SUNDAY MEMORIES
Judy Wills
As I mentioned last time, we were in northern Maine only one year – 13 months actually. The day following our daughter’s birth, Fred looked at me and said, “you don’t really want to stay here another year, do you?” I nearly jumped out of the hospital bed, with a resounding “YOU GOT ORDERS!!” And he did. We were to go to San Antonio, Texas, for Fred to teach at the Officer Training School at Lackland AFB.
Credit Google Search and JBSA website
And so we transitioned from Maine to Texas, with some stops along the way. We visited Fred’s parents and family in D.C. and New Jersey;
Fred’s grandmother and family
With Fred’s mother in D.C. (Dad taking the picture)
We visited my brother’s family in Titusville, Florida (my mother had remarried five years after, daddy’s death, and they were on their honeymoon in Florida), a stop at St. Augustine, Florida,
St. Augustine, FL – Judy, Karen and baby Janet
before heading to Texas. I had some family in San Antonio, on my mother’s side, and we were able to stay with Aunt Lillie, while we looked for a house.
Aunt Lillie with Karen and Janet
There was a family stationed at Lackland that we had known in Wiesbaden. They invited us to visit their church, which we did. It was a relatively small church, and the husband led the choir. Since he knew I played the piano, he asked me to play for the Christmas program for his choir…which I did. However, once again, we didn’t feel that church was exactly where God wanted us to be. So we visited some others in the general area.
My mother had spent quite a bit of time growing up in different areas of Texas and Oklahoma, and had been a secretary at the First Baptist Church in downtown San Antonio for many years. During that same time my dad was Associate Sunday School Secretary for the Southern Baptists in Texas, and he made many trips to San Antonio. I believe he told me he was teased quite a bit from his fellow workers about all the trips he “needed” to make to San Antonio after he met mom. In any case, they had quite a few friends from that church.
Daddy
And so, being a good daughter, I called one of mother’s best friends from that church. She was glad to hear from me. After chatting a while, she asked if we had found a church home yet. At my “no,” she quite forcefully said, “don’t you join anywhere until you visit First Baptist Church!” So we agreed that we would meet up with her that following Sunday at FBC.
For the first time in my life, as I walked in that huge church, the feeling was….home. I knew almost instantly that THIS church was where God wanted us to be for the next three years. I don’t believe I’ve had that definite a feeling about any church since. It was a wonderful and warm feeling, and I loved it.
We joined the church…we joined the choir… we joined the Sunday School that was in our age group. It was just a wonderful time in our lives. I was also involved with the Young Women’s Fellowship Group. To find more about that, please refer back to my post of September 19, 2021 “Friendship.” It tells about the church, as well as that group and what we did in the community.
First Baptist Church San Antonio, TX, Sanctuary – from a post card
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in that church. We didn’t much care for the 30-minute drive to-and-back home from downtown, but we learned that we make time for what we want to do. And attending that church was what we wanted to do.
I started this series with a question: “…do you love to GO to church?” Well, this church had us in its hands, and we LOVED to GO to church. It was a fantastic experience.
WE….ARE THE CHURCH!
~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~i
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Old Things R New 
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