I've been gone this week to Girl's Camp. I don't really LOVE camping but I LOVE Girl's Camp. Things happen at girl’s camp that don’t happen any other time so I want to be there to see it (i.e. testimony meeting). I had a good time teaching orienteering. It was fun to see the light go on when they “got it”. I came home and taught Holly how to do it and even she gets it now. HOW COOL IS THAT! But it was pretty tough up there. I was out in the sun most of the day and I got pretty burned. I am allergic to sun screen on my face so that was bad but it is okay now. I just worry about all the sun damage.
The house was TRASHED when I got home. Dilbert was babysitting for my brother while I was gone. I volunteered him and he was so good to do it. He had two little girl cousins here overnight. Not much was done while I was gone except he took them to the AWESOME Farmington Festival Days parade. He fixed his old metal detector and they were all outside, tearing up the back yard looking for lost pennies. I think we have made a profit now of about 12 cents. But how can one measure the joy of finding lost money and time spent with Dad digging holes in the lawn? I will take that over a load of dishes any day. I'm glad he did that. I often find myself making those same sorts of decisions. That explains my disheveled house. But at least I have memories with my kids.
I had a fabulous sharing time today. Pardon my ad nauseum detailed report... I started it late last night and it just wasn’t right. Both of my councilors were out of town so I asked the new stake Primary President to come help keep reigns on the kids. She brought a counselor with her (which was a good thing because we had a teacher not show up). So I was pretty stressed about it. Then, at the last minute, I found some awesome situations to use and it all came together. Anyway, the lesson was on how being obedient and faithful helps us prepare now to be a missionary. I had them memorize the monthly scripture (And if it so be that you should bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be thy joy D&C 18:15) by dividing the children into three sections and having them repeat it in sections then read some situations where children had to make a choice of being obedient… For example, one girl was at a movie with her friends and it started using language she knew she shouldn’t be hearing. I asked what her choices were and the kids were so cute! They could only think of ways to not hear the language and couldn’t come up with the option of just staying there and listening to it (the obviously WRONG choice). That was heartening. Anyway, when we came up with all her options, I asked, “which choice shows she has faith?” And the kids were so excited to choose the RIGHT choice. It is fun when they get excited and get really involved. Then I shared the quote from Preach My Gospel on Obedience (pg. 122), “As a missionary, you are expected to keep the commandments willingly, to obey mission rules, and to follow the counsel of your leaders. Obedience is the first law of heaven. It is an act of faith. You may sometimes be required to do things you do not completely understand. As you obey, you increase in faith, knowledge, wisdom, testimony, protection, and freedom. Strive to be obedient to the Lord, the living prophet, and your mission president.” We talked about how we are expected to obey the commandments willingly NOW, not just when we are on a mission. Our homes are like a mission. We have home rules about the kinds of music we listen to, the kinds of entertainment we view, the clothes we wear, etc… and that is just like missionaries. We follow the counsel of our leaders (parents) and sometimes we are given direction we don’t understand but we still are expected to follow it because it is for our own good…. It was so cool to see their eyes light up as they saw their lives now preparing them to be missionaries later. Then we talked about what they can do now to be a good missionary. All in all, it turned out pretty good. I don’t get that many “good” sharing times so I get pretty psyched when it is knocked out of the park. Of course it wasn’t me doing the knocking… It all depends on the “mood” of the children and they were ready for it today.
Frank Zigmunt has started a new job delivering newspapers at 4 a.m. He’s pretty tired. It takes him until 7 or even later to do a small fraction of the route but he is making $900 a month so that is 2 months worth of mission payments! But since he is working at the Pizza Place until 10:30 or later, it is going to create a nice sleep deficit pretty quickly.
Scout has horseback riding camp all this week so she is pretty excited, besides she gets to miss Summer Strings. And N has Summer Strings. The concert is next Tuesday night at the Ogden Amphitheater. BNL_FAN is glad to be done with Beauty and the Beast. She really enjoyed it but it was taxing being there every night late and it was extremely hot in the orchestra pit. We enjoyed seeing Aaron (my cousin) in it. He stole his scenes.
Tomorrow I am taking Frank Zigmunt shopping. We’ve got to start getting his suits and stuff. I can’t believe he’s going to the temple on Tuesday! I'm grateful my parents will be here to witness it. Dilbert's dad isn't going to make it. He's having some swelling in his leg that is causing some discomfort and a bit of concern. He's getting around pretty well, though. Dilbert's mom will be there, thankfully.
