December 8, 2014

We said goodbye to half of our district, 
but we get to keep half so we are happy.

The following pictures are from our senior couples Christmas party in the mission home.  We had such a lovely evening

                    with lots of good food and fellowship.

I will add more later when they show up on the mission blog.

I took this picture after church Sunday.  A lot of the members were absent, probably due to illness and other problems.

I took the first picture but jumped in this one.

December 1, 2014

It snowed a couple of days this week and it has been very cold.  I guess we will have to expect it for the next few months.  

I have been baking an awful lot of pumpkin bread lately.  It's always fun this time of year to take people a little holiday treat.

After our district meeting on Tuesday, all the missionaries were invited to a lunch at the Glen Burnie chapel following a funeral.  It was very nice of them to think of us and we enjoyed the wonderful fellowship and food.

This sweet lady feeds the missionaries
every Wednesday.
It was a cold day in Curtis Bay.

Our own simple Thanksgiving feast.
We chose to stay home to enjoy
a day of relaxing and good food. 

At Family Fun Night this week the elders
performed a magic trick.  One elder was
handcuffed, bound and tied up, and
then put in a closet to find his way out. 

He escaped and the kids loved it!
The other elder in the background lost a bet 
and had to sing a song for us all.  

Everyone likes to color.

Friday was inspection day.  This is
what met us at the door after we knocked.

Not sure what to think.  

Another "last supper."  Didn't we just have one?
Two are leaving and we are so sad.
  Elder D is going to be a district leader
in another area.  Elder B is also on to
bigger and better things. Elder M will be
training a new missionary. What? He has 
only been here four and a half months.
Sign of things to come.  

November 24, 2014

With the holidays coming soon and the decorations all around, I have been feeling a little bit of a yearning for home.  I know that is normal and expected, but it has also made me appreciate this wonderful missionary experience even more.  I know I will have many more Christmases with my family in the future, but for now 
 I treasure the opportunity to be here.

Putting up the tree and other decorations
gave us that "hygglig" cozy and homey feeling.

Service to others is a great opportunity to forget one self and to truly remember what the Savior meant when he said in Matt 16:25:

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." 

These past two weeks, as we have visited with people who are less fortunate than most, we have felt the Holy Spirit again reassuring us that we are in the right place, doing what He wants us to do.  
I can't imagine a better feeling and we're are so grateful. 

This a good friend of ours.  He is homeless
and walks by the church often.  We frequently
invite him in for a hot meal and conversation.
He is a Vietnam veteran and a very nice guy.
Here he joined us for Family Fun Night.

The elders were teaching some of
the kids a fun relay game.

Last Wednesday, a sweet sister in
the branch invited us to an early
Thanksgiving dinner.
Everything was very nice and delicious.     

Never a dull moment with these guys. 

Five missionaries in a row waiting to be fed.

November 10, 2014

Monday evening we, and all the other senior missionary couples, attended a special dinner in Frederick with 
Elder and Sister Perkins of the Seventy 
and President and Sister Richards.  
It was a wonderful and fun experience.

 Elder Perkins later spoke to us at a fireside, 
and answered any questions we had. 

The pictures below show all of us bustling around 

getting ready and also enjoying the meal together. 

We had several different soups and stews served in a bread bowl, with a yummy spinach salad and wonderful pies for dessert. 

On Tuesday we were in meetings all day and received wonderful instruction from our visiting General Authority.

The group picture below is only the east side of the mission.

The west side met during the day on Monday.

All the sister missionaries met with Sister Perkins and 

Sister Richards at the end of the day.  

What a wonderful and sweet experience. 

~~~

Saturday was a special day.  This beautiful lady was baptized and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We are so happy for her and for us.

Our branch president performed the baptism.

November 3, 2014

Our Halloween week was fun and eventful.  

As always we enjoyed every minute of it.

Elder Lewis is writing the history
of the Brooklyn Park Branch.
This row house in the middle is 
where the members started meeting 
back in early 1993.

We have walked by this beautiful house
many times in the past fourteen months and
have always admired it, wishing we
could peek inside.  One day we were lucky
enough to meet the owners, a lovely elderly
couple who have lived in the house for 57 years and
raised their seven children there. They were
very kind and invited us to come back to visit
and see the house. The following pictures are
from some of the beautiful rooms inside.
Then my camera died and I was so upset that
I couldn't take more!

There were several beautiful
and amazing fireplaces with, as
you can see, magnificent mirrors
above. This is the living room.

The living room from another 
angle with the antique grand piano.

The library and master of the house.

Also the library

Another view of the cozy library

The dining room

another view of the dining room.

The the amazing kitchen window, with a view
to die for, above the table where we were served
pineapple upside down cake and apple cider.

These next three pictures are from
our Halloween party at church.
Moses showed up. He was really 
Gandolf from Lord of the Rings.

Really scary!

Our four young missionaries,
trying to be mummies.