6-12-11

{Elder Bawden's Missionary Homecoming}

Annie and the girls with Elder Bawden and his cousin

There once was a missionary from West Jordan, UT named Elder Bawden who was called to serve in the Florida Tallahassee Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Fresh out of the MTC, he was assigned not to a sunny Florida town, but to a little Ward in Alabama, the Mobile Ward. I met Elder Bawden during our Alabama vacation two years ago on his first Sunday in Mobile. Ironically, Elder Bawden's High school buddy, Elder Patterson, who was serving in the Provo Mission was transferred to our basement missionary apartment on the same day. Elder Bawden loved Mobile so much that Heavenly Father saw fit to allow him to serve there for an astonishing 13 months. He grew to love the members in Mobile, especially my sister Annie and her family, who taught him how to make bread and jump rope, among other things. He was transferred to a Florida town for a few months after that, only to be brought back to the Mobile area to serve in the adjacent Daphne Ward (where all of Ricky's family lives) and later assigned back to Mobile to finish his mission. Today, we visited Elder Bawden's home Ward in West Jordan to welcome him home.

The rest of these pictures were taken in the space of about 2 minutes. I appreciate Annie for taking the time to capture a little slice of our Heaven we call "Sunday Afternoon with the Emmertsons"...