Ft. Sill Military Branch

We see our soldiers for 2 hrs. each Sunday.  Everything needs to be done in that two hours in not a lot of space.

Sacrament Meeting.  The room is less than ideal for a meeting being long and narrow.  The soldier standing in the center of the room is directing the music.  The Branch Presidency and Relief Society Presidency are the only civilians.  We had baptism at the beginning of Sacrament Meeting (it is conducted during opening exercises, and then confirmation in the meeting)  This room is divided into 3 rooms for the missionary discussions (All 5 lessons are taught in 3 sessions).  Sunday School is taught down the hall in another room.  Twice a month we have 15 minute Priesthood and Relief Society classes. 

We had a guest speaker today and he brought his son (another civilian).  Generally we have the soldiers speak.  Once a month we watch a conference talk but unfortunately we don't get to hear some of the best ones because we only have 10-15 minutes for talks in Sacrament Meeting.  The soldiers teach Sunday School, Priesthood, and Relief Society lessons.  

The Old Plantation Restaurant at Medicine Park

There is a quaint little town about 20 miles from Lawton called Medicine Park that has some of the nicer homes in the area and a little "touristy" downtown area with a nice restaurant called the Old Plantation Cafe.

The entrance to the Old Plantation Cafe.

The Elm trees around here have Mistletoe growing in them. (The clumps of green)

The Mistletoe.

Medicine Creek runs through the center of the town.  Pretty but they charge two dollars to swim,

The view from the top of Mount Scott the highest point in Oklahoma (2750 ft.).

City Ordinance says you cannot remove any of the cobblestones from the town.  You can use
them to build your home but you can't take them away.  Lots of homes and businesses use the stone
for construction.

Sister Griner enjoying the fried mozzarella sticks.

Took all of the Lawton Missionaries to lunch at the Old Plantation Cafe.
Sis. Griner,, Slack, Herrin, and Smith
Elders Langi, Millett, Sheffield, and Barker.

Riding the Rubber Ducky Sleigh.

More Baptisms

It is really fun to work with the Full Time Missionaries and see these soldiers join the church.  We celebrated our 14th baptism last Sunday and we have three more scheduled for March.  There is such a sweet spirit in our Sunday meetings.  We have several return missionaries here at Basic Training and AIT training that work with and invite investigators to church.  It has been a real blessing to be here and experience this work here.  There are some great young men and young women out there in the world that join the service and come in contact with the gospel for the first time in their lives.  Our Mission President Mansell - (He is Larry Mansell's nephew) sends the cream of the crop missionaries to Ft. Sill because they have so many teaching opportunities on the Post.  We love it.

A few of our favorite Missionaries

Sister Mitchell and Sister Griner.  

Elder Millett and Elder Norton.

Sister Grossgebauer (Sister G), Sister Unga, Sister Dopp, Sister Mitchell,
Elder Norton, Elder Palmer, Elder Smith, and Elder Barker in front of our apartment.
 (Sending them home with Cinnamon Rolls)
We cook breakfast for the Missionary Correlation Meeting for 13 people every Saturday morning.

Volunteering at the USO (United Service Organization)

We are doing our service hours at the USO a service organization that works with soldiers.
They provide computers, games, TVs, food, pool, darts and a reading room for the solders
for their free time.  We help with cooking (mostly breakfasts, sometimes lunches and dinners), cleaning,
and making warm fresh cookies (we make the dough at home and take our small oven to the USO and cook
the cookies there. (about 10 dozen each week)

They have really nice furnishings where the soldiers can relax and read or talk or play games.

Here is where we feed them.

Computer stations for emailing, doing home work or filling out forms.