OUR FAMILY

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Sunday, May 19th, 2019

Seattle, Washington

19th operating temple

Dedicated: 17-21 Nov 1980

By: Spencer W. Kimball

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

1 John 5:12

He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Book of Mormon

Alma 2:19-38

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Review Matt 19-20; Mark 10; Luke 18

General Conference

Abound with Blessings

Elder Dale G. Renlund
"Faith in the Savior is a principle of action and of power. First we act in faith; then the power comes - according to God's will and timing. The sequence is crucial. The required action, though, is always tiny when compared to the blessings we ultimately receive."

I saw some new people in sacrament meeting and Sunday School today. I wish we still introduced new people in Sunday School.

I felt the power of the Spirit so strongly today during Dave Platt's talk. He certainly has a powerful testimony and conveyed the Spirit during his talk.

Brother Reynolds was the first speaker in sacrament meeting today. His total talk was geared to the treatment of animals. I guess the topic was righteous stewardship. One thing I will say about Brother Reynolds is, he did a lot of research. You could tell this is a topic he feels strongly about. I know his wife Amy is a big animal rights advocate. One year while we were at girls camp there was a mouse found in the kitchen area. Someone killed it with a broom and Amy was very upset!

I like the story of Joseph Smith while traveling in Zion's Camp and three snakes were found, which were about to be killed by one of the brethren. Joseph made this statement: "How will the serpents ever lose their venom if the servants of God hold the same disposition."

Here are some of the notes I took from Brother Platt's talk:

I love doing the work of the Lord. Grateful for Jesus Christ. How can we increase our love for the Savior? Do I truly know my Savior? In college Brother Platt prayed to know if the Savior loved him...this continued for quite sometime, until he felt an overwhelming feeling of love. On his mission he learned to preach the gospel and to be on the Lord's errand Those on the Lord's errand are entitled to His help. Some missionaries were true servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, others just went through the motions. (Ben is a true servant!).

Have ye spiritually been born of God? Have you received His image in your countenance? We must humble ourselves daily to have experiences with God daily. Ask Him how He feels about you? You will experience an overwhelming feeling of love. Also we need to ask, where is my family?

Brother Platt bore his testimony and made this statement: "I know Him."

Brother Judd taught Sunday School. He gave next week's lesson so no one was really prepared but it turned out to be really good.

He left us with this thought: This week remember the two great commandments, Love the Lord and love your neighbor. As you keep those two commandments all of the other commandments will fall into place.

This afternoon James grilled the last two steaks he bought at Costco. I made asparagus and baked potatoes to go with the steaks. For dessert we had Pillsbury croissants filled with cherries and cream cheese. Delicious but not as good as the apple in my opinion.

Jared thanked everyone for fasting. Tomorrow is the day he is talking to the new attorney.

James worked on family history, I worked on my blog.

This evening we watched "When Calls the Heart." We decided that from now on we will wait until Monday to watch and spend out Sunday evenings reading or studying the gospel.

We did read from "Life Everlasting" and I read from President Nelson's biography "Insights."

Happy 1st Anniversary!

Brother Reynolds mentioned coyotes in his talk. If they are a danger to your livestock it was his opinion it would be all right to kill them, but never kill for sport.

This girl loves the camera!

Love these girls in their Sunday best!

This day will come soon enough

Lunch is served
Costco steaks are the best!

Clouds and snow

Chili hummus? I have got to try this!

New York, New York

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Saturday, May 18th, 2019

Tokyo, Japan

18th operating temple

Dedicated: 27-29 Oct 1980

By: Spencer W. Kimball

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

1 John 5:11

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

Book of Mormon

Alma 2:1-18

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Matt 20:30-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18::35-43

General Conference

We Can Do Better and Be Better

President Russell M. Nelson

"Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

President Nelson and his wife Wendy and Elder Gong and his wife left for what they are calling the Pacific Ministry Tour. Their first stop was in Kona, Hawaii. James and I visited Kone in 1998 before there was a temple on the island. After Kona they are going to Samoa and then on to Sydney, Australia. Where do they get their energy. President Nelson is 94 years old!

The Samoan saints came out in the rain

Another Rock Star in my life, or maybe I should say "Walk" Star is my friend Paula. Today she walked in the Sue's Crew 30 mile walk for cancer. Last year she did 12 miles in spite of wind and cold weather. This year she did 15 miles.

Take a break Paula

I watched two Hallmark Christmas movies while doing my own walking today, "A Bramble House Christmas," and "A Very Merry Mixup."

It was a relaxing day for me. James and I had breakfast and we both worked on our computers most of the morning. He grilled us some steak for dinner and I made a veggie and some potatoes. After lunch he went to the church. The youth are having a carwash to raise money for camp and our car is very dirty. I gave him a twenty dollar bill and told him not to ask for change. He was gone a little over an hour.

