Friday, December 27th, 2019

Tuxtla Gutierrez Mexico

75th operating temple

Dedicated: 12 Mar 2000

By: James E. Faust

Jesus Christ, Jehovah

Isaiah 41:4

Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.

Book of Mormon

Moroni 7:35-48

New Testament

Revelation 19-20; Redheaded Hostess and New Testament Student Manual

Oct General Conference

"Giving Our Spirits Control Over Our Bodies"

President M. Russell Ballard

"The word that keeps coming to my mind now when I consider the plan is 'reunion.' It is a plan, designed by our loving Father in Heaven, that has at its center the grand and glorious possibilities of family reunion - of eternally reuniting husbands and wives, parents and children, generation upon generation in the household of God."

Ministering is exercising divine love

Repentance is daily refining

I talked to the boys about what they wanted to eat before I made a trip to town. It's the same things they always want. Pizza, steak, hotdogs, and hamburgers. Alex asked if I would buy him Simply Orange orange juice with no pulp, and some eggs. 

James went to town with me. While I was shopping Stacy kept texting me that Alex left his egg pan and other dirty dishes in the sink and didn't clean the kitchen. I am not sure what she wanted me to do. I told her to please ask him to clean up after himself. 

As we were going through Vernon we passed Sarah, Dallin, and Charlie leaving. We stopped and talked a few minutes and told them to be careful going home and that we enjoyed their visit. 

We stopped at Little Caesar's Pizza and picked up two large pepperoni pizzas, and two orders of breadsticks for $20.44. That is an amazing price!

We got more snow today. The kids tied the sled to the back of Alexis's car and are pulling each other down the road. It looks a little dangerous but they are having fun.

My foot is hurting. I blogged Dec 13th, the day of the gingerbread houses, Addy's concert and Jared and Kacey going to Marshall, Texas. There were a lot of pictures. 

I checked on Jared today. He still has numbness on the left side of his face. 

Max and Evan say they are not hungry tonight. I hope I didn't buy all of this food that Sheri is paying me for and no one is going to eat it. 

Joshua broke his new fancy light saber today and Paul is very upset because Michael told him to duct tape the batteries in. The tape is stuck inside the handle. Joshua is so upset he goes outside and no one can find him. When Evan comes in Stacy asks him if he will go outside and look for Joshua. Evan leaves out the back door and in a few minutes Joshua comes in the front door. Now Stacy is worried that Evan is going to get lost. I told her he would be fine.

James and I watched a Christmas movie, "Christmas On My Mind," starring Andrew Walker.

 Bryce Case's family

Bryce is Trina's brother

 The gang

Saturday, January 5th, 2019

Hong Kong, China

48th operating temple

Dedicated: 26 May 1996

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Death of

DC 45:4

Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified.

Book of Mormon

1Nephi 4:1-19

Have I ever been "led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do?"

New Testament

I am responsible for my own learning.

1 Nephi 10:17-19; Alma 32:27; DC 18:18; 58:26-28; 88:118

General Conference

Be Not Troubled

Elder Ronald A. Rasband

"Our desire to 'always have his Spirit" with us will push fear aside for a more eternal view of our mortal lives. President Nelson has cautioned, 'In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.'"

Our plan this morning was to load up our garbage, go to the church to do our cleaning assignment, and then take the garbage to the dump. When James went out to start loading it up he realized it was gone. I'm surprised that we didn't notice it last night when we came in. Brian and Kim took our 12 bags of garbage with them. Wow! What can we say. We appreciate them so much! 

When James contacted Brian to thank him and ask him what he did with it, Brian said: "When we got home the garbage man was just coming down the street. We put some of the bags in our container and some in our neighbors. The rest I took to Auto Zone around the corner."

James made us smoothies for breakfast before we left to clean the church. The Allen's, one of the families we are assigned to clean with, wanted to meet no later than 8 a.m. We arrived at the church at 8. James went in to see if anyone was there because he saw a car parked on the other side and the door on that side was propped open. We could find no one inside but soon the Gardner's showed up, Brother and Sister Gardner and Liam. The Allen's said they forgot when James called them later. They said they had a temple wedding to go to and that's what they were thinking of. We found out later that it was Aaron Winsor's sealing. He was a youth in Vernon and after his mission he moved to Taylor with his mother.

James started out by emptying trash throughout the building and discovered one of the classrooms was missing their trash cans. I started out by cleaning the bathrooms. Brother Gardner and Liam vacuumed and cleaned the chapel. Sister Gardner washed windows and cleaned the kitchen where she found mouse droppings. We will need to report this and the missing trash containter to the FM (Facility Management) so I took down their number. 

