Friday, February 28th, 2020

Manaus, Brazil

138th operating temple

Dedicated: 10 June 2012

By: Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Jesus Christ, Judge

2 Nephi 12:4

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks-nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

2 Nephi 29

Many Gentiles will reject the Book of Mormon - They will say, We need no more Bible - The Lord speaks to many nations - He will judge the world out of the books which will be written. 

Saints Volume 2

Chapter 28 - Until the Coming of the Son of Man
Chapter 29 - To Die in the Harness

 Take Up Our Cross

Elder Ulisses Soares

"My dear friends, we must remember that taking our cross upon ourselves includes being humble and trusting in God and in His infinite wisdom We must acknowledge that He is aware of each of us and of our needs. It is also necessary to accept the fact that the Lord's timing is different than ours. Sometimes we seek for a blessing and set a time limit for the Lord to fulfill it. We cannot condition our faithfulness to Him by imposing upon Him a deadline for the answers to desires."

To help his disciples to understand that devotion to His work includes submission and suffering, the Savior emphatically declared:

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lost his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

I was listening to Elder Soares talk and when I heard "To help his disciples to understand that devotion to His work includes submission and suffering" it really struck me. I thought of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the suffering he endure for the gospel. I thought to myself, what have I suffered for the Lord to show Him that I love Him and want to obey Him? I have made sacrifices in order to be obedient but I don't consider that as suffering. Am I doing enough?

I am starting another blog. This one is to record my life history. It is called karenmaxwelllambson.blogspot.com. At least once a week I will be sharing a story from my past. I have been wanting to write my life story but it always feels so overwhelming. If I can do it a story at a time, line upon line, so to speak, maybe I can get started.

Another day spent at home blogging, working on books, walking, eating, and studying the gospel. Tomorrow we are scheduled to work at the temple. I do not have rolls to fix so I made some brownies instead. 

My books are all inventoried and ready to ship. James helped me clean them up. I noticed one that I bought is an Indian edition. It looks just like the English edition but I am afraid to send it in because we are not supposed to sell Indian editions. I guess I will  get on the book arbitrage Facebook group and see if I can get some direction. In the mean time I may wait until next week to send in this shipment of books.

I made green chili stew today. I was going to take it to the temple tomorrow but decided not to. James and I will eat it on Sunday and then probably a few days next week when we get back from the valley. 

Spent the evening studying JS-H 1:14-26 and 2 Nephi 29.

 Morning sunrise

 Trina and Tristan in Hawaii

Alex's drawing

 Dallen Lambson's latest creation

Tonight's Sunset

Thursday, February 27th, 2020

Kansas City, Missouri

137th operating temple

Dedicated: 6 May 2012

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Judge

Isaiah 2:4

And and he judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

2 Nephi 28

Many false churches will be built up in the last days - They will teach false, vain, and foolish doctrines - Apostasy will abound because of false teachers - The devil will rage in the hearts of men - He will teach all manner of false doctrines.

 Saints, Volume 2

Chapter 27

Fire in the Dry Grass

Inklings

JS-H 1:14-26

Oct 2019 GC
Power to Overcome the Adversary
Elder Peter M. Johnson
"My dear friends, please do not let anyone steal your happiness. Do not compare yourself to others. Please remember the loving words of the Savior: 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'"

How did God bless me today? Let me give you a few examples. Yesterday we were having problems with Quicken not paying our homeowners insurance. Today that problem was resolved.

Another problem was our car insurance. I was troubled because the yearly payment had not been made out of either credit cards. I got out my card and it renews today. Later in the day I got an email that said they would be taking the yearly payment out today.

Next problem, my secondary insurance and the arthritis center. Allison called and said I was fine that there had been a glitch in their system.

These were all of the things I had asked the Lord to help me with and He certainly did.

Today would have been my dad's 89th birthday. Happy Birthday dad.

I got a call from my friend Jean today. I had called her yesterday to see if she wanted to go to lunch today. She called today to tell me she was just too sick. I asked if there was anything I could do for her and she said no Tom was taking good care of her. Today I am going to send her a card.

I blogged, worked on books, read, walked and ate. James went to the post office and brought back several books for me to open and inventory. 

I am taking all of my books about the Book of Mormon upstairs and putting them on my desk. I want to have all of them together so I can look at them and study and take notes.

This evening after dinner we heard the doorbell ring. It was brother Peeler. He had been over feeding the Crane's dogs while they are gone to the valley and wondered if we could have a family history meeting right now. Of course. We met at the table near the front door and discussed our concerns and to do list with Brother Peeler who was recently called as the family history leader in our ward.
We finished a little after five and said we would see him tonight at the church for the family history leadership broadcast from Salt Lake. 

