Friday, May 26th, 2017

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

95th operating temple

Dedicated: 30 July 2000 by

James E. Faust

Alma 5:53-6:8

*What is the fruit of the tree of life?

*What do we have to do to obtain it?

*What do you need to change in your life to be prepared to meet the Savior?

Moroni 6-7

6 Repentant persons are baptized and fellowshipped; Church members who repent are forgiven; Meetings are conducted by the power of the Holy Ghost. About A.D. 401-21.

7 An invitation is given to enter into the rest of the Lord; Pray with real intent; The Spirit of Christ enables men to know good from evil; Satan persuades men to deny Christ and do evil; The prophets manifest the coming of Christ; By faith, miracles are wrought and angels minister; Men should hope for eternal life and cleave unto charity.

DC 79-80

79 1-4, Jared Carter is called to preach the gospel by the Comforter.

80 1-5, Stephen Burnett and Eden Smith are called to preach in whatever place they choose.

Why should we not be afraid to share the gospel?

*Because we are sharing the truth that will allow us and others to return to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

General Conference

To the Friends and Investigators of the Church

Elder Joaquin E. Costa

"So, from my first lesson, I say to you friends and investigators of the Church: once you meet the missionaries, please take them seriously; they are giving up important years of their lives for you."

James set 14 fence posts today before we left to go to the temple.  We decided to do the 4 o'clock afternoon session.  We left around 2:45, stopping at the post office to pick up the new Hoover Floor Mate that I ordered.  When we arrived at the temple I knew it was going to be a big session, I just didn't know how big. The line to get in was out the door.  Again at the front desk there was someone from our high school days.  Brother Patterson.  He was not a member of the Church in high school so I was pleasantly surprised to see him. 

Our session was packed to say the least.  Normally there are enough seats for 40 people.  This session had a fold up chair in every spare place.  There were 59 of us in this session, including our friend Brother Peeler from Vernon.  There were two newly called missionaries going through for their own endowments and of course there were lots of family and friends there with them.  The celestial room was packed so we didn't stay long.  

It was my turn to choose where to have dinner and of course I chose El Cupido's.  I got a taco and cheese enchilada plate and it was not that great.  I am going to choose somewhere else next time.

A sister from Pinetop took our picture for us.

Another windy day.

 Our temple names.

Grateful to Jared for doing the research.

The "Rock of our Salvation"

Another rock, Cathedral Rock in the

Santa Catalina mountains.

Hallstatt, Austria

Upkeep on the Razr.  Thank goodness for directions

you can get on your phone.

This sunset looks like Mount Montoso is

on fire!

Saturday, March 19th, 2016

I love this picture of Aaron and Kari's family.

Beckham, Anna, Samantha and Katie.

Even though this is the second marriage for both Aaron and Kari, they seem like they were made for each other!

James got up and fixed a big breakfast for Seth, Adam and Alex. 

Afterwards they all, except Adam, went into town to get some lumber they needed.  When they returned and actually started working, James realized the lumber was 2 feet too short.  Here he is directing his crew.

 Making the discovery about the boards

Instead of getting six hours of work as he had planned, Adam only got 3.5., Seth 4, and Alex 5.  

Brian enjoyed watching part of "March Madness", the college basketball tournament.  He seemed quite happy that Uof A was already eliminated.

Kim worked on her new cupcake puzzle.  

 I love this puzzle!

I am including this picture of Halstatt, Austria because as I was visiting with Kim she said this is one of the places in the world that she wants to visit.

 Gorgeous!

As I was leaving to go into town to get some groceries to help feed the guys, Kim and Brian left on the Razr.  Their plan was to make the Christmas Tree Trail circle but they said when they got to the trail, there was too much snow, so they turned around and came back the same way they had come.

As soon as I returned from town the guys, Adam, Alex, and Seth were leaving on the Razr.  They went to the pit and the swing.  When they returned they said that lightning had struck a tree close to the swing and knocked it down.  How sad.  They brought the swing back with them.  James says he can probably fix it.  Another project for him to add to his list.

I sort of went off my diet today.  I had a couple of little candy bars and a maple frosted donut from Walmart.  

Brian fixed dinner for he and Kim and the guys grilled some burgers that we had in our freezer.  Adam and Kim did the dishes.

Kim has been unbeatable in Five Crowns while she was here.  She has won every game she has played.  Is it luck or skill?  Maybe a little of both.

James studied for his lesson and I mine before we went to bed.  He is a little nervous because he has not had much of a voice all week.

My lesson this week is about Alma baptizing at the waters of Mormon.  We are going to be studying the covenants we make at baptism.  One of the covenants is about bearing one another's burdens.

