Spiritually Aware and Prepared

Saturday, June 28, 2014

We have had a busy and enjoyable week. In addition to our regular service at the Turn Around Point, we did three days of vehicle inspections with travel from Benson to Bisbee and Douglas. The missionaries are doing a good job keeping the Lord's vehicles in good shape considering they are almost all "teenager drivers." The church has some strict rules on the operation and maintenance of the vehicles, with regular inspections for maintenance, damage, and cleanliness. All in all they do a good job.

Today, we had the opportunity to attend a presentation by a man from Tucson on the Mormon Battalion. It was quite informative and very interesting. He was a 5th great grandson of one of the participants.

Presenter on the left dressed in Mormon battalion dress, the man on the right is a descendent of a Dragoon

They demonstrated their weapons for us as well

Man and weapon

Firing the muzzle loader weapons

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Today was a busy day for us. RoLayne and I were the speakers in Sacrament meeting. We spoke on missionary work, surprise, surprise. Following the meetings in the Huachuca Ward, we went on Post for the Service member meetings. We hold a one hour sacrament meeting followed by a 10 minute break and a 50 minute Priesthood/Relief Society combined meeting. We have recently received some new soldiers on post but have not seen them at church yet so our attendance was down today. I had the opportunity to teach Priesthood/Relief Society as well. It is nice to relax now for a little bit and type out a few thoughts for you. This next week will be interesting. Tomorrow, our new mission president and his wife arrive and the Killpacks head home. Wednesday, we will meet the new president in a multi-zone meeting in Benson. We are excited about that. I am sure  the young missionaries are excited and nervous. We will be inspecting all the missionary apartments in the zone this week in preparation for transfers next week, so, the work continues. We are still having fun!

I want to share a thought with you before closing this blog today. The Lord is hastening the work. Finding people to teach is a much different situation than it was when I served my "youth" mission. We spent day after day knocking on doors looking for people to teach. It was not very productive. With technology and the instant awareness of the church in so many ways publicized in both positive and negative light, it places a larger burden on each of us to be "spiritually aware". The Lord is preparing people to hear the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all his representatives. We have opportunities on a regular basis to share the gospel. If we are not spiritually aware, we will not recognize these opportunities. If we are not prepared, we may recognize the opportunity, but will miss it because it passed too quickly. We must be spiritually aware and prepared, only then can we be successful instruments in bringing souls unto Christ.

Here is a simple example of how this can work. About a month ago, we were having lunch with some other missionaries at a local buffet. A lady approached a senior missionary and asked him if he had a Book of Mormon she could have. He said, of course and gave her one. If he had not been prepared, it may have ended there. He simply asked, would you like to have the missionaries stop by and teach you? (Pretty bold, right?) Well, she said yes. I got her information and gave it to the sister missionaries in our complex as the lady lives in the sister missionaries ward. The last report that we have is that the missionaries continue to teach her and she has committed to baptism. That senior missionary was spiritually aware and prepared. Will you be spiritually aware and prepared the next time you have an opportunity?

Twice as Nice or Seeing Double?

Friday, June 20, 2014

Well, I am sorry but the highlight of this week was not a missionary experience, but it was a missionary blessing. Sister Heninger and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, June 17. We received a text Tuesday evening with news that our daughter Kimberlee had just delivered twin babies. At 2:17PM Dallin Grant Schoonmaker came into the world weighing 6 lbs 11 oz. Nine minutes later his sister Lily RoLayne Schoonmaker was born weigh 2 oz more than her brother. Mother and children are both doing well at this point and came home from the hospital yesterday. This was truly a great missionary  blessing for us. There have been too many to count, but we are truly excited and pleased. Sister Heninger is a bit lost at the moment thinking that she should be there to help, but we will get to see them before they are too old.

Dallin Grant and Lily RoLayne, What a blessing!

Twins with their siblings, Hyrum 6, Evaleen 4, and James 2

We feel so blessed with the safe arrival of these two little ones!

Although definitely the high point, it was not the only activity of the week for us. On Monday, I had  the  opportunity to play golf with 4 of our young missionaries. We had a good time together. This is not an activity they get to indulge in often.

Fort Huachuca golf course

The Zone Leaders played with us

One of the Elders tees off. Target golf, not much grass and even fewer trees

Wednesday we had our last Zone Conference with President and Sister Killpack. One of the fun traditions that the Killpacks have is that when a missionary goes home, Sister Killpack clips the tie of the Elders. The missionaries then have an opportunity to decorate the tie (Scarfs for the Sisters) and they are hung on a wall in the mission home. They brought and displayed all the ties and scarfs that they have collected since they came. They also asked all the missionaries remaining to decorate a tie or scarf and they are taking them all home with them. They plan to bring them to reunions in the future.

