Sunday – Inner Harbor Ward

Well, we drove down our first ‘blue light’ district in Baltimore this morning on our way to church.  Yep, it was scary.  For those of you who don’t know what a blue light district is, on the light post (I’ll try to get a picture of one next week) the police have installed a blue light which blinks continually.   This lets people know that this area is very, very dangerous and you don’t want to be stalled in your car, or walking in that area. And when you drive through one of those areas at night – well, DON’T.   Last week when Elder Boehrer got lost going to church, he walked in a blue light area.  He told me that today. . ..  Yeah, I am sure Heavenly Father was with him, or sent someone to be with him because he didn’t get bothered or anything, except one guy called out to him and said “Hey, mister, haven’t seen you in a while”.  That’s when Elder Boehrer turned around and got back in the car.  Oh my.

We got lost this week. Not as bad as Elder Boehrer did last week.  He was 55 minutes late, we were only 5 minutes late.  The streets are confusing because there are a lot of u-turns and side streets and one way streets.  And, since it’s Sunday, it doesn’t matter that there are two lanes, because if you drive by a church, if the congregation wants to park, they park in either the right or the left lane, whichever is closest to their building.  On a one-way street, they were parked two by two – next to each other.  It was a trip!

I have taken pictures of the building.  I found out today we are the only family ward in the city of Baltimore.  Note:  There are family wards, deaf wards, Spanish wards and single wards.  Single wards are for the young adult brothers and sisters 18 to 30 years of age.  NOTE:  We call each other brothers and sisters because in the pre-existence we were all brothers and sisters.  The city of Baltimore has 500,000 people and has one family ward and one single ward.   For that reason our Relief Society, Priesthood, Primary and Sunday meetings are very full with members.  Also, that is the reason our ward is so diverse.  We have members who come from very poor backgrounds and little education, to members who work at the University and who have been accepted to Yale.  It makes for a nice mixture.  

Our building is a converted Federal building.  I have included some pictures.  The front looks like a government building but the inside is beautiful.  That is the way our church does things.  Nothing is unkempt or in lack of paint, etc.  It is clean and light inside and makes you feel like you are at an LDS (Latter Day Saint) ward.

I sat next to a young black Mom who had the CUTEST baby girl.  Oh my gosh, I have to bring that baby something.  She is such a cutie and I am sure the young mom would appreciate whatever comes her way.  We took a single Mom home today.  She told us she lived a couple of blocks from the church building.  Well, a couple of blocks turned out to be seven miles. This sister lived about two turns away from the building, but it was a twenty minute ride.  That is how it is in Baltimore.  Nothing is close – nothing.  Glad to help her out, but we’ll be sure to know how far we are going next time.  By the time we dropped her off we were almost back to our apartment and we had to go back to another meeting at the church building.

P.S.  It is getting hot around here.  Hot and humid.  I think it is going to affect me more than Elder Boehrer.  Last night I was sitting on the couch with summer clothes on, the fan blasting away and was perfectly comfortable. Then Elder Boehrer walks in wearing a bathrobe and slippers.  Hummmmmmmmmmmm

    The Front of the Building

       

Chapel

      

Foyer                                                Relief Society Room

     

Parking Lot

    

‘Row’ Houses

    

Street view as we drive