Wed, May 4th, 2022: Meridia Mexico Temple, Orange Poppy Seed Almond cake at presidency meeting, Evan's basketball game, James helps the new Crane family

 

Meridia, Mexico

92nd operating temple

Dedicated: 8 July 2000

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Savior

Mosiah 3:20

And moreover, I say unto you, that the time shall come when the knowledge of a Savior shall spread throughout every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. 

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 22:10-23:15

"Come Follow Me"

Exodus 35:4-36:7 The Lord asks me to make my offerings with a willing heart. Exodus 37 & 38

AprGenCon

"Following Jesus: Being a Peacemaker"

Elder Neil L. Andersen

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Social media posts of thoughtfulness and goodness are often quietly under the radar, while words of contempt and anger are frequently thundering in our ears, whether with political philosophy, people in the news, or opinions on the pandemic. No one or no subject, including the Savior and His restored gospel, is immune from this social phenomenon of polarized voices. 

James and Chuck took James's Cat and went to the new Crane family's place to haul gravel closer to their driveway. They thought it would take 30 minutes but it ended up taking 3 hours. They live in a mobile home with five boys and they have to haul water. James says he is going to ask one of their boys to come over and help him put in our backyard.

Right after noon I made the orange curd for my cake: sugar, orange zest, orange juice, three eggs and 4 egg yolks. I cooked it just as it said to do, covered it with Saran wrap and let it sit in the frig for about five hours. Evidentally I didn't cook it enough because it did not set up. It was just like orange juice. I put some of it in the cake anyway. 

I froze the cake layers because they are easier to frost but I should have taken them out sooner than I did. I finished the cake at 5:30 and our presidency meeting is at 6. Why do I always finish things right down to the wire?

Orange Almond Poppy Seed cake

James helped me get everything into the car and he also put the orange slices on the cake. 

Maxine, Kerri, and Tamara were all waiting for me in the foyer when I arrived at the church. I didn't see anyone else in the building. We all walked back to the Relief Society room. I asked if they wanted cake now or later in the meeting. They all said later. 

Tamara said the opening prayer and then asked us to go to LDS Tools. Go to the three dots on the bottom where it says more then go to reports. Second from the bottom is quarterly report, click on that and then go to Indicators of Conversion and Church Growth. Here we found the following statistics: Individuals who are sealed to a spouse in the temple; Endowed members with a current temple recommend; Males ages 18-25 serving or who have served a full-time mission; Average sacrament meeting attendance; Adults and youth who submitted ancestor names for temple ordinances in the last 12 months. I didn't list all of the statistics but this gives you an idea of the kind of information available on Tools. I never knew.

We also looked for new move-ins which is available on Tools. This app can really help us in our callings and I thought it was just a directory and a calendar. 

We discussed our council on preparedness and Kerri said that the next RS activity would be based on the council. We will have gardening information, and how to use food storage. We have a great resource in our ward as far as food storage is concerned and her name is Wendy DeWitt. We also have many people who grow a garden. I am looking forward to the activity. 

Kerri told us a story about Elder Haynie who was the visiting general authority at our recent stake conference. She said he had afib Saturday night and his blood pressure was 220/111. President Smithson, who is a doctor picked up some medicine for him at one of the pharmacies and they took him to President Beeler's home and gave him a blessing. He got a good night's sleep and was fine on Sunday morning. 

Tamara is leaving tomorrow for Jordyn's graduation from UVU in Provo. I gave her a card to give Jordyn. She was one of the young women I taught in 2012-2015 when I was in Young Women's. I am very proud of her!

Some other things we talked about: Young Women transitioning into Relief Society, and Amber Judd. We want Millie to fellowship her and invite her to Relief Society. Amber told Catherine Halcomb that she does not like RS. We want Millie to tell her that things have changed and she should come and see what she thinks. 

Some exciting news from Sheri. The boys had a basketball game tonight. It was towards the end of the game and the score was 53-51, their favor. The other team was putting the pressure on our two best players when one of them, Hewitt, passed the ball to Evan. Evan shot and made a three pointer and the crowd went wild. Evan sealed the game for them! It wasn't a "lucky" shot, it was sheer skill!

Where are the smiles?

Charlie chooses her own clothes.

She loves wearing dresses with tennis shoes.

I think they look great together.