Twelve months
down and six months to go.. Wow the time is flying by so fast and I know that
the next 6 months will go by really fast..
Bowie
is about an hour plus drive north.. It is a straight shot up highway 301.. The Bowie
ward is one of the smaller wards area wise in the stake. We seem to be driving
down the same streets all the time as we go to our visits, once we get up
north.. The area is filled with beautiful single living homes and lots of town
homes too.
We had great
hopes last week of a lot of return phone calls to set up appointments..but alas
they never came.. So this Monday morning as Sister Brown was at the eye doctor
I started to call sisters.. I made 28 calls and booked two days appointments
and hopes of many more.
The weather
is so nice and I wanted to get back to walking now that the humidity was gone
and the evenings were cool. I called Suz
to see if she was ready to start walking again and she was agreeable to get
going.. So I drove over to her house and we had a wonderful walk.
Our visit
with : Angie is the mom of 4 daughters ages 15, 13, 11 & 7 and one son age
"almost 5" he states.. We had a wonderful visit with her as she
prepped her dinner.. her husband is a doctor stationed at Ft.
Meade, Maryland. Teaching is his specialty on the base.. We
were also invited to dinner after church on Sunday.. Got to meet the entire
family and what a great family they are.. The elders came to dinner also..
Angie and her family fixed their version of "Cafe Rio", and it was
delicious.. they had it down perfect.. We were treated to raspberry chocolate
cake for dessert.. A great time..
Angie and family
Julie's
husband is deployed and left last week.
He is a pilot for the Navy and is training on a new plane in Virginia.
He will be stationed there for several months and gets to come home every once
in a while and then next spring he leaves for long term deployment to Afghanistan. They moved back to the states from Italy
this last June and are just getting settled. They have two little girls and 5
and 2. The 2 year old was really having a hard time with her daddy leaving.
Julie is doing great and is a great military wife and mom..
Julie
Reese
Susan is a
single sister that is very lonely. She
was very glad that we came to visit her and talked for 1 1/2 hours non stop. When
we first got there her mood was very down and she really didn't have anything
good to say about anything, she hates living here and everything about it. But
we asked about the picture we saw on her end table, who was her son we found
out. She told us so many stories about
him. He is in the military and stationed
in Guam with his wife & new baby. When we told her we had to go because we had
another appointment she was sad and said, " but I haven't told you about
me yet". So we assured her we would
be back and she could finish her story.
Kathy is
such a sweet sister. She has one daughter at home who is 5 and what a whiz
kid.. she plays the violin and can read and write like a 3rd or 4th grader.. She
played a couple pieces for us. The bishop said Kathy is going through some
tough times and we wanted to make sure she knew we were there to help in any
way we could. This is her second
marriage and her two youngest sons from her previous marriage just left to
return to live with their father out west.
She was very sad.. Her husband works a lot and she is very lonesome.. We
hope she can be looked after and we talked to her visiting teacher who is also
concerned about her. She said she would keep an eye on Kathy.. thank heavens
for visiting teachers.
Kathy
Kayla
Portrait of Kayla playing for her favorite stuffed friends
Our day at
the temple was wonderful as usual.. sad that many of our friends that we have
made there are getting to the end of their missions and will be leaving
soon. I am so happy for them and will
miss each one..
On Friday
Sister Brown was down in bed with a headache so I headed north to Bowie
on my own. My first appointment was with Laura.. a young mom of two boys, 2 and
7 months. She grew up in Bowie
about 2 blocks from where she and her husband and boys live now.. She loves
being close to her parents who still live in the house she was raised in. She has a sister and a brother who are
serving missions from the Bowie
ward. She loves to scrapbook and create
cards.. It was really fun visiting with her and her boys..
Laura & Cullen
Crosby & Cullen
My next
appointment was with Karim , when I got to her apartment, I knocked on the door
and waited then knocked again then her neighbor came out of her door and said
in broken English "she not home".. so I left one of our "sorry we missed you
cards", and left. My next appointment
wasn't for an 1 1/2 hours & Karim's apartment was right across the road
from a brand new shopping center that has great restaurants and stores in it..
So I grabbed a bite to eat and then got a flu shot and spent some time looking
around. Then I called Courtney my next
appointment to see if I could come by a little early and she had forgotten our
appointment and was at a play date with her children.. So we re-scheduled for
next Friday.. I told her I would call in the morning on that day.. Since that
was my last appointment of the day I headed south & ran some errands on the
way home..
We were
invited to dinner at Bishop & Suz Martins home on Friday evening and then
Suz and I planned on walking after dinner.
Sister Brown still wasn't feeling well, so I went alone.
Since we have only 6 months left we
are trying to make sure that we go to all the special places in and around DC
that we want to see.. So we decided to go to Mt.
Vernon on Saturday.. It was a beautiful
day out and Mt. Vernon
is about 1 1/4 hours from our apartment in Virginia..
My GPS thought we wanted the tourist route I guess and it took us through DC..
so it took us over 2 hours to get there.. but so worth it.. We were hungry so
the first order of business was having lunch in the quaint restaurant.. I loved
that everyone is dressed in period costumes that works there.. We then toured
the grounds and the home of George Washington.
It was a wonderful day and I loved being there.. Lots of walking and
lots to see and we walked down each path and saw almost everything there was to
see.. I love being in such a wonderful part of our country that is rich in the history
of our nation.
George Washington's Mansion
The Gardens
Pictorial in stained glass
The beautiful garden
The view from the mansion
George Washington
The Farm
George & Family
At church
today we were given a few minutes in Relief Society to explain our mission and
introduce ourselves.. We were able to set a few appointments for this week.
This coming week is our zone conference and I always love the counsel we
receive and the interaction with all the missionaries in our 2 areas..
I can feel Fall in the air and I love it !
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