Week 68
The headliner this week was Rhett's baptism last night.  A wonderful young man who will be such an asset to the church!

This week's FHE was a lip sync bash.  If we had understood what it all was ahead of time, we'd have practiced Sonny and Cher's I Got You, Babe--that would have astounded and amazed all the YSA's, I'm sure.

Who knew we had so many hams in the bunch!

If there's one thing we've learned about Oklahoma it's that the weather can't decide from one day to the next what it wants to do.  I realize much of the country has had crazy weather this year, but Wednesday was 88 degrees here, and then we dipped below freezing Thursday and Friday nights.  The poor plants are so confused--on Thursday (February 23) suddenly trees and bushes were in bloom.  Amazingly, everything seems to still be alive.

Pretty pink bush, magnolia tree, and the Bradford pear tree at the institute--Feb 23

The local food bank is called Our Daily Bread.  It's moving into a new location, and has requested help from various groups in the interior demolition of the existing building so the remodel can begin. The YSA ward and the Pioneer Ward went on Saturday for several hours.  Saturday is our day to volunteer at Elite Repeat, so we just stopped by to say hello on our way there.

So much plaster dust, and lots of helpers

Today Brother Linsenmeyer was released from the bishopric in the YSA ward.  He is a great guy and we'll miss him.  The new counselor is Brother Queen; he's a police officer at OSU.  I'm not sure if I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the two Stillwater ward boundaries were realigned and new bishops called.  Our institute director, Brother Valletta, is now Bishop Valletta in the Pioneer Ward.  The other "new" ward is the Meridian Ward, so named because the 100th meridian passes through Oklahoma.

Today there were at least five investigators at church.  I've been so impressed with our ward--the missionaries try to have a ward member at every lesson, and lots of the kids go with the missionaries two or three times a week.  They also spend time at the booth that the missionaries put up on campus once or twice a week (there has to be a student present since it's on campus).  It is wonderful to see such dedication on the part of the missionaries and the ward.  What a privilege it is to be part of this for 18 months!