July 31, 2008 by Stephen Baldwin.

What an awesome family! Watching the family play at Seven Peaks in Provo was great time. We could be old and sit in the shade, get nervous when we weren’t sure where one of the kids were, or have our heart almost stop when Eric made Grace go with him on the Bomerrang! Can’t wait to see all of Michelle’s pictures to add with Stephen’s.  After our fun at Seven Peaks we met at Stephen and Patricia’s home in Orem where Stephen/Grandpa and Scott cooked Dutch Oven spuds, barbeque chicken and cobbler/cake. The cobbler was served with ice cream or whipped cream. The adult women, including Ashley, had a breakfast at IHOP and a pedicure while the men watched the kids. We traded places when all the guys went golfing near the Utah Lake. Oh, in the middle of the day we attended the Beattie Reunion that was held in Sandy, near Brian and Michelle’s home. Thanks to Brad and Amy for allowing all of us come to their home, after golfing and letter boxing, for some good food, great conversation, and pictures.

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July 3, 2008 by Stephen Baldwin.

Last Sunday we visited one of the wards in our stake. The ward meets in our building. We noticed a young couple and a distinguished looking lady sitting on the stand. I couldn’t see the lady’s face, just thinking it was a lady who would be speaking. When the counselor gave his greeting and welcomed visitors he recognized Sister Julie Beck, General Relief Society President - that was the lady. I then had to move so I could see her. She was there to witness the blessing of a grand child - her son is the Elder’s Quorum president in the ward. Sister Beck shared her testimony - it was a blessing to have been in the Timpview 3rd Ward. We had a nice conversation with Brother Beck after Sacrament meeting - he noticed our name tags. We were able to met Sister Beck and shake her hand.

July 3, 1890 is the date when Idaho became the 43rd state. This date is also the birthday of my younger brother, Lynn. It is easy to get a little homesick on a day when we think of home. Patricia even signed us up for an online version of the Rexburg Standard Journal! We could spend a lot of time reading the paper. I’m sure she will read every article.

We spent the morning at the LDS Employment Resource Services Center in Provo, still in the MTC-phase of our mission. Today we had some instruction of Safety matters and a tour of the DI building, learning where all of the exits are, as well as being encouraged to look for un-safe things and be ready to report them. It was supposed to only take about 15 minutes but the missionary took about an hour and half, maybe spending about 10 minutes on safety. The rest of the time he was sharing stories and articles, basically giving us his philosophy of how he coaches candidates. We spent some of our time, unsupervised, reviewing the Job Openings and Scholarship handouts. We had arranged for a young man (a junior in high school) to come in. We coached him, and his mom, by checking up to see that he was making progress in applying for scholarships. We helped him submit an application for a scholarship and encouraged him to write a couple of essays and up-date his Master Application. He will be coming back in a couple of weeks for some additonal help

We delivered a walking stick to one of my students who lives in Highland. No one was home when we got there so I left the stick leaning against the front door. Hopefully, she will notice and get it before someone else comes along and likes it! I miss seeing the students.

We had Abby come over for a couple of hours this afternoon so Amy and Bridget could go shopping with less worries. Brad and Dallen came by to pick her up; they had been golfing to help Dallen get ready for try-outs next Tuesday.

I have a large University of Phoenix class - 21 students! It is too large and will really tax me over the next six weeks.

Patricia is going to Boise for a couple days next week - leaving on a late flight Sunday evening and returning on Thursday afternoon. I will be spening Monday - Thursday in Heber Valley attending a school workshop about science assessments. I can’t pass up the opportunity to get three credits at no cost! Besides, I need to get enough credits to qualify for renewing my Idaho teaching certificate, since it expires on September 1. This workshop was already arranged before we received our mission call. It’s hard to not being doing our missionary work for that week, but I think we’ll make it up when we get back together on Thursday.

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