Week "9"

     What a fun week I have had.  I have been in love with Amish novels for the last few years and have read about 40 or so.  We live near Amish communities and on Monday, Bonnie Ramon a friend in the 2nd ward invited us to go with her for a tour of the Amish areas.  As I said in my last post, we had a great time.    

 On Tuesday Sister Brown was down and out with a migraine, so I ventured out on my own over to Bonnie's home to help the Relief Society with the stars that they were giving everyone who attended the Holiday party on Thursday evening.  It was a fun day, talking and visiting and creating these cute paper 3D stars.  We finished about 45 of them. 
 

That evening we drove down to Indian Head to have dinner with Roz Brown, the Relief Society President of the 1st ward. Indian Head is about 45 minutes south west of us, near the Naval Base. When we arrived at the condo of Roz, we loved it.. It was so cute and decorated beautifully. She loves to cook and we had chicken broccoli casserole and salad with greens and poached pears and goat cheese. She is so much fun to be with and we had a wonderful evening. After dinner we discussed our visits with the different sisters and she gave us information on many new sisters that we can go see.
      Wednesday was our day at the temple and guess what?  Yes it was raining.. no not raining it was pouring.. We had a meeting to go to before we started our shift at the temple so we started out early and it took us over 1 1/2 hours to get to the temple.. but once there it was an amazing day.  I worked most of the day in the baptistery and was so happy to be there when a brand new member came in with her friends to do baptisms.  She was nervous and excited and I walked her through what would take place and what she would be doing.  She was so cute and it was so fun to see the joy in her eyes as she stepped down into the font.  When she was finished I was talking to her and asked her how her first day at the temple was and she said it was wonderful.  I told her that when she got home to write down about her experience in the temple and how she felt, so that she could look back and always remember this day.  She gave me a big hug and we both had tears in our eyes as she left.  What a wonderful spiritual experience for both of us.  The drive home in the dark pouring rain was a little scary.. traffic was heavy and with the pouring rain you couldn't see the lines on the road.. but we made it to our favorite restaurant the "Bonefish Grille" for dinner and were able to relax and enjoy a great dinner..
       Thursday was the 2nd Ward's Relief  Society holiday party.  Sister Brown and I went over to the church early to help set it all up.. The tables were set with green tablecloths and beautiful contrasting runners.  In the middle of each table were large round bowls full of bright Christmas balls.   Our dinner was catered from Panera Bakery and very good.  It was 3 different kind of soup and salad and great crusty french bread.  They had cream puffs for dessert.  After dinner we went into the gym and sat in a big circle about 45 of us and had a very fun gift exchange.  We each brought a gift  and then each of us drew a number and we took turns choosing a gift or stealing one that was already opened. Our gifts were suppose to represent something about each of us, so I took a box of homemade cards as my gift. I opened a very cute holiday wreath that looks great on our wall. 

       The weather has gotten very COLD, 27 degrees at night and a high of 46 during the day.  So we get all bundled up when we go out.. I get to wear the new coat I bought here a couple weeks ago.. It is so funny to see coat racks in the church buildings here, because we don't have them in Arizona..
     Saturday I went out and did a little shopping.. I need to get my gifts off to my missionaries, so they arrive in time for Christmas.
      On Sunday after our church meeting we drove up to the temple for a special holiday fireside.  It was for the temple workers and we met on the 7th floor of the beautiful DC temple.   This huge room looked like the conference center in SLC only in off white and gold.. It was so awe inspiring.  There were about 1,800 to 2,000 people there.  There were 5 speakers: The new temple President Swinton and his wife and 3 area representatives, Elder Smith, Elder Lansing & Elder Gerrard.  In between the speakers we were entertained by the temple choir.  The music was so beautiful.  We sat with Bishop Martin and Sister Martin of 1st ward and when the devotional was over we asked Bishop Martin if he would introduce us to Stake President Sakai.. President Sakai saw us and came running over and said, "Oh I am so happy to meet you two".. He is so very nice and so pleased with the work we are doing & how well our mission is going.. It was very nice to meet him.  He invited us to a family home evening in December..

Have a great Thanksgiving.. I am so thankful for all of you. . .