April 9, 2017

What a blessing to be able to go to the temple this week!  And we were pleasantly surprised to see several young elders and sisters, as well as our mission president and his wife, in the same session with us.  These elders and sisters had just finished their mission and were heading home the next day, so it was a pretty emotional experience for them.  We felt so blessed to be there coincidentally at the same time with them.  Tender mercies!

Crossing the Patuxent River

Patuxent River

 And we felt the added strength we were seeking to carry forth with our new assignment, as we began going to Calvert Co. this week.  Two to three days a week we travel to Huntingtown and Prince Frederick to  visit sisters in these areas.  Each day we cross over the Patuxent River on a large bridge that connects the two counties (Charles Co. and Calvert Co.) to our additional area of service.  It is quite a beautiful drive, especially on the sunny days.  One day it was pouring rain so hard we debated whether we should go, but by the time we got there the rain had quit and we had some wonderful visits.  Then when we were through, it started hailing and pouring again.  By the time we finished eating at Jerry's (a place well known for it's crab cakes!), it had stopped again, and we were able to drive on home safely.

Crab cakes and shrimp at "Jerry's Seafood"

I have enjoyed so much meeting some very special sisters who live in this area.  One day after leaving our bookmarks with our names and phone numbers in several doors of sisters who weren't home, we got a phone call asking who we were, what we were doing, etc. Then the lady told us she had just been diagnosed with cancer, and asked us to pray for her.  She has not been active in the church for some time, but for some reason, divine intervention, we were led to her house last week. We were able to pass her name on to the Relief Society president there who was able to visit her as well and arrange for a Priesthood blessing for her.  The Lord works in small ways, even through two senior sister missionaries trying our best to serve!

We did find a number of sisters home and were able to have good visits with them and give them a little moral support as they face different challenges - one who is new to the community, another who has a child with a terminal illness, others who tend their grandchildren every day so the mothers can work.  I hope we can be a strength and encouragement to them as we try to help them come closer to the Savior.

Back in our White Plains area Friday we looked for a number of sisters, then went to one of our favorite places, Sister Barrow.  Her daughter, Miranda, had just had wisdom teeth taken out so was recuperating, and we had such a great visit with them.  Then she took us to where the Amish people live, we even went to their little store in the middle of all their farms.  It was so interesting, but very hard to take pictures of them!

Kimi and Miranda Barrow

Amish farmhouse (from the car)

For our P-day Saturday we decided to go to nearby Port Tobacco, and happened to go on their opening day for the season, where they were having a reinactment of Civil War days.  It was very interesting visiting with the people there who love their community and history.  We also went to the Thomas Stone house,  who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  He was a prominent lawyer and statesman in the early days of our country.  At one time Port Tobacco was the 2nd largest city in Maryland and the county seat of Charles County.  There is so much history to learn about here, it is fascinating!

Reinactment of Civil War Days at Port Tobacco

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Thomas Stone house

Original desk of Thomas Stone

Saturday night we were able to take a sister to the Washington D.C. Mormon Choir for a special Easter program - such a wonderful treat!  It truly helped put us in the spirit to celebrate the last week of the Savior's life and this Easter season. 

What a wonderful week!  This beautiful season of the year, my prayer for each of you is that you will remember the Savior, Jesus Christ, what He has done for each of us and the knowledge we all have of  the Resurrection, being with our loved ones and the Savior again some day.  I hope you have a special time this Easter with your families!  My love and prayers are with you.    

