Well, Everybody.....the 4th has come and gone,
We didn't make it
to a parade, we found out on the 4th that the fireworks were on the
3rd.....but after missing everybody and everything for a little while
we went to Panera Bread for breakfast (a semi close reminder of going to
Burger King and buying 25 sausage biscuits to eat on the parade
route....cost about the same too) and then we went up to Tagganauck
Falls and walked up to the Falls which were spectacular after the 100
inches of rain the day before. It didn't really rain that much but a
lot and the torrent coming over the falls was impressive to say the
least. And we were walking down as the rest of the state was walking up
so we lucked out on that one. The weather was beautiful. After the
huge rainstorm of Thursday, the humidity all went away and we even wore
jackets on our hike. Then we came back to find out that some members in
Winston Court, a housing complex that several of the married students
live in, were having a bar-b-cue and invited the missionaries to come so
it was fun to go there and get our little kid fix and eat a picnic and
play/watch a little soccer and baseball. And we appreciate soooooo much
the pictures and videos that you all posted on facebook of the day's
activities at home. Probably one of the best things we did that day
though was take one of our YSA's to the hospital to visit her mother who
was diagnosed with massive tumors on her kidneys. Harmony is an
amazingly self-sufficient special needs young single adult who lives on
her own, has a job, and loves, loves, loves Special Olympics. She rides
the buses most places she goes but they weren't running on the 4th and
she doesn't drive. We'll probably be helping her out with getting to
see her mom until things are settled.
It was a busy week for
for Cooking Every Second. We told you last week what was going on in a 5
day time space and then we added another dinner to that. With so many
members out of town on vacations, etc. our missionaries get hungry!
This week I'm going to BJ's (our Costco look alike) for refreshments for
anything we go to this week!!! FHE on Monday was a mini-world-cup game
and it was a riot to watch. Not too many soccer players in the group
but that didn't matter....they played for the win! One of the
goal-keepers was Elder Chao who has never played soccer in his life and
the other was Angela, one of our investigators, who is about 5 tall and
this petite, cute girl who was an animal in the goal! Actually both
goalies played like nobody was going to score on them! The neat thing
is Angela and her husband Uggi (both from China) were supposed to leave
on their vacation Monday morning and when they found out we were playing
soccer they postponed their vacation for a day so they could come
play.
We've also done some of our summer "homework" for CES
this week....lots of videos to watch teaching us how to teach and
everything else we should be doing. We just discovered Gospel Topics.
That's an amazing resource for family home evenings or lessons or just
information and it's being constantly updated with not only information
but videos and related things to read, etc. Right now our brains are on
information overload! If you ever have time too (Hah! What's time?!),
google a talk by J. Reuben Clarke given to CES instructors in 1938.
You would be amazed at how relevant his talk is to anybody who teaches
in the Church today. It's titled "The Charted Course of Church
Education." We wonder how well we measure up sometimes. This week we
anticipated maybe 3 or 4 at our Cornell Institute because so many were
out of town but we ended up with 13 which can be a little intimidating.
And we always love our Owego Institute because they're such good, good
people. We just hope and pray that we're doing what Heavenly Father
wants us to do and teaching to the needs of our students. But actually
we're all learning together because they teach us as much as we teach
them. The summer is flying by way too quickly and soon all the students
will be back here and the roads will be crowded and we'll have to start
paying $$ to park on campus and I'll start having to wear a dress more
often. Bummer! We had only 23 in Church today but Fast and Testimony
in the branch was one of the best I've been too. We even had a
non-member ask if he could go up and "talk." His wife (who is a member)
just sat and cried. They're the ones leaving for Brazil this week
because they have tickets to the semi final and final World Cup games.
Are we jealous? Yes we are! Univision quit broadcasting WC games now
so it's easier to not feel guilty for watching a game or two. Actually
senior missionaries can watch TV as long as they're sensitive to what
they watch. You want to know what we watch?? Just go to Bryce's
netflix account!! Actually we don't watch tv hardly at all except for
the news and weather report which tells us what time of the day it's
going to rain. Also today in Church there was no-one to teach the
Gospel Doctrine class so Dad punted and did a really good job...Old
Testament even!
Well.....the countdown for the missionaries! We
can't believe it's here already. We bet you can't either. We still
reiterate that a mission is the hardest fun thing they'll ever do. So
do you all remember the custom (then it was the airport) of saying good
bye to the missionary and then using some of the missionary's money to
go eat somewhere? You should do that on Wednesday! We'll write
President Nally and tell him you're coming! You will all be in our
thoughts and prayers on that day because we will be thinking as much
about those in the drop-off cars as those at the MTC! But the
blessings will come to you all....we promise that! And we expect some
will come our way too (they already have) for the goodness of our kids
and grandkids in ALL the things they do.
We love
you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dad and Mom/Grandpa and Grandma
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