Da' Bears, Da' Saints, Ditka

Got my sanity back after the slog through yesterday. Whoo hoo! Felt so bad because in Elder's Quorum I was fighting back the sleep and as a fellow teacher I know how it is when the group seems lost in space, it was good lesson on the dichotomy of service... doh!
Opened up the mailbox and found myself and nice little surprise, a new ATM card! What's nice about this one is that Wells Fargo has an offer that you can design your own bank card (and by design you can upload a photo) and they'll plaster it on for free which is my kind of price so I figured i'd take them up on their offer. Put a nice little picture of me and Brynn from a Timbers game last summer, good for the next three years. I guess this will make up somewhat karmically for all the crap we had to endure this past Friday when we went to deposit some financial aid goodies before our journey to Costco. Brynn had an issue in that when they added her info to the account (she had previously banked with Wells Fargo before we got married) they pulled up her maiden name and slapped it onto the account. What was such a hassle was that we had to bring in our marriage certificate from the county in order to prove the legitimacy of her claim (never mind in order to change her license she had to bring that plus her new social security... etc) to just change her name. That is when a ten minute trip into the bank became a full blown rodeo as the person helping her kept ignoring our pleas to leave and she tried to sell us everything but the kitchen sink, oh wait, she did (bringing the mortgage broker to speak with us about buying a house after we had mentioned that was a long term goal of ours). It was by far the worst experience i've ever had at a bank and reinforces my habit of depositing through the ATM. When I go to bank i'd like to think I am savvy enough to look up the right people for help when I need it but otherwise take my money, use it to lend to others, and ensure that the next time I swipe my card the money is in the account. I wish we could go back to MAPS.

On the field

I am so proud of the Elders Quorum. We came out in force today to help the Bemis' move, it's a great blessing to see so many honor that call by one of our fellow brethren for help. That is how the gospel is supposed to be.
Tomorrow we have an appointment to visit with our home teachers, Matt Hoiland and Taylor Mallard, and I am excited. I have not seen a home teacher in over a year in the shuffle between the singles ward in Monmouth, the Brush Hills ward in Salem, and the creation of the Maplewood Ward in Portland. I've talked about it before on how a faithful set of home teachers really have meant so much to me and was part of the reason I stepped on the plane to Oklahoma. I earnestly believe that being a home or visiting teacher is the greatest calling one can have in the church. We were talking about entrance into the Celestial Kingdom last Sunday and how after we are baptized into Christ's Church we honor our covenant and the requirement came from the Doctrine and Covenants 76 on how we must be valiant to enter into the Father's Kingdom. I know that diligent home teachers who show through their valiant effort that they are faithful to Lord's commandments are the greatest asset to sharing the fullness of the everlasting gospel.

Maybe we're not the biggest lame-o's

Pretty busy weekend including a little trip to the Roloff farm home of the stars of the Discovery Channel's, "Little People, Big World" a show about a family of little people. Take about schlock fest and a little full of themselves. One of my first impressions was the price of dirt has gone dramatically up with a small mason jar of apparently Oregon's finest is $8.00 a pop. Other than that the pumpkin patch wasn't too bad you could definitely tell that some of the money from the show had trickled down to the patch which considering it only cost two bucks to park was nice. Most people were there of course hoping to gawk at the Roloff's who fluttered about the patch and farm giving tours (that cost six bucks a piece and each time the trailers went out they were full to the brim) and posing for pictures, Bill got a picture with Amy (the mom). Cameras were a constant presence with signs posted in prominent places stating that by stepping onto the grounds you were giving consent to be on television. Don't think we'll be showing up anytime soon as the cameras spent most of the time up by the house. Funny thing though was that as soon as we stepped out of the car Brynn spotted Matt (the father) sitting in a gator chatting it up with a camera crew and had a total celebrity moment including the infamous "point". It was all I could do to not laugh/be embarrassed as I walked away. I love her but I do not think i'll let her live it down. One of my favorite features was the pumpkin fun house, whoever put that together is quite talented and pretty funny. It was one of the many features that made it a really decent patch. Craziest thing was the along with the standard petting zoo (which Brynn left deeming it too stinky) they had an exotic flair with Leo the lion, a cub of five months. Other than that Halloween was pretty low key with my call to slave labor with my first day alone at Soccerplex. Went pretty well though it was kind of a drag trying to find everything. Worst thing was was cleaning the women's bathroom and their extra "garbage" Grooooooooossssssss! I really dig the facility and everyone seems pretty cool, I like the prospect of helping grow the kids programs which will bring me a greater satisfaction to going to work everyday. This won't be our last Halloween and though it ended anti-climatic it brought the promise of busier Sundays to come. Today I was called to serve a teacher in the Elders Quorum. I am so grateful to be able to serve in the church and understandably somewhat antsy after not being able to do anything for a couple of months. Not that we should aspire for any position or calling but I know that has been my experience to grow giving me opportunity to strengthen my testimony in Jesus Christ.