Monday, May 29th, 2017

Palmyra, New York

77th operating temple

Dedicated: 6 April 2000 by

Gordon B. Hinckley

I forgot to shout hooray!

Yesterday James and I finished the assignment

given by our bishop in January to read the Book of Mormon 

by the end of May!

HOORAY!

Alma 8:1-17

*What do these verses tell us about Alma's character? (see Alma 8:8-10.)

*Although Alma's prayers for the people of Ammonihah were sincere his requests were not immediately granted. (Some people in Ammonihah did repent later. See Alma 14:1.)

*President Russell M. Nelson: "I recognize that, on occasion, some of our most fervent prayers may seem to go unanswered.  We wonder, 'Why? I know that feeling! I know the fears and tears of such moments.  But I also know that our prayers are never ignored.  Our faith is never unappreciated.  I know that an all-wise Heavenly Father's perspective is much broader than is ours.  While we know of our mortal problems and pain, He knows of our immortal progress and potential."

*What can we learn about Alma from the fact that he returned speedily to Ammonihah?

*President Henry B. Eyring: "However much faith to obey God we now have, we will need to strengthen it continually and keep it refreshed constantly.  We can do that by deciding now to be more quick to obey and more determined to endure.  Learning to start early and to be steady are the keys to spiritual preparation....A loving Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son have given us all the help they can to pass the test of life before us.  But we must decide to obey and then do it.  We build the faith to pass the tests of obedience over time and through our daily choices.  We can decide now to do quickly whatever God asks of us.  And we can decide to be steady in the small tests of obedience which build the faith to carry us through the great tests, which will surely come."

DC 82:13-24

14-18, Zion must increase in beauty and holiness; 19-24, Every man should seek the interest of his neighbor.

Why should we make friends with the "mammon of unrighteousness?"

* There is a saying: "Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer."  If we are friends with our enemies we can help them understand us better.  We become more tolerant of our differences and we realize we have more in common than we thought.

General Conference

And This Is Life Eternal

Elder C. Scott Grow

"Jesus Christ taught many truths that explain Heavenly Father's plan of happiness and your place in it.  I'll focus on two of these to help you understand your identity as a child of God and know your purpose in life.  First: 'For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' (John 3:16.)

Second: 'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.'" (John 17:3.)

James fixed me my favorite breakfast this morning, maple and brown sugar oatmeal with walnuts and blueberries.  Delicious!

Why does it always taste better when someone else makes it for you?

We said goodbye to Kim and Brian this morning.  They are heading back to the valley this morning to beat the Memorial Day traffic.

We always love when they come to visit.

Also, the food they made for us was a real bonus!

I forgot to mention the delicious honey-lime chicken

they made for us last night.

At 10am. we had a meeting at the Howard's about horseback riding for the grandkids in July.  It was just James and I and Brother and Sister Howard.  Brother Howard said because I had been such a good visiting teacher to his wife that he was not going to charge us for the horseback riding.  I was overwhelmed.  If we went anywhere else it would be at least $25 an hour per person.  He did ask us to go on social media and let people know if we have a good experience.  We met the newest addition to their family:

Maui and his mom Mirage.

He has grown so much since his birth on the 10th.

The Howard's are wonderful people.  They are about the same age as we are and have had some of the same experiences with their children and grandchildren as we have.  They showed us around their place.  James offered to help them finish a cover on the porch of one of their buildings.  Brother Scott was working on it until he left for Utah.  We had a great visit and feel like they are truly our friends.

From the Howard's we went in to town.  I wanted to get my car serviced, meaning an oil change, before going to the valley tomorrow.  James dropped me off at Panda Express while he took the car to Walmart.  He was back in just a few minutes and said they asked him why he wanted an oil change when it had been only 2,700 miles since the last one.  We also need a new windshield but James promised me he would take care of that in the valley.  

We stopped at Harbor Freight to buy a greenhouse that normally sells for 1,600 dollars that is on sale for $622.  James also had a coupon for 25% off.  He thought he had it with him but he didn't, so he will have to come back.  We probably couldn't have gotten the greenhouse in the car anyway.  We went home and had a nap and then James headed back into town in the truck with his coupon. He ended up paying $500 for it.

I stayed home and worked on my blog.

For Family Home Evening we listened to Elder Grow's conference talk.  I heard it this morning, but I wanted James to listen to it with me. Elder Grow was speaking specifically to the young adults and I thought there might be some things we would like to share with Michael and Alex. After the talk we watched the season one finale of "Victoria." Victoria has her baby and the story says she has eight more children.  We are looking forward to season two!

Fun Photos:

My husband is very talented.

Here he is making a pie.

Here he is splitting wood.

Studying for his gospel doctrine lesson.

Enjoying some time with his new friend,

Shipley.

Sweet little Addy on her baptism day.

