October weather has been very nice! Definitely a relief from the summer heat however it is nothing like a fall in Utah. There is no crispness in the air. I miss that. Conference was so wonderful! Each of the messages were a boost to my spiritual reservoir. For me it was a witness that Heavenly Father hears prayers. Our missionaries biggest concern or need is how to work with members more effectively. To have two apostles address the members on this very topic and explain what members’ role is in missionary work was definitely an answer to our missionary’s prayers. ;) It is amazing when we come with a question to general conference we can receive answers. I know the missionaries loved it!
My visiting teacher hosted us at her home for lunch on Tuesday. It was a great get together. It was neat to go to her house because she and her husband have been doing some major updating. The house was built in the 80’s with its original décor. Amazing to see the before and after. They are still in the process. She graciously showed us what they have finished and shared their vision for what they still want to renovate. I love to see houses be transformed. J Bode and the falcons had a home game this week. He played a little corner and D-line and was up against a 220+ kid that pushed him all over the field. Unfortunately it was a loss for the team.
This week we added to our mission even though it is not transfer week. ;) Tuesday the AP’s picked up our new Chinese-speaking elders. They are very needed. We have been short a companionship. They are all pretty new to the mission which poses some interesting challenges for them but they seemed to be up to the task. We also had four Nauvoo sisters arrive today. All four will be amazing assets to our mission. We love our Temple Square and Nauvoo sisters! We considered them ours just like all our other missionaries.
With so many new missionaries we had a busy week of training meetings. On Thursday we held our lesson skills training. Aaron once again tried something a little bit different in instructing our new missionaries. We think this is exactly the approach that will help the missionaries improve and develop their teaching skills. We break the lessons into smaller bite size pieces, practicing, reviewing, giving feedback, and making sure they are showing the skills needed. He has also changed our district council meetings so we have a round robin role-play format so we can become more confident in our teaching. Right now our mission is what we consider really young and our teaching confidence needs to improve significantly. The more the missionaries role-play in their comp studies the better they become. Unfortunately, they don’t like to do it and so we have to find several approaches to make it happen.
We also had our new missionary training meeting for those that arrived last week. (24 in total with 16 that just arrived, 2 temple square sisters, 4 new Nauvoo sisters, and 2 new Chinese speaking elders) In the past we held this meeting on the second day they are here, but holding off a week was far better. They are more awake and alert, have better context for the things we share with them, and it also allows Aaron to do the training on the Atonement on the same day.
Allie has been busy working on assignments for her classes. This week for her Humanities class, she visited a museum and wrote a critique on her experience. Her roommate went with her so she would have someone she could interview about her experience as well. Sadly, she wasn’t too impressed because they were in the middle of getting a new exhibit ready. Although she will return because she was intrigued by the new exhibit and what was going to be featured. ;)
Zac has become a designated driver for his friends after the football games at Clements. We are grateful because at least he’s out of the house with friends. It is great having him drive himself to seminary too and he is good to give another student a ride back to Clements. He really is such a great kid. I am glad he is mine and I just hope he sticks around to be with me and the family.
Saturday we participated in a local 5/10k fundraising event for cancer patients called the Brent Event. We did it last year as well and we had about 50 missionaries out running or serving at the kids carnival. I ran the 10k (made my goal of 49mins. well 49:11 to be exact and Aaron ran the 5k (2nd overall, but slower than last year. L ) and Jessie walk/ran the kids mile. Fun event and it’s great to get the missionaries out doing something fun from time to time. We also had some of our former missionaries come for a visit. We love to see them, visit about what they are doing and see the growth they continue to have. Great ending to the week.