WELCOME TO THE WASHINGTON DC SOUTH MISSION BLOG-WHERE WE HIGHLIGHT ALL OUR WONDERFUL MISSIONARIES--THE FUN TIMES AND SPIRITUAL WORK THEY DO EVERY DAY OF THEIR MISSIONS. I ALSO THROW SOME OF MY FAMILY HIGHLIGHTS IN. THANKS FOR FOLLOWING OUR BLOG. WE LOVE MISSIONARIES. ENJOY!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

MORE NEW ELDERS




 We are so excited. We got two new elders today.  One is Elder Bueno from San Diego and the other is Elder Lyons from our own Northern Virginia. He is here on a mini mission as he prepares to go on his regular mission.  We love the Lyons family from our Ashburn Stake.  They are an incredibly missionary minded family.  Good luck to you both.  

More Brandon & Kelly

Brandon and Kelly loved our back yard (their sitting on the railing in the picture). We saw Arlington Cemetary, the lovely bus station saying goodbye again. Brandon and Kelly have a beautiful yard in Las Vegas that they have to work very hard to keep that way.   And they loved the flowers and Gardina trees here.






Yeah , A Family Visit!










Our son Brandon and his Wife Kelly came to visit for ONE day.  He has been headlining on a cruise ship going from Baltimore to the Bermudas. The show is "Oh What a Night"-4 guys singing Frankie Vallie and the 4 Seasons.  Brandon is the high tenor.  He can hit a high D--My singing sensation.  They docked in Baltimore for the night.  So we got to have them for a day and night and then we took them back to DC to head out on the ship again. This time 3 weeks north from Philadelphia  to Nova Scotia to see some New England colors.  We got up Fri. morning at 5:00 and headed to DC to get them.  We showed them a little of DC on the way back to the mission home and stopped at the temple also.  We bragged about the beauty here  and how much we love it.  They were very taken with how beautiful and green everything is.  It was so fun to see them. I really miss my kids.  They are all the joy of my life.  On Sat. morning we headed back to DC and took them to the China Town Bus Station to head for Philadelphia.  

Our Spectacular Seniors !

This is the heart of the mission.  All the missionaries love these Senior couples.  They bring so much wisdom and love to the mission field.  Everyone loves to be around them and we are so grateful that each of them has been sent to us here in Washington DC South.  (Ask your missionaries about these couples and they will tell you how wonderful they are).  Beginning at front left they are: Sister Fuller, Brother Fuller, Sister Ward, Sister Keller, Sister Peacock. Back row: Elder Cordner, Sister Cordner, Elder Holmgren, Sister Holmgren, Pres. Albright, Sister Albright, Pres. Ward, Elder Sowby, Sister Sowby, Elder Keller, and Elder Peacock.  

Senior Missionary Dinner

 Brandon and Kelly Albright with us at the mission home.  Thanks for visiting.  We sure love you both.

Elder and Sister Sowby





President and Sister Ward








Brandon & Kelly Albright singing for the group







Elder and Sister Fuller







President & Sister Ward

Elder and Sister Keller

Brandon and Kelly at the dinner table Aren't they so cute!


Sisters Cordner, Keller, ad Sowby


The Fullers and Sis Ward


President Albright & Bro. Peacock

On Friday evening we had our monthly Sr. Missionary Dinner/Family night.  It was great fun.  It is just a joy to get together and visit.  We have such dynamite Seniors in this mission.  This included The Holmgrens, Cordners, Fullers, Kellers, Peacocks, Sowbys, Wards, (Burtons were out of town) and us.  Special guests this time were our son and daughter in law, Brandon and Kelly Albright.  They were here visiting for just one day.  We had a great meal.  Everyone brings something and so it is wonderful.  Sister Sowby gave us a family night lesson about the Liahona (which is the church publication for all the countries that don't speak English).  She has been one of the leading staff members with them and knows all about this remarkable undertaking that the church produces.  It never fails to amaze me how much the church accomplishes.  Sis Sowby showed us the magazine in many different languages and told us about the process that takes place in making this possible.  I think she said it is produced in about 51 languages.  Then our son Brandon and his wife Kelly, sang some songs for the group.  As usual they were stellar.  

Monday, August 24, 2009

Tracting Miracle

Two of our wonderful Sisters, Banks and Carpenter were out tracting today and had a wonderful experience.  They came to a ladies door and when she answered she was crying.  She told them she couldn't talk to them because she was too upset and "I don't have time for you."  The Sisters showed great compassion and got her to visit with them.  Her husband had left their family 6 weeks ago.  In visiting with her for an hour at her door, she told them she had taken her children (ages 17.12.7) to the beach last weekend.  While she was sitting on the beach, some missionaries had come by handing out Family Proclamations.  She had sat there and read the whole thing.  She said she thought "Wow, this is beautiful".  When they told her this was from our church she told them she would love to hear about the gospel and they have made an appointment to start teaching the lessons.  Heavenly Father sent them to her door at just the right moment.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

OFFICE ELDERS CHANGE


We had a change in our office elders with this transfer.  Elder Brunstad went back out to work in the field and Elder Hill became Elder Robbins new companion in the office.    

