Monday, June 15th, 2020

Fresno, California

78th operating temple

Dedicated: 9 Apr 2000

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, King

Moses 7:53

And the Lord said: Blesses is he through whose seed Messiah shall come; for he saith - I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity;whoso cometh in at the gate and climbeth up by me shall never fall; wherefore, blessed are they of whom I have spoken, for they shall come forth with songs of everlasting joy.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

Alma 13:1-19; "Don't Miss This"

April General Conference

"United in Accomplishing God's Work"

Jean B. Bingham

"As children were born to them, Adam and Eve taught their family what they had learned from heavenly messengers. They were focused on helping their children also understand and embrace those principles that would make them happy in this life, as well as prepared to return to their heavenly parents after having increased their abilities and proved their obedience to God. In the process, Adam and Even learned to appreciate their differing strengths and supported one another in their eternally significant work."

"Keys of the Priesthood"

Russell M. Nelson

October 1987

Lambson Study Group

"Covenants"

After finishing my blog for the day and reading scriptures and saying prayers with James, I began working on preparing my books for shipment. I took the ones that needed labels removed into the laundry room where with a wet rag, a hot iron and a removal spatula I was taking the old labels off. James came in and announced he was going in to town to get a new tire for the Cat. I panicked. I said, but I need to take my books in and I'm not ready. I don't want us to make two trips to town again today. He asked me to hurry and get ready to go. I told him I needed his help. He took over the job of removing stickers while I got ready to go, and prepared the shipment information online. I was having James put the books in the box and getting it ready to go when I realized I had not put stickers on the books yet. I yelled "STOP"! I came in with the labels and began taking the books out of the box and putting labels on them. James then put in packing paper and sealed up the box while I went to print the outside label for the box. I was amazed how quickly we got all of this done. Two heads, and bodies, really are better than one!

We dropped the old Cat tire off at Robert's Tires and picked up the new one on the way back. James dropped me off at the far end of the Walmart parking lot while he went to the UPS Store and Home Depot. He was just finished at Home Depot when I called him and asked him to pick me up at Walmart, which he did. We had wanted to go to Firehouse Subs but he said the line was way too long. We were hungry but I didn't care where we went. James chose KFC because we both like their coleslaw. We ordered a large container of coleslaw, James ordered a three piece meal and I ordered three chicken tenders. It cost us $20. That's our eating out for the week. So expensive. I think we should have gone to Taco Bell or waited to eat until we got home. 

They had no Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches at Walmart. I do not like the Great Value ice cream sandwiches so I asked James if we could go to Safeway and see if they had any Skinny Cows. They did not, but James got us a nice watermelon. He also got me some mochi ice cream, mango flavored. He really shouldn't have. I can't eat just one and they are 100 calories a pop. I ate all six of them before the day was over. 

Tasty!

An addiction food I can't keep in my house,

very often at least.

After Safeway it was back to Robert's Tire and then home. We started reading our new Aunt Dimity book, "Aunt Dimity and the Summer King." We stopped at the post office and mailed Ruby's panda mask for her birthday and picked up a book. I was so glad to finally be home. Show Low is a rat race in the summer time. I am grateful for the peace and quiet of Vernon.

It's my turn to choose the study topic for our family study group this week. I chose the topic "Covenants." Here are the talks I chose, there are five of them. It's hard to narrow them down. 

1. "Always Remember Him"

 Elder Ulisses Soares

BYU Speeches

February 5, 2019

2. "The Transformative Power of Covenants"

Ellie L. Young

BYU Speeches

June 11, 2019

3. "Look Unto Jesus Christ"

Elder Kim B. Clark

April 2019 GenCon

4. "Children of the Covenant"

Russell M. Nelson

April 1995 GenCon

5. "The Power, Joy, and Love of Covenant"

Linda K. Burton

October 2013 GenCon

Sheri called this afternoon saying she needed two new air conditioning units and it was going to cost her $30,000. I told her dad was taking a nap but he would call her and they could discuss her options. She has had trouble every summer with her air conditioning units. Wolf Mechanical installed them and their has always been a freon leak.

I went to bed at 10:00. I woke up at 12:24 and couldn't go back to sleep so I finally got up and wrote some of my thoughts down:

I am not truly happy in our present situation. We need to downsize. We have too much to take care of. James works so hard and he's always behind and down on himself for not being able to do everything. If we had less to take care of we could focus more on church and temple work. I am questioning my book business too. I want to work on my life story but I can't seem to find the time because of book biz. I feel a need to get our things in order.

After writing this down I finished some Book of Mormon study and went back to bed and slept like a baby.

 I ordered this lamp today for my corner of

the world

Monday, April 27th, 2020

Manila, Philipines

29th operating temple

Dedicated: 25-27 Sept 1984

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Judge

DC 133:2

 The Lord who shall suddenly come to his temple; the Lord who shall come down upon the world with a curse to judgment; yea, upon all the nations that forget God, and upon all the ungodly among you.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me" 

"In the Strength of the Lord" Mosiah 7:1-16; "Don't Miss This", and "Teaching with Power"

April General Conference

"Finding Refuge from the Storms of Life"

Elder Ricardo P. Gimenez

"Jesus Christ and His Atonement are the refuge that we all need, regardless of the storms that are battering our lives."

"Come and Belong"

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"We invite all of God's children throughout the world to join us in this great endeavor."

"Hear Him"

President Russell M. Nelson

April 2020

In the last 30 days I have sold 67 books with total sales at $1,449.82. I guess buying 60 books in March paid off. My balance, which will be sent out on April 30th is as of today: $392.82. (After posting this I sold 5 more books).

