Thanksgiving Holiday

During the week of Thanksgiving Sister Woodbury's daughter Lori and family came to spend the holidays at our apartment in Lawton. It was a wonderful time to enjoy each others company and for them to see the sights of this area of Oklahoma.

The children, all 6 of them, enjoyed visiting the Prairie Dog village in the park by the McMahon Auditorium and Museum grounds. They also accompanied us to the Graduation ceremony at the McMahon on the 26th of November.

The whole family accompanied us as we drove to the Wichita Reserve and took the hike up Elk Mountain, we were surprised to see a Bison next to the trail on the steep mountain side.

The walk up was too much for Sis Woodbury and her daughter so they hung out after climbing one-third of the way to the top. The rest of the group including Elder Woodbury made the entire trip to the summit and then came back to the trail head where the ladies were waiting for them.

The accomodations for sleeping were a little hap-hazard as with only one bedroom, the floor was the best option for the children to share. Thankfully we had borrowed a full size blowup bed for Lori and her husband Brian to sleep on, as well as the baby Aaron.

Oh what fun, at our mission apartment when night time arrived. We had to be careful in walking around and through a maze of bodies in various positions on the living room floor. So much for Sleep-walking, NOT!!!!!

Of course visiting with grandma wouldn't be complete unless the girls made cookies to share with everyone.

Here is a picture of Rachel and Aaron helping out in the kitchen, the cookies were delicious, just ask the boys, the 4 dozen went quickly.

The cookies were good enough for an improvised picnic on our back patio, who knew it was good for more than hanging up our laundry. Rachel, Celeste, and Aaron enjoyed sitting out in the sunshine and having the last of the cookies, what fun??????

Pumpkin pies were baked, with help from Aaron they got a little too browned, he likes to turn knobs, and turned the oven to broil during the pie baking process. Grandpa was in his glory, eating all the burnt crusts, maybe it is a cure for lack of head-toppiing, you know what they say, that charcoal grows hair, or something like that!!!!!

Just a sweet little fellow, as you can see, but he is almost two years old and he likes to get into trouble just the same. Or it may be curiousity, he wants a lot of attention as we found out. His siblings would be playing a board game and he would do his best to get involved even if it meant taking some of the game pieces and running off with them.

To keep him occupied one evening we gave him the unopened individual salt and pepper shakers that were in the supply cabinet. He enjoyed stacking them up and then knocking them over, as long as we were watching him. When our attention wandered to other things, he would attempt to throw them around, at people and things. He does have a good throwing arm, come to think of it!!!!!

All in all the visit from family was a success, we enjoyed having everyone with us for the Thanksgiving holiday. Along with turkey, ham and all the trimmings we were vey satisfied and our tummies were filled as well as our spirits with the joy of families.

We now look forward to the Christmas Holidays and all that it brings to us in the celebration of our Saviors birth.

Laundry Day at the Woodbury's

It may seem funny to post a Laundry Day to our blog, but you have to realize we have been very deprived for two months or more of having to take the launry to a laundromat. I know this is not a deprivation, but a privilege of actually having clothes to wear that get dirty and all of that, essentially providing the services of laundering to make a little money from our filty clothes. However, this is not the case at this time, we now have a functioning washing machine and a non-functioning dryer(electric, that is). We have decided that the dryer will get hooked up in due time, when the weather turns into winter, whenever that may be.

The weather is quite nice for November, the evenings are cool to cold, but the sunshine during the day makes up for it. We have had very little rain and expect it will come soon, they say fall and winter are the rainy season, we will see.

I took some pictures of the trees here in Lawton and below is one of them, we took this one when we were running around in our van trying to find a hookup for our used dryer. The plug does not fit the wall socket, we bought a replacement plug but being novice electricians are unsure if we should attempt to change it over. In the mean time we are resorting to using our back patio. Oh didn't I tell anyone about our patio.

Off of our kitchen / dinette area is a door leading outside to the patio, which is a cemeted area the size of a small entry way. It is paved with cement and surrounded by a 7 ft wooden fence. I don't know if it is to keep us in or the neighbors from looking over to see what we are doing, they have the same size patio. We have a gate entry from the sidewalk running around the back to the other apartment, the gate is so we can take trash out instead of hauling it through the house.

