Week 3
Every Monday at noon we meet with Brother Valletta (institute director) and Jeanne (administrative assistant) for a coordination meeting.  We prepare by reading sections of Gospel Teaching and Learning and take turns giving a spiritual thought out of our reading.  It was my turn this week and I was so struck by a statement by Elder Eyring:  "Never, never underestimate the spiritual value of doing temporal things well for those whom you serve."  The statement resonated with me because a big part of our call is to feed the institute students (and their friends) each week--something that may not, on the surface, seem terribly spiritual.  I really believe, though, that providing good food in a good place can be a blessing.  Even the cleaning up is less tedious when done with a spiritual focus.

The rest of the week was a good test of that insight.  On Monday, FHE was a pot luck Thanksgiving dinner at the institute for the YSA ward.  We cooked a turkey (the counselor smoked a turkey, and someone brought a ham), dressing, and gravy, and worked with the setup and clean up.  About 45 people participated. The short FHE lesson was about gratitude, and every person said something they were grateful for.  One young man said "Soup Tuesday!"

The beautiful mahogany turkey

The next day for Soup Tuesday we made lasagna soup and garlic french bread, and a big bowl of Blessings Mix--a fun snack mix of savory and sweet components that represent things to be grateful for. On Thanksgiving day, we had dinner, again at the institute, for those in the ward who didn't go home for the holiday.  For that one we made pie, whipped cream, cranberry relish, and mashed potatoes, and the bishop's family supplied almost everything else.  There wasn't a very big crowd, but we had fun.

Our little Thanksgiving family dinner

Friday morning we went to STM (Special Training Meeting) with our whole zone, so we met more Elders and Sisters. We are so impressed with the missionaries serving here--they are dedicated, full of testimony, and ready to share the gospel.  Several of them gave short talks on various aspects of pride and the need for unity in companionships and districts.  Then attention turned to the Christmas Initiative to use the Church Christmas video as a missionary tool.  We were all given a pack of pass along cards with the message A Savior is Born and the christmas.mormon.org address. Yesterday we both got our hair cut, and gave a card to the stylist, then to the clerk at Hobby Lobby where we went to get a few Christmas decorations.  The video truly makes me feel like rejoicing!

The Oklahoma equivalent of the BYU-Utah rivalry is the OSU-University of Oklahoma rivalry.  They call the annual football game Bedlam--it was last night and OSU lost miserably.  Because three of our YSAs play in the marching band (we mentioned one in the drum line last week, one plays the clarinet and another the french horn) we did something I've NEVER done for a BYU game.  We went to the student union to see the team go from there over to the stadium about 2 hours before game time, not because we cared to see the team, but the whole marching band was there so we wanted to see our girls do their thing.  It was cold but fun, and once again the sea of orange and black was amazing.

The weather was rainy and cold almost constantly from noon on Thursday until today.  The rain on the car was frozen when we went out on Saturday, and freezing rain fell on and off, but didn't stick to the road.  Thousands are without power all over Oklahoma due to the ice, but that severe weather went around Stillwater (so thankful!!).  

We taught our Old Testament class on Monday, and this week will give the last lesson of the semester Monday and Thursday.  It has been good to think and pray about the principles to be learned from the Children of Israel and their difficulties in trusting in and worshiping the Lord.  We end this week with the wonderfully uplifting book of Ruth.  She reminds us that people can be good, kind, and righteous despite what is going on around them.  A good lesson for our day.

Week 2

This week was a little less hectic than last with no trips to Oklahoma City or Edmonds.  We taught our Old Testament classes, and had a successful Soup Tuesday (spinach cheese soup and Parmesan cheesy rolls).  We're still getting used to our responsibilities and trying to establish a routine in our little apartment.  We spoke in Sacrament Meeting today about gratitude--which reminded us of all the blessings we enjoy, including the gospel and the chance to serve a mission together.  Then we had the sister missionaries over for dinner, followed by ward prayer. The YSA ward is small but the members are strong in spirit and firm in the faith.

This week's coincidences:  One of the YSAs (here on a wrestling scholarship) is from Cedar City, UT, and he went to high school with my niece, Catherine.  The other was while grocery shopping on Saturday.  We went to the other grocery store (Walmart being the big player in Stillwater), and a woman said rather tentatively, "Nora??".  It was the dietetics program director at Oklahoma State University (OSU), whom I've known for several years from professional meetings.  It was a great surprise for both of us.

Here's a little information about Stillwater and OSU.  In the musical Oklahoma, there is a line that says, "Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain. . . "  Well, they didn't make that up; it is really windy here.  It's not as flat as much of Kansas or Nebraska, but there are no mountains (or tall buildings) to help us tell North from South. We've seen deer a few times grazing along the side of the road, and there is a blue heron living (or at least feeding) on the little pond in our apartment complex. Stillwater has about 47,000 residents (plus about 25,000 students at OSU), and the town was devastated by the tragedy when the woman drove into the homecoming parade crowd in October killing three and injuring several others.  The corner where that happened has lots of crosses, flowers, and candles, and many of the businesses have "Stillwater Strong" on their marques or in their windows.

OSU is a beautiful campus with lots of trees and red brick buildings.  The student union is quite new and a student told me it had been selected as the best student union in the nation.

Fall leaves against one of the buildings on campus

No purple pansies here--just orange!