Missionary ties displayed

Sister Killpack cuts tie off one of our missionaries

Sister Missionaries decorated scarfs

Last photo opportunity with President and his wife

Sierra Vista Zone, June 18, 2014

They have been wonderful leaders and they will surely be missed. President Killpack told us that he will be released the moment President  Passey's flight lands in Tucson Monday, June 30. We will have our first zone conference with the new president on Wednesday, July 2. We certainly look forward to working with him. President Killpack gave us some good advice and told all missionaries that this is an opportunity to "reset" and make a fresh impression. The two presidents will only have about and hour or so to discuss affairs in the mission before the Killpacks depart.

Graduation times two

Saturday, June 14, 2014

This week was eventful, joyful, and sad all at the same time. We attended two graduations this week. The soldiers that we work with are mostly all attending Military Intelligence training, however, there are several different carrier fields that they pursue. For example, some are trained in the skills of interrogation. Their job is to interrogate enemy prisoners and get them to share information. Some are analysts, who review photographic intelligence and determine what that can tell us. Some are IT guys who work on the computers and maintain the applications that are used. We also have UAV pilot operators and maintainers. This week, two of the groups graduated and we had soldiers in both groups so we attended their graduations. In total, we lost 6 soldiers this week. It will be painful to our little group but we also received two new soldiers this week to replace them. We are having a challenge getting some of the new soldier out to church as the army is not making it easy for them to come.

Soldier from Hawaii who graduated Thursday

Soldier who graduated Thursday, with his sweetheart

Our four who graduated on Friday, we will miss them all

Yesterday, we drove one of our soldiers up to Tucson to catch a flight. It was Alice, the young lady that we baptized about a month ago. She is a real joy. I talked with  her bishop in Alabama this week and he has talked with Alice and I am sure they will welcome her with open arms. I am a little concerned because he mother was not supportive of her decision so I am hopeful that things will go well at home. She did tell me a couple of cute stories the other day. When she was in high school, there was only one girl that she knew was a member of the church. Apparently, at that time Alice was quite active in her church and during a discussion one day, Alice told this young lady, "you are wrong!" She said, I am going to have to look that girl up and apologize to her. Another thing she mentioned was that since she was baptized, her parents, who were having some marital problems have started trying to make things better between them. She seems encouraged. I remember her telling me when she first came that her parents were about to get a divorce. I asked her what kind of things are different for her now, since she was baptized. She said  that she feels  the holy spirit so strongly now when she prays. We can really learn a lot from these new tender spirits.

Last night was our Monthly Coffee house activity. The missionaries came and hung out. It was really interesting, a young man came up and started talking with them. They talked for several minutes and I went over and stood and listened for a couple of minutes. He was talking about the church in Prescott, AZ. I asked him if he was a member. He answered no, his family was but he was not. I asked if he was raised in the church. He said yes. I then left it to the missionaries. At the conclusion of their discussion, he told them that he might be interested in coming to institute. It is amazing how people are not intimidated at all to talk with the young missionaries. I could tell he was not anxious to talk with me. Am I intimidating? Apparently so, my children tell me that I intimidated all their friends. I told them sometimes that was my intent.

Next week we have our last Zone training with President and Sister Killpack. They have been a joy to work with and very inspiring. We will miss them, but look forward to meeting and working with President and Sister Passey, who are from Houston, TX. The Killpacks will be going back to Delta, Utah where President Killpack is a pharmacist.

Our dear mission president and his wife, only two more weeks!

I expect that next week we should be able to announce the birth of our twin grandchildren. Kimberlee is scheduled to go in Tuesday if she does not have them before then. We have been so blessed while on this mission. If you have not previously considered serving, I encourage you to reconsider. If you are planning to serve, do not delay. You are needed.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers and prospective fathers out there!

A record Month....Sierra Vista shines

We found out this week that for May the Arizona Tucson Mission was the top baptizing mission in Arizona. Our zone, the Sierra Vista zone, was the top baptizing zone in the mission. Our district was the top baptizing district in the zone. This is really amazing when you consider we had 8 baptisms in the zone in May which is the Sierra Vista Stake. Last year, they had 8 total baptisms for the year in the stake. We have had 16 so far this year and there are several baptisms scheduled for this month. We are really being blessed in this part of the vineyard.