Getting back to the laundry, we decided since it is so warm in the daytime, we can hang up our small amount of laundry on a weekly basis and thus save any costs of drying. This is starting to be a routine for me, washing and hanging out the clothes, then folding them and putting them away. Of course this means I do have to iron white shirts, they do wrinkle if you hang them up. The dry cleaning is easy, we have a cleaner pick up right close to our home, so suits and dresses are done on a monthly basis or as needed.

Oh, by the way, we thought you would enjoy the following picture. We have experienced several changes in the gas prices since coming to Oklahoma, but we know that anyone still paying high prices may not appreciate this one.

The price is now down to 1.97 at this store which is just up the street from our apartment.

By golly I think we have that problem solved, now where can I improve next?

November 2nd Outdoor Baptism

We have been having great success here at Ft. Sill with many non-members coming to our Church services on Sundays. We are located in the training area in the bottom floor classrooms of one of the barracks. Our attendance is usually anywhere from 75 to 80 members and 15to 20 non-members in any given week.

We have had several baptisms since our arrival as we mentioned in our earlier posts to this blog, but on the 2nd we had a special experience, our first outdoor baptism. The font we usually use has been leaking and now is under major overhauling, so we put off doing any baptisms. This would not do for one of our most recent investigators and he desired after waiting for several weeks to have the service performed out of doors if necessary.

Luckily there was a quiet and secluded place found within walking distance of the barracks and training area, only a mile and half walk down the road. Even though it was on the road, there is rarely any traffic since it is on Post and only military personnel use it on weekdays.

Below is a picture of the setting we were in for the Baptism, it reminded us of how the early Church members must have felt while performing the same ordinances in the beginning when the fonts were not built yet.

This picture was on the opposite side of the road from where we actually had the immersion of the convert.

The water was almost waist high just a few feet from the bridge abutments on the side of the creek.

There was some r-bar sticking out of the cement, but the surface of the creek bed was solid and provided good footing for the new member and his battle buddy.

The service went well and the water was cold, the spirit we all felt was very strong and wonderful. We know that the setting was unusual, but it felt so right, being there in the wonder of nature with only our little group and the Lord. We will never forget that feeling of peace.

Who knows we may have to do more outdoor baptisms if the font doesn't get fixed in the near future, we have about 8 or 9 more investigators who are ready to commit to moving forward waiting in the wings.

The last picture is of the same outdoor service with the missionaries and the new convert with his battle buddy who baptised him. This was taken just before they entered the water, and performed the ordinance. As you can see it was very warm weather for November at this time.

We are enjoying the Lord's work in this part of his vineyard, and pray that we can continue to have the success we have been experiencing. Watch for updates on a weekly basis to our blog, and register as a follower so we know someone is following our mission.

My Dad William Evans Woodbury

Tomorrow, November 8 is a day that makes me think of my dad. He lived 77 years 3 months and 28 days and tomorrow I will have lived 77 years 3 months and 28 days. It is strange that I have thought about whether I would live longer than he did. We are the next generation and our kids will be the next generation and they will live longer than we do if things go the way it has for the last 100 years. Except for my brother Garth who died at an early age of a year and a half of a childhood sickness, all of Dads kids lived longer than he did and I am the last to reach his age. His children lived long lives, Ione to 95, Evans to about 88, Errol over 80 Rulan even though paralyzed the last 10 years from an accident over 80 and MaryLynn is still alive at 82 so it is not surprising to me to be where I am.

Below is a picture taken in 1948 or 49 of the High Priest Group on a picnic in Huricane, Mom and Dad are in the 1st and second row toward the middle, she has a floral print dress on, and Dad is in front of her with suspenders and no tie, he is holding a cob of corn.

Dad and Mother had a tough life in the early 1900s, Mother was a stay at home mother and Dad would never have considered her working out of the home. I knew as I grew up that when I got home from school she would be there, usually with something good cooking, bread, pies, cakes, donuts and other goodies. Dad taught school for 25 years then when Franklin Roosevelt and the Democrats came into power the spoil system gave him the job of Postmaster in our little town of Hurricane, Utah which he did for about 30 more years before retiring when he turned 70 years old. Life and inflation have changed things. The last year he was Postmaster he earned almost $6000 and although not much looking at the world today, it bought a lot in those days and they were very comfortable, not rich but comfortable.

