The Transition

It was kind of a hard week for both Sister Divine and I.  She was not ready to have her mission end already, and I was not ready to have her go home.  We both knew that it must be, though, and we made the most of our time.  We went to the church for our final District meeting with brownies as a going away treat for the elders.  When we arrived, we found out that they had planned a little party of their own.  They decorated the hall and classroom and brought cookies.  We didn't let the fun get in the way of having a meaningful meeting, and Sister Divine was given the opportunity to bear her testimony at the end.  It was a good day.

The Elders decorated the hall and classroom for our final district meeting for Sister Divine.

Interior design is not the Elders' strong point, but they are amazing missionaries!

 

Thursday afternoon, after we had filled Sister Divine's gas tank and run our final errands, the elders came over to the apartment and helped her carry her belongings down to her car and pack them in preparation of her departure the next morning.

I think Sister Divine felt kind of bad that she did not get to attend a final mission transfer meeting and bear her testimony in front of the entire mission, so it was great that the elders invited her to do so at our meeting. She also did not get to have a final meeting with President Cooke where he presents the departing missionaries with a Mission Coin.  A few days before she was to leave, Pres. Cooke's office assistant emailed us to set up interviews with the President, but they were to be held after Sister Divine went home.  I mentioned to Sister Connell that I really thought Sister Divine would be honored if she could get a chance to meet with or talk to President Cooke before she left.  It just didn't seem like she had closure in light of the fact that her mission ended three weeks early because she had no companion for the last three weeks that she should have been here.  On Thursday evening, the 12th, we received a phone call from President Cooke that he was in Bowie doing interviews and he wanted to meet with us.  He wondered if we could meet him halfway.  The Stake Center happened to be about 30 minutes from each of us, so we met there.  Sister Divine felt a little embarrassed at first, because she felt that President was too busy to take time out for her.  I was so glad that he did that.  We drove up and met him at about 8:00 p.m.  He presented her with her Mission Coin, gave her some instructions about meeting with the Stake Presidency when she arrived in Utah to be released.  Then he went north to the Mission Home and we went south to our apartment.  I am so glad that we did this for Sister Divine.

 Sister Divine receiving her coin from President Cooke

The following morning, Friday, the 14th, Sister Divine threw in the last of her luggage and headed to the airport to pick up Josh, who was arriving about 9:30.  They had a few fun days traveling home, seeing a few sights and driving in some yucky, snowy weather to reach their home in Utah.

 Sister Divine is nearly ready to leave.

Sister Divine headed for the airport to meet her son, Josh.  

See you in 2015, Sister Divine!

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Mission Office contacted me and told me that President Cooke had asked me if I could pick up Sister Moraga at Ronald Reagan Airport on Saturday.  Her plane arrived at about 3:45.  I told him on Thursday night that I would be happy to pick her up if I needed to, but I also was hoping that she wouldn't be too tired to attend the Evening session of Stake Conference in Camp Springs.  She was flying here and buying one of the mission cars, so they made arrangements to have one of the APs drive the car to Suitland Stake Center where we were holding the conference.  President Cooke was speaking at the Saturday night session and the missionaries in the Suitland Zone were going to sing our Mission Song in the meeting.  He wanted to make sure we got to do that too, so it was great that things worked out for us to be able to do that, and Sister Moraga was able to meet President Cooke right away and meet some of the missionaries and members in the stake.

It was a bit tricky making connections with Sister Moraga, but we made it.  She doesn't have a cell phone but she has an iPad with siri so we communicated by email.  I turned on the hotspot on my Verizon phone so that I could use it as an internet connection to email her when I got to the airport.  Low and behold, the phone and iPad wouldn't link so I just sat at the cell phone lot until about 15 minutes after her plane was due to arrive.  Then I drove around and around the loop from the cell phone lot, past the passenger pick-up zone, and back to the cell phone lot.  I only had to do that three times and there she was waiting at the curb the last time.  It worked great.  From there we drove to Camp Springs for the Stake Conference.  Pres. Cooke asked me to just take her there, and Elder Miyasaki drove her car down and delivered the keys to her after the conference.  She doesn't have GPS either, so I gave her my Garmin to use and she followed me all the way home.  She stuck to my taillights like glue, and we made it without anyone cutting in between us for the 30 minute drive.  It was a miracle!  We got home about 10:00 p.m. and hauled her luggage up the three flights.  Fortunately because she flew, she did not have that much, but they were big and awkward. We went to Stake Conference on Sunday morning and then sat with Sister Michela for about 1 1/2 hours afterward talking about how we can help the sisters in White Plains 2nd Ward with their visiting teaching.

