Sunday, April 26, 2015

Gilbert, Arizona Temple

 

 The Sunday morning session of the Chandler West Stake conference was incredible.  The theme was "Trust in the Lord."

President Randall Jones was the first speaker.  He talked about the importance of being obedient as we put our trust in the Lord.  He quoted Alma speaking to his son Shiblon in Alma 38:5:

 

"And now my son, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day."

 

Sister Danielle Curtis from the Pleasant 3rd ward was the next speaker.  She spoke on "Facing Adversity with Faith." Her five year old son has bone cancer and she described some of the experiences their family went through and the comfort she received.  She quoted Matthew 11:28-30:

"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Her talk was very inspirational and powerful!

 

President Blacker spoke about the power that comes from fasting and prayer.  He encouraged us to contribute as generous a fast offering as we possibly can.  He shared some personal examples of when his sixth child, a son, was born with Downs Syndrome

 

Nancy LeSueur, the matron of the Gilbert temple, was the next speaker.  She talked a little bit about the groundbreaking of the Star Valley Wyoming temple which took place yesterday and then she focused on the Christ-like attribute of kindness.  She quoted from a conference address given by President Hinckley in April 1999:

"Now, brethren and sisters, let us return to our homes with resolution in our hearts to do a little better than we have done in the past.  We can all be a little kinder, a little more generous, a little more tolerant and friendly to those not of our faith, going out of our way to show our respect for them  We cannot afford to be arrogant or self-righteous.  It is our obligation to reach out in helpfulness, not only to our own but to all others as well.  Their interest in and respect for this Church will increase as we do so."

She said that the temple is a place of kindness as we extend the hand of love and fellowship.

 

President David LeSueur of the Gilbert temple is a masterful gospel teacher.  I don't think he had a written talk but just spoke as he was inspired by the Spirit.  He spoke about the gospel principals taugt in the Sermon on the Mount: Avoiding anger, thinking pure thoughts, and loving unconditionally.  He said the Savior taught not a law of doing and not doing, but of becoming. 

We must be born of the water and of the Spirit and have a mighty change of heart. 

An ordinance is a sacred ceremony performed by someone with priesthood authority. 

The doctrines of the priesthood distill as the dew from heaven.

The blessings of the Atonement are conveyed through ordinances.

"I am a witness of the Restoration...."  An amazing talk!

 

I always love President Johansen's talks.  He has such a wonderful spirit about him.  He quoted President Benson by saying:

 "When we put God first, all other things fall into

their proper place or drop out of our lives."

He also quoted from Joshua: "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord."

The little things are the big things.

 

It was a wonderful conference session.  The stake choir sang: "I Wonder When He Comes Again", and "Lead Kindly Light."  The closing hymn was "Our Savior's Love" and the benediction was give by Lynette Braddock.

 

We came home and had pesto flatbread for lunch and James took a short nap before leaving to go home teaching with Dave to the Bingham's.  Later I went with Bunny Miner and we visited Nancy Tolman and her little six month old granddaughter Alice Jane.  Nancy has applied for a job at Good Samaritan hospital in Phoenix to train nurses as to how to care for diabetic patients.  Nancy is a nurse and her specialty is diabetes.  Right now she works at the wound center here in Chandler but she really would like to have the other job so we told her we would pray for her.  She will find out on Wednesday if she got the job or not.

 

It was cloudy, cool and there were beautiful clouds this afternoon.  It was so nice because by the end of the week we will be hitting around 100 degrees. 

 

James fixed steak and gravy for dinner and I made my delicious 7-Up biscuits.  Yummy!





 

 





Saturday, April 25, 2015

This picture was taken today near Big Lake, Arizona.

 

Well I woke up this morning feeling as if I had never had a steroid shot.  I should have had it yesterday instead of Thursday but they failed to tell me it was only going to last one day.  I guess I am going to either be taking aspirin or Ibuprofen most of the day.  I missed going to Evan and Josh's soccer game. 

 

I finally got my talk completely written and now I need to repeat it at least 10 times.  At least that's why my coach, Mr. James says.

 

Before leaving for conference this evening James and Paul gave me a priesthood blessing.  I was most appreciative. 

 

I was very touched by the amount of support I got from my kids.  Stacy invited all of her boys to come.  None of the older ones did except Michael, but Adam texted me and told me he would like a copy of my talk.  Joshua, Paul, Stacy, Michael, and Alexis, Kim, Joe, Sheri, Ian, Darrel, Trina and Lola all came, and of course James was there as was Cathi, Terry, Laura, and Dave. 

