Dogwood Trees

This is one of my absolute favorite trees that blossoms in the East.  I wish I could keep one.

This pink Dogwood is less common, so it's a real treat!

The blossoms probably won't last long.  It seems like a new kind of tree or bush blossoms every week.

General Conference

The spring trees are so pretty I had to share another picture.

A little breakfast snack before general conference.

The two missionaries (and one of our soldiers) who work with us on Fort Eustis. We will miss them terribly when they are transferred.  We hear they are both moving on this week.

A faithful saint, Brother D. volunteers his time to drive the Army van that takes our soldiers to and from the base for Stake and General Conference. He sacrifices family time to do this and we are so appreciative of his help. We aren't allowed to transport the AIT soldiers in our private car, so we have to have a military driver.

We furnished meals between sessions of conference.  Saturday was ham, potatoes, salad, and cinnamon rolls.  Sunday was tuna casserole, sub sandwiches, brownies and ice cream.  Yum. 

Elder Elkins entertains the soldiers with stories during lunch.

Besides the soldiers, we fed the 18 full time missionaries who attended at the stake center.

The sister missionaries in our area attended conference with us also.

Did she eat the brownie, ice cream, and cinnamon roll by herself or get help from her soldier-dad?

Spring in Virginia

I looked out this morning and saw these geese who are usually IN the lake, eating bugs around the apartments.  They didn't seem to mind me getting close for pictures, but kept an eye on me.

These ducks probably have a nest in the reeds around the lake.

This heron thought I couldn't see him, because he was holding very still.  I couldn't get very close, but he is such a pretty blue color.

Popcorn trees?

The trees everywhere are popping with color, leaves, and blossoms.  It is breathtaking.

I love, love, love Spring.

Washington DC Trip

We hired a commercial bus and met at 5:30am to take 48 soldiers to Washington DC on a "Religious Retreat".

Breakfast was at McDonalds - the only expense the soldiers had for the trip.

We stopped at the DC temple for 1 1/2 hours.  There were 48 soldiers (34 of those not members of the church), 2 wives, and 2 missionaries.  What a crowd!

A little PT (Physical Training) on the temple grounds.

Since most were not members, they gave the missionaries at the Visitor's Center plenty of discussion for an hour or so.  They were very respectful and some very curious.

More missionary discussions.

Lunch was sub sandwiches in the parking lot of the stake center near the temple.

We let the soldiers loose for 3 hours on "The Mall", among the monuments and museums - certainly not enough time, but they enjoyed the opportunity. We also visited Arlington National Cemetery.

Dinner on the way home was at Golden Coral.  I'm pretty sure they ate our money's worth.  They were thrilled to have food that was not military rations.

It was a wonderful day.  We had a nearly full bus with only 2 empty seats.  Many asked when we are going again.  We hope to do it in about 3 months.

A Call and a New Baby

     Last week as we were going to bed we got a call from a lady who asked if we knew Soldier (N).  I said that he was one of our LDS soldiers.  She said that they had been trying to get in touch with him because his wife was in labor and about to give birth to their second child.  They couldn't reach him on his cell because he was in night classes.  I said that I would do what I could and get back to her.  I called his company, finally got in contact with his First Sergeant, who had some compassion and released him from class so that he could call.  Here is the email we received from his wife a few days later:

    This soldier told us that he was able to hook up Skype about 20 minutes before their son was born.  His wife wasn't due for 9 more days, and he is scheduled to graduate this week, so he had hoped to be home, but it didn't work out that way. 
     I was grateful to be able to make those calls with the title "Sister Elkins", which seemed to hold more weight than just a desperate mother-in-law asking for favors.  The Lord loves his soldiers.

On the same team!

     Today we attended the farewell party for one of the Chaplains that we have worked with on Ft. Eustis.  He is being transferred to Hawaii for his next duty station. (Tough assignment)  It is interesting to work with chaplains.  The more we deal with them, the better our relationship gets.  They are getting an understanding that "The LDS", as we are usually called, are just regular people like themselves.   This one had a scheduling problem recently and called us to see if we could help find a solution.  He had unknowingly scheduled a 4 week seminar during our time to have the building on Tuesdays.  His superior had told him that he would simply have to cancel, after he had advertised it for 6 weeks. Elder Elkins suggested that we could meet somewhere else for those 4 weeks, saying that "We are on the same team".  Chaplain E. was so grateful that he could hardly contain his happiness. So as we bid him farewell after the party today, he said, "We're on the same team!", and gave us both hugs.