I grew up as an only child after MaryLynn married and moved to Santa Clara. The older kids always said I was spoiled but of course that is not true.

Dad and Mother had many friends and I enjoyed when they would have someone over to play Rook and they would let me play a hand or two with them.

During my Junior and Senior years at Hurricane High School, Wayne Hinton was elected to the Utah State legislator and Dad taught his math and science classes while he was in Salt Lake City.

Dad was really a great teacher. In my tenth grade we had an algebra teacher that did not know what he was doing and Dad would teach me at home and then I would teach the other kids. If we had not had that connection I think most of us would not have learned algebra. Many of the kids that took classes that he taught said they learned more from him than the regular teachers.

I just got an email from Victor Hall, who grew up next door to us and was my really close buddy, even though he was 4 years older than me. Victor moved back to his old homestead in Hurricane after he retired as a teacher and principal in Las Vegas area and we stop and remember old times. In the email which I will quote you can see what my Dad meant to people, gruff when postmaster but soft and gentle in life.

Victors email which exemplifies all that I loved about Dad.

"Your parents were certainly exemplary people, a fact I took for granted all my early years.
Will had a sharp manner of speaking and a lot of kids were afraid of him. Clark Campbell, for example told me he always hated to have to ask help concerning mail etc. Leon really liked him as a teacher. The fact that my own knowledge of him was gained there at your house where he always seemed mellow took precedence over everything else. Once when quite young I overheard him tell somebody, "Of course we have playing cards in the home. My children and their friends are here playing where we can watch over them." "Now that's the way to think about things" I thought to myself. My only complaint was just when we had a street game going great he would decide Marylyn had knocked the boys around long enough and would call her in. She would be sorely missed. You may already know this story; Sometime in later life, he bought the home across the street where Leon Isom had lived probably so he could control who could live there. Later he sold it to Glenn Stratton, as Glenn had finally decided he wouldn't be sullying the family name by moving into the South Ward. When Strattons get ready to make a move, they MOVE! Your Dad left for the Temple on morning and the old shack was there as usual but when he returned, the old house was gone, a basement had been dug and footings etc had been prepared. It was just more than Will's old brain could process. He sought out poor Glenn and unloaded mercilessly for what seemed at least an hour. Well, Glenn somehow made it through the night in spite of all his guilt and remorse feelings. Of course your dad was there the next morning apologizing profusely and expressing deep chagrin that the sudden change had affected him so. I'm at the age where I can easily emphasize with your father. I'm well aware of somewhat similar but less dramatic events in my own life."

Old friends visit pre mission

We were in Cedar city visiting our daughter Denise and I called Wilbur Jennings in Hurricane and visited , reminising about old times and Wilbur was good enough to suggest a little social get together and talk about old times.

We were overjoyed to have him make this suggestion because I had not seen many of our old HHS classmates for years and Joyce had never met them and was desirous to know who I talk about. After several emails by Wilbur it was settled that we would get together at their home in Hurricane on Saturday the 9th of August just after we left the MTC in Provo.

We had a glorious visit at least in our eyes. We had a great meal and talked for a couple of hours about the many escapades we had during our high school days and times at BYU where Wilbur, Ken, Don and I lived together at various times. .

It was so much fun talking about our track meets on Sunday afternoon with Norman, Thell, Norman B, Jack S, Larry R and others. Norman you always had a knack of wanting more explanation and thinking deeply about things. Of course we all loved your Dad as most of us had him as a teacher in 5th grade. I remember him asking me to draw a big map of South America and having it to scale, I think that one thing made me a better person and have more self worth. Colleen, we hope we can get together and get to know you better.

Then breaking down the fence with Ruby and her trying to steal my teeth. Wilbur trying to get me in a chess game but after a few times I was too smart to try to compete with him in a thinking game. We still do not know what happened to Elena our Spanish teacher, she was a beautiful Spaniard from Argentina and we were all smitten by her.

