CCM

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day!  We had pizza on the roof and play the "newlywed game".  It was a fun evening. 

The rest of the week was pretty much the same.  We stayed close to home this weekend, but did run into the Central Market on Friday for a little while. We watched a pretty good movie for Movie night called The Lost Valentine with Betty White. Very touching. I don't think there was a dry eye in the group.  Saturday we went out to lunch with a few other couple and then played cards that evening.

We were assigned the Apostasy and the Restoration for our devotional today so that took a few hours of our weekend to prepare for.  Even though I only take 20-25 minutes and Dad the rest of the time, it still takes me a while to read some lessons and talks on my topic before I can feel good about putting together some ideas for a discussion.  I am really enjoying this though, as they always say...the teacher learns more that the students.  I definitely am.

These young Elders and Sisters are so amazing. I envy their ability to learn Spanish so quickly and so well.   Every once in a while, I imagine Tresha and Corey in the MTC and wish I could have been a fly on the wall.  I love to hear their stories and why they are here.  One Sister, Sister Booth, from Washington State told of her parents today.  She is the youngest in the family, so spent a lot of time with just her parents after all her siblings were gone.  When her mother was young, her mother had a difficult time.  She was close to her father but was not at all close to her mother.  I guess her mother was not much of a mother to her.  Sister Booth’s grandparents were not active but her mother decided, when she was young, that the church was true and was what she needed, so she clung onto it. When it came time to go to college her father told her he would pay her tuition at any college but BYU.  Her mother chose BYU so she stayed home and worked for a year so she could go.  She went and met Sister Booth’s father there.  They were married in the temple and Sister Booth’s grandparents could not be there. Sister Booth has such a strong testimony and a strong love for her parents.  She says her mother has such an inner strength that has been a great blessing to their whole family.

Sister Jacobs was very close to her Grandmother who spoke Spanish because she was born in the Colonies.  She passed away when Sister Jacobs was 12.  Because of her Grandmother she really wanted to learn Spanish so has taken every opportunity to learn it and speak it for the past four years. She knows a lot about the gospel and has a huge jump on knowing Spanish and reminds me a little of Debbie Roghaar.  She is in my district and will be a great missionary.  Wish I had taken pictures of these sisters to share with you.  I will try to get one next week.  I also want to tell you about Elder Pacheco next week.

In our devotional today we talked about what gives us hope.  Then we talked about the Apostasy and what we lost after the gospel was no longer on the earth and how they were pretty much the same things that give us hope.  Satan is very smart and was able to take away the hope of mankind by taking away their knowledge of God and their relationship to him.  If we didn't know who we are, why we are here and where we are going, how would our lives be different.  I know mine would be very different if I thought that it all ended when I died.  It is a lot to think about and sure makes me sure appreciate the Restoration a lot more.  

The pictures are of the CCM. The front of the building,

 

the entry gate to the parking area,

 

an empty classroom 

and some Sisters having personal study time in another classroom,

 

Dad in the hall,

 

the lunchroom 

and the serving area in the lunchroom.  

Next email I will send a picture of the fruit that the cashew nut comes from.  They make a juice from the fruit.  I really wanted to try to make it, but decided against it because they were so small. See the area where the nut is on each individual fruit?  

The other picture is a truckload of Brama Bulls we saw today on our way home.

And one more picture of some cute little Patitos we saw this week.

Love you and have fun in the snow!    MOM/Grammy