     At the same party, we were sitting on the back patio most of the time because it was so crowded with guests in the house.  One of the Chaplain Assistants we have worked with quite a bit sat there and visited with us.  He shared stories of his disappointing adventures with religion.  He used to be Baptist, then non-denominational, now is wondering what to do.  He started asking us questions about our church, and in particular, "What would the requirements be for joining your church?"  It was an interesting conversation, and he was very open.  Kind of touchy though because of the situation we were in - at the party for the chaplain.  So I suggested that he begin by going to  Mormon.org and look at things there.  He whipped out his phone and made a bookmark for it, and said that he would.  We also invited him to come with us on the temple trip next week.  He asked if he would be told that he couldn't go in, and we explained that he would be going to the visitors center and there was plenty to see there.  It will be interesting to see if he decides to join us.  He is a soldier but not one of the trainees, so he could go without anyone's permission.

     It has been fun hearing the "language" of the South here.  It sounds so pleasant to our ears, since we lived out here over 30 years ago, and loved it then.  Out West we always say, "Have a nice day." Here it is, "Have a blessed day."  I got an email today from a local and at the end it said, "Have a peaceful week."  It made me smile.

Lost Keys

Tonight we had Elders H and C over for dinner. We picked them up across town, then took them home afterwards (to save their car miles). We only got a few blocks away when we got a call saying that they had lost their keys and couldn't get into the apartment. So we went back, picked them up, and took them back to our place to look for the keys, after they looked through the car, backpack and jacket pockets. We couldn't see them lying around in our apartment so Elder H began emptying the contents of the backpack on the floor to check every corner.


So as he was doing this I proceeded to tell him the story of how my daughter-in-law lost her wallet on a trip and had to get a new drivers license or ID so that she and the kids would be able to fly back home. Just before leaving, she found the wallet in a side pocket of the suitcase, that she forgot was there. When I said this, Elder H looked up at me with wide eyes, stuck his hand in the side pocket of the backpack and pulled out the keys. We both burst out laughing.

Distinguished and Honor Graduates

It is no great surprise to us that when our most faithful solders graduate, they often achieve the status of "Distinguished Graduate" (highest academic grade point in their class), or "Honor Graduate" (second highest gpa).  They are faithful in the gospel and faithful in their duties as soldiers. Both of the soldiers pictured are also husbands and fathers.  It is not easy to be away from their families. 

A Great Sunday

     This picture has nothing to do with today, but I wanted to put a picture of something on here :0).  It is me waiting for our turn to talk to the new soldiers, so we can identify the LDS ones.  I think I mentioned before that we did not wear our name tags on the base--now we do.  We talked with the chaplains about it and asked permission to do so.  Elder Elkins felt that we should ask, and we have a pretty good relationship with most of them.  The response was, "I don't know why not, that's who you are!"  So for now, that works.  Chaplains get transferred, just as all military people, so it could be different later on.

    

     This week-end is a holiday, so many soldiers get passes and go other places for a couple days.  So I had the dilemma again of how many to plan for lunch.  We can have anywhere from 1 to 10 soldiers, on any given Sunday, with a few support people.  Because of the holiday week-end, I was temped to make a smaller amount, but felt that would be foolish - 'cause you never know!  So I made a normal sized meal of 3 large pans of Shepherd Pie, homemade bread, chocolate chip cookies, and fresh fruits.  We have never eaten more than 2-3 loaves of bread at one meal, but I took 4 just in case.

     We had 12 soldiers, and a family that came to hear their dad (a local bishop) speak, plus a couple other visitors.  Whoa!  28 people in attendance.  I was starting to panic, but realized that some of the visitors wouldn't be staying for lunch.

     The soldiers loved the shepherd pie (hamburger with onions, mixed veggies, mushroom soup, mashed potatoes on top with a little melted cheese).  They took seconds till the last spoonful was scraped from the 3 pans.  Of the 4 loaves of bread, there was less than 1/2 loaf left, and all of the butter and jam were gone!  They kept eating the bread even when that stuff was gone.  They all seemed very satisfied.

     So you never know.  People ask me how I decide how much food to fix.  I tell them that I make an amount that feels right, then pray over it!  We have never run out, but sometimes we have leftovers to take home.

     We are getting excited about our next trip to DC in March.  We have a pretty good list of soldiers already, who want to go.  Last week we told one of our new faithful soldiers to invite his non-member battle buddies.  He said that he would tell them that they had to attend church in order to get their names on the list.  I said, "They don't have to", and he said, "That's OK, I'm going to tell them that anyway."  True to his word, he had 2 non-members with him today.  Good job Soldier "A". 

