Hurricane Sandy - October 28, 2012

Hurricane Sandy also known as "The Storm of the Century" or "Frankenstorm" provided a great lesson for the missionaries on Doctrine and Covenants 38:30...."If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear".

The missionaries were notified last Friday about preparing for a hurricane and the possibility of a prolonged power outage. So they did.  When Sandy came into the area yesterday, everyone had food, flashlights and cars with full fuel tanks.  Thus no one was fearful.

We are grateful for your prayers. All of the missionaries are fine. No one lost power - except the Bowie apartment and that was for just a half an hour.

I can't minimize the effect that this storm has had on many other people.  In our area there are still 400,000 without power.  All area schools, the federal government and the metro have been closed yesterday and today. And of course there are those up and down the East Coast who have been terribly impacted by the storm.

Inside the paper is a photo of DC.

The Potomac could rise more in the days to come as tide waters come in. Thankfully there are no missionary apartments close to these flood prone areas.

Here is a picture I took yesterday evening - lots of leaves on the ground, but no limbs.

And here's the real proof.  Today we attended a zone training meeting for the Seneca Zone.  I asked the missionaries to gather for a photograph as proof they made it through the storm.

Front row left to right:  Sister Lewis, Sister Miller, Elder Chapman, Elder Pon, Elder McDonald and Elder Moore.
Second row: Sister Nakatsuka, Sister Joost, Sister Finlay, Sister Brown, Sister Quintanilla and Sister Gros.
Third row: Elder Hansen, Elder Hart, Elder Dillon, Elder Garcia, Elder Valdetano and Elder Long.
Back row: Elder Roomataaroa, Elder Vanaa, Elder Goodman, Elder Peterson, Elder Bodily, Elder Moss and Elder Gleed.

This is Elder Branning - who was talking to President Matsumori for the first picture.  I wanted to include him as proof that we didn't lose a single missionary in the Seneca Zone. 

Trainer/Trainee meeting - October 25, 2012

It was fun having a smaller group of missionaries at this trainer/trainee meeting. It seems we got to know all of the missionaries even better.

Sister Joost and Sister Nakatsuka are the first ones to arrive so they take time for companion study.

Elder Squires and Elder Schoemig also arrive early.

Elder Dillon with Elder Hart

Sister Wong and Sister Bullock.

Elder Livengood and Elder Loveless 

One of the first things we do is allow the trainees and trainers to break into different groups and share some of the things they are learning.

Left to right: Sister Bullock, Sister Nakatsuka and Elder Squires.

Elder Hart and Elder Loveless.

Elder Schoemig, Elder Livengood, Sister Joost and Sister Wong.

Elder Bigelow, Elder Dillon and  Elder Schoemig.

One of the games is to build companion unity.

Elder Loveless and Elder Livengood locate the scripture first.

Sister Bullock and Sister Wong also find the scripture.

Sister Nakatsuka and Sister Joost display the nerf guns they used.

Elder Schoemig and Elder Squires also with nerf guns.

Elder Dillon and Elder Hart finish shooting with their nerf guns.

One final round of questions asked by the assistants, Elder Bigelow and Elder Brown (center).
Left: Elder Hart and Elder Dillon
Right: Sister Nakatsuka and Sister Joost

I tried to take pictures before everyone started to eat so I wouldn't bother everyone too much.

Clockwise around the table from the left: Sister Nakatsuka, Sister Bullock, Elder Dillon, Elder Hart,  Sister Joost and Sister Wong.

Clockwise around the table from the left: Elder Bigelow, Elder Loveless, Elder Livengood, Elder Schoemig, Elder Squires and Elder Brown.

Arlington National Cemetery: October 17, 2012

Thirty-two missionaries gathered for this semi-annual trip to Arlington.  It seems impossible that some of them are in this group because it feels like we picked them up from the airport just a few months ago.  Yet here it is.  They are coming to the end of their missions.  Some of them still have a half year to go, so they know they still have work to do.  Yet others will be leaving in a few short weeks.  We will miss them all.

Everyone gathers at the Arlington Visitors Center where President gives a quick orientation about what the missionaries will see.

Elder Mataele and Elder Watson.

President explains about Arlington. 

Front to back: Elder Brown, Elder Watson, Elder Bott, Elder Dillon and Elder Williams.

We warn the missionaries that we will walk - a lot.

Sister L. Miller, Sister Wong and Sister Chan lead out the group.

President Matsumori, Elder Furugen, Elder Gillespie and Elder Standing.

Sister Lewis and Sister Miller.

Elder Nisson and Elder Miles.

The Arlington House was once owned by  Robert E. Lee.

The view of the city from the Arlington House is spectacular.
Left to right: Sister Matsumori, Sister Bleazard, Sister Miller, Sister Quintanilla, Sister Lewis and Sister Avelar.

We go to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The missionaries gather along the side to observe the changing of the guard.

The missionaries get a great view of the inspection from this angle. 

Behind the tomb is an amphitheater which provides a wonderful setting for taking pictures.

This group will be departing over the next six months.  The following pictures will be the groups.  I've identified the missionaries there.

This group leaves way too soon...November.
Front row:  Sister Chan, Sister Bleazard and Sister Lewis.
Back row: Elder Mataele, Elder Wang, Elder Goodman and Elder Valdetano.

This group departs in January.
Front row: Sister Avelar and Sister Wong.
Second row: Sister Finlay, Sister Welch, Sister Joost and Sister K. Miller.
Back row: Elder Williams, Elder Brown, Elder Garcia, Elder Miles, Elder Nisson, Elder Croft and  Elder Dillon.

The February departing group left to right: Elder Bigelow, Elder Watson and Elder Gillespie.

This group will depart in March...still seems very soon.
Front row: Sister Holt, Sister Bechaver, Sister L. Miller and Sister Quintanilla.
Back row: Elder Pon, Elder Furugen, Elder Bott, Elder Martinez and Elder Standing. 

The Sisters.

The Elders.

And now we walk back to the Visitors Center.

Sister Avelar and Sister Bleazard

Elder Croft, Elder Bott, Elder Bigelow and Elder Brown

Elder Mataele, Sister Miller, Elder Williams and Elder Dillon.

Sister Chan and Sister Wong.

Elder Goodman, Elder Wang and Elder Gillespie.

The final stop is at the Iwo Jima or Marine Memorial.

Sister Welch and Sister Quintanilla.

Elder Garcia and Elder Valdetano

Sister Chan, Sister Avelar and Sister Bleazard enjoy the stop.

Left to right: Elder Dillon, Elder Brown, Elder Nisson, Elder Miles and Elder Williams.