Week 12

The highlight of this week is shown below--

New couch

--the couch, not Kerby.  Our previous couch was nothing short of an instrument of torture!  We sunk so low in it that it took three men and a boy to haul me out, and then our backs were twisted like pretzels and it took a few minutes to get ourselves straightened out.  I finally said, "Elder Kerr, I just can't live with this for 15 more months."  On Thursday we left the institute to go the the Family History Center intending to get some help with some of Kerby's genealogy, but the Center was closed.  As we headed back, we took a slight detour and ended up in a furniture store, and 30 minutes later we were the owners of a new, comfortable, and inexpensive couch.  Then it occurred to us that the hideous couch really wasn't ours, and we ought to check in with the mission president about its disposition (the company would haul it away when they delivered the new one).  He checked with our Zone leaders (who drive a pick-up truck), who quickly determined that the sisters in the 2nd ward could use it. The elders picked it up on Friday morning and our new couch was delivered Friday evening.  And the best surprise was that the mission president said we would be reimbursed for the couch!

We are frequently greeted with gorgeous sunsets (and they are getting later as the days get longer--yippee!).  While the picture doesn't show it's true beauty, you can get the idea:

Six o'clock view

On Friday the temperature reached 75 degrees, and students around campus were out in their shorts (very short shorts, I might add).  The frat boys across the street from the institute were out playing ball without shirts (some on the ground and some on the roof) to loud music.  It will cool down some, but I don't think we should have highs below 50 the rest of this week.  The hot, windy days created ideal conditions for a couple of grass fires outside of town.

OSU has an excellent Fire Protection program (associate degree) and shares a building with the Stillwater Fire Department for Fire Station #2--just off campus.  The top floor is OSU and the bottom is the Fire Dept.

Best looking fire station around

We did have two more students in our Old Testament class on Monday, so that was nice.  It is really wonderful to work with these YSAs.  Because we're also part of the YSA ward, we have the interesting phenomenon of teaching in the week, then some of our students teach us on Sunday in Sunday School, RS/Priesthood, or through sacrament meeting talks.  Our YSAs have strong testimonies, and just as we try to be uplifting to them, they are uplifting to us.  Great system, eh?