Sunday night winter storm Wiley moved in and we got about another 8 inches of snow by noon Monday. Sister Divine thought that she had taken all of the snow back to Utah with her, but I assured her that she left plenty of it in Maryland.  We were still able to go out and run a few errands Monday afternoon in spite of the snow and visited with Pat Rock, a sister that we have not been able to visit in her home before now, so that was great.  She is the good friend of Chris Emerson (the one who had breast cancer) and Sharon Hendricks who just moved to Virginia on Saturday.   Pat told us that Chris felt pretty good the first couple of days after surgery, but over the weekend she began to feel more pain.  Today we took her some flowers, and she was actually feeling even worse so we just gave the flowers to her husband and didn't get to say hi.  Today when we talked to her she seemed to be in better spirits.  We offered to help her with her laundry.

Sister Moraga is going to be just wonderful.  She is an educator also.  She taught English, French, and Spanish to high school students in Paso Robles, California before she retired and moved to St. George.  She served a mission in French Polynesia as a young woman, and then served a one-year mission as a CES missionary in France in 2012.  I know that I will learn a lot from her.

We have kept really busy this week.  We visited the visiting teachers that Sister Michela wanted us to talk to. Then we started going down the ward lists again to try and make contact with many of the sisters that we have never met.  We went to 34 homes and either talked to someone or actually had a visit with 19 of them.  

We have also had time to run several errands to get Sister Moraga settled in--shopping for food, household items, etc.  We got her parking permit taken care of.  Sister Moraga is not used to using a cell phone and would much prefer a "land line" so we went to Comcast and added a phone plan to my account.  Her phone just plugs into the internet modem.  She is happy with it.  We also bought a C02 monitor because there was not one in the apartment and bought a cordless phone for Sister Moraga to use.

Sister Moraga is allergic to cats, and the first couple days, we went to several houses where they have cats and dogs.  We were covered with pet hair when we went home.  We put a lint brush in each car and then decided that we didn't want to transfer tons of cat hair to Sister Moraga's car so we went to Ross and bought some towels to put on the seats.  They are less expensive than seat covers and are easily washable. Since we bought them, we have not been to one house that has cats, but I am pretty sure that we will be in the future.

Sister Moraga loves to leave note cards and little gifts at the houses we visit, so we have also been out shopping for items that we can give.  We got a cake mix, frosting, and candles and some gift bags that we can use to leave cupcakes when the less active sisters have birthdays or when we just want to say "you're special".  We looked for some little potted plants today but it is a bit early for that, so we bought a starter kit and some seeds to plant our own.  They should be ready to present at least as soon as we could have found anything in the nurseries in town.  All in all it has been a fun, tiring, getting-to-know-you kind of week with Sister Moraga, and I have loved it!

A Great Last Week With Sister Divine

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

We visited with three sisters on Wednesday.  Thursday we attended the temple.  Friday we went to Camp Springs for Suitland Zone Training Meeting.  The Elders are starting to get used to the fact that two Senior Sisters are joining with them regularly in their district and zone meetings.  It has helped us feel more focused on serving the sisters in White Plains and finding ways that we can help the less active come closer to Christ as we serve them.  After zone training we planned to visit two more sisters but one of them was not home.  I really wanted Sister Divine to meet Sharon Hendricks, so we called and made an appointment to see her Monday morning along with three other sisters.

Saturday we ran a couple of errands, and then we visited a couple of places that we have driven by many times and talked about seeing them even though they have not opened for the public and won't be open for a couple weeks.  First we went to Dr. Mudd's house and then we went to Mary Surratt's house.  This is in the reverse order that John Wilkes Booth traveled on the night that he shot President Abraham Lincoln.

Booth went first to Mary Surratt's (an accomplice in crime) house about 11 miles from the Ford Theater and got a rifle.  He had hidden two rifles there inside a wall, but one of them dropped out of reach so he was only able to get one of them.   

Surratt's Tavern

Then he went to Dr. Mudd's house another 13.6 miles away (by today's route).  There he had Dr. Mudd take care of his broken leg.  John Wilkes run from the law ended a few days later when he was shot at the Garrett Farm.  Mary Surratt was hung along with three other conspirators for their parts in the Lincoln kidnapping that turned into an assassination.  Dr. Mudd was sent to prison for life, but was pardoned in 1869 and died at his home in 1883.

Dr. Samuel Mudd's House

This week so far we have visited some more sisters, including dear Sister Hendricks who won my heart at our very first visit.  She is moving to Virginia this week, so I was glad that we got to visit her and get a picture with her.  

Sharon Hendricks was kind enough to stop her packing so I could get a picture of her.

Today we went to the temple again.  Tomorrow is district meeting again and then we will try to see some more sisters for whom we do not have appointments.  Thursday we will get some flowers to take to one of our friends in White Plains 1st Ward, Rita Logalbo whose birthday is Thursday the 13th.  Then Sister Divine will do some shopping and get her car washed and cleaned before we pack her belongings for her trip Friday morning.  We have had such a wonderful four weeks together!

Waiting Out Storm Titan

March 4, 2014

We were grateful to have a whole week of visits and meetings last week before the next ice/snowstorm caught up with us.  Last Wednesday, for the first time, we attended district meeting with the elders of White Plains District.  It was good to spend time with them and learn from them.  I am glad that we have been included in their meetings so that we can coordinate our work a little better and also get to know them better and see them in action as missionaries.  They take their work very seriously as far as training and preparing to go forth and serve each week but they still have fun while doing it.

