Kristin's Baptism

Saturday, July 12, 2014

We were so grateful this day to be able to participate in Kristin's baptism.  We were introduced to her in May and met with her weekly for the last two months to prepare her for her baptism day.  Kristin's husband is a member of the church, but Kristin was raised in the Episcopalian faith.  She wanted to learn more about the church before choosing which church to raise their son in.  After the first lesson, Kristin told us that she would commit to be baptized but was not sure when.  She would have to work things out with her family first.  It was a difficult thing for her to do because her parents are very devoted to their religion and she was afraid of how they would react.  Her mother was the first one that she told, and she seemed disappointed but said "well, if you think that is a good fit..."  This gave her courage to talk to her father and brothers and sister.  After a few lessons she knew she wanted to be baptized in spite of the differences that her family may have.  The next question was when.  She could not commit to a specific date because they were planning on a friend of John's from Kansas baptizing her and they didn't know when he would be coming to Maryland.  I expected that it could be months, but a week or two later she announced that she had picked the date of July 12th.  We were so happy.

The day went fairly smoothly with only a couple of hiccups.  The ward mission leader thought that the font would already be filled since there was a baptism scheduled for earlier in the day.  What he didn't know was that the previous baptism was changed to Friday evening, and they drained the font when they finished.  So we had to start fresh Saturday afternoon when Bro. Amoah and the Elders arrived to print the program.  They found out that they could fill the font sufficiently for a baptism in only 1 1/2 hours.  We told them that it might not be wise to count on that every time.  It was just a blessing today that we were able to have it fill in that short a time.  Rob, who performed the baptism, forgot his towel so I had to run home and grab one of my towels for him.  By the time I returned they were about ready to begin the service, so I was not able to get a picture with Kristin as I had hoped.  Her friend, Steve, took some pictures afterwards with us.  I hope I will get a copy of the pictures.

Immediately following the baptism, Kristin was confirmed and then their baby, Gavin, was blessed.  It was a special blessing from the Lord that Sister Moraga and I had this opportunity to teach Kristin and be a part of her special day.  When I contemplated a mission, I knew that senior missionaries do not proselyte, so I came here with the understanding that I would not have the opportunity (or should I say the responsibility) of "proclaiming the gospel" in this manner.  I love being a representative of Jesus Christ and telling others about Him.  It was a challenging experience for me to help teach the discussions, but I am grateful for the opportunity.

A Different Point of View

As you can see, our horizon is changing...

This picture was taken the first month I was here.  Sister Boone loves flowers and filled the deck with them. Notice the trees in the background.  You can't really see the hilly area in front of the trees, but it was just grass and trees that provide a nice background for our balcony.  Over the months as Sister Boone and I sat in our apartment we noticed that a change was coming.  Excavators came in and began knocking down the trees and hills and hauling them away.  There were more apartments behind those trees.

By late fall, we knew they were building more apartments.  This picture was taken in April, a little over two months ago.

The builders have been busy, and those apartments are hidden again--not by the trees but by more apartment buildings.

We have been very busy too.  June 7th, we enjoyed a great day at the Stake Center next door to the Washington D.C. temple attending our first annual Washington D.C. North Mission Super Seasoned Senior Missionary Conference.  This came at the suggestion of one of the senior missionaries who has participated in some of our telephone conference calls with President Cooke.  It is good to be able to talk together this way but sometimes it is difficult to hear who is talking and what is being said.  And besides, it is always more fun to see and visit with each other in person.  So President Cooke decided that we would give it a try and hold a day-long conference.  It was a very long day, starting at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 4:30 p.m.  We had a good time and learned a lot about each other and what our various assignments are.

We haven't gone up to Anacostia and Capitol Hill wards for a few weeks now.  We did attend Anacostia's weeknight RS meeting on the 11th.  I sat in on the demonstration about how to make healthy fruit smoothies, and Sister Moraga took the opportunity to meet with young Ada and give her a piano lesson.  She will be able to teach her about three times a month, twice when we attend their Sunday meetings, and on the night of their Wednesday night meeting.  I am glad that she gets to render this service for Ada, who is so excited and eager to learn to play so she can begin playing the organ in meetings.

