I just wanted to start off this post by saying that I LOVE SUNDAYS!!! Today was my first day teaching in Elder's Quorum, so that was really special. Tanner helped me with the lesson a lot. It was on service. We were supposed to ask a lot of questions, but there's not a lot of participation at 8:30 in the morning. There were plenty of people there, though! One girl in our ward made muffins and passed them out at the guy's dorm to make sure everyone was awake. I thought it was a pretty good idea, and it got a lot of people out to church on time!

Our Sacrament meeting was also really awesome. Our theme was also service. There were two really good talks, then one of the Elders Quorum presidents did a special musical number. He sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief," one of the best hymns on charity. Then, after another really good talk, Jared gave an amazing talk. Honestly, he knocked it out of the park! After church today, with all of the motivation to do good, I imediately washed the dishes. Which turned out to be a good thing. Jeremy's parents came in for parent's weekend and made lasagna for lunch. It was sooo good! And for dinner, I went to Julia Kirby's house and had some manni katti fixed by her mom. It was just a day of good Italian food!

This evening, I went to a fireside on missionary service, then ward choir, and ward prayer. Sundays just make me feel like a pro!

This week has been pretty good. I've been doing lots of reading about the Rough Riders, mostly from Teddy Roosevelt's book about their campaign. It's been really interesting to learn about the "Splendid Little War" from a first hand account. One of the main themes President Roosevelt brings out is the men's pure desire to serve their country and prove that they have what it takes to be called the best. The Rough Riders were some pretty macho guys.

In Chemistry this week, we got to talk a little about organic chemistry. I've heard some horror stories about o-chem. It's the class that makes doctors not want to be doctors any more. I think it's pretty fun, though! It seems like the only thing in chemistry that has rules, but no confusing exceptions to the rules. It's just been basic naming and construction of molecules, so I'm sure it'll get harder later. I think I'll be alright. In my recitation with my TA, we were doing some o-chem drawings on the chalkboard. I decided that it originated from aboriginal cave-paintings. They look just like that if you have no idea what they mean.

After the football game (which BYU dominated by the way, 56-3), Tanner and I kept a tradition we've had. We'll race down the stairs by the Marriot Center. So far, I've won two, he's won one, and we tied the last one. We decided to race home after that, and he smoked me. I am way out of shape, but, to my defence, he had a bit of a headstart and I had jogged up a hill to the stairs. I am determined to get back in shape, though. School gets in the way of fitness.

On Friday, I went on my very first blind date. A couple of my neighbors and I were asked if we wanted to go on a date with some girls from a different apartment. They're in my stake, but not in my ward. We baked cookies and played Balderdash. It was a really fun date! We kept it short and sweet.

Just a little heads-up, next week will have some pretty exciting things. A few fun things, a few scholastic things, and a few crazy things. Stay tuned next week!