A cool week

Monday I made the plunge.  I plunked down money for air fare for my AWAI boot camp in October in Florida.  This is a copywriter’s convention.  It’s pretty small—about 300 people and supposed to be great for learning and networking.  They have a job fair there the last day.  I’ll let you know if it was worth it.  Spending 4 hours researching which airport to leave from to get there and depart from there on time was not really worth it.  Next time, I think I’ll pay the fee to Agora and let them figure it out.

Rain and coolness!!  Joy.  JOY!  This week the heat spell broke.  We’ve had highs in the 80’s and it’s been delightful!  It’s a pleasure to walk outside.  I cleaned off the table on the porch so we could dine there (but we haven’t yet.)   We’ve had rain several times this week.  I love the rumble of thunder and the tappity-tap of rain on the roof.

Wednesday we got our visiting teaching finished.  Sometimes visits are so satisfying as you feel like you are making a difference in people’s lives.

Thursday I invited my friend Barbara over to make spaghetti sauce.  She’d never done it, but she has tomatoes and peppers.  So we made a big pot full and split the results.  It was tasty and flavorful.  It was a fun afternoon.  She said, this is the closest I’ve ever had to having a sister.  What I love about the gospel is that even if you’re single and alone, you have a ward family and a roomful of sisters.

Friday we went to the movies for our date and saw Bourne Legacy.  A new character played Jason Bourne and we debated back and forth for a while about whether the character we were watching was Jason or not.  Then he shaved… or was that another character.  But there was lots of action, so maybe it didn’t matter.  I think watching it a second time would help things fall into place better. After the movie we went shopping.  I got my year’s supply of school items.  This is such a good time to stock up on pens and notebooks.  We also bought a new phone.  I hope that it works better so our calls will not break up as we visit.

This week focused on Seminary, Institute and the training coming up on Saturday.  Some of my seminaries began this week as school started for many communities.  Some seminaries should have started the first day of school, but we are still helping teachers and leaders see the value of strengthening the students from day 1 as is required by the program.

One poor new teacher was called on Wednesday and is supposed to begin on Monday.  I just learned of the calling on Thursday night, and finally connected with him on Friday night to invite him to the training on Saturday morning.  Fortunately he came and learned a lot and got his teacher’s manual.  You know, this church HAS to be true!  Where else could you take a teacher like that and know that he will be able to begin teaching on Monday.  And surprisingly enough, it will go fine.

I was commenting to the Seminary and Institute regional coordinator that 17 of my 21 teachers were there.  As I mentioned those who were not, he said, “Oh, the Powers moved to Texas.” “What? I was supposed to learn that when?”  I find when I am not kept in the loop I feel so incompetent.  I decided that was an “I” problem and either I can choose to feel incompetent, or I can just get over it, realize that there is an imperfect program in place to learn of all these calling, releases, and departures, and just move on.

Saturday training did go very well.  We discussed effective questions, bringing the spirit into the class room, and helping students commit to reading the scriptures every day.  After my training program, I went to Aldi’s to shop and then to ½ of ½ to be entertained.  I did find an outfit and pants.  Hey!  The pants were only $1.99 and the others were half price of the half of half.

Then I went to the Springfield Stake center for the Especially for Seminary program.  I met Tom there who had come up with the youth.  They had classes and a great devotional, then had a dance.  Tom and I left to come home when the dance started.

Today I had a lovely visit with an 80 year old lady who is looking into the church.  She has an internet relationship with an LDS gentleman.  She will be visiting him again and they are talking marriage.  It was fun to visit with her and both caution and encourage. She is someone else who has lived a lonely life.  It made me realize anew the blessings of a ward family.

A good week. Hope your week went well, too.