Monday, August 31, 2009

Playing Catch-up!!!!!


We can hardly believe the months that have flown by since May, we are so bad at doing this updating of our blog, and apologize for our lack of information on how things have been going for us and our mission.


Since May we have welcomed 8 newly baptised members into the servicemens's group here at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and if all goes well we will have 4 more baptisms next Sunday with 2 more the Sunday after that. We think that the slump is over and we will have more productivity in the coming Fall months. Our attendance has risen to a high of 137 for the summer months so far, and this past Sunday we had 117, which includes about 40 percent being non-members. We love and welcome all the basic trainees and enjoy taking short video's of them to send off to loved ones, we also are still baking and serving around 30 dozen cookies on a monthly basis for our 'linger longer' on the 2nd Sunday of the month.


Once the recruit has graduated they move on to AIT which is Advanced Individual Training, they move on to another post, or if we are lucky, they continue with Ft. Sill and can come to Church to help in teaching classes, etc.
We also have a few officers who come to this post for BOLC which is advanced training for officers ( 2nd LT ). Needless to say the constant turnover is keeping us very busy with contacting families and loved ones as well as sending in reports to Church Headquarters on the status of each member.

We have had several WTC ( Warriors in Transition ) re-entering military after being out for three years of active duty and we hosted the mother of one of the graduates who came to the ceremony for her daughter.
While they were here we went to the Wichita Reserve and to Meers for hamburgers. It was a very quaint place to eat and is famous in this area for the decor (as you can see) and the huge hamburgers they serve.




Here we are waiting to be seated at Meers!!!










Our living room seems to be a rotating motel for the wives and mothers who travel here without a traveling companion, we feel it is safer staying with us than in a motel room by themselves, and many have taken us up on our offer to do so. We enjoy the company and besides we get to see more of the wonderful sights of the area by taking them with us on short excursions. One of the trips we took was to a small Indian Village recreation near a town called Anadarko and I have included some pictures and videos of that trip with this post.

The Caddo Village


Our guide Vannessa Jennings
Inside the museum, authentic artifacts



Our drummer/ singer and Dancer ( he did great in 116 degree heat), this was on Elder Woodbury's birthday July 11.

We leave you with the Indian dancer and drummer/singer, young men that do a good job of keeping part of their culture alive. They also participate in Indian Pow-wows and competitions.


1 comment:

Grampa Doug said...

Hi from the Simmons
Enjoyed your update, but have 2 questions. First, who are the ladies in the first picture?
Second, could not make the video work by clicking on the start arrow. Any suggestions. Email the answers to cindysimmons42@hotmail.com