Sunday, June 26th, 2022: "The Widow's Mite," Sacrament mtg, RS, Rain!, Scarlett, Molly, Charlie, Balloon Festival, Ministering Interviews

 

Cordoba, Argentina

145th operating temple

Dedicated: 11 May 2015

By: Dieter F Uchtdorf

Jesus Christ, Second Coming

D&C 49:7

I, the Lord God, have spoken it; but the hour and the day no an knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor shall they know until he comes.

Book of Mormon

Alma 22:15-26

15 And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy.

"Come Follow Me"

Review 2 Samuel 5-7; 11-12; 1 Kings 3; 8; 11 "Thy Kingdom Shall Be Established for Ever"

AprGenCon

"Valiant Discipleship in the Latter Days"

Elder Jorg Klebingat

The Savior and His early followers dealt with serious internal and external opposition, and we experience the same. Today it is almost impossible to courageously live our faith without occasionally attracting a few actual and virtual fingers of scorn from the worldly. Confidently following the Savior is rewarding, but at times we may get caught in the crosshairs of those advocating an "eat, drink, and be merry" philosophy, where faith in Christ, obedience, and repentance are substituted by the illusion that God will justify a little sin because He loves us so much.

I studied the story of the widow's mite this morning before church. 

Rosie Lauritzen, who is leading the discussion today, asked me if I would relate the story. I read the scripture and then did some research so I was ready to relate the story and then do a discussion. That isn't what she wanted. She only wanted me to review the story, which I did.

Aubrey and Joshua Harris spoke in sacrament meeting today. Neither one of them have spoken in, Aubrey said, ten years. They did a good job. 

Aubrey's talk was based on Elder Rasband's talk "To Heal the World." Elder Rasband's talk is based on the attacks in our society regarding religious freedom and how we need to try to protect those freedoms. Freedom of worship in all its' configurations: freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom to act on personal beliefs, and freedom for others to do the same. Religious freedom allows each of us to decide for ourselves what we believe, how we live and act according to our faith, and what God expects of us. Christians have become a target. Religious freedom has to do with the first and second commandment regarding loving God and loving our neighbor. Religious freedom fosters belief and hope, inspires people to help others, a unifying force in shaping morality. Champion the cause of religious freedom.

Pierce played "He Sent His Son" on the piano. It was beautiful and I am glad he was part of the program because Aubrey is his daughter.

Joshua spoke on Elder Bednar's talk, "But We Heeded Them Not." He talked about the difference between holding fast to the iron rod as opposed to clinging. He basically said the same thing Cindy Brown said when she taught Relief Society. Clinging shows fear, holding fast allows you to keep moving.

Joshua said that he and Aubrey met playing soccer and played soccer right up until the time they moved from Tucson a year or so ago. After playing soccer they would go to Chipotle. He said we moved here and there is no soccer and no Chipotle, but we love it here and I am so fortunate to live by men who are such good examples to me: Pierce Goodman, Owen Peeler, Sean and Kip Hunsaker. 

"Covenants and ordinances point us to an help us always remember our connection with the Lord Jesus Christ as we progress along the covenant path. Stand in holy places to bring the Spirit. What we do in our spare time determines our character. I need to stop_________. In my spare time I should ___________________.

How long can we live without food? How long can we live without feeding our Spirits? Heavenly Father will help me through my trials.

Rosie did a great job leading the discussion in Relief Society today. She had three talks to base her lesson on. I sat by Sue Hubble. We talked about her daughter and how she is in a low place right now saying her life has been taken away. Her daughter has an inoperable brain tumor. I told Sue she should tell her daughter how much the gospel has helped her have an eternal perspective and bear her testimony. When we left I gave her a hug and told her I would be praying for her this afternoon.

It rained on us on the way home from church today and rained off and on most of the day. We had burgers and chips for lunch and then we laid down to take a nap. When I woke up, James was gone. He went over to Owen Taylor's house to borrow Owen's laser. 

We were supposed to attend a meeting at the stake center this evening. It was going to be based on a presentation on the Church website by Elder Cook, Elder Bednar, and Elder Uchtdorf, three of my favorites. They are talking about, "Love, Share, and Invite" regarding missionary work. I found the video on YouTube so James and I stayed home and watched it. James felt a little guilty but I did not. It was aimed towards leaders helping with missionary work in the ward.

I did all of the rest of my ministering interviews today except for one. I discovered that Aubrey Harris visits LeeAnn Snyder, and LeeAnn visits Aubrey. I suggested to Tamara that we needed a presidency meeting this week to work on glitches in our ministering assignments and to get our new sisters assigned. She agreed. We will be meeting on Wednesday evening.

Ellis is four years old and she

made this cake

Balloon Festival in Pinetop-Lakeside

on Saturday, June 25th

Love this picture!

Scarlett, Molly, Charlie
 

Saturday, June 25th, 2022: Temple shift, Seaman's preside, Aliberto's, "Yorkshire Carol", Sheri's trip, Tarwater Reunion, Cake, Jared, Trina's hikes, The Scott's

 

Phoenix, Arizona

144th operating temple

Dedicated: 16 Nov 2014

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Second Coming

Matthew 24:36

  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Book of Mormon

Alma 22:1-14

11 And he said: Yea, I believe that the Great Spirit created all things, and I desire that ye should tell me concerning all these things, and I will believe thy words.

"Come Follow Me"

1 Kings 8:12-61 The temple is the house of the Lord. 1 Kings 11

AprGenCon

"The Covenant Path: The Way to Eternal Life"

Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran

Of the Seventy

To help us, the Savior came to redeem us and show the path to return to God. God's children are invited to come to the Savior and be perfected in Him. In the scriptures, we find the invitation for us to come to the Lord repeated over 90 times, and more thanhalf of these are personal invitations from the Lord Himself. Accepting the Savior's invitation means partaking of His ordinances and keeping our covenants with Him. Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), and He invites us "all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him" (2 Nephi 26:33).