James is lining up framers to frame Chacon's two houses in Mesa. At first he was going to do it himself, but since it's 105 in the valley I think he has changed his mind. He will have to go down this week and meet with the framers and get them started. 

I checked on our stimulus money today and it says it will be sent on May 1st. It did not ask for our online banking information so I hope they already have it.

We had pot pies for lunch while watching "Lark Rise to Candleford." I made blueberry muffins this afternoon. James ate the last banana nut muffin. 

James went out to try and fix his truck. He has determined it is a computer problem which he cannot fix. He ordered a new part. After working on the truck he washed the bugs off my car from his last trip to the valley. Poor Lexy, she is wearing out from all of these trips to the valley. I certainly hope James can get his truck fixed soon.

James went on a Luna ride in the late afternoon. When he returned home we had tomato basil soup with mini crackers for dinner. He went upstairs for awhile to put things in order for his job and I watched Dave and Emily discuss Mosiah 7-9 on "Don't Miss This." 

James came down while I watched "Teaching with Power." One of the things Brother Wilcox discussed was seeing things through Zeniff's eyes. This comes from Mosiah 9. In verse one Zeniff saw that which was good among the Lamanites and he was desirous that they should not be destroyed. In verse two he asks the ruler of his group of they could make a treaty with the Lamanites but the leader was a blood-thirsty man and commanded that Zeniff should be slain. He was rescued by the shedding of much blood until the greater number of the Nephite army was destroyed in the wilderness; and those of them that were spared, returned to the land of Zarahemla. 

Zeniff was overzealous (when I am overzealous I act impulsively and selfishly do the thing I want without fully considering the consequence) to inherit the land of Lehi-Nephi. Zeniff took a group up to possess the land of Nephi but they were smitten with famine and sore afflictions; for they were slow to remember the Lord their God. Zeniff took four men into the city, in unto the king that he might know the disposition of the king, and that he might know if he might go in with his people and possess the land in peace. This is recorded in Mosiah 9:5. 

You have to ask yourself why Zeniff and his people would desire to go in to enemy territory to live in peace. They must have had a case of severe home sickness. Even though Zeniff lived in peace for the remainder of his life, his righteous grandson Limhi and his people lived in bondage among the Lamanites. This makes me think how my actions are going to affect my posterity. 

Molly and Charlie at the Tyler

Rose Garden. Molly goes

back to San Antonio tomorrow. 

So beautiful!

Someone gave Scarlett a strawberry plant

 Scarlett loves strawberries.

Here she is helping her mother make

strawberry jam.

 I love those big chocolate eyes!

 Kiley is Kaitlin's sister

 Kitties sunning their toes

Ben's Letter:

Monday, March 30th, 2020

St. George, Utah

1st operating temple

Dedicated: 6-8 April 1877

By: Daniel H. Wells

Jesus Christ, Judge

2 Timothy 4:8

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"
The Restoration "Closing Remarks" Russell M. Nelson Oct 2019
October 2019 Gen Con

"Fruit"

Elder Neil L. Andersen

"I am an eyewitness to the power of revelation that rests upon our dear President. He is the prophet of God. Like Lehi of old, President Russell M. Nelson beckons to us and all of God's family to come and partake of the fruit of the tree. May we have the humility and strength to follow his counsel. I humbly witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. His love, His power, and His grace bring all things of lasting worth. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

"Life After Life"

Russell M. Nelson

April 1987 GC

Two, actually three, great letters today. One was from our stake president, President Beeler, and two from Ben. Here is a copy of President Beeler's letter:

President Beeler is young but he is so spiritual and I love him almost as much as I did President Shumway who is now serving as a mission president in Chicago, Illinois.

I got a text from my friend Karen S. on Saturday that I forgot to share. She said she has been trying to walk around her house since she had lunch with me because she was impressed that I walked 10,000 steps a day.  She said she couldn't get passed 5,000 and wondered how I did it. I told her I walked 1,000 every hour until I reached my goal. While I'm walking I listen to conference talks or online books, or podcasts. She said I was her hero. I said she was my hero/mentor when it came to family history. She said, "It's nice we can help each other." This is so true. It's the one thing I miss about attending church, the association with the ward members that I have come to love.

Here are Ben's letters:

James went to town to pick up some supplies and forgot his wallet. He came home, got his wallet and went back. Mind you this is in his truck which dies everytime he stops or hits a bump. He brought me back a strawberry sundae from Culver's which made me very happy!

I texted with Kim today. She said that most of her day is spent studying the Restoration in preparation for General Conference. She is part of a group that can no longer meet but they do it online. The week she was in charge she chose the topic of the Book of Mormon and led the discussion. Her friend chose the Plan of Salvation. She loves the group. It sounds great to me! 

I was able to do two blog posts today but I have to say on the days I do two posts sometimes it takes me several hours. I will be so glad when I am caught up in a couple of days.

I ordered my Easter creche and Emily's book, "A Christ-Centered Easter" that goes with it only to discover afterwards that I already have the book. So, I have an extra one. Who wants it?

I also re-signed up for Deseret Book Plus so I can listen to books on my phone. I am out walking my conference talks so I needed something else to listen to. Right now I am listening to Elder Andersen's new book, "The Divine Gift of Repentance."

This evening James and I watched the new episode of Mystery 101 starring Christopher Polaha and Jill Wagner. Jill is one of our favorites and I also like Christopher. We really liked the episode. It had a surprise twist that I figured out and told to James!

 Allison and Twitch and their family
Love to watch A & T dance!

One of the traditions of Emily's for
a Christ-Centered Easter