Sunday, August 4th, 2019

Caracas, Venezuela

96th operating temple

Dedicated: 20 Aug 2000

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Foreordained

John 16:5

But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?

Book of Mormon

Alma 44:16-45:14

New Testament "A Minister and a Witness"

Review Acts 22-28

General Conference

Missionary Work: Sharing What Is in Your Heart

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"These five suggestions; 1) Draw close to God, 2)Fill your heart with love for others, 3) Strive to walk the path of discipleship, 4) Share what is in your heart, 5) Trust the Lord to work His miracles,

will help you to do what disciples of Jesus Christ have done since ancient times. His gospel and His Church are an important part of your life and of who you are and what you do. Therefore, invite others to come and see and come and help, and God will do His saving work, and they will come and stay."

I read an article from the August Ensign this morning by Sister Bingham entitled, "Catch the Vision, Share the Vision"!

Sister Bingham talks about our need for spiritual vision. She says: "Just as physical vision is important in this life, spiritual vision is critical in our quest for eternal life. Proverbs 29:18 tells us, 'Where there is no vision, the people perish.' The truth is, we all need help learning to see clearly with our spiritual eyes."

I wish I could share this truth with all of my children and grand children. If we don't have a clear vision of why we are here and where we want to go, we will perish spiritually. 

During our fast and testimony meeting Sister Camrie B. bore her testimony. Camrie is in her late twenties and is a single mom to three small children, the oldest is 8. Her husband was unfaithful to her while she was pregnant and she has been able to forgive him through the power of Jesus Christ's Atonement. Her testimony is powerful and sweet. 

Sunday School today was taught by Brother Applegate. He did a great job, he was both dynamic and engaging!  I sat by Tamara, his wife and she said she wish that this was his calling because he loves preparing and studying for the lessons so much.

After church we broke our fast with steak, mashed potatoes and rolls that Sheri left. Thanks for providing us with our Sabbath day feast Sheri!

This evening James wrote a letter to Ben while I tried to do some catchup on my blog. We also read from President Nelson's biography.

 Rowan's face is so funny!

 I love the Sunday photos!

 Clouds on our way home from church.

Clouds mean rain, right?

Tuesday, June 4th, 2019

Chicago, Illinois

35th operating temple

Dedicated: 9-13 Aug 1985

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

DC 76:54

They are they who are the church of the Firstborn.

Book of Mormon

Alma 11:1-25

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

John 13:34-38; John 15:9-17

General Conference

Missionary Work: Sharing What Is in Your Heart

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Members of the Church of Jesus Christ - both in past times as well as in ours - have enthusiastically and joyfully shared the gospel with friends and acquaintances. Their hearts are aflame with the testimony of Jesus Christ, and they sincerely want others to experience the same joy they have found in the Savior's gospel."

We sold the book, "Beginning and Beyond" for $48.99.

My friend Pam, who works at the hospital,  texted the following to me this morning:

Pam: Police are everywhere!

Me: He's here? Yikes! I'm going to the temple!

Pam: Yes. It's crazy. Cops are in riot gear with rifles.

Me: Where do they think he is? What did he do?

Pam: I pulled over and at least 6 cars zipped by. Pulling cars over near the doghouse subdivision. He killed his dad and one other.

Me: So where are the police? Vernon or Show Low? ( I wasn't sure where the doghouse subdivision was). 

Pam: Show Low. You know the doghouse thrift shop area. 

Me: Not sure where that is, is it on the 260 or the Deuce?

Pam: It was going down about 6:45 this morning, on the 260. Tons of police, helicopter. I didn't know what the heck was happening, but when I saw the tactical gear and rifles I figured it was not safe. Went straight to the hospital instead of shopping. LOL. Even the ER parking lot looked like it had activity. I don't know much more yet. so scary.

Me: I hope they catch him. You are safe in the hospital with the security. Keep your office door locked just in case. I'm saying a prayer.

