Comings and Goings

I think it was Jarom who said, “Our lives have passed as if it were a dream.” That’s the way I’ve been feeling lately. Sometimes I stretch to remember what it was that I did just last Monday. Life is usually pretty busy.

I miss singing so it’s nice to get invited to perform in Church. Right now I’m helping two other brothers get a quartet ready to sing Christmas songs. I say two because the third person in the quartet is a sister from another ward whose in-laws go to our branch. She has a degree in vocal music performance, plays the piano and should do fine jumping in during the last rehearsal. The Church has a website for the hymns. One of the things the website does is play out the parts, transpose, show the lyrics, etc. for most of the hymns. I used it for our rehearsal last week and it was very helpful. Grant was in the building at the end of our rehearsal and I invited him to join in and sing with our bass, my friend Horacio. Horacio was very impressed with the fact that Grant could sing so well in Spanish.

I have been proud of both of my brothers’ church service. Grant rides his bike several miles every Tuesday to help with boy scouts. Garit is an engaging Sunday School teacher. They are both diligent home teachers who try and reach out to different families and individuals.

You might not think of Becca as much of a disciplinarian but she has set her youth group straight plenty of times. She cares deeply for her girls in young women’s program which is good because they need it. These girls are mostly from tough neighborhoods and their problems and issues make most other teenager’s problems look very trivial.

Two weeks ago I finished my first successful mediation flying completely solo! I say solo because my mentor was not sitting beside me while I did it. I did, however, make recordings of all of my sessions and then gave them to him so we could talk about them. After meeting with and preparing two angry adults several times I sat them down together so they could have a frank discussion. It was really a wonderful experience to see them change so much in about a month’s time. They went from seeing each other as bitter rivals to being able to trust and confide in each other. Cool!

I have read the entire Book of Mormon in German and will probably be starting on the New Testament soon. I have a very patient language exchange partner (the 21^st century version of a pen pal) from Bavaria who I talk with over Skype most Thursdays. We trade off speaking in English and German every other week so we both can practice. Her English is quite good and my German is still very weak but I get by and am able to express myself so it’s fun.

The Church also has come out with a website for local interpreters! One of the training videos reminded me of a few things that I had learned in college and will be implementing in our stake meetings. I should have a group of four individuals who can help with interpreting for this next stake conference and that should be really good.

Many of you are probably wondering about my mom. She’s had two big surgeries over the past few weeks but says that she is recovering well and that every day is a little bit better. We’ll be visiting her in Utah this Thanksgiving but we hope to have her home for Christmas. A lot still depends on how well or quickly she recovers so please continue to pray for her.

A Table, A Wedding and Surgery for the Kitten

March has been beautiful here in Central California. The weather has been so pleasant that we only close up and need our heater at night. We spend most of the day with our car and house windows open. The blossoms are blooming and the grass is looking green and vibrant. I was enjoying all of this quite a lot until a few days ago when my allergies started to flair up and make life miserable. Fortunately for me, Dad should be able to take care of those so I will be going in to see him tomorrow. I am looking forward to enjoying the spring again.

We noticed a lump on our kitten’s stomach a few weeks ago and took her in to see a veterinarian. Curiously, it was a cist that had burst and hardened in between the muscles. The vet gave us a fair price for treating her, which included surgery. She had a tube stuck through the cist to let it drain so for a week we had to hold her down and clean her three times a day as well as administer antibiotics daily. The tube has been removed but she still has to wear a cone so she won’t bite the stitches. As happy as we are that her stitches will be taken out tomorrow we are happier still that she did not have to be euthanized.

Nothing has really happened much lately with my Human Resources training and career switch. I am seriously contemplating getting a masters degree at the local state college. I’m going to talk with mentor, Greg Billikopf, about it and see how beneficial it would be for me. I looks like I might be able to do it in a year if I work full time and go to school full time, which is nice. If it will make me considerably more marketable and increase my earning potential as I believe then it will be a year well spent. I hope to do some good networking that year and be gainfully employed in Ag. Labor and HR by the end of it.

Becca has been quite the traveler lately. She spent a week in Upstate New York helping her friend Cassondra with wedding preparations. She loved seeing old friends but was grateful to come home to the mild California winter. She will soon be travelling to Huston to visit our friends the Cranes and help Sophia as she prepares to have her second child. While Becca was away for that week different friends and family members were very gracious and invited me over to save me from solitude. We’ll see if I’m so lucky while she spends two weeks in Texas.

I am ecstatic about a language course I’ve discovered. It was made by a Jewish man who was a concentration camp survivor, resistance fighter and counterintelligence agent during WWII. His CDs have helped my German a TON. I’ve had rather basic conversations (online) with native German speakers that lasted as long as half an hour. That’s after about twenty hours of working with the CDs. By the end of the year I expect to be fairly fluent. This method would be perfect for teaching missionaries languages before they went out to go preaching.

Thanks for your letters, phone calls and visits. We went to my cousin Brittan’s wedding on Friday night and it was great (Becca hasn’t downloaded the pictures yet). I am a little embarrassed to say that Mom, Becca and I were rather cynically talking about how weddings have gotten so far away from their purpose and have just become an excuse to play dress up and have a big party. I was proud of my cousin on Friday, not only for nabbing a great guy, but also for having a wedding that was about her union being based on faith in Christ. We are happy to have Joey in the family and wish the two of them our best.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Becca’s last Craig’s List purchase. She got an oak dinning room table for an amazing price from a guy in Salida. Our little SUV has come in really handy for things like this.

ALIVE AND WELL IN 2009

My heart goes out to all of you being affected by the economic bubble having popped. It doesn’t seem like there is anyone out there who isn’t at least a little bit affected. Though it would be nice if Becca were busier at the spa, our translation business continues to grow and provide well for our needs. The schools are starting to get more hesitant about spending but I must say that the Lord has blessed us greatly and by his grace we continue to move forward.

Although I came quite close, I did not pass the oral exam to become a State certified court interpreter. Not having enough time to prepare and being woken up at 1:00am in the morning by a dying house alarm that wouldn’t shut off for almost an hour seem like good enough excuses to assuage my ego. Retaking the test seems like a grueling thing that I will probably end up doing when they announce when I can do that.

I was called by a dairy farmer last week to go out and help him with some personnel issues. He mainly wanted me there as an interpreter and translator but we’re also working a little on some labor problems. It was a great experience for me and he liked me so much that he’s recommended me to another agricultural labor fellow who could get me some more work. Becca and I will scramble tomorrow to make me some much needed business cards. I wasn't planning on working as an ag. labor consultant so soon.

My lovely wife has become addicted to Craig’s List. Over the past few weeks she’s gotten us both new desks for our office, an office chair for her and a couch for the back room of the house. All of this was free or sold to us at an extremely low price. The economy may not be doing great but hey, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade.