Airman's Attic and The American Red Cross

We are encouraged to do volunteer work on base, to be of service and to help build relationships between the military community and the Church. So we spent some time this past week at the thrift store, called Airman's Attic, and the Red Cross office.

The thrift store is a little different in that no money changes hands. Donations are received, sorted, and put out on the floor by volunteers, and anyone on base is free to take whatever they can use at no cost. We invited the Yokota Ward sisters to come with us -- one of them had done this in the past with the previous military relations couple and expressed an interest in volunteering there again. Wednesday morning they came down to our apartment ready to go, and I was so surprised to see them wearing jeans -- I didn't know we could do that! So Bruce and I hurried and changed into real work clothes, it was great! We're thinking we should be able to spend at least a couple of hours a week working there. The young elders and sisters are asked to volunteer one hour a week in addition to the Eikawa (English language) classes which they provide free to the community. So both the Yokota Ward and the Fussa Ward sisters are more than willing to come along, and it seems there's plenty for all of us to do there. We don't proselyte, we don't even bring up the Church, although we can certainly answer questions. But we enjoyed meeting people and giving service (and wearing jeans).

We also signed up to volunteer with the Red Cross this week, or at least began the process. We have to have background checks and attend training, which is the first Wednesday of each month. Then we'll see what their needs are and how we might contribute.

One of the things that I love about our mission call is that we have the opportunity to not only serve the Church, but the military community as well. We don't proselyte -- we're not allowed to on base, and we can't very effectively off base because we don't speak the language. But we feel blessed to be able to provide support and serve the folks in the Yokota Ward and hopefully the greater community on the base. Off base, we're just trying to be kind and friendly and good neighbors.