WASHINGTON D.C. SOUTH MISSION: HERE A CHURCH, THERE A CHURCH

There is the most remarkable street here in our mission. It is Franconia Blvd. This street runs across a couple of our zones. On a corner of Franconia is one of our church buildings. It is beautiful--red brick and white steeple and columns. The first picture here shows our LDS chapel. We drive to this building regularly. Each time we have driven there we have noticed how many churches there are on this street. And so Pres. and I decided to count the number of churches. We were so amazed that we decided to take pictures of them all. From the pictures you can see that many of them are large and beautiful buildings. Many of them look similar to ours with steeples and brick. It is a testament to the work our missionaries face as they go out into these neighborhoods. Many of these people attend churches. On Sundays it is common to see the church parking lots full of cars. Northern Virginia is really a very religious place. This makes it a much greater task to get people to listen to our Elders and Sisters. After the picture of our church are four pictures showing the signs as you approach 'CHURCH ROW". These are signs announcing the churches ahead. Advertisements for them. And then we identified so many denominations in only about 6 blocks: Baptist, Methodist, Presbytarian, Calvary Christian, Nativity Catholic, Assembly of God, New Life, Luthern, Methodist United, The Journey, St. Lawrence Catholic, the Reality Gospel Church and many others with oriental or foreign names we could not read. It really is quite a sight to drive down this street and see one church after another. It really is a testimony to me of how many people love God and are wanting the truth. It's wonderful to know so many of God's children attend church and love their Heavenly Father. I wish we could find them all and share the Gospel with each of them.

Our Mormon Chapel on Church Row.

Signs announcing upcoming churches ahead.

More signs

Another sign

Calvary Christian Church

Nativity Catholic Church

Arlington Assembly of God

A Baptist church

New Life Church

United Methodist

The Journey

St. Lawrence Catholic Church

The Reality Gospel Church

Stephanie Smith Fireside

Last Sunday evening we were privileged to attend a fireside in the mission. It was held at a beautiful old chapel in McLean. One of the pictures shows the inside of the chapel and the wood beams on the very steep-pitched ceiling of the room. The gym is under the chapel in the basement. I have never seen a floorplan like this one. Very unique. This fireside hosted Sister Stephanie Smith. Her story was in the Ensign sometime in the last year. She has a remarkable conversion story. She has held very high government positions and at one time was 5th in command at the CIA. She said something at the first of her talk that I wrote down: she said, "I've been on some remarkable adventures. But no adventure in my lifetime has been as extraordinary and life-changing as my path to conversion and baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. She then told about her introduction to the church. She was at a time in her life with tremendous worldly success achieved after clawing her way to the top without any regard for others, and she felt her life was shattering into a million pieces. At this time she turned to a colleague she admired who was a member of the church. He told her two things. That her Heavenly Father knew her by name and loved her and that Heavenly Father had a plan for her success. The next day he sent her a map to the temple visitor center. She told how when the missionary sisters came to her door, she didn't think she could relate to these young women. The first thing they did was ask if they could sing to her. They sang,"I am a Child of God." That was the beginning of her conversion, a long a beautiful story. You can read it on the web at Meridian Magazine. Her testimony was a real inspiration to me. There were over 350 people there and she does a great missionary work speaking to investigators. What a blessing to have heard her and felt her spirit.

Chelsea Our recent Convert

We have met the sweetest young sister. Chelsea is amazing. She joined the church during the last year and has an incredible testimony also. She never misses any missionary function and we were able to take her with us to the Stephanie Smith Fireside. She also came to the mission home a few weeks ago and we had family night. She gave the lesson and is was unbelievable. She is hoping to go on a mission next year. What a great young woman. This is a picture of her with Elders Ganaway and Gifford.

WASHINGTON D.C. SOUTH MISSION

Friday, October 9, 2009

HERE A CHURCH, THERE A CHURCH

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