 

I think the theme of the meeting was about families although there was a talk by Bishop Johnson of the Del Rio 1st ward on ward councils, and two talks about family history. Oh yes, and the Tempe Mission President, President Toone, and his wife spoke about missionary work.  President Toone is the biggest man I have ever met.

 My talk was entitled "The Family is Ordained of God" and I mainly spoke about my family and my testimony.  Afterwards some of us went to Chili's.



Sheri is a baby hog

James had his turn.

 

I love Lola's face in this picture.

Lola knows where the camera is.

 

Boy I look old!

Selfies!

 

It was a good night, but I am glad it's over.  I can enjoy the session tomorrow without any stress.









Friday, April 24, 2015

Dallin and Joe performing at the MIM

with Alpin Hong.

 

James went above and beyond the call of duty today.  He went grocery shopping and catered to my every whim so I could work on my talk.  I actually felt great physically today because of the KC (steroid) shot I had yesterday.

 

While I was busy at the computer James went to Senor Tacos and brought me back a taco and some refried beans. 

 

 

This evening Stacy, James and I went to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix to see Alpin Hong who is a concert pianist.  A few years ago he performed at the Chandler Center for the Arts at the invitation of Laurie Lyford the chorale director.  After his performance, one of Dallin's friends, Mario, invited Alpin to come to his house and listen to their band, Harrison Fjiord play.  They ended up playing together for over two hours and Alpin invited them to perform with him at his show. 

 

Mr. Hong and Laurie Lyford are good friends, so he also invited the Chandler Choir to perform with him.  The final number was a rousing rendition of "Hallelujah" with everyone on stage.  It was quite the night!

 

 Marvin and Mary, and Cody Miner were also there to see Dallin perform.  Amanda was there for Joe and so were Kim and Brian.

It was quite a night! 



I wish Joe would have stayed in his tux for the pictures.

Dallin and Cody.  Best friends forever.

Dallin wrote and sang one of the songs his band

performed tonight.

Alpin Hong was amazing!!

 

Tonight was our ward's fathers and sons outing.  Paul took Michael and Joshua.  They didn't spend the night because someone took Paul's sleeping bag out of our storage building.  They stayed for the campfire fireside and Joshua had fun gathering wood.





Michael

Joshua

 



Thursday, April 23, 2015

Paul posted this today on Facebook.

Michael got first place at the city meet today in the 800 race.  Stacy and I were on our way there but he ran a little early so we missed it.  Thank goodness Paul was there to see him.

Dallin and Joe both got to perform at the Musical Instrument Museum with world famous concert pianist Alpin Hong. 

We have tickets for tomorrow night.

I can hardly wait!

 

I got a sweet email from James this morning which is something he normally does when we are not together.  I am not sure he realizes how much they mean to me.  I have told him but words don't really convey how good they make me feel.

 

I went in to get my steroid shot this morning.  On the way home I stopped to get an "In n Out" Burger.  I took a nap when I got home and noticed I was feeling better than I had for awhile.  I think this shot is going to give me some much needed relief.

 

My talk, along with all the notes I took, was over 15 pages long.  I was feeling frustrated and then was prompted to go in an entirely different direction.  Now I have to start over.

 

I called James this afternoon only to have him tell me he was on his way home and he didn't have brakes on the trailer or the truck.  I asked him to please get them fixed before he came and to not go through Salt River, but he is very stubborn and doesn't always listen to my advice.  I told him if something happened that I was going to be quite upset with him.  He made it home safely and brought me a bean burro and a mixed burro from Burger House to appease me.  For some reason I just can't stay angry at him for very long.

 

I feel better tonight than I have in months.  I only wished James could feel well too!

 

 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

 

James left for the cabin this morning but he didn't get too far.  He got to Gonzales Pass and noticed a tire on the trailer was really low so he turned around to go back to get the tire fixed.  When he got to the 202 and Higley, he had not one, but two blowouts.  He ordered two new tires at Discount and came home to wait for them. 

 

While he was here he went to Jersey Mike's and got us sandwiches for lunch.  He knew I wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay home and work on my talk.

 

Soon he was back on the road.  I tried to talk him into going through Payson because I don't like him going through Salt River when he's pulling equipment, but he insisted that he would be fine.  

 

Another thing he did while he was here was to call the Arizona Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates to tell them how miserable I was feeling.  They called me back and I am going in for a steroid shot tomorrow at 11.  Hopefully it will give me some relief.

