The Old and the New

 It is Wednesday.  We have had 2 Zoom meetings with our young missionaries and then Institute this evening.  

I made a carrot cake for Francis, who received his doctorate degree this week.  It has been a long time coming for him and I am certain that he is so happy.  Now will come the big decisions, where to accept a job, where to live, whom to marry.  He is dating someone, but we are uncertain about how serious they are.  He is a tremendous young man from Togo Africa.  His father travels the world regularly with the country's diplomatic services.

In the afternoon we went out for a walk....if is difficult not to pass our backyard castle no matter what direction we go, and so today, we went through the castle quad or whatever it is called.  I love that place!  SK was kind enough to indulge me by posing.  

SK - posing as a debtor

We passed by a building that was razed in one day.  SK went past it first when he went to get some carrots for the cake.  He came back and said incredulously, "There is a building that is gone! --it looks like it was torn down in a day!"

In the background, see the wall of the old castle with a newer type building right on top of its foundations?

We walked by to see what was going on and were amazed that a building can disappear so completely in so little time.  It was a small old place sandwiched between two other old places, and no doubt, used to be apartments.  And now, something new and improved will probably go in.  There is a brand new hotel just a few feet from there.  At some point in time, it will probably be operating at full capacity, but I doubt that will happen for a few months yet.

I am frequently charmed and amused - and amazed to see the old and new juxtaposed next to each other, sometimes attached to each other.  As we have walked in the past two weeks, we have seen a number of places that are being cleared of debris and tidied up for new buildings.  We are relatively new here, but we already hate to see the old - being replaced by sleek new buildings.

We attended Institute this evening.  Those classes are always inspiring.  We have three excellent teachers who each teach once a month.  One is a former stake president, one is currently a stake president, and the third is on the high council.  On the fourth week, they ask for a volunteer to teach.  So far, two of our Oxford young adults have taught and they each did so well.  This is a stake institute class, so it includes 6 other wards besides our two Oxford wards.  Nevertheless the classes are small.  

All of these young people are in a very busy time of their lives.  Even with COVID and the lockdown, they have to choose where to spend time.  And Zoom burnout is very real.  I want to keep telling them, "This too shall pass," but I don't think they would hear it.  I didn't at that age.

That is something you learn as you get older.