Dear Friends and Family,
What a year this has been! To keep me from rambling too
much, I’ll break down my year according to a few categories.
Work: I’m still teaching at Front Range and have been working
in the Writing Center as well. But I needed a little more, particularly for the
breaks, and I felt the Spirit prompt me to apply when I saw the position
posted, so in November 2017, I started working at Moroni Books, a local Latter-day
Saint gift and bookstore. It was particularly helpful during the summer. For
the first summer in many years, I didn’t take any classes to teach since our
family reunion overlapped with the last week of school. The owners, Norma and
Jerald, were grateful to have me for the summer, too, because in May we became
an independent Deseret bookstore, which expanded our size and inventory, changed
some of the rules and operations, and involved a lot of learning and a lot of
work. At the end of the summer, I was promoted to Assistant Manager.
School: Having had the feeling that I needed to continue my
education and then finally having the idea that perhaps improving my French
would be useful since I’ve been teaching continuing education classes in French
for several years now, in January I began an online Master’s program in Romance
Languages, emphasis in French through the University of New Orleans. I
took two classes that spring semester and two more in the fall. But now I’m
looking to transfer to a different school where I can take classes in the
old-fashioned, brick and mortar kind of way so I can have more opportunities to
speak the language. I’m looking at a few schools and will be applying soon.
Church: For the first half of the year, I continued my
service as the Loveland Stake Relief Society secretary, working with some
wonderful women whom I love so much and miss! But in April, the region created
a Mid-Singles’ group (a small congregation of singles between 31 and 45) that
was to be hosted by a ward in the Fort Collins stake and serving 8 or 9 of the
surrounding stakes, so I had my records moved there. Nonetheless, it did take
some time for the Loveland Stake to replace me, so I continued on, serving there
as well as I could for another few months and then trained the new secretary
who I am sure is doing a fabulous job. In the Mid-Singles’ group, I was called
as the Music Chair, a calling I’ve never had, but which my mom has had a few
times and even currently has. This means I get to choose the hymns for
sacrament each week and try to find special musical numbers for sacrament
meeting. I also try to coordinate the schedules of the music directors and
organists. It’s been a fun learning experience, giving me the opportunity to
get to know different people, which is always the highlight of any calling.
Play: A nice perk about the Mid-Singles’ group is that there
are now more activities geared to singles in my general age range. I’ve also
tried to keep helping out the singles’ program in the Loveland Stake by hosting
games after the monthly single’s temple night since I was one of the most
involved on the committee before the Mid-Singles' group started. Fortunately, this month they
just called a new committee, so I can step down from that as well.
Another fun thing this year was the Robert/Wanda Quist
family reunion we had in August. We had some fun in a rented house my brother
David found for us in a podunk town in Utah. It was fun getting to see everyone
and learn a little about our family history, too. David asked to have family
history-country-based meals for two evenings we were there, so we had a Swedish
theme one night and an English theme the other. To correspond with those meals,
he asked me to put together something to help us learn about our ancestors, so
I had a little fun researching my grandparents and some of their lines and
trying to gear an activity to a wide range of ages.
Health: I think I’ve missed more church this year than ever
as small things keep coming up. It started in May when I had an emergency
appendectomy that resulted in not only losing my appendix but also my gall
bladder. I guess having so many abdominal surgeries over the past several years
made it difficult for the surgeon to find a good way to get past the gall
bladder, so she nicked it and took it out. But now, I don’t
believe there are any more organs that can be safely removed from those areas,
so hopefully the surgeries are done. That wasn’t my only surgery, though. I
also had something put in! In April, I actually got a new tooth, an implant for
a tooth I had removed last year. Don’t forget to go to the dentist regularly!
It’s very handy. It’s also helpful to have a water pik and floss every day. I didn’t miss church for the tooth implant,
though, just for the appendectomy. But I also keep getting sick with other
little stuff and throwing out my back. Is 45 really the top of the hill still?
I think I might be on my way down.
So there you have it.
Wishing you all the merriest of Christmas seasons and a
splendid new year! May the Lord bless you all. I know He loves you more than I and can do more for your life than you can imagine.
Lots of love,
Heidi Quist
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