As normal, Saturdays turn out to be wonderful! This morning when we left our apartment to go up to Post and visit with the soldiers, it was  nice and sunny. When we pulled out on Gordon Highway heading west toward the Post we saw a black cloud way off in the distance. We thought it would not rain for a while since the cloud appeared to be a ways off. (We have had some very incredible rainstorms lately) We had not began our visits for very long when the rain began. We had first tried to find 3 new soldiers who had just reported in this week. We met the first fellow right away, but then while we waited for the other two, we got stuck at the CQ's office due to extreme thundershowers. We must have waited for nearly an hour before the rain began to lighten up sufficiently for us to venture out. While we waited for the soldiers to come down, we also waited for the rain to stop. The soldier never did come, but then the CQ realized that they had an off Post pass to be with their families. Usually, the first weekend on Post and before their duty begins they can be given an off Post pass to be with family. So this is where they were. We were able to finally contact them via text message.

As the rain lightened, we ventured out to find one of our new members. We made it to his CQ's office just in time for the rain and thunder and lightening returned with a vengeance. However, this proved to be fortuitous.  While at the CQ, many of our members came down to visit and for a while we had members and nonmembers gathered around visiting and talking with us. It turned out to be a great social event and we all had time to visit and get to know each other better. Our new member friend even recommitted to attending church and others who had not been very diligent in attending promised they would come out too. The rain turned out to be a great blessing to us as it kept people inside, which gave us a chance to visit with many of them.

Prior to departing we visited one more young lady who had just had her wisdom teeth removed and then we went down to visit a couple of more of our troops in a different company. We found one, but not the second we were looking for, apparently he was in a special class.

Afterwards we ate lunch and then picked up a young lady who was to give a talk at a baptismal service at noon. A mom and her daughter were baptized; it was very nice event, rich in spirit and love.

After the baptism, we went back home to prepare for Sunday and to make phone calls to set up appointments for next week. Later that evening the Grovetown ward had a special Family Home Evening (FHE) social to demonstrate and teach families how to prepare, conduct and carry out a successful FHE. We had a lot of fun. During the evening we received a text message from our troop who we have mentioned before who is troubled in mind and who has no one to talk to at home; Elder Gowans went up after the social and spent an hour with him to let him pour out the feelings of his heart and then to give him a blessing of comfort. While there he met the brother that we went to meet that morning, but could not find since he was in a special class all day. He also learned that his wife has also moved out here and has set up an apartment near by where they will be able to be together a little more often.

It has been a great day full of wonderful events that have, once again, shown us how the Lord is with us and helping us accomplish our work. We believe we were able to visit with 13 of our troops today.