Week 7

 AUG 21 -27

We found an amazing Farmer's Market at The Bridges in Dublin, Ohio. We bought a lot of heirloom tomatoes, garlic, tomatillos, and peppers to go into a salsa that 

Elder Perona made the first week of institute classes. 

When we go for our walks in the morning we "have to" touch the fence at the end of the trail! 

We kicked off the institute semester with a barbeque. We fed about 100 potential institute students. (When they sign up for a class they get a coveted parking pass since we are a block off OSU campus.) We had hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the trimmings, chips, watermelon, homemade potato salad and baked beans. For dessert we had Costco ice cream bars. 

Every six weeks we have new young missionary Elders and Sisters come to the mission fresh from the Missionary Training Center. We had 19 new missionaries come this week. The energy they bring with them is palpable. 

It's a small world in the church! This is Becky Christofferson. She is the secretary and the glue that holds the seminary and institute programs together in a lot of the eastern United States. In our conversations I have mentioned several times that I grew up in a small town in Colorado. One day she asked me the name of my hometown and when I said Manassa, we made the connection that she has not one, but two aunts from there and I'm related to one aunt through her husband and the other aunt through her niece. 

We enjoy our walks on The Ohio State University Campus. With all the rain and humidity in this area plants grow really well!

We also enjoy finding yummy places to eat! When people were protesting the fact that Columbus, Ohio was named after "The Christopher Columbus", they wanted to change the name of the city to Food Town, Ohio. That tells you a lot about the "food climate" here.  

Here sits the "heart and soul" of the institute program here in Columbus. This is Spencer Knowles and we feel so very blessed to work under his direction. He is an excellent teacher, is loved greatly by the young adults, and has built the institute program into a vibrant, energized place of belonging. 

We are finally getting to know the people, the places, our apartment, our neighborhood, where the stores are, how to get around without GPS, our responsibilities, and our missionaries. We are still working on the names but have most of them down. We have about 108 students enrolled and hope to gather more.

The semester classes start next week and we will be teaching with Brother Knowles on Tuesday nights, the Teachings and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon. The three of us will have to figure out the best way to work together. We hope that it works out okay. Our mission at the Institute is to help each other understand and rely on the teachings and atonement of Jesus Christ, qualify for the blessings of the temple, and prepare ourselves, our families, and others for eternal life with our Father in Heaven. 

We know that we are doing the work of the Lord and everyday we find reasons for why we were specially called to this mission to serve. May the Lord bless you and your families and the senior missionaries that are watching over your missionaries and your sons and daughters out in the world.