Ward Wanderings

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Today we were at Forest Ridge Baptist Church in Bel Air, Maryland. They have supported us or 28 years very faithfully.

Henry preaching

We stayed with Aaron, Heather and Baby Autumn at their home for two days. I got to bond with Autumn and practice my future grandma skills.

Pastor Jeff and Ellen Berg

Evening service at Patuxent Baptist Church, I gave my testimony and Henry preached/gave his testimony.

Pastor Rick Connor

Mrs. Smith and daughter Lori

Mrs. Connor, me and a young lady named Destiny. She hugged me a few times. It was good to be here this evening; there was a great crowd of people with families and small kids in abundance.

June 10, 2017, Havre de Grace

Today Pastor Berg took us to lunch at a Chinese restaurant that was actually good eating. He also took us to dinner at a pizza place which also had good food.

In the afternoon Henry and I went to Havre de Grace and walked the boardwalk and took lots of photos and climbed the stairs of the lighthouse. There was also a wedding party there dressed in white and salmon colors. It was a nice touch to the afternoon.

Goose family on the water

The bride was noticed by everyone in the park

From the top of the stairs

June 9, 2017

This is Amber Day. We are staying at her home for the weekend. She and her parents, Aaron and Heather, are members of Forest Ridge Baptist Church in Harford County, Maryland. She is six months old and has the sweetest disposition. We bonded while mom went on an errand, so I got some "grandma" practice time.

June 8-9, 2017, back to Maryland

June 8. After a night in a hotel in Hampton, we drove back to Clinton, which took about 3-4 hours.

We met Jim and Sharon Pitts at Arby's in King George, VA, for lunch. We last saw them at Joe and Christin's wedding in 2013. Sharon had made the cake.

We drove back to Clinton to spend the night and passed this older-aged motorcycle group of 12-14 made up of men and some women going up the road. Everyone wore black jackets that stated, "Usual Suspects, Maryland."

Friday morning we met Matthew at the IHop for breakfast. After eating, we saw this 1966 Ford Mustang in the parking lot. Beautifully restored.

June 9th. We stopped in Hagerstown, Maryland, and met Pastor Curtis King and son Joe again. They came to Japan back in 2011 and did a Neighborhood Bible Time for us and visited a couple of churches.

Pastor treated us to Starbucks 😃

June 4-6, 2017

Sunday evening we drove to Caroline's house and stayed the night. She the drove us to Dulles Airport where we took a flight to Tampa. Henry's other sister, Mary, picked us up then took us to lunch at Cracker Barrel for a yummy lunch.

We did not do much while there two days, mostly just had a time of rest. We went to another restaurant on Tuesday. This was a mom-and-pop shop that is really nothing to look at outside. However, the small restaurant has some of the best lunch foods we have eaten. Henry had a beef brisket sandwich with "the best ever mac and cheese." Mary had a cheese burger and I had a terrific salad. Sorry, no pictures to share.

Wednesday morning, Rob drove us to the Tampa airport for our flight back to Dulles. We had a two-hour wait, so got breakfast. We were able to board the plane on time, but since it was raining and lightening outside, we were delayed for over an hour before the storm passed over.

After we landed Carolyn picked us up and we drove back to her house. There be got the luggage we left and headed to Hampton, VA, for a Wednesday night meeting.

There were miles and miles of construction on the median strip. Trees were torn down, cut up and made into mulch. I guess they are widening the four-lane road to at least six.

June 1-4, 2017

Our meeting in Connecticut for the first was canceled so we went to our home church in Clinton for the Wednesday night service. It is always good to hear Pastor Mike preach and reconnect with long-time friends.

Friday the 2nd, we took Matthew to see Henry's parents' grave at the Bladensburg Cemetery, but I forgot the camera, so have no pictures to share.

Saturday we went bus visiting with Matthew on his route and then knocked on some doors to find new riders; however, there were none at the time, although we did get to speak to several people.

In the afternoon we drove over to the Eastern Shore and Jon and Stephanie Rediger at the Eastern Shore Baptist Church.

On Sunday morning, Henry taught the men's Sunday School class and I spoke to the ladies' class. I gave them each one of Mrs. Matsunaga's crocheted crosses.

The ladies' class holding their small crocheted crosses.

In the afternoon we drove up to Sudlersville to the Bay Shore Baptist Church were James Vaughn and family are starting a new church.

The front foyer. This building is a former school. They were able to acquire it for a very good price, praise the Lord and it's in a great location. The blue door leads to the gym.

This is Alana and she showed me the quilt I made and previously gave to a family in the church. Her mom had it hung here. Then she gave me a tour of the building and the rooms they have cleaned up and decorated for Sunday School.

Pastor Vaughn leading singing and Henry at the piano.

James, Sarah, Megan, Tyler and Alana in the lobby of the church.

It was a very good day.

Manassas Battlefield June 1, 2017

While we were on seeing historical battlefields we saw the Manassas Battlefield in Northern Virginia.

The armies had several different uniforms, so sometimes it was difficult to identify who was the enemy.

This is a replica of the Henry House. Mrs. Henry was a blind old lady that got killed here when the Union army fired a cannon at her house to kill the Confederates. Below is her gravestone.