Five New Babies for Mokelumne River Ward

Mathias Thor Congrave was born to Chris and BrieAnn Congrave on September 16 at 10:27 am. He was 9 lbs. 1 oz. and 22 inches long. He came by emergency C-section after his heart rate began lowering with each contraction due to the fact that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his body "like a seat belt. Once he was born he was totally healthy and started nursing right away," BreiAnn says. "He is a beautiful addition to our family. We love him. His sister Lydia adores him and he is definitely an adjustment for all of us. We are grateful for all the support and love we’ve received from our ward family."

Briella Victoria Hansford was born Nov. 1st, 2018 at 2:15 a.m. in Lodi to Tanya and Justin Hansford.  "Almost a Halloween baby, " her mother said.  "She weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz and was 18.5 inches long.  Healthy baby girl and likes to sleep a lot . . . except at night!  She is such a blessing and keeps us smiling."

Lillian Kent Fairbanks joined the Eric and Suzanne Fairbanks family on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018 at 6:00 am.  She weighted in at 9 lbs.7 oz. and was 21.5 inches long.

Berny and Ashley Moreau are the proud parents of this sweet little angel.  Anaiya arrived on December 29, weighing 5 lbs., 19 oz. and was 18 inches long. She joins her brother Amari and sister Arabella.

Note:  Jonathan and Chrissy Plines have also recently had a new baby, but we have been unable to obtain information on it.

Two Pathway Students Graduate from BYU-Idaho

Shawna Lee Banks and Lisa Holden recently graduated from college with Bachelors Degrees.  This was quite an achievement for both of them.  Here are their stories.

Lisa Holden

Left: Shawna Banks, Right: Lisa Holden

     It was such an honor for me to be able to finish a lifelong goal of receiving my Bachelor’s Degree from BYU-Idaho. When I first heard the presentation about the Pathway Program I knew it was a way for me to finish. I had completed an AA degree from Delta College and I attended three semesters at UOP. UOP was too expensive for me to continue at that time when I still had a growing family at home. Heavenly Father provided a way for me to finish and I am so grateful that I followed the prompting and finished. I had many science courses over the years so the Public Health degree fit perfectly with my previous  college work. 

   I also felt it was such a blessing to take courses which always included the Savior and His gospel in our curriculum. I will always be grateful for this blessing in my life and at the same time I prepared myself to enter the working world with a degree if the need  should arise.

Shawna Lee Banks

    In the fall of 2015, I began a journey to complete a bachelors degree in Healthcare Administration. At the time I had been working for a Pediatrician for 6 years as his office manager. I had taken multiple classes at the local community college to improve my skills. But let me back up just a bit. After high school, I attended Ricks College for 3 semesters and left in good standing. Dave and I got married that July and stayed in Illinois to pursue school, work, and family. I started attending the local community college and graduated from there in December of 1998. Through the years I had worked in multiple fields and had finally landed in a pediatric office. I returned to school to continue improving my skill, but then my oldest daughter graduated from high school. I decided that if I was going to complete a bachelors degree before any of my kids did, I needed to get busy working on it.

    I thought about doing the Pathway program, but the closest one was a 2 hour drive from my home. With working full time and a house full of kids, this wasn’t an option. I then started looking to see if I could return as an online student. I was thrilled to find that they had a degree in Healthcare Administration and that it was available to me. I sent in my request to return and began my first classes the fall semester of 2015. I found the program to be excellent! The students and teachers engaging and eager to help. I wanted to show my kids that I could do hard things. I also wanted them to see how important education is to me by my example.

    The opportunity and experience is one of the greatest of my life. If anyone is wondering about doing Pathway or going back to school online, I would say do it! It is completely worth the time and energy. 

Beautiful Flower Arrangement Adds to Halloween Party Decor

    A "beautiful flower arrangement?" you say. The headline may sound a little strange for Halloween, but here's how it came down.  The arrangement on the left was created by talented Ken Adamska for stake conference the week before.  Ken was clever enough to use the now-wilted flowers to entice a big, black spider.  Then he and his wife Sherrill made even more spiders filled with helium and dangling over the tables.  It was a delight to see (and not really too scary) as hundreds of people from all three wards feasted on nachos.

   It was obvious that families with children were having a delightful time trunk-or-treating decorated cars in the back parking lot.  The top picture is the Kevin and Heather Stewart family. Lower picture is Kaela and Winston Burke with children and grandparents. Great costumes everyone.

Not one, not two, but THREE Gospel Doctrine teachers!

   Having three teachers for the adult Gospel Doctrine class makes for interesting lessons.  Each of the teachers has a set of skills that is excellent, but uniquely different in approach and execution.
   Vicki Anderson was experienced as a Gospel Doctrine teacher in Lodi Second Ward before it was merged with Lodi Third Ward just over a year ago. She is a competent and professional teacher, delving into the scriptures and leading a meaningful discussion.  For the first time in her life she went "techie" and learned how to make and present PowerPoint lessons.  She always finds interesting pictures to help drive home a point, and puts all the discussion scriptures on the screen to help students follow them more closely.  One of her first PP lessons was about the creation and Garden of Eden. She had some awesome pictures, as well as a video to give the class a feeling for these extensive and critical events.
   Vickie says, "I love teaching for so many reasons.  I learn so much studying the lessons and digging deeply into the scriptures.  I love to feel the Spirit as we share with one another our insights and experiences with the scriptures.  I am learning new ways to teach in the chapel that expand my knowledge.  I love teaching and helping others come to the Lord and feel His Spirit."
   Marie VerSteeg had never been a Gospel Doctrine teacher before, but says, "I enjoy teaching Sunday School because it gives me an opportunity to dive deeper into the scriptures."
     She comes in with a spirited and exciting approach.  No two lessons are the same. She has object lessons, videos, pictures, dramatization--whatever the spirit puts into her mind.  In a recent lesson, she conducted class in the cultural hall, not the chapel.  Class members sat at round tables and were given a scripture from the book of Isaiah.  Each group was to discuss what the scripture meant and draw a picture of it on a large piece of newsprint.  Then a representative from each table came up and told what they thought the scripture was saying.  It was a fascinating and instructional lesson. See pictures below.

    Nate Woods was recently called to be the third Gospel Doctrine teacher.  His strong point is his engaging personality, amazing classroom presence, and excellent discussion leadership.  To make sure every comment is heard he runs the microphone to each participant a soon as a hand is raised. (Good thing Nate used to coach a track team.)  Time flies when Nate is teaching.
  "Sunday School is a rare opportunity where I get the chance to share my thoughts and feelings on any given subject," Nate says, "and in return receive thoughts and feeling back.  Being called to teach adults has been the best learning experience and has brought me closer to the Savior.  Teaching is a lot of fun too!"