Dear Family,
This has been a fun, full week. Last December Dad suggested to the senior office couples that we ought to get together once a month and do something together and set a schedule for each couple to take a month to plan an activity. Everyone seems to enjoy being together and it gives those who are not in the office to get caught up a little on the comings and goings of the mission. Well, this last Monday was one of those evenings when we had decided to get together. A little background—before we came out to Virginia we had the missionaries over for dinner. There was an Elder Sealey who after finding out we had our mission call to the Washington D. C. South Mission, said: “that is my mission”! We went on to talk about it a bit and said that we needed to go to an ice cream place out in Gainesville called Moo Thru that had the best ice cream ever. Well, when we got here we would ask people who lived here if they had ever heard of Moo Thru and their reaction was always the same—That is the best ice cream ever, but you might have to wait a while in line. When talking about this activity a couple of weeks ago, we checked out the time it was open on the internet and even called to make sure of the times. We found that the summer schedule had it open until 9 pm. We could make it! So the office couple in charge of August said let’s do it. We decided to meet at a local church and bring our sack lunches, visit for a bit and head out to Moo Thru—a 45-minute drive. What we will do for a bit of good ice cream.
On Friday the office nurse had asked me if I would be able to go with her to take one of the missionaries to a dentist appoint. She can’t take elders by herself, so needs a companion. Her husband was busy and the other office sister was tied up. Well, By the time we went and picked up the elders, took them to the dentist, took them to lunch, took them back home and then came back to the office it was about 4 hours. Knowing that we would be leaving a little early to go on our senior outing, I was pushed for time. I hope I don’t have to do that too often. I like to get out with the missionaries when I can, but 4 hours all in one day, can really put me behind. When I got back to the office I got things organized so that I could take work home and do it when we finally got home that night. We had a sister dropped off at the office by Sister Caplin because she was going home the next morning for surgery. The mission nurse and her husband were having the sister stay at their home that evening and then taking her to the airport in the morning.
We traveled the 35 minutes to the chapel going over a section of dirt roads (like those leading to Lehi Park) to get there. Our GPS must have thought it was faster taking this “short cut” than going on the busy expressways. Dad and I weren’t sure if we were being led astray, but we did make it. When we got to the church one of the natives said, “oh that is the best way to get here.” We had a nice visit and each of us shared some “unknown” facts about ourselves. Just as we were getting ready to leave, we decided to call Moo Thru’s and check on the times again. You guess it, Moo Thru had been closed early today for an employee appreciation activity. We decided to go to another ice cream place out that way saying that we will have to try another time. Dad had contacted the missionary who had told us about Moo Thru and he was going to meet us there. We then had to get in touch with him to tell him we would be going to Effee’s instead. He was good enough to meet us there and we had a fun visit with him. While on his mission a man had broken into his apartment while he and his companion were there. The burglar was high on drugs and when getting him out of the apartment, Elder Seeley hurt his shoulder. He went 4 transfers not saying anything, but when it got so bad that he was dropping things that he was carrying in that hand, he had to admit he had a hurt shoulder. Some tendons were torn allowing his shoulder to slip out of joint and come back in wrong. He had to come home for surgery and at least a 6-month recovery. When we saw him he was three weeks past surgery and make good progress with his physical therapy. He was able to meet all of the senior couples and visit with us. How fun that was. He even insisted on buying Dad and my ice cream. We told him that we would have to try for Moo Thru another time. He invited us to come and visit his parents and their farm some time. We will have to go and see how his mom makes cheese.
Tuesday was a little less busy. And I was glad to try and get some of the reports done that needed to get done.
Wednesday, Dad went to a couple of district councils and stopped by to check on David on his way back. He was gone about 6 hours. When he only goes to one and it isn’t too far, I can get away for a couple of hours and join him. It is wonderful to see how these young missionaries teach and train each other. The Church is in good hands for they are very remarkable young people.
It was our night to clean the office. It only takes a half hour, so isn’t bad, but it isn’t my favorite thing to stop at the end of the day and start a new task. It does, however, save a lot of money.
