President Weston was in Redding on the 16th for Missionary Interviews. He always includes us even though we don't have any "missionary" report to make. He always encourages us and thanks us for taking the time away from family and friends to be here in Redding as an example to the youngsters. His visits always inspire us.
July 17th was Kent's birthday. Received cards and phone calls from all the kids and emails and cards from other family and friends. Several gift certificates to a variety of restaurants were also received. That will give us a chance to eat out once in a while.
On Saturday the 20th we took the ZL's to Chico, about 1.5 hours south of here. One of the ZL's was asked to go back and baptize a man he taught several months ago. This man has recovered from drug dependency and is married with two children. It is very rewarding to see people's lives change as they turn their lives around. We see this a lot. People join the church against all odds, drugs, alcohol, or a family that turns their back on them. Brave modern pioneers!
A YW we became close to last winter got married on the 26th in the Boise Temple. She had invited us to attend the temple ceremony and we thought of going over because she has kept in close contact with us but we decided it would take 20 hours of driving for the round trip and we were not sure we were up to that. The car was in the garage having all the plugs replaced because it had been missing so it wouldn't have worked out anyway. Kassee called and talked to Nan the day before her marriage and we told her we would not be coming. She was disappointed but understood.
Nan has spent much of her time these past few weeks summarizing all the Apostles talks from the last conference in April. This is in preparation for the last couple of Institute Classes on 'Teachings of the Living Prophets.' This effort on her part has lead to some really good discussions between us. One of the section headings in her Student Manual states: "The words of the Prophets delivered through the Spirit during General Conference are Latter-day scripture." We should STUDY the current prophets words just as we do the Standard Works. This is instruction for us today.
Kent just finished teaching the 'Missionary Preparation Class.' His study of the teacher's manual and 'Preach My Gospel' has been really a good experience too. We are both learning a lot. So far we have taught - D & C - History of the Church - Pearl of Great Price & How to Study the Scriptures. This next semester we are teaching Old Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrines of the Gospel. We just finished reading the Book of Mormon together. This is our third time through. Kent has started studying and outlining it again in preparation for Fall Institute Classes.
Martin Kolberg has recommitted to baptism in September. This is the YM that is on parole and was having some doubts for a while. He is extremely smart and I think he is intellectually converted and needs a little more spiritual conversion. Martin does attend Institute on Wednesday evening and has only missed a couple of times while he was reconsidering his stand on things.
Dallen Wood, a YM that has regularly attended our classes asked us to go with him to the Temple this last Saturday as he received his own endowments. That was a wonderful day. The new temple film was shown. It's totally amazing. It had an impact on both of us. We are going to Dallen's ward this Sunday as he will be speaking. There are several more of our students that are leaving on missions in the next couple of months and several more preparing their mission papers for submission.
For the trip to Medford, we decided to use some of the gift cards Kent received for his birthday. So we wouldn't have to get up at the crack of drawn on Saturday morning to get to the Temple by 9:30, we made reservations at the Ramada Inn for Friday night using the "debit card" we received at Christmas; that evening we ate at the Outback Steak House using another gift card. After the temple on Saturday, we ate lunch at The Breadboard, a little place in Ashland that had lots of cars outside as we drove by. Didn't know a thing about the place, but the food was wonderful! Thank you again to all our loving children for the gift cards. We had a nice get-away weekend that cost us $15.00.
We are both doing great. Until next time. Goodbye.
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