It only took us a little over an hour to clean. At 9 Sister Crane and her crew, Kerri, Amy, Alicia, Kip, Hailey, and Colter came to take down the Christmas decorations. Brother Gardner and Kerri took all the trash to the container outside. It was a good experience being in the building with these good people. The Gardner's are hard workers and so very kind.

We picked up our mail and headed to Dollar General to see if they have bananas. They don't. Next stop was Stanford General. They had one ripe banana and the clerk gave it to me. She said they needed to make a produce run but hadn't done so yet. I need at least three bananas to make banana nut bread for the Crane's. I have been promising them since Christmas. I thought we had bananas or we would have picked some up yesterday. James was so nice and didn't even complain when I asked if we could go to Walmart. 

We bought bananas, flour, sugar, eggs, shakes, oil, and butter. I just like to have baking supplies on hand, plus I am also making peanut butter cookies for Brother Wilhelm who had a birthday on December 30th. We stopped at Taco Bell and I got two tacos and a diet Pepsi. When I realized that a medium diet Pepsi at this joint cost $1.89 I vowed to never buy another.

We also stopped to get gas and then we were homeward bound.
It was stressful going up our hill and around our driveway but we made it, mud and all.

I worked on my blog and tomorrows "Come Follow Me" lesson while baking peanut butter cookies for Brother Wilhelm. I also read James a chapter from our book, "The Captain's Daughter." 

I was just getting ready to put a loaf of banana nut bread in the over at around 4:05 when the electricity went off. I put the bread in the refrigerator instead. The electricity ended up being off for around two hours.

While we were waiting in the dark James decided to light our kerosene lamps so I could read some more. After reading a chapter he said we should go deliver John his cookies. I reminded him that we could not get the garage door open. He said we could. 
It was difficult but we got the door open enough to put James's walking stick under it to prop it open. I drove the car out and we delivered the cookies to Sandra and the kids. John was not yet back from the young men's bicycle outing. 

The electricity came back on shortly after six and I baked the banana nut bread for the Crane's. James walked over in the snow and delivered it around 8 pm. James was gone for awhile as Chuck told him about the outing with the young men in Black Canyon.
Kathy texted me and said the bread was delicious! 

I put a log on the fire and we watched the new winter Hallmark movie, "Winter Castle." It's about a wedding held in an ice hotel. This hotel actually exists in the city of Quebec. Why would anyone want to stay in hotel that is freezing cold no matter how beautiful it looks? There is a new Hallmark movie every Saturday night in 2019. I am excited!

We began our fast before going to bed. We are fasting for greater family unity. 

After the electricity came back on James had

to go up and fix something on the garage door.

He's saying, "Don't take my picture."

 The Gilbert temple

 Where are the hearts on this Valentine

card?

 Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.

I wonder what's buried under this

pile of snow.

 I miss these guys

This is the first Christmas card we received this 

past Christmas. I love this sweet family!

 I like this.

 Dennis and Denise's family

Dennis, Rachel, Evie, Santa, Peg

Denise, Thor

Monday, December 31st, 2018

Las Vegas, Nevada

43rd operating temple

Dedicated: 16-18 Dec 1989

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Death of

3 Nephi 11:2

And they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death.

Book of Mormon

#1 - Finished!

#2 - Finished!

Old Testament

Finished!

General Conference

Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints

President Russell M. Nelson

"The new home-centered, Church-supported integrated curriculum has the potential to unleash the power of families, as each family follows through conscientiously and carefully to transform their home into a sanctuary of faith. I promise that as you diligently work to remodel your home into a center of gospel learning, over time your Sabbath days will truly be a delight. Your children will be excited to learn and to live the Savior's teachings, and the influence of the adversary in your life and in your home will decrease. Changes in your family will be dramatic and sustaining."

Happy 45th Birthday Kim!

Kim and her Guys

Sheri and I got ready and left for town this morning around 8 a.m. before Kim and Brian got here. Sheri was going to go running at 7 but it was just too cold and windy. It looks like we are going to get some more snow. We are worried about Kim and Brian making it up over the rim in Chloe (their car). We did not know that they saw Chris Cameron, Merrilee Bogle's husband, at the temple yesterday and he loaned them his truck. Brian said it was a tender mercy that he was not going to accept until he felt prompted that he should.

Sheri and I need to get some groceries, propane so we can use our smoker, and gas for the Razr. Our first stop was at the Maverick station in Show Low to get drinks. Sheri wanted to know why we were going to the Show Low Walmart and I told her because I needed to pick up my thyroid prescription, Levothyroxin. I ended up forgetting to do this so I will have to come back later in the week.

