Last day of August 2015

This Saturday we planned a trip to the DC visitors center to enjoy several speakers. The first speaker was Al Fox Carraway. What a treat that was to hear her story of conversion. What strength and power one can have when they listen to the spirit. You can look her name up on the Internet or u-tube.
 

After her we went and enjoyed a quick lunch. Then the following speaker was Hank Smith, who teaches at BYU religion dept. Funny part about this is he was one of the participants at Women's Conference this year as a speaker and it was my responsibility to speak with him over the 4 month period prior to the conference and give him info and receive info too. I wasn't able to meet him or listen to his talk at the conference because of other obligations. He is very busy, talented and travels. Lot speaking. That day we got to meet and hear his amazing talk.
 

He talked about building a personal foundation in our lives that's lasting so that our public life reflects the savior. Below are a couple of pictures I took. Please note the one of the savior is the one picture that when the Provo tabernacle was burnt over 3 years ago survived  that awful fire. It was so touching to me to know that whatever trial by fire we go through the one constant in our life is our Savior Jesus Christ.

The only picture that was not completely destroyed in the fire

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Today was our last Zone Conference to help feed the Missionaries .  It was in Columbia Maryland.  We have had such a wonderful time. They seemed to love the lunches we have prepared.  Elder Moore has been my favorite companion.  He is my first convert if you will, can I say to the art of wearing an apron.  Now we have matching ones. 

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

 

The past two days we have been preparing and serving lunch at the Annapolis Zone Conference and the Baltimore Zone Conference, which was actually in Essex, MD.  Tomorrow will be the last one this week and it is the Columbia Zone Conference in Ellicott City, MD, which is actually the closest to our apartment.

Irene Planned the menus, we went to Costco (my favorite store), priced the items and estimated quantities of each item.  I put the information in a spread sheet for future use and printed them off as a shopping list for our Costco run.  As we have seen need to modify amounts and prices, having the info in a spread sheet makes it quick and easy to update.

Elders Carlson and Stevens were a big help for us on Monday evening as we prepared sloppy Joe's for the Annapolis Conference.  Of course the "Master Chef" instructed them in the fine art of slicing olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, and frying hamburger (not the "Berger Cookies").  We served ham, potato salad, roll and butter, grapes, and peanut butter bars today.  Tomorrow we will serve sloppy Joe's at the Columbia Zone.  We planned on 40 people at each conference.  The cost per person for each meal was $3.49, $2.64, and $3.53, respectively.

We are grateful to have this experience.  It's giving us the opportunity to attend more zone conferences where we can be fed spiritually, while we feed them physically.  If these missionaries' parents could only see their sons and daughters serving as faithfully as they do, they would be totally amazed!  Maybe not, though.  After all, they did raise them up to be valiant sons and daughters in the service of God.  Thank you parents for training up your children in the way they should go.

It is fun and exciting to hear the missionaries share experiences where they have recognized the hand of the Lord in their lives as they have sought out people to share the gospel with.  Just as fun and exciting is to hear the experiences of those the missionaries have taught and how they have recognized the hand of the Lord in their lives as well.

Here are some pics of the missionaries while at the Annapolis and Baltimore Conferences.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Last night we were able to attend the Baltimore Orioles' and the Minnesota Twins' baseball game.  It was Mormon night at the stadium and tickets could be bought for $8 each.  President Christiansen bought tickets for all the missionaries and we were all seated together at the end of the left field foul line.

Irene and I took the light rail from North Linthicum to Camden Yards.  Camden Yards is right in front of the baseball stadium.  The senior price for tickets, round trip, was $1.40 each.  Sometimes it pays to be old.  There was no way I wanted to drive to downtown Baltimore, so the light rail worked out great.

We left the game at 9:00 p.m., when the Orioles were up 3 to 1 after a home run hit by Gerardo Parra.  By the time we got home at 10:00, the game was over and the Twins had won it 4-3.  What happened?  Uh, you can read about in the papers.

