Sunday, January 27th, 2019

Kona, Hawaii
70th operating temple
Dedicated: 23 Jan 2000
By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Matthew 27:40

And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

Book of Mormon

1Nephi 17:48-18:4

*When has the Lord asked me to do something and then given me the instructions rather than do the work for me?

*How can you build your life just like Nephi built the ship, not after the manner of men but 'after the manner which the Lord had shown unto' you?

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Review John 1

General Conference

Wilt Thou Be Made Whole

Elder Matthew L. Carpenter

"When loved ones are confronted with the truth about sinfull behavior, while they may feel deeply wounded, they often want to help the sincerely repentant sinner to change and to reconcile with God. Indeed, spiritual healing accelerates when the sinner confesses and is surrounded by those who love them and help the to forsake their sins. Please remember that Jesus Christ is mighty in how He also heals the innocent victims of sin who turn to Him."

Today was our ward conference so in sacrament meeting we heard from Bishop Miller and President Beeler. The theme of the conference was ,"Stay on The Covenant Path,"  based on 2 Nephi 31:20: Wherefore ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

Bishop Miller and President Beeler are two of my favorite speakers. Bishop Miller started out by saying that the covenant path encompasses joy and the journey is part of the gift. Christ's journey is part of His gift. The Covenant Path starts with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the essence of the Covenant Path, a perfect brightness of hope. We must be spiritually born of God through the Atonement and our Covenants. The Atonement is retroactive. "We've never lived anywhere but Heaven." (C.S. Lewis)

Our ward choir: Kathy Crane, Alicia Hunsaker, Tamar Applegate, Katie Hahn, Lorraine Vaught, Kip and Sean Hunsaker, and Virgil Cooper, sang "More Holiness Give Me" and were led by Stefani Hunsaker and Pierce Goodman on the piano.

President Beeler said, "Your bishop and I are kindred spirits. I feel we knew each other in the premortal life and covenanted to come down and work together in building up the kingdom of God."

"I am motivated by two things, love and fear. I am here today because I love the Lord. He loves me and you, and I love you. He told the story of the lame man outside the gate of the temple in the book of Acts and how Peter and John gave him a blessing and he rose up and walked for the first time and Peter led him into the temple. We covenant to be ministers and our efforts should lead us to focus on spiritual things. We, like Peter, need to invite others to the next saving ordinance in their lives. There is no finer sermon than those who are helping others along the Covenant Path. Hold fast to the words of the prophets. Help, invite, ask, align."

President Miles, one of the counselors in the stake presidency who is an opthamologist, taught the adults during the second hour. We talked about what a covenant is, a two way promise between us and the Lord. An ordinance is an act performed by the authority of the priesthood. Do all ordinances have covenants attached to them? Here are some that do: Baptism, confirmation, priesthood, endowment and sealing. President Miles said he couldn't think of any covenants attached to consecrating oil or giving a priesthood blessing. Brother Curtis reminded us that faith is a covenant attached to all ordinances. I was so glad he said that because it just felt right!

This is the Covenant Path: Baptism, Confirmation, Priesthood ordination, Endowment, Sealing and Enduring to the End. We endure by partaking of the sacrament each week. All of our covenants can be sanctified by the Holy Spirit of Promise which qualifies us for Eternal Life with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We were all given this handout: 

It's a frig magnet but since my refrigerator is not magnetized I put in on my whiteboard in the kitchen.

We spent a nice quiet day at home studying the gospel and relaxing. We read together Matthew 3; Mark 1; and Luke 3 for this coming week's "Come Follow Me" discussion. 

James wrote an email letter to Ben while I worked on my blog. I normally write my letter to him on Monday morning. 

Max blessed the sacrament for the first time today!

Sheri got tickets to go to see President and Sister Nelson, and President and Sister Oaks on February 10th for Ian, herself, Max, Evan and James and I. We are very excited!

So sad to wake up to on a Sunday morning.

Such a little princess!

Kacey's niece has a dog that is hypoallergenic
and does not shed so her dad let's her bring him in the house.

Love these two!

 Five months old today!

Yes, she's watching a video on TV

 Scarlett waiting for her dad to get home from work.

Saturday, January 26th, 2019

St. Paul, Minnesota

69th operating temple

Dedicated: 9 Jan 2000

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Matthew 26:63

But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 17:31-47

What message do you think Nephi wanted Laman and Lemuel to get out of verses 17:36-43?

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

John 1:43-51

General Conference

Taking Upon Ourselves the Name of Christ

Elder Robert C. Gay

"To take upon ourselves the name of Christ, we must not only see as God sees, but we must do His work and serve as He served. We live the two great commandments, submit to God's will, gather Israel, and let our light 'shine before men.' We receive and live the covenants and ordinances of His restored Church. As we do this, God endows us with power to bless ourselves, our families, and the lives of others. Ask yourself, 'Do I know anyone who does not need the powers of heaven in their lives?'"