April 2, 2017

           

The Harbor at Cobb Island, on the Potomac River

           We have just finished listening to the wonderful sessions of General Conference from Salt Lake City, and hearing Pres. Monson and many of the General Authorities teach us the things of most importance in our lives.  How blessed we are to get their counsel every six months and feel of the Spirit testifying of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and His teachings.  I feel so fortunate to be able to spread His word and testify of Jesus Christ here in Maryland, and to be a part of this great missionary effort.
          We have been busy trying to find sisters here in Waldorf and down the peninsula to Newburg, Port Tobacco and Cobb Island this week. Those we have been able to find are so interesting and great to visit with, and listen to, as well.  One sister, who has recently left an abusive situation, was so excited to see us, said she had prayed for the sister missionaries to come.  It was amazing to be able to find her that day at a trailer park in a downpour of rain, but we did.  She had bought us Krispy Kreme donuts, and then talked and talked to us for about 2 hours (until the rain had stopped!)  We hope it helped her some, we feel she is in such need!  We also found a family who haven't been to church in quite a while, but seemed glad to have us come.  They have two teenage daughters and said they will be trying to get back again.
         There are so many sites to see as we travel.  We hope we will be able to get back to Port Tobacco, as it is full of historical sites.  It was the first county seat in St. Charles County, but is now mainly historical sites like this one-room school house, a courthouse, and some interesting homes. 

One-room schoolhouse

           

Rose Hill

                 We also see quite a variety of houses in areas like this.  Here are two vastly different homes, but may give you an idea - these were on "Poorhouse Road".  Which one fits?  We also found deer running between some of the houses - it was very interesting, though hard to get very good pictures of them!
               

                                       
    
         We made the most of our trip to Cobb Island (a day long trip), and found a great place to eat.  I guess this little harbor town is really packed on the weekends, especially in the summer, with so many boats and places with great seafood.
           

    The shrimp were the largest I have ever had and very tasty!  My youngest son, Brad, would really love to eat here!!
           This is a fun picture of Elder Hunt and Brother Heath (our ward mission leader) putting our vacuum back together for us.  We're not too adept with these kinds of vacuums, but not sure they are either!                                                                                                                                                                        We were excited to have dinner at the Labtics this week and be a part of the discussion with their 11-year-old son as the missionaries taught him about the Restoration of the Church.  Hopefully he will be baptized soon and they can work towards being sealed in the temple this year.  Iris was baptized last April 22nd, and she is really anxious for this to happen.  They are the Filipino family who just had their new baby blessed a couple of weeks ago.      
        Now on to new and extra challenges!  We have been asked to go to the Calvert Ward several times a week to help with their Relief Society (in addition to still helping in the White Plains wards!) This ward is about 35 miles east of where we are living, so we will drive back and forth each day.  One sister is in need of extra help as she is pretty much bedridden with her pregnancy and has a 1-year-old besides.  So we will trade off helping her a few days a week, while the other goes with the new Relief Society president to locate the sisters in her ward.  It is an interesting, new assignment, which will stretch us even more, as we learn to prioritize those we keep visiting!
        Have a great week and remember how much Our Heavenly Father loves you, as well as how much I love all of you!  I know He loves me - I see it every day in the work we are doing and the great people we meet here in Maryland! 
          

 

March 26, 2017

                            WASHINGTON D.C. in Cherry Blossom Season

I guess the mission office must think we know something about cars, as they had us helping the young elders and sisters with their car inspections this week at our Zone Conference - pretty funny!  But it actually helped us to know what to watch for on our own cars!  We love meeting with the young missionaries, seeing their enthusiasm and zest for the work!

Car Inspection at Zone Conference

Singing "Called to Serve"

Dela and Stacia

We keep pretty busy trying to visit the sisters in our two wards, and trying to find "Lost" sisters who are on the rolls, but haven't lived in these places for a couple of years or more!  We probably go to 5 to 10 places a day, maybe finding one or two sisters to visit with.  When we do, it is so interesting to find out about them, or see how we can best help them.  Most really enjoy having someone to talk to and someone listen to them!  So many challenges - so many problems!  This sister had a card making activity, which I enjoyed, along with getting to know her and her friends better. 

Bobbie making cards

  After a busy week we really enjoyed going into Washington D.C. Friday afternoon to see the cherry blossoms at their peak!  It was nice that Stacie was able to meet us to take some exceptional pictures, show us around a little, and treat us to dinner there!  Seeing the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial was also very interesting.

