Dear Richard
A very busy first week with Andrew’s new
calling… But that’s mainly because he’ll still be bishop for a bit longer at
the same time… But he tells me that they’ve signed the recommendation that is
sent to the Area Office and then on to the First Presidency. And Elder Renlund
did tell us that the recommendation will be looked at as a high priority in
this case, so hopefully soon! But one thing that I have noticed is that I’m
feeling a higher level of spirituality, which is something else that we were
promised as a family when Andrew was set apart. So that’s been great!
For my course this year I’ve implemented
something new, where the students are going to all have turns to present parts
of the tutorials. So this week in tuts we had the first few presentations. In 2
of the groups the students did really well – they were interactive and
entertaining, just a really great start! I’m very excited to see how this part
of the course plays out J
We had load shedding last week, for the
first time since 2008! Apparently there has been really intense rain over
Gauteng, and their coal reserves are wet and they just can’t get them dry… My
personal experience was that the power was off from 12:00 to 14:00 on campus,
so I did some marking. Then I finished that just after the power came back on,
but I left to go do the groceries. But the power was off in Plattekloof.
Thankfully Pick n Pay has a generator, so I could still do the shopping, but in
a dimly lit store… Then as I’m driving along Plattekloof Road towards Bothasig
I saw the traffic lights ahead of me switch off, and I was into my 3rd
consecutive load shedding zone! Quite unbelievable how that worked out! But it
was just the one day, and the power has been stable since then, although the
supply is tight.
We had fast weekend this past weekend because
of having stake conference on the first Sunday. We had a family fast for Mom,
because her tremor and speech have been getting worse, and the specialist she
saw also doesn’t know what the cause is, or what to do to sort it out… So we
fasted that the group of doctors she’ll be seeing this week will have some inspiration
of what to do to help her, and for healing! We came together for Mom to have a
blessing yesterday afternoon, and Andrew felt good about the promises that were
made to her. Our prayers were answered the last time we had a fast for Mom –
she is SO much better with her mental health now! So it’s trusting that
Heavenly Father can heal her now, and waiting to learn what His will is for
her.
We had an awesome Sunday School lesson on
Sunday! It was on Abraham and Isaac, and those that were in the class really
benefitted from it! My favourite part was at the end where we spoke about how
we each find ourselves in the position of the different characters at different
times in our lives – sometimes we like Abraham, having to pass through a
difficult test and having to trust that the Lord knows what is best for us, or
like Sarah being the spouse waiting at home, or like the angel coming and being
a blessing in the lives of people who are needing it, or like Isaac, where we
would be sacrificed or damned and we are powerless to stop it, but Heavenly
Father has provided His Lamb so that we can be saved from that result. It was
very powerful having the class coming to understand that J I’m really enjoying this calling!
So that’s about it, but busy as always…
And of course the busyness is set to continue, but that’s just the reality of
life ;)
It’s so great to hear how great things are
going for you though – we’re so happy to know that you’re serving so willingly
and faithfully J I was telling Hannah that you’re just about
half way, and she started telling me all sorts of stories, in her usual way,
but she told me that she misses you. So even if all of your friends are on
mission when you get back, you’ll have one person who’ll be VERY happy to spend
time with you ;) And the rest of us will be right behind her :P
Love you lots!
Shelly
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