This morning was our weekly coordination meeting with Brother Klecz, after which we drove to Glen Burnie for the baptism of Troy Boss.  Elder Burrup asked us to show a couple of videos in the 10 minutes prior the the baptism starting.  The following are the two we selected.

Video 1:  http://media2.ldscdn.org/assets/mormon-channel/mormon-messages-2011/2011-05-009-child-of-god-720p-eng.mp4?download=true

Video 2:  http://media2.ldscdn.org/assets/scripture-and-lesson-support/the-life-of-jesus-christ-bible-videos/2011-10-024-the-baptism-of-jesus-720p-eng.mp4?download=true

It was a wonderful experience to attend.  Brother Boss has one leg and is paralyzed from the chest down.  It was a little tricky getting him into the font.  The elders picked him up out of his wheel chair and sat him on the font steps.  Then Brother Boss kind of slid down the steps to Brother Wright who baptized him.  Brother Wright had to kneel on one leg in the water with Brother Boss sitting on the other leg.  All went well.  After the baptism, brother Wright just carried brother Boss back to the font steps, where Elders Burrup and Moore helped him back into his wheel chair.

We went home right after the baptism for a quick bite to eat before going over to President Christiansen's to go over the menu for next week's zone conferences.  Sister Christiansn asked Irene to help with the luncheons for the three zone conferences this week.  Sloppy Joe's for two conferences and sliced ham for the other one. Yum!  You know Irene.

August 20, 2015, Side Note

I mentioned a couple of blogs ago that there was one individual from Ireland following our blog. I was wrong, there are ten, and 2 from Romania.

Happy Birthday Bronte and Benny.

Irene and I like trying new things where we go.  In France it was the Mars Bars, in Australia it was the TimTams.  Here in Baltimore it's the Berger Cookies.  I made the mistake of asking a grocery clerk if they had any hamburger cookies.  He said, "Sir, where are you from?"  I told him Utah, then he said, "They're not hamburger cookies!  They're Berger Cookies.  Then he spelled it for me, B E R G E R.  And no, I don't have any here.  You can get them at Safeway on Highway 100."

We wouldn't have known anything about these cookies, but Sister Koyle, who will be coming out here for her mission in November, called us a couple of days ago and told us about them.  They are sold in stores only in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. areas, everywhere else it's an on-line order.  Don't waste your time or money though.  Irene was quick to point out that there is 20g of sugar in one cookie.  My response was: "So."  The bad thing about them is that they are $5.99 for a box of ten.

The other cookie we bought to try is another locally produced cookie, Otterbien's.  It's only $4.99 for a 7 oz bag.  They established themselves in Baltimore in 1881.  That's the same year that Ricks College, now BYU Idaho, was established I think.  There's only 11g of sugar in 4 of these cookies.  So, I figure I've consumed about 75g of sugar in the last few minutes.

On a more spiritual note, however, I quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "In the fourteenth chapter of Exodus the children of Israel [cursed] Moses for taking them - seemingly illogically - to the Red Sea [because there was no escape].  As they faced the Red Sea, with Pharaoh's armies at their heels, they could not expect. . .to see a narrow path created such as had never been created before.  But it happened!"

Faith!  How hard is it?  

http://media2.ldscdn.org/assets/welfare/pef-self-reliance-curriculum/2014-06-2100-exercise-faith-in-christ-720p-eng.mp4?download=true

Monday Side Note

Remember our experience with Mimi (see posts of "July 29" and "Story of Mimi"), well the Walmart security guard who tried to help us with Mimi was back in the store a couple of nights ago and let me take his picture.  He said I couldn't show his name or the Baltimore County insignia on his uniform.  He's the man. He was very helpful and I told him we drove Mimi to Waldorf, Maryland to her daughter's house.  He was glad she was OK.

Also, Irene wanted me to show this picture of a book that was almost destroyed by book worms.  Yes, book worms really do exist!  So, when kids are referred to as book worms either of two meanings can be applied:  1) the kids are literally destroying the book, which is probably the case most generally, and  2) the kids are literally consuming the contents of the book in a literary sense.