Everyone at the office will really miss Elder Brunstad and that wonderful smile of his.  We told him we were keeping him close in case we need him.  President Albright needed him about 8 hours later.  We told him he better come and visit us regularly and  Thanks for being a wonderful help to us as we adjusted to the mission field.  All these young men have really helped us feel loved and accepted. 

SUNDAY LUNCH

The kids we have "adopted" while we are here came over for lunch today.  It was fun to visit with Ryan and Crystal.  They are a beautiful family and their children are precious.  Ryan is an attorney here in the area and Crystal starts nursing school in the morning.  It was fun to get the toys out and use the swing set.  Max has a fun personality and Elle is just a little angel.  Rhonda and Larry--Thanks for letting us adopt.  



Saturday Baptisms






Here it is Saturday again.  Boy, did this week go fast.  We've been told that transfer week is always the busiest week, and it's living up to it's reputation.  We had a long list of Baptisms for today and most of them fell at 5:00.  We attended one at 11:30 in the Annandale Stake,Springfield ward.  This was for a Bro. David Young.  This sweet gentleman is a very special person.  He and his wife are really wonderful together and take care of each other's special needs.  He was so excited to be baptized.  He said he had never been under water before and so he was a bit nervous about that, but did great.  Elders Gannaway and Gifford taught the lessons to him and Elder Gifford performed the baptism.  This was fun for us because both speakers, Clark Cordner and David Tyler were sons of friends of ours from Las Vegas.  It really is a small world in the church.  Elder Robbins and Elder Hill were the witnesses.

We had a couple of  hours between baptisms and got President to run me over to the church book store here.  It is a couple of blocks from the temple and the drive is really pretty.  It is a nice bookstore and has all the great Deseret Book materials.  Yeah! good to know there is one here. 

We then went to a baptism for Sister Donna Sun.  This was a youngChinese girl.  She came to America to work for a Chinese family as a nanny.  When the Elders were tracting, the family was not interested but she was.  This was really one of the tenderest girls I have ever met.   She came an hour early and started crying with excitement and emotion.  She cried through the whole thing and was just overwhelmed with the spirit.  What a wonderful thing to witness. Elder Lieppman performed the baptism and Elder Tye gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost. When explaining about when and where the Holy Ghost stays with you, he said, "The Holy Ghost is a perfect gentleman".  What a great description.  They are really exceptional Elders. It was obvious that she loved them and they her.  

On Sunday we attended the Annandale Ward for church.  We are trying to get around and visit as many wards as we can so we can meet all the leaders and offer our assistance in anyway they would like us to assist.  This is a very special ward.  President Albright"s Executive Sec and Stake Clerk (who were the Jorgenson Brothers) grew up in this ward.  And our dear friends, Mike and Sara Newman have a brother in the ward.  Again, what a small world.  

After the baptism, we drove to Annandale for a dinner appointment at the Ward's home.  Their home is in a lovely town home.  It is the beautiful old town style with the colonial architecture that is so beautiful.  They are such a classy couple and their home reflected their style and grace.  We had a lovely time.  We enjoyed the company of Pres. Burton, (Winnie is out of town), Elder and Sister Rich (who serve over the temple visitor center), The Wards, and us.  We laughed and talked from 6:30 to 10:00 and really enjoyed a relaxing evening together. 

Our new Spanish Traveling Assistants

On Friday evening, we drove to Alexandria, which is near the Old Town area of McLean.  Four of our Elders live together in a big highrise apartment building.  Elders Newton and Cuevas have been assigned as the new Spanish Assistants.  They will travel the whole mission meeting with the Spanish missionaries and helping them with their work.  We surprized them with a GPS since they have to drive all over.  They were very happy about it.  But I think they were just as happy about the brownie cheesecake I brought them.  Really great young men and great leaders for our Spanish work.  


A visit to Woodbridge

On Friday August20, President and I had to go to Woodbridge Zone and took the opportunity to visit with two of our special sisters.  Sister Capps and Sister Ferry are a dynamite companionship.  Sister Ferry has just been reassigned as a Spanish speaking missionary.  She is really excited about it and working really hard to learn the language. Sister Capps is really fluent in Spanish and will teach a great teacher for her. We visited their apartment and were very impressed with how clean and organized it was.  And since we were there, we took them out for a Mexican lunch, El Charro.  It was nice to visit and get to know them both better.