Another week has flown by. It was a little different week because I started by chaperoning at a scout day camp with four ten year old scouts and their leader. Two deep leadership is a must for scouts and no one else seemed to be available. The boys seemed to have a good time with the planned activities and I enjoyed getting acquainted with some of the boys I really had not had a chance to interact with before. In the evening the 13th ward invited us to a barbecue which was well attended. Ruth and one of our sisters gave a spiritual thought about sharing the sweetness of the Book of Mormon.
  Tuesday we had a the chance to meet with a new family that has recently moved into our neighborhood, and then met by appointment with a new member of our ward who is hoping to go to the temple in the near future. She has been a member about a year now, so we are excited to have her enjoy the blessings of the temple.
  On Wednesday we had our first zone meeting with our new mission president and his wife. They talked about their lives and shared some of the expectations they had for the mission. Pres. Allred is serving without counselors, and it seems to be a heavy load to carry alone. A couple of announcements were made; one was that in the next few months those departing missionaries have some latitude as far as setting their departure date, three weeks before or an extension of three weeks; the choice is up to the missionary. The other announcement was that each missionary could attend an assigned temple session at the temple closest to their area on a quarterly basis. They can of course go with a new or returning to activity member when the opportunity presents itself.
 We had a spiritual meeting. They had asked us to review some material as well as the White handbook and some "questions of the soul" as we read and study. There was good discussion about many of the principles of the work and the spirit was very uplifting.
 In the process of all this, Ruth's computer crashed. She does most of the record keeping of our visits and reports as needed. Shopping for another computer resulted in a trip to Staples in Ogden where we were able to get another machine. There is a learning curve because of new programs but we will make it all work.
  We took the opportunity to spend some family time for the 24th of July (Pioneer Day). We are so blessed in our families to have ancestors who were willing to leave their homes and make their way to America to enjoy the freedom of their beliefs. They had joined the L D S Church and then brought their families to Zion to bless this land with their faith and determination to do what Heavenly Father wanted them to do. This is a rich heritage we need to remember and model in our lives.
On Friday many of our family joined together and attended the Logan parade which included some of our missionaries. It was great to see how well they were greeted as they walked the route. The children all had plenty of candy by the end of the parade. The parades are getting mostly commercial with people driving company vehicles and throwing candy. A few floats come along with area royalty but the Logan parade had one high school band and that was the band from Preston,Idaho. We had a nice family gathering in Blacksmith Fork canyon following the parade and ate lunch at the Hyrum Park in the canyon. Saturday we took most of Keith's children and their Japanese visitor Yuri fishing. It wasn't the best fishing day but once the perch found the bait the kids were happy. Yuri caught the first and the most perch and everyone seemed to have a good time. Saturday evening we drove to Roy with Ruth's sister riding with us to a family wedding for Sarah and Collin. Sarah is Catherine's granddaughter who met her new husband as she served her mission.
  Today was a busy Sunday. We began the day at six am with a stake council meeting. We discussed, Elder Bednar's talk from October 2006 about offense. It was a good discussion and then there were three Elders who had recently returned from their missions who reported and gave their testimonies. Wow, what great young men. We then attended a ward council meeting and then to our own ward for a missionary talk by a young man leaving this week for New Mexico. He is a neighbor and we really admire him and his family. Tonight we had dinner with a new Relief Society president and her family. They are a very faithful family, we have had dinner with them before. We are hoping the coming week will provide many opportunities to use the knowledge we have gained and share the message of peace with many people as possible.