In addition to our normal Tuesday shift at the Turn-Around-Point, we spent the better part of Saturday morning cleaning, scrubbing floors, shelves, walls, and anything else that was dirty. We also did some organizing by moving containers of winter clothing into storage and pulling the summer containers out. It was really hard work for someone as soft as me. RoLayne seemed to fair better. The last few weeks have been so busy, we have not had time to clean or organize things when the shop is open. With school now out, many of the servicemen are being transferred, so they have to unload a lot of stuff. Our donations go way up  this  time of year. It has been a bit overwhelming at times. This was a good opportunity to catch up. The shop is open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays from 9:00am-12:00pm.

Today, the stake presidency attended our ward and released Brother Price from the Bishopric. Brother Matt Pettijohn was sustained as the 1st counselor. Brother Price and his family are moving to Fort Knox, Kentucky. Brother Price was the Battalion Commander of the 304th MIB. They are a wonderful family and will be missed in the ward. Sister Price grew up in East Germany. She taught gospel doctrine and had some very interesting stories. For some of you old timers in the Fairway Village Ward, Sister Nicki Pettijohn, who is the wife of the new counselor, is the sister of Teri Johnson who used to live in the ward. Small world! When we first met the Pettijohns, Sister Pettijohn thought our name sounded familiar. She then remembered meeting our daughter Lisa, when she used to babysit for Jeff and Teri. Strange!

As you can tell by my rambling, this has not been a newsy week. We have a number of new soldiers who have not been attending our meetings so I decided to go on the offensive. I put on my old military officer's hat and contacted some of the active soldiers and gave them an assignment (order) to hunt down these new soldiers and bring them to church. Today, we had two new soldiers attend which was a good start. Unfortunately for us, we are losing four of our active soldiers this week when they graduate on Friday. One of them is our convert sister. We will really miss her....and the others as well. There is just something special about these young female soldiers.

I have added a few photos below, enjoy.

New soldier from Rainier, Oregon

Two new Soldiers, from West Jordon, UT and Roseville, CA

This is the golf course that I play, when I get to play golf. A bit different than Fairway Village

A view of the Fort Huachuca Post in the distance from the golf course

Another golf course photo with the mountains in the background. Mexico is just beyond the range you see

Moving On

Saturday, May 31, 2014

It is really hard to believe that the month of May is gone. Life just keeps moving on, whether we do or not. We had a fairly quiet week this week. We have stake conference this weekend, so we will not have services on Post with the soldiers. There are only a handful who are able to leave Post to attend conference so we will be meeting on Post to have a luncheon in order to see the soldiers. During the past couple of weeks, we have had about 10 new soldiers arrive. To date, we have only seen a couple of them at any activities. Last Sunday I was able to reach several of them by phone and talk with them. I believe the single biggest reason that most do not come is that is that it is difficult to find a battle buddy to come with them. Some of them give up before they even try, but some of the females have a real challenge because of their small numbers. They have to be relentless in order to attend regularly. It really challenges their faithfulness.

Josephine, secretary to senior chaplain presents a gift to chaplain Godfrey and his wife

Chaplain shares a few words with the group

This week we attended a luncheon for the senior chaplain on Post. He has received a new assignment in Washington D. C. I think he is on the fast track upward as he only spent 18 months here. It was a nice recognition for him and he has been a good support for us.

This week was also transfers for the young missionaries. Our zone had some major changes. Unfortunately, we have not had  a chance to meet the new missionaries because the chaplain's luncheon was the same time as our district meeting.

It is really starting to get warm,  we pushed 100 degrees a couple of times this week and expect to be in the high 90s for the next week. We are still significantly below Tucson and Phoenix as they both have been well over a 100 for the past few weeks. The wind seems to be letting up some as it heats up.

We recently received some great news from our family. Amy and Christian are expecting their first child in November. That makes three new grandchildren on the way. We certainly have been richly blessed while serving.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Well, a new month is on us and it has started off well. Although we did not have services on Post because of Stake Conference, we did have a luncheon and opportunity to chat. I also had the opportunity to ordain one of our soldiers to the office of Elder. He is the soldier who introduced Alice, the soldier we baptized last month, to the gospel when they first got here. He is a convert of a few years, but has recently become very active and desirous to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and take his wife and children to the temple. Below is a picture of him.

Newest Elder at Fort Huachuca