Last Sunday we were supposed to teach a lesson to young Belinda to prepare her for baptism, but the family was not home when we arrived, so we drove to the Visitor's Center instead to attend the monthly Why I Believe fireside.  Brian, a recent convert from White Plains shared his conversion story and testimony of Jesus Christ.  Charity Tillemann-Dick from Capitol Hill Ward also told her miraculous story, not of conversion but of how her life has been preserved.  She is a renowned opera singer who has survived two double-lung transplants, and she continues to perform still.  She told how being offered not one but two lung transplants has given her a second chance at life.  What she does with that gift is up to her.  She made the comparison to the most marvelous gift of all that each of us has been given, and that is the gift of the Atonement that Jesus Christ offered each of us.  It is up to us to accept his offering and do all things that are necessary to have the atonement work in our lives.

Other activities of the past weeks included visiting sisters, helping with household chores, helping sisters with family history research, and helping out at the weekly Shepherd's Table.

Last week, we attended a health and wellness conference for the young sister missionaries (we drove a couple of sisters up to the conference, which was held in the Kentland's chapel near the Mission Home, and helped prepare and serve lunch).  

Foyer of the Kentlands chapel

It is an older chapel, but it is beautiful and elegant.

Today would have been our day to go back and attend church with the members in Anacostia, but it was Stake Conference this weekend.  We had excellent meetings last night and this morning.  Last night was two wonderful hours of beautiful musical numbers by talented members in the Stake and the talks, which again focused on the marvelous hastening of the work of salvation.  We came away spiritually filled.  This morning we listened to the conference from our own White Plains chapel.

Just as I realized the view is changing from our patio, my view about life and my approach in living it is changing.  I view my church attendance quite differently since I no longer have to spend my energy on keeping young children quiet and reverent while at the same time trying to help them develop habits of Sunday worship and build their own testimonies of Jesus Christ.  I am reminded of this as I watch the young mothers in the congregation go in and out of the chapel with their fussy babies and distracting children.  Because I know this is where they should be, I do not let their distractions bother me.  I am capable of staying focused on what the speaker is saying and contemplate how I can apply it to my life as well as gleaning thoughts and principles that I can share with my family and those whom we serve here.  I am grateful for this opportunity to improve my relationship with the Savior.  That is what this life is all about.

Friday we attended the final district meeting before the upcoming transfers.  These young men are fine missionaries and it is uplifting to be able to meet together and learn from their good examples.

At the last district meeting before transfers, our meeting is a little different.  We don't do the usual role play activities.  Instead, we each get to share our testimonies.  Then we had a little activity called Comp Unity. Each companionship was asked a few questions and we had to say whether the question applied more to us or to our companion.  The winning companionship was the team who agreed on their answers the most without being able to see the other's answers.  Sister Moraga and I came in second place.

 The winners, Elder Harston and Elder Ng.

The Elders respond to one of their answers.

After the closing song and prayer, the Elders had some time to play a game of 

Ninja Attack.  

I won't try to explain the rules except that players take turns making one move at a time, and then they freeze until it is their turn again.  A player is out when someone else strikes their hand during an attack.  Elder Harston put Elder Mecham, our District Leader, in a vulnerable situation when he placed his hand over Elder Mecham's face.  Of course no one would strike (which was the hope of both of them at this point). Everyone had a good laugh and we had to pause and get it on camera.

White Plains District:

Elder Tilby, Elder Collins, Elder Ng, Elder Harston, Elder Mecham, Elder Zollinger, and Sister Moraga.  The Zone Leaders are in our district also, but they had commitments to attend two other district meetings.

I love these missionaries!!!

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."

*******

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.

Teaching Moments

Tuesday, May 22, 2014

Just a quick note about Mother's Day before I report on the last ten days.  Heidi invited Sister Moraga and I to have dinner with their family for Mother's Day, which we did.  I was saddened that Bryce did not feel well and so was not able to join us, but it was fun to see Heidi and the boys.  Heidi gave us a gift basket full of snacks to use when we are out and about and also a beautiful orchid plant.  I hope I can keep it alive.  It is lovely but Sister Moraga said they are kind of temperamental.  We shall see if I have somehow developed a green thumb while I have been here.  

I also received a bunch of flowers from Aaron and Sherri, after two attempts by the flower service to deliver them.  No one knows where the first order ended up, but Sherri had to call and have them try again.  My apartment has been very fragrant this past week.

When I received a notice on my door that UPS tried to deliver a package from Orem the day after the flowers arrived, I wondered if it was flowers that had been sent all the way from Utah.  It didn't seem very likely, and it wasn't.  When I went to the UPS store to pick up the package, I was pleasantly surprised to find a lovely gift from Abby, a box full of sunshine that I can share with some of the sisters that we visit.  I have already given away a couple of them.  They are so fun.

