Sunday, August 18th, 2019

Monterrey, Mexico

110th operating temple

Dedicated: 28 Apr 2002

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Foreordained
John 17:24
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Book of Mormon
Alma 52:1-18
New Testament "Overcome Evil with Good" 
Review of Romans 7-16 and Sunday School lesson

General Conference

We Can Do Better and Be Better

President Russell M. Nelson

"Your body is your personal temple, created to house your eternal spirit. Your care of that temple is important."

Happy Sabbath! We were actually early for church today so James had a chance to set up his classroom. 

Layne H. was the youth speaker and he did a great job. He spoke about the blessings he has received because of the "Come Follow Me" program. Here are some notes I took:

Study, pray, share the gospel. Stay worthy to receive the inspiration of the Holy Ghost Realize the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. John 1:4-5: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." Layne told us to keep our "eye on the ball." He is a baseball player so he couldn't resist using a baseball phrase.

Brother Wright, the high councilman assigned to our ward, was the next speaker. He talked about the holiness of the sacrament and quoted several times from Elder Holland's latest conference talk.

Brother Wright just returned from a 2,900 mile trip across the United States. He was in Boston where his daughter just had a baby. He said he was not able to take the sacrament last Sunday. He was in Indiana and could not find the church. He said he noticed the difference of not taking the sacrament. He talked about how Christ is the center of the gospel and that He should be the center of our lives. How do we make the gospel a part of everything we do? The service we give should be motivated by our love for the Savior. Jesus never leaves our side. We are never alone. Lives are rectified at the sacrament table. "Do Not Leave the Path." The world tries to draw us away. Our lives must be centered on Jesus Christ. Go forth in the strength of the Lord. The Lord is very much in control.

Brother Wright was finished a little early so Bishop Miller made a plea for seminary and the importance of it. He said it is worth any sacrifice for our youth to attend seminary.

Brother Smith taught Sunday School. He is a very knowledgeable gospel scholar. He encouraged us to be able to explain our testimonies. Why do we have a testimony of tithing, etc. His last statement was very important. He made it in the form of a challenge: "Please, this week, remember Jesus Christ and what He has done for you."

After lunch this afternoon James went into the bedroom to take a nap. I tried to sleep but couldn't so I read from the Ensign and then worked on my blog.

When James got up from his nap he began working on Brother Anderson's family search account. One of the things he wanted to find was Brother Anderson's paternal grandmother's last name. We know she married his grandpa Anderson and that her first name was Bernice. We looked at the 1940 census in Denver, Colorado and they were already married at that time. We looked for marriage records in Denver county and boingo! We found it. They were married in Littleton, Colorado on March 13, 1938 and her maiden name was Bernice Tartaglio. James was so excited for this bit of success and so was Brother Anderson.

I called my friend Jean this evening to find out why she wasn't at church and to tell her I missed her. I told her she needed to come so I didn't have to sit by myself in Sunday School. She agreed and hopefully will be there next week.

I confess that we watched the season finale of "The Good Witch."

We found out this afternoon who will be coming to our Regional Conference on September 14th: President Oak and his wife, Elder Wilford Andersen, and Elder Heyman. Funny because I just listened to a conference talk by Elder Anderson. I guess he has a house in Hidden Meadows near Green's Peak. Pretty exciting!

James called to make an appointment with the Woods' next Sunday for himself and his partner Brother Westbrook and Sister Wood ended up inviting him, Dave and their wives to dinner. How nice.

Scarlett loves kitties but maybe she is not
sure if this one is friendly.

 Looks like she's feeling a little better

Sunday, July 7th, 2019

Raleigh, North Carolina

68th operating temple

Dedicated: 18 Dec 1999

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Family of

John 2:12

After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.

Book of Mormon

Alma 29:8-30:11

New Testament "Ye Shall Be Witnesses Unto Me"

Review: Acts 1-5

General Conference

The True, Pure, and Simple Gospel of Jesus Christ

President Russell M. Ballard

"The first principles of the gospel are faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. His brother Hyrum taught: 'Preach them over and over again: you will find that day after day new ideas and additional light concerning them will be revealed to you. You can enlarge upon them...to comprehend them clearly. You will then be able to make them more plainly understood by those you teach.'"

We missed church today. James was too sick to even get out of bed until the afternoon. My face is worse than yesterday and now I am beginning to think I should have gone to the ER. 

