January 25, 2017

This has been quite a week of getting into an apartment and getting our cars here, while still trying to visit people and feel that we are serving others.  Last week (although it seems like a month ago!) we were able to meet Sister Bonnie Ramon, our Stake Relief Society president, and find out what she would like us to be doing, focusing on, etc.  She is a wonderful lady, so full of the spirit and excited to have us here, and we discovered, she is the one who got this program initiated for senior sisters to come and serve - how inspired!  We met with her a couple of times, as well as the ward R.S. president (Sister Becky Michaela) of the White Plains 2nd ward, to go over names of sisters to visit, their situations and needs - very worthwhile meetings.

Our other main goal for this week was learning to find our way around the very large area of Southern Maryland using our GPS's - wow, amazing! (way out of our comfort zone, for sure!)  We were able to go to the Washington D.C. temple (how beautiful it is!), about 45 miles northwest of where we are and feel the power and spirit of this holy place - what a blessing for the people of this area!  Afterwards we went an additional 10 miles to our temple office, and met with office people and Pres. Johnson there.  We were pretty proud of ourselves, not getting lost too many times and knowing now that we could do it when needed!

When we had to leave our hotel (our first home of our mission!) Wednesday, due to it being booked for over a month for the Inauguration, and our apartment was not ready yet, we were SO grateful when Sister Ramon invited us to stay at her home for the following few days.  It was great to have a place to stay, but mostly getting to know her (and her husband) better.  We had a chance to visit with them extensively about their family, who we both knew, etc. - amazing in the church the connections you make!   What a wonderful couple and example to people in the church!

Then we began our visiting!  Wow, so many sisters to find!  Some were so excited to have us visit, others not home, others "lost", but we tried our best to find them, traveling 10 to 15 miles between places at times from Golden Beach to Hughesville to LaPlata.  We really used our GPS, nicknamed "our liahona" to guide us as we traded off driving and navigating!

Then Saturday, our driving experience paid off!  We had to drive to the mission office in Potomac for a training meeting (and to get a key to our apartment - yay!),  and hurried back to Waldorf, an hour away, to finally move into our apartment!  It was worth the wait, to have it clean, freshly painted, and new queen-size beds for us to use!  We each have our own bedrooms and bathrooms, which is nice, and being on the 3rd floor, they say it is safer, and we know we will get some good exercise (no elevators!)  I appreciate having a safe place to stay and the simpleness of it all - we are not distracted by material things!  The challenge now was not having access to the internet and realizing our dependence on it!  We didn't have time to settle in long, as we had to return to Suitland (25 miles north) for the night meeting of Stake Conference.  It was well worth it!  So inspirational, as we listened to a couple of recent converts (their testimonies and appreciation of the gospel are so strong!), our mission president and his wife, and two of the stake presidency.  Pres. Sakai is such a sincere and humble man, it was humbling being there with him!  The spirit was so strong!  We made it home safely to our own beds (for the next year!) - so many things to be grateful for this week!

Sunday was the morning session of conference, which was broadcast to our local chapels, since they are so far spread apart.  Then our next great blessing, the safe arrival of our cars!  We have been calling and texting with the truck driver who was bringing them all week, and were so grateful to see them unloaded and have them to drive again.  The elders graciously came and unloaded our belongings that we had packed in the cars, carrying everything up 3 stories for us!  We owe them!!  We didn't get extra visiting in, but were so grateful to finally feel settled.  Bishop Stevens and his wife of the White Plains 1st ward invited us for dinner that evening, which was also a great blessing.  We enjoyed getting to know them and listening to the elders give a discussion on the Restoration.  It has been a long week full or many blessings and little miracles - so much to be grateful for!