With Sister Brown by the Tidal Basin

Cherry Blossom Time

Eating at The Muze with Stacie

 

Cherry blossoms with Stacie

FDR Memorial

And to top the week off, my oldest grandson, Cade Curtis (son of Bret and Shaulee) got his mission call this week!!  He will be going to the Spain, Madrid mission on July 25th!  So excited for him and the joys he will soon be experiencing serving the Lord in that part of the world!

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March 19th

Interesting week, going from spring blossoms to spring snowstorm!  While it isn't like snow I've experienced in Utah and Idaho, the mission office contacted us and told us to stay off the roads because of the ice, which can be pretty treacherous!  So we had a good day to plan, and organize our records (and maps!)

 

We had some really terrific visits as well this week.  One sister we have been visiting regularly really wants to come back to church.  She says she has felt so much better about the church since we have started visiting her.  Another sister we had been told not to bother visiting, but when we saw that she had had foot surgery, we thought we ought to go by.  And we had a great visit with her!

We were so excited when we found out Labtics were having their baby blessed on Sunday, that we had to go and buy a little white dress - she didn't have anything small enough for the 3-week old baby, so we told her we were the adopted grandmas and got something for her, since all of their family are in the Philippines. She looked so precious today!  Such a special day for them and us too!  We will help with the new member discussions and when the elders start teaching Sister Labtic's 11-year old son this coming week.

Kimber Labtic

The Labtics - Kimber's blessing

 We had a wonderful stake Relief Society conference on Saturday, which we helped with  - making the soups, etc., passing out things.  Our mission mother was the keynote speaker with the theme "Let Your Light So Shine".  It was a neat experience taking Sister Neville to it, she so rarely gets out to anything.  We also got to meet the sisters who had served here about 4 years ago - they flew here from Utah and Arizona to see everyone again.  We have been able to visit with them and get to know them, as well.  They have set a good precedent for us!  Sister Ramon is the Stake Relief Society President who we stayed with until we could get into our apartment.

With Sister Neville at Relief Society conference

Sister Brown, Sister Ramon, and Sister Harper

One more exciting thing.  Today after the second ward, I walked out to a big surprise!  There was Jim Price, who grew up in Mesquite with our children!  He was here visiting his inlaws, the Bowies - so fun!  We had a good time catching up on what had happened to them in these past 20 plus years, and telling him about my family.  Small world we live in!  Have a great week!

With Jim and Michelle Price

March 12, 2017

   Tonight I am truly feeling the love of my Heavenly Father as I reflect on the blessings of this past week.  We took a sweet sister who is from Korea to the monthly service project at the church where we make blankets for the homeless, and enjoyed visiting the other sisters there.  We love visiting the sisters who live in the senior living center where we are getting to know them better with each visit.
          It is so nice to have the temple open again after being closed for maintenance.  So we made the most of it, taking a sister with us, who does not drive the "beltway", and it was a great opportunity to visit with her.  But it was in the temple waiting for the session to begin that I truly felt the love of my Father in Heaven, as I was finally able to put together my thoughts for the talk I was to give on Sunday.  We were asked a couple of weeks ago, but I never felt what I should say until sitting there in the temple.  What a beautiful feeling and spirit - the peace and comfort, I am so grateful!
          We had a number of wonderful visits this week, as well - so amazing to see how we are led to certain people or are able to locate them when their address doesn't match with where the GPS takes us!  Some of the sisters have been ill, or are caring for husbands who have had surgery.

Bro.& Sis. Candland

This is Brother Candland who just had hip surgery a week ago and his wife, Sister Candland, in their beautiful home right on the Potomac River.  We found them in Nanjemoy - a story all by itself.  They were so fascinating to visit with and see their many antiques!  It was amazing just finding them, as Nanjemoy is 35 miles south of where we live!  They are wonderful, dedicated members of the church - so great to meet them!   They are almost 80 years old and have raised a family of 10 children!    This is their view out to the Potomac River and they want us to come back when the flowers are all in bloom - we hope to.            

