Boiling Ban Lifted

I don’t think I can describe how happy I was when I heard those words on the news.  The water has been tested, declared bacteria free, and deemed suitable for human consumption.  They have added chlorine and will do so for the next few months because the systems are still so fragile.  We will continue to drink bottled water for a while, but we can wash our dishes without boiling two pots of water and turning our flat into a sauna.  We can brush our teeth without grabbing a bottle of water, and we can rinse fresh vegetables and fruit under the tap.  My kitchen will be tidy once again.  We will be able to wash dishes after every meal instead of waiting for a stack to justify the steamy process.  So many reasons to be happy!

I realize that we are a week behind everyone else, but conference was recorded last week and shown in our church buildings this weekend.  It is the first time in my life that I had to put on Sunday clothes and attend General Conference at a ward meeting house.  I was amazed how few people turned out for the Saturday sessions.  There were only about 20 people there and the majority of them were YSA.  We all sat huddled together for warmth.  Someone turned on the fans instead of the heater and we were freezing.  The smart ones brought blankets, winter coats, gloves, and hats.  I just shivered in a light jacket.  After the morning session, we all went outside to get warm and to share a lunch that Brigham and Alyse spread out on the hood of their car.  By the afternoon session, the heating problem had been sorted out.  We shed the outer wear and watched in comfort.  For the Sunday morning session, the chapel was filled.  We sat by many of the young adults and shared a lunch with them during the hour break between sessions.  I was not looking forward to doing conference this way.  I have always loved watching it in my comfortable home.  In the end, I loved it.  I loved sharing the experience with these good kids.  I loved staying awake for every word.  I loved being taught by the Spirit.  I loved finding answers and resolutions to some personal longings and concerns that I have carried for quite some time.  What Elder Holland said was true.  “If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.”  I heard the ones that were meant for me.   I am most grateful for the prayers, the fasting, and the studying that each of the speakers invested in their talks.  I am grateful that each started and stopped and started again “until he or she [was] confident that for this conference, at this time, his or hers is the topic the Lord wishes that speaker to present” (Holland).  They were “mortal messengers with angelic messages”.   I wish I was able to maintain the spirit of hope and optimism I feel during conference.  I wish that it would not fade over time.  Thank goodness we get another recharge in six months. 

Saturday night we went to a birthday party for Drewe and Brodie.  The Young Adults are always so great to include us in their parties and celebrations.  They had an international theme with everyone bringing a pot luck dish from different countries.  I made New York cheesecake even though New Zealand does not know about graham crackers, and I had to guess on all the measurements because I am not good at converting grams into ounces, etc.  It must have been all right, because there wasn’t a morsel left.   As I was leaving, I didn’t notice a step and landed on the outside of my left foot.  I don’t think that I broke anything, but I can’t put any weight on it.  I have borrowed some crutches and I will be hobbling around for a few days.  John is the best of companions.  He doesn’t complain when he has to do extra work because I’m lame.  He just works a little faster and treats me even more kindly. 

The work just gets better and better.  Our institute numbers are up where they were before the quake.   It seems we get new ones every week.  Choir is getting bigger.  Ellen Chen, a university student majoring in music, asked if she could conduct and I have been so glad to have her.  The online seminary class has grown to 23 students—way over the recommended number.  We had to add five students from the Avonside ward in Christchurch.  The roads are so bad that they can no longer go to early morning seminary and make it home for school.  Brother Bell and John are still trying to figure out what to do with the 13 Wainoni kids who are having the same problem.  Hopefully the stake will be able to come up with another teacher from this side of town. 

The institute is such a fun place these days.  Kids come from the university to study.  I try to leave them alone, but every once in a while we have to take a break and play a game.  As I write this, I’m sharing the lounge with Abby…

Abby is finishing her masters thesis on “seed dispersal by tantalus monkeys”.  She has done her research in Nigeria and is teaching me to love nature and all the creatures of the earth.  She is failing when it comes to spiders.  I still hate them.

Laura and David…

Laura and David are first year university students.  David returned this year from a mission in Washington.  He has a class or two with Laura and has invited her to the institute building to study.  She is not a member, but has found a quiet, friendly place to study.  They just left for class, and look who showed up… 

Elder Lekias and Elder Segi.  It’s their P-day.  I want the missionaries to meet Laura.

It’s lunch time and I’m hungry.  I think I’ll go home and dirty some dishes so that I can wash them.  FUN!!!