GENERAL AUTHORITIES AND RUGBY

Work picked up this week, a number of new projects came in.  I did a survey of the law regarding service animals in the various countries in regards to access to Church buildings and temples. Learned that in Fiji and Samoa they don’t even have service animals, instead dogs are usually eaten!

Wednesday evening I tried making baked eggplant for dinner, similar to what I’d had in the Greek restaurant the week before.  I sliced the eggplant lengthwise, scooped out the insides, baked that with ground hamburger and seasonings, put it back in the skin then added cheese on top, it turned out great, as good as that of the restaurant’s!

Friday was the highlight of the week.  We had a devotional for the administration office staff and missionaries with visiting general authorities Gary Stephensen of the Twelve, Elder Cook of the Seventy and Bishop Waddell of the presiding bishopric.  They all gave excellent remarks, and that was a pick-me-up and nice way to end the work week.  We got to shake hands and visit with them briefly afterwards.  That evening we had the Harrises and the Allreds over for dinner and a visit.  The Harrises work in architecture and the Allreds in family history.

The weather has turned sunny and pleasant. It is a pleasure waking up with the sun shining through the windows.  Saturday morning I went out for a jog and found a new route down by the lake.  Also did final preparation for my business class.  Then at 11 a.m. the Riggs, Gordon Tanner, Lynn McMurray and us drove to Hamilton, about 2 hours south.  I checked out a large van from the motor pool, and drove the group.  We arrived at FMG Stadium Waikato, and went to the hospitality suite where we had a buffet lunch.  We were hosted by Sam Hood’s law firm which we do business with in Hamilton.  Then we watched the Waikato rugby team get beat by the Tasman team 35-26.  It was a fast paced game, both teams were quick and physical.  In a competition sponsored by the hospitality suite, Alisa guessed the closest to the final score so she won a basket of goodies to take home with us, along with a rugby ball.  On the trip back we stopped for ice cream at Pocono.