It rained a lot last
night and was still raining hard when we went to church. It has been an unusually cool August for this
area, but it is expected to be more "summer-like" in a few days. We met a few more people at church and
associated more faces with the names on the ward list that we obtained with
persistence last week. Sacrament meeting
talks were both very good and the lessons were well done in Sunday School and
Relief Society. The Sunday School
teacher and the Relief Society teacher today were husband and wife. Sister Beutler did an exceptional job of
presenting the lesson from the Teachings of the Prophet Lorenzo Snow about
"With God All Things are Possible".
After church I spent time trying to become more familiar with the Family
Tree program so that we can offer help to the sisters in the ward who need help
getting started with family history.
Sister Boone studied the ward list and determined some sisters that we
may want to visit this week. We
discussed our plan for a little while and she made a few phone calls to set up
appointments. I would love it if she did
the phone calls all the time, but I know that I need to step up to the plate
and face my dislike for making phone calls and just get over it. I did a couple of the calls the other night
and survived so I think I will be able to get better at it.
Monday-Wednesday, August 19-21, 2013
We have found quite a
few of the sisters this week, thanks to the aid of our sometimes less than
helpful Garmin locating device. We had
appointments with 11 sisters and dropped in on another 26 sisters; only about
170 more households to go before we see all the sisters in White Plains 1st
Ward. We have seen both ends of the
spectrum as far as position, education, and wealth. I cannot believe how many beautiful, large
homes there are in this area. We can
drive down a road and see large, beautiful homes and beautifully landscaped
yards and then turn down a side road and end up in a wooded area with old homes
and people living in very humble circumstances.
I am impressed by how many of the ones we have visited have husbands who
are or were in the military and now work for some branch of the government, but
I guess that shouldn't be surprising. We
have heard the titles of engineer, nano physicist, mechanical engineer,
aerospace engineer, teacher, accountant, and more; a broad range of experience
here.
I woke up in the middle
of the night thinking about one of the sisters that we visited on
Wednesday. I relate her story to you not
as an expression of disgust and disdain, but to testify that Heavenly Father is
no respecter of persons. He loves all of
His children without exception.
It is amazing that we
even found this sister. The GPS took us
off the paved highway onto a gravel road which led to several humble abodes
here and there. I wasn't sure if we were
still on a public road or driving down someone's field access road. The first house we went to was not the right
one. The houses didn't have house
numbers, so it was hard to tell where we were.
We asked the neighbor if they recognized the name and she directed us
across the road. She said we were
looking for the house across the road and up that dirt road almost straight
across from her. All we could see were
trees until we went up the hill a ways. There
were some old sheds, lots of old equipment and old vehicles, and lots of junk
spread around the lot. First we went to
a very neglected house that I wasn’t too sure was inhabitable. Sister Boone assured me that she has seen
worse. She left the car running and said
she would just go knock and see if anyone was home because there were no cars by
the house. No answer, so she
returned. She headed over to a little
camp trailer parked by the house to knock on that door. I decided that I couldn't leave her out there
alone when we weren't sure who or what was here, so I got out of the car and
joined her. No answer there, so we got
back in the car and backed around and headed out. I saw another house tucked back in the trees in
the opposite direction that at first glance looked like another
outbuilding. I actually thought it looked
better than the first one and felt it must be the residence. Sister Boone wasn't as sure about this
one. Then I noticed the house number
nailed on a tree and said, see that is the house. I told her the siding on the house was
similar to the 50-year-old house that my family moved into when I was less than
a year old. At first I thought it looked
like it was in better condition than my childhood home. We drove over and parked. We got out.
