August 2019

We were invited to attend an Army Chaplain's festivity on August 2nd to celebrate the 244th anniversary of the Chaplain Corps. While there we had the opportunity of meetng the Deputy Chaplain on post and exchange contact information so we can meet with him to discuss how we can help each other. We have been teaching a young lady named Jessica with the Elders. She was baptized on August 3, and Elder Zabriskie had the opportunity to confirm her. She is a Navy Corpsman working at the Fort Belvoir Hospital. On Mondays the Elders have p-day, and since they are on bikes, we take them shopping and then take them to lunch. They are so enjoyable to be around, and to teach with, which we do four or five times a week. Because of the numerous apartments in the mission, the senior missionaries are given the "blessing" of inspecting these apartments every transfer. The best part of the inspection is meeting new missionaries and getting to know them. We are still volunteering at the USO on Thursdays, and it is quite enjoyable. We get to meet numerous soldiers, and even some of the wounded warriors that are on post doing rehabilitation. We are impressed with the USO organization and what it has to offer military members and their families, and we appreciate this once in a lifetime opportunity we have to serve there. One day after being on post, we came home and Elder Z. couldn't find his military Id. We searched the car, and our apartment, but to no avail. After several days hoping it would show up, we went on post to the DEERS office, and they kindly gave him a new card -- whew! We regularly attend district council meetings, and zone council. After the zone council President Caplin asked us to take an Elder, who was leaving the mission early, to the airport. It came on so quickly, that the Elder wasn't even packed. We drove him to his apartment, helped him pack, and barely made it to the airport in time for his flight. He is a good young man, and we wish him well. We have both been feeling poorly for several weeks, with bad sinus issues, coughs, and all the other things that go with it. We went to the Insta-Care, and they gave us some meds including an antibiotic that helped us get back on our feet. We are both doing much better and are able to function at a normal pace again. We met a young woman named Lee, who was an inactive member and had fallen on hard times. She was distraught, and almost inconsolable. We visited with her, encouraged her to pray, and she committed to come back to church. Since then, her outlook is wonderful, and she texts Sister Zabriskie every day. It is amazing to see what commitment to the Gospel can do to change people's life. There are baptisms every week, and they are a great event to attend. One in particular was for a man who's wife was a member, but he just couldn't make the commitment to be baptized, and had been taking lessons on and off for ten years. His wife called all the temples in the U.S., and had them put his name on their prayer roll. It worked! And it was amazing to see the change in his attitude and countenance. The Fort Belvoir Ward has people moving in and out constantly because of change in military assignments and locations, so we assume everyone is at least as new in the area as we are. One Sunday Sister Zabriskie sat by a woman she hadn't seen before and after Sunday School they started chatting to get aquainted. The new sister said that she used to know a Carol Zabriskie, to which Sister Zabriskie replied that her first name was Carol. New sister: "I think the person I knew was from Virginia." Carol: "Well then it wasn't me. I'm from Utah." New sister: "I lived in Utah in 1980-89." Carol: "What is your name?" New sister: "Deborah Moore." Carol: "I KNOW YOU! You lived on my street in Sandy and we did musical numbers together and had kids the same ages!" Suddenly Carol recognized the voice and the mannerisms of her friend from 32 years ago! It is indeed a small world. Deborah doesn't even live in our ward boundaries but had attended the ward of a co-worker who was interested in coming back to church after several years of inactivity.

Jessica was baptized by Elder Landoe on August 3rd.	Jessica was confirmed by Elder Zabriskie on Sunday, August 4th.

The BYU-I Dance Alliance was on tour and performed at a high school near us. It was a great performance.	Here is the Mt Vernon District just before transfers where two in the district were transferred: Sister Lundquist, and Elder Pay. Elder Knowles completed his mission and returned home. What a great group of young men and women! Front: Elders Landoe, and Zabriskie, Sisters Zabriskie, Bodrero, Grover, Cunningham, and Lundquist Back: Elders Knowles, Pay, and Worthington

This is a view of the Potomac from the Mt Vernon chapel where we attend church, which is without a doubt the most beautiful view of any chapel in the church!.	Elder & Sister Zabriskie at the quaint Mt Vernon chapel.

Elder Knowles, Elder Landoe, Elder & Sister Zabriskie visited a ward member and as a service project helped her refinish some old furniture she had purchased. Here are Elders Zabriskie & Landoe with a table top they had stripped and stained.	Elder Knowles is a master of making 'stuff'. He showed Kaden and his mother, Lee how to make superhero things from cardboard and duct tape.

We were asked to escort the departing missionaries on an activity before they went home. The missionaries voted to go to the Air & Space Museum where it has everything related to flying. After their excursion, we took them to the mission home for dinner with the President and his wife, and for a wonderful testimony meeting. At the end of the evening, we drove them to a hotel where they spent their last night in Virginia before flying home the next day.

The Enola Gay Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy on Hiroshima, Japan. It is on display at the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center, VA.

What a small world! This is Debbie Moore who lived by us in Sandy, UT 32 years ago. She has lived in Virginia ever since, and Carol just happened to sit next to her in Sunday School and made the connection.

Zabriskies with Elder & Sister Gowans at the George Mason mansion. George Mason was in 1787 named one of his state's delegates to the Constitutional Convention and traveled to Philadelphia, his only lengthy trip outside Virginia. Many clauses in the Constitution bear his stamp, as he was active in the convention for months before deciding that he could not sign it. He cited the lack of a bill of rights most prominently in his objections.

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