One of the things that I love the most about being associated with the military is the brotherhood and sisterhood that we share with each other an the respect for their service. Recently Master Gunnery Sargent Gold, USMC (ret), who served from 1951-1977 passed away. After his retirement he settled in the Iwakuni area with his wife and continued to work on base in a variety of capacities. I didn't know him, yet I feel that he is my brother. Here's to Master Gunny Gold and may he rest in Peace. Semper Fi Master Gunny!
Once a Marine, Always a Marine!
One of the programs that we have been called to establish here is an Addiction Recovery Program that is Gospel centered. This program is for any addiction that is impacting on an individual's personal life and/or the life of their family. The Church has a great program modeled after the 12 Step program of AA. As with anything new, it is slow in getting started, but we are still reaching out to find those that we can serve.
There are always opportunities to serve here. In this case, the Branch Medical Clinic held a Bone Marrow Donor Registry on base, in conjunction with the American Red Cross. The Corpsman who organized the drive had hoped to get 15 people to submit a cheek swab for tissue typing and entry into a nation-wide marrow donor data base. By the end of the day we had over 70 volunteers. An amazing success.
It's always good fun when we get to have a Young Single Adult activity, especially when we can include the missionaries. We have discovered that missionaries love to go bowling!
The USO has just come to MCAS Iwakuni and has opened up a new USO lounge for service members and their families. It is really nice and I can see another opportunity for service.
One of the great things one of the sad things that occurs in the Mission is transfers. We hate to see those that we have come to know and love leave us for other areas or even to go home, but we also love to see the new missionaries coming into the area. We just said goodbye to Elder Owens (on left). He has gone to Shimonoseki, so he will still be in our zone and we will get to see him for apartment inspections.
In losing Elder Owens, we gained Elder Weaver. He came to us from the south end of Okinawa and is from Las Vegas, Nevada. The interesting thing is that before he came out, in preparing for his mission he would going on missionary splits with Elder Carson Paige, who was from Valdosta, Georgia. We have known Elder Paige since he was about 5 years old. Small world. We are excited for the opportunity to work with him. (especially when I looked at the picture and saw who was on his right shoulder!)
Last but not least, Geri was just named as the Volunteer of the Quarter for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. She does a great job for them and it was great to see her efforts recognized!
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