We visited with some of the sisters that Sister Boone and I had met when we were serving in White Plains before, and it was great to see them again.  Each time we meet with them my love for them increases.  Sister Emerson is a sister who loves quilting.  Another of the sisters that we have wanted to visit but have not been able to get an appointment with just happens to be her best quilting buddy and she just happened to be there when we went for our appointment with Chris.  They are working on a "Chicken & Stars" quilt together, which is a block of the month quilt pattern that they found.  I have expressed interest in this quilt in the past and told her that I couldn't find it online when I searched for it.  I discovered that the pattern has been discontinued.  She was kind enough to loan the pattern to me so that I could make a copy.  Since the author of the pattern no longer offers it for sale, I hope I am not infringing on the copyright.  I hope that I will have some time in the future to make this quilt because it is awesome.

Pat and Chris holding a cute wall hanging they are making.

"1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Quilters"

These three ladies represent Pat, her daughter, and Chris

On Thursday, we attended the temple and took Sister Ren and Sister March with us.  On our way home we stopped at Chick-fil-A to eat a late lunch.  We arrived home about 4:30.

I wasn't sure how long it would take us to pick up the sisters and make it to the temple in the current traffic, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to make it to the 12:00 session.  We decided that if we got stuck in traffic and couldn't make the 12:00 session we would just enjoy the peace and joy of being in the House of the Lord while we waited for the 1:00 session.  Well, we were able to pick up both sisters and get on the road by 9:30, which is about 15 minutes later than Sister Boone and I left when we went alone to the 11:00 session.  The traffic was perfect and we arrived at the temple by 10:30 so we were there in time for the 11:00 session.  What a surprise.  We have never made the trip in that short a time.

It was a very nice session.  Every seat was taken because there was a busload of members that came up from the Richmond, Virginia Stake.  They usually drive about 2 hours to get to the temple and stay for two or three sessions.  This puts them back on the road during the evening rush hour traffic, so it generally takes them 6 hours to drive back home.  Doesn't sound like fun to me, but they keep doing it.  My parents traveled 8-10 hours to go to the Idaho Falls Temple when I was younger, and before the Idaho Falls Temple was built, they traveled all the way to Alberta, Canada to the Cardston Temple.  We are fortunate that there are so many temples in Utah and more being built throughout the world so that more and more members of the church can enjoy the blessings of having a temple nearby.  Just this past Sunday, Andrew and Melissa were able to attend the dedication of the Church's 142nd temple, which is in Gilbert, Arizona where they live.  Additionally there are 13 more under construction and 16 that have been announced but not started yet.  I love being able to go frequently to the Washington D.C. Temple while I am here.

WP 1st Ward Missionary Correlation Meeting

Sunday we had a full day of meetings.  We started at 9:30 a.m. with correlation meeting with White Plains 1st Ward elders and their Ward Mission Leader.  10:30-12:00 we attended 2nd Ward Primary Sharing Time and shared our testimonies with Senior and Junior Primaries.  12:15-1:00 we attended 2nd Ward correlation meeting with the White Plains 2nd Ward elders and their Ward Mission Leader.  We received information about the sisters in both wards that they have been visiting to help us coordinate our visits with the same sisters.  I sure wish we could have access to the area book and other information that the elders have on their iPads.  I think I will go ahead and break down and buy a tablet so that if Pres. Cooke gets us cleared to do that I will be ready.  1:00 to 4:00 we attended 1st Ward's block of meetings.  We were invited to offer the opening and closing prayers in Sunday School.  Then we were invited to offer the opening and closing prayers in Relief Society.  We felt spiritually filled when we finally got home at 4:30.  It was great.

We had an interesting experience Sunday evening.  Sister Divine put some salmon and rice in the oven for dinner.  She lined one Pyrex dish with foil and put the rice in it and covered it to cook while the salmon was baking in another piece of foil.  I was in the bedroom reading when I heard a crash and exclamation from Sister Divine.  It sounded like she had dropped the casserole dish.  We were both shocked to see that a few seconds after she moved the Pyrex dish from the oven to the stovetop it just exploded.  She had placed it on a burner that we had used earlier, but it should have been cooled down by then.  I don't think it was because the burner was either too cold or too hot.  We couldn't figure out why it broke, but it sure caused a mess to clean up.  At least the foil in the dish contained a lot of the rice.  After looking on the internet about exploding Pyrex, I discovered that we can add one more story to the long thread of people who have had glass cookware explode randomly, one time when it was just stored in a cupboard.  Either Pyrex is not as good as it used to be, or they have changed the materials they use, or it was not really Pyrex but another brand altogether.  Sister Divine is known for taking a lot of pictures, but unfortunately picture taking was not on her mind after seeing the mess that she had to clean up in the kitchen.  Later she said she was sad that she did not get a picture of it.