It was so quiet and lonely in our house this morning. We really miss Jared, Kacey, and Charlie being gone. We enjoyed their visit this week so much! We are already making plans as to when we will see them again. At first we said Charlie's first birthday at the end of next August. Then we realized that was seven months away. Then we decided we would like to go out to Summer's and James's high school graduations on May 31st and June 1st. We are starting to save our money right now!

Kim, Brian, Sheri, and Ian took Jared and Kacey to the Thirsty Lion in Tempe before their flight back to Dallas. 

Sorry Sheri and Ian your faces barely made

the photo.

After lunch it was off to the airport and the flight back to Dallas and then the two hour car ride back to Whitehouse. I think it was past midnight when they finally made it home.

She was a pure joy on this trip!

James and I mailed another book box today and I bought some veggies at Walmart while James did some shopping at Home Depot. The weather was pretty nice today with the high around 45, lots of sun, and no wind.

Somehow I managed to get in my steps and watch an old Hallmark movie today. At 5:30 we left our house to clean the temple. At the church we picked up Anthony and then over to Sister Hunter's. 

When we got to the temple the parking lot was nearly full, including a Budget truck driving around and a police car parked in front. Later we found out the Budget truck had new pictures to put in the temple and the police car was there because some cars in the parking lot, all left unlocked, had items stolen from them. No one could leave the temple until the investigation was complete.

Again we are cleaning with the Show Low Creek ward. Each ward had 17 people, enough to hand out all of the cards. We had asked our people to be there at 6:30, which meant they were all waiting there for almost an hour before we actually started cleaning. Some were a little frustrated. These are the people who attended from our ward. By the way, James had 11 people cancel today so many of these were called at the last minute.

Sam Gordon, Kerri Halcomb, the Skousen's, the Diewald's, the Wallace's, Anthony, Brother Cooper, Brother Scott, Brother Goodman, the Applegate's, us, and Sister Hunter. 

I helped Sister Hunter dust the ground level, and James cleaned in the baptistry which meant he did a lot of bending and twisting.

I enjoyed working with Sister Hunter and visiting with her to and from the temple. We sat in the front seat with me driving because James's license expired. Judy loves to go to the Rootstech conference in Salt Lake and is planning on going again at the end of February. Here she is a couple of years ago.

Judy got to meet Sister Linda Reeves of the

General Relief Society Presidency when she

came and sat down by her. At first Judy did

not know who she was but Sister Reeves 

introduced herself.

We were home before 9:30 and I finished my Hallmark movie, and finished my steps.

This little girl's name is Bostyn. She was baptized today in Show Low. The woman on the left is her grandma Allen and she is in our ward. Bostyn's dress was made by Sister Halcomb in our ward. She is Bostyn's great grandmother and one of the sisters I minister to.

This sweet little girl slept from Dallas, clear through the

night until 8 a.m. the next morning.

 Girl Scout cookie season and I'm trying to

stay away from them.

Game night at Sheri's last night.

Friday, January 25th, 2019

Raleigh, North Carolina

68th operating temple

Dedicated: 18 Dec 1999

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Matthew 4:6

And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 17:17-30

What are some worldly pleasures that might be hard to give up, only trusting that the Lord has something better in store?

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

John 1:29-42; JST John 1:29-34

General Conference

The Father

Brian K. Ashton

"In the postmortal spirit world, Heavenly Father continues to shed forth the Holy ghost and send missionaries to those who need the gospel. He answers prayers and helps those who lack them receive vicarious saving ordinances."

James got a call from Tom Howard this morning. He has a leaky faucet he would like James to fix. James went over and looked at it and went to town and bought a new faucet. His back was bothering him when he tried to install it so he left it there for the Howard's son-in-law Jimmy to install.

I made waffles for breakfast. Kacey, Jared, and I all had one. James was gone. I offered to make him one when he returned but he said he didn't want one. He did have the last piece of sausage.

I invited Harold, Vickie, Dennis, and Denise out to meet the baby and visit with Kacey and Jared. Denise couldn't come because she had to work and Harold was gone to a football clinic in the valley. 

Charlie let both Vickie and Dennis hold her. She is such a sweet baby.

Vickie agreed with me that Charlie looks a lot like Stacy did as a baby. As we were "catching up" Vickie told me some news about Harold. She said he has prostrate cancer and didn't want to tell people. He is doing radiation treatment and doing quite well. I am sad for him and even more sad that he didn't think he could tell me.

Soon it was time for everyone to leave and of course we had to take a picture out on the front porch.

Vickie and Dennis went home and Jared, Kacey, and Charlie went back to the valley. Tonight is game night at Sheri's house.

Scarlett

 Evan

 Book Prep