What's new for the new year?

A new year always encourages reflection. We look both backward and forward. We sometimes make resolutions, commitments to change those things we find lacking in our lives. Other times, we simply ask "What's new? As we drove home yesterday from a lovely New Year's celebration in St. George, I asked that question: What's new for the new year?

1. New Companion: After six weeks in the Mexico CCM, Seth has now finished his first 12 weeks in Paraguay, with his wonderful training companion, Elder Guerrero from Bolivia. Elder Guerrero doesn’t speak English, so Seth has made excellent progress learning Spanish, and the two of them had a wonderful three months together.

Today, Elder Guerrero will transfer to another zone to complete his mission, and Seth will remain in Republicano and welcome a new companion, Elder Gutierrez from (guess where?), Lehi, Utah. I think it will be fun for Seth to have a companion who grew up just “down the road” from us, and also nice to be able to speak English occasionally. There are at least three investigators in their area just about ready to set baptismal dates, so Elders Erichsen and Gutierrez have some great work ahead of them. Arriba Juntos!

2. New Callings: About three months ago, as I wrote about here, and again here, our ward was dissolved and a tiny few of us were transplanted into another already-established ward that didn’t lose any members in the boundary restructure. As a result, we haven’t had callings. Now I know on the surface that sounds pretty much amazing: no mid-week meetings, no Sunday responsibilities, no lesson prep.

And it is amazing. For a while. But after a few weeks, you begin to feel like you’ll always be a visitor in your own ward, so we’re super excited to announce that we now have callings in the new ward. This past Sunday, Gerald and I were sustained as Gospel Doctrine teachers! With the new 2-hour block and the “Come Follow Me” curriculum, 2019 offers many cool opportunities for Sunday School, and we are grateful to be a part of that.

3. New Curriculum Project: As most of you know, I sometimes teach writing classes part time at LDS Business College and Salt Lake Community College, but this next semester, instead of teaching two classes at LDSBC, I get to design and write curriculum for a brand new course. The brilliant instructional design specialist and I began outlining the course last month, so we are ready to jump right in and start writing. The creative process of curriculum design is both challenging and rewarding, and a nice break from teaching.

4. New Intermittent Fasting Plan: Those who know me, know I totally suck at fasting. In our church, the first Sunday of each month is called “Fast Sunday,” and members are encouraged to fast through two meals and donate the money they would have spent on food to a special fast offering, used to help local families in need. Now I’m 100% committed to donating to the fast offering. When I served as Relief Society President for three years in Montana, I saw first hand what those funds accomplished. Wild horses couldn’t keep me from donating generously each month. But the actual fasting part? Uh, let’s just say it’s a good thing there’s repentance.

That said, for the four weeks prior to Christmas, Shulamith and I tried this new eating plan called “intermittent fasting.” The theory is it’s good to give our bodies a break from digesting food, other than when we’re asleep and in semi-hibernation mode. According to the plan, you eat for 7-8 hours during each 24-hour period, and fast for 16-17. Most days I ate from around 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. I also continued my normal, low-fat eating routine, and between that and the fasting, I lost nine pounds in the four weeks. Shulamith did the fasting but ate her regular diet, and lost six. More importantly, we both felt way better, overall healthier. 

Enter Christmas. Yep, that was a complete wash in terms of both fasting and eating low. However, now that the holiday season is behind us, we both plan to begin the intermittent fasting again tomorrow, and Eli and Amanda might join us.

5. New 1st-grade teacher: Eli completed his coursework and graduated in July from BYU-Idaho, but prospective teachers at BYU-I don’t receive their official degrees until they student teach, and they must leave Rexburg in order to do that. Rexburg doesn’t have nearly enough schools to accommodate all the teacher graduates. Eli and Amanda moved to Sandy in July, and Eli has been substituting teaching this fall. Starting next week, he will spend three months student teaching in a 1^st grade classroom in the Granite School District. He’s gonna totally rock it because he’s a wonderful teacher, and little kids adore him.

6. New decade of blogging: 2019 marks ten years of itslegs.blogspot.com. I’ll have another post soon to commemorate that occasion, so I won’t say much here, but yes, I look forward to the next ten with joy and anticipation. The best is yet to be!

What's new for your new year?