Missionary Moments #33--April 19, 2015

We are excited today because we are going to be sustained as the youth Sunday School teachers for the 14-17 year olds.  I understand what President Hinckley meant when he said that new members need a friend, a calling, and nurturing by the good word of God.  Even though he meant it for new converts I think that new members of the ward also need it.  We have the friends, and we definitely are being nurtured by the good word of God so now the triangle is complete with our new assignment.  We will begin teaching in May and already have our lessons planned out for the the month.  So excited!  I have loved the new format for teaching the youth and of course grandpa was able to see first hand the effects of having more student involved when he served as the Stake Sunday School President.  Earlier in the week I watched a webcam from the family history department about record preservation.  It was so impressive and very amazing to see the Lord's hand in hastening the work.  They talked about a senior missionary who was a mechanical engineer before he retired.  He and his wife had been called to do record preservation in Italy.  They are mostly taking pictures of the big book of records that are in a lot of the archives--even here in New Hampshire.  These books are extremely fragile and taking pictures of book pages is difficult because of the slope into the binding.  This missionary designed a machine that is shaped like a V and the book is then set into the frame and the camera is able to get a better picture of the document and it also preserves the integrity of the book.  He then designed another apparatus that is kind of like a scale for smaller books and as you turn the pages to the book the scale continually keeps the book at the same height so the picture is good without readjusting the height or focus of the camera.  It is amazing!  I have to admit when I hear people talking about politics and needing to have younger candidates I feel a little offended because life experiences have always been and will always be the greatest teachers and provide the most knowledgeable candidates.  Yesterday, Grandpa and I stayed home so we could get our apartment ready for our special guest. Once we got everything cleaned up, we decided to explore downtown Concord. It was a very nice day, and we walked up and down Main street. We had lunch at a sandwich shop and we went to a museum about New Hampshire. We also took pictures of several statues in front of the State Capitol building and listened to a band playing with old-fashioned instruments. Later in the afternoon, we visited Penacook, the little village we live in. It was raining the whole time but the drive was beautiful.  We are living in a very beautiful state--can't wait to show it to Rachel!  Have a great week.