Book almost destroyed by book worms

Monday, August 17, 2015

This morning our walk was through Historic Relay, which is about 3.25 miles.  The humility, I mean humidity, was 88% with a temperature of 69F.  I think the lowest percent humility I've seen here is 37%.

After breakfast we tried to help the Sister who had her house broken into yesterday find another place to live.  When we got to her house, she wasn't home.  Her neighbor had already taken her to the management office and to run some other errands.  We came home and finished our preparations for the week.

We left about noon to drive to Annapolis for a tour of the State of Maryland Archives, where the Bringhursts, and Howard's serve copying records for the State.  The cameras, missionaries, and volunteers are provided by the Church and the state has been good enough to let us photograph the records. Of course the state of Maryland gets a free copy of everything that is done.

Elder Howard explaining how he photographs single sheets.

Elder Bringhurst explaining how to photograph books.

Statistics show that our blog has been seen 1,905 times and that most people viewing it are from the United States.  One person from Ireland was following us last month, but so far this month we haven't seen that following.  Thanks guys.  We love you.  

Sunday, August 16

Why I'm Sad 

Today at church we talked to Estelle-- the sister we helped yesterday. I was looking forward to her happy face but she was sad and cried as she sat on the couch. I ask what was the matter and she said that someone stole her cell phone. I asked her how they did that. Her answer was that she plugged it in the wall and sat outside for air because you see she doesn't have air conditioning.  They sneaked in the other door while she was outside, took it. She told me that she tries to be good (which is so true) I see her care for the neighbors kids, let's her friend use her dryer and shares food. She said it doesn't do me any good. I know that her phone is the only means she has to her daughter and her way to get help since she can't drive. While she was at church kids broke into her locked house and stole more of her things. I am so sad for her. I thought about how I can help relieve her pain. I want to think of ways I can earn money to help her and invite anyone to think of ways to help Estelle. Pray for her and be creative in ways you could help from a distance. My heart hurts for her that's why I'm sad today. 

Side Note

The Binghursts are leaving in a couple of weeks with no one to take their place.  They serve as Archive Missionaries.  What they do is photograph records of the State of Maryland and send them back to SLC for indexing and archiving.  They are leaving a very nice apartment vacant and a lot of records in need of photographing.  They have been here for the last 18 months.  If anyone is interested turn in your mission papers ASAP.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Our Branch President and his family have been in Utah this past week for his daughter's graduation from BYU.  They were suppose to be home yesterday, but because of a computer glitch of some kind in the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control system their plane was diverted to Chicago.  They won't be home till tomorrow night.

Irene and I left church after Sacrament meeting so we could drive down to Annapolis to spend some time with Kelly, Kiera, and Courtland.  Courtland graduated from Naval Basic Training on Friday, his birthday was yesterday, and today Elder and Sister MacCabe had several of the graduates and their families over to their apartment for visiting and refreshments.  Lots of fun.

Last night Irene made a wonderful zucchini bread and put a lemon glaze on it.  Oh my goodness it is delightfully delicious!

Ron Cook's brother, Kiera, Courtland, Kelly, Irene, Bob

Missionaries Rock

Friday, Aug.14th

Last night we went to play volleyball at the Glen Burnie chapel. It is about 20 minutes from our apartment.  It started at 7:00 and not many people were there at seven.  The young missionaries have the keys to get in.  Rest a sured it didn't take long before everyone came 2 sets of Elders and a set of sister missionaries. The stake patriarch's wife always comes to play.  She is great at 75 years old.  A volleyball coach and her husband also came.  Strong players. Four other players and the Moores. 

The floors in the cultural hall had just been cleaned. No signs saying stay off so we set up the nets.

Game on-- oh my we were so bad. It was funny to watch but so fun. We played for 2 hours. I sprained my finger from hitting the ball.  Bob hurt his knee from straining to hit the ball.  He got a wonderful hit right into Elder Stevens body like a slam dunk and there Elder Stevens was on the floor.  I took a hard hit right in the chest. Needless to say that night we hurt and today it's worse.  Not sure we're cut out for volleyball but what else do you do Friday night on a mission. Have fun.