Sunday night the newest snowstorm (Titan by name) moved into our area.  It started out as usual as rain, turned to ice, and then dumped another 6-8 inches of snow probably (not quite as much as the last one, but it is so hard to tell when it melts quickly when it first changes to snow).

Monday morning, we received a call out from the APs that President Cooke didn't want the missionaries to drive anywhere but could work if we were able to walk to visits.  That left us in our apartment all day.  We don't usually plan visits for Monday anyway because that is when we try to make appointments for the week.  When we were at district meeting last week the elders were talking about how they go out and visit and meet people every day, but they haven't been diligent in meeting their neighbors.  The same is true for us, so we decided that we would step out of our comfort zone and make an effort to get to know our neighbors.

Since we knew we would be in the apartment all day Monday and couldn't go to the store or sightseeing, Sister Divine made a batch of cookies.  (I had the most important part of making the cookies—sampling the dough).  We then bagged some up to take to the neighbors.  It felt like Christmastime all over again.  I had to hunt for the bags and ribbon that I had put away a mere two months ago.  We put our names and phone number on mormon.org pass along cards and tied them to the bags.  We were both nervous about approaching the neighbors but we carried out the plan.  I was surprised to hear Sister Divine say that this was way beyond her normal self, because she is so bubbly and outgoing when she calls people on the phone and when we are talking to people.  Anyway, our apartment complex has several buildings, each one with about 28 apartments, so we chose to limit our first outreach to the three apartments on the same landing as ours.  One of those is vacant, though, so we took a bag to an apartment downstairs that we thought had a few children.  We chose an apartment that had a child's toy by the front door, but we didn't see any children when the woman answered the door.  We were okay with that.  At least we made an effort to introduce ourselves to the neighbors and told them that if they need anything, give us a call.  They seemed surprised and didn't quite know what to say but they smiled, thanked us and took the cookies.

We didn't want to go out in the cold yesterday evening to clean the snow and ice from our cars.  We just hoped that it wouldn't be too miserable doing it before we left Tuesday morning.  At 10:27 p.m. Monday we got another call out with a message from President Cooke's assistants that we were not to use our cars again Tuesday.  We used the morning to do companion study and family history work in the apartment.  We waited for the weather to warm up and until this afternoon, hoping that some of the snow would have melted and then we went out and cleaned off our cars.

I shoveled the snow off with the brush end of my ice scraper.  I was wishing I had one of the heavy duty scrapers but it actually wasn't that bad to clean off.  After I used the brush I turned the scraper around and scraped off the ice.  I had to take a few pictures first, though because I have not seen ice build up like this on a car before.

There was about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice below the snow that I removed, but some of that was a result of snow freezing onto the ice and not part of the original "ice storm" that preceded the snowfall--if that makes sense.

The windshield wipers embedded in ice

I didn't bother to lift my windshield wipers away from the windshield before the storm this time because I didn't anticipate having to drive.  (It is Sister Divine's turn this week.)  I think everyone here is hoping this will be the last snowstorm this winter.  You wouldn't know it from the looks of things, but we aren't very far away from the first day of spring.

We ended this evening with a telephone conference call with President Cooke and the other senior missionaries.  I was told that my new companion will be coming March 15, so I won't have much time by myself after Sister Divine leaves, which is Friday morning the 14th.  It is hard to believe that Sister Boone has been gone almost a month now.  Sister Divine and I have just kept ourselves so busy that time is flying by.  I hate to see her go but as with Sister Boone, there is not much chance that I can change her mind.  So we will just enjoy the next ten days and fill them with fun and love.

My New Companion is Divine

Sister Divine (in the red sweater) and her first companion, Sister Beckes

Friday, February 21, 2014

I have been on my mission now for 7 months (counting from July 22, 2013).  I have not had a transfer yet but have a new companion.  I have met Sister (Kendra) Divine at mission activities and zone conferences and am looking forward to being her companion.  She is from South Jordan, Utah and has been here since April 2013.  She is serving a one-year mission so will soon be going home.  I was surprised to hear that she is 70 years old.  She has a lot of energy.  She has three children, a set of twins (boy and girl) and a daughter who was adopted just a short while before she found out she was having the twins, so they are only 7 months apart.  They are now 41 years old (the twins' birthday was yesterday so they are all 41 for a few months).

Sister Divine is delightful, friendly, and very outgoing.  She has a great sense of humor and sees the good in everything and everybody (once she got over the disappointment of having to move for one month and then end her mission two weeks early).  She actually reminds me very much of my Grandma Savage as I remember her at about that age.  We are already sisters in the gospel and sisters at heart.  We are going to have a great time together.  Although I loved the time I spent with Sister Boone, we do more together than Sister Boone and I did so that has been fun.  We shop together, study together, plan more and talk more about our goals.  This will be great for us both.  And it has been so good to come back to a ward where I have already become acquainted with many of the active sisters and some of the less active sisters who are willing to have us visit with them.  The new Relief Society Presidents in both wards are very eager to put us to work.