We got to the office a little late on Thursday because of errands. The rest of the day was the usual trying to track down bills so that I could get them paid and checking to see if checks have arrived. That evening the sisters that live in our complex came over to get the pamphlets and books that they had ordered. They would have gotten them at interviews on Friday, but Dad likes to have them stop by our apartment so that we get to visit with them. They share a little how their day has gone and we get to hear a little bit more about who they are teaching. They asked us if we might have time to go to a baptism on Friday for one of the YSA ward baptisms. The bishop had informed them that there was something going on that would take a lot of the people in their ward away from the baptism. We told them that we would go.
Friday we knew that we had the baptism in Woodbridge at 6 pm and another one at 7:30 pm and we had to clean the office before leaving. We put out noses to the grind stone so we could get things done in time to leave the office a little before 5. We went to the same church where we had our sack lunch dinner on Monday, but this time it took us on another route and we missed the dirt road. Maybe there weren’t traffic jams on the turnpikes. We were glad that we were able to go to the baptism along with two other senior missionary couples because with us there it made about 15 at the baptism. He is a young man who wanted to turn his life around and from his baptism will be entering the Marines on the 19th of August. The senior couple assigned to military relations has already lined him up with the missionaries in South Carolina where he will be going to boot camp. Hopefully things will go well for him.
After talking with President Caplin for a few minutes about bike policy/safety, we left for the other baptism. That one was better attended and it was wonderful to see all of the ward support that was there. The young man being baptized had his parents and grandparents and 2 or 3 of his siblings there.
Saturday we got up studied and then Dad went for a walk in the woods and I went for one around our neighborhood. Dad wanted to go for a longer walk than I wanted to go on today, but it was wonderful because the weather actually had a cool feel to it. From the walk we had breakfast then got ready for the baptism we were going to. It took us an hour to get there and it was wonderful. One of the senior couples had been working with this lady for about 14 months along with the younger missionaries. The Cooks were SO excited to have her finally decide to be baptized after all of that time. This tiny lady had been a marine for 14 years and was a determined lady. You would never know to look at her that she was a marine, but when she finally decided that this was what she wanted she was relentless in making the changes she had to make.
On the way home we did some grocery shopping and then came home for a few chores and dinner before heading out to a fireside put together by a sister companionship and a couple of elder companionship. They had three people talk about how they had gained their testimony and had musical numbers in between. There was an organ solo performed by the lady who is the organist for the Washington D.C. Temple Choir, a young man who did a remarkable job, and Sister Caplin who has studied organ from some of the tabernacle organists and has played in lots of the cathedrals in Europe. She plays the piano really well too. A wonderful evening.
Today for our sacrament meeting we had a couple speak who had just returned from being mission president and companion in Honduras. After being here in Virginia, my admiration for mission presidents and their wives has gone up so much. Before I had NO idea how hard they work and how much of a 24/7 job it is. I would not have the physical, spiritual, emotional stamina to do it. These good people both had wonderful talks and spoke on the worth of souls is great. They shared stories of how the Lord had put them in places to help someone where it made a huge difference in the other person’s life even though it seemed like such a little thing to the giver. Sometimes it may seem like a coincidence, but that is not the case.
In Relief Society the lesson was on doing temple and family research. There are so many blessings promised to people who will this that I came away with the feeling that we are really giving away a lot of blessings if we fail to do this work. One of the thoughts that came to me was that with the emphasis being on home based learning rather than church based learning, it is my responsibility to do those things that will the Spirit into my home. While we are here in Virginia and there is not a temple close by and not one in our mission, that we cannot take ourselves to the temple to feel of the Spirit and gain blessings promised to us. But I can bring the Spirit into our home and receive the same blessings by doing my family research. Many of the sisters testified how immediate and profound the spirit was in their homes as they worked on this research. The Lord wants to bless us; we just need to put ourselves in a place to qualify for these blessings. We had a wonderful Church meeting today.
We got to talk with family and that always makes me happy and then we went to the Carliles for dinner. They always invite all of the missionaries in the ward one Sunday a month and often another family. It is a good way to get to meet new people and share ideas about missionary work. After dinner Brother Carlile helped show Dad about bike safety—particularly about lights and well taken care of bikes. We are going to be changing our bike culture in the mission in hopes of keeping our missionaries safe.
That is it for another week of our lives here in Virginia. It is good and we are grateful for the care that the Lord has given us. We love you lots and pray for you daily.
