Ascuncion, Paraguay
112th operating temple
Dedicated: 19 May 2002
By: Gordon B. Hinckley
Jesus Christ, Son of man
Matthew 26:64
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Book of Mormon
3 Nephi 28:1-23
"Come Follow Me"
"Teaching with Power" with Ben Wilcox
OctGenCon
"The Doctrine of Belonging"
Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
How blessed we are to see the day that Zion is being established simultaneously on every continent and in our own neighborhoods. As the Prophet Joseph Smith said, the people of God in every age have looked forward with joyful anticipation to this day, and "we are the favored people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory."
I got up at 3:38 and turned the space heater on. I got up for good at 4:10. I said my prayers and recorded them in my prayer journal then I did some gospel study. Today is Relief Society and we are discussing President Oaks's talk, "Helping the Poor and Distressed" so I listened to this talk along with Elder Christofferson's talk, "The Doctrine of Belonging."
At 7:06 the electricity went off. I am not sure why. After it had been off for about 20 minutes I decided I better put my hair in rollers if I was going to have any kind of hairdo at all for church. This was just in case the electricity didn't come back on. Luckily it did come back on around 8 a.m., just in time for me to get ready for church.
Today was the Primary Children's Program about prophets. I was so happy to see that the MacArthur girls were here! Their parents were sitting back in the overflow. Church was especially full today. The children are always a big draw.
All of the children had a speaking part but, of course, the part I like best is the singing. Here are the songs they sang: "I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus" (my favorite!), "Follow the Prophet", "As I Have Loved You" (sign language), "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet", "I Wonder When He Comes Again", "Teach Me to Walk in the Light", and "Gethsemane."
It was a great program, as it always is.
Wendy DeWitt was the teacher in Relief Society. Sue Hubble and I sat on the front row. Wendy told some great stories. I especially liked the one about Harold B. Lee as a stake president in California during the depression. Heber J. Grant was the prophet and was worried about how many members of the Church were standing in bread lines. He noticed a sudden change from President Lee's stake regarding members who needed assistance. It went from many to none. He contacted President Lee and asked what his secret was. President Lee said this: A member in our stake has a big barn. One day a month everyone who needs assistance comes and brings something they have to exchange with something they need. No one goes away empty handed. President Grant said every stake in the Church needed one of these gathering barns. That is when buildings started to include cultural halls. This was also the beginning of the Church's welfare system.
Paula Johnson got up and talked about the Vernon Food Pantry which distributes food to needy families in the area every Monday at the library. Paula has been helping with this since 2012. 250 families are signed up. Paula sends out 500 emails regarding needs of the community and how people can help. She is such a good example of community involvement and service!
Collin, Wendy's husband, taught the same lesson in Elder's Quorum.
Chuck told me the tacos we made for them were delicious. I did not see Kathy today. I hope my tacos didn't make her ill.
James and I made lunch when we returned home. Tacos, strawberries with apple bread. I also had a croissant with some Nutella.
Next we had rest time. James got up early from his nap and did some indexing before he and Dave Westbrook went to visit Barbara Bartels. This is the third week in a row that they have done ministering visits. Someone James already visited, Virgil Cooper, is in the hospital. He called Greg Anderson and asked him if he could take him. James was a little upset that Virgil didn't call him. I He was going to go pick him up but then he heard that Virgil was staying overnight and his good friend, Jerry Scott, was going to visit him.
I blogged, indexed, and worked on family history this afternoon and evening. On the first page of the family history sign in there is always a recommended list. One of the names on the list was Samuel Lawrence Strickland, another one of my grandpa's brothers that I wasn't aware of. When I went to print a card to do his endowment, his other work had already been done, it was reserved by: Joshua Ivan Gonzales, February 2022. I was pleasantly surprised that Joshua had been on Family Search. I called Stacy and she put Joshua on the phone. He said he remembered doing this. I asked him if he could either print the name or unreserve it so I could have it. He said he would. He also asked me if I wanted him to unreserve Arthur and William Strickland too? I told him yes. I knew about William, but i have never heard of Arthur. It's been too long since I have worked on this line of my family!
I am distraught. I keep my temple names that need ordinances, in a small, 4x6 packet with plastic sleeves. I normally have it in one of my purses. I went through all of my purses and my temple bag and I cannot find it. I am so sad that I have lost it. James says I need to go bake online and print out the names again. How can I trust myself not to lose them again?
I was tired and stressed so I sat down to watch a Christmas movie with James. We watched "A Merry Christmas Wish" starring Jill Wagner, James's favorite, and Cameron Mathison. It was just what I needed before going to bed.
Stuart's Christmas decor
Robles took this picture.
They basically live outside.
