Saturday Night Stake Conference

You know how Saturday night is always the best meeting of stake conference? Well, this one was especially good. I didn't doze off once. I wish I could put the spirit I felt into writing.

President Sherry talked about relationships. He described an analogy that Elder Bednar made. Picture a triangle with Christ at the top, the husband in a bottom corner, and the wife in the opposite corner. Then as the husband and wife grow closer to Christ, they at the same time are growing closer to each other. (The reverse is also true that as one pulls away from Christ, they also get farther away from their spouse.)

Brother Sherry gave two personal experiences. Once when he and his wife attended the new movie at the Joseph Smith Building about the Restoration which was so moving to them, they came out of the movie and fell into each others arms. That's how he put it!

The second experience was last night they attended a movie at a theatre here in town called "Fireproof." It was a Christian movie about a couple whose relationship was falling apart, and how putting Christ into their lives helped them get back closer together. And the movie helped Tom and his wife feel closer to each other.

He especially stressed being careful about the words you say to each other. They should never be cutting or critical.

President Costellano talked about accepting callings even when you don't feel adequate. Just be willing to accept it and the Lord will help you do it. Pray to know how to "feed your sheep." He said even a librarian has sheep--the people who borrow things out of the library! He said the calling doesn't make you a special person, but it gives you an opportunity to do special things.

New Calling

We were asked to teach the course for teacher improvement. It's a 12 week course using "Teaching, No Greater Call" for a manual. But they asked us to teach it in 6 weeks. The first group assigned to come are all teachers of teenagers.

In the first lesson we covered the importance of teaching and learning in God's plan--that teaching has gone on since the pre-existence and from Adam on down. And we taught the importance of loving your students--that we can pray for ways to show Christ-like love as we prepare the lesson, teach in the classroom, and meet our students in everyday life. I know when I prayed for one of my kids when they were being a challenge, I was given an understanding of them. I know the Lord knows their hearts and their potential better than I do.

Sydney's 7th birthday

We were fortunate enough to be invited to Sydney's 7th birthday party. Her mom made a fun Mexican supper. Some friends, the Brunos, came over to share dessert, which was lemon meringue pie. 

I remember Brenda always wanted banana cream pie for her birthday dessert. For amusing details on how Sydney's pie was made, see Berkeley's blog post called "Lemon Meringue Torture."  

I remember when my Mom made lemon meringue pie my Dad would say he could hear the angels singing. (It's ok to say "I remember" so much when you're 70, right?)

Sydney got a lot of nice presents, including scriptures in a Nancy Drew bag from her parents. The one she liked most was 7 dollars from the Brunos!

Off to visit the kids

First we spent a few days in Bend with the Dodges. Sheryl and I went to the finish line of the X-Terra half marathon and watched Jessica come in. She was the youngest runner and took second in her age group. 

Sheryl and I went to the women's conference. I was especially impressed with President Uchtdorf's talk to those who are discouraged. Sheryl takes notes at meetings like that in order to stay awake. I should follow her example. They had a nice dinner afterwards of soups and cobblers.

It was fun to go to church with them and see Trevor pass the sacrament, an assignment he took very seriously. Jonathan played the organ.

Sunday afternoon we went on a walk to the Benham Falls. 

We celebrated Eldon's birthday there. They took us out to lunch at a Thai restaurant. For his birthday dinner Sheryl made a yummy three layered lemon cake from scratch with lemon curd filling and a cream cheese frosting.

We drove from there to Carl's in a day. Grace has started Kindergarten. She's modelling a new nightgown (and my hat.) 

It was fun to see that Kate  is talking quite a bit now. She likes to imitate the other girls and thinks she's as big as they are. 

We went to Carl's work for lunch one day and then to the zoo.  They have a rare white alligator.

We watched conference with them and Dad and Carl went to the Priest-hood meeting. Grace thought we should dress up on Sunday.

We drove up to Heber Valley one day to see Lois and Don where they're serving their mission at a large girls camp. It's a beautiful camp and we're hoping to have a family reunion there in August of 2010.  Utah is beautiful in the fall!

