Called To Serve Charlotte North Carolina: 28 November 2017 Temple Christmas Devotional, and other items admissible for journals.

Thursday 23 November 2017, Thanksgiving was spent with the temple missionaries, we all met at the church building and enjoyed each other's company and were thankful for all our blessings. It was a turkey dinner and lots of other food items. It was fun and delicious. The brethren sang a couple of thanksgiving songs with a duet from Brother Bishop and his twin (visiting from another mission near by) Elder Bishop. They sang "How Great Thou Art". Very nice, both have a lovely voice.Then there was the turkey gobbling demo, humorous for sure. I'll post the pictures at the bottom, as usual. That was November 23rd, on Friday and Saturday temple days as usual, always things happen. Even very small sessions, (the one on Saturday I officiated had 3 patrons), but the policy is if someone comes to the temple we will have a session for them. Serving here is different than in Mesa, which is the only other temple I have served in. I'll give a couple of examples, saying this does not take away from either temple. Each has it's policies and workers and their ways. I have mentioned this before but it is one of the reason I like the DC temple, First thing you do is get OK'd on the various positions then start in working the positions. I only worked in Mesa a short time as a set apart ordinance worker, but in doing so was never asked or even mentioned to about being a coordinator, of any kind. Since being here I have been trained and worked as a Veil coordinator, Veil director, Initiatory director, Baptism director, endowment officiator, helped an own endowment patron through the veil, that's not happening in Mesa. I don't mean to sound negative it is just such a great experience learning all this. If you are reading this and not a member of the church or have not been endowed it may not make sense, but it is a thrill to be used in such a capacity. Again as mentioned before, the opportunity to go from assignment to assignment daily and perform various ordinances is a blessing! I remember working in Mesa at the Recommend desk ( front desk) and being told you don't make conversation with the patrons even if you know them, just politely welcome them and scan the Recommend, if they said anything you can respond. At the desk here it's encouraged to say good morning, afternoon, evening, mention how happy you are to see them and in some cases someone might think you are mad if you don't say anything. I love being in the temple and seeing other workers come and go and talk with them because you know them and love them. Today I was waiting after my shift and was sitting with another missionary talking and then another missionary came and sat with us, just about everybody that walked by it was "hi" or "bye" or "enjoy the rest of your day"or "welcome to the temple". It's wonderful. The Spirit is strong, maybe it's because it's a mission or that we are there everyday, I just know it's pretty cool. Anyway to close on this and in defense of Mesa, I bet the average time line of a Mesa worker is 15 yrs. Meaning the years of a Mesa temple worker is 15 or more years, they are established and set. Here in DC there are many who have been around that long, but are inter-mixed with young people and of course missionaries coming and going. The missionaries are the go to group, when we open on a Monday for a holiday, the presidency asked the district workers to see if they can work out their schedule to be there, but they say "we expect all missionaries to be there". Another case in point is an announcement was made stating "if the weather is bad or you feel you can't safely drive to your shift please don't try to come, just let your shift coordinator know, but this does not apply to missionaries we expect you to be here" ( smile). Of course it's a five minute drive.

Our Thanksgiving group

Elder Barney gobbling

Elder Hockett's turn

Elder Papa and Brother Nelson's turn

The Bishop twins

On Sunday 26 November 2017 was the DC Temple Devotional. All district workers and missionaries with their endowed family members were invited. It was held on the 7th floor (the Priesthood Room). Speakers were the Temple Presidency, Matron and Assistant to the Matron. Music was provided by the Washington DC Mormon Choir. All was beautiful and enjoyable. We invited Kenna Brown (Shirley's daughter) to join us. Speaking of Kenna we have had a couple opportunities to visit and have dinner with her. She is such a joy and a sweetheart. I would guess there were about 600+ people there. I wish I had pictures, but of course it's in the temple so that's not going to happen. All the missionaries were ushers and Patty and I were assigned to usher the ASL group, so we all know that means FRONT ROW SEATS. 3 aisles were reserved for the ASL, but only needed 7 spots which means we and Kenna and her friend sat on the second row up front. When it was over and we finished our assignments we went outside and the temple Christmas lights were on for the first time this season, it was beautiful. At the Visitor Center is a cut-out of the temple for all to see the rooms inside, I edited it to explain:

The 6th floor is where the sealing rooms are. There are 15 rooms some hold as many as 60 people

On the 4th floor there are 6 endowment rooms all around the Celestial Room.

