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.