We left at 5:30 this morning for our shift at the Snowflake temple. The Seaman's are presiding. I worked in the baptistry with Sister Bigler, a young Snowflake girl who is just waiting to go on her performing arts mission to Nauvoo. She told me all of the things she had to do in order to qualify for this mission. She had to send in tapes of herself singing, dancing, and quoting monologue. She also had to go to a will call in Utah. She is such a cute girl and is very excited about her mission. 

I talked to Sister Hamblin about July being our last month to work in the temple. I also told her that we would like time on July 23rd to attend the Grombach's sealing which is scheduled for 10:00. She said she was going to miss me but she understood. I told her we had been working for five years and that neither one of us was in very good health. 

I worked in initiatory three times today. Once it was only one sister so we were done after 10 minutes. Jeanie Gentry and I had the same break time. We chatted in the break room. I told her James was working in Globe on a house that was over 60 years old and he was finding all kinds of problems with the plumbing. She asked me if he had to get a permit. I told her no. She then began telling me about Chet and Shelly Adams, Trent Adams' son who bought Babe & Winky Whipple's old home she is over 100 years old. They hired someone to remodel it but then he passed away so they began working on it themselves. They were Ma & Pa for the trek and invited the kids in their trek family over to their home so they could get to know them. She said one parent who came to pick up his son asked if he could take a tour of the house. When he was finished he said, "Do you know who I am?" "No." My name is John Wilhelm and I am a home inspector here in the city of Show Low. I guess John, who is in our ward, told them they had to get a permit.

I also told Kim Seaman that we needed to be released. Her husband is the temple president and she told me she would tell him and he could do it today. I told her we were willing to work through July if they needed us. She said they did. President Seaman also spoke with James. 

My last assignment was in the celestial room. I remember my first day as a temple worker I was told that there must always be someone in the celestial room. I went in and sat down. The only other person in the room when I first went in was Brother Adair, a temple sealer. A young couple who was being sealed came in and he began talking to them. I was clear across the room and could not hear what he was saying. Kim Seaman opened the door and waved for me to come out in the hall. She said I didn't need to be in the room and excused me to go home. This was before noon. I got dressed and waited for James outside of the temple with the wedding guests who were not inside the temple. He came out around noon. 

We stopped on the way home and got four shredded beef tacos at Aliberto's. They were delicious, but a little greasy. We drove into Tractor Supply in Show Low to get some horse feed. James also got a bag of licorice for us to snack on.

We got home and there was no rain. We missed our ward's preparedness fair today which makes me sad. The Crane's are gone to the valley for a baptism and Chuck ask Gary Thompson to go to ward council in the morning. Brother Lauritzen told him he had the spiritual thought. Gary called and ask James if he would attend for him. Maybe he didn't want to give the spiritual thought. Ward council is at 7:30 in the morning. 

James fixed us dinner tonight, shrimp and pot stickers. We started a new book on the way home from Snowflake today. It is by the same author as the last two books we just read, Jennifer Goutet and is called, "Yorkshire Carol." 

Sheri texted today and said she and Michael were waiting to go to the Rome temple but their Uber ride kept getting cancelled. They finally made it. Ben and Evan were going to go but they both woke up with sore throats and not feeling well.

Tarwater Reunion

My friend Debbie's family

She owns Bread n' Basics

Also Kim & Brian's bishop's family

Friday, June 24th, 2022: James works in Globe, I make two cherry chip cakes, Kacey's baby birds, Italy

 

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

143rd operating temple

Dedicated: 4 May 2014

By: Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Jesus Christ, Second Coming

Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:36

And, as I said before, after the tribulation of those days, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory;

Book of Mormon

Alma 21:1-23

9 Now Aaron began to open the scriptures unto them concerning the coming of Christ, and also concerning the resurrection of the dead, and that there could be no redemption for mankind save it were through the death and sufferings of Christ, and the atonement of his blood.

"Come Follow Me"

1 Kings 3:1-15 The gift of discernment helps me distinguish between right and wrong. 1 Kings 8.

AprGenCon

"Divine Love in the Father's Plan"

President Dallin H. Oaks

First Counselor in the First Presidency

A common misunderstanding of the judgment that ultimately follows mortal life is that good people go to a place called heaven and bad people go to an everlasting place called hell. This erroneous assumption of only two ultimate destinations implies that those who cannot keep all the commandments required for heaven will necessarily be forever destined for hell.

After family prayer James left for Globe. I tried to get a few things done around the house this morning before starting the two cherry chip cakes I am making today. One cake is for Pam Wood and the other is for Sue Hubble. I did some laundry and a few other chores, along with some walking. I took out the eggs, buttermilk, and cream  so they would all be a room temperature when I start baking. 

This afternoon early I started the first cake. The first thing I did was spend about an hour chopping up 32 maraschino cherries for the cake batter. I made 3, six inch cake layers. I will use two layers for Pam's cake and the extra one for James and me. I took a break before cake #2. This time I used my kitchen shears to cut up the cherries and it seemed to work better. Sue's cake will have two 8" layers.

When I was finished with the last cake I wrapped all of the cake layers for both cakes in plastic wrap and then foil and put them in the freezer. Next I made on batch of frosting and put it in the frig. I cleaned up the kitchen, too tired to frost the cakes tonight, especially since we get up early tomorrow morning to work at the temple. 

We went to bed early. James was exhausted from working in Globe, and I was exhausted from baking most of the day. 

James picked up the mail today. We finally got the $5,700 check from Bob Joye.