Viewing a Parachute Jump at Fort Bragg

I found out that there was going to be a parachute jump last Monday, Pday. They don't jump on Monday's very often so it was a good chance to see one.  The Elders had really been wanting to see one. One set of Elders works entirely with Military Families/Singles and the other set are near by and sometimes work with military families.  So we told them if they wanted to see a jump we would take them.  They were so excited. So we took them.  It was about a 40 minute drive so Keith talked about jumping all the way out there.  Then we saw two different jumps.  They go by rather quickly and the sun was pretty bright so I really couldn't see if my camera was getting anything or not. But luckily I got some good shots.  The Elders so were happy and later one even made an analogy about it. We were impressed. The missionaries (Elders and Sisters) are so great and so diligent in the Lord's service. It is a pleasure for us to work closely with them.  They strengthen us and they are fun to work with.

We continue to work with various families hoping to strengthen them in the gospel as they also work hard to serve our country. We are teaching two classes right now with our strengthening marriage lessons, one for couples and one for another set of sisters whose husbands have just deployed. This morning one sister asked if she could bring any nonmember friends..."of course" we said. We hope they will come. Here's a couple more pictures of the jumps we saw.

 It brought back a lot of memories for Keith.  He did love parachutes jumps when he got to do them... many years ago : )

Fort Bragg Ward's Valentines Activity

 Last week Elder Mauerman and I were invited to give a talk about Marriage and happy family life to the Sisters of the Fort Bragg Ward.  They were having a Valentines "Newly Wed Game" for their Night Relief Society Meeting. Well it snowed and all things in town were closed and cancelled so it was rescheduled and we had the RS evening last night. We had a great time with the sisters and a few of the husbands that were there to play the newly/nearly new weds game.  Before the games stared with shared our Marriage advise.




Elder Mauerman told his story of the Wedding Ring at Fitzsimmons Hospital and told them with our Eternal Marriage Covenants he knew I would not leave my ring on the bed stand and walk out, which is what happened to another soldier that was in the Hospital bed next to him.  I told them that we have treated our marriage as "priceless" and it was more than a "wedding ring".  We talked of other things that we all must do to keep our marriages strong and happy. It was a good experience for us and we hope it was helpful for them.

 Elder Mauerman and I made a conscious choice to work through the challenges we faced and be happy. To move on and keep our covenants and live the lives the Lord expects us to live and wants us to have.

It has been 45 years and we are still striving to do what is right. We have and are blessed with a wonderful life and family.

Our Family Home Evening Lesson

 We have continued to give Family Home Evenings to the Military Families in both wards in which we work, the Fort Bragg Ward and the Fayetteville 3rd Ward. During January our lesson focused on The Family A Proclamation to the World. In the October 2005 General Conference Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a talk in which he said "Today I call upon members of the Church and on committed parents, grandparents, and extended family members everywhere to hold fast to this great proclamation, to make it a banner not unlike General Moroni’s “title of liberty,” and to commit ourselves to live by its precepts. As we are all part of a family, the proclamation applies to everyone."

We have built our lesson around this quote. We taught them about the meaning of the Proclamation and how it should be held up like a banner.  Then we make a banner and write some of the principles taught in the Proclamation upon it. We tell the children to save it and hang it up in their room or someplace at home. One of the girls asked her mom if she could take it to school for show and tell. She will make a great missionary. It has been a delight to share with the families.

Transfer Day

 Transfer Days are very exciting. If an Elder or Sister in our District are being transferred to a new area we take them to Raleigh, about 1 1/2 hours from our area, where they attend a transfer meeting and meet their new companion. Then we bring back the Elder or Sister that is coming to take their place in our District. We enjoy visiting with them on the way, or coming back getting to know the new one. They are wonderful and so prepared to do the Lords work. It is always a good experience for us.

It is hard to say good by. We get to know them pretty well as we work together in the two Wards and one Branch we work in together. They always make us feel special and we have developed great friendships.

NOTHING stops the work of the LORD

We are having an INSIDE DAY.  It snowed last night.  Can you believe it !!!  Hasn't done that in years, our apt. maintanence man said. He had sprinkled salt around the handicapped parking spots yesterday when the news gave out it's warnings. Then this morning he came to shovel a path for Elder Mauerman. He is very nice.   Black ice is under the snow.  It's only a couple of inches of snow but the ice is bad underneath and it is not supposed to get above freezing today. Elder Mauerman peaked out from our breeze way and did see some cars driving by on the road but I guess most people just stay in.  Fort Bragg is closed expect for the "important" jobs so we couldn't get on base even if we wanted to. It is District Meeting day. We drive 50 minutes to get there each Wednesday.  The President had delayed the meeting by 3 hours in last nights plan but then he called all the Zone leaders just now and cancelled. Then our Zone leaders called to tell us. Weird when we are used to going about in the snow in Utah but just as well so that nothing bad happens.  As I have heard in the news before, they don't have the snowplows and sand trucks here in the south so life comes to a halt if you get snow/ice. I guess we will be doing some online searching for members today. So some type of missionary work will still go on! We can do that because we have our computer...Later...Well we did have Zone Meeting in a conference call. The Elders and Sisters taught the lessons they had planned for the meeting over the phone. We sang a Hymn and had lessons and answered questions while on the Conference call. NOTHING  stops  the  Lord's  work  from  moving  forward  : )

Our mission is going well

Wednesday we attended a great Quarterly Zone Conference. Two Zones were in attendance, the Fayetteville Zone and the Fayetteville West Zone. We are in the West Zone. We are always impressed with the teaching of the Young Elders and Sisters. Their faith and works are strong and good. President Bernhisel is a great teacher. He and his wife are loved by all.

Tonight we took dinner to a sister in our area who has been sick with bronchitis. Two of her children were also sick this week. Her husband is deployed and it was a blessing for us to serve her. She is always doing things for others.

Its been kind of cold here the past two days. Of course those of you in Utah won't think it was bad but we have had weather in the upper 40's, 50's and even a couple of 60 degree days this month so 28 was cold. But we survived the day.

We liked what our missionary Grandson (serving in Sendai Japan) said in his last email... Remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Don't let other things become more important to you than the gospel of Jesus Christ and always do the things that will lead you to eternal happiness with our Heavenly Father.

Need any help

Sometimes we help the Elders or Sisters. Such as the time they needed to pick up their bike after repairs or giving the Sisters a ride to Church. They were going to walk to church because they had just about "used up their miles" for the month. But because it was raining they called us for a ride. We were happy to help them.  Luckily we added a trailer hitch to our Dodge Journey before we left home. It has come in very handy... not only for Keith's wheelchair but the Elders need it for the bike rack sometimes : )    Inspiration we didn't even realize!!!