BAPTISM OF DAVID WYER 11-01-09

On Sunday, the 1st of November we attended the baptism of Bro. David Wyer. This is a part member again. (52% of all our baptisms in Oct. were part member families--yeah families can be together forever). Bro. Wyers wife is a member and was so excited for her husband to join.

Elders Peterson, Turley, Nielsen, and Smith sang "Come Follow Me". What a treat to hear 4 elders singing together.
Bro. Wyer and Elder Peterson
Elder Turley, Bro Wyer, Elders Peterson and Smith
Bro and Sis. Wyer
4 singing Elders: Nielsen, Smith, Turley, and Peterson

BAPTISM OF TIMOTHY WARNER 10-31-09

This baptism was really sweet. This little boy is 10 years old. His mother is a member and wasn't active. She has recently become active and wanted her son to be baptized. He had to have the lesson to do so. His father listened in and will hopefully be baptized soon also. This little boy had a lot of energy and knew the answers to all the questions. He was well prepared.

Elders Brunstad and Forsberg taught him the lessons and were the witnesses of the ordinance.

We had 4 baptisms this weekend. (Halloween weekend is usually a slow baptism week).

HALLOWEEN WITH ANNANDALE

Halloween is not a good night to go out tracting. And so the missionaries have to stay inside. So each Zone gets together and has dinner and watches an approved and uplifting movie either at the churchhouse or at a members home in the area. We had the Annandale zone to the Mission Home for the evening. It was a lot of fun. We had a huge banquet. (Pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, salad, fruit, brownies, popcorn balls, rice krispy treats, rootbeer, etc.) And we watched "the Rookie" an inspiring baseball story. It was a fun and relaxing evening for the missionaries and we had a great time. The other zones all reported that they also had a nice evening. The Annandale Zone: Elders Williams, Tovar Brunstad, Perriton, Cuevas, Smith, Clinger,Schnepf, Lieppman, Forsberg, Peterson, and Sisters Downey, Reid, Skipper, and Knutsen


Elders Schnepf and Cuevas
Elders Johnson and Forsberg
Elders Clinger and Brunstad
Pres. Albright, Sisters Downey, Reid, Skipper, Knutsen
The sisters and Elder Lieppman on the couch
Elder Lieppman and Peterson
Elders Averett, Loppe, Smith, Schnepf and Brogan
Elders Clinger, Peterson and Perriton
Claiming their spots on the floor to watch the big screen.
Elders Lieppman and Gifford
Elder Gifford- our incredible Assistant
A deer in the front yard just before the party

STUDY GROUP WITH BRO.GULATTA AND SEELER

We had a fun evening attending the study group of the Belle Vista Ward at the home of Bro. Gulatta and his friend Bro. Seeler. These 2 brothren love the missionaries and shower them with attention. They have a study group for the investigators in their ward every week. They invited us to come and surprize one of our missionaries (Elder Carter) whose birthday it was. They had a wonderful dinner. Bro Gulotta is a chef and manages a restaurant. We met alot of wonderful investigators and new members. When we attended this ward about a month ago there were about 12 investigators in the gospel essentials class. Most of them are from Ghana.

Elders Carter and Karren gave a wonderful lesson about trials and how everyone has them and they help us grow closer to the Lord if we allow them to. Our missionaries are amazing in their ability to present lessons and teach gospel principles to investigators. Bro Gulotta and Seeler
Elder Carter, Me , investigators, Pres. and Elder Karren

Josh in the striped shirt was baptized 2 weeks ago.

Happy birthday to Elder Carter

Two Hosts
Elder Carter opening his present
Elder Karren

RETURN AND REPORT AND SPANISH FORUM 10-29-09

This was a really busy day. We started the morning with the Spanish Forum. All the pictures are of this forum. Our Return and Report was immediatly afterwards. It was fun to see our new missionaries and see how they are doing.This included Elders Rex, Tovar and Baraza.

President Albright and the Assistants took these 3 Spanish elders to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guard. They had a really nice time and visited with them about how they have enjoyed their first week.

All the Spanish Missionarys

Elders Newton, Hill and Wilkes

SHENANDOAH BEAUTY-THE SKYLINE DRIVE

We took a drive to see the Shenandoah Mountains in the Autumn and I am so grateful we did. It was beyond description. We started in a beautiful little town called Front Royal. From here the Skyline Drive goes through this national park. They only rise to about 3000 feet but they are really spectacular. The winding roads were just lined with beautiful colors and the views were majestic. You could see rolling hills covered with bright colors for miles in the distance. And inbetween the colors were lush green rolling hills and farms. I'm sure the Garden of Eden could not have been lovelier. We drove for about 1 1/2 hrs and then took a side road down. The Skyline drive takes 5-6 hrs. to drive the whole thing. We drove down into a quaint little town called Sperryville. It was picturesque. We window shopped at gift shops with homemade quilts and crafts and jams and candies. It was a wonderful afternoon. Can you imagine tracting in this beautiful place?The winding Skyline Drive
The view from the Shenandoahs looking down on the valley below. One color after another.

Sperryville.
The picture perfect front yard.

Sperryville
Gift shops in Sperryville
The sunlight show just how magnificent the landscape was. (the sun made the pictures hard to show how really beautiful is was.)




Rolling orange hills





WOW


The valley below



climbing into the Shenandoah hills

Could it be the tree from Lehi's dream?
Who wouldn't want to tract in this little valley?





A kalidescope of color on the hillside.



Front Royal. The town we first came to as we headed into the Shenandoahs in the distance.