The Three Amigos with their firstborn.

Darrel, Addy, Jon, Logan, Aaron, and Samantha.

A beautiful end to a wonderful day.

Sunday, November 27, 2016"

I love this scene!

Thanks honey!

Mormon 8:12-25

How can Moroni's words: "For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled," strengthen us as we labor in the Lord's cause?

We know that no matter what happens the Lord is in charge and His eternal purposes will be accomplished.

GC:     "If Ye Had Known Me" by Elder David A. Bednar

As the Savior concluded the Sermon on the Mount,

He emphasized the eternal truth that 

"only by doing the will of the Father is the saving grace

of the Son obtainable."

GC:     "The Doctrine of Christ" by Brian K. Ashton

Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught:

"Being born again, unlike our physical birth, 

is more a process than an event.

And engaging in that process is the central purpose

of mortality."

This was in my Primary lesson this week.

Moroni 7:45 says:

"And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

Moroni had the pure love of Christ.  Explain the qualities of charity found in Moroni 7:45 using terms the children can understand.  

*Suffereth long: Is patient -  Moroni lived alone for over thirty-six years patiently keeping the records. (Mormon 8:5).

*Kind: Not cruel, or mean, loving - Moroni prayed for us, and he loved his brethren. (Ether 12:36, 38.)

*Envieth not: Is not jealous - Moroni saw our day and counseled us to not be envious or proud. (Mormon 8:35-37.)

*Not puffed up: Humble, not proud - Moroni was humble because of his weakness in writing. (Ether 12:23-25.)

*Seeketh not her own: Is unselfish - Moroni unselfishly worked and prayed for us that we would have a knowledge of Jesus Christ. (Mormon 9:36; Ether 12:41.)

*Not easily provoked: Slow to anger, quick to forgive - Moroni forgave his enemies and worked hard to write things that he hoped would be of worth to them. (Moroni 1:4.)

*Thinketh no evil: Is trusting, looks for the good - Moroni exhorted us to hold to good and touch not evil. (Moroni 10:30.)

*Rejoiceth in truth: Is honest - Moroni was honest. (Moroni 10:27.)

*Beareth all things: Is obedient - Because Moroni would not deny Jesus Christ, he had to wander alone for his safety. (Moroni 1:2-3.)

*Believeth all things: Is faithful - Moroni encouraged us to believe in Jesus Christ. (Mormon 9:21.) So great was Moroni's faith that he was able to see Christ face to face. (Ether 12:39.)

*Hopeth all things: Is optimistic, trusting - Moroni understood the importance of hope. (Ether 12:32.)

*Endureth all things: Is patient, persistent - Moroni was faithful to the end. (Moroni 10:34.)

I love Moroni, he is one of my heroes.

I sure do love these two!

Judy Hunter was back at church this week.  It was so good to see her.  She has been sick for over a month.  Now Sean Hunsaker is in the hospital.  He has very serious heart problems.  We as a ward were ask to pray for him.

The Grapp's spoke in sacrament meeting.  Cammy spoke about five minutes and Thomas spoke 40 minutes.  I could have listened to him another 40 minutes.  He spoke on how to be actively involved in the ward.  He gave personal examples of people in their previous wards who have been an example in their family's lives and then he shared a scripture to go with each example.  These are the scriptures he shared: Mosiah 18:9, D&C 121:37, 4 Nephi 1:12, D&C 18:15, Matthew 4:19, Mosiah 3:19, Mosiah 2:17, D&C 137:9, 3 Nephi 18:22, 2 Nephi 31:20, and Proverbs 31:10.

He talked about the temple and how important eternal families are and expressed love for his wife and children.  It was amazing!

I had three kids in my Primary class today.  Curtis, Zemira, and a visitor, Baden. I miss Braylin and Kacey so much!

 During the third hour we had our teacher's council meeting.  Brother Wilhelm ask us: How can we make teaching in the Church connect with teaching in the home?  We had a good discussion.

We got to spend a little time with Kim and Brian before they left for home:

Playing a game of Five Crowns.

Brian ended up winning.

They chose to get their picture taken in front of the

Christmas tree instead of the front door.

I got a text from Kim when they reached Heber:

It's snowing.

It didn't start snowing here until after 5 p.m.

Kim loves snow!

Brian does too!

There is snow in your beard Brian!

They forgot the tree stand for Stacy:

Uh oh.

Our marriage class was cancelled so James and I had the afternoon and evening to ourselves.  We had chili and hotdogs for dinner.  James did some indexing and I did some gospel study.

This was a tough batch to read.

We also read a chapter from Justice of Affliction and watched "Operation Christmas" before going to bed.  We are so boring and predictable.

This is Nemo.  I got it at last year's White Christmas

Party.  Alexis, Michael's friend, made it.