Many prayers were answered for Sports Day. First, the forecast was for thunderstorms, but all we had were overcast skies and great weather. This was a blessing because it is difficult to run on the grassy field when it's raining. It's hard to cook hamburgers when it's raining. And while it's nearly impossible to dampen missionary spirits, it is not nearly as fun to be together when it's raining. Secondly, there was only one casualty in hero ball (see sister's picture at the end of the posting for an explanation).
We are grateful to Bishop Richardson of the Gaithersburg 1st ward for again opening his heart and his ranch for us. We are thankful to Ray Pratt and his son Jeff who came to cook for us again this year.
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The sisters from the green team were some of the first to arrive: Sister Lewis, Sister Matsumori, Sister Miller, Sister Quintanilla, Sister Schoemaker, Sister Fehlman, Sister Bleazard, Sister Brown and Sister Joost.
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| Sister Avelar, Sister Word, Sister Moore and Sister Lin |
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| One bus arrives bringing missionaries who've ridden the metro. |
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| Missionaries start to gather in the pavillion. |
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| More missionaries arrive. |
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| Here come some of the sisters. |
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| One of the best parts of Sports Day is being able to talk to those you haven't seen for awhile. |
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| Everyone gathers for instructions. |
The teams were formed based on numbers - trying to get teams as even as possible.
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Members of the Seneca Zone + assistants..
In front: Elder Brown and Elder Bodily.
First row behind the sign: Sister Black, Elder Anderson, Elder Clapier, Elder Szabo, Sister Miller, Sister Schoemaker, Sister Quintanilla, Sister Joost, Sister Bleazard, Elder Gleed, Elder Valdetano and Elder Carrera.
Second row (sorta): Elder Goodman, Elder Croft, Elder Vanaa, Elder Long, Elder Cervantes, Elder Branning, Sister Brown, Elder Dougall and Sister Dougall. |
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Washington South and Silver Spring South Zones
Reclining: Elder Schoemig.
First row kneeling left to right: Elder Morris, Elder Raasveld, Elder Rushton, Sister Bowman, Sister Lin, Sister Moore, Sister Jones, Elder Olson, Elder Brown, Elder White, Elder Anderson, Elder Furugen.
2nd row standing and bent over: Elder Teriirere, Elder Peterson, Elder Arnett, Elder Olsen, Elder Roomataaroa, Elder Pawlenchuk,Elder Wery, Elder , Elder Winkler, Elder Rozsa, Elder Alca, Elder Munoz, Elder Tomlinson and Elder Marinez.
Back row (sorta): Elder Mullins, Elder Gremillion, Elder Fisher, Elder Gumbi, Elder Gillespie, Elder Steer, Elder Hansen, Elder Synelnikov, Elder Stoor.
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Washington North and Silver Spring North Zones
Front row kneeling left to right: Sister Wong, Sister Ertelt, Sister Word, Sister Finlay, Sister Avelar, Sister Lewis, Sister Chan, Sister Holt.
Second row bent over: Sister Wankier, Sister Morotti, Sister Gros, Sister Lawrence, Sister Tyler, Sister Bechaver, Sister Blasco, Elder Hsiung, Elder Larson.
Back row (sorta) left to right: Elder Jelitto, Elder Garcia, Elder Moore, Sister Miller, Elder Gilbert, Elder Broadhead, Elder Julander, Elder Williams, Elder Wang, Elder Wells, Elder Mataele, Elder Ah Puck, Elder Watts, Elder Standing, Elder Salanoa and Elder Picon. |
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Suitland Zone
Down in front left to right: Elder Lowry, Elder Miyasaki, Elder Anderson, Elder Seely, Elder Snow, Elder Livengood, Elder Nielson, Elder Flores, Elder Seo, Elder Dillon.
Second row crouching over: Elder Meserole, Elder Epperson, Elder Miles, Elder Radford, Elder Hunt, Elder Dickerson, Elder McDonald, Elder Giles, Elder Lanham, Elder Sanchez, Elder Lott and Elder Nisson
Back row (sorta): Elder Kuddes, Elder Tanner, Elder Bates, Elder Appiah, Elder Watson and Elder Bott. |
After group pictures, the teams gathered to choose and assign positions to play in Hero Ball - a game where you play soccer, steal the flag, dodge ball and quidditch on the same field at the same time. Don't ask. I can't explain it though I've seen it played many times.
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| Yeah, I wanna play that. |
Hero Ball - no way to explain it, but here are some pictures.
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Here are the refs - left to right and their assignment when they aren't scoring hero ball:
Elder Murdock (Anacostia): Elder Porter (DC 3rd); Elder Noel (Carrolton); Elder Dougall (office); Elder Black (office); Elder Miller (DC 3rd) and Elder Nebeker (Takoma Park). |
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| Some of the sisters line up behind one of the quidditch goals: Left to right - Sister Porter, Sister Black, Sister Matsumori, Sister Dougall and Sister Nebeker. You can see the missionary cars lined up in the background. |
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| This is how many balls are in play at one time. |
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| And the action begins. |
Following Hero Ball - oh and I need to add that the green team - Seneca - won - the missionaries gather for lunch.
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| The elders in blue left to right: Elder Brown, Elder Synelnikov, Elder Raasveld and Elder Gillespie. |
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| Identifiable: Elder Garcia is seated - those in line from the front to back are: Elder Lott, Elder Miyasaki, Elder Bates, Elder Giles and Elder Dickerson. |
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| Sisters eat first - elders head for the water. |
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| Bishop Richardson's dog makes himself at home with the missionaries. |
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| There was even more face paint at early on before the missionaries sweat it all off. ooooohhhhhh. |
After lunch the missionaries have time to play some more games on their own. Soccer, frisbee etc. are being played on the field.
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| Groups gather for more pictures. Here are the photographers for the sisters. |
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| And here here are the sisters. You'll notice Sister Fehlman on the front row. She is our one casualty. This is what someone looks like after being hit in the face with a soccer ball. By the way, Mom Fehlman, she is fine. |
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| Elder Peterson and Elder Moss pose in front of the basketball court. |
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| Some missionaries play basketball. |
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| Some missionaries play field hockey. |
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| Some missionaries play board games. |
