Monday, May 2, 2016

California hillside after the rainy season.

For my study in Preach My Gospel I read 2 Nephi 28.  Here are some of the verses that especially meant something to me:

14 - . . . they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ.

24 - Wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!

26 - Yea, wo be unto him the that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!

Repent, and come unto me!

My daily study of the Book of Mormon:

Mosiah 21:9-27

9 - Great mourning among people of Nephi.

11 - Because of the cries of the widows, the remainder of the people of Limhi are angry with the Lamanites.  They go to battle and suffer great losses.

12 - Went for the third time and suffered losses again.

13 - AND THEY DID HUMBLE THEMSELVES, submitting to the yoke of bondage.

14 - And they did humble themselves even in the depthis of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions. ( Humility fortifies our dependence upon the Lord.)

15 - The Lord was slow to hear their cries because of their iniquities.  The Lord did soften the hearts of the Lamanites.

22 - Ammon comes from Zarahemla.

24 - Limhi filled with exceeding great joy.

27 - Limhi's people find the Jaredite record.

I usually eat breakfast when I get up, sometime between five and six.  Today was no different.  Later in the morning James made steak and gravy.  Of course he brought me some into the bedroom where I was working on the computer.  I couldn't resist.

While I was ironing I listened to the talk by Elder and Sister Renlund that they gave at BYU Women's Conference.  Thanks Jared for posting it on Facebook.  The theme for women's conference was "One in Charity."  I especially liked the idea that "charity leads to unity, and unity leads to charity."  Another quote I liked: "Charity is a consequence of conversion."  I want to go back and listen to Marvin J. Ashton's April 1992 General Conference address, "What is Charity." Oops! The name of the talk is: "The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword."

One last quote: "Increasing our Sabbath day observance will increase our charity."

I got a call from my friend Charlotte Mattice this afternoon.  Also talked to Stacy about Jared Ammon.

I fixed a late lunch for James and Adam since we had a late breakfast.  We had: Pork chops with stuffing, asparagus salad, rolls, cranberry sauce and apple sauce.  Adam says he doesn't usually care for pork chops but he loved these!

After lunch the two guys go in to town to get more plywood for the roof of the storage shed.  

We had some dark clouds today and Adam said it hailed on him, but James said he never felt the hail.  Weird.

On worked on Primary preparation and my blog this afternoon.  I also said a prayer as I went upstairs to look for my mom's memory book.  I didn't find it but later while I was in the kitchen I decided to go look on the shelf in the living room where I have several photo albums.  There it was!  I said a prayer of gratitude.  I also found my mother's birth certificate and baptismal certificate and James and my marriage certificate.  It was a good day.

I wasn't going to fix dinner because we had such a big lunch, but I decided to make stirfry because I had mushrooms, celery, onion, and snow peas.  I also added a little ham.  James loved it.  For dessert I made strawberry shortcake.  Since we are going to be gone the rest of the week, I am trying to clean out the fridge.

For FHE we listened to President Eyring's talk, "Where Two or Three are Gathered."  In his talk he talks about the Parable of the Sower.  I love this parable and the symbolism.

After FHE James and I watched "The Good Witch" and then went to bed.  Adam went upstairs to watch "Castle".

Sunday, May 1, 2016

My new ponderize scripture

for the week.

I got up early to pray and meditate and then to finish up my Primary lesson on Alma and Amulek.  Here they are walking out of prison after everyone else inside was killed as the prison walls collapsed.  

"For the Lord had granted unto them power, 

according to their faith in Christ."

Alma 14:28

After church James was going to check on George Wallace.  He heard he was in the hospital and that his wife, Ruth, is out of town.

He called Ed Miller and Ed said he would check at the hospital to see if George was there.  He wasn't.  James tried to call, but no answer.  What to do? We did nothing, hoping for the best.

We fasted until 3 pm.  We broke our fast with this meal:

Roast beef, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, salad, and rolls.  It was especially after fasting for 24 hours.  

We had some crazy weather today.  It was supposed to rain, but we didn't get much.  We got most of ours last night.  We could see it rain all around us and some places even got snow.