There were not many at the ward building for the broadcast. I did see Kerri and Tamara, Lannie Gillespie the Primary president, the bishop and some deacons, the Finnell's from Young Men/Young Women but that was about it.

The broadcast was great. We heard from Elder Hamilton, Elder Nielsen, Elder Renlund, Elder Stevenson, and Elder Bednar who directs temple and family history work in the Church.  We also heard from Sister Arburto and Sister Jones. There were a couple of youth who showed the leaders how to use the Family Tree app and all the neat things you can do with it on your phone. 
This was a well organized and interesting meeting and I wish that Kyah and Ty had been there!


We came home and I worked on finishing my study guide for 2 Nephi 28 and also worked on Inklings before it was time to go to bed.

James walked and worked on something for Chacon's.

Our friends the Miller's

The day of Young Women in Excellence

I am doing this

Wednesday, February 26th, 2020

Quetzeltenango, Guatemala

136th operating temple

Dedicated: 11 Dec 2011

By: Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Jesus Christ, Judge

Ecclesiastes 12:14

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

2 Nephi 27:6-35

Restoration:

Saints, Volume 2

Chapter 25

The Dignity of Our Calling

Chapter 26

For the Best Good of Zion

Inklings

JS-H 1:1-13

Oct 2019 GC
"Giving Our Spirits Control Over Our Bodies"
President Russell M. Ballard
"Every person who has ever lived or ever will live on this planet made an essential decision to choose to accept Heavenly Father's plan for our salvation. So we all came to earth with a proven track record of a successful spiritual nature and eternal destiny."

Happy 30th Birthday Adam:

I couldn't decide which to post so I did both. These

two have been friends for over 15 years.

Joseph's 23rd:

Happy days ahead Joe!

I went back and read a post in my 2018 Blog/Journal. Here are some thoughts on Islaam:

Islaam is the worlds 2nd largest religion. Islaam means submission to God. A believer is a Muslim, a submitter.

Another interesting fact from my April 12, 2018 blogpost:

While reading "The Atoning One" by Robert Millett I learn that Christ is the God of the Cosmos. 

I suppose I already knew this but I've never heard it put that way before.

After herbal tea, grits, and family prayer, James leaves for the valley this morning. It's supposed to be 16 degrees but his truck says 8. Also, he doesn't have a heater in his truck. Ride like the wind Bullseye and get to some warm air.

Things went pretty well this morning as I was posting on my blog. I worked on my book biz;  repricing, putting new books in inventory, and buying 3 books. I was finished with books by noon. 

I cooked myself a hamburger and put it on two slices of Dave's thin sliced bread. It was delicious.

I read and rested and then began my afternoon activities. On the agenda for today is paying bills. The big ones are due: Quicken mortgage on the house, credit card, Navapache electric, and tithing and fast offerings. I paid fast offerings for March so we are covered this coming Sunday.

The guy from Quicken never called about the problem with our home owners insurance being cancelled. I guess James will have to call him tomorrow.

I cannot find where we paid for our car insurance. It is a yearly bill due in February. James spoke to them on the phone in January and I thought he took care of it but I can't find it on either credit card statements. Also, I got a call from AARA, the arthritis center, saying my secondary insurance, Translife with Transamerica is not active. That's interesting because they took money out of my account this month just like they always do. What's going on with our insurance? Allison is going to try to run my information again and will call me tomorrow. Fun times.

James made it home earlier than I expected, somewhere between 4 and 4:30. I had put a pot pie in the oven for him and he had to wait a few minutes for it to get done.

After eating he took a nap on the recliner and headed over to Chuck's for an elders quorum presidency meeting. I am home alone again this evening.

I did my study guide for 2 Nephi 27 and worked on Inklings. Before I knew it James was home wanting me to read to him from "Aunt Dimity Goes West" so he could walk. I agreed when I was finished studying and asked him to make me some tea. He made peppermint which I did not like so he made me some chamomile, my favorite, and said he would drink the peppermint tomorrow. 

 Emily's new book 

 Plants in the mail?

 I wake James up with a cup of herbal tea

 Nice tribute for Randy. He spent so much of his

time at the Little League park.

I have read 2 Nephi 9 30 days in a row

but I have not done the other things

 My favorite grandparent, "Nannie", my mom's mom,

Myrtle Mae Strickland, born on December 5, 1905.

She was 5 in this picture. On the way home in the buggy she

threw the hat away because it had flown off several times

on the ride over.

Elder Benjamin Trezise

Idaho Falls, Idaho mission

2018-20

 Nobody from this boys family came

to his baptism.