Monday, February 25th, 2020

Kyiv, Ukraine

134th operating temple

Dedicated: 29 Aug 2010

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Judge

Psalms 50:6

And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

2 Nephi 26:1-19; Study lesson with the Peeler's

Restoration:

Oct 2019 General Conference:

"Holiness and the Plan of Happiness"

President Henry B. Eyring

"Some listening today may be wondering: 'Why do I not feel the peace and happiness promised to those who have been faithful?

I have been faithful through terrible adversity, but I don't feel happiness.' 

Even the Prophet Joseph Smith faced this test. He prayed for relief when he was confined in a jail in Liberty, Missouri. He had been faithful to the Lord. He had grown in holiness. Yet he felt happiness had been denied. The Lord gave him an answer in Doctrine and Covenants 122:7-9"

Without using an alarm sometimes I sleep in. Today was one of those days. I woke up at 5:15. My excuse for sleeping in is: "Well I guess I needed the extra hours rest."

I am back to drinking cherry Pepsi. I couldn't find the Zevia at either Walmart up here. Hopefully when I go to the valley this coming week I will be able to find some. I could order it on Amazon but you have to order quite a bit and I really want to taste it first before I commit to so much.

James and I left for town around 11:00 this morning. He is taking his truck in to get the oil changed. He's going to Walmart because Jiffy Lube wants $90. Walmart will do it for $35. 

Our roads are like a muddy marsh. I stopped at the post office to buy stamps and to pick up mail. I had over 8 books. The guy who works at the post office helped me carry my books out. I told him I lived on a muddy dirt road. He looked at my car and said, "yeah, I can tell."

I picked up James at Walmart and we turned around and went back to Persnikkity's for lunch. The girl we minister to, Tanna works there. He husband owns the restaurant and besides, it is one of our favorite places to eat for lunch. 

Persnikkity's is a popular place and we had to stand in line to wait to place our order. While we were waiting Tanna came out from the kitchen and James introduced her to me. She said as soon as she could she would come by our table for a visit. 

We sat at the only table available, a small two seater. I ordered the orange chicken salad which I love and James ordered the twisted Philly cheesesteak with a side of sweet potato fries. I actually ordered the fries. The cheesesteak is twisted because instead of just regular beef it tastes like Korean bbq. It is yummy.

I had to take most of this home because I

ate so many of the sweet potato fries.

That little breadstick on the left was delicious

and filled with cheese.

That is fudge in the front, dark chocolate fudge.

All it lacked was some nuts. It was so creamy

and delicious. I normally do not like fudge but

I would order this again.

Tanna never made it over to see us and after we left she texted. I told her to tell her brother that we love eating at Persnikkity's. 

She thanked me and said she would.

James got out at Walmart where he picked up some truck and did some errands before going home. One of his errands was to pick up some prescriptions at CVS. His Nefediprine (blood pressure med), for a 90 day supply, cost him $200. Getting old and being sick is costly.

After dropping James off at Walmart I back tracked about half a mile to Dr. Moffat's office. The nurse asked me why I was there. I said, so I can get my prescriptions filled. She looked at her records and said, yeah, you haven't been in since August 2017. 

Dr. Moffat asked me some questions, did a brief examine, and told me he sent refills of my prescriptions to Walmart. He gave me a form to take to the arthritis center for a request for bloodwork checking my thyroid and cholesterol. 

After the doctor's visit I stopped at the carwash. First I sprayed off the top layer of mud in the do it yourself stall then I went through the automated wash. James said it wouldn't do any good to wash my car but I couldn't stand looking at it. 

When I got to the mud driving home I went very slow. I was surprised to see how much it had dried out since 11. When I got home I had very little mud on my car. There was a layer on the tires but that's to be expected. 

