February has come and gone and here we are in March. California is in desperate need of rain. We have been asked to fast and pray for rain this Fast Sunday - February 2nd. We were told by our Stake leaders that the brethren in Salt Lake were also praying for the drought to end in California. On the 6th it began to rain and though we have had a few days where there has been no rain, it has rained much of this month and into March.
We inspected all the Missionary apartments in Redding on the 7th and those in Anderson on the 8th. We have also located a new apartment in Palo Cedro for an incoming set of missionaries. Our mission continues to expand.
There was a bonfire for the Branch on the 7th which was well attended. Shortly after the current Branch Presidency was called, the decision was made to purchase a portable fire pit so the kids would stop using the sand volleyball court as "beach front" for their fires. The Church bought a nice brick fire pit kit and it is portable because the bricks are not mortared together and can be moved any time we want.
On March 8th Mike Cousineau from Cottonwood was baptized and we attended. He is dating a YW, Kendall Enbody, from Cottonwood. They are good friends with Mattew Dragten from Cottonwod. All three have begun attending Institute and coming to the Branch.
On Sunday the 9th, Kent met with Lars Capener, Avery Alexander, and Betty Dionicio, the LDSSA presidency, to review their responsibilities. Lars is a fantastic young man whose father was killed in a plane crash 7-8 years ago. His mother and 4 siblings are rock solid in the church and Lars is planning a mission this summer. Betty is a very recent convert from a very strong Catholic family. Betty's parents aren't happy about her change in religions but they are supportive of their daughter. Avery attended Kent's Book of Mormon class last semester and was quite quiet and reserved. Since being involved in the LDSSA she has come out of her shell very nicely.
Also on the 9th we invited Pat McEuen, 1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency, to come for dinner since his wife Vivi is out of town tending to grandchildren. The invite was simply to give Pat some "friend time" not because he can't take care of himself. He is a great cook! We made pot roast and had ice cream and Kent's homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert. We visited for a bit and Pat left around 6 p.m.
On the 12th we received a box of chocolate covered strawberries from Brad and Kalynne for Valentine's Day. We were a little sad to leave those delicious strawberries for a few days and hoped they would still be fresh and good when we returned on Saturday evening. No fear - they were still great. What a "sweet" gift.
What a wonderful time we had with Brad and Camille in Medford, Oregon. Camille is leaving on a mission to Jamacia in mid March and they took time out of their busy schedule to drive 10 hours to Medford to meet us so Camille could say goodbye. We met Friday night the 14th, staying in Springhill Suites with adjoining rooms (the cost of which was covered by Brad with "free stay" points he and Kalynne have earned). Brad took us out to dinner at Porters Resturant that evening and we visited all evening with them. We got up and had breakfast Saturday morning, went to a session in the temple at 11:30, went to lunch at Keleidoscope Pizza, then they headed north toward home and we headed south to Redding. This was such a thoughtful thing for them to do and what an enjoyable time it was for us.
On Friday the 21st we made sloppy joes for Friday Forum lunch, with a great fruit salad. We are excited to see the numbers grow at the forum lunches. We had 28 there - a record. The Stake President's wife, Sister Bickmore, spoke and President Bickmore came with her. She commented on the numbers in attendance saying the last time she spoke several years ago, there were just a handful of students in attendance.
Our Wednesday night family history class is filled with information that can help us with our history but only 5-8 students attend.
Desiree Broomfield asked us to drive her and her escort to the Sacramento Temple on the 22nd in order for Desiree to receive her endowments. She had to be there by 8:30 a.m. so that left us with time on our hands before her 10:30 endowment session. Cody Ohlau asked to ride with us so he could get to the temple early enough to do inititories. From names the temple had ready, Kent and Cody each performed 15 intiatories each. Cody had done research for some of his family during Wednesday evening class and had 5 men names needing endowments and 6 sister needing initiatory and the endowment. Nan did the initiatory then gave those 6 names to sisters in the branch to do the endowment. Cody gave out 5 cards for the brethren to do the endowment for.
Nan went to lunch at the Olive Garden with the wives of the Branch Presidency on the 27th. The gals get together once a month to just visit and grow their friendship. Olive Garden is one of our favorite places to eat.
This brings us to March. The calender seems full for March. We continue to teach our Old Testament and Book of Mormon classes during the day. We have about 22 total in those classes.
That's is for now.
Kent and Nan
