Jennifer’s Birthday

  

Today is our youngest child and only daughter’s birthday.  I’m not sure if she is at the stage where she doesn’t want her age announced, or if she is like me, she just doesn’t care.  Probably the latter.   I am sure that she is spending her birthday money on clothes today.  Humm, also just like her Mom. 

This morning Elder Boehrer left the apartment at about 10:45 to search some of the LDS church buildings that are in our area.  After spending a half hour figuring out how to store information in the GPS for later use, we finally got on the road.  We ending up going to the Alameda Building. This building was originally a YMCA.  The church converted it into a ward building.  It is very nice.  You’d never know it was anything but a church building. Just our wonderful luck, they were having a Ward Service Project which included lunch.  Yay!!!  We were hungry.   I took many pictures including the Elders that serve in that ward.  Elders Dahl and Williamson.  Elder Williamson asked if we knew where Ripon, California is.  Wow, that is a coincidence, that is where one of the stores that Elder Boehrer took care of, is located.  They had a lot to talk about.  This Elder, when he was a young kid, used to go there all the time with his family and knew the area well. He might even have met Elder Boehrer.  I took pictures of the service project area.  The members, including the area residents, were cleaning  a fountain that had quit working.  They cleaned, weeded around it and planted some flowers and shrubs.  It looks very neat and clean.  It was fun to see community and members working together to make the area beautiful.  Oh, yes, and the lunch was good.  Hot dogs, hamburger, chips and of course, watermelon. They know their watermelon in Baltimore. Excellent!

		Service VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

After we left the ward service project and lunch, we got our poor car washed and waxed.  Oh does it look better.  Looks like new – love it!  

Tonight we went to another buffet – can’t get enough.  We went with Elder and Sister Gibbons and Sister McKibben to Teppanyaki’s.  It was great!  After the buffet we went to THREE baptisms.  Whew - quite an evening.  One of the sisters who was baptised, Valerie Ruger, has known for a year and a half that she was ready, but due to some circumstances out of her control she was unable to be baptised until she moved into the Glen Burnie ward.  It is always so interesting to me to hear about how people were converted.  Sister Ruger had a friend in high school that she attended church with off and on, then didn’t go for years, but the experience she had at her friend’s ward stayed with her and she got her own testimony years later and is now baptised.  Having been raised in the church I have had to gain my own testimony over the years, but I can tell you without a doubt that I know that this is the true church and has been a guide and support for me and for my family.  It has helped us to raise our children up with good morals and values. I hope others can catch the vision and feel the peace and understanding that the Gospel brings.

At the baptism we met four Elders today.  Altogether we met six elders.  We hope to get to know them all personally before we leave the mission.  It is one of the most uplifting parts of our service.

Elder Henniger and Sister Bloomquist (just baptised)

Sister Ruger just baptised and Elders Barlow and Bryson

Elder Bryson, Brother Juan Manlapaz (the short one) just baptised.  The other brother in white is the one who baptised him.  The other brother in the white shirt and she is the Branch President. NOTE: A branch is a smaller version of a ward.  They don’t have quite enough members to be called a ward.