This has been a busy week (which ones isn't?) - Dad and I both reckon that we don't have time right now to have full-time jobs. :-)
I went to aquafit on Monday (with my friend, Chantelle) and on Friday. The girl, Skye, who does it on Mondays, has a background in ballet and pilates. She tends to do more stretching in her routine for us. The guy, Lars, tends to do more aerobic workouts. I like both workouts as they target different things. I also was able to get in a swim on Wednesday. I actually met my friend, Haidi, at the pool at 8am as she was bringing her girls to the pool for the morning. Haidi moved with her husband and family to HB a couple of years ago, but has had trouble getting a permanent visa for her and the children. She and the children moved back to Wales last year until her husband could work out the visa issue. She and the girls came to visit for the Christmas season. Haidi and I connected when she was here and so it was disappointing for me when she went back to Wales. It was great to be able to get together with her while she is here - we talked and talked for almost four hours - it was a great catch-up session! :-) Afterwards, I wasn't sure if I would have the energy to do my 40 lengths - and I thought about only doing 20 - but, once I got started, I had no trouble finishing my 40. AND, I even did it in less than 40 minutes which was my first goal. Now, I want to keep it under 40 minutes for the rest of January. Once I get back to Australia at the end of March, I want to make a new goal of swimming 44 lengths.
This week was a great week for me for spending time with friends. On Monday, my friend, Denise, and I went visiting teaching. I love visiting teaching as it gives me a chance to get to know the sisters in my ward better. On Sunday, you might get a few minutes to talk with a few sisters, but visiting teaching allows us to sit and chat for about half an hour with each sister. On Saturday, we had a Relief Society activity and I got to meet up with more sisters and spend time with them. The theme was 'something extraordinary' - we found out when we got there that the something extraordinary was US! We each had to fill out a questionnaire with ten questions about ourselves, bring a picture of us when we were a baby (I had to bring a photo of me and Uncle Baden and Uncle Ken when we were 5, 4, and 3 at the Wagga fair which Uncle Rick had sent me via email j- the photo was actually in the local newspaper) and something we thought was extraordinary. I brought an angel figurine which one of my students had given me. She (the angel) is holding a sign which says 2 teach is 2 touch lives 4 ever (it's laid out like a math equation: 2 +2 = 4. After the sisters guessed who I was (after the first answer which was where I was born :-) , my picture was shown around and I shared the angel. I told the sisters that it was extraordinary to me as teaching is something which I have a passion for and I feel very blessed to have been able to make a career of something which I truly love to do - there are not a lot of people I have found who can say that they have (had) a passion for what they have chosen to work at for their lives.
My HB book club met this week and it was the first time I have been able to go in ages and ages. There were only four members there that night which was quite small compared to the numbers we were getting at the formation of our club which was about 18 months ago or so. A couple of members have moved away and a few more seem to have fallen by the wayside. There are two more women who usually come who weren't there that night. I said that I was quite happy to be part of a small group as I found when I was in the Bolton book club, that having more than a half dozen members or so made it so that some people didn't share their thoughts on the book. There was talk about us meeting every two months, but I didn't like that idea (even though I am not here so much of the time) because, by the time you meet, you will likely have forgotten the book you have read. They are going to decide next month what they are doing to do. Of course, I won't be there as I will be in Canada by then. I am still reading the books which the Bolton book club read and pass on my thoughts to the leader of the group when I am done reading. I am looking forward to being part of their discussions in person when I am there for the February and March meetings.
We had the missionaries over for dinner again on Saturday night. It's so nice to be able to have them over and get to know them better. We got a new missionary in our ward this week - Elder A (I haven't learned how to say his name properly yet - it's Samoan). Since he is new, he had to answer 20 questions about himself and his family. :-) After our meal, they showed us a video - one of the Mormon messages - it was about setting goals in the new year - we talked about the goals that Dad and I had made. Speaking of goals, Dad and I aren't doing too badly on our goals - fortunately, we aren't freaking out about not being perfect re: our goals this year. We just keep trying our best to fulfil them each day.
Most of our week was spent working on our talks for church today - I was the middle speaker and Dad was the final speaker. It takes Dad and I both ages to plan and prepare for our talks. My talk was about gaining hope through the atonement - I basically talked about how because Jesus suffered for us in the Garden of Gethsemane, died for us on the cross and then arose the next day, that we will be resurrected and live with each other again for eternity. I also talked about how because Jesus died for us, we can be forgiven if we repent. I shared three stories during my talk, one of which was about how comforting it was for me to know all of this when Poppy passed away at such a young age. Dad talked about how Jesus Christ lives - he asked everyone to listen to the words of the hymn 'I Know That My Redeemer Lives' (he said that often we are concentrating more on singing the hymn than on the meaning of the words when we sing). Then, he talked about how we can each know that Jesus Christ lives: read about Him (in the scriptures, in the church magazines, in our lesson manuals), study about Him and his life, listen to what the prophets and apostles have to say, and eventually you will come to understand for yourself that He does indeed still live today!
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