Shower of Good News

                There was so much good news this week that I may not be able to remember it all.

•  Aaron, our grandson called to visit and explained to his grandpa that the physics class he is taking is pretty easy for him. He scored 100% on the last test but the class average was 50%. Wayne said, “Good genes.”
•  Bethany, our granddaughter, reported that she can graduate from BYU with a chemistry minor without taking any extra classes.
•  Emily, another granddaughter, got her braces off. She looks even more beautiful.
  
•  Kara, our missionary granddaughter, was paired with a new companion just out of the MTC and they had a baptism that reactivated a whole family.
•  We were able to talk to several of our family members from home and feel their love and support. There was even a LETTER in our mailbox. It was a talk given by Rachel, our Beehive granddaughter, with her sweet testimony.
•  Gabe, one of the soldiers we have tutored for six month, took his promotion exam and scored 124. That’s a jump of over thirty points. He started filling out his paperwork to apply for Officer’s Candidate School (OCS) the same day. He is literally a “rock star” on the post. Everyone seems to know him and what he achieved. They want to be like him.
  
•  Another soldier we have been tutoring who has struggled for every word she’s learned, for every math problem and every comprehension question she answers correctly  jumped eleven points on the predictor exam she took this week and now she can see the goal of a score that will give her opportunity to apply to become a pharmacist’s assistant.
•  We finished another review class with the soldiers and their initial predictor scores are up higher than many had dreamed possible. There is so much joy in being a part of another person’s success.
  
•  Elder and Sister Bowman have picked up the lion’s share of the evening tutoring lifting a weight off our shoulders that was heavier than we were aware. It gave us time for to enjoy the beauty of this fall season and exercise a little more.
•  I was able to greet the harmonies (grandmothers) in our neighborhood as we walked. I love to see their face light up when I stop, bow and give them the traditional Korean greeting. Even their family members who are standing near smile. A simple smile can bring so much joy.
  
• Wayne was able to help one of our African men fill out his paperwork to serve a mission. Just completing the application will be a challenge for him, but he wants to share the joy he has found with others.
• We found a soldier who was baptized four years ago and hasn’t been able to retrieve his membership record over a series of many moves. Wayne has a search out for the record and I have his phone number. He has the time and place of our meetings and we’re eager to include him in our military branch.
• One of the soldiers Wayne was tutoring in math said that he is looking for a religion so he can raise his son with a church. He wondered when we held meetings and if he could join us! We can’t proselyte but we can share meeting times and answer questions.
• Friday, many of the soldiers had the day off. We had finished teaching our class and the USO had too many volunteers. Wayne and I went to the health fair hoping to get our flu shot. The line was so long you couldn’t see the end so we volunteered to help the nurses. Wayne took the paper off the Band-Aids and we put the needles on the syringe and flushed out the tiny air pocket so the nurses could give the shots more quickly. We had such fun. The nurses cleared out the line in no time and then we got our shots, too.
  
• In the meantime, one of the retirees who came for his shot saw our name tags, said he had considered learning more about our church, and he was ready to do that now. He gave me his phone number so the missionaries could contact him and his wife and I gave him the time and place of our meetings.
• While we were helping the nurses we were able to see many soldiers we have worked with either in the church, the education center, or USO and reconnect with them in a joyful way.
• Our missionary district met at our house so we could attend. We have eight young missionaries and two senior couples. We have an awesome district. We sing like the Tabernacle Choir and we love being missionaries in South Korea. We have a message of hope and we invite everyone we meet to listen and pray and read the Book of Mormon.