Week 23
You can't get a better highlight for the week than a baptism.  Tuan, a young man from Vietnam here working  on his PhD in finance, was baptized yesterday.  He'll be confirmed today in church.  The sisters found him last fall and have been working diligently with him--he had no religious background at all (Christian or otherwise) so it was a step-by-step process for him.   His major professor just happens to be LDS, so he is the person who baptized him.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Tuan with ward mission leader and Dr./Bro. Carter

Tuan with Sisters Englebrecht and Liddell

Sister Englebrecht was scheduled to go home at the next transfer in seven weeks, but she has had some severe health problems and so she and President Walkenhorst decided it would be expedient for her to return home at this transfer.  She'll be leaving us on Wednesday, and we will miss her.  It is so wonderful to get to know these dedicated missionaries.  Since the sisters assigned to OSU and the YSA ward come here for dinner every Sunday, we feel like they are family.

On Saturday morning after we did the grocery shopping we went to the Stillwater Arts Festival downtown--music, food trucks, and 80 art and craft booths.  Kerby endured it and I enjoyed it. We made a couple of purchases, including one at a booth where some of the jewelry the artists make is from antique mother of pearl buttons (obviously no seamstress could resist here!).

The wind was blowing wildly, though it was fairly warm, and early this morning we heard the thunder storms roll in.  It's been raining heavily all day.  We've had quite a dry winter, so this rain is a blessing--things are greening up beautifully.  Unfortunately, the hot muggy summer can't be too far away.

This weekend was also the 10th anniversary of an OSU tragedy when 10 people associated with the basketball team were killed in a plane crash in January, 2006.  There were 2 players, the trainer, broadcast engineer and commentator, and others aboard the plane when it crashed in Colorado.  They have a 5K and 10K run every year to commemorate Remember the Ten.

Tuesday and Wednesday were the Stillwater Stake "Fill the Temple Days" where folks tried to do multiple sessions/ordinances and keep the temple busier than usual both days.  We needed to stay at the institute, so we went down on Friday evening.  Dusty went with us.  He received his endowment on Tuesday, went back on Wednesday with some YSAs in the ward, then came again with us on Friday.  He is a delightful young man--he's going home as soon as the semester is over then reports to the Mexico City MTC in June in preparation for his Spanish-speaking San Antonio Texas mission.  

On pleasant days we take a short walk in the afternoon.  Sometimes we go to Theta Pond (featured in previous posts) which we did this week.  We watched children feeding the ducks, geese, fish, and even a turtle.  On the way back we noticed this medallion in the sidewalk:

We're really quite fond of Pistol Pete--good thing,
'cause he's everywhere!

Just two weeks left in the semester--hard to believe!!