Tender Mercies and Miracles

Last night we were in the Ward Mission Leaders home for a meeting with the missionary committee and the full time Elders and Sisters in the Fort Bragg Ward. As the meeting was ending one of the Ward Missionaries told us a story about the fellow soldier he brought to church yesterday. He said he was asked by the Elders Quorum President to pick up a fellow soldier, who was here at Bragg from a National Guard unit in Arizona. He is just here for special training for about 3 weeks and doesn't have a car to get to church. So the ward missionary picked him up and on the way home he invited him to dinner so he didn't have to eat at the Mess Hall. During dinner the conversation some how turned to the name of an inactive neighbor and the soldier said "do you mean ... so and so". Yes said the ward missionary.  "Well I used to be his Bishop back when we were in such and such a unit and I got him active at that time" etc etc. They decided that while here the soldier will go visit the inactive brother. WOW   After the ward missionary told the story I said "The Lords work is amazing. Do you want to hear the rest of that story??"  So I told them the story really begins when we first arrived here.  We tried several times to get in touch with any chaplains. Finally we met one LDS chaplain and asked him to help us get permission to post our information for LDS Soldiers needing help or a list of meeting times and address to our ward building. We could already do things with ward members but we wanted to have our names available for incoming soldiers etc.  He was pretty busy by the time we met him, getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan.  We kept waiting. Finally the day before he left he got permission for us to meet with one of the head Chaplains on base.  This chaplain is not LDS but was very nice to us. We gave him our information and asked if it could be posted somewhere so other chaplains would know about LDS help if soldiers needed it. He later sent an email, more than once, reminding many chaplains about our information. So we knew our information was out there.  Well fast forward 3 months. We were out visiting one day, just a few days before General Conference,  when I heard the cell phone ring but didn't answer it in time.  We pulled over a few minutes later and I returned the call. It was from a Chaplain who is here at Bragg for just 3 weeks from Arizona, who wanted LDS information for his men. I assumed he was LDS but as the conversation got going I found he was not, but did want LDS information for some of his men.  This chaplain got our information from the Chaplain of the 3 month ago experience.  So I told him what he needed to know and told him to have his soldiers call us if they needed anything.  Well one soldier called, the one our ward missionary picked up.  Since we don't live on base I called the ward mission leader to ask if he could arrange a ride for this soldier. He called the Elders Quorum Pres who called the ward missionary who gave the soldier a ride, the one who was the Bishop who activated the neighbor. Sounds to me like the Lord is trying to get back in touch with our inactive member.  And by the way we have been talking to his wife, hoping to get in for an FHE. Tender mercies and miracles??  Yes they still happen !!

Baptism of a Wonderful Military Family

During the month of March we were happy to see one of the military families at Fort Bragg become members of the church.  The wife starting taking lessons just shortly before we arrived here in Fayetteville. She had become friends with some of the members in the neighborhood and the Bishops wife invited her to a church activity. She enjoyed it and started asking questions and soon was taking the missionary lessons.  In late November we had Stake Conference with Elder Quentin L. Cook as the visiting authority. She got to meet him and shake his hand. She also got to visit with Elder Alvin F. Meredith. We met her during the first set of Marriage Strengthening lessons. We were able to teach her two of the lessons along with 5 other wives from the Fort Bragg Ward.  All of their husbands were deployed at the time and they learned from one another and we learned from all of them.  This new member developed a very strong testimony and began telling her husband via texting and skyping etc. that he needed to "stop drinking" or needed to "start studying the Book of Mormon" or "could she start paying tithing even though she wasn't baptized yet". He soon began to notice the wonderful happiness she was exhibiting and did begin to read the Book of Mormon while in Kosovo.  He came home in December for one week and while here he came to church. He loved everyone he met. When he returned to Kosovo he missionaries started teaching him via Facebook chats and he read the entire Book of Mormon in a short time. When his deployment came to an end in February he finished the missionary discussions and he and his wife were baptized in early March. Two weeks later he received the Melchizedek Priesthood and was able to baptize his son just before the transfer of one of the missionaries that taught them as a family.  It was been a great experience for the entire ward and all the missionaries in this area.  The Lord truly prepared them and they recognized the truth so readily. They continue to study the Book of Mormon and are VERY excited for General Conference this weekend. She is doing all she can to prepare the family to have a wonderful experience as they watch the Conference together.  It has been a joy for us to see the happiness and growth and love in this family. Recently we gave them a Family Home Evening about the Family Proclamation and they already knew much about it because they study so much but we enjoyed the lesson with them and the children loved the Proclamation Banner. We are blessed to count them as our friends. In this military setting we see so many who have accepted the gospel while serving their country. It is wonderful to see. 

 Today we got to go to Duke University for our P'day with other Senior Missionaries from our mission.  We had the unique opportunity of viewing...even touching a 1st Edition Book of Mormon.  We also toured the famous Duke Cathedral. We enjoyed the day very much.

Joseph Smith said:  “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” (History of the Church, 4:461.)

I testify that the Book of Mormon is true.  I have read it many times. Each time I do the Spirit testifies to me again that is it true.

 We joy in the opportunity to strengthen this testimony in the lives of many here in North Carolina.

Missionaries of the Fayetteville West Stake

These are the wonderful Elder and Sister Missionaries we get to work with in the Fayetteville West Stake.  They do a great work. We are happy to meet with them for District and Zone Conferences.

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.