Sorry I’ve been MIA for the last two weeks. Ya know, things come up. I had tried a new system starting 2 weeks ago where I write a bit of my letter everyday, and it worked, but I never got around to sending it out. I’ll probably attach it to the end of the letter, or at least some excerpts.
The biggest thing that hinders me from getting a letter out every Sunday would be the Sunday evening activities. Last week, for instance, Sarah and I were invited to Peter’s house for the Palmer quarterly “Mesa-Gilbert bunch” dinner, (as Granny likes to call it). We had decided to have a dinner hosted about every 3 months in different homes. It started with us, and last weeks was Aunt Ann’s and Peter’s turn to host. It was quite a fun time. We had hamburgers and some nachos and other potato salads, plus some great pies and cheesecakes. Ann had a great idea to bring some of the books that she has about Harry ‘Vearle’ Payne. She read some of his memoirs, particularly about deodorant, and his mother’s reaction to his desires to become a lawyer. (She shed many a tear because of her experiences for being brought before a jury in Utah, and exiled to Mexico for the practice of Polygamy). Ann also showed us some pictures from times back in the past. I hope that in future gatherings of the ‘Mesa-Gilbert bunch,’ that we expand on this tradition Ann created.
I didn’t even get to writing a letter for this week because of a Branch FHE we had yesterday, so I will be as brief as I can handle (which, for the most part is not brief, but very comprehensive).
Last week was the start of something new for me. Well, new in the sense that it has been a very long while since I attended college. Yes, last week was the first week of my college bound life. And let me tell you, it is an exciting venture, and it’ll definitely be stretching.
I started school at MCC (Mesa Community College). I am in the music program, and I had only signed up for 2 classes, Aural Perception I and Music Theory I. I had taken a placement test provided by MCC to see if I could test out of the intro classes, and I did. Well, I chose the classes to fall on Tuesday and Thursdays, so that I could work the other 3 days of the week.
Day of, I go to my first class, AP1, and my teacher tells me (after I had introduced what I want to go in to which is Choral Education) that I should talk to the Music Counselor. I do, and he tells me that if I want to transfer to a major university in the Future, that I should be taking 2 other classes, as well as take a private instruction class. One was the Concert Choir at MCC, and the other was a Diction class. I told him that I would have to think about it.
I call Sarah during her work break (in between my only two classes) and ask her what she thought, and she just told me to go for it, since this is what Heavenly Father has told us to do, and since we wanted to take all the classes associated with learning about Music.
So, day of, I signed up for 2 more classes and a private instruction class. Choir is so great. And it turns out that the Diction class’s emphasis is in the German language. Sarah and I didn’t see the point of the private instruction until after the diction class, because as an assignment, I will need to memorize and sing 3 different pieces in front of the class, with the greatest command of the language. With the private instruction, though, I also have to perform 2 extra songs (doesn’t need to be in German). So after a week of classes, German diction will most likely be my most challenging class, followed by Music Theory. But honestly, right now the theory class isn’t even phasing me.
It’s been an interesting week, for sure, but I am excited about the prospects in my future.
Other than that, just a normal week, working with the biweekly payment, instead of weekly payment that I have been getting.
Fun thing is that on Friday, Sarah and I participated in our Bingo Night, hosted by our apartment. It was really fun. The grand prize was a big screen TV. But for me, I felt they did it all wrong in how they gave the prizes out. Instead of waiting til the end to give out the Big Screen, they pulled out a raffle ticket, and gave it at the beginning of the meeting party. That said, we played five games of bingo with prizes. Sarah and I both won a game each. We got 2 tickets to a movie at Harkins Movie Theaters, and Sarah got a $10 Amazon gift card. With the prizes we got a bag of gummy bears and a box of M&Ms. At this Bingo, we had great nachos.
Sarah and I also got to go to a performance of Joseph Smith the Prophet, a musical presentation by Rob Gardner, as performed by an institute choir and orchestra. We were invited by our friend and neighbor Heidi Greathouse, who was in the choir. It was very moving, and we were glad to go, for ourselves and to support.
One last thing about this week, we had signed up for the missionaries for dinner on Thursday, but when they showed up on our door, we had completely forgotten. Fortunately, we had something on mind that we had already talked about...we just had to multiply it by 3 for six people. We are saying goodbye to all our missionaries. One, a sister Anica Shmidt is going home in a couple of days and her trainee is moving to another ward. Our Elders are also being whitewashed out of the area--so, 4 new Elders are coming in. It'll be a transition, seeing as how we love these four. And Hermana Rusk surprised me twice this week, showing me how much she has grown just in the last transfer, because she is normally quiet and to herself. But at our dinner she shared her thoughts on a certain matter, and all I could do was smile, then last night at the FHE, she thanked me for having accompanied her to "Be Thou My Vision."
Well, that's good for this week, until next,
John
Here are excerpts from last weeks letter that never got sent.
Biggest thing that I didn't write about is that we went to California for less than 24 hours to celebrate Jacob's birthday and to meet his new girlfriend, Audrey. I was pleased at the time we spent with them. During the time, we talked, slept (during the night), but before Sarah wrapped Audrey's birthday present for Jacob (which was a painting of a German shepherd with a smaller cuter dog that I don't remember the breed name for, which was their dog spirit animals). I played tennis with Jacob in the morning, stopping because of a bad tumble and a scraped knee that really hurt my pride more than my knee. Then we went to Souplantation. Sang Happy Birthday at home while eating their 'donut' cake, and played some Heads Up. Audrey is super good at the capitals. She is also a very nice, sweet girl. I was happy to get to know her. We hope to be able to get to know her more in the future as well. And then we picked up both our cars, one we drove to Fontana, and the one that we lent to Jacob during his summer, and drove home.
