It's been an interestingly good/long week. It began with not having a job on Monday, to taking a job that was in High School. Yes, what you heard is right; I actually did HIGH SCHOOL for the first time on Monday. Colton High, to be exact. Why did I take it? Well, the job description was for Band/Choir. So I thought I should seize the opportunity and try something new. However, I was really scared Sunday night when I took it and Monday morning. Fortunately for me, it was only the last half of the day, so I only taught 3 periods worth. All in all, it was a pretty good experience. The first period was Jazz band. There were probably like 10-15 members or so in the band. What was really cool is they played a jazz riff, and then let each of the instruments make their own solo for the riff, like the sax and then the violins (why you have violins in a jazz band is beyond me) and horns and other instruments. They had their instruments in a closet that had lockers that I opened at the beginning of the period. Fortunately for me, the band room is super close to the front of the school. I had to pick up attendance from the attendance office. I must have looked lost walking to the room, though, but a nice kid said I was there and pointed me in the right direction. What's crazy is the last two periods had 60+ people participating.
2nd Period was a sixty person choir and all the teacher had me do was have them watch a movie. We chose Paul Blart: Mall Cop. What stunk about this is several kids told me they wanted to go to other classes with my permission. That and three girls, not at the same time, asked me to go to the nurse. It was a bit sketchy. It was another girl's birthday named Briana, and she had cake. Obviously, not enough for 60 people, so she took it out into the hall to eat with her select friends. The teacher had also left a gift wrap of candy bars for this girl which I gave to her at the beginning of the class.
Also, fortunately, each class had someone that volunteered to take attendance. That really helped in the 60+ classrooms. Last period was ensemble band with tons of people. They were LOUD! That's all I took from that. They had a drum line and several different instruments. In each band class, some students took over, so I didn't have to really do anything, just listen in awe at the music. Besides being loud, they were high school good. They talked about fund raisers and being represented at the pep rallies and stuff. So, like I said, not a bad first experience in high school. I should probably do it again to get the full effect. Sarah's encouraging me to do so, so maybe one of these days, I'll take another class. One thing that made me nervous was parking, because I had never driven to Colton High. It wasn't too hard. I don't know what the students do for parking, but staff have their own parking lot that I found easily. I have driven past Colton, but never as staff. I always went there for track meets, or to watch you play in the auditorium across the street. Remember those times?
Writing about the girl with the birthday cake reminds of an incident on friday. I was at Sycamore, and a student's parents brought him donuts in the middle of the day. Why? I have no idea. Of course, there were only 12. I told him that he needed to share. He had his reasons for not wanting to share...one of which is not all the kids were his friends. I finally told him find, to pass out the donuts to whoever he wanted. He then had the audacity to ask me to pass them out for him. I told him I didn't want any part of it. Some girls got mad at me later, for not making the kid share his donuts.
Another thing, We had inclement weather schedule for last recess on Friday because of rain. So, for recess, I projected a YouTube video called, If you sing you lose-Disney Edition. Well, the kids had fun with that...but this being a disney video, it had updated songs from the most recent Disney/Pixar movie Coco. I don't even remember what the song was about. But it later came back to bite me. It invoked tears from a little girl (fourth grade). Her friends came back up to me and told me she was crying because of the song from Coco, which, I don't know if you know this (I haven't seen it yet, shame on me) is about a boy who goes to the land of the dead and learns about his family. I guess this song really got to this girl. I felt a little bad afterwards. Good thing her friends were there to comfort her.
I went out with the Elders this week. We went to see the lady they've been teaching named Sandra. She's really nice and she has some really nice daughters. We taught her the restoration. She had the pamphlet in her hands and before we could give it an introduction, she read the first vision. She was impressed. But she also said that others have had visions. She said she was busy on Sunday and couldn't come to church. She tried to get her daughter to commit, but she was nervous.
In my previous appointment with the missionaries, I had given them Jesus and Lucy as a referral. Last night, they texted me, asking me to invite them to church today. I did. They also said they were busy, but they asked me if I knew about Ammon's baptism, which happened today at 5pm. Sarah and I decided to go to the baptism, even though Wiwa only told us about it the day before. It was a good thing we went because we were instrumental to the program, without knowing it. Sarah was listed as the music conductor, and they had me down to give the opening prayer. The thing I remember, is I said for Ammon to grow in love and wisdom. The bishop was funny, and frankly, it seemed like he knew of Ammon's temperament. A lot of people were like, this ordinance will signify a change in his attitude. I had forgotten that Ammon had turned eight. From what I understand, they were waiting to do it in Peru...but maybe they did it because Joseph Anthony was here. He leaves tomorrow. Wiwa definitely dunked him. Dad was a witness. And I was asked to be in the confirmation circle. Definitely an honor to have the Melchizedek Priesthood.
The afterparty was pretty nice. They invited all of the people at the baptism to their house for snacks and even dinner. Boy, I had never thought that you could fit so many people in that living room that is so tiny, but it worked. Now it makes our apartment look really big, It was unbelievable. Now I know it can be done. They served pina jello, rice pudding (very good), and Ahi de Gallina, to everyone there. It was quite the feat. The elders of the Sierra Ward asked Sarah how she knows Spanish, so she told them. Everyone was complimenting my wife's great singing voice. They all heard her at the baptism. She does have a wonderful soprano's voice. She has a large range. She can hit really low notes as well.
I went to the doctor this week for a checkup on the fewer meds I'm taking. After that appointment, all I take is one psychotropic medicine called Olanzapine or Zyprexa, and another pill that is for heart stuff.
Sarah did our taxes this week. It definitely took a long time to do. We have started the Flash. She breezed through Season 1. She really enjoyed it and is getting way into it. It's pretty cool. Also, Sarah and I went a hike for date night this week. We hiked the mountains by where mom and dad live. We got some good pictures. It also started raining a bit right when we finished it. We didn't make it to the top because it was getting dark fast.
Well, It's been a good week. Next week is going to be good as well. I hope you are doing well my friend. I hope transfers has been good to you, if you have experienced it already. Drop me a line or two.
Love,
John
