Soldiers Video

Soldiers Video

Click on the title above to see a very cool video that I shot at a graduation last week.  Here are the words:
                     The Soldier's Creed
I am an American Soldier
I am a Warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States and live the Army values.

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough,
trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.

I am an expert and a professional.

I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy
the enemies of the Undited States of America in close combat.

I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.

Latter-day Soldiers

Here are a couple of our faithful soldiers sitting at the sacrament table.  I love it when they give talks in Sacrament Meeting and take care of the sacrament.

Here we are eating lunch after sacrament meeting.  The full-time elders are with us sometimes, as well as a soldier's wife and the wife of a deployed soldier.  The deployed soldier's wife teaches some of our lessons for Priesthood/Relief Society. 

Set My Feet A Dancing

We attended a party last night that celebrated 24 years of the Fellowship House.  They are a group of volunteers (not unlike senior missionaries) who support the soldiers on Fort Eustis.  They are connected to the Protestant Worship Services and provide concerts, fellowshipping, and relaxation, along with promoting Jesus in the lives of those soldiers who want to participate.  We had a nice dinner then stayed to see some of the entertainment.  We were delightfully entertained.  Part way through I realized that the little camera that I had with me could take videos.  So I got a little, even though it is not very clear.  I thought y'all would enjoy some of this "rocking music" as well.  In case you can't understand the words of this fun lady, she is singing a song that she wrote. "Holy Ghost set my feet a dancin'; Holy Ghost thrilled me through and through;  Holy Ghost set my feet a dancin', and set my heart a dancing too!"   She is accompanying herself of the Autoharp.

Ezekiel Saw the Wheel

This was from the same concert.  "Ezekiel saw the wheel, Way up in the middle of the air, Ezekiel saw the wheel, way in the middle of the air.  The little wheel ran by faith, the big wheel ran by the grace of God...............Now there's one thing that you can't do, (Way in the middle of the air), That's serve the Lord and the devil too......

Newsletter Success

     Last week we delivered nearly 40 letters to the chaplain to get to our soldiers.  We decided that we needed to have more contact with our soldiers, especially the ones that we meet on their first day, then never see again till graduation.  So we wrote the first edition of our newsletter, "Latter-day Soldiers".  Then I added a personal note to each soldier, according to his situation, inviting him/her to join us on Sundays.
     We were delighted to see three soldiers who appeared to be attending on Sunday because of the newsletter.  
     First is a returned missionary who just needed to get better organized and do his laundry and stuff at times other than Sunday during church.  He always has good intentions and a little nudge in his direction made a difference.
     Second is a new member who was baptized in Basic Training, so he  barely knows what the Church is about.  He came out for a while, but we hadn't seen him since November. He needs to have the new member lessons taught to him.  He has helped with the blessing of the Sacrament but needs more teaching before he can advance in the Priesthood.
     Third is a man who was baptized 3 days before he left home.  He knows very little about the Church and wasn't even sure if he held any priesthood.  We were able to contact his bishop and learn that he had been ordained a Priest at the time of his baptism.  His wife had been a less active member and is becoming more involved in their home ward.  The bishop was happy to know that  he will be getting some teaching here.  The soldier said that he was nervous about trying to do anything with the sacrament because he didn't know what to do.  We told him that we can arrange for him to learn all of that and he seemed pleased.
     Today at In-Processing we asked for any church members or anyone "interested" to raise their hands.  One man raised his hand.  We took him aside and learned that he is a non-member who had an LDS "battle buddy" in Basic that he attended meetings with.  He was very impressed with what he saw and with the missionaries that he met.  He wants to learn more.  Since we only have about 3 minutes to talk with these soldiers in this situation, we get their contact information and give them ours.  We will follow up with him and hope that he can attend church on Sunday so we can introduce him the the full time Elders.  He seemed very sincere and genuinely interested.   It was such a cool experience.
     We've been kind of sad as we've seen some of our most faithful soldiers graduate and move on, wondering if we would get anyone to take their places.  Some of those holes are being filled and we are excited. What a great experience to work with people at all levels of faith and experience.  What a joy to see people choose righteousness in challenging situations.
     I am always encouraged when soldiers have the courage to raise their hands and identify themselves as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We sometimes know which soldiers to look for, as we receive emails from missionaries at other military bases.  Some soldiers don't raise their hands and don't step forward.  Are they afraid of the reaction of their peers?  Are they in the Army to get away from church? Sometimes.  Once in a while we get a soldier who raises his hand and as we talk with him it becomes obvious that he has no idea who we are, or thought we represented a different group, so he isn't really that interested.   Some, like today, know who we are and are glad to be invited to join us.