I brought cut up pineapple my neighbor Frank gave us. I give him something like cake or homemade cookies.  He says I like a lady in an apron. The next day or two I found a bag on our door with something he bought at the store. We have done this back and forth 2-3 times now. Such a nice man. 

Saturday, August 15

Today was our service day. We usually have our missionary ward meeting but we told Bro. Klecz what we were doing and he canceled. The Elders ask us to help a recent convert with cleaning her apartment, so she could pass an inspection the first of the month. The Elders could only find 2 people to help. This was a big job and we knew we couldn't do it alone. Thankfully 2 brothers came to help. 

Elder Moore rented a floor cleaner. We worked hard from 9-1 and the Elders finished painting a small wall as we left.

It is a testimony to me how the gospel lifts others at the same time he gives us just what we need to be raised a little higher too. Doing for someone who on her own was not capable of doing this task alone but love for her and seeing her feel happy for help, laughing and smiling is worth it all. 

Grateful Heavenly Father gave us strength to see past the circumstances and opened our eyes to how best to serve.

I've got a plan to help Estelle on a monthly bases and she said she would like that. We are also working to find her a table so she has some place to eat.  The Savior of this world loves us all. We can all do more to help him.  Of that I am sure. 

Last comment-- found a thrift store. Bought 2 items. 

Elder Chee just before leaving to his new area;  Cumberland, MD.
This was where he was assigned as a new Elder, but now he will be District Leader and Trainer.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Two score and seven years ago when I was on my first mission in the New England States, my first transfer was a phone call from the mission office and went something like this:  "Elder Moore, this is Elder Wingate, Assistant to President Dunn.  We are transferring you to Sanford, Maine to be a senior companion.  Please make your travel arrangements by bus so you can be there by next Tuesday."  Back then, that seemed simple enough.

Yesterday was transfer day in the mission.  Wow! How things have changed.  Here, the Elders and Sisters being transferred are notified on Sunday evening if they are being transferred and told where they are going.  The big difference is that every Elder and Sister in the mission travel on Wednesday to the Stake Center in Ellicott City for the transfer.  Those being transferred pack all their stuff into their suit cases and unload the suit cases in the cultural hall.  I was surprised to see as many bicycles That there were.  NO, the bikes weren't hanging out of their suitcases, they brought those separately.

At 10:00 we were all in the chapel, except for the new missionaries arriving into the mission.  One of the Mission President's assistants conducted the meeting.  We all stood while we sang the opening hymn and the new Elders and Sisters came in and sat on the left side of the chapel as you look at the podium.  It was very nice.

Following the opening prayer, Sister Christiansen spoke and gave a wonderful message and bore a strong testimony of our Savior and of the gospel.  She was followed by President Christiansen, who also testified of the truthfulness of the gospel, who was followed by all the new missionaries, then by all the missionaries going home. About three hours later, the best testimony meeting I have ever attended, was over.  Missionaries were anxious to get to their new areas or back to where they will continue to serve till the next transfer.  Those going home express their feelings of sadness to leave great companions, members, and those who are still being taught.  It was just marvelous for Irene and me to be there to witness this marvelous thing!

Next time I'll take pictures to show you what the cultural hall looked like with all those suit cases.

Birthday wishes to Grant

Wishing our Grandson Grant a very happy birthday. One thing to know about him is that he is willing to help anytime you ask. Loves everything about life and makes you happy to be around him. 

He is keeping our yard mowed while we are serving. Big job!  Grateful for him. 

Tuesday, August 11

Fun things we notice from time to time!

As we walk and travel visiting I notice so many interesting things where we live. For an example people pile garbage sacks out on trash day instead of cans. 

Most of the homes , apartments or condos--- many are called row houses all side by side have no driveways for parking cars so everyone parks on the road. Makes getting by or visiting very interesting. 

Vines grow everywhere you look. Sometimes on the electrical wires so thick they sag. 

