Thursday, March 28, 2019

Monday, March 25th, 2019

Panama City, Panama
127th operating temple
Dedicated: 10 Aug 2008
By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship
Luke 1:35
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Book of Mormon
Jacob 5:70-77
New Testament "Come Follow Me"
Matthew 14:1-21; Mark 6:14-44; John 6:1-14
"The Grandeur of God"
Jeffrey R. Holland



General Conference
"The Father"
Brian K. Ashton
"There is much we do not understand about becoming like the Father. But I can testify with certainty that striving to become like the Father is worth every sacrifice. The sacrifices we make here in mortality, no matter how great, are simply incomparable to the immeasurable joy, happiness, and love we will fell in God' presence. If you are struggling to believe it is worth the sacrifices you are asked to make, the Savior calls to you, saying, 'Ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath ... prepared for you; ... ye cannot  bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along."

Here is the letter that Ben sent to his mom this week:










I think Ben is a natural born speaker and preacher. 

I ordered several books today and was able to get my tramadoll prescription refilled.

A sister in our ward had to go in for emergency surgery. Her name is Sister Campbell and she had cancer surgery a couple of weeks ago. We had a sister willing to pick her up from the hospital but her husband was able to do it. It's always nice to know that people are willing to help if needed.

James made lots of phone calls today to schedule work for the next phase of the Chacon job. He made the comment to me: "Let's do something fun," but we got so busy we never did. Hopefully sometime this week we can go to Buckelieu Springs and see the water falls. We did read from our book today and watched "Campfire Kiss" on the Hallmark channel.

I inventoried, sourced and set buying alerts in our book business besides buying several books. Things are beginning to happen and we finally feel like we know what we are doing. We have sold over 30 books but that's just the beginning.




A look of pure joy on that face

 This sweet family from our ward was recently
sealed in the temple. Sister Nichols is the sister
who made the delicious chicken salad for our
Relief Society birthday party.



An explanation of Spring:



 These pictures were taken in Carefree just
north of Scottsdale.

Doing her stretching exercises

 Last Friday after their hike

 I love this picture!









Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Sunday, March 24th, 2019

Curitiba, Brazil
126th operating temple
Dedicated: 1 June 2008
By: Thomas S. Monson


Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship
Luke 1:32
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
Book of Mormon
Jacob 5:49-69
New Testament "Come Follow Me"
Matthew 13; Luke 8:13 Review
"Certain Women"
Linda K. Burton


General Conference
Try, Try, Try
Henry B. Eyring
"My testimony is that the Savior is putting His name in your hearts. For many of you, your faith in Him is increasing. you are feeling more hope and optimism. And you are feeling the pure love of Christ for others and for yourself. I bear you my witness that the Savior knows and loves you. He knows your name as you know His. He knows your troubles. He has experienced them. By His Atonement, He has overcome the world. By your being willing to take His name upon you, you will lift the burdens of countless others. And you will find in time that you know the Savior better and that you love Him more. His name will be in your heart and fixed in your memory. It is the name by which you will be called. I so witness, with gratitude for His loving-kindness to me, to my loved ones, and to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

We sold the book, "John Adams." 

I thought I was ready to teach my lesson when I left for church this morning but when I got to the building I realized that I had left my outline and the pictures I was going to use. I dropped James off and turned around and drove like crazy back to the house. I picked up the folder with my lesson and the bag with the pictures and was on my way. When I got back to the church and walked in the foyer, Dimitri Gardner was passing the bread and I was able to take a piece. I stayed in the foyer until the sacrament was complete and then I went into the chapel and sat by Tom and James. I guess Jean's right knee was swollen and she stayed home.

The Judd's were the speakers in sacrament meeting. They are a couple who recently moved in to our ward with several children, many who are adopted. Two of them are in James's Primary class.

Brother Judd spoke first and his topic was, "Teaching in the Savior's Way." He told how they were inactive for years but for the last 18 years the gospel has been the center of the lives. He spoke about making room for Christ in our lives. He thanked Sister Woods for having the most contagious smile he has ever seen. i thought that was sweet. He told of a Teacher's Council Meeting he attended in their old ward in Benson and how much he learned. The topic was, how to nurture children by teaching them "how to fish" spiritually rather than just "giving them a fish." He ended his talk by saying that we need to love our neighbors as ourselves. Good talk.

The choir sang "I Am a Child of God" Those singing: Lorraine Vaught, Ruth Wilhelm, Kathy Crane, Rosie Lauritzen, Alicia Hunsaker, Tamara Applegate, Thomas Grapp, Virgil Cooper, Sean Bowen, Anthony Romyak, Mel Wilhelm, and Sean Hunsaker. Stefani Hunsaker is the choir director and Pierce Goodman played the piano. They sounded really good.