These are photos from Pam's office. She has it decorated for Jen's birthday. Jen is her best friend and co-worker. 

Later in the day I received the following message from Pam:

Pam: The brother of the shooter posted a video asking everybody to stop saying mean things about his baby brother. The baby brother is mentally ill. He said that he and his dad are recovering and they want everyone to stop saying horrible things. It's heartbreaking. I loved his message. 

Me: Wow. So, they never caught him?

Pam: They did, and I was surprised at my reaction when I saw the picture. It was so sad. I said to Jenny his expression was remorse, sadness and trauma. He's not okay. Poor kid.

Me: Oh, that is sad.

Pam: He's 29 but I can call him a kid because I'm old.

As I told Pam earlier I had planned on going to the temple today with James and our 85 year old friend Catherine. Catherine wants to do her sister-in-law's initiatory and endowment. This is her beloved husband Clyde's sister and she knows that doing his sisters work is going to make him so happy.

We picked up Catherine around 9:15. I drove, Catherine was in the front passenger seat, and James was in the back. Catherine loves to talk and she is hard of hearing. I am afraid we left James pretty much out of the conversation all of the way to Show Low. 

We got to the temple around 10 am for the 11 o'clock session in order to have plenty of time to do the initiatory work. Initiatory was busy but our friend Donna L. was the initiatory director and she worked it out so that we could both do our names before the session. I got one more name done by a sister who didn't have a name. 

The session was packed with extra chairs set up in the aisle for both the sisters and brothers.  Catherine and I were seated in the corner of the last row. I got a little claustrophobic when we were putting on our ordinance clothing.

When we got to the celestial room Catherine was so happy. She said to me, "Oh this was such a wonderful family day. The new name was my mother's name and Pierce from our ward, who's niece is married to my grandson, took me through the veil. I know my husband is so happy right now that his sister's work is done."

With those good feelings we left the temple and headed for Eva's Mexican restaurant in Snowflake for a late lunch/ early dinner. 

I had a chicken enchilada with green sauce and rice and beans. James had a chili relleno with green sauce and rice and beans, and Catherine had a taco salad. When we got ready to leave Catherine insisted that she was paying. She said she "owed" us. I said that she owed us nothing but I allowed her to pay and I left the tip. Thank you Catherine.

The ride home was beautiful. We were surrounded by clouds and in some areas they were rain clouds. It was overcast in Vernon but we never got any rain to speak of.

We stopped at the post office and picked up about 8 books. My goal this evening is to get all the FBA books we have ready for shipping.

James was so happy to see that the iris's he planted last year, along with the flowers, had bloomed.

Clouds and flowers, two of my favorites!

My evening was spent getting my steps and preparing book shipments. I shipped 13 books, 12 to California and 1 to Washington state.

Happy Birthday Emmy!

Emmy turns 14 today.

This photo was taken in 2017 and all of the kids have grown

since then. We also have Charlie added to the group.

I'm not sure where James was, he should be in this photo too.

James washed the car and cleaned out the garage
and driveway before we went to the temple.

 Bettylea is named after my mother whose name
was Bettylea Strickland Maxwell.
She is the second oldest of my niece's Jenifer. Jenifer is my brother
Dennis's only girl.

Dennis and Denise in Texas.

They went to Bettylea's graduation.

Dennis says the Doobie Brother's had a song about

China Grove. I wouldn't know.

Barbara was one of the first sisters I visited as a visiting teacher when I moved to Chandler in 1971. Kathy Jones, the bishop's wife,
was my companion.

Our bishop and his wife on vacation. Not sure why the
word whiskey is on his shirt.

Buns of Cinnamon for the win

Tuesday, May 21st, 2019

Atlanta, Georgia

21st operating temple

Dedicated: 1-4 June 1983

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

1 Nephi 11:7

And behold this thing shall be given unto thee for a sign, that after thou hast beheld the tree which bore the fruit which thy father tasted, thou shalt also behold a man descending out of heaven, and him shall ye witness; and after ye have witnessed him ye shall bear record that it is the Son of God.