As to Ken, we served in the AF OSI together but never together. Virginia we hope we can get to know you better. As Ken and I grew up together about 1 1/2 blocks apart, I remember the many Rubber Gun battles we had as kids and then living on Cedar Avenue, with a Floridian and a Wisconsinite with us Utah kids was fun.

The great times Donald and I had playing tennis in the state meet. We never did get the money back from the telephone bill run up by a renegade roommate from Barstow California. Actually Don, I went to see him when I first entered the Air Force and he would not even do anything face to face. When Donald left BYU to go to Dixie, supposedly to play basketball but we knew there was a pull by the name of Joyce that we recognized.

Who could ever forget that rascal Glade and his antics that could make you laugh even if you were sad. Can't you see that in this picture. He looks like the cat that got the canary and you wonder what he is planning as a surprise. Laurelle, you have a great catch in that guy. After High School when I came back to Hurricane I could always get together with Bunney, Ruby and have a good time.

I had long talks with Nellie and Luzon the next day and wish they could have been with us. Tried to call Lorene but not home so left a message. Missed Kent and would like to have seen him, been almost 10 years since our 50th reunion from HHS and we will still be on our mission when #60 comes next year. Problem is that each year it seems we lose some of us.

My Nephew Ray was able to be there for a while but Carol was not feeling well and we missed her.

Ahh, the Golden Years, what memories!!!!s

Servicemen's Linger Longer Social October 19, 2008

Here Joyce is on one of her baking days, making more cookies. This week only 18 dozen were in the oven, then in the frig. Very tempting to two dieting Senior Missionaries, but we persevered and kept the extra temptations at bay, sort of.

Well, the day has finally come, time for the cookies and milk. Why? you may ask.

Number one it is now traditional with our group here at Ft. Sill, and we do need some traditions, right? This is a wonderful one, the soldiers who are in basic training are not allowed off base and have very little free time to "squander". They are virtually under the nose of their Drill Sargeant, and on Sunday if they are attending Church they have only their battle buddies and of course our leadership to supervise their actions.

The basic trainees are young (and not so young) men who have determined to spend time serving our country in these difficult times. Like any young man they would probably enjoy doing other things than the rigorous training that the Army puts them through, but after the 9 weeks are over they can truely say "I am an American Soldier".(see our last post on graduation if you missed this event, it is precious).

One of the things we enjoy doing to help with morale is the social hour (actually it is only one-half hour). We provide refreshments in the form of Cookies and milk, and time to just be themselves. Take a peek at the following video and see what I mean.

Elder Woodbury pouring milk at the Cookie table

The effort of providing over 35 dozen cookies and 6 gallons of milk was one of the larger tasks we have had to do so far on our mission. It all comes down to delegation, the sweet sisters of two wards are to be congratulated for their service and help. A BIG THANKYOU goes out to all who had a part in making this possible.

We so enjoy our service here in this part of the Lord's vineyard, we are keeping busy with teaching the Institute class on Wednesday evenings and even though the class is sparce at present we know it will grow. We are becoming more acquainted with our surroundings and they are so interesting, in Lawton there is a park near the Museum and it is inhabited by many family groups of Prairie Dogs. A very interesting walking area is paved and meanders through their village. When you approach one of their burrows the dominant adult will sit halfway out and signal a warning to all in the area that there is a danger present. It is just fascinating to watch the young ones scurrying to get down the entrance of the burrow with the adult still in the opening.

Graduation Day from Basic Training

A typical friday for us at the Sheridan Theater here at the post, friends and family are lined up waiting to enter the building for the one hour ceremony. The servicemen are already in place in the center rows and being briefed on how the ceremony is to be conducted. Even though the services take only one hour they cover all the procedures needed to advance and recognize the accomplishments of these new American Soldiers. The Army Creed is repeated in unison by the men and they are sworn into the allegience as new graduates of the Basic training course for their specific Platoon and Battery. A beautiful morning for a Graduation.

Video of Soldier Creed being recited.