Speaking of sunshine, here is a picture taken towards evening on one of Waldorf's roads with the sunlight reflecting off of the telephone lines.  As usual, it was more beautiful in person, but you get the idea.

Last week started out with our doing splits two days in a row, but this time it was Sister Moraga and I who took turns going out with White Plains 1st Ward RS President to introduce her to a couple of the less active sisters in the ward who had actually been on a "do not contact" list in the past.  For one reason or another, when someone makes a visit to the less active members, they may get rejected or told not to come back or often hear the words "we are not interested".  So a note is made and no one goes back.  After a period of time, no one really remembers the reason why they are on that list.  We sat down with the ward leaders last week and went through the list and took assignments to check up on these members again, realizing that we may face rejection again, but that is part of the work.  The two sisters that we took Sister Leftwich to see were actually single sisters that we have visited in the past who have been reluctant to have men visit but have not been opposed to our visits.  They both accepted Sister Leftwich's visit and said it is okay if she assigns visiting teachers for them, so that was great.  Now after eight months of going back on a monthly basis, we have been able to meet a couple more sisters that we have never found at home before and they are willing to see us again, so that is also a step in the right direction.

On Friday, the 16th, we drove up to the Stake Center and met Brother and Sister Biolo so that they could take us to a couple of sisters in Anacostia Ward that we may be able to help.  After our visit with Sister Creel and her children, we were out of time, so we are hoping that we can do more with them next time.  We are going to go back and help Sister Creel in a couple of weeks.

Next, we went over to Capitol Hill and picked up Sister Craner and went on splits with her while her husband went with the young Elders.  Sister Craner introduced us five of the sisters in Capitol Hill Ward.  One of those is Annette Lantos.  The name and face of her late husband, Tom Lantos, was somewhat familiar to me.  He was a Senator from California.  What I did not know is that he was born in Hungary as was his wife whom we met this week.  Their families escaped from Hungary in 1948 (from behind the iron curtain) and then they met in California and were married.  Sister Lantos is Jewish.  She recognized the truth when she was introduced to the church, and was baptized, but her husband never was.  She is a beautiful sister (widowed now) in her 80s who is having a harder time getting around.  She is a first cousin to two actress sisters from Hungary who came to America and made it big in Hollywood—Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor.  I think she strongly misses the time of her life when she was in the limelight with her husband's political career.  There are pictures on all of her walls and albums full of pictures with various dignitaries.  Her family is still actively involved in the Lantos Foundation For Human Rights and Justice.  She gave us a copy of her testimony which she wrote in 1978 and shared in the Church Ensign.

I don't know how much we will be allowed to do in these wards without the Biolos and Craners, but we will report and see what Pres. Sakai thinks we should do.

We continue to see Leslie, another investigator of the Elders who has been slow to respond to the discussions, but we are not ready to give up on her yet.  This Sunday, the Elders gave us the name of another sister, Barb Pastos, and asked if we could visit her.  She is also an investigator.  She is a widow who lost both her husband and daughter in the past year, so she is going through a hard time.  She enjoys the service that the Elders have offered her but learning the gospel is not high on her list of priorities.  They would like us to see how we can help her.

The 2nd Ward Elders' investigator, Phillip, is still making good progress.  They have talked to him about the Word of Wisdom and took away his coffee.  He said that would be a pretty hard thing for him to give up but he is trying.  This Sunday Mary Ann was ill and unable to attend church, but Phillip came on his own so that he could show his obedience to keeping the Sabbath Day holy to qualify for baptism.  His baptism date is only a few weeks away and he is trying hard to do what is necessary so he will be ready by then.

Sunday evening we went to dinner at Brother and Sister Michela's.  They have been assigned to be our home teacher and visiting teacher, and in addition Sister Michela is the RS President in 2nd Ward.  After dinner we went to see the Bonilla family to teach a missionary lesson to their 9-year-old daughter to prepare her for baptism.  When we arrived at the appointed time no one was home.

