Seminary and Winter are back
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| Screen shot of Friday night temperature |
We actually might get this out on time. We are a bit ahead on Seminary lessons, so not so much priority on preparing a lesson today for either of us. Friday morning, we woke up to 6 inches of snow and it was still snowing. I texted a few parents to check their road conditions. The weather can be so different just 10 minutes away. I told the Bishop we were considering cancelling seminary for the kids safety. He said he would support that decision, and bam - it’s done. Of course, we were so sad to go back to bed. I actually didn’t even wake up Walt. He doesn’t get up till 6 and all the excitement was over by then. So his lesson for Friday will be given tomorrow. It’s a bit trickier to give lessons out of order with the Book of Mormon. It has a great story line and would be confusing to teach out of order. This also means the kids get breakfast tomorrow since I was bringing it for Friday. They will be so sad.
Monday was our planning day. We got ready for the start of Seminary and made appointments for the week. Sometimes, the plans work out and other times they don’t. We were looking forward to starting seminary and teaching the Book of Mormon, but a bit less excited about getting up so early again. At least we only had 4 days to teach; which turned into only 3 with our snow day. There is a person that oversees all the seminary classes in this area. He is called the CES (Church Educational System) Coordinator. He lives in Billings, so does quite a bit of traveling. He likes to visit each ward’s seminary class at least once a year. He had arranged to visit ours on Tuesday (the 7th). Walt was teaching that day. I had no problem with that. He did a great job and the participation went well. I did give the kids the heads up that we were having a visitor and he would be bringing treats, please be on time. I was so proud of our students. 5 out of the 8 were right on time and the other 3 within 5 minutes of starting. He sat with the students and would ask some great follow up questions. It was good for us to see that and learn how important it is to dig a little deeper. He talked with us afterwards, about an hour. He said it was nice to be able to sit and talk with the teachers after class. Most teachers need to get home to kids or to a job.
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| Getting ready Tuesday morning for Seminary |
We had a great discussion. He said he really felt the Spirit there that day. I was happy to hear that. We’ve been feeling like we haven’t been doing a good job of bringing in the Spirit. It is the Holy Ghost that testifies of truth - directly to our souls. He pointed out that sometimes we are so focused on the lesson, that we fail to notice the Spirit that is there. He gave us some pointers about how to follow through when the kids are opening up, when not to worry if they are not paying attention, and how to go with the flow on lessons. You won’t get to everything you have prepared, but if the kids take it in a different direction and are opening up and sharing - go with it.
I have been the only one to teach since that meeting, and it is working well. I knew I wouldn’t get through my whole lesson - which was Overview of the Book of Mormon. It had really good stuff, so I asked Walt if I could teach the second half the following day. That worked really well. A quick story. I have found that if I pray before starting to prepare a lesson, I am more focused and pretty much directed on which parts would benefit our particular class. As I was preparing the overview lesson, I got to a part near the end that talked about how the Book of Mormon answers most of life’s important questions and then gives the specific reference for that question. I felt very strongly that I needed to print that out and give it to the class. I was about half way through the lesson and this part was at the very end. I felt strongly that I needed to go ahead and share that part with the class. I did explain to them how I pray about a lesson, and about the prompting of that part. I said - “Someone in this class needs this. I don’t know who it is, or when they will need, but it’s important that I give this out to each of you.” I may never know who needed it or when, but I’ve learned from many previous experiences that when you get a prompting from the Spirit, you should do it. Here is the paper I gave to them. I’m pretty sure, if you click on the blue part - the scripture - it will take you to that reference.
The Book of Mormon contains answers to life’s most meaningful questions.
Is there a God? (See Alma 30:37–44.)
Can I know God? (See Alma 22:18.)
Does God care about me? (See 3 Nephi 13:26–32.)
How can I resist temptation and sin? (See Helaman 5:12.)
What is the purpose of life? (See Alma 34:32–34.)
Is there life after death? (See Alma 40:11–12, 21–23.)
How can I find peace and joy and be happy? (See Mosiah 2:41; 4:2–3; Alma 41:10.)
How can my family be happier and more united? (See Mosiah 4:14–15.)
How can I judge between right and wrong? (See Moroni 7:16–17.)
Why does God allow evil and suffering to occur? (See 2 Nephi 2:1–2, 11–16, 22–27; Alma 14:9–11; 60:13.)
