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Renee Brown led our morning reading and Taylor Baumgarner prayed for our day before departing. We celebrated two anniversaries today. Doug and Sandy Massey are celebrating 55 years of marriage, and Rick and Betty Roe are celebrating 44 years of marriage.

The temperature today is 25° cooler than it has been this week. Expected high is only 73°. What a welcome relief!

Just walking through Arlington National Cemetery is a worship experilience itself. Surrounded by so many who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our nation illicits a deep sense of gratitude. It reminds you of the words of Jesus, “no greater love have any man that is that he lay down his life for his friends.” We visited three primary sites in Arlington: John F. Kennedy’s graveside, the Changing of the Guard, and Arlington House. On our way we ran into a senator from South Carolina. He was from the lower part of the state down near Florence. His name was Senator Reichenbach. What a personable guy! He was wearing a Carolina Gamecock shirt and several of our people were wearing Clemson and Furman attire, so he immediately asked where we were from.

We left Arlington at 10:45 and drove over to the White House for our noon tour. Brad Smith was detained momentarily since his birthdate had been transcribed incorrectly. It didn’t take long to be corrected, and Brad was able to catch up with our group inside the White House. The tour was self guided, but we had opportunities to speak with the Secret Service agents throughout the house and ask questions. It makes you proud to be an American when you think of all the history in the house and the beautiful artifacts that adorn it.

Our bus driver, Andrew, drove us to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History where we were able to eat lunch in the café. We had about an hour and 15 minutes after lunch to explore the museum or walk around the mall. Later most of the group met at the Holocaust Museum at 3:15 PM.

The tour of the Holocaust Museum was difficult from the standpoint of learning about the atrocities of World War II in the Nazi regime. We stayed inside until 5:30. We all met back together, got on the bus, and spent about an hour and a half touring the national monuments. We started with the World War II Memorial monument, and then moved to the Lincoln Memorial. Several of us were able to also see the Korean Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial at the same stop. We finished the memorial monument tour by stopping by the Jefferson Memorial. This memorial has a beautiful view of the tidal basin looking across to the Washington Monument and the White House. Ben Nimmer told us that Franklin Delano Roosevelt built that memorial across the tidal basin so that he could look out the window of the White House and into the eyes of Thomas Jefferson.

We boarded the bus and headed to our final hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. We decided to stop for supper before getting to the hotel. We were given several options at a small shopping center near the hotel: Wendy’s, Subway, and Chipotle.

After getting our luggage to the rooms, we assembled downstairs at 9:10 for our devotion. Taylor Baumgarner led our devotion and did a great job! Jean Nimmer’s sister, Ann Hunt, shared her reflections of things she has observed on the trip and commended the choir for their love for one another, their willingness to share Christ with others, and thanked the group for loving her sister. It was a very tender moment, and the group loved her openness.

Rick shared a story about a church trip to Washington many years ago to see the WWII Memorial with a group of veterans. He told about the time that Doug Hopkins expressed gratitude to Bryan Boone‘s father, Tommy, for his service in Vietnam. It was a long overdue expression of thanks to a faithful servant of our country.

We’ve had a long, tiring day, but we are all so thankful for our nation and the freedoms we have here in the US.