We started right out having fun.  Two of the senior couples helped Sister Divine pack her car in Silver Spring and drove down with her to help unload it.  Then they took us out for a late lunch/early dinner.  Elder Sieg had heard about a popular seafood restaurant on Broomes Island in Southern Maryland called Stoney's Seafood House.  We drove an hour down there only to find out that the restaurant was closed for the season.  We looked on our phones to try and find another seafood restaurant since they kind of had their hearts set on some crab cakes.  All of the ones we found were also closed.  So we drove back towards Waldorf and looked for a seafood restaurant along the way.  We ended up in Waldorf at the Olive Garden and ate salmon instead.  It was so fun hanging out with the Siegs and Duttons.  Sister Dutton also has a very fun sense of humor and made us laugh a lot. 

On Tuesday, even though Sister Divine isn't really settled in yet, we went out and visited a couple of the less active sisters in White Plains 2nd Ward that I have been wanting to see since we were moved to Lexington Park.  They were both home and we had a good visit with Sister Bennion and a short visit with Sister Buckler as she was getting ready to leave when we arrived.  We will visit them again in a couple weeks.

Wednesday, the 19th, we drove to the Visitor's Center and attended the mission transfer meeting.  Several of the couples are leaving this transfer and they each bore there testimonies along with the young sisters and elders who are going home.  Sister Divine will not be here for the next transfer meeting so I thought she should also bear her testimony but she didn't want to.  She did get to say goodbye to a lot of friends young and old though that she won't see again before she goes home next month.  After the transfer meeting we attended a session at the temple and then drove home in decent traffic.  We arrived home about 4:30 just in time for our meeting with Sister Michela, 2nd Ward RS President.  She was late but we got to spend a couple hours talking about how we can help the sisters in 2nd Ward.

Sister Divine is driving this week, and then we will take turns a week at a time instead of a month at a time.  I think I will like that.  Sister Divine is not in any hurry when she drives so our trip was not stressful at all.  I am amazed when I realize how much more comfortable I am driving around town.  I have a pretty good idea of where we need to go and can help Sister Divine become familiar with the area.  In my experience, you learn your way around a lot better when you have to drive and pay attention to the street signs.

Sister Divine has a bucket list that she has been working on during their P-days, so we decided that we will take a couple of trips to D.C. to see some sights.  We drove to the Branch Ave. Metro station on Thursday, (not the scariest Metro station but also not the safest).  We rode the Metro to L'Enfant Plaza and walked a short distance to visit the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian.  Sister Divine had heard that they serve some good food at the Mitsitam Café inside the Museum.  It won the RAMMY Award (Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington) in 2012.  It is cafeteria style and serves food at different stations that are representative of the foods that are common to the Indian nations in different parts of the Americas (Canada, Alaska, South and Central America, Mexico, and the United States).  Although it is very casual, it is not a low budget diner.  We paid $10 for a small cup of soup and an even smaller portion of quinoa salad in the South America section, but it was delicious food and worth the experience.  We have been trying to find the salad recipe on the internet without luck, but I found out that they printed a cookbook of some of the restaurant recipes, and ordered a copy.  I am hoping that the quinoa recipe is included, but if not, I have a nice souvenir of our visit that was less expensive than the trinkets available in the museum shops.  Here are some pictures from the Museum.

This sculpture was crafted by a man from St. George.  It is called Allies in War and depicts the Oneida nation that helped the colonists during the Revolutionary War.

This little girl stands on the back side of the above sculpture.

This coat looked like it was made from a combination of animals

Coat made from fish skin

I am unsure of what animal provided the skins for this coat

Clothing from animal hides

Plains Indian clothing

 Ceremonial clothes South America

As we read about the various beliefs of the Indian people, I could see that their beliefs parallel Christian values in many ways.  I could feel their great reverence for the earth and the universe.

I find this quote most interesting.  The Creator of the Universe that this tribe honors is Ellam Yua, very similar to the name Elohim, the Hebrew name for God.

Picture of three different boats on the main floor taken from the third floor balcony.

A mural depicting the creation.

Thursday night we attended White Plains 2nd Ward's Relief Society meeting.  Sister Hayes taught a class on how to make sourdough bread.  She gave everyone some starter to take home besides the bread dough that they made during the demonstration.  We didn't get the email about bringing supplies to make bread for ourselves so we just observed.  I did take a sample of the starter home though.  I don't know if I will have the time it takes to take care of sourdough but we shall see.  This starter doesn't have any flour in it, only sugar, water and instant potato flakes.  It has to be fed more regularly though, but she said that it makes a lighter bread that rises more.  I think everyone had a fun time.

Over in the corner, Sister Divine, Sister Michela, and I tied a fleece blanket.  They did more of it than I did.  I mostly had fun taking pictures and watching the sisters make bread.