I did all of my studying today for "Come Follow Me" and my reading of the conference talks and Book of Mormon. I learned alot by using the New Testament Student Manual about the first five books of Acts. 

Kacey and Jared wanted to FaceTime this afternoon. I told them about my face and how bad it was and that I didn't want to scare Charlie. Jared called me and said he could call me in a prescription, which he did. It was after 5:30 before we thought about picking it up tonight and the pharmacy closes at 6. James will pick it up when he goes to his doctor's appointment tomorrow. 

We read our scriptures together and then watched "The Good Witch" before going to bed. 

I did make some ministering decisions with the rest of the Relief Society Presidency today. I don't like to miss my meetings and now I have missed two weeks in a row. I can't remember ever doing that before. 

James has a horrible cough and I have a scary face. It's so sad.

It did rain today and that made us happy.

 I love this sweet face!

The adventures of Alex and Shayna continue

 Beautiful Scarlett!

Sunday, May 15, 2016

I got up at 4:30 this morning to finish studying and preparing my Primary lesson.  I love the story of the conversion of King Lamoni's father.  Maybe someday we will know his name.

Ty Applegate was the youth speaker today in sacrament meeting.  He spoke on Brother Owen's conference address, "Great Leaders are Great Followers."  

His mother, Tamara, was the next speaker.  She spoke about what she learned from stake and general conference.  Here is a list that she created: 1.) Attend all sessions 2.) Look for answers to problems 3.) Pray and invite the Spirit 4.) Don't disbute or criticize like Laman and Lemuel, and don't harden your heart. 5.) "The Lord blesses those who want to improve." - Elder Jeffrey Rl. Holland.  

She then discussed what her "conference plan" was going to be.  Here is mine: Attend the temple more frequently, read the scriptures with greater intent, be sincere in prayer, open up to promptings, listen to the Holy Ghost, have the desire to improve, find my ancestors, and forgive others.

Sadie Westbrook was the last speaker.  She spoke about her participation in the Pathway Program.  The Pathway program prepares you to go to BYU-Idaho or BYU-Online.  It is three semesters long.  Sadie is finishing up her third semester and wants to attend BYU-Idaho in September.  

Zemira, Curtis, Braylin, and Kacey attended Primary today.  The lesson went really well and at the end we played tic-tac-toe, answering questions from the lesson.  The game was a tie.

After church, as we were leaving to go home James says to me: "I have some bad news.  The bishop wants to see us in his office at 2:45.  I had told him earlier that I thought they were calling a camp director today.  At first I was a little nervous, but I said a prayer, and I felt fine.  It turns out the bishop wants us to be the temple cleaning co-ordinators.  The only part of the calling I am a little nervous about is getting 18 other people to clean with us when we go every other month.  

Today I finished reading Mosiah 29 and listened to President Nelson's talk on the priesthood.  I also worked on my Primary lesson for next week which is about the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.

James went with Rick Lauritzen to give George Wallace a blessing this afternoon.  George had hernia surgery this week and he is retaining fluids.  He has gained 25 lbs. in four days and refuses to go back to the doctor.  

James and I both wore our jammies most of the afternoon after our meeting with the bishop. 

James wanted to watch TV this evening, so we watched "The Good Witch."

  Cheryl Horne posted these flowers on Facebook.  They are in her backyard.  I love them, especially the purple ones.

Monday, May 2, 2016

California hillside after the rainy season.

For my study in Preach My Gospel I read 2 Nephi 28.  Here are some of the verses that especially meant something to me:

14 - . . . they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ.

24 - Wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!

26 - Yea, wo be unto him the that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!

Repent, and come unto me!

My daily study of the Book of Mormon:

Mosiah 21:9-27

9 - Great mourning among people of Nephi.

11 - Because of the cries of the widows, the remainder of the people of Limhi are angry with the Lamanites.  They go to battle and suffer great losses.

12 - Went for the third time and suffered losses again.

13 - AND THEY DID HUMBLE THEMSELVES, submitting to the yoke of bondage.

14 - And they did humble themselves even in the depthis of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions. ( Humility fortifies our dependence upon the Lord.)

15 - The Lord was slow to hear their cries because of their iniquities.  The Lord did soften the hearts of the Lamanites.

22 - Ammon comes from Zarahemla.

24 - Limhi filled with exceeding great joy.