This is the model of the original  hotel that housed people in 1830.  The plaque is on the side of their home. New owners rebuilt it in 1899 and used it as a hotel. Now it is lived in by private owners. So beautiful and well kept. Not to far in front of the house the railroad train goes by everyday. If we get up early enough and get down in that area we get to see the train up close and wave. Super fun. It's happened one time. 

I love all the history and quirky things about this area. Maryland is an amazing place. 

Monday Continued

The lesson we are teaching tomorrow is not what the District Leader is expecting I'm sure.  After last week's lack-luster attempt, we are teaching a lesson on preparing and using a home budget.  This is what our Branch President wants us to teach the members, so we're going to practice our lesson on the missionaries tomorrow.  Irene found this cute video that lays out the basic principles of home budgeting in a very simple, easy to understand  approach.

The link to the video is below.  I hope you can just click on it to see it, but you can't, copy the link and paste it where you can.  It's only about 90 seconds long but worth the effort to watch it.

http://media2.ldscdn.org/assets/welfare/pef-self-reliance-curriculum/2014-06-1140-first-things-first-720p-eng.mp4?download=true

Monday Pictures

Because they're on sale you can buy more of them! 

Monday, August 10, 2015

Today has been a great preparation day.  As we started our walk toward the Historic Relay District, I checked my phone to see what percent the humility, I mean humidity was; 93%.  It also showed that rain was to the southwest and moving our direction.  When we got about a quarter of a mile down the street it started with a steady light rain, so we turned around and came back, got cleaned up and ready to go for the day.

I didn't have to iron my white shirts because I ironed the six that I washed early Saturday morning, Saturday night, so they were all ready to go for the week.  Irene doesn't like to iron, but she will if she has to, so I get to iron them and with a little light spray of starch, they turn out pretty good.

We called Rod and Roxanne Barney to visit with them for a few minutes this morning too.  They have a mission call to serve at the Palmyra, New York temple starting in November.  We offered a few suggestions based on our experiences so far.  While Irene was on the phone with Roxanne, I noticed the neighbor trying to carry a big box of something up stairs to their condo.  It looked like it was a mattress and his wife looked to old to be pushing the thing up the stairs.  I went over to help, introduced myself, and they were glad I offered to help.  Well it wasn't a mattress, it was a futon bed.  Not the lightest thing but it wasn't too heavy either.  After we got it in the condo, I found out that she wanted it upstairs in a bed room.  Her husband, Bill, and I managed to get it where she wanted it and only took about 45 minutes.

We drove down to Kennsington where the temple is because there is book store about a half a mile from the temple.  It's kind-a-like a Deseret Book Store only smaller.  They did have some cool stuff and even some sale items.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Thursday, we were able to finish our third in a series of three hepatitis B shots.  The first two we got while still in Utah.  Since we had to wait till August 3 to get the third shot, we thought it would be cheap to go to a county health clinic here to get it, but it wasn't.  The county charges $125 for the shot, then another $93 just to give it.  We ended up going to RiteAid pharmacy; they charged $45 total, but it took a little over 2 hours from start to finish.  They had to called our insurance for authorization, plus waiting on other customers, etc. added to the wait time.

Friday, we spent the day trying to visit members, and found some who weren't working during the day.  The Elders have had a tradition of playing volleyball with other members on Friday evenings.  So about 7:45 we drove down to the Glen Burnie chapel to watch them for a few minutes.  It looked like fun, so I think next Friday we'll go dressed to play.  I can already tell that Irene's days of competition will kick in and she'll end up making it even more fun for them than they already have.

Saturday, Elders Webber and Horrocks had a baptism of a young woman who is about 19 or 20.  It was a great service.  Her mother, who was baptized about 4 months ago, was there as well as three of her 5 older sisters.  She also has an older brother who was unable to attend.

The pictures show the cultural hall of the Glen Burnie building, Sister Allen, who has been on her mission since June 2015, Sisters Parkin and Miller (Parkin goes home this week, and Miller got here in June 2015), and Elder Stevens.  Elders Chee, Webber, and HorrocksHorrocks, and Sister Honda are not pictured, but we're also there.

