Trading Spaces without the trading or the cameras

This weekend I helped a friend rip out carpet. We also ripped the carpet off of the stairs to reveal nice hard wood stairs! That meant we had to pull out all the nails and staples out to prepare them for a good sanding and varnish.
One stair had 53 nails. Half of which were those nasty staple nails. They would brake, thus giving us the opportunity to pull two staples out instead of one.

We also painted the ceiling and all the trim in the living room. All of this took us approximately 8 hours.

I now have bruised palms. It hurt to shift my car into gear this morning. sigh... but her living room is going to look fantastic! Picture, if you will, raffia cream walls, ultra brilliant white ceiling and trim. A beautiful golden beige carpet with very nice, very expensive new leather furniture and a new entertainment armour. This room is going to be awesome! It had better look great..even my fingernails hurt today.

Church yesterday was....interesting.
A new member of my church spoke for about 5 minutes. He was baptized about a month ago. He did a wonderful job too. Most of the time when newer members speak you get a very nervous story of their conversion. Which is understandable! Its terrifying to stand in front of a church congregation. Turn that congregation into 160 people all within in the ages of 18 to 30 and your mind goes blank!.
Not so with this guy. He went up with his scriptures and no notes. He referenced one scripture (and not a well known missionary scripture). All in all, I half wish the majority of the people I was able to teach could get up there with such an understanding of the gospel.

I think we have had some pretty stellar missionaries in my ward. There are quite a few new members there. AT LEAST one baptism a month....at least one. In the 3 years I have been in this ward, it has been great to see the retention. Many converts are going to the temple practically a year to the day they were baptized. A couple have been called as Gospel Doctrine teachers before they have been members a year. We've had temple weddings and missions served. I will really miss this spirit when I head back to Utah.