Days 51 - 59

Tuesday, August 13 through Wednesday, August 21: I sure have been behind in posting...I've been just too busy and too tired at the end of the day. There are just too many things to do. Here is a smattering of what's been happening this week. I have photos, too, but they're still on my phone. I'll upload them and add them later :).

• Worked every day. Very busy with international students, ECSU Dual Enrollment Program, UCONN Early College Experience Program, and so much more.
• Still working with the bank to get the rest of the money that was stolen from my account bank. The same for Peter, too.
• Worked at the firehouse, paying bills
• The new fire truck arrived last week. Yay! Also paid the first payment on the loan. :)
• Visited Matt's mom, Michelle.
• Had an allergic reaction to something in my office on Tuesday (8/20). Don't know what it was, but had a rash on my arm and my face swelled and was tingly. Had to go to the Medical Center for some Benedryl and then could hardly stay awake at the end of the day
• Got my allergy shots on Tuesday
• Got my hair cut on Tuesday, too. :)
• Steve texted and left a voice message for me, which I didn't get. He wanted to know if I was home from Brazil. The volume on my phone was off, so I didn't get the message. I went for my lesson...no Steve. I saw him on my way out...
• Make-up double piano lesson on Wednesday (8/21). Right at the beginning of the lesson, my glasses broke, so I couldn't read a thing. We had a great time improvising. Steve played some chords on his guitar and I played stuff on the piano. I'm not really great at this yet, but every time we do it, I get a little better.
• One of my biggest fears is not being able to read.
• Had a rabies shot on Wednesday last week and Sunday morning at 8:15. One more to go...
• Visited Anne with the sister missionaries last night. I also took the sisters to Wendy's for dinner. We ate in the car on the way to Greenville, RI.
• On Sunday, Jay and I were sitting in church, having partaken of the sacrament and listening to the first speaker. Suddenly Jay leans over to me and says, "I think you're supposed to be speaking today." Oops! Jay had a program, which he hadn't opened. We looked, and sure enough, I had to speak. I had no idea what the topic was, but the first speaker was talking about redemption so I tried to piggy-back on that theme. I looked in the topical guide and used the first scripture I saw: Exodus 6:6 & 7.  6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will ^abring you out from under the ^bburdens of the Egyptians, and I will ^crid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
   7 And I will take you to me for a ^apeople, and I will be to you a^bGod: and ye shall ^cknow that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
  I spoke about various things, including forgiveness and repeated the theme of "with a stretched out arm" throughout my talk. It felt pretty choppy to me, but no one else noticed that.
  This is cool: An investigator came to Scituate, and we met her in the parking lot. She sat with us. This person is Anne, the person I visited yesterday with the sister missionaries. This is the cool part: she said that when I shared the story of "forgive my father," she almost fell off her chair because that was something she needed to do.
  Here's my hypothesis: Heavenly Father made Jay forget to give me the information about the talk because he wanted me to speak from the heart rather than a prepared talk so that what I said could touch Anne's heart.