Sisters Conference

     We had a Sister Missionary conference today in Richmond. After some learning from the President, the President's wife taught us some yoga. As one senior sister put it: "The best thing aboug the yoga session was the giggling."
     We got 5 new soldiers today at In-Processing.  That is more than our usual 2 or 3, so we are excited.  It is always really fun to get to know these men.  One said that he has been inactive from the church for 8 years and is "deciding whether to get active or not".  We hope that we can help in that decision. Another one said, "My week just doesn't feel complete unless I go to church." (Cool!)
     Yesterday one of our newly activated soldiers walked in the door to church and in walked another soldier right behind him with the same name on his uniform.  That surprised us. The first one said, "This is a new soldier who just got here yesterday, and he is my cousin!"  What fun to have his cousin join him at the same base.  We also found out that this cousin has been inactive so we were happy to have him in attendance.
     It is so interesting to see how some soldiers join the army to get away from the church, then we meet those who have been inactive for a while and are finding the church again by joining the army.  What a privilege to help these men in their search for happiness.

Stake Conference

     Today was an interesting challenge.  Stake Conference is held in town but we got clearance for the soldiers to attend.  We can't transport them in our car, so we arranged for an Army van to take them.  There is a faithful member of the stake who has an Army drivers license, so he can check out the van and get them there within the Army rules. 
     We had 10 soldiers who signed up to go.  We also sent notes and texted those that we thought would be interested.  Elder Elkins waited in the parking designated as the pick-up area, and I waited in the parking lot of the chapel annex where we usually meet, just in case someone showed up there.  Five soldiers showed up for the ride.  We didn't really expect all l0 to show, so we were happy. 
     We had waited a few extra minutes and decided to go.  As the van was driving away, and we started out in our car, I said that I didn't feel good about going yet.  I was wondering why soldier "H" wasn't there.  So we turned around and drove back 1/2 block, and there was soldier "H" running to the area.  So we said, "Wait a minute while we catch the van".  We were able to stop the van before it got away, so they went back to get that soldier.  I felt MUCH better! 
     We drove on to the stake center and when the soldiers arrived, there was also another soldier with them, who hadn't signed up.  It turned out that soldier "H" told them that another soldier had signed out from his unit and they needed to find him.  They drove over to the chapel annex (where I had waited earlier), and they found him there.
     I'm SO grateful for the prompting that we needed to turn around and not leave yet. 
     So with 2 other soldiers who came with their wives, we had 9 in attendance.  It was a great spiritual meeting.  Since we had reserved seats up front, the soldiers had great seats and were able to hear everything.  One of the soldiers in attendance is an investigator.  I was so happy he could attend and feel the Spirit there.
     Afterwards we fed the soldiers, bishop and his family, the van driver and his family, Elder Pieper of the Seventy (the visiting authority), and the Stake President.     It has been a great day.  I was very stressed about the food, not knowing if we would have 10 people or 50 to feed.  One other sister helped with the food this time, and that was a great help.  It all worked out perfectly.  We fed 30.  Since the Elders were fasting, they visited but didn't eat. (very strong)

     On a more sober note, it was announced that a soldier from the stake (not one that we knew) was killed in Afghanistan this week.  We always hate to hear that, especially while sitting there with a row of our beloved soldiers.
     Then afterwards as we visited with one of ours, he cried as he told us about how his wife is talking of divorce.  This is something that happens a lot when these men leave home to learn a skill and work for the security of the very family that they have to leave for a while.  We cried with him. Elder Elkins and a couple of the soldiers gave him a blessing.  We don't know how that will turn out, but it makes our hearts heavy and sad.

Soldier Email

We attended the graduation of a faithful soldier last week.  He didn't know us well because he is one of the lucky soldiers that was able to attend an in-town ward with his wife instead of being confined to the base and attending our on-post services.  His heritage is Korean, although he must be an American citizen since he is in the US Army.  You can see that his English skills are not yet complete.  Here is the fun email we received after we gave him copies of his graduation pictures.

The Coolest Day Ever!

     Since we are not proselyzingting missionaries, I didn't know if we would have the privilege of teaching and/or baptizing anyone.  Today we were able to participate in the first discussion taught to one of our soldiers.  He is the one who attended church with his "battle buddy" during Basic Training on another base.  He came forward when we asked if there were any members or interested people.  He came to the chapel annex today and met with us and the full-time Elders.  It was very positive and he will be meeting with us on Tuesdays for more lessons, as well as attending on Sundays. 
     I am so excited.  That was cool.  He is a great guy and wants to know more.......

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.