This dear sister needed a couple extra hands.  She had not had previous experience with kneading bread so we helped her out a little bit.

 The cinnamon rolls that she made for sampling were delicious!—and not too fat, so great for that.

Today, Friday, the 21st, we had planned another day of visiting and running a couple errands.  Just as we were starting to get ready to go out we received a callout from the APs about the tornado watch that was in effect in the region including St. Charles County where we live and Calvert County where Heidi lives.  We were told to go to the nearest chapel until 5:00 p.m. when the watch was expected to end.  It didn't really look that bad where we are except for heavy rain and wind, but we decided that we didn't want to be known as the missionaries who disregarded the instructions and ended up getting caught out in the storm.  When we called the elders in our district to see if they had received the same instructions, Elder Ekberg told us that they were actually with President Cooke in a training meeting in DC and that none of the elders in our area would be at the church.  I called Heidi to make sure she was safe.  We canceled our appointments and waited.  We weren't even sure that the church would be unlocked, so we chose to wait it out in our third-story apartment with the large patio doors in the living room.  (We weren't hanging out right by the windows, however.)  Maybe not the ideal place to survive a tornado, but we somehow felt we were okay, and we were.  The area with the greatest possibility of a tornado touching down was further south of us in Lexington Park Ward and Patuxent Ward boundaries and the southern part of Calvert.  The storm was moving very swiftly (about 60 miles an hour) so it pushed on out to sea much sooner than the 5:00 deadline that they National Weather Service had set for the tornado watch.  They lifted the watch at about 1:30 or so.  One thing about the weather here, if you don't like it, just wait a while and it will change.  After the watch was lifted, we went out and ran a couple of errands in only light wind and showers.  At least we had more time to study and catch up on our journal and letter writing.  Sister Divine baked a delicious chocolate cake in the morning to celebrate her twins' birthday and she frosted it this evening with caramel filling and fluffy chocolate frosting.  After dinner, we each enjoyed a piece of cake for them.  Now we need to spend some time preparing a 5-minute talk to share at a missionary meeting in Lexington Park this Sunday evening.

Last Week with Sister Boone

Sunday, February 9, 2014—Today Sister Boone and I attended meetings at White Plains 1st Ward.  They seemed excited to have us back in the ward.  When they asked us if we are moving back to their ward, we didn't have a clear answer as we are not yet certain where Sister Divine and I will end up.  Sister Boone told me she has a hard time with goodbyes.  She didn't exactly tell me not to tell anyone, but I let her be the one to speak up---and she didn't.  It will fall on me to let the sisters know that she is gone when I attend church next week.  It is kind of a quiet ending of the wonderful six months that I was privileged to work with her.

The pending snowstorm

Monday, February 10, 2014—Sister Boone and I watched the weather reports often as we anticipated another bunch of moisture in the form of rain/ice/snow moving across the country towards us.  We woke up to no internet connection, not because of the storm but because Sister Boone requested to terminate her service as of today.  I was going to have service started in my name, but I canceled a couple days ago when I thought I might not even be in Waldorf now.  Sister Boone has already packed a lot of her belongings in the trunk of her car over the past several weeks, and today she finished packing and rearranging things so that she can hopefully fit everything in her car.  I think she had to go ship a few more things home.  About all that is left to pack is her bedding and other items that she needed until just before she leaves.  I am beginning to miss her already.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014—I feel kind of lost today knowing that in a couple of hours Sister Boone will be on her way home and I will be here alone.  At least I don't have to think of the prospect of being alone until my companion comes in March.  Sister Divine and I had agreed to meet at the temple on Wednesday morning and attend a session and then talk about what our feelings and impressions were regarding President's counsel that we talk things over and decide which would be the best place for us to work for now-in Suitland Stake or in Silver Spring where Sister Divine has been working.  Monday, in a conversation with Elder Neibaur, I was told that he plans to close down one of the couples apartments and move another couple into Sister Divine's apartment, so she has to move out.  We were both a bit discouraged that our opinions didn't seem to matter in the end.  As a result, neither of us slept very much Monday night.  I was looking forward to the possibility of working closer to the Mission headquarters and closer to the temple if even for a short while.  Sister Divine was looking forward to working with the sisters that she had been newly assigned to in Seneca Stake.  As soon as I made sure that Sister Boone got off safely, I drove up to Silver Spring and visited with Sister Divine in her apartment.  After a couple of emotional days, we both came to accept that it was probably for the best to be down here in Waldorf.  It meant that she would end her mission two weeks earlier than her original release date of April 2nd, and she would leave on the 14th of March instead to make room for my new companion.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014—I drove up to Silver Spring today and went to the temple with Sister Divine.  After the session I came back to Waldorf and she began working on packing up her things.  She had a few commitments that she wanted to complete on Friday and Saturday, so we agreed that she would drive down on Monday, the 17th.  I told her to be sure and let me know if she wants me to drive up and help her move.  In the meantime, I spent a very quiet rest of the week in my apartment.