Sister Judd spoke using a talk President Eyring gave in the last General Conference, "Women and Gospel Learning in the Home."
"This is an exciting time in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Lord is pouring out knowledge on His Church as He promised that He would. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. This includes the nurture of gospel truth and knowledge. Fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. As daughters of God, you have an innate and great capacity to sense the needs of others and to love. This makes you more susceptible to the whisperings of the Spirit." 
Obviously President Eyring gave this talk in the women's session of conference. It was one of my favorite talks and we chose it for the last Relief Society lesson in April.

I feel like the lesson in Relief Society went well today. We had many sisters share what the hardest thing in their lives has been, three of them have had children in prison. The most touching was Sister Ulmer's. Her son is getting out of prison son but he is in poor health, Her daughter has been in prison and now her granddaughter.
She raised her three grandaughters and now she is raising her great grandson. Sister Ulmer very seldom comes to Relief Society but I was grateful she was here today and was able to open up and share the concerns of her heart with us. I told her how much she was loved and I felt her family was very blessed because of her.

James and I came home and made chicken fettucini alfredo for lunch. James grilled the chicken and I made the noodles and the sauce. It was delicious but so very rich. Butter, cream, and parmesan cheese are the ingredients in the sauce.

At 3 pm James had an appointment to go see Brother and Sister Woods. I was going to go with him but I began to have stomach cramps and was pretty miserable. I sat down on the recliner and took a nap while he went on the visit. I really like the Woods' and I was a little miffed about my stomach cramps. I think that lunch didn't set well. 

I worked on my blog this evening while James wrote an email to Ben, or I mean Elder Trezise.

 One of the last photos I have of my mother is 
on this bridge at Woodland Lake with myself and
two brothers with her.
These kids are the Pope boys who used to live in our ward.

As a result of the rains, we have gorgeous
desert flowers.




What a sweet, adorable girl!

 So beautiful!



This picture should have been posted on
Friday, the day of the hike. I love how Evan
has his hands up in the air.

 He made a mess in the microwave and
he's cleaning it up.













I used these in my lesson today











Saturday, March 23rd, 2019

Rexburg, Idaho
125th operating temple
Dedicated: 10 Feb 2008
By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship
Mark 14:61
But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
Book of Mormon
Jacob 5:35-48
New Testament "Come Follow Me"
Luke 13
"The Blessings of Sacrifice"
M. Russell Ballard


General Conference
"The Correct Name of the Church"
President Russell M. Nelson
"My dear brothers and sisters, I promise you that if we will do our best to restore the correct name of the Lord's Church, He whose Church this is will pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints, the likes of which we have never seen. We will have the knowledge and power of God to help us take the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord."

We left for the temple this morning around 5:40. 
The Brimhall's did our training today and it was unique and interesting. President Brimhall explained what a investiture and an endowment is. He told a story of when he worked for the Benson Foundation and a farmer in Arizona wanted to donate 10 million dollars. This farmer laid out in detail how exactly he wanted this endowment to be set up and what the terms were. He likened this to the temple endowment and how our Heavenly Father covenants with us to do certain things contingent upon us obeying His commandments.
Oh and by the way, this farmer lived in a small three bedroom home and drove an old pickup truck. Brother Phelps, the name of the farmer, wanted the funds set up to help developing countries in the field of agriculture. I couldn't help but think of Brother Westbrook and his mission to Algeria. Perhaps he should have gone through the Benson Foundation. 

As we were entering Shumway Valley James pointed out to me three small bull elk grazing in a farmer's field. 

I had the opportunity to help in the baptistry and in initiatory several times today. Maybe someday I will have the initiatory endowment memorized.

I saw Anne Williams, President Williams's wife when I was in initiatory. I know how much she loves coming to the temple. I told her to say hello to President Williams for me. 

Other sisters I associated or worked with today: Sister DeWitt, Sisters Humphries, Fish, Turley, Wenhardt, and Reidhead. I love them all!

The Bowers' who are on a leave of absence from our shift came in today to do the sealings for relatives of Sister Bowers. She had a picture of the 11 daughters of this family. They were all beautiful!
I love the Bowers. Their daughter lives in Tyler, Texas and they are from the same town where Palmer's grandparents live. I think the town is Gilmore.

We had no cinnamon rolls left. James couldn't help but notice that the bunch of bananas laying next to the cinnamon rolls had not been touched.

This afternoon I worked on my blog, did some walking, and started preparing for the lesson I will be teaching tomorrow. The gospel certainly keeps us busy, and I love it! Oh yes, I had time for two Hallmark movies while I was walking and working on my blog. One of them was a brand new one!






A girl on the go with squeaky shoes

Love the girl and the saying, you go Kate!

Pam and Rick about 18 years ago

A great movie about rescue pet adoption and
a little romance!










She loves books and she loves her Dad!




I love hearts!