The Elders have asked us to teach Belinda because her mother doesn't speak much English, and they thought she would be more involved in the discussions if they were in Spanish.  Sister Moraga wanted to just sit and wait about ten minutes more to see if they would get home.  While we were waiting, a neighbor came out and stared at us.  Sister Moraga got out of the car and asked if she spoke English.  She just stood there, seeming to think that would be the end of the encounter.  So Sister Moraga began to speak to her in Spanish.  She asked about the Bonillas, and the woman said I don't know where they are.  He usually goes out "preaching".  Ten minutes later, they pulled up in their pickup towing a fishing boat.  They didn't seem very happy to see us, but invited us in.  We waited while the mother cleaned up her kitchen and the father put away all of the fishing gear.  We started the lesson about 30 minutes late, without the father, but he came in later.  Belinda is very quiet and was hesitant to speak, but the mother started to encourage her to participate more after we got into the lesson for a while.  I should say Sister Moraga, not we, because my limited knowledge of Spanish has to do with a few words related to cherry picking and construction work.  I said the opening prayer and bore my testimony in English at one point, which Sister Moraga said she would encourage me to do more next time.  We made an appointment to come back and plan to use more visual aids and perhaps sing some children's songs in Spanish for her.  The primary songs are such a wonderful way to teach gospel principles.

Monday and Tuesday we had the opportunity to give service to two sisters who have some health issues and needed help with housework and packing in one instance.  The rest of our days were filled with finding without finding, meaning that we went back to homes where we go month after month and see no one—just leave a note to let them know we stopped by and give them our phone number if they should choose to call us.

Today, Tuesday the 20th, we did splits again with the Lexington Park and Patuxent Sisters.  I went with Sister Lau and Sister Johnson to visit the family that Sister Sottili and I first met two weeks ago.  Since Sister Sottili has been transferred to Patuxent Ward, Sister Lau and Sister Johnson are now teaching them.  Lornette and David were not home but Ebony, Jalonte, and Shannon were home.  In the midst of many interruptions from their phones and Shannon's baby, the lesson did not have quite the same spirit as last time, but Jalonte committed to baptism this time.  It is just going to take some coordination to get them all caught up so that they are on the same lesson as Lornette and David and that they all keep their commitment to read the Book of Mormon and attend their meetings.  The Word of Wisdom will have to be taught soon also.  It has been good to spend a little time working with the young sisters.  I was more energized after I spent time with them.  On the way home, I noticed an annoying pimple on my chin.  Sister Moraga told me that it is just the young sisters' youthfulness rubbing off on me.  (Now we just have to work on the facial wrinkles.:) )

A Week of Missionary Work

Sister Moraga and I have enjoyed associating with the young sisters in Lexington Park and Patuxent.  We sang "Because I Have Been Given Much" at the recent Zone Conference.  From left to right we have, me, Sister Moraga, Sister Fifita (Tonga), Sister Marambio (Peru), Sister Sottili (Italy), and Sister Lau (Hong Kong).

Here is an entry from my Visit Journal last week:

Lexington Park Sisters Tuesday May 6, 2014

We went on splits with Sister Sottili and Sister Marambio.  It just happened that Sister Moraga drove her car today, so she went with the young sister who doesn't drive, and I went with Sister Sottili.  Sister Moraga and Sister Marambio's referral fell through, so they went and visited an elderly sister, Sister Weaver in Patuxent Ward.  I went with Sister Sottili to contact a couple of referrals in Lexington Park Ward.

First Sister Sottili and I went to find a family that Sister Susan Jeffers met on her way home from church last Sunday.  She saw them walking along the street carrying their Bibles and had an impression that she should offer them a ride home.  They told her that they are trying to find a church that they can start attending.  Sister Jeffers called Sister Sottili and told her about Lornette and David.

When we arrived today Lornette and her daughter, Ebony (age 19), and her son Jalonte were there along with Jalonte's girlfriend and new baby.  Sister Sottili introduced us and asked if we could share a message about Jesus with them.  She invited us in.  She told us that they are trying to find a church that is close because they have to walk.  She wondered if our church has a bus that picks up members.  We said we were pretty sure we could help them get a ride to church.  Sister Sottili asked her if she had heard of the Book of Mormon before.  She said she didn't think so.  When Sister Sottili pulled out her Book of Mormon she said, "wait a minute."  Then she went to her bookshelf and brought back a copy of the Book of Mormon.  She said, "I thought that book looked familiar to me.  I found this book last year at a store called Clothes Closet."  She said she read a little bit of it and then put it on the shelf.  (I looked on the internet to see what I could find out about Clothes Closet and found that it is sponsored by the Lexington Park United Methodist Church.  I wonder how that Book of Mormon ended up there.)  We talked briefly about the Book of Mormon and the restoration.  We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and she said she would read it.  Sister Sottili asked her if she found out that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, would she follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized.  She said "yes.  I have been baptized before, but yes, I would be baptized again."  She said she felt like having found the Book of Mormon last year was a sign for her that this is right.  An appointment was set to teach her and her family next Monday evening.  We invited her to church this Sunday and Sister Sottili said she will arrange for someone to give her a ride.  We gave her son and daughter each their own copy of the Book of Mormon to read, and they want to be present for the lessons also.

