[Singles] First Baptist Church of Tempe / Fred's News

[Fred Atkinson]

Folks, 

        I made my first visit to the First Baptist Church of Tempe, Arizona today.  

        They seem like a very nice bunch.  I was blown away at the pastor's message today.  It was really close to my heart.  It may have been God's way of telling me that this is my new church home.  

        They've already invited me to play in their orchestra.  But I've got to get Melissa to send me my flute and piccolo before I can begin doing that.  I'm going to call her this afternoon.  It won't be here by Wednesday (for their rehearsal), though.  

        I've completed my two weeks of training at work and I passed both of the company certification exams.  Tomorrow, I will be 'shadowing' the other engineers so I start to get their routines.  Everyone at work has made me feel welcome.  I will meet more of them this week.  

        My router's config file is corrupted so I can't use my Internet devices until I fix it.  I spent several hours trying to figure out what the problem is [last night] so I can have Roku again.  And I know that most of you understand where I am coming from on life without Roku.  And my cellular Internet bill is rather taxing (pardon the pun, not intentional) so I need to get my wireless access point going at home, too!  It is probably something very simple.  I am going to email it to my former colleague in Georgia to see if he can figure out what I am missing.  It looks right to me.  

        I am headed back up to FSB of Avondale to their men's Bible study tonight.  We have thirteen more sessions before we finish it.  It is called, 'The Quest for Authentic Manhood'.  There are twenty-four videos by a Doctor Robert Lewis.  I have found it to be quite enlightening.  Our study leader said a decision about whether we will meet over Thanksgiving weekend will be made by tonight.  When I finish that study, I will be at Tempe full time.  

        The apartment is a disaster.  I sent Jim an email telling him I sure wished that Claudia were here.  But I do have someone coming over next Saturday to help me get organized.  Until then, I just have to do the best I can.  I was raised in an era where the men were the breadwinners and the women were the housekeepers.  So I didn't learn a lot about housekeeping in my younger years.  

        But I am going to run my own laundry when I get home.  

        The apartment community seems very nice.  But I haven't had much time to mix between getting settled and my training.  Hopefully, that will change soon.  There are a bunch of the residents that sit together at some picnic tables outside in the evening and visit together.  I have spoken to them a few times.  Hopefully, I will have more time to visit with them soon.  

        There were two deaf girls in the front of the rental office on Saturday.  I introduced myself to them in sign language.  I got one name as 'Dairy' (not sure I got that right) and the other one as Sonia.  I guess they live in the complex somewhere.  Maybe I will get some sign practice with their help while I live here.  

        I haven't hooked up with any ham radio operators in the Tempe/Mesa area yet.  I hope that will be soon.  Arizona DMV finally sent me my ham radio operator's plate on Friday.  I put it on my car yesterday.  As my call (WB4AEJ) has been my tag number for every state I've lived in for the last thirty-nine years and [now] eight states, I feel kind of naked driving around without it on my tag.  So I am glad that is a done deal.  Minor by some standards, but important to me.  Amateur radio has opened a number of frontiers for me.  Arizona has some really nice artwork on their license tags.  And they put a radio tower depicting radio transmission on their amateur radio tags as well.  I have always been proud to be part of the amateur radio community.  

        Bill says that when we have a long weekend and he is available (he is going to San Diego for Thanksgiving so this upcoming weekend is out); we can drive to Las Cruces, hook up a trailer to his truck, get the rest of my things, and put them into storage here in Mesa.  I don't yet know when that will be.  But I will let you know when I am coming.  Perhaps we can all get together for a burger or something while Bill and I are there.  

        If you come to Phoenix on any weekend trips, you should plan to attend my new church while you are here.  I would offer space in my apartment while you are here but it is too small for more than one more person.  I would have to borrow a fold out bed to accommodate that one.  

        In speaking to people in this area, I am overwhelmed by the things they say to me.  You all probably know that Arizona is a rather conservative state.  I hear an awful lot of sanity when I talk to these people.  It is quite refreshing.  

        I just thought of one more thing.  I'm going to get to vote for Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the next election!  How cool is that?  

        Hope everything is going well in Las Cruces.  I miss everyone.  

        Regards, 



                                                                                Fred 


        

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