April 24, 2017

With Labtic family at "Why I Believe" fireside

We have had a wonderful week sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people we have grown to love here in Maryland.  We love our visits with the Labtic family, whose son is planning to be baptized May 6th - yes he is bigger than either his mom or dad!  Iris has us to dinner along with the elders once a week and while the elders teach Rouge, we play grandma, holding baby Kimber! 

She is so precious, we can't resist!  So Sunday night the family met us at the visitor's center for a very special fireside "Why I Believe", where a couple and another man shared their stories of hearing the Gospel and joining the Church of Jesus Christ.  It was very inspirational.  Along with beautiful musical numbers, a young man (Mason Wells) shared his experiencc on his mission in Brussels, Belgium when the terrorist bombing took place while they were at the airport there.  He spent 2 months afterwards in the hospital in Salt Lake recuperating from injuries and burns sustained there, but what a powerful testimony he shared with us!  It was incredible to hear what happened to him, and the blessings in his life.  We felt so fortunate to be at the fireside with the Labtic family and with most of the elders and sisters from the mission, and the investigators and visitors who were there.

Elders Buchanan and Rowley

Labtic family and Sister Brown

Labtics on temple grounds

Azaleas at visitor's center

We have had some other very interesting experiences this week while visiting sisters in both the White Plains wards and also in the Calvert Ward.  One sister said we were an answer to her prayers and was so glad we showed up at her house!  She is pretty lonely all day, so we took her today to visit another sister who lives not too far from her who is also very lonely.  They seemed to "hit it off" pretty well, sharing interesting stories of their lives and getting each other's phone numbers.  We hope it will be an ongoing friendship.
         We have another sister who we visit regularly who has had a stroke, but seems to appreciate the Book of Mormon CDs we brought her and CD player, which she can work pretty well herself.  Since the church no longer sells CDs of the Book of Mormon, we were very grateful when my son sent us his which they don't use anymore.  They are great for older people who don't use all the technology!
         We attended the meetings in the Calvert Ward (about 35 miles east of where we live) on Sunday, and were pleased when the Relief Society president there told us of a couple of sisters we had visited recently who were there who had not attended in several months.  It was nice to meet new sisters and see ones we had been to visit, and feel that we are a part of their ward as well.  It is rather stretching us to be a part of 3 wards now and trying to visit sisters in all 3 of them!
         One last funny experience - as we went to one house, the son was trying to keep the dogs inside (one a pitbull) and he said "Leave the nice, old ladies alone!"  I wanted to tell him we weren't "old", but I don't think he would have believed me!   We just keep pedaling, so we won't fall over - analogy from my daughter of riding a bicycle!  That's what we are doing, just working as hard as we can!
         We have felt the Lord's spirit on many occasions, directing us and blessing us in the work we are doing.  I love the work and feel so blessed to be able to serve, I know this Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and I love sharing it in word and deed with the sisters here.  Have a great week!