Seminary Days

Is there a better Seminary program anywhere than the one I went to in Turlock? I really don't know how there could be. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to be in Seminary there, and for the teachers who worked so hard to make it epic. I memorized all 25 mastery scriptures every year. We were master scripture chasers, and at the end of the year we had "Seminary Day," which involved three, sometimes four, stakes. We would compete in scripture chasing, and other things, and I'm sure there was dinner and a dance. It was superb! We also had a Seminary Sacrament Meeting at the end of the year, where we would visit each Turlock Ward and put on the whole meeting. The Seminary students from the ward we were visiting were the speakers, and we also prepared choir numbers. I will never forget it. It was my goal to achieve 100% attendance all four years, so I went to Seminary every. single. day. The only day I did miss was when we were taking Sam to the airport to leave for his mission. There really was no getting out of it. So I missed out on the 100% attendance award, but I was still there every single day all four years but that one.

What follows are some of the great moments in Seminary...

Brother Liston with the whole armor of God.

Travis Liston

Devan Thompson, Travis Liston, Darrin Wheeler

Looks like donut day!

Derek Payne

Pictures from the Seminary Bowl.

Chasing Scriptures

Watching the proceedings.

We got medals for winning at scripture chase, and I got the purple ribbon for memorizing all the mastery scriptures.

And of course, there was always a dance afterwards!

The "Gold" Plates

Brother Liston made these metal plates, and spray painted them gold. We got to engrave our names in the front if we wanted to pledge to read the whole Book of Mormon that year. After we put our names in, we opened it up to the members of the wards to do the same. At the end of the year, anyone who completed the challenge got to put their names in the back of the book. We buried the plates in a stone box at the stake center, along with time capsule type notes we wrote, to be opened in 10 years. We did indeed go back ten years later and open it up. It was a fun reunion! We wrote new letters and planned to go back in another ten years, but we never did.

Engraving

Burying

Here we are after we buried the plates. On the left are Aaron Bjarnason and Stephanie Bjarnason. Julie Neilson is in front of them with someone else. On the right I'm in the back, and Travis and Janae are in front. I'm not sure who that is in the middle.

Seminary Sacrament Meeting

The Seminary Teachers: Stephanie Bjarnason, Roger Liston, Sue Spencer

The Seminary kids from our three wards.