Below is a picture of our Sunday meeting with our servicemen's group, the block is over and it is time for dismissal at this point. We usually have about 70 active members and they bring their battle buddies along for the meetings. This is about the only time they get to be unsupervised by their Drill Sargents. On the right you see our wonderful clerks who just graduated this past Friday and are probably home in Gunnison, Utah at this very moment. They are members of the National Guard and just finished basic together. They are cousins and have been very helpful in keeping the records and setting up for us at the meetings. We will miss them both and wish them well and God speed.

Of course all good things must come to an end, the same is true of Graduation Day, here is the footage of the last fairwell.

Woodbury Mission 2008-2010 Ft. Sill OK

Here we are getting our pictures taken at the Missionary Training Center, smile pretty!

Well we made it, finally arrived at the MTC for our two weeks of training and preparation for our Mission call to Ft. Sill Army Post in Lawton, OK.

Church headquarters, 20th floor. Briefing for Military Relations.

We were very surprised to get our call to an Army Post as Elder Woodbury is retired from the Air Force, but the powers that be explained, "it is as it should be". Most military relations couples were sent to assignments at a military base or post unrelated to their branch of service.

We were also surprised and somewhat deflated when we received our call to Oklahoma instead of to Japan, which was uppermost in our thoughts. We will have to practice the Japanese language on some unsuspecting Oklahoman's instead. We will need to think for ways to incorporate the linguistics of both venaculars at the proper moment in order to pull it off.

While in the MTC we met a lot of wonderful Elders and Sisters just like us, senior missionaries with time to serve the Lord in whatever capacity required. Here is a picture of us and the Otteson's from Wisconsin, just before we went into the temple for a live session. We were in Salt Lake City for a half-day training in Military Relations after we left the MTC

Here is our group at the MTC, all senior missionaries going to various places throughout the world.

We have not been very good at communication and we will try to do better!!!!After all the trouble with the Dentist in getting my crowns done we finally got to the MTC in Provo and had a marvelous time there meeting new friends from all over the states and going to places all over the world-2 couples went toMongolia..

We were there 10 days and then had a half day on the 20th floor of the church office building in SLC on Friday meeting with the Military Relations people. This helped us to come to grips with the fact that we were not going to Japan like we expected. That afternoon went to the Salt Lake temple for a live session and then to the Manti temple for a live session- the only temples that have live sessions.

We then went back to finish up the crowns in Sacramento and headed to Oklahoma by way of temples at Monticello, Ut and Albuquerque, NM arriving in Oklahoma City on Saturday Aug 9th late and stayed at a seedy hotel on I-40 went to church and met Pres. Gee of the Ok City Mission and stayed the night with them in the Mission Home. Pres Gee was shocked that we brought Ginger with us as is everybody that sees her.

On Monday we drove the 70 miles SW to Lawton and started looking for a home. Thought we might buy a home but decided we would not.The Real Estate lady that was helping us look had a house that a woman said we could live in while looking. This was a 3800 SF home with 2 1/2 acres and a swimming pool-water was drained. The house had a Jacuzzi, sauna and all the conveniences including very nice furniture and kitchen appliances and was a great place to live while looking.

The woman moved here from Illinois to start a home for abused women and a month after she moved her husband of 34 years said he could not stand her 'goody goody' ways and left her. He went back to Illinois and moved in with his girl friend who then tried to take her place as grandmother to her grand kids. So she went back to protect her interests. She has the house up for sale for $299,000 and cannot sell it. It would be a million in Sacramento and probably 2 million in the bay or LA or SD.

We finally found a 2 BR apartment just outside the Post and got a bunch of furniture from the mission office and bought a few used items and we are very comfortable with no lawns to mow or yards to keep up. Takes us about 15 minutes to go on post and to the training side of the base where we hold our meetings. Our address is:

Elder & Sister Woodbury
906 NE Tortoise Drive Apt 1

Lawton, Ok 73507

Local Phone: 580-351-9064

Our snug little kitchen, has all the appliances included, and an attached eating area, too boot. Below is our office, which consists of only 1 working laptop at present, but we have 2 printers besides our Kodak easy share printer. We are still waiting for the technical supprt to bring out the additional supplies to hook up the PC for Elder Woodbury. Our weekly reports are usually done on Sunday afternoons and Mondays, they are due in Salt Lake City on Tuesdays.

