LDS Church History Made TODAY!!!

Armed Forces Retirement Home LDS Group

Left to Right:
Charlotte Mecham, John Mallernee, Doris Jones,
Alvin Merx (in wheelchair), Bruce Mundy,
Elder Jueschke, Ray Mecham, Elder Ellsworth


Brothers and Sisters:

Today, Thursday 02 August 2007, history was made.

At 1030 Hours this morning, a devotional was held for members of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints in the Meditation Chapel of the Scott Building at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C.

So far as I am aware, this was the first organized LDS service ever held at the Old Soldiers' Home.

Attending were Soldiers' Home residents, Doris Jones, Navy, Bruce Mundy, Navy, Alvin Merx, Air Force, John Mallernee, Army, full-time LDS missionaries, Elders Ellsworth and Jueschke, and our Home Teachers, Ray and Charlotte Mecham.

After the opening prayer, given by Elder Ellsworth, the meeting was conducted by Ray Mecham, with the lesson being the first of five missionary discussions, from their manual PREACHING THE GOSPEL.

Since nobody could play a piano, we sang I AM A CHILD OF GOD a capello, after which, Bruce Mundy gave the closing prayer.

Our meeting concluded a little past 1130 Hours, and by Noon, we dispersed, as another group was scheduled to use the Meditation Chapel.

I was pleased when Doris Jones, a new convert, showed me the BOOK OF MORMON she had picked up.

It was one of the ones I had placed!

They weren't all thrown into the trash, after all!

When I place a BOOK OF MORMON in a public area here at the Soldiers' Home, I always sign my name, with my room number, and write a brief testimony inside the book's cover.

That keeps the missionaries out of trouble.

If they distributed any Church material here, it's possible someone would complain, and the Elders would be barred from future access to the Soldiers' Home.

But, I live here, and I'm a natural born trouble maker, so the administration won't do anything to me.

I raised the possibility that, since we had sufficient numbers, that maybe we could organize our own Servicemen's Group, just like we had in Viet Nam, and thus, we could hold sacrament meetings right here in the Soldiers' Home.

Of course, that will require permission from local Church authorities, either the ward bishop or the mission president.

I also observed that the Meditation Chapel was equipped with a drop down movie screen and a ceiling mounted DVD projector.

Maybe at future meetings, I can show some of my LDS movies.

I didn't think to bring my own camera, but Brother Mecham went out and got his digital camera from his car, and we all posed for a historic group photograph.

Our next devotional meeting is scheduled for Thursday 16 August 2007.

The rest of the group doesn't realize it, but that is a very historical date.

On that day, in 1940, a platoon of United States Army paratroopers made the first jump at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Thank you.

John Robert "SAIGON" Mallernee, KB3KWS
Official Bard of Clan Henderson
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

NOTE: "My unpopular and controversial personal opinions are independent of my Scottish clan."