Dear Richard
It’s that day of the year again when we say “Is it really
December already?!?!?” Yet again, the year has just flown by!
Last week was results week at varsity, so it was all about
finalising the results, and then they got released on Thursday afternoon.
That’s the one day of the year that you try to make sure that you’re not on
campus! It’s great to see all the excited students, but those who are
disappointed need time to gather their thoughts before they come and speak to
us, so it’s not productive for us to be around then. And even this week I’ve
had some students coming and asking what do they do now… And there are so many
reasons that students don’t do as well as they should have. It could be lack of
ability or effort, or circumstances beyond their control. In some ways it’s
similar to people’s ability to live the gospel. In fact one of the talks from
the Women’s session of conference reminded me again of the analogy that I’ve
used before where the Lord sets the standards and so we need to comply, just
like a university sets the requirements for students to enter the university
and then also to graduate with a degree. So baptism could be our entering the
university, and then qualify for exaltation would be getting the degree. But we
can’t customise the requirements to suit us – we have to qualify according to
the standards set. And the gospel is the same.
I think I really have finally finished all of the stuff for
the 2 textbooks now… More ancillary material just keeps on popping up, but I
think we’ve done everything now for both books. I’ll be really glad when it all
gets signed off, and we can focus on other things for a few years :)
I went to a follow up talk on parenting, this time of
discipline and rewards. Lots to think about again… Remind me to share it with
you when you’re at that stage ;)
And the big event last week was really Joshua’s graduation!
The school puts a lot of effort into the graduation ceremony. The kids learn a
whole lot of songs that they sing for us, and they wear special gowns, and they
each get called up to receive a certificate and medal and have a photo taken,
and then lots of eats afterwards. It’s so nice to be part of a school where the
children are really part of a family, and now I’ll be part of making things
work well, and hopefully helping the school to move forward :) You’ll get to
come to Hannah’s and Caleb’s graduations too :D
Andrew went to the Young Men’s camp on Friday night, and
also did a short presentation for them on Saturday morning. It was much better
for us at home, compared to the last time he went away… But then the kids are that
much older, and it seems like there might be a bit of a shift with the early
waking of Hannah and Caleb! :) This morning all 3 kids were still sleeping at
6:30 which is just UNHEARD of! I’m hoping they’ll start sleeping more normal
hours ;) So on Friday night we went to McDonalds, and we actually ran into one
of the girls in Joshua’s class and her parents and ended up eating with them.
So it was actually me chatting to them, and the kids playing on the jungle gym.
They’re also very faith-driven people, so it was really nice chatting to them
:) And then on Saturday morning we did lots of playing in the morning, and then
when Andrew got home it was a quick exchanging of Joshua, for Andrew to take
him to a party, and I took Hannah and Caleb with me to the RS Christmas party, which
was really nice.
Then Saturday afternoon we had a braai for Andrew’s
birthday, so we had a full house! But it was nice to all be together, and I was
getting Amy to be pretty adventurous in the pool! Of course, we’ll see how much
she trusts me next time ;)
My lesson on Sunday was quite nice. It was only Alecia and
Chante in the class, and the lesson was on temples, but neither of them has
ever been to the temple, even to do baptisms. So we looked at the lesson
material a bit, but a lot of the time was more open discussion, and answering
all sorts of questions, which was really nice! It’s so nice to be able to have
that space to be able to discuss the gospel like that.
So that’s more or less my week. It’s just 2 weeks left of
work and school, and then life gets all turned upside down… But I think it’s
going to be nice :) And we’re definitely looking forward to talking to you!
Love you lots
Shelly
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