The Best Laid Plans

Several weeks ago our Stake President, President Watson, had us announce in sacrament meeting that our branch was to meet in Thomasville for church today. Most people, including me, speculated he was going to announce that Cairo and Thomasville were going to become part of the Tallahassee, Florida Stake again. Some also speculated that the Cairo Branch might be combined with the Thomasville Ward. A third specualtion was that Cairo would no longer be a part of the Macon Georgia Mission and, instead, become part of the Tallahassee Florida Mission.

The last speculation was interesting given a conversation I had with dad last week about a couple he and mom met in the MTC. Apparently, mom and dad met a missionary couple in the MTC who had been called to serve as the office couple for the Tallahassee Florida Mission. Dad asked me to look them up some time.

Now for the Best Laid Plans
Church in Thomasville started at 9:00 a.m. I planned on leaving our house by 8:20 and arriving in Thomasville by 8:45. I thought it would be nice to visit with some of our friends before casually strolling into priesthood 5 or 10 minutes early. But that didn't happen. We didn't leave the house until 8:35. On our way to Thomasville we stopped by to pick up three kids in our branch. The kids' mom recently had surgery on her brain to remove a cancerous growth. Her situation is very serious and she is only in her late 20's. The kids were still in their pajamas but Aim could tell they wanted to go to church. We had to leave to get church on time but on the way there I asked Aim to call their dad and tell them I would come back and pick them up.

On the way to church we got a phone call from a family in our branch telling us they had hit a pothole and punctured two tires. I thought to myself "If we had been on my scheduled time we would have been in church when the phone call came and missed the call." We picked them up on our way to church.

After dropping off both families at church I headed back to pick up the three kids. On the way I got a phone call from the Thomasville Bishop asking me to pick up some extra sacrament trays. We needed the extra trays because of the two units meeting together. I thought to myself "That must be why I was supposed to go back and pick up the three kids." After picking up the kids I drove to the Cairo church building to get the extra sacrament trays.

When I came out of the building there was a car parked in front of the church with Idaho license plates. I asked the couple in the car if I could help them. I recognized their missionary tags and asked them if they were from the Tallahassee or Macon mission. They replied "Tallahassee." I asked them if they were new to the Tallahassee mission. They said yes, they had just arrived on Thursday. Then I said "Then you must know my parents." They gave me a strange look. I said my parents had just left the MTC to go to Honolulu. "You know. Elder and Sister Robbins." They were surprised and now probably think the Robbins have the biggest family in the world.

As it turns out, they didn't know the Cairo Branch was meeting in Thomasville this Sunday. The were about to give up and drive back to Tallahassee when they saw me and the three kids pull up. Instead, they followed me to Thomasville. I thought to myself, "That must be why I had to go back for the kids and then pick up the trays from the Cairo church building."

Mom and Dad, Elder and Sister Coon have been assigned to our branch.

So What Happened in the Sacrament Meeting?
The answer to the above question is Thomasville and Cairo are now part of the Tallahassee Stake and Tallahassee Mission. They are still separate units.