Love,
Mom
This has been a fun, full week. Last December Dad suggested to the senior office couples that we ought to get together once a month and do something together and set a schedule for each couple to take a month to plan an activity. Everyone seems to enjoy being together and it gives those who are not in the office to get caught up a little on the comings and goings of the mission. Well, this last Monday was one of those evenings when we had decided to get together. A little background—before we came out to Virginia we had the missionaries over for dinner. There was an Elder Sealey who after finding out we had our mission call to the Washington D. C. South Mission, said: “that is my mission”! We went on to talk about it a bit and said that we needed to go to an ice cream place out in Gainesville called Moo Thru that had the best ice cream ever. Well, when we got here we would ask people who lived here if they had ever heard of Moo Thru and their reaction was always the same—That is the best ice cream ever, but you might have to wait a while in line. When talking about this activity a couple of weeks ago, we checked out the time it was open on the internet and even called to make sure of the times. We found that the summer schedule had it open until 9 pm. We could make it! So the office couple in charge of August said let’s do it. We decided to meet at a local church and bring our sack lunches, visit for a bit and head out to Moo Thru—a 45-minute drive. What we will do for a bit of good ice cream.
On Friday the office nurse had asked me if I would be able to go with her to take one of the missionaries to a dentist appoint. She can’t take elders by herself, so needs a companion. Her husband was busy and the other office sister was tied up. Well, By the time we went and picked up the elders, took them to the dentist, took them to lunch, took them back home and then came back to the office it was about 4 hours. Knowing that we would be leaving a little early to go on our senior outing, I was pushed for time. I hope I don’t have to do that too often. I like to get out with the missionaries when I can, but 4 hours all in one day, can really put me behind. When I got back to the office I got things organized so that I could take work home and do it when we finally got home that night. We had a sister dropped off at the office by Sister Caplin because she was going home the next morning for surgery. The mission nurse and her husband were having the sister stay at their home that evening and then taking her to the airport in the morning.
We traveled the 35 minutes to the chapel going over a section of dirt roads (like those leading to Lehi Park) to get there. Our GPS must have thought it was faster taking this “short cut” than going on the busy expressways. Dad and I weren’t sure if we were being led astray, but we did make it. When we got to the church one of the natives said, “oh that is the best way to get here.” We had a nice visit and each of us shared some “unknown” facts about ourselves. Just as we were getting ready to leave, we decided to call Moo Thru’s and check on the times again. You guess it, Moo Thru had been closed early today for an employee appreciation activity. We decided to go to another ice cream place out that way saying that we will have to try another time. Dad had contacted the missionary who had told us about Moo Thru and he was going to meet us there. We then had to get in touch with him to tell him we would be going to Effee’s instead. He was good enough to meet us there and we had a fun visit with him. While on his mission a man had broken into his apartment while he and his companion were there. The burglar was high on drugs and when getting him out of the apartment, Elder Seeley hurt his shoulder. He went 4 transfers not saying anything, but when it got so bad that he was dropping things that he was carrying in that hand, he had to admit he had a hurt shoulder. Some tendons were torn allowing his shoulder to slip out of joint and come back in wrong. He had to come home for surgery and at least a 6-month recovery. When we saw him he was three weeks past surgery and make good progress with his physical therapy. He was able to meet all of the senior couples and visit with us. How fun that was. He even insisted on buying Dad and my ice cream. We told him that we would have to try for Moo Thru another time. He invited us to come and visit his parents and their farm some time. We will have to go and see how his mom makes cheese.
Tuesday was a little less busy. And I was glad to try and get some of the reports done that needed to get done.
Wednesday, Dad went to a couple of district councils and stopped by to check on David on his way back. He was gone about 6 hours. When he only goes to one and it isn’t too far, I can get away for a couple of hours and join him. It is wonderful to see how these young missionaries teach and train each other. The Church is in good hands for they are very remarkable young people.
It was our night to clean the office. It only takes a half hour, so isn’t bad, but it isn’t my favorite thing to stop at the end of the day and start a new task. It does, however, save a lot of money.