I had planned on working on my book business this afternoon but after resting and reading I decided I needed to walk. It was 3 pm and I did not even have 5,000 steps. I did some walking and before I knew it it was time to get ready to go to the Peeler's for our "Come Follow Me" discussion group. On the way over we saw a huge herd of elk on both sides of the road, I would say 60 or 70. James thought there were more like a 100. We were both guessing.

The Peeler's greeted us and introduced us to two of their grandsons. When the Goodman's didn't show by 10 after, they live next door, I texted Barbara. She said they thought we weren't meeting this week and they were on their way home from the valley. I said it's next week we aren't meeting because both Donna and I have doctors appointments in the valley.

After going through the lesson and discussing it, Braydon, one of the grandsons, served us apple pie and ice cream. Donna had made the pie and it was delicious!

We said our goodbyes and headed home. We hoped we would see the elk again but they were either gone or bedded down. At home I did some more walking, read to James from Aunt Dimity, and we studied from the Book of Mormon some more before bed.

I spoke with Stacy today. Skyler has never paid her any money so she is reporting him. He is threatening her with claiming she has told him about inappropriate sexual behavior she has had with Joshua. Ridiculous lie! Stacy's friend who is a police officer told her to go to the police and report this threat before Skyler does. She did this today. What a mess! We will definitely keep Stacy in our prayers.

 We will be staying with Darrel this weekend. Trina is going to Hawaii to visit her sister who has a baby that Trina has not seen. "Come Follow Me" with the family will be Sunday evening at Darrel's.

 Michelle's invitations for our

RS activity in March

 Why?

Ruby gets braces!

 I invited the Grapp's to come over and watch

"When Calls the Heart" next week.

 I like my yellow pillows

 Ready to go to the doctor's

She eats a lot but she burns it all off. 

Wow!

Ben's Letter

Sunday, February 23rd, 2020

Cebu City, Philippines

133rd operating temple

Dedicated: 13 June 2010

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Judge

3 Nephi 27:16

And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

Review; Study:2 Nephi 26-30 "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder" - "Don't Miss This"; "Teaching with Power"

Given February 27, 1977 at a conference

in Lima, Peru.

"Deceive Me Not"

Gary E. Stevenson

"There is much we can learn from Moses's mighty response to temptation from the adversary. (see Moses 1:1-2)

I invite you to respond the same way when you feel influenced by temptation. Command the enemy of your soul by saying: 'Go away! You have no glory. Do not tempt or lie to me! For I know I am a child of God. And I will always call upon my God for His help.'"

"The Second Great Commandment"

President Russell M. Nelson

"As members of the Church, we feel a kinship to those who suffer in any way. As sons and daughters of God, we are all brothers and sisters. We heed an Old Testament admonition: 'Thou shalt open thing hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy,'"

Happy Sabbath!

We woke up to 2 inches of snow this morning. It was beautiful. I worked on my blog and then went to wake James up with tea at 6:30 because I knew he was scheduled to leave for ward council at 7 with Chuck. He said his alarm didn't go off. I went in and fixed him a bowl of grits to eat before he left. Chuck was right on time.

I finished up on my blog and went to shower and get ready to go.

The roads were filled with puddles and it was slippery. I went slow and it took me about five minutes longer than normal to get to church. I left early enough that I wasn't late. James was saving a place for me and allowed me to sit on the outside of the row which is my favorite spot.

Colter Hunsaker gave his first youth talk and did a good job. He is a good reader. He did always like to read when I was his teacher but his reading was usually slow and halting. I guess practice makes perfect. He spoke about the responsibilities of someone who holds the Aaronic priesthood. Here are some notes from Colter's talk. "Jesus said we should go the second mile. We can serve all the time." Colter quoted lots of scriptures and talked about faith and repentance. It was an excellent talk for an 11 year old who won't be 12 until the end of December. He is a sweet boy and loves to do service and has learned to work hard from his dad.

