Transfers

For the last six months we have had the sister missionaries living in our home. They are a delight to have. It is like having daughters at home again. We have had Sister Camisa Knutson from Montana here for six months and Sister Molly Wornock from Wisconsin for the last three months. Sister Warnock is being transferred from here to Reno. We will miss her. She is a good missionary.

The Call

Rochelle Frogget was my very first interview as a Bishop. She was getting baptized and was eight years old. Marla had her in activity days as an eleven year old, then five years as a young women's president and her Senior year as a seminary teacher. She currently is working for us for a few months in my office. She worked for the office for two years prior to going to college. Here she is receiving her mission call to the Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission. Very Cool!

What a great missionary she will be.

A Week Off

Time to catch up on some bloging. The third week of February Jesse and Cori and kids came out to spend a week with us. Sara also came out from Provo for a few days. We spent 4 nights up at our Condo at Tahoe. We skied, we played games, we slept in, we ate mongolian barbeque and Hawaiian Fusion, we flew the Musketeer on a very bumpy sky (performing a maximum crosswind landing flawlessly), we drove Papa Jeff's new tractor, we read lots of books to the kids, fed the horses, played with Pepper and Toby to the point of doggy exhaustion and watched lots of Olympics. The Olympic viewing did tend to increase the downhill speed on the ski slopes.

We had a wonderful time and hated to say good bye.

Varsity Shoot Out

Seven years ago Don Dixon and I started an activity in the Nevada Area Council for the Boy Scouts. A Varsity Shoot out for older scouts. We did the last one about five years ago and figured we'd pass the baton for others to carry on. So that was the last shoot out. We decided this year to resurrect the event. We started planning it, finding a location, recruiting a staff, and getting the word out.

The event was this past weekend. We had about 100 people in attendance. We had tomahawk and knife throwing, black powder rifles, 22s, and trap shooting with 12 gauge shot guns. We also had water balloon catapults. We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. (We discovered too late that boys were going through the line 3-4 times and we ran out of food and had to go buy more. We went through about 3000 rounds of ammunition. For a little diversion we had the Navy helicopter rescue team fly in from Fallon and do a demonstration. We also had the K9 unit from Douglas County come and make a demonstration. Everyone seemed pretty happy with the event. We'll see how long it takes to forget how much work it was to put on and decide to do it again.

A bit of Hispanic Irony

A bit of Hispanic irony. In the Hispanic culture there is a great admiration for Jesus Christ. (Jesucristo) They love Jesus so much that they frequently name there male children Jesus. This would not be disrespectful since the name of the Savior in Spanish is Jesucristo. One member of our Spanish Branch is Jesus Rodriguez. Another member of our branch is Cesar (Ceasar) Valedez. They both spoke in sacrament meeting today. I'm sure the irony was lost to the members of the Branch. But the gringo in me thought it very interesting in the eternal perspective of things to have a Sacrament Meeting where the two main speakers were Jesus and Ceasar

Ten years and still growng

Ten years ago I introduced my business partner Donovan Jackson to the church and the missionaries. I was there when he was baptized. I ordained him an Elder. I was there when he went through the Temple in Oakland I was there when he was sealed to Heather Paterson in the Reno Temple and High Priest. I ordained him a High Priest and was there when he was ordained a Bishop. On Saturday he baptized his son Cody. It is very satisfying to see a life changed and lives blessed by his accepting the gospel and joining the Church. I can't wait to see what the next ten years bring.

Ok I'm in the Spirit now.

December is always such a busy time. I do not find it easy to get "into the spirit of Christmas" I've seen all the TV specials dozens of times, even the new ones are just like the old ones. Shopping gives me a headache. I never really know what to give as gifts. There aren't any gifts that I really want that I can have. The things that do it for me are music and family. Jesse, Cori and the grand kids are doing the in law turn this year, so we won't see them for Christmas. I went to San Francisco on Friday and brought Thea home from college and Sara got in from BYU late Friday night. As for music, last Saturday we had our church Christmas party , a breakfast this year with a performance by the Tintabulations a bell choir that plays with the Reno Philharmonic. They were great. 12 members some playing as many as four bells at a time. Then last Sunday night I sang with the Methodists choir in a Handel's Messiah sing along. What incredible music and to think he wrote it in about two weeks. Then last Tuesday the Douglas High School Madrigals came to the office and sang to us at the office. (Probably had something to do with the fact that Marla just made all new costumes for them this year. 90 separate pieces of clothing.) I paid for the material so I got the concert. Doesn't seem fair. Today the church choir sang the annual Christmas program followed by the annual rendition of silent night complete with all of Helen Jone's string students playing violins and cellos. The shopping is done. The decorations are up. Sara and Thea are cooking up a Storm. Jared and girlfriend Erin will be hear for Christmas and I'm in the Spirit.