Big O in the brick sidewalk

The Student Union--the Christmas decorations have orange balls and orange lights

The institute is situated in the midst of the fraternity and sorority houses--most of them are very big and very lovely.  They are already decorated for Christmas.  We need to brush up on our Greek letters!

One of the many sorority houses

And another sorority

The OSU teams are the Cowboys (or Cowgirls) and the mascot is Pistol Pete.  The school colors are orange and black, and virtually everyone wears orange and black on game days, as well as any other day of the week.  It sort of seems like perpetual Halloween, but we're getting used to it.  Yesterday they played Baylor in football at 6:30 pm.  One of our YSA girls is in the drum line in the marching band so we went near the stadium at about 3 pm to see them do their run through.  It was crazy! There were hundreds of tents set up for tailgating parties--many had generators and had TVs, crock pots, and orange lights, and some had big BarBQ smokers outside the tents.  Most also seemed to have a large supply of beer.

The drum line of the OSU marching band

The weather is getting colder (snow in the forecast for next Saturday), but we are comfortable, safe, and blessed.

Our First Week

Well, we finished our first week in Oklahoma, and it was a busy one!  On Monday we had our orientation to our responsibilities, toured the institute, and moved into our office.

Outside our Institute Building

Some of the institute students had this greeting (made from Kleenex) waiting for us on our desk:

Our first greeting

In addition to pictures of the Savior, this is hanging on our institute office wall:

On Monday evening we attended the class we'll be teaching (the person who substituted between the last missionary couple's departure and our arrival taught) and it was wonderful to listen to our class members' thoughtful discussion and see their desire to learn.  We went straight from institute class to Family Home Evening at the church building, where they had a short lesson then played chair soccer.

We had the weekly Soup Tuesday the next day.  We made 6 loaves of bread and heated some frozen soup that the previous couple had made.  Soup Tuesday goes from 11:30 am to 1 pm and the students and their friends, all the missionaries in the area, and the YSA bishop come to socialize and have soup and bread.

Wednesday was fairly quiet and we just put the finishing touches on our lesson for Thursday morning's class.  We're studying the Old Testament--right now in Numbers and Deuteronomy.  On Thursday afternoon we had a ward temple trip to do baptisms for the dead in Oklahoma City.  When we bought our new Highlander, one of our purposes was to be able to take at least four people with us on ward temple trips or other activities, and it worked perfectly--two in the far back and two in the back seat.  It was so fun to interact with them on the trip--just over an hour each way.

Outside the Oklahoma City Temple with the YSA Ward

Two coincidences at the temple.  We knew a lot of the kids' first names but none of their last names.  When one of the young ladies I had met Monday at home evening was being baptized, I heard her last name and thought she had to be the daughter of a dear friend from Kansas City.  When I handed her her towel I asked her, and sure enough, she is my friend's daughter!  When one of the young men was being baptized, I heard his last name and it was the same as one of the elders in my mission in Taiwan.  It wasn't his father, but when he named his uncles, one was familiar, so he texted his dad to find out, and it was, indeed, his uncle who had served there.

Friday we attended our district meeting in the morning--there are 6 sisters and 4 elders plus us in the district.  Later that day we met our mission president for the first time; he was in Stillwater interviewing the missionaries.  

On Saturday (our P-day) there was a CES in-service meeting in Edmonds (about 50 minutes away) in the morning.  We met the other CES missionary couple (stationed in Edmonds) and the early morning and distance seminary teachers in the area.  After that we went to Oklahoma City and attended the temple.  When we got back to Stillwater we did a more extensive driving tour of the city and discovered the more "happening" side of town.  On the way back to the apartment we were treated to a spectacular prairie sunset.

We participated in Ward Council this morning, then attended the regular Sunday meetings.  Later the sister missionaries came to dinner, then we went to ward prayer.  We are so impressed with the wonderful members of the YSA ward--they are just super and have been so welcoming to us.

We Arrive in Oklahoma

Our Church Education System (CES) training at the MTC was fantastic.  We learned a lot and were spiritually enriched.  It ended on Wednesday at noon, and at 1:20 pm, we headed for Oklahoma.  We went via I-80 through Wyoming and had clear sailing until we hit Laramie, where we encountered a pretty scary snow storm from there to Cheyenne.  Fortunately we could follow in the tracks of semi trucks so progress was slow but sure.  Then we went south to Denver for the night.  We spent much of the next day with Kim, 2 1/2 year old Wendy, and baby Amanda, and got to see Doug at lunch.

With Amanda and Wendy

We then went as far as Colby, KS, on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Oklahoma Friday afternoon and went straight to the Institute building near Oklahoma State University (OSU) campus to get the key to our apartment.  The apartment has two bedrooms (one is an office), a tiny kitchen, and a little pond.

On Saturday morning we joined some of the members of the Young Single Adult ward in their service project at a food bank, then we spent the rest of the day getting settled in the apartment.  One trip the Walmart for the non-food items, home to get them in place, then back to Walmart for all our groceries.  I'm not sure the cashier had ever rung up that many items at one time before!

Today we had Regional Conference--it was broadcast to 255 stakes in three districts.  The speakers were Sister Reeves and Elders Robbins, Corbridge, and Oaks.  Very good meeting.  The sister missionaries assigned to OSU will come to dinner this evening, then we'll go to the Institute for ward prayer.  We're excited to go to the Institute tomorrow for our first day "on the job."