September 2019

As part of our regular Monday opportunities, we take the bike Elders shopping. Since Elder Knowles has gone home, it was Elder Weaver's first time to go shopping with Elder Landoe and us. Since we had established a good relationship with the Chaplain on Fort Belvoir, we went to the mission office to pick up more copies of The Book of Mormon and some literature, and took them on post and placed them in the Chaplain's office. We hope members and non-members will pick them up. We have been attending the Fort Belvoir District Council each week, but have been asked by the President to attend the Shirlington District Council as well. This is great, except when they schedule them at the same time. Sister Zabriskie's companion from her mission in France came to town, and we were able to have dinner with her and her husband, and catch up on each other's life experiences. We are still volunteering at the USO. It is such a blessing to associate with the military members of all branches who come in to relax. Many of them are in the Wounded Warrior program as they heal from their physical, mental, and emotional battle scars. We attended three Zone Conferences this month. The senior missionaries have the responsibility of inspecting all the automobiles for the young elders and sisters to make sure they are safe and serviceable. Sister Zabriskie was asked to give a short lesson on manners and grammar to the young missionaries. She did a great job, and anytime we visit with the missionaries, they correct their grammar and make an apology for saying something incorrectly. Besides our volunteer service at the USO, we had a few other service opportunities. First, we helped two different individuals move. One was an inactive member, and has started to come back to church. The other is a non-member who is now taking the missionary discussions. Second, we and another senior couple helped a retired Army Master Sergeant paint her basement. She was very grateful, and though she is not a member, she has started coming to church. At the USO we volunteered for a special luncheon given to all active members of the military on post. It is called the "Your USO Meal" (YUM). We were involved with the preparation and serving of the meal. It was fun visiting with the soldiers as they came through the line. The stake president invited us to attend the Stake Bishops Council to explain our mission assignment in working with the members of the Church who in the active military. They were eager to help us identify the families that could use our help. We have thoroughly enjoyed the visits we have had so far with many of these families. We were invited to dinner by a wonderful lady that we work with at the USO. She is from Sierra Leone, Africa, and cooked a delicious meal that was as good or better than any we have ever eaten. It was wonderful to see Ashley's family, even though they were only here for 13 hours! They arrived at 11pm, put their kids to bed, then left at noon to go visit her husband's family in Maryland. We loved the opportunity to play with some of our grandkids for a few hours! The Mt Vernon stake sponsored a "Day to Serve" at our chapel. It was attended by at least 7 different religious denominations in the area. Everyone donated food items and we put together food bags containing two meals to be given to impoverished kids. Collectively there were about 700 bags to be distributed. There was a young man there from another denomination who had some obvious disabilities, and he was going from person-to-person asking if they would play the organ. Sister Zabriskie volunteered and after the event she played for him. He said he hated piano, violin, etc and only liked the organ. It was a very tender moment to see him enjoy the music. Sister Zabriskie helped him play a one-finger tune, and he was elated. Two new Senior missionary couples arrived in the mission this month. They were welcomed with a dinner at the mission home for all the Senior couples hosted by President and Sister Caplin. The USO held an Appreciation Dinner for all the volunteers which was donated by Mission Barbecue. Since the USO is largely funded by donations and operated by volunteers, we really appreciated the generosity of Mission Barbecue. It was YUMMY! Two of our favorite activities are:   1. Visiting the homes of member families who are in the military, and seeing if there is some way we can help them.   2. Going on teaching engagements several times a week with the Elders or Sisters and seeing how the Gospel transforms people's lives. There are two individuals who are working toward baptism on October 12th.

Missionaries packing their bags in a rental van for a trip to the airport where they are homeward bound!	Sister Zabriskie and her friend Katie Ryser, who was her mission companion in France. Katie and her husband were in town visiting family and we enjoyed having a lovely dinner together.

The Zabriskies and Gowans with a friend named Ferris. We helped her paint her basement. She is a non-member, but has started coming to church.	Elder Zabriskie with Charla (Grover) Burt who introduced herself to him one Sunday, and reminded him that he was her bishop at BYU 25 years ago. It was fun seeing her again and we enjoyed meeting her family.

At the USO serving YUM lunch to military members on post.	Day to Serve service project at the Mount Vernon Chapel.

Elder and Sister Zabriskie, and Vanida Benjamin at the Day to Serve activity, preparing food bags for impoverished children. We have been blessed to teach Vanida with the Elders, and she is scheduled for baptism in October.	Sister Zabriskie playing the organ for Alex who loves the organ and wanted someone to play it for him. He sat back and took it all in!

We are loving our mission. Hope all is well with you, too.

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