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

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!