Blue Moped

We made a run out to the dump this morning. Took some stuff from our house and some stuff from Dan and Amy's house. The little truck handled the trailer like a champ and we had a smooth run.  I got rid of the old sink, the old toilet, the old brick house sign, an old closet door, and then I popped the topper off the truck and tossed it.  Dan had his old topper on the trailer along with several other items.  It was a good trip. 

On our journey we happened to come across a little blue moped that we picked up for free.  It is a little 82 Suzuki and it is going to need a little work done on it but we think we can make it work.  Jack is way excited about it and I am excited to see what we can do.  It would be a sweet little bike for him to cruise around.  We will see what we can do. I think it will be a good little project that will give him some experience in putting things back together and tinkering around.

Speaking of tinkering around, got the go-cart up on stands and started playing with the breaks.  I have to figure out how to get it to stop. Found that a spring was missing on one side and Dan happened to have a spring that we made work for that.  Also adjusted the mechanical discs as well.  I've got them pretty tight right now but that seems to be the only way to get them to grab and actually slow the thing down.  The boys got out and gave it a go.  Jack is fairly good at it now and did well.  Andy is struggling a bit with it.  He really wants to drive it but is lacking a bit of confidence and processing speed when danger arises is not good.  We hit the curb pretty well at one point.  It was one of those moments when you could see it happening, tried to make it stop but were powerless to make that happen.  At one point I pressed the back of my leg down against the front tire in and effort to apply brakes. It didn't work all that well.  He will learn and get it down eventually.

Conference was excellent today as well.  The priesthood session was powerful as President Nelson introduced a change in the Melchizadek Priesthood.  Instead of High Priests being separated out from the Elders, all will meet together in an Elders Quorum. We will see some changes in the coming weeks.  Pretty cool.  The entire session was very powerful.  For a closing song President Nelson invited all to stand and sing Rise Up Oh Men of God.  it was great. 

Results Are In

I have anxiously awaited over the last 21 days for the results of my praxis exam. I didn't note the scores when I took the exam and I was nervous to see how I actually did.  It turned out great. I passed all sections. That feels fantastic. I am grateful for that. Now I need to study for my next one. It is in a week.  Want to do well. 

Enjoying It

For the last 9 school days I have been able to head over to South Elementary to make observations and to participate in teaching.  It is great.  I am really enjoying it.  Next week we will be off but then back in the saddle the following week.  I really enjoy going in and working with the students. Thus far my time has mainly been spent in the special ed room with Mrs. Coonen.  She is simply the best and I feel very fortunate that i get to work with her.  After Spring break I will be in a different classroom but it will be good. I must retire for the evening.  I am feeling the weight of my eyelids. 

An Award for That?

Back on the 16th my blog entry for the day was titled Getting Frustrated.  Indeed I was frustrated at a task I was working on for school.  I was developing a lesson plan that was composed of 5 mini lessons.  It was not my favorite assignment and I was struggling to get it done.  I actually quit working on it that night just for my own sanity.  The next day I got up and went back to work. It made for a long day but I got through it. I didn't think it was the greatest work but it should meet the requirements of the task.  Indeed it did and I passed the assessment.  Today I received a call from my mentor who asked if I had seen my email.  I had not.  I thought she might be calling to let me know that my scores came in for that dang praxis exam but this was not the case.  She told me that I had been given and award of excellence.  Apparently my task submission was excellent and impressed the evaluators who are charged with evaluating such things.  She told me that this doesn't occur all that often and that I should be very proud of this achievement. When I figured out that it was for that mini lesson task I was a little bit surprised.  The reality is I don't do the bare minimum in these tasks.  I take them very seriously and I want to do them right.  I don't want to have to go back and do them again because I missed something. I researched effective mini-lesson plans and put something together that I thought would be beneficial to diverse groups of students.  I guess I did okay. I had three emails congratulating me on the achievement.  Pretty cool.

Oh My Gosh

I just watched a video for the task I will need to complete for my upcoming social studies class.  Truly I am left scratching my head and wondering why they include certain parts in this assessment.  There are literally parts in section B, C, and D where all I have to do is copy and paste information that I have already included in section A.  Why bother?  Why waste the time in doing it all twice?  I don't quite get it.  Apparently these things are designed by people that have a ton of extra time on their hands.  Sweet.  Well, I am beat and am struggling to keep my eyes open. I am going to call it a day. 

In The Kitchen

Did some running around for Brick House this afternoon.  Had to take care of some financial stuff and then ran to the store.  I came back in and began working the line because we had a lot of catering that needed to get done and the restaurant was busy for  a Monday.  Natalie was at an appointment and was going to be late so I knew that we were down one in the kitchen.  I then ended up working for the next few hours as things just stayed busy and work needed to get done.  I went from fryers to making sandwiches and then out to the bus tables.  Not bad.  I enjoy jumping on the line and getting after it. I wasn't intending to spend my afternoon and evening working at the Brick but that was needed today so that is what I did.  It worked out just fine.  It was a big Monday for us and at this time of year we take what we can get.  A big day is taken with smiling faces.  Well, at least a few smiling faces.  I am sure there are a few sour ones when their workload is increased.  We need to be grateful for what we are given and do our best to be wise stewards over it.  There are plenty of restaurants that are suffering through this time of year and sometimes that suffering is worse then what we go through. 

Uphold

Went home teaching this evening after church.  My new companion was out of town so I took Jack with me.  Jack will be 14 in a few weeks and should be my companion shortly thereafter so this was good practice.  We saw the Miners and the Shurtleffs.  Great visits in these homes and Jack did a great job. 

I thought about what I might share in these homes and I felt it would be good to talk about conference next week and the opportunity we will have to participate in the solemn assembly to sustain President Russel M. Nelson as the prophet.  I took a gander at LDS.org to see if they said anything about it and came across a little message titled Uphold the Hands of Our Prophet. It is a good read and shared a message that I thought was perfect for a brief home teaching visit.  The article shared the story of Moses and how when the children of Israel were in battle they were successful when Moses held up his hand.  When his hand fell their enemies prevailed.  As the battle carried on Moses's hands grew heavy and as they began to fall Aaron and Hur lifted them and steadied them.  Moses was upheld by those he served.

We have the opportunity to raise our hands and to uphold President Nelson. We will be able to raise our hands to sustain him as the Prophet in the solemn assembly next week.  We can continue to uphold him by following the direction they give. President Nelson shared this in October 2014 conference:  "Our sustaining of prophets is a personal commitment that we will do our utmost to uphold their prophetic priorities.  Our sustaining is an oath-like indication that we recognize their calling as a prophet to be legitimate and binding on us". I quite like that and feel a great love for those who I have previously sustained as prophet.  I have felt that love grow as I have tried to do my part to uphold their prophetic priorities.  I think it is important to recognize our duty to sustain not only with our hands but with our actions. There are times when that can be difficult to do as it may require sacrifice on our part.  We may have to stand alone. Whatever the case, when we follow the prophet and uphold him, the Lord will uphold us.

I shared the story of having President Hunter pass away while I was on my mission and not being able to participate in conference because of the delay in watching it in South Africa.  It took time for the recordings to arrive and I returned home before they arrived and before conference had been broadcast for the saints in South Africa.  When I returned home the folks had recorded conference. I couldn't wait to turn it on and participate in the solemn assembly for President Hinkley.  That was a very special moment for me to stand in the family room of our house on Telegraph St. in Carson City, to raise my arm to the square and sustain President Hinkley as the Lord's prophet on the earth. I look forward to this great opportunity to do the same for President Nelson.