Another Week of Snow

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Well, this week was much the same as the last, maybe not quite as cold but more snow that curtailed our visits down south.  We drove down to Lexington Park on Tuesday and visited four sisters.  We had planned to visit more on Wednesday beginning at 4:00 p.m. delivering a meal to Sister Jones and then going to visit Sister Trainor and the other ladies who attend her knitting class.  Wednesday morning we noticed that we had received a few inches of snow, but the weather didn't look too bad, and we thought it would be fine by afternoon to drive down.  However, we received a call from the Zone Leader letting us know that the Lexington Park missionaries were to remain in their apartments due to the heavy snow they had received in Lexington Park, so we put the meal on hold and made plans with the Relief Society President to take the meal on Sunday instead.

Thursday we drove to Kensington and attended two temple sessions.  It was another chilly day, but the roads were clear and the sun was shining.  The traffic moved pretty well most of the commute.  At one point there was a sudden slowdown in traffic, and we found ourselves getting an extra close view of the bumper on the car in front of us; a little too close for comfort, but I was trying my best to gauge the best stopping point without getting hit by the car closing the gap behind us.  I would say it definitely fit the definition of a complete stop that my brother's friend gave to the officer that gave him his driving test for his driver's license.  Question:  How would you describe a 'complete stop'?'"  Reply:  "When the head goes forward and then back?"  I was grateful that we got out of that one without a crash.

We encountered the aftermath of the snowstorm in a couple of ways.  I saw or heard a report about the traffic on the beltway that indicated approximately 225,000 cars travel those roads every day.  That is one reason why they salt the roads so heavily.  There was a heavy layer of salt along the sides of the road that has lingered since the last snow storm.  I don't know whether it is because the snowplows then push the snow and salt to the side of the road or whether they sometimes just dump too much out in one spot, but when I turned off at the temple exit, I had to go through a pretty good-sized pile of salt that looked at first like a chunk of crusted snow/ice.  The dust that it kicked up reminded me of when I used to drive on the dusty county roads of Montana (and Sevier County, Utah).  On Friday as I was driving back from Zone Conference I drove on the Maryland Route 4 over to Heidi's to spend the evening with her boys while she and Bryce went to a J. Ruben Clark Society fireside in Alexandria, VA.  Along one stretch of road the trees are pretty close to the road.  It appeared that the trees had frost on them similar to what you would see on a cold, frosty morning.  The odd part about it was that the temperature was several degrees above freezing.  Upon closer inspection, I noted that the frost was only on the bottom 10 or 15 feet of the trees.  I then realized that it was not frost but salt brine that was kicked up by the passing cars and then dried.  Oh yes, another thing.  There are sure a lot of very dirty cars traveling the highways after a storm.  They all look the same---white---just different shapes.  (That is a slight exaggeration.)  They aren't actually all that bad, but some are pretty dirty.  There are some clean cars that did not happen to travel out during or shortly after the storm or else they sat in very, very, very long lines at the car washes removing the layers of salt.  I know because I sat in one.  It is a real moneymaker season for car washes.  The other annoying road condition that we are experiencing more as the season progresses is potholes developing in the highly-traveled roads.  I hope my tires survive.  I hit one big hole Friday that was too big to straddle without swerving into the next lane of traffic, so I just had to hit it.  We almost disappeared in that one (another tiny exaggeration).

Friday, January 31st, we drove up to the Suitland Stake Center for a combined zone conference of Suitland Zone and Anacostia Zone.  As I was observing the various sessions of the day, I felt like I was back working with Boy Scouts, just better behaved than the 11-16-year-old boys and with more knowledge of the scriptures but still a lot of enthusiasm.  The breakout sessions before lunch covered four topics.  These are pretty much the same for every conference.  The first three are about care of the apartments and cleanliness, care of the mission cars and driver safety, and health and hygiene.  I guess I would call the last and most important session about character development.  The Mission President's wife led this session, and she talked about their family's hunting dog, Sierra, who is a very smart, mostly obedient dog.  She talked about how hard the dog tries to obey her commands when they are out on their runs, but when she sees birds, squirrels, deer, etc. it is very hard for her to resist the pull of what she calls "the natural dog".  She compared this dog's desire to do and be good being in conflict with her natural instincts to be similar to our own earthly experience that places our "natural man" feelings at odds with the laws of Heavenly Father at times.  To train the dog, Sister Cooke had to let the dog experience some unpleasantness when it didn't obey her commands just as we sometimes have to learn "the hard way" to quote a phrase that is used in our family.  I really enjoyed her lesson, and I think it gave the elders a good picture of how their obedience to mission rules will help them avoid some painful experiences.

I think the session on obedience was in preparation for their afternoon training.  The first part of the afternoon was spent distributing their new iPads, getting them signed in to use the mission-related apps, and teaching them how to set up the online area books.  President Cooke talked first about the changes that are being made to allow each of the missionaries to have iPads for use in doing missionary work.  It will be such a great blessing for them but requires a new level of trust on the part of the leaders to put these wonderful tools in the hands of these young men when they know fully the temptations that it presents for them to become distracted and "chase after squirrels" instead of pursuing their duty as personal representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is a program that has been carefully thought out by the brethren in Salt Lake City, and certain safeguards have been established to help them be successful.  I could see the military side of President Cooke when he talked to them.  He told them in a very matter of fact way that he was placing all his trust in their character and expected them to not abuse the use of these online tools.  Just don't do it.

The Area Book app is going to be so helpful when they get all the information about their teaching contacts entered into the iPad and work out the bugs.  They will also be able to use their iPads to teach lessons, show videos, or even on occasion (with prior permission) use Skype or Face Time to allow a family member at home to join in a teaching event and share their testimony with the investigator.  I am excited that the Women Auxiliary Specialists may also be given permission to access the program so we can access the ward members' information from the digital area books.  That will be so helpful for us in planning visits with the less active sisters in the wards we visit.  We are witnesses of the hastening of the work of the Lord that was described in scripture as a "marvelous work and wonder."  I am grateful to be a part of this wonderful work.