This picture was taken by Jani Huso Johnson.

I bet the skiing is good this week.

We had a good fast and testimony meeting.  I had told James earlier this week that I was worried about Deborah Brewer because I hadn't seen her in church for awhile.  She was here today and even bore her testimony!

I had five kids in my class today: Curtis, Zemira, Braylin, Kacey, and Izabel.  Curtis was tired.  He said they didn't get home from the valley until 2 a.m.  I guess they went to a D-backs game.

Trenda looks great!

This afternoon I worked on next week's Primary lesson and my blog.  James, Adam, and I watched the bunnies play outside.  There are about six of them now.  Some of them are very tiny.

This evening the three of us watched the Young Adult Fireside Broadcast featuring Elder Richard J. Maynes and his wife.  Elder Maynes spoke on the Restoration and the Prophet Joseph Smith.  It was excellent!

It was a wonderful Sabbath day.  I felt like I kept the Sabbath better today than I have for a long time.

Kim posted this picture on Facebook today:

 

 

Saturday, April 30, 2016

I love this sweet couple.

They have the best smiles ever and

they glow!

James and I did sealings this morning in the Snowflake temple and this picture of Marisa and Curtis reminds me of how happy a couple can be to be sealed together for time and all eternity.

Jared had given us four couples to be sealed, one was a William Trezise to an Elizabeth Daniels, probably Ian's great grandparents, and three Mangum couples.  We didn't get the cards back because we left before all of the sealings were done.  

We were also sealed for my grandparents, Albert Alexander Strickland to Myrtle Mae Rutledge.  I was so surprised to find that this work had not been done.  Their children, my mom and her brother and sister have been sealed to them, but their sealing had never been done.  We were also sealed for my "Nannie's" (Myrtle Mae's), grandparents, George Thomas Walker to Amanda Epley.  

I love that you can print temple cards from home now!  These are the cards that I printed.

The only reason I got these cards back was because of a

sister in our ward who works in the temple records office.

She saw my name on them and brought them to me.

We listened to our scriptures and two conference talks on the way to Snowflake.  Mosiah 19:25-20:11 - Why did the Lord let Limhi's people end up in bondage?  Answer: They were compelled to be humble, whereas, Alma's people were humble without being compelled to be. (Alma 32: 13, 16).

We listened to Sister Marriott's talk in the general women's session of conference.  Here is one of my favorite quotes from her talk:

"Sister Julie B. Beck, former Relief Society General President taught: 'The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. . . . It requires a conscious effort.'

Next it was Sister Linda K. Burton, the Relief Society General President.  Here is a quote from her talk:

"There are more than 60 million refugees, including forcibly displaced people, worldwide.  Half of those are children."

That makes me so sad.

James and Adam worked on the shed this afternoon while I began preparing our last meal of the day.  After this meal we will begin our fast and end it 24 hours later.  I marinated some chicken.  James loves this recipe for honey-lime chicken.  I also made a big pot of mashed potatoes because I know how much Adam likes them.  I made a salad and some peas.  We ate at 3pm.  

I used chicken thighs instead of breasts and they were absolutely melt in your mouth delicious!  It was a yummy meal and afterwards James said the prayer to start our fast.  Other members of our immediate family are joining us in this fast for two young men in our family.  We love them so much and want them to feel the love of the Lord in their lives.

I woke up very early this morning and had to get up and record some thoughts in my 'feel the Spirit' journal.  As a result, after our meal and cleaning the kitchen I was super tired.  I tried to take a nap but that didn't work so I turned on a Hallmark movie called "Just Desserts".  Soon James joined me.

Because of this movie I looked up some recipes for flourless 

chocolate hazelnut cakes.  When I showed them to James, he was excited and said he wanted to try both recipes.  He loves dark

chocolate and hazlenut.  I think it would be so fun to be a

pastry chef but I would probably weigh 300 lbs!

After the movie I was relaxed and refreshed and worked on preparing my Primary lesson on "Alma and Amulek in Prison", until it was time to go to bed.

Family Happenings

 Jared posted this:

One of my dreams is to be able to watch Emmy and Molly

play soccer.