Our living room is very spacious measuring 15 x 17 feet which is just right , we have 2 couches and an easy chair along with 3 occasional tables. So far we do not have any lamps, just the overhead light you can see on this picture. Oh, and yes we do have a TV and it is hooked up to Direct TV, but no local channels are available in our area. Very little to watch, but we do get the BYU programing.

Our bedroom is a spacious 15 x15 and as you can see includes a nice closet for clothes and storage. We also have two chairs and a small occasional table in front of the window by the dresser, but not in this camera view.

We are getting into the swing of things here. Tom Brox is the Group Leader on the Post and we are the assistants to run the block meetings on Sunday. This is for young men going through Basic and advanced training before joining operational units, so they are only here for 9 weeks basic and then if they are Artillery will stay an additional 3 to 4 weeks extra training in artillery. If they are other than artillery they will go elsewhere.

During those 9 weeks they can hardly leave their drill Sgts side and have only a three hour time on Sunday they can go to church services. If they do not go to church they will have other duties so its a way for them to get some relief. As a result many friends, not members will come with them .

In the 5 weeks we have been here we have had 5 baptisms of these friends. The Assistants to the Mission President come down from Ok City and teach lessons usually bringing two others but there is shortage in the mission and Joyce is going to be teaching some of the lessons. We learned the missionary lessons at the MTC so we should be able to handle. Will depend on how many nonmembers are in attendance.

As part of our duties we attend the graduation ceremonies for each battery whether we have members graduating or not. Most of the time they are held on Friday. We attended our first two a week (22 Sep) ago and then two more yesterday (29 Sep). There are usually about 350 new soldiers in each battery and they make a big thing of it.

Even though the ceremonies are all about the same it makes us proud to see some patriotism instead of the junk we see outside. The men all look alike with their almost shaved haircuts and slick uniforms and shiny shoes with the flag and the national anthem and the army song and all and each going across the stage with back straight and proud.

The ceremonies are held in the Post Theatre and it is jam packed with family and friends. We had people from Pima AZ, Magna, UT, Denver Co that came in to see their soldiers graduate. To tell the truth, it makes me a little homesick for active duty, even though it has been 33 years since I retired.We try to identify each LDS member and call their parents and wives and are conduits for the men with their families. The mail system is not that good, considering there about 4-5000 recruits here at all times so if we can help we do what we can.

We will start teaching an institute class next Weds (3 Oct.) on the Book of Mormon. This has no connection with the Post but is part of the Seminary and Institute program and under the direction of the Lawton Stake President. We are looking forward to this experience. Have a list of approximately 75 singles between 18 and 30 that are potential students but expect only about 10-20 at the most based on previous Seniors that have been here and have discussed with us.

We also have volunteered with the Red Cross at the Post Hospital. I remember years ago you just volunteered and they put you to work. We had a 3 hour orientation Weds, then had to submit information for a back ground check, then had to complete HIPPA training which took almost three hours on the computer and THEN they will tell us if they accept us as volunteers. We plan to work Tues and Thurs mornings at the hospital and then are thinking of working on the base schools with a reading program.

Donna Brox (wife of the Group Leader) is an accomplished violinist and we went to the first concert of the New Year a week ago entitled "A night with Rogers and Hammerstein" with the Lawton Symphony Orchester and Community Choir and it was very delightful.

They are starting preparation for the community Messiah presentation and we met and talked to one of the leaders. Think we will join them, even though we neither of us have great choir voices we do miss singing in the choir. Practices are on Sunday from 2-4 starting on the last Sunday in October with the presentation in December.

Lawton is a military town that lives and grows on the Ft Sill militaty post. It was interesting when President Adair of the Lawton Stake had us come to their High Council Meeting and tell about ourselves and I mentioned that I was retired military. He stopped me and went around the table of the Stake Presidency and of the 12 HC members, all but 1 of them were retired military.

Adair is a retired Marine Colonel and runs things like one. He and Sister Adair are fun people. They invited us to dinner the 2nd week we were here and it was great.