February 26, 2017

We have had some great visits with sisters this week, hopefully bringing them closer to Christ as we listen to them tell about their families, conversions, or problems, and then discuss with them the importance of Christ in their lives.  We do listen more than we talk, and that is okay, as it helps them to have someone to talk to.  A couple of sisters have had surgery recently, so it is good to have them tell about their recuperation, etc.  Our sweet Filipino sister had her baby yesterday and text messaged me at 5:30 this morning to let me know - so glad she felt she could!  Two of the sisters in the ward have asked us to visit their mothers (about our ages)  who are not members of the church, one of them we took to lunch for her birthday.  They are very sweet ladies, who seem to enjoy having the visits as well.  While our role is not in teaching them, we share a message of hope with them and the love of the Savior that they seem to appreciate. 
                             

Helen's birthday

   
After district conference Tuesday we took the elders to lunch as two of them were being transferred.  What fun Elders they are and they love to eat!  I should know, raising 5 boys just like them!                                                   These are Elder Sherratt, Elder Montez, Elder Wach and Elder Hirzel.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                                                             So yesterday while out in Hughesville we heard an alarm go off, which was a tornado warning.  What!  A tornado here in Maryland in February?!!  The sister turned on the TV and we were able to see right where the tornado would be passing during the next 30 minutes - directly over our apartment!  Since we were about 10 miles east of there, she encouraged us to stay put until the tornado had moved north, which we were glad to do!  Then when it had passed we drove home through quite severe rain and hail, but at least were able to get home safely.  Interesting weather here!  Changes from 75 degrees one day to 35 or 40 the next! 

Signs of Spring    

      Tornado Watch!    

Lunch at the Boat Harbor in Baltimore

We decided we need to use our p-days to see some of the many historical sites in this area. so last Monday (President's Day)we went to Fort McHenry, near Baltimore.  We had a terrific day seeing where Francis Scott Key saw the American flag still standing after a night of being bombarded by British ships in the harbor, and then wrote some of the stanzas to "The Star Spangled Banner."  It is one of my favorite stories in American history, and being there made me feel so grateful for those who have fought to keep America free, renewed Patriotism for this great country!   We were glad Sister Hess could go with us and share the experience.   

Raising the flag at Ft. McHenry

The flag at that time had 15 stars and 15 stripes.                 

At Fort McHenry

February 19, 2017

We are certainly getting to see some interesting and beautiful parts of Maryland while meeting many wonderful people.  This week we have visited sisters in Hughesville, Charlotte Hall, Brandywine, Aquasco, LaPlata, Indian Head, and here in Waldorf.  These are some of the areas of the two wards that we serve in, which add quite a variety to our week. And fortunately, we have usually had very beautiful weather - in the 70's the past few days.  Hopefully Spring is on its way!

We had our District meeting on Tuesday in Suitland, and what a fun bunch of missionaries!  The senior couple work with the military in Bethesda, the sisters work in Bowie, and 4 of the elders work in our area, Waldorf (and surrounding areas).   We were also glad to be able to go to the temple that day, in spite of the traffic coming home. 

Because of the limited mileage, the elders are unable to get to some of the outlying areas, so hopefully we can visit some of the people they are teaching. (Using our own cars, we have unlimited miles, and we sure put on the miles each week!)

We have met some wonderful sisters this week, and look forward so much to going back to teach them more about the gospel.  Two sisters are fairly new converts, and we will be able to help with the new member discussions, as the elders can't go there alone.  One sister is from the Phillipines and should be having her baby this week.  We are hoping they can get prepared to go to the temple and be sealed as a family during the time we are here.  Another sister is German and 92 years old.  She joined the church last May - her daughter and family have been members for 40 years, but she wouldn't listen about the church.  Then, suddenly she realized she wanted to be sealed to her family, and was totally able to accept the gospel.  She now glows with excitement about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  She is so excited for them to all be sealed this May, 4 generations together.  What a great day that will be for them!!  We hope we will be able to be there too!

We felt like our visit with another sister was helpful as she opened her heart to tell us about her sweet granddaughter that she is raising - what a challenge!  And another sister came here about a year ago, after her husband passed away, to live with her son and his wife.  She is in a wheelchair and nearly blind from macular degeneration, her son and his wife both are at work all day, so she is very lonely.  She encouraged us to visit whenever we were able -  we will be going back to her for sure.  So many very sweet sisters with so many challenges, we wonder how we can be of help to them.  It is wonderful to know we can spend most of our days in trying to serve and help, giving nearly all of our time to the Lord through serving.  It is very fulfilling and satisfying work, and I am so grateful to be able to serve a mission while I have the energy and health to do this.

Feb. 12, 2017

                       

  

"On the Road Again!"