Haley Hunsaker was the next speaker. She is Colter's older sister. He talked about going to the temple with Haley to do baptisms. The theme for Haley's talk was "Go and Do." Don't be idle. We are here for a purpose. Help someone else overcome their trials. Act in faith. We need to have faith in the impossible because nothing is impossible with God. Prepare for general conference by studying the Restoration.

Chelsea MacArthur was the next speaker. Elder Bednar's recent conference address, "Watchful unto Prayer Continually" was the theme for her talk. Constant vigilance is needed to counteract complacency and casualness. We must guard and protect. She told a story about when she lived in Alaska and came home and there was a mama moose with two babies in her yard. There is nothing more dangerous than a mama moose guarding and protecting her young so she waited in the car until they were gone. She talked a little about the cheetahs and the topis, comparing the cheetahs to Satan.

We must be always on guard against Satan and his tactics. President Hinckley: "Things will work out." I would add to that, if we are obedient and faithful.

Jared MacArthur is Chelsea's husband. She comes to church every week and teaches Primary. We don't see Jared very often. He has not yet been ordained an elder. He gave a good talk. He started out by telling us that for the first time in 15 years he slept walked last night. Not sure what that had to do with his talk. Jared is a HotShot in Alaska. He jumps out of airplanes to fight fires. He is only home about half of the year. He talked about the intense training he has to go through to be a HotShot and what the risks are. He then told about the Challenger, the space shuttle that blew up 70 seconds after lift off, killing all 7 astronauts on board. He said the engineers knew there was a weakness in the housing of the fuel chamber but they decided to launch anyway, or at least some of them decided. The chief engineer said he recommended they cancel the launch but obviously he was outvoted. He says that 30 years later it still haunts him. Jared used this as an example of complacency. He said there were three things Elder Bednar counsels us to be aware of: 1) Evils disguises, 2) Stay awake and be alert, 3) Understand the intent of the enemy.

I conducted Relief Society. Kerri was in charge of our player piano and Tamara led the music. We began with announcements. Michelle Tesarek announced our upcoming Relief Society activity on March 28th. The theme is the Relief Society birthday celebration. There will be several classes offered and each sister will get to attend four classes. Afterwards we will have a corned beef luncheon and cupcakes for dessert. Some of the classes to be offered: Getting your "exit" papers in order before death, Instapot hints, tracking finances, indexing, soap making, and a couple of others that I can't remember. 

After the announcements we sang the song "Abide with Me" and I called on Paula Johnson to say the opening prayer. That was a mistake because we aren't supposed to have an opening prayer. I guess the song threw me off. 

Diana Curtis gave the lesson based on Sister Arburto's talk, "Thru Cloud and Sunshine, Lord, Abide with Me!" We talked about depression and mental illness and several sisters shared stories. Diana kept the lesson positive and on track so I felt that it went well.

James had a short meeting after church so he got a ride home with Chuck. I had not even had lunch yet when he arrived home. After lunch we had rest time. I finished my book, "Live Up To Our Privileges" which I loved. I started reading the book Cathi and Terry gave us for Christmas and also read from Sister Nelson's book.

I'm going to enjoy these books!

Here are some of the things I did this Sabbath afternoon:

- Texted Kathy, my neighbor, and told her I offered a special prayer for her in Relief Society that she would get well soon. Several of the sisters came up to me afterwards and wanted to know about Kathy. I told her that we were very concerned for her welfare.

- Texted Kyah who wasn't at church to see if she was ok. She said she wasn't feeling well. I asked her if she would like me to set up an appointment with Brother Peeler for both her and I so we could learn how to do web indexing. She said yes that would be great. I told her to let me know when she is feeling better. Kyah is 17.

- Texted Tanna. James and I are assigned to visit her but I have never met her. I asked if she was going to have a baby shower because if she wasn't I was going to offer to give her one. She said her baby was due on August 29th and that they (her family I suppose) was giving her a shower after they did the gender reveal. I asked her if she would let me know about the gender reveal and she said she would. She works at Persnikkity's and said I could come and visit her there. She works Monday-Friday from 11-4.

