13 May 2018 Language Day

This past Friday was a fun day. The Defense Language Institute put on their annual "Language Day" event at the Presidio of Monterey. Soldier Field was covered with tents with over 50 different vendors from around the area - many selling food from various cultural venues. A large stage was erected where all day long the different language schools put on cultural dances and singing performed by students and faculty, many who are native of the culture. I've included some photos and videos, including: Japanese, Mandarin, Leventine, Farsi, Russian, Indonesian, Korean, etc. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and bumped into several members of the Church who were either performing or helping in some way.
       On Friday afternoon, we also drove two elders up to Hollister - about 50 minutes northeast of Monterey - to attend a baptism where one of the elders was giving a talk on the Holy Ghost. This was the last area he had served in before being transferred to Monterey. Hollister is a small agricultural community, but also a budding bedroom community for people working in Silicon Valley who commute. Hollister offers an affordable place to live. We found the community intriguing. It is in the beautiful hill country surrounded by rolling green hills, farmland, orchards, and ranches. They have a large high school there bearing the rather interesting name of "hay bailers." In the old times, Hollister was known for raising the best hay around, so, the school got its name. It reminded me of Elaine's high school name in Sugar City, Idaho when she was growing up: "beet diggers." Sugar City was once famous for its sugar beets, thus, the name. It would be fun to see the Beet Diggers and the Hay Bailers go at it on the gridiron!
       It was a busy week but enjoyable. We are coming up on our 50th wedding anniversary, and we can't think of a better place to be celebrating this milestone than together on a mission. The mission president has given us permission to be off for a couple of days and enjoy ourselves. We're thinking of Tahiti!! HA! More like a temple trip and perhaps a day or two exploring a national park in the vicinity.