     Our work continues as we try to find the sisters of the White Plains wards that are in need of a visit or special help.  This week, after we met with the Relief Society President of the 1st ward,  our work about doubled.  The 1st ward is not quite as spread out as the 2nd ward, but there are more inactive sisters or ones that seem to need some extra visits, so we are trying to reach them, and share a message of hope with them.  We are also trying to get back and revisit some of the sisters we found a couple of weeks ago.  Some of the older sisters have trouble getting out, making it to church, etc., so they really seem to appreciate having someone visit them.  One sweet sister, hardly able to walk herself, wanted to fix us lunch some time - think we'll take her lunch instead!  She was happy to see us!!  Another sister with a weakened immune system from cancer treatments has to be very careful getting out in public much, but seemed so glad to visit and tell us all about her family.  She also loved showing us her large amount of food storage, water, preparedness items - I think the members of the Church here in Maryland have seen disasters and know to be prepared for anything!      

Making blankets for a homeless shelter

 It is very interesting finding the different areas of our wards - this week we went to Charlotte Hall and Mechanicsville, very pretty communities with some historical sites we saw while looking for homes, so of course we had to take pictures, in spite of wind and cold!      

Cathedral built 1883

Military Academy - built 1803

The weather has been so changeable - we had some beautiful, warm days (nearly 70 degrees), followed by a day of extreme bitter cold winds and freezing rain.  Usually it is in the mid 40's, much warmer than I had expected, but they say it has been a much milder winter this year.



        We also decided a p-day was necessary, to relax our brains and help us mentally!  So I went to Stacie's for the day Saturday and had a fun day making Valentine cookies with Liam and Isla, and playing games with them.

Liam and Isla making cookies

  It was pretty easy finding the way now that I can use my GPS, and is only about an hour from where we are living.  As senior missionaries, we are able to travel out of our mission area as long as we let our mission president know where we will be.  My companion caught up on her letters, did some shopping, etc., so it was a good break for both of us!

With Esme

It's fun to get to see grandkids occasionally while serving the Lord on a mission! And Stacie sent me home with beautiful tulips to decorate our apartment and yummy treats for  Valentines - how great is that! 

February 5, 2017

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.

January 30, 2017

I was blessed that I would see "miracles" - while it wasn't in the lives of those we work with, our first "miracle" was Monday in getting our rental car back to the Reagan Airport.  My companion and I have gotten used to having one drive while the other navigates with a GPS, but each of us had to drive separately.  Our plans were to stay together, but by the 2nd time of getting separated, we each were praying we would meet up at the same place, in spite of the pouring rain and lack of experience on the D.C. freeways!  We made it!!  And it seemed miraculous to us, and an answer to our prayers!

We got back in time to have our couch replaced by the elders and have them help us get our internet hooked up in our apartment.  What great guys they are!  Then we went to the Senior Living Center to hear Sister Gourley, who is 85 years old, play "Oldies but Goodies" for the people living there while they ate dinner.  Three of the ladies there are sisters in the 2nd ward, and they seemed appreciative of us coming to visit them, and we enjoyed meeting many others.    

 Sister Gourley and Sister Brown at the Sr. Living Center

Tuesday we went to the elementary school where Sister Hayes teaches Kindergarten, and had a great time working with some of the teachers, reading to or working with reading groups.  It was fun doing "Once There Was a Snowman" with the kids (Hey - they don't know it's a Primary song!)  The kids are so cute and eager to learn!  The rest of the day we visited some of the other sisters in the ward and got to know them better.  What a beautiful spirit radiated from Sister Jenkins as she told us her conversion story while working in D.C. about 15 years ago.  Now she is retired and raising 2 grandsons, and her own autistic son - they were so well behaved and polite, she is a marvel!

We pick a certain area of the ward each day and focus on sisters there that day, to try to save on the traveling.  There are some beautiful, large homes with rolling lawns and then some apartments so close together, fairly small town homes or apartments - it is so interesting to see all of these different areas of Charles County.  Some sisters are pretty needy, others seem to enjoy our visit, and some aren't home so we just leave a note, hoping to catch them another time.  We also have been leaving them little bags of Valentine candies, which they love!  One day we stopped to eat and heard the men in the next booth talking about religion and how to reach people, so on our way out we left them "pass-along cards" and told them we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ.  It took some courage but them seemed very nice about it, that we are all serving Christ!  Our missionary badges help and give us more confidence to speak up and say who we are!

So Thursday we found our way to the Silver Springs Stake Center for Zone Conference, and met with the missionaries there, listening to Pres. Johnson speak, as well as his wife and some others.  We had lunch and visited with some of the other senior missionaries, and got the 72-hour kit they had put together for each pair of missionaries.  While we were in that area (over an hour north of our place) we felt it would be a good opportunity to go to the temple nearby.  They only have one session every hour, so we were able to do some names in the Initiatory first, then do a temple session - so very special, and love this beautiful temple.

We were excited to see the temple at night from the freeway - it stands out remarkably as you are driving on the freeway, such a beautiful sight for all to see!  Then we learned what the traffic is like on the freeways of D.C. during rush hour, and inched our way along to get 20 miles to a meeting at the Bishop's Storehouse in Upper Marlboro, taking us 1 1/2 hrs.  There we met the Relief Society presidents of the other wards in our stake and they all understood why we were a half hour late!  Getting home the other 20 miles was a breeze at 9:00 at night.