Jared and Kacey are asking our family to fast for them. They have a phone appointment with attorney's Cordell and Cordell who specialize in divorce representation for men. They are trying to find someone to work with them who will help Jared get out from under the alimony payments to Tricia. It is ruining them financially.

I did a little work on the book business today. We are doing 79% better than we did last month at this time. Our sales have hit over $1,000. Just a couple of mistakes I think Amazon made today. First, they gated us from selling a book that we had already sold and they had to issue a refund to the buyer. Second, they sold a second copy of a book that we thought we only had one copy to. It is impossible to speak to a real person in seller support so I don't quite know how to handle the situation.

This evening we watched the new Hallmark movie, "Sailing into Love."

We enjoyed the movie, and made fun of

the cheesiest parts.

She looks so tiny

So grown up. Since we've seen her she can sit

up and crawl.

My kind of salad except for the feta cheese

This was in the 4th grade.

Where has the time gone?

On our way!

More Rock Stars!

Saturday, May 18, 2019

Friday, May 17th, 2019

Sao Paulo, Brazil

17th operating temple

Dedicated: 30 Oct - Nov 2 1978

By: Spencer W. Kimball

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

1 John 4:14

And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

Book of Mormon

Alma 1:15-33

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Matthew 20:18-29; Mark 10:32-45; Luke 18:31-34

General Conference

Where Will This Lead?

President Dallin H. Oaks

"Some time ago I gave a talk titled 'Good, Better, Best.' In that talk I said that 'just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives. ... We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best."

I have something to say about the talk I read yesterday by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "The Laborers in the Vineyard" from the April 2012 General Conference. This talk was life changing for me and answered a question that I have had for some time now about our will. James has said he was going to give certain children less inheritance because we have helped them more than we have helped others. I understood what he was saying, but I was not totally comfortable with that decision. Kim and Brian are going to be the executor's of our will and I did not want to leave it up to them to make any decisions we should have made. This talk has helped me to realize that all that we have should be divided equally among our five children. Period. The main inheritance will be our home and property in Vernon. It will be up to them as to what they do with this inheritance. I feel so goo about this decision and after listening to Elder Holland, I think that James does too. I would encourage everyone to listen to this talk!!A

Here is part of a quote from that talk: "Why should you chose to be jealous because I chose to be kind? It is my money."

As I sat at my desk this morning doing my scripture study, I could hear the wind howling and blowing through the trees outside. Another windy day.

Hear is another Jeffrey R. Holland quote from another talk, "Lessons from Liberty Jail, Ensign, Sept 2009, 30.)

"When lonely, cold, hard times come, we have to endure, we have to continue, we have to persist. That was the Savior's message in the parable of the importuning widow...Keep knocking on that door. Keep pleading. In the meantime, know that God hears your cries and knows your distress. He is your Father and you are His child."

Another quote I found as part of my study. This one was in the New Testament Student Manual as part of the religion class taught at BYU:

"Perseverance is rooted in the foundational gospel principles of faith and hope. Perseverance reflects our faith that our actions will bring the Lord's blessings into our lives."

James had an appointment at Chase Bank today at 10:30 to see about cashing in our Zion's Bank stock. I dropped him off and I headed for Safeway. While I was shopping at Safeway I ran in to Sister Grapp and her kids. All of the kids except baby Leland gave me a hug. They were excited about coming over tonight so their parents could have a night out. Benson said he was going to bring his army guys if that was okay. Of course Benson.

James called me before I was finished shopping, just as I discovered they had no Dr. Pepper 10. He needs me at the bank to sign some papers, so I cut my shopping short and off I went to Chase Bank.

Jeremy was the name of the bank officer helping James. After signing all the papers he told us we should be getting our money in about 7-10 days. We should be getting around $2300 if all goes well. I already know what I am doing with the money.

We had lunch at LaCasita, we each had our usual. While there an old friend from high school and a friend of James's when he was on the Show Low high council walked in with several other workers at the hospital. Brother MacArthur is a bigwig at the hospital and so is Greg Butler. I will always remember Greg Butler as the kid who worked in my dad's store when we were in high school. We called him Bugs Bunny because he had white Converse tennis shoes and a feather duster in his back pocket and he walked with sort of a hop. I hope they had a nice lunch. Brother MacArthur spent a lot of time in Vernon because he was assigned to our ward when on the high council.

When the Grapp's got here this evening at 6 pm there were only two kids instead of four. Benson and Tildy are being punished for bad behavior and will have to stay home this evening. I guess Cammy and Thomas are staying home and hanging pictures. Liana (10)and Emsley(5)are little angels and we had a great time. They played Barbie's for awhile and then we watched the movie, "Ratatouille."

I made popcorn and James made limeade. I also had made cookies and they each had a cookie.

When Cammy came back to pick them up she said: "It's funny how you got the two good kids and we had the two misbehaving kids." We laughed and I said hopefully all of them would be able to come next time. I really do want to play with Benson's army guys.