SPAM and a Sandy Eggo

This week has been awesome!! Highlights involved serving samples of SPAM at the LA County Fair and a day trip to Sandy Eggo (San Diego).

Every year, the LA County Fair includes a SPAM cook-off where brave citizens attempt gormet meals with SPAM. While the judges taste and rate each dish, Hormel sales representatives serve samples of SPAM and handout SPAM t-shirts, pins, and food. Jeremy and I were on a team of four people preparing and promoting the samples. We cooked SPAM Terryaki served with rice.

It was actually really good. Here's the simple recipe: Buy SPAM. Open it. Cut in chunks. Put in skillet with terriyaki sauce and chunked pineapples. Heat until SPAM is crisp. Serve over rice. Enjoy!! (If you don't have terriyaki sauce, a nice alternative is soy sauce and brown sugar).

In payment for our catering services, we got into the fair for free and spent the day enjoying dog shows and magic shows. I figured out how the magician did his "mind tricks" while I was on stage with him as the guinea pig for some of his acts. It was cool.

On Saturday, we went to San Diego. The romantic date began with our first time in the San Diego Temple, which marks the 16th temple we've been inside as a couple (that means we average a different temple every 6 weeks that we've been married)! We went to the coast and explored tons of choral tidepools and found a baby starfish! After a little nap, we went to the Petco Park to see the Padres play against the Pirates. We got in free with some tickets that were found sitting on a bench.

It was by far the nicest baseball stadium we've ever been to. I couldn't get over how metro and modern, yet traditional and classy the place was. They had real restaraunts, restored 1900 buildings as part of the arena, a giant sandbox by the outfield for kids to play in, a wiffleball field for families and kids, and a park area where families played catch while watching the game!

Since we scored pretty good with free gas, free temple trip, free lunch, free aquatic exploration, the cheapest parking in town, and a free game, we splurged on dinner by getting two soft drinks instead of water and burritos instead of hot dogs!! After the Padres won, the stadium treated us to a free firework show to top off the romantic day. It was soooo fun!

We're in the Top Ten!

Just thought everyone should know that BYU has climbed up the polls to the #8 position in college football (according to the latest AP poll). They're 4-0 this season and have the longest winning streak in the country. They beat UCLA 59-0 a few weeks ago, too. Now sports writers are paying some attention to our conference and maybe we'll get a game or two on national tv or something. Now all we need to do is give food poisoning to the other seven teams ranked ahead of us and we've got a shot at the national championship.
~Jeremy

I'm Hired!!

Patience and prayer always pays off! Our planned profit for the month of August after bills, savings, and trips was $17, so Jeremy and I are thrilled that I now have two part time jobs!! My first job is with Garden Grove Unified School District as a substitute three days a week. So far, that has been fun. All the schools in CA have hallways outside, which reminds me of the schools in Thailand. Oh the memories!!

On Tuesday, I subbed for a second grade class and one little boy melted my heart. At recess he held my hand and jabbered on and on about his trip to Disneyland. When he told me about the space ride with the movie to make it feel like you are in outer space, he said "And do you know what?! We really went into outer space!" Another kid said "Nuh-uh." To which he replied "Yes sir! It was REAL!" Then he talked about Tinkerbell in the parade. "I think she lost her pixie dust because I saw a big wire coming out of her back." I got a chance to talk with the teacher and she said he came to school on Monday with a new hair cut. "What a great hair cut," she told him. His reply: "I had to have it to get the bugs out, but my dad said not to tell ANYONE!"

My second job is nanny-ing for a family at church that I met last week (more prayers answered). They have a two year old daughter and 9 month twin girls. I will help their mother, Brooke, two days a week. So far it has been a blast. Riley is a little peanut, and the twins are opera singers in the making.

And one final note of good news. I got TWO emails from some of my sweetest 5th grade students. They said they missed me "SOOOOOOOOO much" and wished that I'm still their teacher. What a rewarding feeling!!! (and an answer to prayer that I did some good) Even though I've got some great temp jobs, my heart still aches to be teaching full time. But I'm confident that more prayers, patience and enjoying the opportunities I have now will get me through until we're settled down in Minnesota.

Eight-Legged Visitor

For Labor Day, our parents from Colorado came to visit us!! It was their first trip away from home since my Dad retired this summer at age 54! Highlights of their visit included: fancy restaurants for EVERY meal except on Sunday, expensive golfing (very fun and pretty), boogie boarding with the best waves and low tide, I sang at church and my neighbor came with us, bike riding along Huntington Beach, nice long chats, games, piano playing, Crystal Cove and Laguna Beach.

When the tide was low on Monday, we went back to Crystal Cove to see the sea anemonies and crabs. Guess what unexpected visitor we saw?!? An OCTOPUS. It was 2 ft away from Jeremy, and he actually was standing next to it for almost ten minutes and didn't even know! It was brownish red and very camoflaged. The head part was the size of a nerf ball and it of course had eight tentacles, about 1 ft long each, but they were coiled up a bit so I'm not totally sure about their real length. We saw it sleenk under the rock when a big wave came by. It hung on under the rock and slowly crept two of its tentacles around the rock to feel what was going on. It looked like an alien! Jeremy touched it's suctions and said it pulled on his finger really hard. Of course, we didn't have the camera. But now Jeremy and I can say we've seen a real octopus in the wild!!

