Another Busy Semester!

How familiar the excitement of a new school year is!  That was my life for so many years.  And I feel it again this fall - especially now that we have some experience behind us here!

We have had many good things happen this fall semester.  Elder McGuire and I worked really hard during the summer on Summer Institute. We had some great experiences with meeting new students and providing an "Institute Experience" for the Region. As fall came, and we sat down with Bro. Mackay to make plans, we all felt very inspired to try some new things for scheduling, etc.  For one thing, for our daytime classes we tried to match the on-campus class scheduling better.  We offered classes beginning every 1 1/2 hours, and each class only required once a week attendance. We also have the option of Independent Study for students who need a class at a certain time, or are the only ones signed up for a class.  Our class offerings are equalized such that Monday and Tuesday daytime classes are the same class as Wednesday nighttime.  In the reverse, the Tuesday night class is the same as the Wednesday and Thursday daytime.  It has resulted in a lot more activity here at the Institute during the days, and feels much more like it's a "place" for students to gather.

We also spent time cleaning and redecorating.  Bro. Mackay created and printed some wall hangings/posters.  We love seeing his creative brain at work!  (So glad he can do that, we don't have any creativity AT ALL!)

We basically gave up on the idea of LDSSA.  The campus threw too many complications at us to be compliant with their "open/tolerant" policies.  (That means tolerant of everything except LDS standards.)  So, instead, we are making an Institute Advisory Council that is Ecclesiastically led. That means representation from each ward/stake in both priesthood leadership and student leaders.  We held our first meeting on Aug. 28.

August 30 was a real payday for us.  One of the new converts, who was baptized just before we came, passed her year's membership mark and left on a mission.  Her name is Myduyen Nguyen Ngo - she is from Viet Nam.  Such a darling, enthusiastic girl!  She's going to San Jose, English speaking. We felt so pleased that she asked us to come to her setting apart.

Bishop Skaggs and wife, Megan, Nguyen, myself and Elder McGuire, Pres. Hendrickson

August 29-31 was our "back to school" orientation.  We made lemonade in our big cooler and set up a table in the parking lot where the new students would come in to park.  That was we could catch people, talk to them, and get them signed up for a class. We had a very busy week with that, feeding missionaries, our first night class of the semester, Forum Lunch, apartment inspections, Mission Departure Dinner, etc.  By the end of the week my shoes had taken their toll!

"Real" missionary shoes!

We are able to watch BYU Football on the TV in our apartment.  I'm so grateful (for Elder McGuire's sake!)  This year though, we have one of the missionaries we worked with on the team - Elder Austin McChesney.  It makes it much more interesting when you have someone you know there!  On Labor Day, since we didn't have class, we went for a drive to see some of the more quirky and interesting sights in San Diego - things like the Lemon Grove lemon, Harper's Topiary Garden, etc.

The Lemon Grove lemon

The next week our daytime classes started.  At this point, we have class on Monday at 3:30, Tuesday at 2:00 and 3:30, Wednesday at 7:00, and Thursday at 3:30.  The Monday and Tuesday times only had one student in them, so we do an independent study/discussion time with them.  Wednesday night we teach the New Testament (the Four Gospels), and Thursday 3:30 we teach The Eternal Family.  Those, plus Forum Lunch, ward activities, and missionary assignments seem to keep us busy.

We did go to an SDSU Soccer game on Sept. 9. Elder McGuire likes to watch our LDS players on the team and it's just walking distance from our Institute building.  And of course, we had a BYU game on Saturday.  Sunday we held the Worldwide Devotional Broadcast by Elder Cook here at the Institute.  We went to FHE at Nonie's house in Point Loma, and on Tuesday, we filled Elder McGuire's craving for good Mexican food by walking over to Trujillo's Tacos for Dinner.  Friday we did vehicle inspections during Zone Conference for the missionaries. And that night we had a beach party/bonfire/dinner at Mission Beach to welcome in some of the new couples and say goodbye to some others.  Sister Richardson and I planned it - we decided we must be the unofficial "party crowd" since we're always the party planners!

Trujillo's Tacos

Elder McGuire with Elder Bird

Saturday, Sept. 17, was a baptism - Jovana.  I usually play the piano for those, and try to bring treats for afterwards.  I've become a real expert on making cakemix cookies!  We also watched a BYU game again.  On Sunday, I was in charge of Linger Longer since the Bishop and his wife were out of town.

The next week, the most memorable happenings were getting the Elders to clean our Institute tables and chairs, and going to dinner at the Hamburger Factory with the other Senior YSA/CES missionaries.  I think it's a special type of person that gets that missionary calling - they all certainly have wonderful personalities and testimonies.  We have several new ones who are just beginning their first classes this fall.

On Saturday, Sept. 24, I watched the Women's General Broadcast from my apartment.  We had missionaries for dinner on Sunday and Monday.  The next week continued as usual, busy, but "good busy".  And of course conference weekend was great!  It's a real treat when you're a missionary.  Sunday, we divided our time between our two wards, picking up on brunch at both places.  

Tonight we have our night class.  Our little non-member friend, Kylee, just wandered in to talk and needing a healing blessing.  Tomorrow we do lunch, and then fly out at 4:30 to go home for Cade and McCoy's baptisms this weekend!  Woo hoo!