After we left their apartment and were walking back to the car, Sister Sottili talked about how the Preach My Gospel lessons and the District and Zone leaders encourage not being afraid of extending the invitation to be baptized in the very first lesson.  She used to try that approach, but after many times of people giving excuses and turning her down, she stopped inviting them to be baptized on the first contact.  For some reason today she had such a strong feeling that she just needed to invite Lornette to commit to baptism that she spoke up and asked her.  She was so overjoyed when Lornette responded positively.  It was a great experience.  We will pray that they will follow through with their reading of the Book of Mormon and praying about it and that the next lessons will go well.

After our visit with Lornette we tried to find a sister who was a less active referral from the office but could not find the house before we ran out of time and had to meet up with Sister Moraga and Sister Marambio.  I expressed gratitude to my Heavenly Father this night for a real teaching opportunity today.

And then this entry a week later:

Lexington Park May 12, 2014

Followup with Sister Sottili about the investigator, Lornette:  I sent a text to Sister Sottili on Monday, the 12th, to see if Lornette and her family kept their commitment to attend church yesterday.  She said, Lornette and her friend David as well as her daughter, Ebony, and son, Jalonte, and Jalonte's girlfriend attended a potluck dinner on Saturday night and attended church on Sunday.  They are receiving the next lesson on Tuesday night, and David, Lornette, and Ebony have a baptismal date set for May 31st.

May 11, 2014—Mother's Day

Today we attended meetings in White Plains 1st and 2nd Wards.  As we participated and reported in the mission correlation meetings in both wards, I realized that we are making progress.  We are getting to know more and more of the sisters and their circumstances.  Some of them have become very dear friends, and I just want them to find joy in the gospel.  For reasons that I don't know, they have made choices that have taken them off the gospel path, and they are experiencing hard things without the assurance that they have a Heavenly Father who knows and loves them, and that he does hear and answer their prayers.  However, I have witnessed the blessings that come as they try to come back.

Many people here drive long distances to work and spend many, many hours away from their homes.  We have a very hard time finding them at home to visit with them.  We told the elders about one of the sisters, Mary Ann, whom we met last fall but have not been able to visit more than twice.  They were finally able to catch her and her boyfriend at home in the evening.  During their visit Phillip asked if he wanted to be baptized who would be able to baptize him.  Mary Ann told him that the Elders would have that authority.  The Elders began to teach him, and they started coming to church.  Yesterday was the third week in a row for them.  They have a baptismal date set for June 15th.

Our Sunday School lesson today was about the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ in former times.  When we came to the part about Christ establishing the church in the spirit world and men on earth performing baptisms for the dead, Phillip was very engaged in the discussion.  He asked about his grandfather who has passed away.  He said how do I know if he wants to be baptized?  The teacher explained that we know from the scriptures that they are taught the gospel in the Spirit World and then they still have the choice of accepting or rejecting the gospel.  He commented that they would be pretty stupid not to accept it at that point.  Nonetheless, since we don't know their choice, we search for our ancestors and perform the baptism for them, and then they can choose to accept or reject the baptism.  Next he asked how this baptism is performed, and the teacher explained how a person stands in his place as proxy, (for instance Phillip could do this) and is baptized for and in his name as if it were his grandfather who is getting baptized.  I think he felt the spirit, and I know the Holy Ghost was present in that room testifying to him as he came to an understanding of this true principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was pretty neat.

We witnessed three of the four convert baptisms (age 9 or over) in the two weeks we were in Anacostia and Capitol Hills this month, and the missionaries in our White Plains and Lexington Park area are now teaching 7 people who have set baptismal dates within the next month.  There may be others in the District that I am not aware of.  It has been an amazing week full of the Spirit.

Staying Busy

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

I have not reported on my activities for a couple of weeks so this might be a little wordy.  One thing that has not changed in our work is that we are still driving around in both wards trying to find sisters at home.  We love visiting the sisters, but most of them have to work to help pay the bills; so often we are only able to leave a note on their door saying we are sorry to have missed them.  We try to use cheery notes and included a little thought about General Conference and Easter in the month of April.  We are beginning to see some response from some of the visits.  Some sisters who have not been to church for a while have started to return, not every week, but once or twice.  Others recognize that they should come back, but habits are hard to break sometimes.  And sometimes it is not because they do not want to be there but it is difficult when they don't have support from their family so that they can come.  All we can do is to continue to offer friendship and remind them that in spite of everything going on in their lives, what matters most is their relationship with the Savior.