The Candland's home on the Potomac

We saw some other very interesting sites in Nanjemoy - one we'll just call the "cat house", we missed seeing the sister who lives here, but saw plenty of her 50 or more cats around her place.

Lover of cats

Another interesting thing to see are all the churches of many different religions, and all of the old churches have a cemetery right next to them.  We saw these sites every few miles on our journey to Nanjemoy!

Churches with cemetaries next to them

                                                                     
We met a sister for lunch one day, as her husband doesn't like her to have anything to do with the church - how difficult that must be for her!  Some of the sisters we visit are in very active homes, and quite a few are part-member families, who we try to encourage to strengthen their relationship with the Savior through prayer, scripture study, and keeping the spirit in their homes the best they can.  It is such a challenge for so many of these sisters!
          So today was such a relief!  To get our talks over in both of the wards - yay!  I don't know why that is such a worry for me, but the Lord truly blessed us both.  And then we had a dinner invitation as well - the family whose mother lives with them and she is not a member.  We had a great visit with her and feel the friendship we are developing could lead to more serious discussions about religion.

Sotterley Plantation

         For our P-day we visited the Sotterley Plantation about 35 miles south of us, on the Patuxent River - one of the early plantations in America, begun in 1699, and has existed in some form or other for over 300 years.  At one time it was 7000 acres, and was one of the first plantations to import slaves from Africa.  Now they only have 100 acres but with some of the old buildings, expanded and updated over the years, as well as an original slave house.  There was a special inside tour of the plantation house this weekend, so we made the most of it!

Dining room in Plantation House

Slave house from the 1700's

Along the Patuxent River

It has been another beautiful and special week here in Southern Maryland.  In spite of the trees in bloom, we are expecting a snowstorm this week and frigid temperatures!  So I'll let you know!  Meanwhile, "Keep the Faith!" (what we had to talk about in Sacrament meeting)     Love and miss you all!

      

March 5, 2017

      I can't believe it is already March!!  It seems like I have been here for a long time, and yet it seems like we just got here - how can that be?!  In spite of being 17 degrees several of the sisters we have been visiting lately came to church today!  Our sweet sister who is nearly blind and in a wheelchair came with her daughter-in-law and grandson - I was so glad to see them go to all that effort to get her there!
      We were surprised to realize that we knew most of the sisters today and felt the spirit so strong as they bore their testimonies.  One of these is Sister Amoah who had open-heart surgery in January and this was her first time back since her surgery. 

Sister Amoah

We had been to visit her earlier in the week.  She is from Ghana, Africa where she joined the church and then came here to America with her husband.  He is in the bishopric and her son is just now waiting for his mission call.  I loved hearing my parents share their stories of serving a mission in Nigeria and Ghana over 30 years ago.  Now it is exciting to see the growth in the church and the gospel passing on to another generation!
       Our sweet Iris had her baby girl a week ago and we were so thrilled to visit them in the hospital and see them a few days later at home adjusting to new schedules!  What a beautiful family this is - and oh, how we pray for them to go to the temple to be sealed as a family forever!  We will be teaching Iris the new member lessons when she is a little rested!

Joel, Iris and Kimber Elise

Visiting the Labtic family

We also saw the debris from last week's tornado as we tried to find a sister living in these apartments.    There were quite a few trees uprooted and branches everywhere in the apartment complex. A little girl is playing in the broken window left from the tornado.  This is only a couple of miles from our apartment, so we were glad we were visiting some sisters 10 miles further east of here at the time!

Uprooted trees from tornado

Girl playing in window

Saturday was a Senior Missionary activity as we all met at the Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. to see where Abraham Lincoln was shot and then taken to the Peterson House across the street from there.  This was our first trip into the capitol, so we had an interesting day meeting with the other senior missionaries, then eating lunch together, and trying to find our way around to see the monuments, white house, and demonstrators.

In Ford's Theater

                                         

Where Lincoln was shot

     

 

Peterson House

                

Lunch with the Sr. missionaries

           

   Demonstrators near white house   

Washington Memorial