4/15 Letter #64

Dear Jacob,

It’s been a good week.

It ended (at least Friday) ended with me teaching at High School again. This is my second time ever at a high school. I went all the way down to Grand Terrace for this one, and guess who I bumped into at the school. A happy Principal James Western. I hadn’t known that he was the principal there. At the time, it was lunch time and I needed help finding a microwave. The microwave. I know, menial task for a principal, but he helped me nonetheless. Last time I was at a high school, they didn’t give me that much time for a lunch because the scheduled time was for later in the day. I saw him later and he was commenting on how much water a student was not drinking. Don’t ask me why. So, the class I was there for was Vocal Music and Music History. The two music history classes were divided into groups for presentations and they all gave their best presentations (which were definitely high school level). One of them was a organ piece and when they played an example of the piece, one of the audience was like, “Oh, so he composes Halloween music.” Haha. It doesn’t get better than that.

The vocal music classes were all very cool. Some were practicing arrangements of Flashlight from Pitch Perfect 2 and other songs were like a medley of Disney Songs. Others were practicing choreography for pieces set to the Hairspray musical. It was fun to watch. She did have a TA that was taking down names of people in the Advanced Chamber Choir that weren’t doing anything. About 4 kids were focussed on eating a super spicy chow mein dish. I don’t really know why. Others were singing happy birthday, etc. No movies, but it was cool to see each of the classes in work. The TA’s name was Jurnee (she was black) and she was in like 4 of the 6 periods (a senior) along with another senior named Lizbeth. She actually didn’t show up for the beginning of last period and people were wondering what was up. Then she showed up and I told her I marked her late, jokingly. The boys in the final choir class were practicing either some kind of chant, or For the Longest Time in another room. I was able to play warm ups for the girl choir, and some kids asked me how long I have been playing. Overall, good experience. If choral classes at High School show up, I probably will take them again. Don’t know about the other classes yet.

The weather has finally been getting hot so Sarah and I have been going swimming. She has been teaching me tips about the frog kick and the breaststroke and also how to better freestyle and blow water out of my nose when I’m swimming. We have a pool in our apartment complex. It was funny, the last time we went, an interesting man named mike was shouting at us from the second story of his house and just letting us know how excited he was for us to go swimming and for the nice summer weather we’ve been having. We plan on going more and more as the summer progresses. We do have a jacuzzi, but it is never heated past a lukewarm feeling. So, it feels good after going in cold water, but that’s about it.

I taught everyday this last week. At work on Thursday, I taught a first grade class. First grade has been really hard to teach lately for me, just because of my mindset, and how I’ve been feeling at places like Rogers Elementary. But this time was actually not too bad. A highlight that I took is that we were asked to read certain materials. So, I would have them read with me. Echo read. And I finally had them sing the words of the materials, copying how I sung the song. The kids really took to it. It was a nice change. Especially from the error I made earlier that day in bringing them to the wrong computer lab, when a teacher needed me to be there stat. OH well. The teacher I was subbing for didn’t really seem like she cared too much, though. She warned me about the major offenders. She had four. One in every corner of the room.

It was fun, though. I had lots of extra time on my hands at the end of the day in that same classroom. Fortunately, the teacher had left her computer there for me to play with. So, I knew from earlier teaching on previous days, that the first graders had been practicing a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 dance to the Cotton-Eye Joe. So, I had them perform it for me twice in the classroom (not consecutively). They had also learned the song “You Gotta Friend in Me” song from Toy Story, and they happily sang that song. I also had them do Youtube DDR to songs by One Direction that I notice my SDC kids like to dance to or watch a lot. They had a good time that day, as did I.

I was in Jurupa Vista SDC earlier this week for Mrs. Raymondo. It turns out that Mrs. Raymondo has early stages of breast cancer and at the end of this week she was going to have the surgery and recovery. The aides were asking me if I could teach for the next three weeks or longer. I cleared my schedule for this week, but I didn’t get the position. They were happy I was there on Tuesday, but, had told me that they thought I didn’t get the job because the sub that was going to take over for Mrs. Raymondo, might actually be the teacher that takes her job when she goes to a different school, because that is what she’s thinking about doing. Oh well. Fortunately I was blessed with the ability to find jobs the rest of the week.

The other two days I was at Sycamore Hills in SDC and in a second grade class, the same class I had taught when there was a beehive at the school on a Wednesday. That class is easy to teach because Mr. Stoffel has an aide that helps out. It was a good day. I didn’t see the Guillen kids that day, and they didn’t see me.

We had scouts on Wednesday. We had a normal “meal planning” meeting for a campout that we’re having in two weeks. I have to bring beans for breakfast burritos. It reminded me of long boring scout meetings where we planned menus before. Although, the kids made it fun. We also discussed if we should raise money for scout camp this year and the consensus was no. When I told Hna. Garcia about that, she wasn’t very happy, seeing as how she now has Isaac and his brother, Sammy in scouts. I honestly felt like it is too late in the game to raise the money, not to mention they are having Pioneer Trek in July. But I just let her vent out all her emotions. I’m also trying to get one of our boys to come to the scout campout. His name is Jared, and he is a little on the doesn’t-want-to-go-to-things-outside-of-church mentality. His mom has come to me with pleads of help to get him active. I’m doing my best to encourage ALL the boys to come.

We had the Elders over for dinner on Thursday. We had originally invited Lucy and Jesus to come, but they cancelled because a prior commitment. So, Sarah prepared a homemade lasagna. It was super good. Super super good. The elders shared a five minute brief explanation about the restoration. In Young Mens today, I focussed on the Book of Mormon, and particularly the questions of the soul section found in chapter five of Preach My Gospel. I had three groups of three take one question from the chapter, read the book of mormon chapter and then help explain it to me. I tried to play devil’s advocate with Josh Mondragon and Jorge Munguia and Sammy Garcia’s group. It was quite fun.

WE’RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND on Wednesday for free! Yay! I was a little scared that our in was going to find a way to say no to us and it not work out, but in the end, she is pulling through. We invited Sarah’s dad, and Sarah’s friend, Sarah Mable Jensen and kids are coming as well. I’m really looking forward to it.

Mom and Sarah went to a relief society activity pulled on by the stake on Saturday. Mom picked her up and they were on their way. Dad called me later that day and asked me if I wanted lunch with him. Of course I said yes and we ate pizza hut pizza and watched the highlights from the last two friendly Peru soccer games. Then we talked about things in the church and wards we are in and waited for the girls to come home, and then we talked some more. I showed Sarah baby pictures and we broke out the scrapbooks and some photo albums. It was quite fun.

Anyways, just got back from a seminary fireside, where Sarah and I participated in an activity where we pretended to be investigators. It was really fun.

Well, I hope you are doing well. I love you so much. Have a great week and don’t forget to send me a line.

Love you,

John