We stopped to see Uncle Cliff and Aunt Peggy Pyne and he gave us some genealogy on the Rawlins line which Carl was able to digitize.

The reunion came off at the last minute by piggybacking with the next mission president's. We were in the RS room and not too many came. It was sure good to see those who did. Two of the sister missionaries brought babies. Our two Elder Heatons got to meet each other and found out they are related.

Gail came up on Sunday and it was great to see her. She brought the girls pumpkins. It was fun to watch conference together.

 

We drove to Neil's in one LONG day. We helped  Pam do applesauce. We went over to see Neil's brand new office building. It's impressive, from his photograph in the lobby to the nice office he shares with Dr. Hull on the second floor. We babysat the two youngest while everyone went their ways in the evening. Gideon is in kindergarten and is excited each morning to get on the bus to Jacksonville. Eldon and Eric played Scramble, as he calls it. Eldon dug some potatoes. 

It was great to get home. Emily had the house clean, the plants watered, and the lawn mowed.!

Change is in the air

The season is changing. The leaves are turning color. The beautiful red leaves are some poison oak photographed by David Blake down at Findley.  Change is the one constant in life.

Some people welcome change and in fact, thrive on it. I think Velvet and Carl must be like that. Other people resist change and wish that things would stay the same. They get comfortable with the way things are and don't wish to have their boat rocked.

One of the most challenging of changes is when you get a new church calling. We generally accept this as the Lord's will for us and recognize that He must have a reason in His grand plan for our lives to give us a new challenge.

Ken said he was comfortable in his calling as ward mission leader and loved working with the Elders. So just when he gets comfortable, he gets challenged with a new calling--1st assistant in the High Priest group leadership. We're proud of him and know he'll learn to love that too as he gets involved in helping people, albeit older ones than he's used to.

Sheryl loved being the Young Womens president and felt quite badly when they wanted to release her. But she and Jonathan have been given two new joint callings which fit their expertise--ward organists and preparedness specialists. They will learn from these callings and from doing them cooperatively. It will prepare them to be senior couple missionaries some day!

The Andrei got shaken up too. Mike was released as executive secretary and called to be the Young Men's president. And then, so there wouldn't be two presidents in one family, they released Brenda as Primary president and asked her to teach the 15-year olds in Sunday School. The teens will love her and respect her because she's not old fashioned and knows how to communicate with them.

We are proud of you all for accepting these new assignments with enthusiasm. We pray the Lord will bless you as you fulfill them faithfully. I can personally witness to the growth that has come through study and service in the various callings I have had. I know the Spirit prompts you to know what is needed to be done in that calling and fills in to make up for your weaknesses. I also know the Lord loves you for accepting these new callings and helping His work go forward. Just like you promised to do in the Temple!

Visit to Stephanie's new apartment

It's rather amazing to see your granddaughter who was just a little girl yesterday, being a mom and homemaker.

Eldon and Emily and I were invited up to Steph and Jeff's for Sunday supper. I don't know why but I was surprised she is a good cook! She had an excellent casserole, a salad, and green beans. I think Jeff made the brownies. 

They live in a beautiful area on a hill out in the country west of Salem and in a very nice complex of apartments. They should be quite comfortable there while Jeff is in graduate school. Steph was called to be the Primary pianist and Jeff is serving in the Elders quorum and on the Scout advancement committee.  A new meeting house is planned just a few blocks away.

They showed us pictures and souvenirs from their trip. It sounds like they had some great adventures. Perhaps the highlight was getting to go to the temple--Stephanie in French and Jeff in German--while the other tended Ariana.

Bald Hill

Emily doesn't have a lot to do until school starts besides running and more running. In fact when Bishop Harper asked her to be the Relief Society pianist she asked, "Is that all?"

So one day we decided to hike up Bald Hill. I love autumn time with the crisp air and leaves turning color. It was worth the hike to see the view of the valley to the west.

Later in the day Em went running with a nice boy named Jacob in the same area and took a tumble, not for the boy but the ground and came home with her arm bleeding enough that Grandpa bandaged it up.