Cumorah

So, this summer I had the chance to be in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Let me tell you, it was so awesome. The hill is in Palmyra, New York. Latter-Day Saints believe that the record that was translated into the Book of Mormon was buried on that hill by an ancient prophet named Moroni. The place is pretty special. The pageant has 10 scenes that outline the stories in the Book of Mormon. It is the story of prophets- all of whom testified of the Savior. The climax of the pageant is when an actor playing Jesus Christ descends from heaven lifting the darkness and teaching the people. The entire cast is onstage during this scene.

Aside from the descension scene, I was cast as a "Noah Citizen". I was in the King Noah scene and listened to the prophet Abinadi testify of Christ and call the people to repentance. And then of course, the prophet was burned. The coolest scene as far as effects are concerned was the destruction scene. Fireballs, floods, earthquakes, and lots of teenagers pretending to die very dramatically. I was a little jealous that I wasn't in that scene!

I met some amazing people in Palmyra and I learned that I am capable of making friends and I am not some sort of pariah. That felt really good. We got the chance to tour the churchsites in the area including the Sacred Grove, the Grandin printing press, Peter Whitmer's farm, and the Palmyra temple. We also did a service project on the Erie canal. I was fascinated by the workings of the canal.

Being in the east reminded me of living in Connecticut. I miss that in a way. I know it has been a long time- 18 years- but still. I miss the buttercup flowers and the New England accents and the old trees and blue lakes. I miss the history that breathes through the east. I never thought I would end up in Utah for good, but at least for the forseeable future that's where I'll be. Don't get me wrong, Utah is fine, but I am a yankee at heart.

Facebook | Photos of You

Facebook | Photos of You

Building the Kingdom

Okay, I am teaching institute on Thursday- the course is The Gospel and the Productive Life. The lesson is titled "Each of us can help build the kingdom of God on earth. The "principles to understand" are 1) We help build the kingdom of God by living righteously, 2) Individuals and families are strengthened by activity in the church, 3) We should willingly serve wherever we are, and 4) Blessings come as we serve in the kingdom of God.

I've had a few thoughts on this topic. Thought number 1. Are there times when we are not asked to contribute where we think we might do a good job? For example, I've never been asked to teach although I am a teacher by profession. Just wondering if I am the only one that has observed this. You know, it is nice to not have to teach Sunday when I teach every other day of the week.

Thought number 2. So, you married types may or may not have heard the fireside that Elder Holland gave in 2004- He talked about this dispensation's contribution in the ushering in of the second coming. He said that it is our duty to prepare this world for the coming of the Savior. He said that prophets from dispensations past had reason to hope because they saw OUR dispensation. These prophets knew their own dispensations would fail eventually, but they saw that our dispensation, the dispensation of the fullness of times, would not fail and Christ will come to claim His kingdom. When I heard Elder Holland give that talk, I was amazed by that concept. I felt excited to be part of this dispensation. Does anyone else remember that talk (you can find it on BYU's website under speeches)? It was amazing.

So, what do y'all think?

When copper faces off with aluminum

My students have been doing some experiments with copper sulfate. The waste from these experiments was sitting on a bench in my lab and I wanted to evaporate it so I could reclaim the copper sulfate. Well, late Wednesday night (and I mean late...it was after parent teacher conferences) I decided to pour the copper sulfate solution into some shallow aluminum pie pans to help it evaporate faster. On Thursday morning, I walked into my classroom and looked across the room at the pans. They were empty. Weird thought I. Then I noticed a huge puddle about 3 feet away from the pans. Double weird. Well, I walked over to inspect the mess and this is what happened (I think). The copper sulfate reacted with the aluminum in the pie plate (yes, Miss Carr forgot to consider the activity series of metals) and the copper was reduced and the aluminum was oxidized. Translation: The copper sulfate ate away holes in the pie plate and copper metal was formed under the pie tin. The holes resulted in a leak of the copper sulfate solution and apparently the bench has a slight slope so the puddle ended up a ways down stream. Copper sulfate is blue and forms blue crystals when it evaporates so eventually the puddle turned into a large bed of fine blue crystals. So, now you all know that when copper and aluminum go to war, copper wins!

And we're off...

School started this Monday. Holy chaos Batman! Someone had the 'brilliant' idea to have all 8 periods yesterday in this order: 1,2,5,6,3,4,7,8. For half an hour each. In my opinion this was a disaster. One poor girl got mixed up and sat through my class twice. The sophmores are just as confused as ever. To top it off, the gas wasn't working in my classroom (still isn't) so that meant I had to stick to the less-exciting experiments instead of sacrificing a gummy bear to the chemistry gods.

I am teaching 1 AP class, 3 honors classes, and 2 chem 1 classes. My AP kids had me last year for the most part and they were crazy wound up yesterday. We'll see if the homework I've been giving them is encouraging them to get down to business. I taught my 3 honors classes today- a couple of observations: 1- I have a lot of really small sophmore boys. I don't remember so many small ones last year, but maybe that's because I didn't have as many sophmores. 2- Maybe it's just because it is the beginning of the year, but my classes have been quiet! I haven't had to take any phones away or ask the class to stop talking for the 100th time (except maybe AP). I don't remember the last time school was like this!

My kids from last year seem to enjoy coming back and visiting me. They end up in my room randomly throughout the day. I enjoy seeing them- but not in the middle of class. Tomorrow AP is doing a lab (we'll see if they remember molarity-I doubt it!) and working on measurement and nomenclature and my other classes are making Alka-seltzer rockets. I need to figure out what to have them do after the rockets.

Resignation

It is the end of the summer and I am resigning myself to the fact that I will not die this summer and will go on living into the next school year. In a way, the end of summer was like my "deadline". Yes, I know this is all ridiculous. I really do. I resent taking that ultimate choice off the table. I feel prisoner to my work again. A voluntary prisoner to be sure, but a prisoner nonetheless. I come home late, exhausted from work and spend an hour or two feeling acutely lonely, fall into a troubled sleep, and start again before the sun rises. Is this really what it means to be alive?

On the road again

This is the view from the top of Catherine Pass in Little Cottonwood Canyon. My ward had a campout at Albion basin which is the basin at the bottom of the pass. Lake Catherine is in the background and there are three other lakes north of this one. Ward campouts are always interesting. Sometimes I wonder if anyone will come back as friends. It is also funny (to me anyway) to imagine your ward being a pioneer company headed west.

Our dear bishop is retired Army and has been a boy scout guy for years and years. He had several canvas army tents that we slept in. Now, never having camped with a fair sized group of women, he saw no problem in having seven of us in one tent. He was sure suprised when, at 1 am, our tent busted out laughing and didn't stop for quite a while. To quote him-"At first I thought it was just one of you and it would stop in a minute. Then there were more of you. Then I wondered if you'd ever stop and what on earth was so funny". Well, bishop, there wasn't anything funny. That's just what happens when you put a lot of girls in one place late at night.