Why We Are Here!

James & Patricia Caruthers & Elder & Sister Sturgis assisting at James' Deployment

Patricia was the first new military spouse we met on our first Sunday in our mission.  She had been baptized the day before and married the week before and her sweetheart, James was scheduled for deployment the end of December, 2012.

Elder Sturgis was assigned to this family because 22 year old Patricia is legally blind and has had  issues with her vision since she was 10 years old.  This is the family we assisted with our miracle move the day after Thanksgiving and they were our family on Thanksgiving.  We learned a lot about how the Army deploys soldiers to Afghanistan. 

James' Company at roll call. Patricia was waiting patiently and wishing this was a dream

 We arrived at Spc4 Caruthers' home at 11:45 A.M. to drive them to their deployment rendezvous location for a 12:30 p.m.arrival time.  He was scheduled to embark on his departing plane at 11:p.m.  Elder Sturgis definitely understands military but this was beyond our comprehension.

This is where James works.  He said we could take pictures of the vehicles

 James and Patricia were blessed to play the waiting game in the military building where James works with military vehicles that looked strange to Sister Sturgis and Elder Sturgis did his best to see them with his monocular and tell me about them and James seemed to know less than Elder Sturgis did.  So much to learn and there seems so little room in my brain to retain it, but trust in the Lord we will do.

Assault Weapon issued to Spc 4 Caruthers at approximately 3:00 p.m.

.  We really were allowed to hang around with James and Patricia even when they were issuing their weapons.  Just had to take a picture of all the goings on.  This was getting too real for me. 

We hear about and talk about the wars and rumors of wars and here we saw the faces of young men and women living the war along with their families.  Our prayers now have vivid pictures of our military that we ask the Lord to bless. Please remember them in your prayers.

This is just a small group of the many families involved in this  Deployment

Our understanding is that there have been deployments about every two weeks and they will continue for several more months. We will continue learning how things work at Fort Bliss and support and assist LDS Military families during these difficult times

Patricia is doing well during this her first deployment.  We assisted her is enrolling in community college and getting to some of her doctor appointments, trips to the bank, IRS, Social Security office and above all church meetings.

Elder Sturgis and I are currently teaching Resiliency Classes to military couple/singles willing to learn skills to help them make the atonement of our Savior central in their lives and therefore helping them cope with the unique challenges of military life. This has probably been better for us than for them.  We have attendees from 4 wards and growing.  We are humbled to have the privilege to assist these families since the challenges they have as individuals and families afford us the privilege of freedom.  Our classes are designed to help them focus on the glass half full!!