  Well, each group got $10 to go the the grocery store and buy whatever they needed to create a scene from a Disney movie using food.  Our group went for simple but dramatic.  We bought some dry ice, an apple, and some white icing, and made the poison apple from Snow White (and we added some live action).  The witch pulled the apple from the smoking cauldron, gave it to me, I took a bite and collapsed.  Prince Charming then rode on the scene and gave me a kiss to wake me up.  "And the crowd went wild."  The other picture is a darling Finding Nemo scene--all food.

Classes went well this week--in Church History we talked about the years David O. McKay was the prophet.  He became the prophet a month after Kerby was born, so we've been alive for 8 of the 16 presidents of the Church.  We told the students that from this point on it's still history to them, but it's all memories for us!

Wednesday was Zone Conference.  It was President Walkenhorst's last, as he'll be released at the end of the month.  The theme of his message was obedience, and it was excellent.  One memorable thing he said is that you can't be something that you haven't paid the price to become.  

Yesterday we decided to go to Ponca City (45 miles north) after our service at Elite Repeat.  We'd heard the city referred to since we got here, so wanted to see what it was like.  Our first stop was the Marland Mansion, and then the Conoco Museum.  E. W. Marland was an oil magnate who negotiated with the Ponca chief to allow oil drilling on their land.  From there a large refinery was built in 1918 and is still in operation (not the original, of course, but the location), making it among the oldest operating refineries in the US.  Marland later acquired the Continental Oil Company (CONOCO), and about 960 people in Ponca City are employed there.  

Horse-drawn oil "tanker"

Now, just in case you think interesting things don't happen in Oklahoma, here's more of the Marland story.  He and his wife, Virginia, had no children, so in 1916 they adopted his wife's sister's children (George, 19 and Lydie, 16) and sent them to private schools, etc.  Virginia died in 1926, and in 1928 E. W. had the adoption annulled so he and Lydie could marry!  He'd always wanted to live in a palace, so he built a 55-room (including 10 bedrooms, 13 baths, and 3 kitchens) mansion on a 30-acre estate.  It had all the latest innovations for 1928, and really was fun to see.

The Mansion

Kerby with George

Sculptures on the estate

E. W. had great respect for pioneer women, and commissioned a statue of Pioneer Woman to be installed in Ponca City.  He had a contest of 12 sculptors making 3 foot tall statues which toured 12 cities where people voted for their favorite.  (Replicas of the 12 are in the mansion--they're wonderful.)  In 1927 the winner, entitled Confident, was announced. The 27-foot statue was erected in Ponca City soon after. 

E. W. went on to become a US senator and then the 10th governor of Oklahoma.

Today, Elder Kerr gave a great talk about repentance in sacrament meeting.  The person who was originally assigned to speak went out of town, so Kerby was asked on Wednesday.  When the sisters came to dinner, they told him that the investigator who was with them said that the talk was exactly what she needed to hear, and it was like he was speaking directly to her.  Nice when the Spirit does that, isn't it?