Then we realized that it was much, much worse. We weren't sure which was the back door and
which was the front door. We walked
first in the direction that I thought would be the front door. There was a long ramp like a wheelchair ramp
but rather rickety, and there was debris every inch along the way to the
door. No, that must not be it. We walked to the other side of the house and
looked at that porch. It wasn't much
better. Now we weren't sure. We started in that direction but the stench
from many, many cats was so overpowering that it stopped us dead in our
tracks. We decided that the other way
must be the front door so we returned to the wooden ramp. As we walked, I could hear Sis. Boone kind of
moaning under her breath. We walked
carefully over and around the debris on the decomposing ramp and porch, and
Sis. Boone knocked on the front door. I didn't
dare speak my mind because there was no glass in the window and I thought we
would be overheard. A voice somewhere
inside said "wait a minute."
We waited, but she went to the other door. We turned to go down the ramp and head to the
front door, and she was waiting outside as we rounded the corner. We were grateful for that because we were at
least far enough away from the yard full of cat feces that it was somewhat bearable
to visit there with her in the shade of the trees. We were pretty certain that we didn't want
her to invite us in, and she seemed to have no intention of doing so. We introduced ourselves and told her we were sister
missionaries newly assigned to the area and were just visiting the members so
we could get to know them. She opened up
and expressed her deep humiliation regarding her living conditions and went on
to say something about it is bad enough to live in this manner but now I have
lost my job as well because of a mistake that I made due to improper
medication. She has been a nurse for 27
years. She said she has been on the
internet trying to find another job without success. It has been five months now. Her husband is having back surgery in a week
or two and won't be able to work. Their
savings are almost gone. Their utilities
are shut off. They are nearly out of
food. She said she doesn't have gas
money to get to town so she can try and find a job. She said she was just in there praying that
Heavenly Father would send help. I felt
so helpless to be able to give her assistance.
When Peter and Paul
encountered the man lame since birth who sat near the temple gate in Jerusalem
and begged for alms, Peter said to him, "silver and gold have I none, but
such as I have give I thee; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up
and walk." And the man was healed
by Peter's exercise of his priesthood authority. I could not extend a priesthood blessing to
this sister, but I could extend Christ's love.
I was filled with love for her and gave her a hug and told her that
Heavenly Father loves her too. She
suggested a couple things that might be helpful, the employment center and
maybe some food from the church.
Without promising her
things that we cannot deliver, we said we would give her a call back with
contact information about the Stake and Ward Employment Specialists who may be
able to assist her. As we left, I could
only wonder where are her visiting teachers and home teachers? She is not an active member. In her current condition, how could she
be? She can't even afford to go to
Sunday meetings. Will anyone reach out
to her?
I sure love my
companion. I am learning so much from
her. She keeps saying that she is so
shy, but I can't see it. She does not
seem to be afraid to talk to people and she is very good at keeping
conversation going whether it is the sisters we visit (both active and
inactive), or if it is the members of the wards or the other missionaries. I know it was hard for her to be in the
environment we found ourselves in this day, but she seemed bold and
fearless. And she is definitely not
afraid to hold her own on the roads.
When she needs to make last-minute lane changes, she is pretty good at
getting people to let her in. She has
been the driver this month to break me in slowly, and I get to drive in
September. I can't waitJ.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Today was quarterly Zone
Conference at the Suitland Stake Center in Camp Springs, about a 30 to
40-minute drive. We got to meet Pres.
Cooke for the first time. During the
course of the morning he called the senior missionary couples and single
sisters in to visit with each of us. He
is a kind, caring man. His wife is very
outgoing and loving. We are going to see
them again Saturday as the senior missionaries meet at the Mission Home for a
get-to-know you barbecue. In the
meantime, tomorrow we are going to attend the temple again. I enjoy our temple days so much.
Friday, August 23, 2013
We were only able to
attend one session at the temple because time did not allow us to get changed
and back to the endowment room before the next session started. Instead we went to the Visitor's Center and
tried to locate my missing bank checks that we were told would be left there
for us to pick up. We had no luck with
that. We stopped at an LDS bookstore
called This Is The Place and purchased a few items before we drove back home.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
The Barbecue
President and Sister Cooke
Pres. Cooke and his Counselors, Pres. Williams and Pres. Lorenzana
My companion, Sister Boone, and the other two single sisters,
Sister Divine and Sister Beckes. Elder and Sister Jex in the back
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