Sister Moraga shared a thought with me about the importance of seeking to know the Savior.  In the April 1974 Ensign Elder Neal A. Maxwell responded to his call to the Quorum of the Seventy with a humble expression of appreciation for all of the people in his life who had influenced him and allowed him to be where he was.  He ended with this testimony "Finally I testify that what a wise man once wrote is true: 'If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead.' " [quoting William Law (1686-1761), English clergyman]  This is what we would like the sisters here to realize, and it is so important for all of us.  The most important choice we can make in this life is to choose to follow Jesus Christ and then get up and follow him.

We have seen a little more variety in our days though since talking with President Cooke last month.  For one, we have enjoyed eating out a little more lately.  Sometimes it is a lunch date to discuss missionary work with the Mission President or the Stake and Ward leaders, and sometimes we have been the ones inviting others out so that we can visit with them when it is difficult to meet with them in their homes. 

Sister Moraga has a difficult time sitting for long periods of time because of neuromas in her feet.  We made a mutual decision that we would not be attending the temple every week, and especially not trying to do two sessions as Sister Boone and I did.  However, we have been able to attend at least monthly.  We attended a session following our March 27th interviews at the Visitor's Center and then followed up by seeing "The Savior of the World" presentation at the Visitor's Center that evening.  That was a very enjoyable day.  Last Sunday a sister in White Plains 2nd Ward asked us if she could go with us to the temple when we go again so we went this last Tuesday.  Then she took us out to dinner to show her appreciation for taking her.

Pictures from our recent trip to the temple.  There are new beautiful scenes every time we go there.

I was treated to an extra special activity just last week.  Anson and Lora traveled with a family that they are friends with and brought Sydney and Camden to Boston and Washington D.C. for a week.  They called Heidi and I when they were in D.C. and invited us to spend some time with them.  I met Heidi and her boys at the Branch Avenue Metro station and we took the train to D.C.  We called Anson when we arrived at the Metro stop near the International Spy Museum to see where they were.  He told us that they were in the museum and they would probably be there for another hour.  We wandered past one of the windows of the museum as they talked, and when I glanced over at the building and looked in the window, there was Anson standing right next to the window in earnest conversation on his cellphone.  Heidi told him to look out the window and we all had a good laugh.  We ate lunch with them at the Shake Shack next to the museum, and then we walked around three of the Smithsonian museums together before I had to leave to attend a meeting with the Stake President and Stake Relief Society President that evening.  I was a little nervous about going back on the Metro alone but was equally troubled about leaving Heidi to make it back with her two boys in tow.  All ended well though.  It was good for my soul to see family again.  I have been too busy to even see Heidi lately or even talk frequently with any of my children.  It is good for me though.  It means I am more engaged in this very important hastening of the work, and that would make President Cooke happy.

I didn't get a lot of pictures while we were in D.C., but this picture at the end of the day is a pretty good representation of how much fun we had.  By the time we got into the Museum of American History, everyone was pretty worn out.  

In our meeting with President Sakai and Sister Ramon, they told us that they would like us to start working with two additional wards up in the District, Anacostia and Capitol Hill Wards.  It is not a safe neighborhood for us to be there on our own, so they told us they only want us to go to the chapel and attend Sunday meetings or do weekday activities at the church or in the company of the senior missionary couples who are serving there so that there will be a priesthood leader with us.  We were told that the church doors remain locked and someone watches to open doors for people.  During meetings, Elders watch the parking lot to deter crime and vandalism.  Their desire for us is that we will be able to help the Relief Societies in these wards and perhaps be able to teach them homemaking skills.

In addition to doing visits, we have had the opportunity to offer some service to the members and participate in volunteer work in the community.  We have started working each Thursday evening that we can to help out with an outreach ministry called the Shepherd's Table that feeds meals to the homeless.  We helped a sister clean up her house and pack some things in anticipation of her husband coming home from his deployment.  My companions have all been good pianists and have been asked to play the piano for Relief Society meeting occasionally and in our District meetings.  I am grateful that I have not had to do that one.  But I got to use one of my talents as well when I was recently given the opportunity to help a new convert with his family history work so that he can submit some names to the temple and go do proxy baptisms for some of his family members.  As the Mission is rolling out a new Family History Initiative to train the missionaries in using Family Search so that they can use this wonderful tool as a finding and teaching tool in our missionary work, I am hopeful that I will get many more opportunities to work in this area where I feel I have some knowledge.  As far as the specialist part of my title as a Women's Auxiliary Specialist, I am feeling like less and less of a specialist as time goes on.  I recognize that I have so much to learn and so many areas where I need to improve so that I can be an effective missionary.

