Sunday, July 31st 2005 is almost in the past. I think that time seems to pass too quickly and lots of things that I should have done are not even started. Dang! Today was a busy Sunday. It all started about 11:30 p.m. last night when the power went out. When that happens my nasal cpap machine stops running, of course, and I wake up. Sleep is impossible until power is restored and the machine starts working again. About 1 a.m. power was finally restored and I was back to sleep only to wake up at 6:30. I deliberately didn’t set an alarm clock so that I could sleep in as late as my body would allow. 6:30 was apparently the limit. After letting Bradica (the dog) out and getting her fed, I decided to stay up. Good thing, because starting about 7:00 the telephone calls started coming in.

I first heard from Nina who has safely arrived with Daryl literally in tow in Philadelphia. Daryl is now in his new apartment and will start his new job on Tuesday. The RV is empty of Daryl’s stuff and his car is unhitched from the back of the RV. Nina will continue on to Connecticut tomorrow morning. I’m wishing I was there for this big road trip! Nina was followed by several other phone calls from family and Ward members. In between the calls, I finished preparing the Sunday School lesson that I was scheduled to teach today, the talk I was to deliver in Sacrament Meeting, and practiced the hymns for Sacrament Meeting that I would be accompanying on the organ. That’s right: I was teaching a Sunday School class, playing the organ for Sacrament meeting, and was the concluding speaker.

The Bishop had called a couple of days ago and asked if I would be willing to speak on such short notice in Sacrament Meeting. He felt that I should prepare about 10-12 minutes on the subject of missionary work. It turned out there were only two speakers for the meeting and when it was my turn, there was thirty minutes left in the meeting. Because I didn’t know in advance how much time I would have, I had prepared a lot of material and set it up in a way that I could slice big chunks out if there wasn’t much time available. I used all of my material and we ended the meeting on time. I talked about my grandfather Nathan LeRoy Smith’s mission experiences in Samoa in 1912 through 1915. After the meeting, a member of the ward came up to tell me that when he was a teenager in Preston, he had lived next door to my grandfather. We had a great conversation and we’ll continue it at a later date. We’re cousins a couple of times removed.

After church I went to Soda Springs. I had picked up some steaks yesterday and had put some cheese-potatoes in the oven before leaving for church. They were ready when I got back after church and that was the dinner I took to Soda Springs. Tomorrow is my mother’s 81st birthday. We had a very nice visit and covered a wide range of topics. I enjoy going over the Soda Springs to visit with them. That finished off the day. I’ll publish this post, take care of the dog, and will head for bed. The workday starts early tomorrow morning!