3 Down, 1 to Go

Actually, only 1/2 a week now to finish this second round of Sutent.  Bright and early next Monday morning Jimmie gets a new CT Scan, but it will be the week after before we receive the results.  Next week will be a very long one as it always is while waiting to hear something.

But this past weekend was very good.  We drove up to Cookeville, TN, on Friday to see our co-worker and director of IBTM, Ronald D. Gilbert.  I helped him with some computer projects but mostly we enjoyed some good cooking by his wife, Carolyn, and a great visit with them. 

Jimmie and Ron discussed some work stuff, but they were soon swapping campaign stories.  I love listening to those!  They figured out they have done at least 12 together, so they each had some good tales on the other.  I still shudder when I hear the one about Jimmie throwing rocks at "something" in the lake a few feet away from them to see if it would move, and then realizing it was a live crocodile watching them.

On Sunday we drove another hour up to Tompkinsville, KY, to the Rock Valley Church of Christ that sponsors Ron's work with IBTM and is a tremendous help with the work.

Jimmie spoke twice, preaching at the morning worship and then presenting the work of IBTM in an afternoon session to which other area congregations were invited.  In between there was a delicious fellowship meal (Jimmie is STILL talking about the banana pudding!) and a work session to get 1,000 Bibles ready to ship this week.

Part of the volunteer crew Sunday.
Every Bible has 2 inserts glued inside the covers before it is shipped -
the plan of salvation and  how to identify the church of the New Testament.

Jimmie and Ron looking over some Bible class materials donated to IBTM to ship to congregations overseas.

 Tompkinsville also has another building we were interested to see - the oldest church building in the area.  John Mulkey (1773 - 1844) was a Baptist preacher from a well-known family of Baptist preachers.  But as he compared his reading of the Bible with the Baptist doctrines he taught he began to realize that his doctrines were wrong.  In 1809 he began to express his change in sentiments from the pulpit and caused quite an uproar.  After months of dissension and visits from Baptists delegates John Mulkey arose on the 2nd Sunday of November and asked those of the congregation who agreed with him to walk out the back door.  He joined them and together they started a congregation of the Lord's church based solely on the Bible.

The church building that still stands in Old Mulkey State Park is the building that they built.

Everything is still original other than the flooring.

Ron said that for many years the state of Kentucky had a plaque up identifying this church as the one you read about in the New Testament . . . but apparently there was a protest by someone and the plaque was removed a few years ago.

Naturally, Jimmie always checks out the pulpit.  This one was a bit different, more like a retaining wall.

I found this site fascinating for another reason as well.  It seems that one of my distant relatives was a part of the original congregation and her grave is in the adjacent cemetery.

 There is a plaque commemorating the life of Hannah Boone Stewart Pennington (1746 - 1828) and her headstone was the only one freshly decorated.  Even though she buried two husbands she is still known here by her maiden name of Hannah Boone, probably because her brother's name was Daniel.

The mother of Daniel and Hannah Boone was sister to one of my great-grands so that makes us very distant cousins.  I was pleased to learn that a cousin had been a part of the Restoration Movement all those years ago.

We took time for a quick photo Sunday morning before heading to Kentucky -

and then stopped in Crossville, TN, to see Jimmie's brothers before heading back to Georgia.  So, it was a very good trip.

- Linda