It was nice to go to the White Plains 1st Ward Sunday, where we tried to visit with the people we could.  Then we went to the 2nd ward meetings, followed by their "Munch and Mingle" which they hold quarterly.  They have a potluck for everyone, a chance to visit with each other - since they are spread so far apart by distance.  This gave us another opportunity to meet other sisters in the ward and introduce ourselves to them.  The homeless sister we had been trying to locate was there, so we set up a time to take her to lunch - interesting situation!

One of my favorite visits of the week was to the Bowies.  How interesting to sit in their home of  3 generations and hear about their history and conversion story.  They also talked about their son-in-law, an Air Force pilot, who come to find out is Jim Price, whose family grew up with our children in Mesquite, NV.   What a small world!  We have known and kept in touch with his parents, Tom and Barbara Price, for many years, even after they moved to Logan, UT.  The Bowies live on Dr. Samuel Mudd Road, so we are looking forward to going back during the daytime to see Dr. Samuel Mudd's house.  He is the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth leg while he was trying to escape after killing Pres. Abraham Lincoln.  Fascinating history in this area!

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!

Week 1 - Getting started!

While not quite what I expected for my first week in the mission field, it has been a great and humbling week as I learn to look for and accept my responsibilities.  After completing my week at the MTC, Brad, Keriann and I met up with Daylen and Ashley for dinner - they were going to surprise me with the place!  And of course!  We went to Los Hermanos, our traditional dinner for our missionaries!  This is where we usually went as a family when taking our children to the MTC, so the boys decided it would be the place we should go for my farewell dinner before leaving the next day on my mission!  What fun!  It is a great tradition carried forward, and a terrific dinner, followed by fried ice cream, of course!

Brad took me early to catch my flight to Washington D.C., such a breeze going through security and I had time while waiting to reflect on the inspiring week in the MTC.  It's interesting how you are taken out of the world for a few days to prepare to go into the world to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  There is such a different feeling just in leaving the MTC, the spirit is so strong there, and you just want to feel it all the time!  I hope I can strive to have the Lord's spirit with me throughout my mission as I felt it there!

My flight was almost four hours, but went quickly.  Near the last hour I enjoyed visiting with the fellow sitting by me who was a Muslim from Libya - such a interesting person.  He just finished his Civil Engineering degree at the University of Idaho in Moscow, told me about his wife (a Christian from Poland) and a little about them.  I told him why I was going to Washington D.C. and a little about the church and he was very interested in the church apps I showed him on my ipad, wrote down how to get them and said his wife would be interested to have them.  He was interested in my large family and said they wanted to have a large family (he is from a family of 9 children, who are all in Libya still).  He was such a nice person and so interesting to talk to!
  
As I was waiting at the airport for my luggage, I was surprised to see a sister with a missionary tag, and it was Sister Johnson, the mission mother, there with her husband, who quickly introduced themselves.  While they hadn't received the message that I was being picked up by my daughter, they seemed rather relieved, and asked if I would like to stay with her until my companion arrived on Wednesday.  After helping me with luggage and loading it into Stacie's car, we assured them that we could pick up Sister Brown on Wednesday (they had transfers on that day, so were happy to know she would be taken care of!)  I was able to spend the next few days with David and Stacie and their 3 beautiful children, so cute, full of energy and fun to be around!  I helped Daniella (their au pere) some and tried to help with meals, feeling useful where I could.

Then Wednesday afternoon Stacie took me to meet up with Sister Brown.  We got the rental car I had reserved and took off for Waldorf, MD, with the great help of a GPS.  Pres. Johnson had called me earlier in the day and told me they had a hotel room reserved for each of us there and I reassured him we would be fine.  We kept busy getting somewhat settled (in a hotel room?), shopping a little and learning our way around.  Friday we met back with Stacie in Springfield to get the things we had left in her car, and this helped us to improve our navigational skills and learn where the Mt. Vernon Stake Center is.

Saturday was the highlight of the week when we met for a mission conference with both the North and South Washington D.C. missions.  After meeting a number of sisters and elders in the mission, we had a mission wide picture (with almost 200 in it) and with the visiting authorities - Elder M. Russell Ballard, Elder Ronald Rasband (both apostles of the Quorum of the Twelve), 4 of the Seventies (Elders Bennett, Meurs, Perkins and Yong) and several area presidents.  What a conference!  We got to shake hands with several of them, then went into the chapel for the conference, which was tremendous to hear from so many of the General Authorities speaking just to us missionaries!  They commented that this was pretty historic - seldom do they have this many authorities together in a mission (or 2 missions combined, as we were) at one time.  I have written and recorded in my notebook many of the teachings and challenges they gave to us, such a powerful spirit there!  What a great way to start the mission and feel of the Lord's blessings and help!

Although it was about a 45 minute drive each way, we certainly felt the Lord's blessings and help in our travel, and that the weather was not the predicted ice and snow for that day - only rain!  We certainly felt uplifted and spiritually fed, and hope to utilize the messages learned there with us throughout our mission!  I am enjoying being with Sister Brown, she is so sweet, humble, dedicated and full of the desire to serve the Lord.  I feel fortunate to work with her and we are both learning together, discovering our responsibilities, talents and weaknesses - so much to learn!  (I need to learn how to add pictures, maybe next time?)