We have had the blessing of teaching several lessons with the Elders. One was for a woman from Africa who spoke a little English, but mostly French. Sister Zabriskie translated for her and the missionaries as they taught her the Plan of Salvation. Suffice it to say, Sister Zabriskie was having a wonderful time.

We started teaching Temple Preparation to several members of the Fort Belvoir ward. Most have never been to the temple before, but some haven't been since the time they received their own endowments. The Washington DC Temple is closed until December 2020, so all temple work including taking the youth to do baptisms is conducted in the Philadelphia Temple. Even considering the long distance, many travel to the temple on a regular basis.

We take the bike Elders shopping every Monday at the same time and to the same stores. Because of the consistency of our store visits, people recognize us and say "Hello again, pray for me". We met a woman from Argentina in WalMart who said she had found a picture of her father who was recently deceased, and explained how sad it made her and how much she missed him. We explained how important families are, and that in our church, we know that families can be together eternally. We then asked if she would like us to come to her house and tell her more about Heavenly Father's plan for her. She said, "that would be great!"; gave us her contact information, and said she would look forward to seeing us.

We had transfers again. It is difficult to see missionaries transferred to other areas after we have learned to love them through our associations and teaching experiences. The good part is that we get new Elders and Sisters that we learn to love too. This transfer we sent three missionaries home that we had worked with on many occasions. It was sad to see them go.

Our friend Debbie that we spoke of in our last post was progressing so quickly toward baptism. It seemed that she was always one step ahead of us. If we asked her to read the Book of Mormon, she said she was already doing it. If we asked her to pray to know if it was true, she said she had already done that. If we taught her about the Word of Wisdom, she said she didn't indulge in any thing that is bad for your body. She was scheduled for baptism, but then suddenly dropped out of sight. We tried getting ahold of her through texts, phone calls, and knocking on her door, but with no response. We were obviously worried about what might have happened. After several weeks, Sister Z went to Debbie's place of employment and asked her what was wrong. She said that she had broken her phone so had not been able to contact us. Then while skate-boarding she had fallen and had a concussion and was out of commission for some time. The good news? She got a new phone, recovered from her concussion, and is now back on track!

We are still volunteering at the USO on Fort Belvoir. It is enjoyable to meet and associate with military members who come in for a respite from their duties. There are many soldiers who visit from the Wounded Warrior Battalion that is next door to the USO. These are soldiers who are recovering from various wounds and injuries, and are going through rehabilitation of some sort. We recently had a phone call from a father who asked Elder Z to help him give a priesthood blessing to his son who had been wounded in Iraq. The son will be recovering at the Wounded Warrior Battalion for several months, so we told his parents we would look after him, since they don't live in this area. He has been inactive for several years, so we have been inviting him to come to church with us, which he does when he feels well enough.