This morning, Elder Gowans left the apartment at 0640 to be at the Jones' house by 0700 to catch a ride to the South Carolina Columbia Temple. The Grovetown ward and the Fort Gordon Military Branch had the assignment to clean the temple today. We all gathered at the appointed time and off we went shortly after 0700. In the car was the Jones family, Sister Bowman and Elder Gowans. Sister Bowman is the Bishop's wife of the Grovetown ward. After arriving at the temple we all changed into white cleaning clothes, watched a short instruction video and then we were given our assignments. Elder Gowans' assignment was to vacuum. He vacuumed for 2 1/2 hours, which equaled nearly half of the temple floors. It is an honor and a privilege to serve in the House of the Lord!

After returning home, we had just enough time to dash up to our 3 pm appointment to meet with Brother Scott Horr. He is stationed at Fort Meed up in Maryland, but he is here for a 6 month deployment, yes, I said deployment. So he missed being home for all the holidays over the last two months and will be here until April or May. We will visit him monthly to see how he is doing. He will not be able to attend church all this month due to the rotation of his schedule.

This evening we visited a gentlemen named Darrel with our Zone Leaders and taught him about the Book of Mormon. Teaching about this wonderful book is always a joyous experience. We love the Book of Mormon, it is truly a gift from God. Darrel, works as a diesel mechanic for the Army Reserve; he has been at it for 23 years. He is very gentlemanly and a very gracious host. We hope he will keep his commitment to read and pray about this beautiful book of scripture.