Thursday, February 13, 2014—And then the snow came.  I was worried that Sister Boone ran head on into the storm moving across the southern states and into the northeast, but I found out that they drove straight through and arrived in Mississippi with a problem.  Meanwhile we were hit with the biggest snow storm for us this whole winter.  From about midnight Wednesday until Friday morning we got about 10-12 inches of snow.  I know I have seen much more snow than this before, but it has been quite an unusual amount of snow for Maryland this winter.  The snow and overcast skies made the days a bit gloomier for me.  I finally got internet connected on Friday, so that made things a little better.

  

You can see my 3rd story balcony from this vantage point near some of the plowed snow.  Makes it look like more than there actually was, but it was still quite a bit of snow for here.  It didn't melt in just a day or two as with previous storms.

Sunday, February 16, 2014—I was tired of sitting here alone so I drove over to Heidi's after church and had dinner with them.  And thus I survived the first week without my dear companion, Sister Boone.

A Time For Change

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Friday when we were at Zone Conference, we had the opportunity to sit down and visit with the Stake RS President, Sister Ramon, and Sister Michela, the newly called Relief Society President of White Plains 2nd Ward.  The previous week Sister Ramon had called and told us that she would like us to move back up to White Plains 2nd Ward beginning in February.  Sister Michela would like some help with visiting teaching in her ward.  This would also help me to work closer to home after Sister Boone leaves so I won't have to drive as long by myself like Sister Boone did.  Sister Ramon said she feels guilty about that every time she thinks about Sister Boone being by herself for such a long time.  Before going back to White Plains 2nd Ward, we decided to go ahead and attend the Lexington Park Sunday meetings on February 2nd and start back in White Plains 2nd Ward today, the 9th.  We had a good drive to Lexington Park and enjoyed meeting with the good sisters in this ward one last time.  Today, we actually attended White Plains 1st Ward and visited with the lovely sisters that we have not seen since October.  One thing we can be sure of is change.  Nothing stays the same.  When we went to church today, there was a remembrance book on the foyer table from the funeral of 88-year-old Elsie Palmer, one of the sisters we had the privilege of serving while we were in 2nd Ward.  On a happier note, we saw a less active sister, her husband, daughter, and daughter-in-law in church.  They are still struggling greatly with finances.  She is still looking for a job, and now her son and his wife and kids have moved in with her.  Sometimes the Lord brings us to our knees in despair so that we will be in the position to pray and seek His will for us.

To go back a week, last Sunday evening as I was preparing to set up my computer for a video chat with my children, I received a phone call from Heidi.  I thought she had a question about our video chat.  I asked her how she was doing.  She said, "not so well."  That surprised me.  I asked what was going on and then I could sense her tears.  She told me that she thought she might be miscarrying again.  Bryce was going to take her to the hospital, but it was going to be tricky to do that and have the two boys, so I told her not to worry, I am sure Sister Boone would understand if I took a day or two to help out.  If Heidi had to have this disruption of their plans, it couldn't have come at a better time.  Monday is our P-Day, and Tuesday we had plans to tour the White House.  I could easily miss those two days.  We had not yet made any appointments for Wednesday, and I knew that Sister Boone wanted to attend the temple as much as possible this last week of her mission, so that would give her the chance to go again.  I said I could throw some things in a bag and leave right away.  Heidi told me that Bryce would take the boys with him and drive her to the hospital and then go back home, and I could sit with them while he returned to be with her.  This worked very well.  I arrived only minutes before he brought the boys back, we put them to bed, and he returned to the hospital.  Although it was a heartbreaking experience for all of us, I feel that the Lord's timing was perfect as far as giving me the opportunity to serve her family and be there for her even for only a few days.

Just a little trivia--pictures of bushes in Heidi's front yard after another ice storm while I was there.

Meeting with President Cooke

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Tuesday afternoon, I received a phone call from President Cooke's office assistant, Sister Connell.  She said that President Cooke would like Sister Divine and I to join him and Sister Cooke and Sisters Beckes and Boone for lunch on Thursday, February 6th.   I called Sister Boone and let her know that I would plan on coming home sometime Wednesday evening so she would know I was planning on going with her to Potomac Thursday.

At the end of our meeting with Sister Ramon at Zone Conference, she said that she was going to talk to President Cooke about my being alone when Sister Boone leaves.  She thought since Sister Divine will be alone also (having her companion going home the same day as Sister Boone), maybe we could be together for a while.  I don't know if she really did talk to him or not, but when we were invited to lunch also, I suspected that there might be more changes in store.

