New Experiences!

Once upon a time our son, Crismon, emphasized the importance of new experiences. He claimed that the value of new experiences would keep a person young, interesting, and generally VITAL! I'm sure that he meant well...maybe even protecting us from a retirement home! This week we have had our fair share of new experiences! In the interest of time...maybe even boredom, I'll limit my explanations to only two more memorable events, and sometime in the future I'll figure out how to put pictures on this blog and you'll get the full effects.

Last Friday (Jan. 23) night was the annual Awful Waffle activity. Approximately 60 young adults showed up for a delicious dinner with waffles, eggs, bacon, juice, milk and syrup. Then about 30 minutes later 8 of these kids signed up for the awful waffle competition. Eight waffles were then topped with mustard, bbq sauce, chocolate, beets, syrup, whipped cream, onions, raw eggs, sauerkraut, A-I Sauce, ice cream, ketchup, and probably a few other items I have tried to forget ...did I mention the gravy and sprinkles on top? The smell drove some spectators out of the room. Peter felt slightly nauseous, but cheered them on! Then these majestic works of art were placed before these brave souls to see who could eat their most awful waffle the fastest.
There was pandemonium!! The faces on the eaters showed half the story, the groans of the spectators told the other half, and the two contestants who threw-up gives you the rest of the story.The crowning act was that each participant had to eat one of our canned scorpions from Thailand, saved and brought to Arkansas for such a special occasion, and this was it!!! We felt like we had to do our part! The winner said it was worse than the waffle. He got his name on the revolving trophy that has been passed down since 2003. We can hardly wait for the next activity these creative guys come up with. Stay tuned!
After teaching last Monday (the 26th), we drove to our first Zone Conference to meet our mission president in a nearby town. As we approached the church, we noticed a serious rainstorm had caused several cars to slide off the freeway. When we reported this observation to Pres. Seal, he decided to close the meeting early, and we left with the sister missionaries that are assigned to the university. Halfway home the roads turned to ice, and we remembered Jennifer and Paul's experiences with icestorms in St. Louis a few years ago. While our travel was very slow, we got the missionaries and us home safely. The next morning, we found out that the local schools, including the university, were closed...which meant more preparation time for our classes, but we thought it was an overreaction of the decision makers. At least until we started hearing strange popping, cracking, and crashing sounds - TREES, that is! One about every 3-4 minutes for several hours. Then the ice started to accumulate on the trees, bushes, cars, and even the blades of grass. In a very short time we had beautiful "glass" branches out our window, at least 1/2 inch thick, then a whole magical looking "glass forest" .... It was AMAZING!!! We fully expected a snow fairy from Narnia to step out with a greeting! This went on for hours...then the inevitable...our power went out. Did I mention, that we left our 72hour emergency kit in Utah? Did I mention that all of our utilities are electric? Well, fortunately, our Bishop's wife, Sister Clune, came to our rescue with a suggestion...her gas fireplace was warming her house and would we like to join her and the sister missionaries for dinner? The roads were no longer icy, but the trees laying across the roads looked like a disaster zone and proved to be a little tricky (I'm understating). Some roads were closed, but Gerty (our GPS) managed just fine.To make our LONG story shorter, we spent our nights cuddled under our blankets with multiple layers of clothing in a VERY cold apartment (about 43 degrees), then dressed in record time each morning, dashed to the car that was warming up in the parking lot, and drove some place for a warm breakfast. Since the university had no power and trees blocked access roads, it was closed for the rest of the week and so we decided to do some exploring. We drove south on the freeway (no trees) to Fort Smith 30 miles away on Friday and north today over the border to Missouri (always making sure we stayed within the mission, of course). I'm here to report that today, after 4 days, we now have power and a warm apartment!! We have a greater appreciation for our pioneers, our car heater, and the wisdom of the Brethren to be prepared...And New Experiences!!

Happily Exhausted!

We have been in Arkansas only one week...it seems so-o-o much longer! We have never been so happy... or so tired. We are on the go everyday and yet we feel so happy to be out of retirement. We can't figure it out, but everyone really likes us, and we feel very important in their lives. We feel very blessed with the instant friendships we have made. There is so much electricity among the students...we think we are about to witness an explosion!! There are a lot of terrific thinkers, too! We really feel our challenge!! Next week, besides teaching two and three classes daily, we will attend the student council meeting on Thursday night and the "Awful Waffle" party on Friday night ( the students will be judged on who will eat the most disgusting topping on their waffle...it's an annual affair with a trophy). I'm debating whether to open the can of fried scorpions I brought from Thailand for a topping; do I hear a DARE? Oh, and did I mention the potato soup/salad lunch for 35 on Wednesday? Actually, Sister Clune (our Bishop's wife) and Sister Smith (our Institute's secty.) will be helping. Whew. thank you for many hands! However, I am really looking forward to using some of the delicious recipes in my gift book from Brighton Point Ward. I've already worn my cute apron gift while serving Hawaiian Haystacks last Wed. I really looked the part and it calmed my anxieties...there are some serious eaters here!!
We have LOVED our GPS, "Gerty". She has managed to navigate us to more places than we knew existed! And the picture slide show is more than we could have asked for! It even helped keep a little girl named Phoebe quiet during church. What a wonder! Now, if I could figure out how to program her to unpack boxes!! We need Joy and the Woods here!!
Time to prepare lessons... so good night and know that we love you!