Sheri's post:

Sheri, Trina, and Alexis hiked

Picachio Peak today.

 

 

Friday, April 29 2016

Kids guest house I want James to build.

I have decided I need more time to do family history work.  Instead of watching movies five or six nights a week, we are going to change our schedule to something like this: Mon - FHE and "The Good Witch."  T-W-Th- family history or visiting teaching.  Friday - Hallmark movie. Saturday - get ready for our Sunday lessons, and Sunday - lesson preparation or family history.  This book "Covenant Keepers" is really motivating me!

Scripture study today was Mosiah 19: 1-24.  Yesterday there was a verse in chapter 18 where Alma talked about the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy.  As I read from The Book of Mormon Student Manual for this verse there were a couple of quotes from Elder Mark E. Petersen, a former apostle,  that I thought were important:

"We can readily see that observance of the Sabbath is an indication of the depth of our conversion."

and,

"Observance of the Sabbath day reflects our appreciation of the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

Chapter 18 of Mosiah is an awesome chapter.  Alma also talks about having charity and caring for each other and for the poor and needy.  President Marion G. Romney, formerly a counselor in the First Presidency, counseled us to develop charity by giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord.  

I met with Vickie, my brother Harold's wife, this morning to get her registered on FamilySearch and to enter the information she has on her immediate family who have passes away.  Her mother, father, and two of her brothers are gone.  We got all their information entered and I went home and printed out all the temple cards.  Jeffrey, Harold & Vickie's grandson, is getting ready to go through the temple in about a month and he wants to help with the work so we will wait for him.  He will be doing Vickie's youngest brother Donnie's work and James will be doing Vickie's dad.  Her other brother Billy has already had his work done.  Sheri will be baptized and confirmed for Vickie's mom and I will do the initiatory and endowment.  James, Jeffrey and I will do the sealings.  I am so excited!

Adam left for town before I went to Vickie's and when I returned over two hours later he was still gone.  We got worried because he doesn't have a phone and went to look for him.  Just as we got passed Hunsaker's we saw him coming so we turned around and went home.

I went home and made a pot of chili for a late lunch or early dinner. 

At least this time when James was on the building, he had some company.

Adam and James.

We missed our ward temple night because James wanted to get as much work done as possible on the shed while Adam is here.  We are going to the temple in the morning to do family sealings.  I called the temple and made an appointment.  

This evening I worked on my blog, studied an Ezra Taft Benson lesson and pride and worked on my Primary lesson.  All of this instead of watching a movie.  James built a fire and Adam enjoyed sitting by it while reading his book.

It rained tonight but it was nice it didn't rain during the day not to interfere with the guys work schedule.

Sheri posted a picture of Evan and said he was student of the month.  Darrel responded with, so was Rowan!  Awesome kids!

 

 

 

 

Thursday, April 28, 2016

The temple where James and I and all of

our children were sealed.

I read the most wonderful story in the book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" today about a man by the name of George McLaughlin who lives in Maine.  I quote the story from the book because it is so powerful: (beginning on p. 121). Clayton Christensen is the author of the book and he is sharing the story.
" In September 2002, I was assigned to assist Elder Glenn L. Pace of the North America Northeast Area presidency in reorganizing the presidency of the Augusta Maine Stake.  As we sought to learn whom the Lord would have us call as the new stake president, we asked the men we interviewed how they had come to belong to the Church.  A startling number gave the same answer: 'My parents were baptized into the Farmingdale Branch in 1963 when I was a boy.'  After hearing this several times, we inquired what had happened and were told that more than 450 people had joined the Church in that branch that year.

"Before the general session of stake conference the next day, I was introduced to an elderly man and his wife in the audience, George and Karline McLaughlin.  George had been president of the Farmingdale Branch at that time, and I subsequently returned to interview the McLaughlins in their home about their experience in leading the branch.  On my return, I found George in failing health, confined now to his bed in the attic bedroom of their humble home where they had raised eight children in Gardiner, Maine.  As I listened to their memories, it became clear to me that I was in the presence of two of the humblest but mightiest missionaries in the history of the Church, and that their story needed to be told.