- Texted Diana and told her I was pleased with how well the lesson went. 

- We FaceTimed with Charlie, Jared and Kacey. Here are some of the things we discussed.

Kacey said she found a paper Molly wrote about Jared. She said when she was four or five he left and she couldn't understand why. 

She said she was afraid to come because her sisters weren't coming but when she got there everything was great. She expressed her love for him and said he was like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. After all that is happening with his other kids I am sure this made him feel good.

Tomorrow Charlie has to have shots. Kacey said the girl who gives the shots is black. Kacey just recently joined the gym and left Charlie in the nursery. The girls working in the nursery are all black or Asian. Charlie was not happy. A girl came to get Kacey and said they couldn't calm her down. When Kacey got in the room Charlie was huddled in the corner facing the well shaking and sobbing. She associates black people with the pain of getting a shot. This just broke my heart.

- Kacey has some kind of a nodule or tumor in her mouth which swells and is painful. She is having it checked out tomorrow. I told them I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow too.

- They tried to watch the Face to Face with President and Sister Oaks but Charlie keeps turning off the power strip. If they put it behind the piano, she crawls back and gets it. 

- We love talking with Charlie, Kacey and Jared and look forward to their call every week. Next week we will be in the valley but we hope they call anyway.

I also found three relatives on family search that need ordinances. I tried to index but realize I need some training. James set up a meeting with Brother Peeler as he works with us in family history. Hopefully he will be willing to train us in indexing.

I began studying for this coming week's "Come Follow Me" lesson, 2 Nephi 26-30 "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder." It's about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the Restoration, and Satan's tactics. I listened to "Don't Miss This" and filled in the worksheet and then James and I listened to "Teaching with Power." Next week we will be discussing this lesson with family members.

James and I both wrote a letter to Elder Trezise. I told him the story of the woman praying in Paraguay after the floods. 

This is what we woke up to. By

afternoon it was all melted.

This is what I look forward to every Sabbath day:

Sweet Charlie Mae

 As a teenager Greg worked at my dad's store

 Photo booth at ward party courtesy

of Candi

Autumn posted this 

 Woohoo!

I love Sister Hinckley

Saturday, February 22nd, 2020

Gila Valley, Arizona

132nd operating temple

Dedicated: 23 May 2010

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Judge

Mosiah 3:10

And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

2 Nephi 25

Nephi glories in plainness - Isaiah's prophecies will be understood in the last days - The Jews will return from Babylon, crucify the Messiah, and be scattered and scourged - They will be restored when they believe in the Messiah - He will first come six hundred years after Lehi left Jerusalem - The Nephites keep the law of Moses and believe in Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel.

"The Savior's Touch"
Elder Walter F. Gonzalez
"He can heal us and lift us up becuase He has the ability to do it. He took upon HImself all the pains of body and spirit so that His bowels would be filled with mercy in order to be able to help us in all things and to heal us and lift us up. The words of Isaiah, as cited by Abinadi, put it beautifully and movingly:
'Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. ... 
...He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.'"

Since we worked in the temple today I love this quote from Sister Ulrich's book, "Live Up to Our Privileges":

Temple ordinances we officiate in as women and men help others and us weave deliverance, redemption, and holiness into our stories of sorrow, sin, and loss. Likewise, the sacrament and temple ordinances can help us picture the promises we've been given."

(p. 188-89)

President Palmer and his wife presided today during our shift. We watched a baptism video we had seen several times with an 11 year old girl going to the temple with her dad for the first time to do baptisms. The girl suffers from social anxiety and the temple was very busy but she pressed forward. Do you know what I noticed during this video today? The girl had on a blouse with cartoon cat heads wearing glasses on it. I guess I had seen it so many times I was focusing on seeing something different this time. Maybe next time I need to look for something more spiritual.