This past week, I have been able to call on some of my past experience of working beside my husband in home remodeling and in his construction work to serve one of the sisters in White Plains 2nd Ward.  On Last Saturday, Sister Moraga and I were invited to have dinner with Tamara.  When we first talked with her, she told us that she knows that she needs to be coming to church.  She works in Virginia and travels so much during the week that she is just exhausted by the weekend.  Besides that, she has some health challenges to deal with.  She has a very nice home, but her budget is very tight because besides her own bills she is paying the mortgage and other expenses for her son and daughter-in-law, which leaves a meager amount that she can draw from to pay her tithing.  She told us that she has set a goal to start coming to church again and paying her tithing so that she can get back to the temple.

She lives alone in a big, beautiful house.  She has someone helping her paint her house in hopes of improving the appearance so she can get a renter who can help with the bills.  When we were over there last week, she showed us the progress she was making on the house.  We volunteered to go back on Monday and help her strip wallpaper off of the upstairs bathroom that she is working on now.  She was able to share a testimony-building experience with us as we worked.  She told us that when she received her paycheck this week, it was about $400 more than usual.  When she talked to her employer to tell him that she thought they had made a mistake on her check, he said that it was a bonus and he was also giving her a raise, so her check will continue to be about that much higher now.  This was a testimony to her that Heavenly Father really is aware of her and her desire to pay her tithing and keep His commandments.  He really does keep his promises that he will bless us as we keep the commandments.

Another area that President Cooke would like to see us be more engaged is in actually teaching missionary discussions.  Although we do not go out knocking on doors as the young missionaries do, he felt that by working with the young sisters now assigned in Lexington Park and Patuxent Wards we will be able to arrange some splits so that we may have teaching opportunities with them.  In the meantime we had a great experience this week that has given us hope that we will be able to fulfill that assignment from President Cooke.

We have tried several times to visit with one of the less active sisters in White Plains 1st Ward.  We have met her husband on a couple of occasions.  The first time when we asked if Phet was home, he looked at our nametags and said, "oh, yeah, her cousin signed her up."  I am not sure what that meant.  Anyway, we surmised that she has not been active in the church for quite some time.  This week when we stopped she was not home but her husband stepped out on the porch and chatted with us for a while.  He mentioned how he has had a very rough past, having been raised in a home where drugs and illegal activities were involved and this extended into his adult years as well.  But he said he has turned to Jesus now and wants to do things the right way.  He then asked us if we are Christians.  When we said yes, he said well what makes your church different from say the Baptist church.  Sister Moraga asked him if he wants to hear what we believe.  I was a little surprised when he said he was interested.  We said it would take a few visits, and he said okay to that.  He said he would have to talk to his wife before setting an appointment, but usually any night after about 6:30 would be okay because he is not working right now. 

We viewed this experience as an opportunity to do more teaching as President Cooke told us he would like us to be able to do.  For the next couple of mornings we spent our companionship study reviewing the Preach My Gospel lessons, mostly for my benefit so that we would be prepared to teach Chris and Phet.  We thought we would just be able to call them, but we have no phone number, so we determined that we would stop by again on Friday.  It began to rain in the afternoon, and by 6:30 it was raining pretty hard.  Water was just running in the streets like a river by the time we arrived at their house.  All the way there I told Sister Moraga about my experiences with thunderstorms when I was younger and of people I knew that had been killed by lightning.  I think I was trying to talk myself out of this.  The closer we got to the house, the harder the rain came.  No cars were in the driveway so Sister Moraga said there was no need for both of us to get drenched; she would just go alone and knock to make sure no one was home.  No one answered except a dog that kept poking its head through the living room blinds to bark at her.  She wrote a note to let them know that we had stopped by and gave our number to them realizing that they most likely would not call.  As soon as we left the house, the rain eased up, and by the time we got home, it had almost stopped.  It feels like the adversary is at work on this one, but we are not going to give up.  We will continue to pray for teaching opportunities.