I wanted to get either a brisket or some ribs to cook in the smoker tomorrow. The briskets were huge and cost almost $50 so I got ribs instead. Probably not enough for everyone for a meal but this is an experiment. I got two racks of baby backs because that's all they had and one rack of beef. Sheri got more sub rolls for sandwiches.

Our next stop after Walmart was Stanford. Sheri stayed at the gas pump and was trying to get gas for the Razr but the credit/debit wasn't working so I took her card inside. It is freezing and windy by the way. I had to wait in line but had the clerk run the card. I went back to Sheri and it still wasn't working. This time she went in and I got in the line outside for propane. Propane is a hot commodity in this community where many rely on it for their heat. When it was finally my turn the guy filled my tanks and I lifted them and put them in the back of my car. No easy feat for me, especially in the cold but he did not offer to help.

Next I went inside and ordered some lunchmeat and cheese from the deli. When I finally checked out, which took about ten minutes because the guy was so slow, it cost me over $65 for propane and lunchmeat and cheese. Oh dear. I did get quite a bit of meat and cheese so I guess we will be having sub sandwiches for awhile.

When we got home Michael carried in most of the groceries. Finding a place to put all of our stuff is tricky, especially in the refrigerator. 

We know that Kim and Brian are on their way. It is snowing again so we are praying for their safe arrival. 

While Sheri and I were gone to town the boys and Ian helped James get some wood in. Ian and Michael helped James with the woodsplitter and the boys carried it over to the porch in the Razr and stacked. We now have wood to last for awhile. Thanks guys!

Ok, so it's not stacked neatly, at least it's dry.

I forgot to mention that Sheri bought a big bucket of chicken for everyone at KFC on the way home. It lasted about 10 minutes before it was all gone. I guess chopping and hauling wood makes you hungry.  Ian and James each got a container of coleslaw, there were also biscuits and potato wedges.

We were so happy when Kim and Brian got here. It was a great blessing that Chris allowed them to bring his truck. I'm not sure they would have made it up our hill without it. Later in the day they closed all the roads north of Payson because of snow. Many people were stranded in Payson.

We had steak for dinner again. James cooked ours and Michael did everyone else's. He used the cast iron skillet and cooked them with butter and garlic like before. Sheri had enough steaks to feed Kim and Brian. They were going to stop at Safeway for food for tonight but they came straight here instead. 

Michael cooking steak

We sang Happy Birthday to Kim. Brian brought up a cake and I got some ice cream at the store today. 

After the celebration Kim worked on the new Dowdle puzzle we got her.

We had more sledding, fires, and movies today. They boys stayed up to celebrate the new year but I'm not sure that anyone else did.

 This sweet baby is reason to celebrate!

Instant replay of the latest sledding adventure.

 45 candles is a lot!

 There she blows!

 Kim trying on the hooded coat blanket

Ian got for Christmas from his mom.

 Joshua ready for some snow

 Putting their wet clothes by the fire.

 Wisemen

Thursday, January 1, 2015

 This guy was perched in our tree this morning.  After he left a red tail hawk came and landed in the same spot.

It was a beautiful winter wonderland outside when we got up this morning.  We had about 5" of snow.

  We were a little worried about Kim and Brian coming up but they made it just fine.  They stopped to take some pictures of the snow on the desert.

The boys and Ian had fun playing in the snow.  First they made a snowman, or snowwoman, whichever you prefer.  

Evan named him Mr. Smiley

I renamed "her" Mrs. Smiley

Evan, ready to go sledding

Evan and Max tied to the back of the Razr

And away they go!

A little scary, as there are big rocks out there.

They did have a great time though!

James made a trip to Walmart to get his hunting license.  He forgot two things: 1) the Swiss Miss hot chocolate that I asked him to get and 2) Sheri's Polar Pop from Circle K.  He was in trouble for awhile.

I played three games of Five Crowns and won two out of five.  I lost when I played Sheri and Ben, won when I played Sheri and Max, and won when I played Sheri and Kim.  

We watched more Christmas movies and The Mentalist.  We also had a little celebration for Kim's birthday.  I made here a Texas sheetcake.

I am feeling overwhelmed, unorganized and a little discouraged, inspite of my good company.

  I still have my cough so Diana said she would teach on Sunday for me.

James and I issued a Book of Mormon challenge to our children and grandchildren.  Anyone who read the Book of Mormon by April 5th, Easter, will earn $50.  That's reading about 5 1/2 pages a day.