WE LOVE THE MARINES!

Warning, warning this blog is more journal than warm, fuzzy family things.  You are in danger of being bored.  I want to remember these young people and their impact on our lives.

We have been called to serve in the San Clemente 5th Ward with a special assignment to work with the single marines stationed at Camp Pendleton and living in the barracks at the northern end of the base.  Alan had been asked to teach the Base Family Home Evening lessons there for almost a year, so he already had some familiarity with it and with some of the young men.  But this is a newly made up calling and we are learning to navigate in new territory.  For a few years there has already been a committee of Young Adults called to be in charge of these Base FHE meetings and to coordinate all the other activities that have to do with the Young Single Marines.  Others from the ward join in for Base FHE, bonfire activities at the beach on base, free service car washes, welcome home dinners, farewell dinners, goody bags for deployed marines and other activities.  This mostly started when a wonderful senior missionary couple was assigned to this part of the base and they were so involved and pro-active a good group got started.  The YS marines meet on Sundays at the SC 5th ward with us in Aliso Viejo.  However, that is about 25 miles from where they live and is not always possible for them to come.  Regular YSA family home evenings held at the bishops home are also hard for them to attend, so Base FHE was started so they could have a weekday spiritual opportunity and  a chance to socialize with other member young adults.  We have varying levels of success and disappointment with this calling. Some weeks almost no marines come or come to church.  Some weeks very few of our committee or others from the ward come to support us and the marines.  Some nights no one has done their assignments and there are no refreshments, songs, games or enthusiasm. Then we have a wonderful evening like last night and are renewed again.  Last night we had four great marines show up--one new, one newly returned from deployment--many YS adults came both from our committee and from the ward in general.  We had extra refreshments and lots of fellowship.  We have had some opportunites to counsel and encourage lately.  Alan has been asked to give a couple of young men blessings to strengthen them in their resolve to live the gospel under the challenging situations they live in.  We love to have them over to dinner and get to know them a little.  Here are a few pictures from last night:

This is Spencer Brown.  He is truly a blessing to us.  He is from Payson, UT and is just turning 19.  He has only been here a couple of months, but attends every single thing having to do with the church that he can get to.  He has even spoken already in Sacrament Meeting and did a wonderful job.  We couldn't figure out why he didn't go on a mission.  He had some time away from the church and signed up to join the Marines.  But before he left he came back into activity strongly and was ordained an Elder before he left home.  He has been a missionary at this base.  He identifies those who are LDS (something we are unable to do unless they or their families contact us) and keeps on them to attend meetings.  He always brings another marine with him to everything.  Another young man told us that "Brown is annoying."  However, that young man has not only started coming regularly because of Spencer but when he went home for Easter he got a new suit so he would not stand out in his jeans, tennis shoes and sweatshirt. 

This is Julie Monroe who is one of the very faithful on our committee.  Her family lived in our ward when she was born and her older sister was one of Lindsey's best friends.  Her dad was Alan's counselor in the Elders Quorum presidency and is the subject of some of Alan's favorite funny stories.  We love quirky Julie and depend on her to liven things up and always be there.

This is Meghan, Natasha and Andrew.  Andrew Best is a marine that just started coming to church this week.  He is from Hurricane, UT and says he always goes to church when he is home and is an elder, but hasn't been so active while he has been in the marines.  He is getting out of the marines in a few months and has decided he needs to be involved again.  He has been deployed at least 4 times, the last two to Iraq.  He wants to go to Afganistan because he loves to be deployed, but that would mean signing up for 4 more years.  He is considering joining the Reserves.

Megan and Natasha are on our committee and very faithful.  Some of the marines are a little more involved because these two girls participate.  Unfortunately, the girls high standards eventually make some of  the young men stay away, because they are uncomfortable with where they tried to take the relationship and got turned down. 

This is Brian Bullock, Emily Leavitt and Mike.  Brian is the priesthood committee chairman and is there most weeks.  He is relatively new and still learning the marines and stuff.  Emily used to be the sister chairman and knows a great deal about the marines.  She was very diligent in her calling and we miss her.  She comes now when she can but her new calling occupies her quite a bit.  She brought Mike from the ward with her because I suggested that we needed more priesthood representation on Wednesday.  I don't know Mike well.  He is waiting to find out next month if he has passed the bar.

These are two of the three sister missionaries in our ward.  They come out about twice a month if they can get someone to drive them.  Sister F.  (hard name, can't remember it) is going home to New Zealand in a week.  She has been a totally awesome missionary.  Since these two were assigned to our ward we have had a baptism almost every week.  The other missionary Sister T (also a difficult polynesian name) is from Sandy, Utah. The marine in camies is Dennis Brown,  The other marine is Brian.  He has been back from deployment less than 24 hours and left just before I was called. 

This is Averie Morgan and Dillon McKuhn.  This is Dillon's first time at Base FHE and I don't know anything about him.  Averie has been coming to Base FHE since she moved in the ward in the fall.  She is very faithful in attending.  Her job on the committee is assigning and directing the Base FHE activities, assignments, etc.  She was sick a while ago and called me early one morning to take her to the hospital.  We got to be even better friends going through that together.  She is the only person that calls me by my first name and I appreciate that.

Here are the trio of sister missionaries.  Sometimes they come to church and things dressed just alike.  Pretty crazy.  I guess they will be down to a normal duo when Sister F leaves.  We will miss her enthusiasm and personality.  The other two had been companions in the MTC, so it is a rematch.

Dennis Brown is from Draper or Sandy or someplace like that.  He is a returned missionary who served in South Africa.  He has some interesting stories to share about his experiences there.  Dennis is a good guy and we like having him at Base FHE.  I don't remember seeing him at church,though.  He has a hard time getting there so attends church on the base called SOI for marines who are temporarily assigned to Pendleton and can't leave for church.

Another picture of Brian.  He likes to hunt, so he and Alan have some things in common.  He works for Union Bank of CA, but is going to go back to school for an MBA or something in the fall.

All so macho. Brian (in front) told me all about his deployment.  He was on a miew (which is out on a ship going to many different places).  He said they did most of their training in Kuwait.  But that was only one of the many places they went.  I could not believe he would be at Base FHE when he was so newly home.

This is Karisa Brinckerhoff.  She is a convert of about 6 weeks.  She is the Sisters transportation to Base FHE.  She is also thrilled with the church and involved in many phases of it. She is not shy and loves to participate in any class she attends.  We love her new testimony.

We know it is a successful night when they all want to visit and visit and socialize and don't need a game to break the ice.  It was a good evening.  We feel we are making headway and helping some that are in need right now.  I really love these young men and of course those that help us as well.