Prop 8- A different kind of Missionary Work

Knock, knock, knock....

Creeeeeek. (An over-weight, bearded man scowls from behind his door).

Jeremy: Hi, we're walking the precincts today to encourage people to vote on Proposition 8. My wife and I live nearby.
Guy: Oh, hi. (He steps closer to us and lets his dog out to lick our hands)
SarahLynn: Have you heard of Prop 8 before?
Guy: Uh, a little. Which one is that again?
Jeremy: It's the proposition about protecting marriage.
Guy: Oh really? What's wrong with it?
SarahLynn (trying not chuckle): Well, back in 2000, 61% of California voters said that they wanted a law that said "Marriage is between a man and a woman in the state of CA." Recently, some San Francisco judges said that the law wasn't constitutional. So now we want to help put in our state constitution to say that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is recognized in the state of CA."
Guy: Oh yeah. I'll vote for that. You know it says that in the Bible.
Jeremy: Yeah, we feel the same way. Would you be willing to put a sign in your yard about it?
Guy: Well, I don't know. I don't want any tootie frooties gettin' mad and comin' to my door.
Jeremy: Ha, ha. Okay. Do you have any other registered voters in your home?
Guy: Well my wife, she agrees with me, but she doesn't vote much, ya know.
SarahLynn: Well, it's going to be a really close vote, so we encourage both of you to vote this fall about it.
Guy: Don't you worry, dear.
Jeremy: Thanks for your time!
(After the door closes, Jeremy and I give another high-five to each other. Still, no one that has said they disagree!)

The prophet has asked, and we are following. It's been amazing to see the overwhelming support for protecting marriage here in our HB neighborhoods. Everytime I come home from walking, I feel energized and joyful, the same way I do when I come home from Enrichment or helping the missionaries. That's another testimony to me that what we're doing is right!

But some people have said they aren't sure about walking door-to-door to get support for Prop 8, or that they aren't so sure about the church taking such a strong stance on protecting marriage (notice that the focus is about protecting marriage, not about people with same-gender attractions). To those who doubt whether or not we should be doing this, I say: Where is your faith?! Our prophet, Thomas S Monson, has been told by God to ask that we do this. Where is your testimony of the prophet and of God's Plan?!?!

I use to think that if people wanted to have same-sex marriage, then they should have that right. It's not my business. But when I went to the temple and prayed about it, it was made very clear that God separately created man and woman for a divine purpose- to multiply and replenish the earth, which is the main purpose of intimacy, and the power to procreate is a sacred gift given to us to use only in the bonds of matrimony as husband and wife. Homosexuality is not in His plan, just like murder, pornography, alcohol, swearing and drugs are not in His plan. Although we have agency, this does not justify sin. People don't have a right to participate in sexual immorality without facing Heaven's judgement. And since immoral behavior has negative effects on society and families, it IS my business. I can certainly condemn this sin and vote to keep it out of society without condemning the sinner. Tolerance is to offer love to all people, not to condone all that people do.

For those who struggle with same gender attraction, my heart and the hearts of our church leaders go out to them. I know that our Saviour has prepared a way for them to be healed of their problem so they can have joy in participating in a proper marriage. Our church provides much help and support to these people and their families.

If you are still unsure about supporting marriage between a man and a woman, or if you are afraid to talk with people about supporting Prop 8, I invite you to get on your knees and seek God's will concerning marriage. Once you have a firm testimony that marriage is ordained of God and that it should only be between a man and a woman, you won't have any reason to fear the philosophies of men. You will be able to follow our prophet's request with love and boldness. You will have strength to fight the unpopular battle.

There are some mormons forming groups and saying they don't agree with the Church's stance on marriage. I am disappointed in their pride and lack of faith. Don't become one of them!! This is exactly what happened in Alma 53 when some of the members broke away from Captain Moroni. It is the beginning of the fulfillment of prophecy that the Saints will lose faith and rely on their own understanding, which will lead to the time when our constitution will hang by a thread because of our own wickedness.

If this proposition doesn't pass, it will be because of our lack of faith. Teachers will be required to teach tolerance for same-sex marriage in all CA schools (including pre-school). Also note that currently same-sex domestic unions in CA already benefit from ALL the rights that married people have.

We must defend the truth! Get out there and talk with people! If you live in CA, donate your money to the cause because the prophet and your bishop have asked you to!! Don't worry about the "tootie-frooties" that probably won't come to your door arguing about your sign. They are in the minority and they don't have God backing them up! "Who's on the Lord's side, who? Now is the time to show!!"

To learn more about Prop 8 go to protectmarriage.com (see our website list)
If you want to read the Church's teachings about marriage, read The Family- A Proclamation to the World (also in our website list)