 

Michael, Alex, and Joe all had seminary conference today.  Their assignment was to report on a conference talk.  Michael told Stacy that Joe gave the best talk and that he bore his testimony. 

  

 

Random pictures I liked on Facebook today:

 

 

Colorado

Love this!

 







Tuesday, April 21, 2015

This morning James and I attended the funeral services for my dear friend Jacque Hatch.  She was one of my counselors when I served as the stake Relief Society president over 15 years ago.  James is good friends with Greg Hatch, her son. 
Jacque was left a widow after only three years of marriage and raised her two boys on her own.  They lived in Tempe and the boys went to Curry school where I was a teacher.  Of course we didn't know each other back then. 

Jacque taught home economics at Westwood High for over 25 years.  She was an accomplished seamstress and musician.  Greg gave her life history and each of her 8 grandchildren had an endearing story to tell about her.  Her son David spoke about families and the plan of salvation. 

Jacque was a go getter, a positive person who never said no to an assignment and was such an example to me.  While serving her mission in West Virginia she was the ward Relief Society president and every month would visit all 84 sisters in her ward.  She was 11 years older than me and I often wondered where she got all of her energy.  She influenced so many people.  After we were released from the stake RS she served in her ward Young Women's program and helped all of the girls make pajama pants for camp.  This was when she was in her late 60's.

Here is a picture of Jacque with her grandkids on their yearly trip to Newport Beach, California.  Two of her granddaughters are married and their spouses are in the picture.



The blond in the front row is David's daughter Ulia.

She is adopted and is from Russia

 



Jacque's family

Hal & Jackie on their wedding day in 1960.

 

We saw several of our dear Chandler friends at the funeral: Martin & Suzanne Kempton, Cheryl Horne, President Heyman, Trudy Lamb, Barbara Keith, and Bishop and Annette Auxier.

 

After the funeral was over we went home and changed our clothes and headed to Rio Rico for taco Tuesday. 



We like the food better than Tia Rosa's but it's

still not as good as Elmer's or Senor Tacos.

 

James was going to take a piece of equipment to the cabin this afternoon but he decided to wait until tomorrow.

 

Of course we took a nap this afternoon and read from our book,

"Lady Emma's Campaign."

 

I had two appointments to go visiting teaching this afternoon with my partner Bunny Miner.  One of our appointments, Gerry Price, cancelled and indicated she was fine without a visit.  Bunny and I met at Karen Payne's and had a nice visit with her.  The lesson was on being without guile, as the Savior was.  We talked about what being without guile meant to us and we discussed how little children are without guile.  I showed them the picture of our Primary class that I posted on Sunday.  It was a good visit.

 

I am still feeling very miserable and I think it's about time to call the arthritis center for some help.  I am living on about 8 aspirin a day and I know that's not good for my stomach.  I will call tomorrow morning and see if there is something they can do for me.  I am speaking in stake conference Saturday night and I want to be able to walk to the stand.

 

 

 





Monday, April 20, 2015

 

"When we live righteously and have

received the ordinances of the temple,

everything else is in the hands of the Lord."

-Richard G. Scott

 

I was full of aches and pains this morning.  To cheer me up James offered to take me to lunch at Brio Tuscany Grill in the San Tan Mall. 

A nice restaurant and the food was delicious!

James had crab cakes and roasted vegetables and I

had pesto pasta, which was amazing!  I liked it better than my chicken pesto dish at Cheesecake Factory.

 

The food was a distraction for awhile but I definitely needed a nap when I got home.  I hurt more than I have since I first got rheumatoid arthritis back in 1984. 

 

We are a little frustrated about our kitchen cabinet doors.  We either need to get new ones or we need to have the ones we have re-finished.  James asked for a price from Home Depot a couple of weeks ago and they have never gotten back with him.  He also called Dan Taylor for a price to get them re-finished but he hasn't called back yet either.  Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. 

 

For FHE tonight we listened to Elder Christofferson's talk: "Why Marriage, Why Family." 

 

James took a picture of his mom the other day when we were over there visiting.  She had made a box of Barbie doll dresses for Connie and her granddaughter's.  Lois is amazing!  These dresses are absolutely gorgeous!

Such a talented woman!

 

In other news, I found this picture of our ward Primary president and her daughter on Facebook.  I thought it was so cute that I wanted to keep it to remember her by.





Paula Casto is on the right.  She is our ward Primary president.

She and her daughter Tanae went to a sockhop at some place in Scottsdale and had a great time.!  Paula reminds me of Tinkerbell!