We got to the office a little late on Thursday because of errands. The rest of the day was the usual trying to track down bills so that I could get them paid and checking to see if checks have arrived. That evening the sisters that live in our complex came over to get the pamphlets and books that they had ordered. They would have gotten them at interviews on Friday, but Dad likes to have them stop by our apartment so that we get to visit with them. They share a little how their day has gone and we get to hear a little bit more about who they are teaching. They asked us if we might have time to go to a baptism on Friday for one of the YSA ward baptisms. The bishop had informed them that there was something going on that would take a lot of the people in their ward away from the baptism. We told them that we would go.
Friday we knew that we had the baptism in Woodbridge at 6 pm and another one at 7:30 pm and we had to clean the office before leaving. We put out noses to the grind stone so we could get things done in time to leave the office a little before 5. We went to the same church where we had our sack lunch dinner on Monday, but this time it took us on another route and we missed the dirt road. Maybe there weren’t traffic jams on the turnpikes. We were glad that we were able to go to the baptism along with two other senior missionary couples because with us there it made about 15 at the baptism. He is a young man who wanted to turn his life around and from his baptism will be entering the Marines on the 19th of August. The senior couple assigned to military relations has already lined him up with the missionaries in South Carolina where he will be going to boot camp. Hopefully things will go well for him.
After talking with President Caplin for a few minutes about bike policy/safety, we left for the other baptism. That one was better attended and it was wonderful to see all of the ward support that was there. The young man being baptized had his parents and grandparents and 2 or 3 of his siblings there.
Saturday we got up studied and then Dad went for a walk in the woods and I went for one around our neighborhood. Dad wanted to go for a longer walk than I wanted to go on today, but it was wonderful because the weather actually had a cool feel to it. From the walk we had breakfast then got ready for the baptism we were going to. It took us an hour to get there and it was wonderful. One of the senior couples had been working with this lady for about 14 months along with the younger missionaries. The Cooks were SO excited to have her finally decide to be baptized after all of that time. This tiny lady had been a marine for 14 years and was a determined lady. You would never know to look at her that she was a marine, but when she finally decided that this was what she wanted she was relentless in making the changes she had to make.
On the way home we did some grocery shopping and then came home for a few chores and dinner before heading out to a fireside put together by a sister companionship and a couple of elder companionship. They had three people talk about how they had gained their testimony and had musical numbers in between. There was an organ solo performed by the lady who is the organist for the Washington D.C. Temple Choir, a young man who did a remarkable job, and Sister Caplin who has studied organ from some of the tabernacle organists and has played in lots of the cathedrals in Europe. She plays the piano really well too. A wonderful evening.
Today for our sacrament meeting we had a couple speak who had just returned from being mission president and companion in Honduras. After being here in Virginia, my admiration for mission presidents and their wives has gone up so much. Before I had NO idea how hard they work and how much of a 24/7 job it is. I would not have the physical, spiritual, emotional stamina to do it. These good people both had wonderful talks and spoke on the worth of souls is great. They shared stories of how the Lord had put them in places to help someone where it made a huge difference in the other person’s life even though it seemed like such a little thing to the giver. Sometimes it may seem like a coincidence, but that is not the case.
In Relief Society the lesson was on doing temple and family research. There are so many blessings promised to people who will this that I came away with the feeling that we are really giving away a lot of blessings if we fail to do this work. One of the thoughts that came to me was that with the emphasis being on home based learning rather than church based learning, it is my responsibility to do those things that will the Spirit into my home. While we are here in Virginia and there is not a temple close by and not one in our mission, that we cannot take ourselves to the temple to feel of the Spirit and gain blessings promised to us. But I can bring the Spirit into our home and receive the same blessings by doing my family research. Many of the sisters testified how immediate and profound the spirit was in their homes as they worked on this research. The Lord wants to bless us; we just need to put ourselves in a place to qualify for these blessings. We had a wonderful Church meeting today.
We got to talk with family and that always makes me happy and then we went to the Carliles for dinner. They always invite all of the missionaries in the ward one Sunday a month and often another family. It is a good way to get to meet new people and share ideas about missionary work. After dinner Brother Carlile helped show Dad about bike safety—particularly about lights and well taken care of bikes. We are going to be changing our bike culture in the mission in hopes of keeping our missionaries safe.
That is it for another week of our lives here in Virginia. It is good and we are grateful for the care that the Lord has given us. We love you lots and pray for you daily.
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Mat Jett Seeley--We were on a slope and he was on the upper side of the slope. Even with that he is pretty tall.
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Mom
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