I started out this morning at the sealing desk under the stairs. Sister Farr said, "go to your corner." I did, gladly. I like it over in the corner. You can see what's going on without being right in the middle of things. Also when you aren't busy, I had two people who needed help in an hour, you can read your scriptures or on the little post it notes you can make notes to yourself. I made out my schedule and a list of things I need to do this coming week. I also finished reading all of the chapter headings for the Old Testament and started on the new.

James and I had break at the same time but we didn't sit together. My table was already full when James came in so he sat by cute little brother Hancock and came back with some more good newly wed stories. I guess in an effort to wake him up this morning Sister Hancock tickled him. He got angry and wouldn't get up so she pulled him out of bed onto the floor. He said, "then I got up." (This is the same girl who blew the air horn at the golfers). Their favorite TV program is Avatar. James mentioned that he thought that was an animated children's program. Brother Hancock said, "yes it is, but the script is genius."!

I sat by Sister Sauwen, Sister Crandall, and Sister Cureton. Sister Sauwen lives in Woodruff and it sounds like it's abu the size of Vernon. She said they have a church, school, post office, and community center and library. Sounds almost like Vernon except that we have more than one church.

Sister Crandall is young and lives with her parents. She asked me if I had a good Valentine's day and I said yes, how was yours. She said, Oh, I had strep but my parents went out."

As we all were enjoying our breakfast burritos which had been cut in half she said: "I always think I should bring something for the potluck, but I can't think what to bring so I never do."

Sister Cureton lives on the other sides of Williams and travels 150 miles to get here. I asked her how long it took and she said two and a half hours. She said the speed limit on the freeway is 75 and her husband goes 80.

After my break I went upstairs to present at veil 1. All of the sisters who came to my veil were well versed in the temple. It was a pleasure to help them. I love being at the veil.

Other things I did today: Worked in initiatory twice, helped in the baptistry and got to visit with the older Sister Hamblin. She is from Salt Lake but has lived in Eagar 25 years and she loves it. She runs a pre-school and orders supplies from Walmart online and they deliver to her the next day. I did not know that they delivered.

There was a group from Eagar in the baptistry and a huge ward from Phoenix waiting in the chapel. They had several boys who came in Samoan dress.

While I was the downstairs greeter the couple that were sealed today came down. A huge group of people were waiting for them in the foyer because it was raining outside. James was the grooms assistant. The grooms name was Jeben Lewis. Funny. My first bishop in Show Low as a teenager was Eb Lewis and I went to school with Charlie and Eben, his sons, who were a little younger than I was. Jeben is Eben's grandson. I saw Eben and his wife. He looked very old. This is what I love about the Snowflake temple. I see people I knew when I grew up here all of the time.

I was finished at 12:30. My 12:30 assignment was "as assigned" which means , you are done. Several other sisters had the same thing and Sister Elmer left early so we couldn't be assigned anyway if she did have something for us to do.

I'm glad I brought my umbrella because it was raining hard when we left. We were going to do sealings but I rationalized and said we could do them next week. This week we went to Eva's to get mexican food. 

We saw the Mortensen family eating at Eva's too. They aren't friends but James had helped Brother Mortensen in initiatory and I had helped Sister Mortensen in initiatory. The had three of their daughters with them.

After Eva's, I had a chicken enchilada with rice and beans and James had a green chili burro, we went to Walmart. Since James lost our toilet paper and I forgot to buy some when I went back, we needed toilet paper and ended up spending $68. Expensive toilet paper.

This is one of those days you just want to curl up with a good book and sit by the fire. As soon as I got home I changed into my comfy clothes and curled up on the recliner with Aunt Dimity. I also read to James and while I was reading he walked and got 1500 steps.

Some more things I did this evening: finished my steps, fixed broccoli and french fries for dinner, worked on my blog, and finished "Come Follow Me' for the week. It was almost 10:00 when we went to bed. It was a good day. Lots and lots of rain.

 Mine on the left, James's on the right

After the rain

The face of an angel!

  Ruby Delight!