June 2009 for the Pittsburgh Urban's

Well, June went by fast for the Pittsburgh Urban's. The city was happy when the Penguins won the Stanley cup in hockey. On June 6, Sam completed his 50-mile bike hike. You can read about that on a previous blog. Also on June 6, Elaine and Charles attended the Stake picnic. On Monday, June 8, we said goodbye to the Fletcher’s, who left our ward to move to the St. Louis area. On Tuesday, Samuel completed his 10 mile portion for his biking merit badge. He b iked a route within our borough that took about 1 mile to complete and he did that 10 times. The next Saturday, June 13, Samuel and Charles attended the Washington DC Temple. They left at about 8:00 AM and returned around midnight. Sam did about 10 baptisms and 15 confirmations. What a long day. What fun we had. While Sam and Charles were at the Temple, Elaine and Mary Ann attended a wedding reception for Toni Balzer, a friend of William Urban. Samuel made good progress with his violin lessons. He likes learning to fiddle. June 21 was a special Father’s day for the Urban’s because Elaine and Charles attended Mary Ann’s single adult ward and listened to Mary perform a solo during sacrament meeting. We had fun meeting the members of Mary’s ward. Charles’s blood pressure was low enough so he could give blood on June 23. Last week was funeral week. A man in our ward was dying, so Samuel and Mary assisted in a ward project to clean, mow and weed his yard. They did this on Wednesday, June 24. The next day, this man died. The Bishop called Elaine and asked her to play the organ at the funeral. The funeral was on Saturday. Charles substituted in Sunday school for the mother of the man who died and taught lesson 22, the Word of Wisdom. Mary had fun at the Habitat For Humanity Golf Tournament on June 26.

Also, this was a month for helping Elder Urban with his bike. On the first week, he asked kindly if he could get a new bike. Due to the way we communicate with him, we got a message to him that we move money over to his account the next week. Then the following week, he bought his new bike. And, as the lord would have it, he used his bike for a week. The Lord called him to a new area where he would be driving. Any bets on if the Lord will send him to a biking area again?

What Happened In June, 2009

Well, June was an interesting month for the Pittsburgh Urban's.

Elder Urban - 6/29/2009 2:04 PM

I am in Richfield now, it is a huge area and I am driving. It takes an hour and a half to get to the furthest town and we may go there this Friday. I missed my chance to help at the pageant. My companion is named Elder Nascimento from Brazil. He is humble and a funny guy. He wants to teach me some Portuguese.

Elder Urban - 6/22/2009 12:48 PM

The place I got my bike is called Urban Downfall and it is in Orem. I received special permission to get it. I was able to receive about 30% off of the bike and the workers there were return missionaries so they knew what they were talking about and what I needed. The place I got repairs from is the Mad Dog bike shop.

I met Elder Welsh! He told me that he was Zone Leader when you [Charles Urban] were Assistant.

Transfers are this Week and I am going to Richmond [Editor's note: Ritchfield]. It is a car area but I will still take my bike with me. I hope this means that I get to go to the Manti Pageant. [Editor's note: June 18-20, 23-27] I'll send details later.

Elder Urban - 6/15/2009 12:51 PM

I will get a bike today so look out for that. Thank you so much! I will tell you how awesome it is compared to the one I have now when I ride it around.

I am starting to become really busy so tell everyone to not worry about the decrease in letters. I'll try to get one out soon.

It's wonderful that you got to go to the temple! I did also! we went last Wednesday. I love the temple.

Thanks again for the bike. I promise to bring it home after the mission.

Elder Urban -6/8/200912:39 PM

That's awesome that Sam got to go on a bike ride. Make sure to tell him that I ride about that much each day and that at first it was painful and I was slow but now it's fun and I'm actually really fast now. It took a month of riding though.

Social Studies and Biking

Samuel Urban had two major accomplishments this week. One was in social studies and the other in biking. First I will reveal his accomplishment in social studies. His 7th grade class has three teams, the Knights, the Titans and the Spartans. Sam’s team is the Spartans. Sam’s social studies teacher had a competition this week among the three teams to demonstrate what they had learned this year. It covered three days this past week. The questions covered from the beginning of recorded history to the renaissance. For example, one of the questions Sam got right was, “What is the belief in Hinduism where when someone born, dies and comes back alive in a new form?” Another question was on geography; another, Italian renaissance history. Anyway, his team won.

His other accomplishment was completing a 50-mile bike ride. In the morning, the weather was foggy. In the afternoon, it was hot and sunny. Sam had a sun burn. During the ride, he says he was the slowest. He also remembers passing two stands that were serving free hot dogs. He wanted to stop but his counselor said, "Go on!" he passed one of the stands three times. Also, at the 36-mile mark, the chain came off of his friend’s bike. They tried to fix it, but afer about 15-minutes, they decided that his friend would take the counselor’s, the friend’s mom, bike. He needed 6 hours to complete the task. He did an accounting of what he needs to complete his biking merit badge. He needs one more 10-mile run to complete all the requirements.

Middleman Quotes

In his letter to us, Elder Urban asked that we send him quotes from the Middleman when he doesn't curse. I thought he meant a quote