OUR FAMILY: Sunday, February 16th, 2025: Coyote on our property, Sunday Meetings, Deer skeleton, Lunch & naps, Pierce here, New cat, blog, study,

Tallahassee, Florida

202nd operating temple

Dedicated: 8 Dec 2024

By: Patrick Kearon

Book of Mormon

2 Nephi 9:1-14

Come Follow Me

Sunday School

October General Conference

'The Man Who Communed with Jehovah'

Elder Kyle S. McKay

"What was said of John the Baptist might also be said of Joseph Smith: 'There was a man sent from God, whose name was Joseph....He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light,' 'that all men through him might believe.'"

Happy Sabbath! At the last minute James decided he needed a haircut so out came the clippers and scissors. I didn't a pretty good hurried job if I do say so myself.

On the way to church this morning a coyote crossed our path and went from Jeff's property to ours. He's out on the prowl. I am glad we left Tom asleep in the house.

It was a rather nice day today. Sunny and no wind. Collin, the guy from Waypoint and the two elders sat in our second row side seats. I like it over there because I can always see the speaker and those on the stand. We sat in the middle down a couple of rows and I had a difficult time seeing.

Lindsay Shaw, a single sister in our ward who was just called to be the stake Relief Society secretary, was the first speaker. She spoke on the Sermon on the Mount.

1. Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

When we are poor in Spirit, we are humble and teachable.

2. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Lindsay used the example of Joseph Smith in Liberty jail.

3. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Someone who is meek is gentle, forgiving, or benevolent.

4. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost. Being filled with the Holy Ghost requires spiritual labor.

5. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. To be merciful is to show compassion, grace, kindness and love.

6. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

7. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

8. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

9. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Brother Prestwich from the high council was the concluding speaker

How to remove contention from our lives. Do I love the person more than I want to be right? Brother Prestwich has a brother who is bipolar and can be quite contentious. Each family member was assigned a day of the week to call and talk to this brother. When it was Brother Prestwich's turn he said he learned just to listen, not contend. I wanted to be supportive, not tell him what to do. We all need grace in our lives. We can also have peace when we resolve conflicts with others. We can feel joy and peace as we attend the temple. President Nelson said more peacemakers are needed.

Jimmy Applegate taught Gospel Doctrine today. The discussion was on D&C 10-11 so we talked about Martin Harris and Hyrum Smith. Was Martin Harris a wicked man? He acted wickedly when he went against what the Lord wanted. He did repent and was called to be one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon.

What can we learn from Hyrum's obedience to the Lord's command to seek His word? (11:21).

President M. Russell Ballard noted: "Hyrum's life is a witness to his obedience to this instruction. To the very last day of his life, he devoted himself to obtaining the word through study of the scriptures. In Carthage Jail, he read and commented on extracts from the Book of Mormon. The scriptures were obviously part of Hyrum's being, and he turned to them during times when he needed comfort and strength the most.

"Just think of the spiritual strength we could gain in our lives and how much more effective we would be as teachers, missionaries, and friends if we studied the scriptures regularly. I am sure we, like Hyrum, will be able to endure our greatest trials if we search the word of God as he did." ("Hyrum Smith," 79).

Neither Catherine nor Janna were here today. I sent Janna's valentine home with Willy. I told Kerri to tell her mom that I missed her today. Kerri thanked me for our visit the other day and said how much it means to her mom to have people come and visit.

As we turned down our lane and were coming up the hill Chuck's truck was stopped on the rode and both doors were open. They had pulled an animal carcass off the road. James went out to look at it and said it was of a deer. The carcass was stripped clean of any meat. James said maybe a wolf had killed the deer and then the coyote finished cleaning the carcass. It is rather disgusting to me. Hopefully we will not just pull this carcass off the road but get it completely out of sight. Sorry, no pictures.

We had enchiladas, rice, and beans for lunch. I also had a piece of strawberry poke cake. James had Ben & Jerry non-dairy ice cream.

After lunch we took naps, along with Tom.

When we got up from our naps I decided to make a notebook with favorite scriptures from the Doctrine & Covenants. James had a couple of ministering interviews today. After church he had one with Cope Reynolds and now he asked Pierce Goodman to come over so he could have one with him. Both of these brothers are outstanding ministers. They check on their families weekly. Pierce put a roof on the house of one of the sisters he visits. Wouldn't it be great of all ministering brothers were like these two.

This evening I caught up on my blog posts and sent my missionary letter to Joshua. It's Monday evening and I still haven't heard back from him.

I looked out the outside door of our bedroom to see if Tom wanted in and I saw this:

We sort of ignored him so he went over to

Jeff & Susan Crane's.

I guess Jared Ammon was needed at work so he won't be coming tomorrow. James originally had a CT Scan tomorrow but it may have been cancelled when he had one on the 8th. I will have to call in the morning.