Tuesday night, we had the most interesting meal since we have been here. Sis Jones has been telling us since day one how she makes the most amazing antelope roast. There are a lot of people that don’t like antelope. They say it is too gamey or has too much sage taste to it. Some people only like it as sausage. Well Sunday, Sis Jones said her husband was finally home (he is a truck driver) and wanted us to come for dinner. She asked if we had ever had a couple of other meats; which we had not.
We used our GPS to find her house, which still was a little tricky. They live a bit out of town off a dirt road. We went to the house, we thought was the right one. It looked very sketchy. I was a bit nervous to go up to the door. We got to the porch, and I said to Walt, “I wonder if they have a dog.” Just then a large dog started barking like crazy from inside the house. Great. I was just praying that this was the wrong house. No one answered, and I was quick to say, let’s try the next one. We left right away, and the next house was the one. Thank goodness. I was really preparing for an adventure if the first one was it. The Jones live in a very nice place.
We came in to a smorgasbord ready to eat. We had asparagus, squash, salad and potatoes. Poor Walt only liked half of that, but has gotten great at just choking down a few bites to be polite. The high light of the meal was the meat. There was goat, antelope steak, and buffalo burger. Wow!! They knew this was all new to us, so I didn’t feel pressure to like something that I thought tasted nasty. We were ready to try it all. The goat was pretty tasty. It tasted like something between a beef and pork roast. The antelope steak was also quite tasty, good seasoning, and then the buffalo burger. It was so similar to ground beef. It was a little dry, but nothing a bit of ketchup couldn’t fix. It was pretty fun trying all these new meats; especially since they were good. I was really skeptical about the goat. The Jones used to have their kids raise goats for the 4H club. That is super popular here. Most times, at the county fair, someone will buy them, and then give them back to the kids who raised them. Then the Jones would get the goat fattened up and have them for dinner. Such a different world. It was quite a nice visit and they are ready to have us back for some salmon and halibut they caught in Alaska. They sent us home with some rockfish and halibut. Guess I’ll have to read up on preparing them both.
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| Top of the plate is the goat, then the antelope and then buffalo. I took small amounts till I knew I liked it. Always a good idea on a mission |
Wednesday, was Nic Smith’s 5th birthday. We are all so grateful Renee is still here to celebrate it with him. We visited her that day. She is using only the Eye Gaze System for Speech to communicate now. We actually have better conversations because it is much easier for her than was texting on her tablet. It has some really cool features - even corny jokes. She was showing us all the things it can do. Richard is going to hook it up so that she can do Facebook and other things on it.
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| Renee's Eye Gaze System for Speech |
Visiting Renee was our second time to the hospital that day. Walt had an appointment with an orthopedic specialist from Rapid City, SD who comes once a week to Newcastle. Once there, we found there was a problem with his referral. Our doctor in PA agreed to remain our doctor through the rest of our mission, back in July when we were home for Kate’s wedding. The doctor was on vacation, and the PA’s didn’t want to give a referral for out of state. They wanted Walt to come in and see them first, then they would give the referral. Not happening. He went ahead and kept the appointment. The insurance company said a referral can be back dated up to 21 days. Dr Bowen (Pa doc) will be back on Monday. The office actually did end up doing a referral for up to 3 visits. Sweet. They did an X-ray and exam and the doctor (orthopaedic) guy is pretty sure Walt has a torn meniscus. They will have to do a' MRI in Rapid City to be sure. We will set that up on Monday. So it’s possible he will have knee surgery while here. At least, the kind of repair isn’t too invasive and the recovery is quick. I told him it wouldn’t get him out of teaching seminary. He can hobble in, and teach sitting in a chair. We’ll keep you guys posted.
I went ahead and took care of serving at the Sr Center that day. I had to leave before the doctor saw Walt. Lots of people asked about him and said to tell him they missed him. It’s work, but fun to do the lunch there. They even sent Walt a lunch. There was another member of our ward at the hospital when Walt was there and gave him a ride home. So nice. The beauty of a small town.
