Kid Time - continued

Some more pics from swimming last Wednesday - Toby is showing his "muscles"

As a reward for "eating" (they pick at their dinners that Susan makes unless it is mac and cheese, cheese pizza, or dino chicken nuggets) their Sunday dinner I told them we would hang out on the balcony. They all got their binoculars and were looking at the mountains and the birds and each other close up. They also like to say hi to EVERYBODY as they walk by the park behind the house. Again, the weather and sunsets are beautiful!

I was on the hammock trying to read. I'm reading a few books right now, but on the hammock I was attempting to read "Men of Valor - The Powerful Impact of a Righteous Man" by Robert L Millet. My dad gave it to me for Easter. It seems to be his testimony/general thoughts about men, the priesthood, duties, and the times in which we live. The part I read in the hammock was about home teaching and so was the lesson today in Elder's Quorum. Even though we visit all 4 of our families every month, I've realized that there is SO much more we can and need to do for our families - both to bless and care for them as well as in order to bless and be an example for our own families. So - I need to start praying for them, be willing to help with visible needs without asking, and involve myself more in their lives besides just hanging out at their homes once per month.

I also taught Gospel Doctrine again today - the "3rd in rotation" teacher didn't show up (again), so instead of the bishop teaching (like he did last time because we were in San Diego) - I did! Luckily, I knew which lesson we were on and could get the teacher's manual from the church website on my cell phone. I read the lesson plan and the scriptures (John 9, 10) during sacrament meeting. I think it went well - it is better when you don't have as much time to get anxious about getting anxious before teaching. I really do feel comfortable - and was shocked when reviewing the lesson plan after the class how much of the material we really did cover (since I didn't have anything more than a small cell phone screen to read from, we ended up talking naturally as a group about the chapters and how they relate to our lives). Anyways, it was fun, and most importantly, I grew from teaching and got a lot more out of the scriptures than if I had been doing hall duty and ringing the bells.