We saw our first snow fall last Monday, and it was beautiful! It was melted off by afternoon, so we didn't have to face driving in it for long. We also had a great dinner at Pres. Volk's (in the stake presidency) house with the young missionaries and saw them challenge each other and Pres. Volk to who could eat the hottest sauce on their bowls of soup! Not us! But it was fun seeing them relax and have fun, and hearing Pres. Volk's conversion story at Hill Air Force Base in Utah!
I finally feel like I am catching up on things as we are getting to know a little more what we are doing, and how to find our way around! Each time we find a shorter route to the other end of the county we feel successful! Our motto now is "Work Smarter, not Harder!" as we try to streamline our visiting of so many sisters. We have realized we could find the maps on our computers and then save an address on the map with a star, label it and then send the map into the GPS on our phone - wow do we feel smart with our "smart" phones!! I know this is pretty easy for most reading this, but for 2 "elderly" sisters we feel we are getting pretty savvy! The best part of this is that we can cluster a lot of stars in an area, find quite a few sisters, and not spend so much time traveling. It has saved us a lot of time, gas and energy! Aren't we efficient?
We have had some really terrific visits this week! One sister has been quite sick, is going through a divorce and has not attended church for several years, but seemed glad to have us visit her and asked us to put her name in the temple. Another sister, who is a school teacher, has a nonmember husband who we had a great time getting to know. He was a principal for many years (now retired) and was so interesting to talk to. Even though he has been through several sets of missionaries, I feel he understands enough to accept and receive the blessings of the gospel. They took our phone numbers to have us back for homemade crab cakes, sounds pretty yummy!
The sisters we find home have such varied stories! Many around here home school their children, such as a family of 14 children (some adopted, most are their own) who are all home schooled! Wow! Two other sisters lived previously in Nauvoo, at different times - interesting to hear about that. The sister, a widow like us, who invited us for dinner tonight lived in Utah most of her life, raised her family and taught high school English. She moved here to her brother and sister-in-law's about a year ago, and is anxious to show us some of the historical sights of Maryland and Washington D.C. Sounds great now that we will start giving ourselves a P-day! We did try to see the Dr. Samuel Mudd house Saturday, but it doesn't open until March, so we'll give it a try another day, when it's not so windy!
We are doing a lot of learning, growing, hopefully helping some of the sisters come closer to Christ as we visit and share our testimonies of the Gospel. And now that the Relief Society president in the other ward is back from her cruise, we will meet with her this week to find out the needs of her ward and sisters, Between the two wards we have more than enough to keep us busy for quite a while!
I have also learned that while I always thought we were sending our children on missions to share the Gospel and bring others to Christ, there are so many other things that the young Sisters and Elders are learning! They are learning to budget their time and money, discipline themselves by following mission rules, keep an apartment clean, get along with companions and others in the mission, and develop leadership, so many life skills that they use the rest of their lives. While Sister Brown and I send in a report each week to our mission president, we are not required to always be together, or be to all the district meetings, etc. We schedule our own time, and get as much done as we feel we are able to in a day. So glad they give the senior missionaries more flexibility!! It is great - I love being here and able to serve the Lord and the people here in Maryland! The Gospel is true, no matter where you are, and it is great to see the church progressing here.
We love you Sister Perkins!
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