27 - Limhi's people find the Jaredite record.

I usually eat breakfast when I get up, sometime between five and six.  Today was no different.  Later in the morning James made steak and gravy.  Of course he brought me some into the bedroom where I was working on the computer.  I couldn't resist.

While I was ironing I listened to the talk by Elder and Sister Renlund that they gave at BYU Women's Conference.  Thanks Jared for posting it on Facebook.  The theme for women's conference was "One in Charity."  I especially liked the idea that "charity leads to unity, and unity leads to charity."  Another quote I liked: "Charity is a consequence of conversion."  I want to go back and listen to Marvin J. Ashton's April 1992 General Conference address, "What is Charity." Oops! The name of the talk is: "The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword."

One last quote: "Increasing our Sabbath day observance will increase our charity."

I got a call from my friend Charlotte Mattice this afternoon.  Also talked to Stacy about Jared Ammon.

I fixed a late lunch for James and Adam since we had a late breakfast.  We had: Pork chops with stuffing, asparagus salad, rolls, cranberry sauce and apple sauce.  Adam says he doesn't usually care for pork chops but he loved these!

After lunch the two guys go in to town to get more plywood for the roof of the storage shed.  

We had some dark clouds today and Adam said it hailed on him, but James said he never felt the hail.  Weird.

On worked on Primary preparation and my blog this afternoon.  I also said a prayer as I went upstairs to look for my mom's memory book.  I didn't find it but later while I was in the kitchen I decided to go look on the shelf in the living room where I have several photo albums.  There it was!  I said a prayer of gratitude.  I also found my mother's birth certificate and baptismal certificate and James and my marriage certificate.  It was a good day.

I wasn't going to fix dinner because we had such a big lunch, but I decided to make stirfry because I had mushrooms, celery, onion, and snow peas.  I also added a little ham.  James loved it.  For dessert I made strawberry shortcake.  Since we are going to be gone the rest of the week, I am trying to clean out the fridge.

For FHE we listened to President Eyring's talk, "Where Two or Three are Gathered."  In his talk he talks about the Parable of the Sower.  I love this parable and the symbolism.

After FHE James and I watched "The Good Witch" and then went to bed.  Adam went upstairs to watch "Castle".

Monday, April 25, 2016

I love this picture of

President Monson!

It is extremely windy today.  For this reason and because he had a bid to do, James worked inside.  

I am reading Wendy Watson Nelson's book "Covenant Keepers" and want to share a quote from this book:

Elder John A. Widtsoe said:

"In our preexistent state, in the day of the great council,

we made a certain agreement with the Almighty.

The Lord proposed a plan.  We accepted it.  Since the

plan is intended for all men, we became parties to the 

salvation of every person under that plan.  We agreed, right then and there, to be not only saviors for ourselves but measurably, saviors for the whole human family.  We went into a

partnership with the Lord.  The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father's work, and the Savior's work, but also our work.  The least of us, the humblest, is in partnership with the Almighty in achieving the purpose of the eternal plan of salvation." 

My new ponderize scripture for the week is Mosiah 3:19, one of my favorite scriptures.  

Our scriptures for the day: Mosiah 16:1-15

How are people in darkness today and how can we help them?

By reaching out to them and serving them and teaching them the gospel.  Sometimes the simplest things like speaking nicely, being kind and considerate are a great help.  Be an example to all, be a help to those in need and treat others how you wish to be treated.  Try to be more like the Savior.

I have two favorite versus today:

vs. 4 - Thus all mankind were lost; and behold, they would have been endlessly lost were it not that God redeemed His people from their lost and fallen state.

vs. 13 - And now, ought ye not to tremble and repent of your sins, and remember that only in and through Christ ye can be saved?

While I am ironing I listen to Church magazines or conference talks.  For FHE this evening we listened to Elder Robert D. Hales talk on The Holy Ghost.  He shared some personal experiences which I really enjoyed.

This afternoon we made a trip to the dump and then afterwards I talked James into going to town for a Sonic burger.  Yummy!

This evening James and I watched "The Good Witch", and then he left while I watched part of "DWTS."  He really doesn't like it.

Pictures from Thanksgiving 2014.  

Jared and Anna were supposed to be here but

they had to leave to help Tricia who fell asleep driving

to Chandler and totaled her car.

Thank goodness no one was hurt.