Week 18
First the nature report.  There are signs of spring everywhere we look.  On Tuesday, just minutes before a 2-hour torrential rain, we walked over to the OSU Foundation building to see the magnolias. Have never seen such intense purple magnolia blossoms.

Then we saw these two lone tulips in front of the institute.

And we're seeing pear blossoms give way to green leaves on trees all over town.

Redbud trees are everywhere, and they are now coming into full bloom.  One day we saw (and heard) a woodpecker madly hammering, then heard and saw a meadowlark.  A few more cardinals are flitting about, and we see hawks soaring and/or perched every day.  Coming back from OKC on Saturday we looked over to the side of the road and saw two great big birds--roadrunners!!  We didn't know they existed outside of New Mexico, but when we looked it up, there is a variety that lives in OK.  This morning we had a huge, loud thunderstorm with more torrential rains.  When we drove to church all the culverts along the way were full or even overflowing. Right now the sun is out and we should be in the 80's tomorrow.

Friday was ward temple day, so we went down for the last session.  Then we stayed in OKC because we had a seminary/institute in-service in Edmond Saturday morning.  I really admire all of those dedicated early-morning seminary teachers.  It's not easy to face a bunch of sleepy adolescents every morning, but teachers have such an impact.  I'm so grateful for Sister LeMon, my seminary teacher in Kansas City, and the wonderful lessons she taught and spirit she brought every day.  

After the very good in-service meeting, we stayed in Edmond for a while to shop.  Elder Kerr wore out his brown suit and wanted to find a replacement, but apparently brown suits are very out of fashion (one store clerk actually looked aghast at the suggestion we could see one!), so no luck.

Church attendance was pretty sparse today, as this coming week is Spring Break.  The students in our ward come from various cities in OK, from Arkansas, and lots from Texas, so many had gone home for the week. One young man is from Las Vegas, here on a track and field scholarship--he was the mile leg of the distance medley relay at the NCAA indoor track championships last week.  Another young man is on the wrestling team and leaves this week for the national championship in New York--he's not wrestling, just supporting the members of the team who qualified.  He and a young woman in our ward are anxiously awaiting their mission calls and two others are in the process of preparing their applications.  Exciting times!

Each week we have Sunday dinner with the sister missionaries assigned to our ward, and they give us a spiritual message.  Tonight we looked at the Church's Easter video--FollowHim.mormon.org  If you haven't looked at it yet, please take a few minutes to do so and remember why He came to earth. What a great message to share with the world.