The weather is slowly improving.  I finally went outdoors for a walk recently instead of just exercising in my room.

The waterfowl seem to be enjoying the weather.   

I spotted an eagle that occasionally hangs out near the walking path.  It seemed to know when I was trying to take a picture and flew off every time I got close. 

This is the picture that my slow camera captured--minus the eagle which had taken off just as I snapped the picture.

Spring is Here!!...I think

April 2, 2014

Since I last wrote in my journal spring has come a couple of times.  Maybe this time it is here to stay.  For the last couple of weeks we have seen snow, sunshine, cold, rain, snow, daffodils, snow, rain, not necessarily in that order, but a pretty good mix of weather and temperature fluctuations.  On St. Patrick's Day we went to the home of one of the ward missionaries, Brother Henrichsen, to have a special St. Patrick's Day dinner and meet his nonmember neighbor.  It was a very snowy day as you can see by this picture.

We enjoyed watching the cardinals and other birds out on his back patio.  It is hard to believe that this was only two weeks ago.  Last Thursday, in between storms, we drove to the Visitor's Center to have interviews with President Cooke again.  This was Sister Moraga's first interview with him.

My companion, Sister Moraga, following our interviews

I look up to Sister Moraga in more ways than one.  She is amazing!

 Last weekend more wet weather moved up the coast and we would have had significant amounts of snow if it had been as cold as it was in Maine.  Significant rainfall for almost two days straight left the unpaved roads, fields, and other low-lying land so wet that we couldn't tell which are natural swamps and which are just the aftermath of the storm.  I will say with some hesitation, lest the storms return, that the last two days have been sunny and mild.  To quote my little Audrey, "Great for that!"

The trees outside our apartment are in full bloom now.

It was a wonderful day today to drive to the Visitor's Center once again for the mission transfer meeting.  Some changes are in store.  A new apartment has been opened up down in Lexington Park for four young sisters to start working in Southern Maryland.  I think this is the first time young sisters have worked this far south, at least in the last few years.  Most of them live close to the Visitor's Center and spend part of their days working there.  President Cooke asked us if we would help keep an eye on these four sisters and "take them under our wings".  I am not sure how that is going to work since we will still work in White Plains, and they are about 50 miles south of us.  Of course, we did drive that distance 4-5 times a week when we were assigned to Lexington Park Ward.  He has also written a letter to Suitland Stake President, President Sakai, asking him to please find more work for us to do besides "visiting teaching".  Look for more news on that as the work progresses.

We said goodbye to two elders in our district today.  Elder Carrera is going home to Pennsylvania, and Elder Radford, one of our Zone Leaders, is going back to Washington D.C. 3rd Ward to finish out his last two months there probably.

 After the transfer meeting

As far as the work of proclaiming the gospel and inviting others to come unto Christ, we have had only two days to go out and try to find sisters this week.  We tried to locate 19 sisters.  We talked to three sisters on Monday that we knew we could probably see because we have been there in the past.  By the end of the day yesterday, I was feeling pretty low.  We had seen 0 sisters out of 13 that we hoped to visit.  We talked to a neighbor at one house and a husband of one of the sisters.  We still have hope that we can meet with them in the future.  In the evening, we did have an appointment with a sister that we have offered to help with visiting teaching, and we had a great visit.  Back in our apartment as we reviewed our day, I told Sister Moraga that I was feeling a little discouraged.  She reminded me that Jesus Christ experienced rejection and disappointment to a much greater degree, so I should just have hope for better days to come.  I was reminded of the admonition given to Joseph Smith when he was languishing in Liberty Jail and dwelling on his hardships.  "…know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good.  The Son of Man has descended below them all.  Art thou greater than he?"  It was good to attend transfer meeting today and hear testimonies from the departing missionaries and from our leaders who reminded us that this is not an easy work that we are engaged in but it is necessary for all of us, for those of us who wear Jesus Christ's name on our shoulder and for those that we reach out to as we serve as His hands here and now.

Besides feeling discouraged yesterday, I actually felt quite a bit of anxiety and fear of rejection as we went from house to house.  As I have come to know, I can always rely on the scriptures to lift me up and give me hope, so I turned there once again.  In 2 Timothy, chapter 1, Paul is reminding Timothy to be strong in the faith.  He says (starting with verse 6):

6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up (or rekindle) the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands (or laying on of hands--in my case at the time that I was set apart as a missionary).

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord...but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling..."

To put it simply, this is a reminder that through Jesus Christ, I can do hard things, so I will go forth and serve.