On the 2nd floor, if you look smack dab in the middle is a mural depicting the Savior's coming on his right are the righteous and on his left, well not so good. it is an eye opening picture. One thing I noticed was that on the right there are children but none on the left side.

This is an interesting picture, what you are seeing is the cut-out of the temple display with the Christus reflecting from behind and the actual Temple in the glass outside. Cool huh!

Another reflection of the Christus

Kenna with Patty and I

Monday 27 November 2017 P-day, we decided to go to Fort McHenry in Baltimore MD. It is rich in American history, but I'm going to post this one historic battle:

War of 1812[edit]

Bombardment of Fort McHenry

Beginning at 6:00 a.m. on September 13, 1814, British warships under the command of Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane continuously bombarded Fort McHenry for 25 hours.^[4] The American defenders had 18-, 24- and 32-pounder (8, 11, and 16 kg) cannons. The British guns had a range of 2 miles (3 km), and the British rockets had a 1.75-mile (2.8 km) range, but neither guns nor rockets were accurate. The British ships were unable to pass Fort McHenry and penetrate Baltimore Harbor because of its defenses, including a chain of 22 sunken ships, and the American cannons. The British vessels were only able to fire their rockets and mortars at the fort at the weapons' maximum range. The poor accuracy on both sides resulted in very little damage to either side before the British, having depleted their ammunition, ceased their attack on the morning of September 14.^[5] Thus the naval part of the British invasion of Baltimore had been repulsed. Only one British warship, a bomb vessel, received a direct hit from the fort's return fire, which wounded one crewman.^{[citation needed]}

The Americans, under the command of Major George Armistead, lost four killed—including one African-American soldier, Private William Williams, and a woman who was cut in half by a bomb as she carried supplies to the troops—and 24 wounded. At one point during the bombardment, a bomb crashed through the fort's powder magazine. Fortunately for the Americans, either the rain extinguished the fuse or the bomb was a dud.^[6]

Star Spangled Banner[edit]

Flag that flew over Fort McHenry during its bombardment in 1814, which was witnessed by Francis Scott Key. The family of Major Armistead, the commander of the fort, kept the flag until they donated it to the Smithsonian in 1912.^[7]

Francis Scott Key, a Washington lawyer who had come to Baltimore to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes, a civilian prisoner of war, witnessed the bombardment from a nearby truce ship. An oversized American flag had been sewn by Mary Pickersgill for $405.90^[8] in anticipation of the British attack on the fort. When Key saw the flag emerge intact in the dawn of September 14,^[5] he was so moved that he began that morning to compose the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" that was later set to the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven" which would later be renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and become the United States' national anthem.

It is a heart warming and touching story, I believe, if I may say, and I can because it's my blog, I think every American and specially those athletes protesting the during the National Anthem should see and hear the story. Maybe learn why Americans get upset when you degrade, protest or disrespect our Flag or our Anthem. Listen to the words of the Anthem and try to get a picture of what Francis Scott Key witnessed that morning. Remember after 25 hrs. of bombardment he didn't know who's flag was going to be raised, you see not only were the British attacking at the harbor but also a land attack to the northwest of Baltimore. No one knew how the land attack was going nor, because of the black powder smoke in the air after 25 hrs, how the sea attack was going. Then when the smoke finally cleared it was there, the Star Spangled Banner, the American Flag still waved. Anyone who knows and truly understands the American history can't help but know that the Hand of God was there, this is the "land of promise".