Back in the swing of things

These past couple months have brought changes in our YSA program. Our two reps left and went to jobs after getting their masters, as did many other students who finished either their schooling or their internships.  So we have been limping along waiting for the new students to show up so that the Bishopric could reorganize our committee and we could get on with things again.  We continued having Home Evening on Monday nights and an activity now and again as the YSA planned and wanted to, but it was hit and miss at best.  Since the program is not ours then all we could do is suggest and encourage.  As we were still busy helping in the office we were not without plenty to keep us busy. We are glad that things are now getting reorganized and up and running again.
We now have two new reps who are Heather Evans from Texas and Craig Irving from here.  They are both on top of things and are excited to get the program up and going full steam.  Our committee is back on track and its looking up for a new school year.
The couple who taught Institute was released so Marshall has been teaching while we are waiting for the stake to call new teachers. We assume they will call another couple but we may be wrong.
We have Institute every Wednesday night.  To complete the courses, two lessons have  to be taught for each class. It takes a lot of study for the teachers. 
One of the Senior couples Elder and Sister Boden, that we really enjoyed and became good friends with went home just over a week ago. We miss them. They were called as Self Reliance missionaries.  The good thing is they live in the Phoenix valley so we will be able to visit each other when we are all back in the states.They were replaced by Elder and Sister Leavitt, from out past Apache Junction in Az    Now another couple Elder and Sister Hansen from South Jordan Ut,are leaving next week. We have become very close to the Hansens also.  It is hard to say good-bye to these good people that we have come to care so much for. They are the office couple and are being replaced by Elder and Sister Broughton, who are also from Mesa Az area.  That's one thing about serving a mission, there is constant change. We senior missionaries pretty much stay our full mission in one place but the junior missionaries come and go. Every transfer the whole mission gets a shake up. Working in the office these past several months we have seen first hand what a big job it is to run a mission.  Sure makes us appreciate the huge responsibility President and Sister Brown have and all the hard work of the office staff.
Winter is here now and I for one am not looking forward to the cold weather and the long dark hours.  It doesn't get light now until between 7am and 8 am and it's dark by 5pm. Pretty soon it will will dark even longer.  All part of the mission experiences that we get to have.
A couple weekends ago Henny, our exchange student from Norway, came and stayed the weekend with us. She lives in London with her husband. She has been in London for the past 15 or more years I am guessing.  We were really excited to get to see her again.  She visited us a couple times in the states after she went home but it has been about 15 years since we have seen her. She is just as beautiful as ever and we had a great time with her. 

We took this picture at an place called Anstruthers.  It is suppose to be the best fish and chip's in Scotland.  If not the best, then it is sure at the top of the list. It was delicious. On this trip we also drove by St. Andrews golf course.  They were filming a tournament and it was really crowded so we were not able to stop and walk around the course.  We also stopped and had ice cream at the "best ice cream" in Scotland.  Again if not the best it was the best we have had since we have been here.


Just a couple words to remember:
garden = yard ( took me forever to figure out they were talking about their yard and not a plot of veggies or flowers)
lounge = living room
foot path = sidewalk
corridor = hallway


until next time