Thursday, Walt finally got to go ice fishing. Richard Smith has been trying to set this up since last winter, but his auger was broke. That’s the thing used to drill the hole into the ice. Right now the ice is about 9-10 inches thick. Richard loves to fish and it really helps him relax. Walt took a quick nap before going, and left about 10:30. I think it was about 15 degrees when he left, but was the forecast was for 36 and sunny. Perfect - really. That’s a nice day for winter. He got back about 3:30 and brought a cooler in with him. I said, wow - is that full of fish? His reply sounded like, I have 8 fish. Wow!! I asked if he caught all 8. No - it’s A fish. Just one about a 10 inch fish. More of an appetizer than a meal. But it’s one more than Richard caught. At least they had fun hanging out. It was really good for Richard to just be able to talk with an adult for several hours.
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| Richard and Walt's ice fishing holes. Richard (top) and Walt (bottom) |
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| Frozen lake at the L.A.K. ranch |
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| Walt's one fish |
I spent the day laminating stuff for seminary and organizing my new colored pencils. FYI, it was a LOT of laminating. Walt bought me a pack of 100 colors and a case. They look so awesome. He just laughs at me. I asked didn’t he organize his 64 Crayola crayons by color. He looked at me like I was crazy - No! Ok then - I loved doing that. I have always loved to color and we bought one of those adult books at a thrift store for $3. It’s very relaxing. Several of my family feel the same about coloring. It was a nice calm day for me too.
Thursday night we were finally able to make it to Bingo at the Manor. It’s been nearly a month with the holidays. I found out Walt doesn’t really enjoy it all that much. I think it’s fun. I love chatting up the residence and making jokes with them. He makes it work and I appreciate that. The staff love it when we come and help. Since the hospital and the Manor are connected, we had a short visit (30 minutes) with Renee on our way out.
Friday, was our snow day, but we did keep our appointment to have the Aylesworths over for dinner. I had pork chops in the freezer that the Sr Center gave us. They gave us enough for 3 meals. So I put those in the instapot and they turned out so tender. I also made brownies to serve with ice cream and chocolate syrup. We were taking dinner to the Knights the following night, so the brownies were enough for both. It was a good meal and visit. It was really cold that night - 5 degrees with a real feel of -7. Winter is back.
Saturday was our busiest day. We were able to FaceTime Heidi (one day late) for her birthday. It was fun. She showed us all of her drawings, and told us all about the good book she had just read. I wish we could have kept talking but we needed to get ready for our appointments. I think we talked about 45 minutes. The Smiths were our first appointment. We’ve been feeling like we need to get back to teaching them a weekly lesson with the kids. I gave them reading charts so they could keep track of reading the Book of Mormon. Then we went ahead and read the first chapter together to get them started. They each set a goal of reading a certain number of chapters for the week. We actually see them again tomorrow for a lesson and dinner.
We had time to eat lunch and get some Brunswick stew on to cook before our next appointment. We took the Aylesworths to visit the Pithans. They are the couple that lost their son, two days after we got here. It was January 21st. They always have a good fire going and usually marshmallows. Jerry had all the fixings for s’mores. I just like the marshmallows. We had asked the Aylesworths if they would prepare the spiritual thought. They agreed and did a nice job of it. Visits with the Pithans can run from 2-3 hours. We explained to the Aylesworth before getting there that we had to leave at 4 pm, since we were having dinner with the Knights at 6 pm. We actually made it out of there on time.
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| At the Pithans. The lighting isn't all that good. |
Our last appointment was with the Knights. She had a double foot surgery right ofter Christmas. I offered to bring them dinner, and Gary said only if we stayed and ate it with them. Fine with us. We really enjoying visit this family. It’s always good food and good company. They had never even heard of Brunswick stew before, so a new food adventure for them. They liked it. I served it with Red Lobster type biscuits, and the brownie dessert. We didn’t end up leaving until 9:30 pm. That’s pretty late; especially since Walt has a meeting at church that starts at 7 am.
Today was a good Sunday. Kay was able to make it. Richard had to stay home with Haley who has a stye and it’s a mess. So he dropped the boys off and they sat with us. They were really good, even Nic. So now, Walt is getting his nap and I am determined to finish this before taking a short nap as well. As soon as Walt is awake, he will do the pictures and we should be able to send this off tonight.
It’s been a busy week, but full of adventure, teaching the gospel and helping others. That’s why we are here. Someone asked me today if we were going to extend our mission another 6 months. Without even thinking, I said - No. 18 months is long enough to be away from our family. That’s it for now. Enjoy your week coming up. We love and miss you all!
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