Sister Boone, Sister Cooke, President Cooke, Sister Beckes and me and Sister Divine

We drove to Potomac Thursday morning and arrived at 11:15.  We went to a very nice little Italian restaurant called Gregorio's Trattoria.  As I suspected, during the course of the meal Elder Cooke talked to us a bit about the women auxiliary specialists in the Washington D.C. North Mission, of whom there would only be two by next week.  There is another sister coming in March who would have originally been replacing Sister Boone, as Sister Beckes was called to be here until August but is going home early because of health problems.  Last week Pres. Cooke told me that he had not yet heard about additional sisters coming.  At lunch today, he told us that he has requested to have six more women auxiliary specialists assigned to this mission so that there will be four companionships; so Sister Moraga who is coming March 17, and me, plus six others.  Sister Divine is going home soon.  He said that he has now heard of two that will come July 2nd, but he couldn't remember their names.

Sister Boone, Sister and President Cooke, and Sister Beckes

Sister Boone holding her Challenge Coin that Pres. Cooke presented to her.

After lunch, President Cooke presented Sister Boone and Sister Beckes their challenge coins that will serve to remind them of their commitment of serving a mission.  He told us that the military units often have challenge coins that they carry with them at all times.  They are a symbol of unity, identity, and brotherhood. If they are asked to show their coins and they don't have them with them, then they have to buy a drink for the other person.

As of Tuesday, Sister Divine will be alone in Silver Spring and I will be alone down in Waldorf.  However, President Cooke stated that he wants Sister Divine and I to be together until more sisters come.  He does not want us to live alone.  He did not make an executive decision but rather told us to discuss our options and agree where we would like to stay until more single sisters arrive. He discussed things with Elder Neibaur briefly during lunch and told us to talk to him later.  Sister Boone and I decided to just call on the phone, but Sister Beckes and Sister Divine went to the mission office following our lunch.  She hasn't told me yet what they talked about.

I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about the pros and cons of living in both areas.  One of the tricky parts of a new companionship with either Sister Divine or me having to move is impacted even more by a "threesome" arrangement for a couple of weeks in March.  Sister Divine will be leaving to go home on April 2nd.  Sister Moraga arrives March 17--a two-week overlap.  President Cooke wants us to try and arrange things so that all three of us can live together for those two weeks before Sister Divine goes home.  That sounds pretty easy, right?  That is three grown women who have moved their entire house with them (almost) trying to live in space that is comfortable for two but with not much extra space.  She asked if it would be easier if she just left early.  President Cooke didn't want her to do that.  

This whole moving thing has caused me to lose a little bit of sleep.  I slept fitfully Thursday night but was up Friday morning and ready by 9:15 to attend the temple one more time with Sister Boone.  We had a safe trip and a good visit during the drive.  Friday night I slept even less.  I woke at about 3:00 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep.  It is a good thing that I didn't have to go anywhere Saturday except out to Walmart to get a mouse trap.  I have seen signs of a mouse under the stove and want to see if I can eliminate it before it becomes a problem.  There is no sense worrying about the change that is coming.  This is the Lord's work, and everything will work out just fine.

Contemplation

I was talking to Andrew yesterday afternoon and briefly mentioned a thought that went through my mind as I was reading.  Talking to him made me think about it a little more.  In a way it has to do with making decisions.  I will preface my thoughts with a comment about my scripture study of this past week.  I was reading about Solomon in 1 Kings. He received a great blessing from the Lord and that was to be wise and have an understanding heart.  He was a very wise leader, until he let three temptations get the better of him—pride, misuse of wealth, and lust for the world's esteem.  The Old Testament Student Manual stressed that "because Solomon forgot his blessing, he lost it". 

At the end of the chapter in the student manual, it suggested that I review my Patriarchal Blessing and write down some observations.  On a piece of paper make three columns.  The heading for the first column is Who Am I? (Statements about me, my potential, my destiny, my relationship with God).  The second column is for Promises (Those things the Lord promises on condition of your faithfulness).  The last column is entitled Admonitions (Counsel, warnings, and reminders to you).  It is interesting how these fit together to give inspired direction for us. 

Here is one example of an attribute (followed by my comments on the subject), with the promise and counsel associated with it.

The Attribute:  Intelligence and having an understanding of true intelligence.

My thoughts--I have often pondered to know what this meant.  I know that D&C 93:6 says "The glory of God is intelligence, or light and truth."  When I was reading a book by Gerald N. Lund, there was a statement that reminded me of this quote.  It said "intelligence is the ability to make choices that determine outcomes."  This is very similar to the definition found in Webster's Dictionary:  "The ability to learn or understand from experiences or to respond successfully to new experiences."  Intelligence is more than having knowledge, it is the proper use of that knowledge.

The Promise:  Apply knowledge properly to do good and blessings shall follow that cannot be numbered, but Heavenly Father can number them.  Through application of knowledge to do good you shall cause much happiness among the children of men.

The Admonition:  Trust in Heavenly Father, be faithful, and blessings will follow your obedience, faithfulness, and diligence.   Tread the path of truth and light by faith and diligent obedience.

I love how all of the scriptures work together (even our own personal scriptures—Patriarchal Blessing), and they all point to Christ and Heavenly Father and guide us back to them.  Through the power of the Holy Ghost I can testify that this is true.

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.