These cans were labeled with different ways that people can suffer.  The class members each read a burden and then put it in my bag and try to carry it.  We took the burdens out and read them again and each class member tells how they could help the person with the burden.  

Michael ran in the Chandler Rotary track meet tonight and did not place.  I am sure he was heartbroken because he wanted to break a school record.  He has been sick this week so I am sure that had something to do with it.  Paul, Stacy, Jared Ammon, Dallin and Sheri all came to see him run.

Ben went to the Chandler West Stake youth conference which was held in Superior.  The kids did all kinds of service projects.  This is a picture of Ben and some of his friends helping clean the Superior cemetery.

Ben, Grady, ?, and Chris

Friday, March 28, 2014

The Hunsaker family

on their cruise.
 
Gospel Study
General Relief Society Meeting
October, 2013
"The Power, Joy, and Love of Covenant Keeping"
Linda K. Burton
1.  Bind myself to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through my covenants.  It is an expression of my love for them.
2.  Show my gratitude for the Atonement by keeping my covenants.
3.  My covenants should remind me to live, think, and act in a certain way.
4.  I will go where, say, and be what the Lord wants me to be.
5.  Be strengthened, empowered, and protected by my covenants. (1 Nephi 14:14).
6.  Have the courage and strength to bear others' burdens.
7.  Encourage family members to pray for each other.
8.  Encourage my family to keep their covenants.
9.  Teach children to keep simple promises in preparation for baptism.
10. Help my children establish the goal of having a Christ-centered home where love abounds and covenants are kept.
11.  Use Sister Burton's list (p. 113) for FHE discussions.
12. Remember keeping covenants is essential for true happiness.
13. Covenant keepers are commandment keepers.
14. Rejoice in the privilege of taking the sacrament.
15. Remind family: Always remember the Savior, always keep the Sabbath day holy, always have family prayer and scripture study and FHE.
16. Teach that ordinances and covenants are spiritual milestones.
17. Realize and be grateful for the blessings I receive because of the redemption of Jesus Christ.
18. Am I prepared for this question from the Savior on judgment day: "Did you love me?" (John 14:21)
"We Have Great Reason to Rejoice"
Carole M. Stephens
1.  Write notes praising others - express gratitude.
2.  Keep covenants daily by being kind and showing love.
3.  Teach others what the Holy Ghost feels like so they can recognize his influence in their lives.
4.  Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ with perfect love for God and others.
5.  Strengthen others with my testimony.
6. Strengthen my ward through reaching out and serving others.
7.  Exercise faith regarding missionary work.
8.  Pray each day to know who needs my help.
9.  Act on promptings I receive.
10. In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things.

I was hoping when I woke up this morning the swelling in my hand would have gone down, but it had not.  I woke up at my usual time and did my gospel study.  When James got up we discussed what we should do about my hand.  In the family prayer I offered I asked the Lord to let us know what to do.  We wanted to exercise faith in the blessing James gave me so we weren't sure we should seek medical help.  We prayed that if we weren't to seek medical attention we would know because the swelling in my hand would go down.  If within an hour we saw no improvement we would go to the emergency room.  Also, James called Dr. Moffat on his cell phone.  (He's the only doctor I've ever known who gives his cell phone number to his patients).  He is out of town but when he saw the picture of my hand he said I needed to go immediately to the hospital emergency room.  He said hand infections can be a nightmare.  

In one hour my hand was no better so we made the trek to the ER. The physicians assistant who saw me ordered bloodwork, an xray, and an ultrasound.  Bloodwork to check for an infection and to check my sedrate.  The ultrasound to check for a blood clot.  

Alpine view, Salzburg, Austria.

(Serenity now!)

The final diagnosis was cellulitis.  They gave me Benadryl via a drip to stop the itching and an infusion of an antibiotic and sent me home with a prescription for Kflex.  The final blow was when they had to cut my wedding ring off.  It's interesting in the report they wrote up they said it was my right hand.  Who wears their wedding ring on their right hand?  It was my left hand!

James stayed with me the entire time.  When I was released all we could think about was getting something to eat, so we headed for LaCasita for lunch and a visit with our favorite waitress, Charlotte.  After lunch I did a little shopping at Walmart.  On the way home I read to James from The Book Thief.  

At home after putting the groceries away I worked on my blog.  James has had to sign him and Lloyd up for dust control classes for this Camden Apartment job.  So many regulations.

We had razzleberry pie for dinner and watched Person of Interest (James did) before going to bed.  Maybe this picture will help me to have good dreams.

Turquoise Lake, Sierra Nevada, California.

The swelling in my hand has gone down significantly!