Sunday, August 31, 2014, Baptism in Plymouth and P-day in Portsmouth, NH

We have been missionaries for two months!  Our two month mark was yesterday, August 30th.  We have truly been blessed to have this wonderful opportunity.

We feel like this is where we were meant to be, although yesterday, we went to a baptism in Plymouth and the man was baptized in the ocean!  We kind of wish we could be in that branch.  It was an incredible experience!  Branches are special, but we know we are supposed to be in the Cambridge 1st Ward!
 

Chris' baptism at Gray's Beach, Plymouth MA

 Just a little tidbit that most people don't know about my own baptism.  I was baptized in a pond at the Franklin Rod and Gun Club in Franklin, Massachusetts, about an hour away from here.  We were living in Franklin, Mass. at the time and my dad was the Branch President of the Foxboro Branch.  There wasn't a baptismal font in our building, in fact, I don't think we were meeting in a church at all at the time, but in a building in town.  It was a chilly June morning and my dad and I waded out into the pond with our family and friends on the shore and I was baptized by immersion.  The water was chilly wading in, but I felt nothing but warmth when I was being baptized.  It was such a wonderful memory of peace and comfort in making this decision to follow in the footsteps of my Savior by being baptized.

Uncas Pond, Franklin Rod and Gun Club, Franklin, MA

 We had another fantastic week.  The time on our mission is running by us like a fast-moving train!  We experienced many miracles this week and felt the guidance of our Heavenly Father each day as we endeavored to serve Him by serving His children here in this part of the world.

We have been blessed to cheer up the sad, visit the sick, teach investigators a better way of life by teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ, teach a class on strengthening marriage, serve in the temple, make green jello for a ward activity and see some more local sights!

Here's a glimpse into our busy week:

We actually took our preparation day (p-day) on Wednesday this week and took a little side trip to Portsmouth, NH, which is about an hour north along the small Atlantic coastline of New Hampshire.  We went to Strawberry Banke, which is a little colonial village located next to the sea.  It was quaint and lovely, but it was 90 degrees and very humid and we were all four just a little too warm to thoroughly enjoy it.  It was one of the few truly hot summer days that we have had since we have been here.  Portsmouth was voted the prettiest little city in the U.S. or was it New England?  Anyway, it is a very charming place and we loved it!

Fairy houses in the garden!

Trying to cool off in the shade of this beautiful arbor!

Strawberry Banke Colonial Village

Prescott Park

Look who I found sleeping in one of the "flower beds."

Portsmouth Tugboats

We are ever on the quest for the best ice cream in New England!  Thought we found it at Annabelle's.

Annabelle's version of Rocky Road, Maine's Rocky Coast! It was so good we had some before dinner and then some more after dinner!

New Castle Park and Beach

Our traveling buddies!

Another Beautiful Lighthouse

After exploring Strawberry Banke and visiting the seashore for a little while, we met up with one of Nancy's friends from Franklin High School, Ruth Ramsey Engel, and her husband, Pete, at a wonderful little restaurant called, Jumpin J's.  We all had seafood in some form and it was all very delicious.  Unfortunately, we were all too busy enjoying our food and conversation that we failed to take a single picture!  It's always a lot of fun to get together and reminisce about old times with old friends.

One of the miracles of our week was being protected during our drive back to Boston.  It was super hot all day and then on our drive home, it started pouring down rain!  It rained the whole way back and the roads were very crowded and dark and not well marked.  It was very scary!  Mike did a great job driving and we felt the hand of God in getting us back safely.

One of the bad things about being here is the traffic and the roads!  We will be lucky to come home with shocks and tires on our car!!

For our district meeting this week, the sister leader trainers planned this fun activity where the district leaders were tied to their companion and they had to go through obstacles and temptations to make it to the Celestial Kingdom on the other side of the gym.  It was hilarious!
 

Sisters Ng, Hung, Fernando, Roy and Scott!

Elder Santiago and Elder Welker on the Left and Elder Worthington and Elder Benedict on the Right.

Life is full of obstacles!  We have to work hard to stay on the right path that will lead us back to God!

Fighting their way through adversity!

Elder Moore trying to keep them out of heaven!

