Senior Missionaries Activity

A Visit to Ford's Theater

This past week of contacting and teaching opportunities ended with a trip to Washington, D.C. to tour Ford's Theater with some of the senior missionaries.  We browsed the museum and gift shop and then sat in the theater while a tour director recited the events of the evening of April 14, 1865 when Abraham Lincoln was shot by a famous actor, John Wilkes Booth.

 The theater was closed after Lincoln's assassination and then was renovated and reopened in 1968 as a national historic site.  This picture shows the theater box where President and Mrs. Lincoln and their guests sat that evening.

 After he was shot, President Lincoln was moved to a boarding house across the street from the theater.  He died from his gunshot wound the next morning.

 The room where Mrs. Lincoln and others waited through that night.

 The bed upon which President Lincoln was placed was too short for his tall frame, so he was placed diagonally on the bed.  Here he lay until his death the next morning.

This monument is located in the Center for Education and Leadership, which is connected to the Petersen House and displays more memorabilia about Lincoln's last days, his funeral, and the impact that his life and death have had on this nation.  This tower of books (three stories high) represents some of the more than 15,000 books that have been written about Abraham Lincoln.  He was a lover of books.

I like the quote by Abraham Lincoln on the plaque by this monument of books:
"Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all."

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The rest of our week was filled with lots of driving, finding a few sisters at home, and teaching three discussions.  We gave the lesson on the Plan of Salvation to Kristin and John.  Kristin told us she wants to be baptized, but her husband said they cannot commit to a date because they will "have to check their calendar".  That was a little discouraging for us because I think Kristin would have set a date otherwise.

This week we had our third discussion with Kristin but her husband was not able to be there.  Kristin is excited about receiving answers to many of her questions about the church.  She has enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon.  This time we talked about The Gospel of Jesus Christ and discussed a couple of the commandments including keeping the Sabbath Day holy and tithing.  She committed to start coming to church and said she can accept the law of tithing.  I hope that John will start coming to church so that they can attend together.  This seems to be very important to her as she has expressed that she is looking for the right church with the doctrine that she wants for her family as they raise their new son, Gavin.  Kristin told us again that she wants to be baptized, but she needs more time to work through how it will affect her relationship with her family members who are Episcopalian.  She has told her mom that she is investigating other churches and the LDS church specifically, but has not had the courage to tell the others.  She said this decision is too important to rush into and she needs to take it very seriously and very carefully.