"Brother and Sister McLaughlin joined the Church in 1951 due to a remarkable vision that Karline's mother had had.  Their marriage was sealedin 1955 in the Logan Temple.  At the time, there were five branches of the Church in Maine.  The McLaughlins attended a branch of ten active members in Litchfield, near Augusta.  The branch had grown to more than twenty active members by the early 1960's when George was called as branch president, and in 1962 the branch moved to a small building they had built in Farmingdale, another suburb of Augusta.  Shortly after the move, George, who drove a milk delivery truck by profession, decided to fast and pray for two days in order to learn from the Lord how he should go about building the Church in the vast area of central Maine that comprised the Farmingdale Branch.  On the second day, George pulled his milk truck to the side of a country road and found a secluded spot where he poured out to the Lord his desire to build the kingdom.  As he returned to his truck, he came to understand through the Spirit what he and the members of he branch needed to do.

"The following Sunday in a sacrament meeting address, George described his plan to the branch members - a talk that Sister McLaughlin recalled as one of the most inspiring and Spirit-filled she has ever heard.  Following the meeting, President McLaughlin called three of the families in the branch to serve as 'proselyting families.'  Each family had the assignment to bring another family to the church on the Wednesday evening ten days hence.  At that meeting, which George called 'U-Night,' he would show a movie about the Church and then give a brief talk that concluded with his testimony.  This was to be followed by the missionaries teaching a discussion to the family in their home later that week, and then by the missionaries teaching the next discussion to them at the church building during the next Wednesday's U-Night.  They were to continue meeting with these families twice each week, once at the church and once in their homes, until the families were baptized or decided not to continue their investigation, at which point the proselyting families would need to find another family to bring to the next U-Night.

"When the time of the first U-Night arrived, each of the proselyting families arrived with a family.  In the interview (Brother Clayton Christensen, author of the book, was sent to Maine to help Elder Glenn L. Pace in 2002, to reorganize the presidency of the Augusta Maine Stake). I expressed surprise that these families had so faithfully accepted and delivered on this intimidating assignment from their branch president.  Karline, George's wife, explained, 'It was because of the talk George gave in sacrament meeting.'  Remarkably, each of the families they brought to the U-Night was baptized, and on the next Sunday George called each of these new families to serve as proselyting families as well.

"When he met Brother and Sister McLaughlin shortly after arriving in 1963 to preside over the New England Mission, President Truman G. Madsen told George that if they ever baptized someone in the Farmingdale Branch, he would like to attend the service.  A few weeks after the U-Night process had started, George invited President Madsen to a baptismal service but was told that his schedule would not permit it. When George reminded President Madsen of his promise, he countered, 'How many are being baptized?' as if to test whether it was worth the three-hour drive from Boston.  'I'm not going to tell you.  Just come,' was George's reply.

"When President Madsen walked into the back of the Farmingdale chapel, he counted eighteen people sitting in white clothes waiting to be baptized.  Tears came to his eyes.  'George, I'll never see anything like this again in my life,' he said in a hushed voice.  'Yes, you will,' was George's reply.

"As more and more people were baptized and called to serve as proselyting families, the branch members had to alter their U-Night format.  While the introductory film was being shown in the chapel, each of the missionary discussions was taught in a different classroom in the building so that if a family had studied the second discussion the prior week in their home, on Wednesday night they went to the room where the third discussion was being taught at the church.  That year 451 people were baptized into the Farmingdale Branch; the next year, 191 people joined.  They had to divide the branch over and over, of course.  In each of the new units, they continued following the U-Night system.

"With so many people coming into what had been such a tiny branch, how did you keep them in the Church?"  I asked.
"We had to teach them how to be Mormons," was Karline's reply.  "You need to understand who these people were," she continued.  "Most of them were poor and had little schooling."  She and George reminisced about one family that literally lived in a log cabin with rags stuffed in the cracks to keep the wind out.  "They stayed faithful, and eventually all four of their children graduated from college."

"My job as branch president was to teach them how to give talks and teach lessons in church.  I had to teach them how to teach the gospel to their children.  My counselors ran the branch.  I trained the new members to become strong members,' George added.