Sisters White, Williamson, and Bailey

 As I mentioned at the start of this post, we attended a baptism on Saturday in Plymouth for one of Sister Roy's investigators, Chris.  She and Sister Harris found him and taught him and then they were both transferred out of the area before he was baptized.  They were both able to go back for his special day and we were so happy that we got to take her and Sister Scott to it!  It was a wonderful day.

Not a usual sight!  On his way to the beach to witness a baptism!  The Plymouth Branch is held in this old remodeled shopping center.  It was a unique experience all around!

Gray's Beach, perfect day and location for a baptism!

Sister Roy, Chris, and Sister Harris

 After the baptism and eating cookies and brownies in the park adjacent to the beach, we took a few minutes to drive down the road a couple of miles to see Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower.  Massachusetts is a wonderful place to be if you love American history!

We loved this quote on the plaque by the Rock.  We should all be founded on the rock of our Redeemer just as our nation was so many years ago!

The Plymouth Rock Monument.

Sister Roy, Sister Scott, and the Mayflower!

A cute Bed and Breakfast in Plymouth.

Ok, so we thought we found the best ice cream in the world in Portsmouth, NH on Wednesday.  Clearly not!  This was probably the best ice cream I have ever had.  It was their Milky Way flavor.  Chocolate ice cream with caramel and chocolate chunks and pieces of milky way candy.  Oh my!  I think Elder Moore is sad that his is gone!

William Bradford, Governor and Historian of the Plymouth Colony

 We got back to Cambridge around 7 pm, grabbed a quick bite to eat at our apartment and headed to the church to do some church service.  When we got there, the Spanish Ward was having a ward activity, a dance!!  We were so excited and they invited us in to join them.  We stayed for a couple of songs and had a blast!

In our building, we have two English speaking wards, a Spanish ward, a Portuguese ward, a Haitian/Creole group, and a Chinese group~it's awesome!

 Today for our third hour, we had a group present some Cambridge church history.  We all gathered in the cultural hall and listened as they shared experiences from the past.  It was done by a group of ward members who have been meeting during Sunday School for the past several months to put together this history.  It was well done and well received!  The Chinese group joined us and after the presentation, we had a Linger Longer (a potluck dinner).  We had authentic, homemade Boston Baked Beans and lots of salads representing ward dinners from the past.  I brought lime jello salad! 

Sister Hung, Janice McAskill, and Sister Ng

Elder Chang and Elder Cheng

Elder Moore, Emily and Oliver Raymond

This cookbook was put together by the Boston Stake Relief Society sisters in 1966.  I think my mom had this cookbook.  I looked for some of her recipes in it, but couldn't find her name.  I did see a couple of names I recognized from the Foxboro Branch, including Renae White!

Boston Baked Beans

Color coordinated ladies!  Sister Ng, Sister Moore, Sister Thimmig, and Odessa!

A couple of other tidbits from our week:

We enjoyed being in the temple as always on Thursday.  We are learning so much there and really love the peace we feel.  It feels like being in Heaven for about seven hours!

I did the ALS ice bucket challenge on Wednesday morning.  We asked the cafe owner below our apartment for a bucket, some ice and water and also if he would film it and he said, "yes, but you can't nominate me because I have already been nominated!"  It's amazing how many people have been involved in this!

We taught a class today in the Revere 2nd Ward to their combined Relief Society and Priesthood meeting on Strengthening Marriage.  It was a preview to a six-week workshop that we are starting under the invitation of the stake president next week.  We talked about building blocks to a great marriage and started with Christ as the foundation and Balance as the top.  It went really well and we are excited to teach the workshop.  We had several couples sign up so we are on our way!

At the end of our presentation, we asked what happens when we take Christ out of our marriages and then we pulled the block out and the whole tower tumbled.  Nice analogy...

We ended with this quote from one of our Prophets, President Gordon B. Hinckley, "I am satisfied that happiness in marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one's companion.  Any man who will make his wife's comfort his first concern and any woman who will make her husband's comfort her first concern will stay in love throughout their lives and through the eternity yet to come."

One last thing....As we were driving down the road one day, we were kind of lost and frustrated and Mike was trying to read signs and he read one out loud on a restaurant, he said, "Look!  Authentic Italian Sushi!"  It was actually Authentic Italian Slush!  Haha.  I still laugh when I think about delicious authentic Italian sushi!!  I think we should go get some!

It was another great week in the mission!  Love to you all!  Go out and make every day count!  XO