OUR FAMILY: Friday, July 27th, 2018

Orlando, Florida

46th operating temple

Dedicated: 9 Oct 1994

By: Howard W. Hunter

Jesus Christ, Creator

Hebrew 1:10

And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

Book of Mormon

Alma 40:15-26

*What happens between death and the Resurrection?

- vs. 21...there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, body and spirit.

Old Testament

Esther 3-5

3 Mordecai, the Jew, refuses to bow to Haman - Haman arranges a decree to kill all the Jews in the kingdom.

4 Mordecai and the Jews mourn and fast because of the king's decree - Esther, at the peril of her life, prepares to go in unto the king.

5 The king receives Esther - She invites him and Haman to a banquet - Haman plans to have Mordecai hanged.

General Conference

Ministering as the Savior Does

Jean B. Bingham

"Another blessing of these inspired announcements is the opportunity for young women ages 14 to 18 to participate in ministering as companions to Relief Society sisters, just as young men their age serve as ministering companions to Melchizedek Priesthood brethren. Youth can share their unique gifts and grow spiritually as they serve alongside adults in the work of salvation. Involving youth in ministering assignments can also increase the reach of Relief Society and elders quorums' caring for others by increasing the number of members who participate."

James left this morning for the Howard's with dusters, a mop bucket and a mop, and a bottle of lavender scented Fabuloso.

Before he left we read from the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon and a chapter from our book, Abby's Crossing.

Jared texted me this morning with a dilemma regarding Rutledge brothers born in 1775 and 1777. It looks like they were both married to the same woman. I got on Ancestry and started to do some research when I discovered someone who has the same family tree only her tree is private and not to be shared. I emailed her and explained our dilemma and what Rutledge we were related to and ask if she would be willing to share her research. I am still waiting to hear from her.

I talked to Kim about her helping me make my birthday cake on the 18th of August. She said she would love to so I sent her the link with the recipe of the cake Jared made. I am excited!

I forgot to mention yesterday something that Brother Peeler said about why they decided to move to this area. When he was the director of the canneries and storehouses in the southwest region he visited Snowflake quite a bit. He said he loved the people he met and their desire to serve the needs of the people in this area. I said that is one of the things I love about living here, the goodness of the people and their willingness to serve.

James came home at lunch time for the day. After eating and taking a nap we decided to take a ride up to Paradise Creek to see if that's where we want to go for our couples retreat.

We went on the back road to McNary and came out on Highway 260 where we turned left. We had not gone too far when I saw something by the side of the road I have never seen before, six large bull elk with racks standing at attention. I was dumbfounded and speechless at first unable to believe that what I saw was real. By the time I told James and he saw them he did not have time to stop. We went down the road a little ways and turned around to go back. Two other vehicles had stopped and the elk were running through the trees back into the woods.

If there were six of these and they were all

standing in a row with their heads up, that would be the

scene that I saw. Incredible!

Well if we don't do anything else on this drive, that scene made it worth coming. I have never seen that many bull elk all together. James said that this time of the year they are in bachelor herds.

As we drove down the highway towards the Horseshoe Cienega turnoff the low tire light came on. Horseshoe Cienega is the way to Paradise Creek. We went down the road a little ways and discovered that the asphalt has not been maintained and it was full of potholes. We decided not to go any further but to drive in to Eagar and get some air in our tire. It's a good thing we did because the tire only had 5 lbs. of air. Before we left home I heard James using the air compressor in the garage and I thought he was putting air in my tires. Come to find out, he was putting air in the tires of his truck.

On our way back down the 260 we turned in to check out Southfork. It is not how I remembered it being years ago and is not somewhere we want to take the kids. Now James tells me that you have to have a permit to go to Paradise Creek and may Three Forks would be better. He says Three Forks is further and we don't have time to go there today so we go back to Eagar and Springerville to stop at Safeway and get ingredients for smoothies.

We got rained on and there were rain clouds around Vernon but no rain. On our next outing we will be going to Three Forks where we camped with Harold and Vickie when Kim was a baby.

Washed my temple dress and watched a Christmas movie before going to bed.