     If we are here to make a difference in the life of only one soldier, it is worth the sacrifice.

    
 

Stripling Warriors, Chaplains, and the Title of Liberty

 We had a nice visit with one of the chaplains last week.  He is quite helpful and we work with him  often.  In our visit he said, "I'm sure you've noticed how the army officials 'tolerate' our presence.  It seems like they are always trying to figure out what our 'agenda' is."  It was a revelation to me.  I thought it was just our (LDS) presence that the chaplains and army officials were questioning.  I didn't realize that any and all religious presence on the base is a threat to so many people.  He related how they sometimes have to be a bit pushy and demand the rights of the soldiers to have religion in their lives, in spite of the officials who wish chaplains would go away.  If a soldier wishes to go to church they can't deny him that right - unless he is in trouble and being disciplined.  Some of  the less experienced soldiers don't understand this rule, and often get intimidated to not attend church activities.
     Chaplain B also mentioned what a mess the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule is going to be for chaplains.  Some of the trouble that will come is obvious.  But he said that because of his own personal religion, he is not allowed to work with another chaplain who claims to be "gay".  What will the army do with a chaplain who refuses to work with a gay chaplain?  That would probably be against the law.  Ahhhh! What a mess!
     It was refreshing to talk with this man who is doing the best he can for these soldiers, and see the respect that he gives us, to do the same. 
     The Lord's work goes forth.  May we continue to appreciate our soldiers who fight for this right, in our free land.  Our soldier PFC M spoke of Moroni and the Title of Liberty in his talk on Sunday.  It is so cool to hear our soldiers talk of the soldiers in the scriptures and relate how the Lord's work can go forth only when there are people willing to fight for that religious freedom.
     It might be interesting to note that the two soldiers we were taking pictures of here never did attend any of our meetings.  We show up at their graduations whether they were active or not, and take pictures of this special occasion, then send the pictures to them.  When this is the case, they are surprised to see us, but always seem pleased to have someone there to represent their "family".  You can see by the smiles that this is a positive thing.  (Click on the picture to see more clearly) Top picture: the soldier farthest right in back.  Bottom picture: second from left.  We ask if it is OK to take these pictures for them, and also if there are any buddies they want pictures with.  We always feel good when we have made them happy, and represented The Church in doing so.  We feel that this is part of our special calling, to help them have a positive experience with the church.

Our Chapel

This is the chapel that we use for Sunday Services.  Instead of using that table to teach from, we use a wooden pulpit similar to one  you would use in Primary, wheeled over in front below those stairs.  We also don't use the drum set.  Elder Elkins plays the electric piano for our music.  The cross that is hanging in front is a nice work of art done in stained glass.  We were told that we could remove it for our services, if we wanted, but we told them that it wouldn't bother us to have it there, and we didn't want it to get broken.

Here are the windows along the sides of our chapel.  Someone did some nice stained glass a few years ago.  The wreaths were for Christmas. This is a pretty nice building, that we are glad to use, especially since our group used to meet in a basement.  This is not the main chapel on base, but is the "chapel annex", another building. 

One of the windows in the chapel annex.

This is the restroom door in the back of the chapel annex.

Here's what you see when you open that grey door.

Looking from the inside out, you can see that the ladies have one door and the men have another, but they use the same sinks.  Interesting set-up.