"In the framework of retention that President Gordon B. Hinckley subsequently taught, these hundreds of new members had friends.  They were brought to the Church by friends, and then they brought friends.  They had responsibility.  The Sunday after they were baptized they were called as proselyting families - a simple, clear call to bring another family, and then another, to the next U-Night.  And they were nourished in the good word of God as they continued to learn and help teach these concepts again and again while helping their friends study the gospel with the missionaries.

Five years later, in 1968, Elder Harold B. Lee of the Quorum of the Twelve organized the Augusta Maine Stake.  Ten of the twelve members of that original high council had been baptized into the Farmingdale Branch in 1963-64.

"George McLaughlin, whose vision and faith had launched the Church in Maine on this trajectory, was not called to be the stake president or one of his counselors. 'Someone came up to us in the congregation and asked if we felt badly not to have been called to lead the stake,' Karline recalled.  George broke in, 'I tol her that I was quite happy to sit with the people we loved and let others take the lead.  That's why we did it, to bring others to Christ, not to bring any honor to us.'

"The contributions of many of the great missionaries in the early days of the restored Church have been broadly published.  I was struck that in contrast, two of the greatest missionaries of this dispensation were living the final portion of their noble lives unheralded, in that small home in Gardiner, Maine.  As we finished
our conversation, however, I could sense that the deep spirit of peace in that room came from angels who were there patiently waiting so that, whenever their times might come, they could escort George and Karline cLaughlin, milk truck driver and mother, respectively, to heroes' welcomes in heaven."

When I get to heaven these are two of the people that I want to meet.

Adam came in from working outside and said, "I need to use the bathroom grandma, can you watch grandpa.  Of course Adam.  
This is what I saw when I looked at the window:

 

What can I say?  Calling him to come down

does no good.  The man knows no fear.

I made a trip to town today to do my grocery shopping.  I got a boatload of groceries and then stopped at Panda to get food for lunch.  Crazy you say?  Yes, crazy.

  

 Brother Wayne Todd Mayfield posted this picture on Facebook.

This is a picture of this week's young men and young women's activity.  It almost looks like a factory, but it is actually the Hunsaker's shop.  Looks like they are making signs for a Boy Scout -Young Women's fundraiser. 

Fun times

Adam came in this afternooon and said it was snowing.  It must have been one of those five minute flurries because when I looked outside the sun was shining.

I packed two purses with hygiene supplies to give to Trina for the refugee project she is helping with.  I know it is small but I was glad to be doing something besides donating money on my tithing receipt.  

For dinner we had frozen pizza and cauliflower.  Later Adam made some chocolate chip cookies.

James and I watched, "Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door", starring Patty Duke and Shelley Long as competitive neighbors who don't like each other.  They are not too happy when their son and daughter announce that they are engaged to be married.

It was actually pretty good,
better than it sounds.

 

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

 James left for the valley around 5:30 this morning.  We had our prayer and a kiss before he left as is our tradition.  

Today while reading "Covenant Keepers" Sister Nelson shared how she became interested in doing family history.   She said it was when she listened to Elder Richard G. Scott's General Conference talk of October 2012 entitled, "The Joy of Redeeming the Dead."  She always says a prayer before she starts doing her family history.  She says: "Please lead me to those who are ready to make covenants with Thee and receive their ordinances."  I am going to try to do that too.  I also listened to Elder Scott's talk today too.  

He says one of the best ways to defend ourselves against the adversary is by doing temple and family history work.  

Today's scripture study:  Mosiah 18:1-16.  Alma preaches in private and baptizes in the waters of Mormon.  He organizes the Church and teaches the words of Abinadi about the redemption of Christ.  

He teaches faith, repentance, and baptism and being filled with the grace of God.  

While I was ironing I listened to Elder Oaks's conference talk, "Opposition in All Things" and Elder Kent F. Richards talk, "The Power of Godliness".  Both were great talks.  Elder Richards is the general director of the temples and of course his talk was about the temple.

