Thursday, September 04, 2008

September 4, 2008

Time is flying by like it always does when school starts. The girls are all busy in their sports. Rachel and Nicole are doing volleyball at school now (I'm sure they are at least as good as the Olympic team!). Caitlin is doing Rugby. Eli is back in swimming, and Jay will start learning basketball on Saturdays. It's good to get them busy. Mike and Nicole have been doing great with an intense exercise program they started 3 weeks ago. I'm pretty proud of them. The do it almost every evening. I would say I'm the only one who isn't doing any great sports right now. But, I did just realize I've been going to the pool to exercise my hip and leg. Does that count? I don't know.

Not too long ago, Ajay Patha, a young man who has been in our branch for about two years, left on his mission. He was living about 2 hours away from Nanjing, and was so diligent in coming to church every week. He and his brother had joined the church when he was younger. Ajay had come to China to go to medical school, but the man who set it up wasn't really honest, and the promised medical school wasn't what it seemed. Ajay wanted to serve a mission, but his parents(back home in India) did not want him to go . After much prayer, they have come around, and are nervous, but not against it. He has been called to the New Delhi mission, which includes Nepal, and Northern India. We are so proud of Ajay. We will all miss him very much as he has been an important part in our little branch.

This last Sunday, was the District Conference in Shanghai. Nicole was asked to speak, which was very scary for her. She did a great job preparing. Her talk was on having a forgiving heart. Poor thing was petrified to find out that we had a visiting apostle, who would be there to hear her, and would also speak. We were so blessed to have Elder Christopherson at the conference. Mike was able to hear him a couple of times, as he went the day before for the priesthood and adult session. Rachel, Nicole, and Caitlin were also able to go to a morning-side and hear him speak. It was a really special day. And of course, he was very kind, and came to Nicole immediately to tell her what a good job she did.

The other good news is Mike was able to talk to someone who works for the US consulate who helped us to register to vote from Nanjing! We hope it works out. We wouldn't want to miss this very entertaining Presidential Election!

Here are some really fun photos of Ajay at the airport the morning he left on his mission.