OUR FAMILY: Sunday, June 18, 2023: Sheri's talk, Laura, lunch @ Sheri's, cake @ Kim's, hearing aid @ Lois & Dawn's, 51st Avenue, home again,

Fort Collins, Colorado

153rd operating temple

Dedicated: 16 Oct 2016

By: Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Jesus Christ, Types of, in Anticipation

Exodus 12:5

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

Book of Mormon

Alma 18:8-23

Come Follow Me

Review, "Not My Will But Thine Be Done"

AprGenCon

Followers Of The Prince Of Peace

Elder Ulisses Soares

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

When we think of charity, our minds usually turn to generous acts and donations to relieve the suffering of those who are experiencing physical, material, or emotional difficulties. Still, charity is not only related to something we donate to someone, but it's an attribute of the Savior and can become part of our character. It is not surprising that the Lord instructed us to clothe ourselves "with the bond of charity, ... which is the bond of perfectness and peace." Without charity, we are nothing and we cannot inherit the place the Lord has prepared for us in the mansions of our Heavenly Father.

Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday to Ruby!

I got up early this morning so I could have my prayers, write in a Father's day card for James, and get ready to go to the valley to attend Sheri's ward to hear her speak. Here is the card I gave James:

Mr. Incredible and his favorite treat.

We left our house at 7 a.m. and arrived in the parking lot of the Galveston building in Chandler at 10:10 a.m. The first person we saw was Robin Finlinson who came over to give us hugs. Her kids were in Primary when we left Chandler and now Sydney is 18 and going to BYU-Idaho and Tanner is 16, driving, and 6'3" tall. Next I saw my friend Gerri Price. We sat in the back of the chapel and it wasn't long before Dave & Laura came in. Laura had a mask on, but no oxygen. Her color was good and she has lost a lot of weight. Her arms are covered in purple splotches. I wasn't sure if I could give her a hug and she said it was fine, she would just turn her face in the opposite direction. Lynda Cull came over and gave both of us a hug. Bishop Blaser came over and spoke to us. He is quite young but has developed a relationship with Sheri's boys. He gave Max a key to the building and the boys all play basketball every Tuesday evening. Alex said after sacrament meeting he wanted to thank the bishop for allowing them to play basketball. Bishop said he hoped the boys were here today. They were except for Max and Ian.

Other people we spoke with before the meeting started: Cathi & Terry, the Gunther's, who had no children when we left and we weren't sure if they would ever be able to have children. They now have three of the cutest kids. Hillary Jiminez and her youngest, Elena who will be going to BYU in the fall. Jen Coffey and her daughter.

After the meeting we spoke to Diana Dowdle and Paula Casto. James calls Paula "Tinkerbell". She is tiny and blonde and she and I were good friends before we left.

I did not recognize any of the boys who blessed or passed the sacrament. I know Evan was the only priest for a long time and blessed the sacrament every week but now that there are other boys I wonder if he blesses anymore. The program went something like this:

Tanner Finlinson and the Allen boy talked about the recent High Adventure they had and FSY. The High Adventure was held at Bill Valentic's place in Nutrioso which James says is beautiful. He has a creek running through his property. Nutrioso is where my grandpa Maxwell was born and where his family lived. Both boys said FSY was awesome and talked about getting to meet so many new people. I asked Evan if he liked it and he said yes. (More about this later).

The next speaker was a young mother named Heather Clark. The basis for her talk was Elder Meurs talk, "He Could Heal Me."

RMN: "When the Savior atoned for all mankind, He opened a way that those who follow Him can have access to His healing, strengthening, and redeeming power. These spiritual privileges are available to all who seek to Hear Him and follow Him." The Savior's healing and redeeming power applies to accidental mistakes, poor decisions, challenges and trials of every kind - as well as to our sins.

The Primary children sang a song I had never heard before called, "I See A Hero." It was for the dads.

Sheri Trezise: Sheri began her talk by thanking her dad for all that he has done for her and what a great dad he is. Her talk is based on Elder Basset's talk, "After the Fourth Day." One of the greatest miracles Jesus performed was the raising of Lazarus from the dead four days after he died. Sheri told about her trial with Max when he was not taking care of his diabetes and she was afraid he was going to die. She shared the things she did to get closer to the Savior and how she felt after doing that. It was so good and I am going to use her story in my lesson next week on Elder Uchtdorf's talk, "Jesus Christ is the Strength of Parents." One of the lessons we learn from the story of Lazarus is "sometimes we have to wait." We need to hold on and keep going. We must do what we can and He will do what only He can do. Are we spiritually prepared? Storms are coming. We must bind ourselves to God.

Our friend Bill Valentic taught gospel doctrine. The class was cut short because the Relief Society had prepared dessert for the ward. Originally is was for the men but they included the entire ward. Class was let out 20 minutes early at 21:10. Sheri turned to me and said, "We don't need to get dessert, I have dessert at home, brownies, ice cream and caramel apple cake. So we left not ever getting a peek at the dessert.

I forgot to mention that Alex and Shayna came to here Sheri's talk. Alex quit going to church after high school and Shayna is a non-believer. I wonder what they thought of Sheri's talk. Shayna is so sweet and kind, you just can't help but like her.

While Sheri was fixing chicken tacos and Ben was making homemade salsa James and I went over to Kim's to pick up pieces of cake from Kim. We got four pieces, two of each kind of German chocolate, one of each for us and one of each for Lois and Dawn.

Back at Sheri's we had chicken tacos, homemade salsa, brownies and ice cream. We visited with Alex and Shayna. I got to see all of Sheri's kids except Max. He was gone to the gym. Thanks Sheri for the delicious lunch.

The first thing James's mom did when we arrived at their house was to give James her old hearing aid. She got a new one. She says she really likes the old one better but her doctor wants her to have the new one so she is giving the old one to James. He was so excited when he put them in his ears. He said he could hear so much better.

He is grateful and so am I.

Lois and Dawn told us about their plumbing problems and how it had cost them more than $18,000 to get new pipes for the entire house. The old ones were corroded and beyond repair. They are trying to get the home owners insurance to help pay for them. Oh yes, Gail is coming tomorrow and they are very excited. He is going to do some work on the house for them.

We left with new hearing aids for James, diamond dot pictures for me to do, and two fresh pineapples. We never go away empty handed.

James wanted to go over to 51st Avenue to check on the progress on the job. This is a 45 minute detour out of our way both ways. I'm glad we went if it gives him some peace of mind and after all, it is Father's Day.

One the way home we listened to Jared Halverson's come follow me podcast. Well James listened to it, I fell asleep. It was almost 7:30 when we arrived home. We were gone for over 12 hours. Jared wanted to Facetime but it was too late so we will do it tomorrow night.

Elder Stevenson dedicated the Helena, Montana temple today. It is the Church's 178th temple.

Kathy, Channy, & Cliff Arnett