I had a nice long nap this afternoon because I didn't sleep very well last night.  Afterwards I made a trip to the Taylor Walmart to get the things I need for the hygiene purses I am make for refugees in the valley.  Trina ask us to do this.  I wanted to go to Taylor because I was curious about their Walmart.  It is nice and clean and wasn't crowded but it is smaller than the Show Low Walmart.  It is quite a bit further too.  I traveled 80 miles roundtrip.  The Show one is about 55-60 roundtrip.  

I never heard back from Claire Mercado about coming by for visiting teaching, so on my way home from Taylor I dropped off her care basket on her porch.  I knocked, but no one answered.  Later she texted me and said that she works nights now and would not get home until after 6am.  I was glad to hear from her and hopefully her basket will be safe until she gets there.  

I came home and paid bills and watched the Chopped Teen Championship.  James is on his way home and Adam is with him.  Adam is coming up to help him work on the storage shed.  

I saw this post on Facebook today.

Marisa is the daughter of our Chandler friends,

Mike and Adrienne Ellsworth.  James was the bishop when she

was in Young Women's and wrote her a letter of recommendation to

get in to BYU.  (I actually wrote it because he was out of town.)  I was glad to do it because Marisa is awesome!

James and I attended Curtis and Marisa's wedding last

November.

This evening James and I watched "Along Came a Nanny".  We've seen it before but if I wait long enough I can watch a movie the second or third time and enjoy it as much as I did the first time.

 

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

A quote from The Covenant Keepers:

"We are connected to all covenant keepers through the ages."

Our scripture reading was from Mosiah 17:1-20.  Abinadi only had one convert.  How many converts came after Abinadi's one convert?  By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. (Alma 37:)  Read Elder Russell M. Ballard's April 1990 General Conference address, "Small and Simple Things."

A few more notes on Abinadi because he is amazing:

Abinadi's sacrifice: Alma 17:9-10, 13-19 - "O God receive my soul. Verse 20 - Put to death because he would not deny the commandments of God, having sealed the truth of his words by his death as did Joseph Smith, Stephen, and the Savior.

Facebook does this thing where they show you posts from years back.  In 2013 on this date it was 65 degrees and perfect weather with no wind.  In 2014 it was snowing.  As I looked up today, it was snowing!  It lasted maybe five minutes.  

This is a sunset from a couple of years ago.

James and I had frittata's for breakfast.  They are frozen Jimmy Dean brand, but they are very yummy and only 240 calories.  I guess they weren't enough for James because he went in the kitchen and concocted an egg, ham, cheese and onion mixture.

I got a text from Trina this morning that they won't be coming this weekend.  So sad.  Thank goodness we will be down next week and will be spending the day with their kids on Wednesday!

I listened to Elder Gerrit W. Gong's and Elder Patrick Kearon's conference talks today.  Elder Gong told of ways to always remember the Savior and Elder Kearon spoke about the 60 million refugees in the world today and what we can do to help them.

As a diversion, I have to post this picture that my friend posted on Facebook.  

Duct tape?  Really?

As I was cleaning this morning I did some rearranging and filled up the bookshelf I brought in from the garage today.  I think it looks pretty good.

New edition to the

entryway.

Tacos for lunch.  After all, it is Tuesday.  James was outside working and when I texted him that lunch was ready he texted back: "You are a sweet dream."  No wonder I love him.  

I worked this afternoon on my visiting teaching handouts.  I did a "care" basket for Claire and her daughter Marlie and a small basket for Jean.  I am still waiting for Jean to get back in town.  I texted Claire and ask if I could come over but she never answered me.  I am getting a little paranoid.  I will try again tomorrow.

Claire and Marlie's basket.  It didn't really cost

much because I mostly used things I had

around the house.  No food, except for some

Hershey's kisses. 

 Jean's basket and plant.

James and I are trying to eat our big meal at noon and then just eat something light for dinner.  Tonight I cut up some apples and put them in a skillet with butter and then sprinkled cinnamon and sugar over them.  They were delicious!

I watched the Chopped Championship and then James and I watched an old "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" episode where Carol Burnett played Norman's grandmother.  It was good, but we are anxious for some new movies.

Don't you just love this picture of Lola from last year.