Book of Mormon

Alma 3:20-4:4

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Matt 21:12-22; 23:13-28 Mark 11:12-26 Luke 20:45-47

General Conference

Great Love for Our Father's Children

Elder Quentin L. Cook

"My purpose this morning is to emphasize the essential role of that kind of love in missionary work, temple and family history work, and home-centered, Church-supported family religious observance. Love of the Savior and love of our fellow men and women is the primary attribute and motive for ministering and the spiritual purposes we were charged to undertake by our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, in the adjustments announced in 2018."

I listened to the book webinar this morning and then bought all the books on my new Done For You ROI list. 

James and I started a new book today, "To Win a Lady's Heart." This one is on my phone but it isn't audio. I read the prologue and James says, "This is the story I told in the first talk I ever gave in church when I was 12 years old." Now that is something I didn't expect to hear, especially when it was about a guy killing his dog because he thought the dog had killed his baby daughter when the dog had actually saved the baby daughter from a wolf. He said the talk was about self-control and not making hasty decisions.

For lunch today James and I made chicken enchiladas with white sauce. They were quite delicious. I used an old recipe I got from Carol Ray.

This afternoon we did something we don't normally do in the afternoon, we sat down together and watched a western movie on the Hallmark Drama channel. It was a western starring Luke Perry who was a traveling judge helping a girl running away from a guy who was trying to kill her. The bad guy was Ricky Schroeder. 

It was sunny but windy today. It doesn't matter to me because I stayed indoors all day. 

Thursday, May 16th, 2019

Washington D.C.

16th operating temple

Dedicated: 19-22 Nov 1974

By: Spencer W. Kimball

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

1 John 4:10

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Book of Mormon

Alma 1:1-14

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Luke 18:1-14 The unjust judge and the importune widow

General Conference

The Power of Sustaining Faith

President Henry B. Eyring

"The fact that you are in mortality now assures us that you sustained the Father and the Savior. It took faith in Jesus Christ to sustain the plan of happiness and Jesus Christ's place in it when you knew so little of the challenges that you would face in mortality."

My reading in the Book of Mormon today took me to the meeting of Gideon and Nehor where Nehor slays Gideon for his beliefs. Would I be so bold as Gideon to stand up for what I believe in knowing that I would die for it?

I was especially touched in my reading of the New Testament today with uke 18:13 ...God be merciful to me, a sinner.

Sorry to see two of the great ones leave this life, Doris Day and Tim Conway. We can still enjoy seeing them on screen though. I love Tim Conway in the Hallmark movie he made, "Surprised by Love" with two of my favorites, Hilarie Burton and Paul Campbell.

I own many Doris Day movies and love to watch them. Back in the 60's she was my favorite movie star.

I reordered the book we sold today because we made over $15.

I stretched the truth today to protect myself. Do I feel guilty? A little but sometimes a girl has to look out for herself or she is no good to anyone else. No further details are forthcoming.

I listened to the Book Profits webinar this morning with four of the six figure earners, Barry, Herman, Jim, and Kris. They are good but I'm not sure I will ever devote as much time and energy to book buying as they do.

James is going to be home this evening and I am so excited to see him. He's been gone since early Monday morning. 

I made one of my dot journals my food journal.

Plain on the outside, fancy on the inside.

I watched a couple of older Kellie Martin movies on Hallmark today and loved them both. "I Married Who?" and "So You Said Yes."

 Tired

 Free textbooks!

 I love a beautiful sunset, expecially when

it includes clouds!

 I miss Abigail!

 I didn't like what I saw today from my bedroom deck,

but James assured me the fence they are building will

benefit us. I just like my privacy.

Paul's sister Tara who lives in Whales. Her husband

works on the set of "Dr. Who."

 Happy Birthday Bishop Hall!

 I miss Yannick Bisson and the part he played on

Aurora Teagarden.