August 6

Confessions------

Yesterday we worked hard on our studies so that we wouldn't embarrass ourselves again with the young Elders and Sisters. We even real played a lesson with each other. 

Felt good about our progress. 

When we finished I packed a lunch because we wouldn't be back till evening and off we went visiting. We located 11 people, 4 of which had moved 1 no trespassing 6 no answer and 1 whose father had not been to church in 30 years and we talked to the son who said he doesn't believe in God. Still we felt we had made progress. 

On our adventures we come across many panhandlers on the exits. Today there was a gentleman who had a very terrible facial disfiiguration and he was going from car to car begging. I hid my face and said to Bob, "I don't want to look. I think the other day I looked and we stopped to give. 

That evening we met with our branch president and we talked for an hour.  He gave us an assignment we will be working on in the next week.

That night I could not slept because I kept seeing the begger on the street. I heard the song " Because I have been given much" and A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. I thought to myself that I pray to help those in need and I wear the Savior's name on my chest but I turned away.

Where did the Savior go to serve?

In the morning I decided that I would make these little gift bags with things that  these poor in spirit and of earthly possessions might like. I know they want money but I will give them a gift of Christ's word and something to show I care. I will not turn my face away again as long as I represent the Savior. 

We can all share the light of Christ. 

Monday, August 4, 2015

Great morning!  I woke up about 4:00 to lights flashing through my eyelids.  I opened my eyes and tried to focus, then realized that a lightning storm was almost upon us; no thunder just lightning.  It was amazing to watch.  It was so intense that I checked my phone's weather app to see what we might be in for.  A large dark green and yellow cell was moving directly east, toward the little green dot that represents where we were located.  We were on the south end of it and that happened to be where the storm was most intense. The purple spot was moving right toward us and was just about on us.

I got up to open the curtains so I could watch it as it came through and then lay back down.  Within 10 minutes the wind kicked up, rain was pouring down, sleet was pounding, and thunder was rolling.  Awesome!

By 6:00 it was all over and the sky was clear as the sun rose.  No real evidence that a storm had past except for a few tree limbs, which were broken off by the high winds, lying on the ground.  About this time also I receive a text from Kent Jex telling me that his grandson Courtland Cook is in basic training at the Annapolis Naval Academy and would be finishing up next week before starting classes at the academy.  He also said that Kelly would be coming out to see him.  About 9:00 I called Elder and Sister MacCabe, who are the military relations couple for the Mission, to see if they had been in contact with Courtland.  They have been in contact with him, see him every Sunday, and spoke very highly of him.  He said that Courtland is a real asset and a strong leader.

District Training today down in Glen Burnie.  These training meetings are great and Elder Burrup is a very good district leader.

We stopped by to visit some families this afternoon and out of the five places we went, three of them were home.  Sister Smith told us she was hoping to go to the temple soon and wanted to take the temple preparation classes.  Her daughter is 12 so we told her about the young women's activity tomorrow evening and suggested that she call Sister Guenther and tell her that she wanted to participate.  She said that she would.

Love from Home

In the last two days we have felt love from home in so many different ways. Lindsay an angel watching over the house and sending off our mail. Neighbors and friends texts and prayers. Grandchildren who's little faces and voices brighten our lives and speak to our hearts that they pray for us. Monica sends me great cookie recipes so I can make and share with inactive members. Pam sending us a weekly letter of encouragement and scripture to help us in our study and today we got our first real mail and package from Shannon and family with her homemade cookies.  Families are our greatest treasures. Thank you.

Monday, August 3, 2015

We took a different walking path this morning.  About 3/4 of a mile north and east of our apartment is the southeastern edge of the Patapsco Valley State Park.  The park contains 16,043 acres and runs for 32 miles along the Patapsco River.  We are not going to walk the length of it just because we'd have to turn around at the end and walk back!  The real reason we won't walk the whole thing is that most of the park is out of our area.  We could get permission to do it, but why bother?

Here are a few shots of what we saw.