Elder and Sister Heninger: 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.