Of Books, Beans and Better Lessons

 It was a long time coming, but I finally can say at the end of a Tuesday that the lesson went off without a hitch. We drove to the church and set up the computer there where the wifi is strong. What you are hearing is a long drawn-out sigh of relief.

We have always known the internet here is sketchy, but this confirms it.

I always leave the class open for fifteen minutes after, to let participants communicate with each other, and they seem to enjoy that. This evening, the lady who was recently baptized asked if I am going to continue teaching, and I told her yes. (Our French supervisor asked, and I told him I would if he doesn't mind that I am no longer a missionary and living in Arizona. He said that is fine.) She asked if I was going to teach the same class...I said yes. Several asked if I would consider teaching another one, so they can all come along. They have formed a great bond with each other, even though they are continents away from each other.

That is wildly flattering, but I think I will stay with this one class. The learning curve has been steep.

This morning our young missionaries came over and moved a ton (I am not kidding) of books for the man upstairs. It seems such an enormous shame that they must be tossed in the rubbish bin. In fact, it is horrifying to me. Books of all things. But many are simply outdated, and I guess worthless since they are about scientific truth - which changes frequently.

Our just-released-bishop came over, met Peter from upstairs and then carted off a whole lot of books, which made Peter enormously happy, and our former bishop even happier. He is a bibliophile of the highest order. He not only collects books - he reads them! He was like a little kid in a candy shop. Every time he has spoken in church or in a family home evening, he would start out with the most delightful tidbits of information that he found as segueways into a gospel topic.

Peter seemed genuinely appreciative of the hard work of the young people. We had already told him that they expect nothing in return. They are always looking for good ways to serve other people, and they cheerfully carted books down four flights (good thing there is an elevator!)

When they were all done, they departed to clean up and go to teaching appointments. SK decided that we ought to take them to lunch - another first - we went inside a nearby restaurant and had lunch together! It was fun. We found out that Sister Bloxham will be transferred Thursday. She told us the first thing she thought of when she was told about the transfer was that she would have to leave the Madsens! She was teary-eyed, but I know she will be great in her new assignment.

I spent the afternoon doing 6 loads of laundry. It takes a long time, because the loads are so small. But I am so grateful that we HAVE a washing machine and dryer. I also put the finishing touches on the PowerPoint for tonight.

We ended out the evening by going grocery shopping. I will fix lunch for our little district meeting tomorrow. White Chicken Chili (Thanks Erin) Hope they don't mind beans on a warm day, but it has always been a crowd pleaser and it is soooo easy. With two of the missionaries transferring out, it will be a sort of goodbye for them., They will be seeing each other at mission-wide gatherings, and they keep track of each other, but they find a great deal of strength and comfort in the almost family relationship of our group. So there will be ten of us for lunch.

I'm going to go make the dessert now.

Goodnight!