6/24/2018 Father's Day, Crapemyrtle, Arizona Elders, Light of Christ

Julia, our second counselor in the Relief Society Presidency put these together for the three fathers in the Branch Presidency - President Davis, Brother Brown and Elder Waite, and our High Council Representative Brother Loosli.  Reminds us of something Krishelle would do.

They have the myrtle here like we do at home - they are all over and are beautiful.   They are often used in the landscaping in the center dividers of the roads.

 But none so beautiful as our myrtle at home

 Our garage door is pretty narrow.  If both rear view mirrors are out on the car, there is about

 2-3" on either side.  It rarely happens, but if I have to go somewhere without Mike, he carefully directs me out, and, when I get back, I park outside and he drives in.

 President Lee has all missionaries at their half-way mark and as they finish the mission go to the temple.  We take the ones from the Gainesville area. On this last trip, we met two elders from Arizona, first cousins, one from Flagstaff - Elder Call, and one from Taylor - Elder Whittle.  Their grandmother, Ronda Hancock, is a year older than I am, we grew up together.  Their grandfather, Bill Hancock, became the banker in Snowflake and he was the one who gave me the loan for my first car, a chartreuse and white 1955 mercury I bought from my cousin, Ted DeSpain.  Both these elders go home this transfer.  We are grateful we got to meet them.  

You will just have to imagine chartreuse and not quite so shiny, purchased the summer after college when I moved to Oregon to live with Gramp and Gram Hakes and teach school.  Amazing memories.

More clouds, of course.  We do love this beautiful world our Father created for us.

 You have to wonder how a cloud gets a hole in it.

I remember a song that our California neighbor at BYU, Jack Reeves, used to sing .. "Oh it never rains in sunny California, I heard some people say, that it never rains in sunny California, as they swam past my house the other day...."  All to say, that is the same thing that happens here -- but the Florida Chamber of Commerce calls it "liquid sunshine."  

President Packer - the Light of Christ

 

      President Packer's remarks about the Light of Christ, given at a new mission president's seminar, gives added perspective about all people and makes you think as you interact with those you already know and those you meet.  

   "The Light of Christ existed before you were born (D&C 29:23, 29-30) and it will be with you every moment that you live and will not perish when the mortal part of you has turned to dust.  It is ever there.  Every man, woman and child of every nation, creed, or color - everyone, no matter where they live or what they believe or what they do - has within them the imperishable Light of Chris.In this respect, all men are created equally.  The Light of Christ in everyone is a testimony that God is no respecter of persons (D&C 1:35). 

           It is important for a teacher or a missionary or a parent to know that the Holy Ghost can work through the Light of Christ. A teacher of gospel truths is not planting something foreign or even new into an adult or a child. Rather, the missionary or teacher or parent is making contact with the Spirit of Christ already there. 

         President Harold B. Lee adds and gives hope to those struggling with wayward family members or friends - "That light never entirely goes out ... unless we commit the unpardonable sin.  Its glow may be so dim that we can hardly perceive it, but it is there for us to fan into a flame that shall burn brighter with understanding and with knowledge."

       We are grateful for our testimonies, and work to continue fanning that flame.  Love to you all.

.

 

6/17/2018 Tender Mercies, Meal Preparation, Sea Buffet, Beautiful Skies

Friday's Extra Tender Mercy -  A Convenient Inconvenience - We took four elders with us when we went to the Zone Conference in Jacksonville.  They only have so many miles that they can use each month so they are always grateful not to have to drive their car, and we enjoy taking them.  Craig's cousin, Elder Siggurd,  is one of our new Elders.  President Lee said he has a great spirit and knows how to work.  They are excited to have him.  He will do well.

         We have Institute on Wednesday night, so we had to come right back for Mike's class and my meal preparation.  I fix the same meal for Tuesday and Wednesday night.  Knowing time would be close, we had nacho bar - easy to fix and they all like it.  We made it back in time and all went well. Thursday was another busy day that required multiple stops as we picked up food, etc. for the Saturday activity.  Again, all went well.  But,  Friday morning Mike turned on the car and got only clicks.  He was going to have someone try to jump it, but everyone was gone or busy.  Mike didn't want to take the Elders' time, so we called AAA.  While we were waiting for them, we talked to Craig, our family's auto guru.  He and Mike went over a few things and he recommended the Duralast Gold at Auto Zone that has a three year warranty.  

    This is a long narrative to get to the point ....  the AAA mechanic got the car started, checked the battery and found it to be completely drained, but no other problems.  Since we are AAA members there was no charge (no pun intended).   We were - his word "lucky," our word "blessed," -  that it hadn't stopped working before.  It would have been a very inconvenient inconvenience to more than just us if the car had not started for the Zone Conference or for Thursday or waited until Saturday when we drove for the YSA activity.  So if it were going to happen, Friday morning was the very best time and Auto Zone is just a few miles from our apartment on the way to the Institute.

     So many little things - had we been able to have someone jump it, we would have taken it to Toyota service where we know the guys who take care of our car, Craig's auto expertise so we didn't have to research for a good battery, Auto Zone being close and considerably less expensive than if we had been towed to Toyota.  We were very grateful when it started right up Saturday morning.  Ether 6:12 - tears of joy because of the multitude of His tender mercies over us.

       Our Father has blessed me much in the meal preparation assignment.  We usually have about 30 Tuesday night and about 20 Wednesday night and fix a variety of those meals that feed a lot and are relatively inexpensive.  Sister Booker, the missionary couple we followed had introduced an interesting meal.   Basically it is an oatmeal bar.  Oatmeal, not instant, the three sugars - white, brown and cinnamon, walnuts, raisins, craisins sometimes, and then a big scoop of vanilla ice cream (Sam's Club has a very creamy, yummy one)   The kids really like it so that is all that matters.  Rebecca and Katrina posed this for me the first time we made it -- also the first time used this huge pot, but have found that two smaller ones work and look better - not so much like a soup kitchen.

We haven't yet acclimated to the new foods -- not sure either of us will.  This was at the buffet we went to last week, none of which we ate, fortunately there were many other food choices.
                                                          Oysters and Shrimp

 Crawdads (one gentleman had a heaping plate but we didn't dare take a picture.  Our Branch President's wife said all you have to do is act like you're taking a selfie and they never notice.)  The whole idea of sucking the meat out is pretty much gross, but a lot of people like it.

 Clams

 Fried Mini Crab

       We can't have a blog without including trees and clouds. The thickness of the base of this tree was very impressive,  obviously has been alive for a very long time.  One of the long time residents were telling us that the hurricanes and storms actually work on the trees like fires in the swamps, and clean out the dying and broken limbs and extra "stuff" stuck in there.  

More beautiful Florida clouds

A beautiful Bunkerville Nevada sky from just before we left

 

 And a beautiful BYU sky.  We do live in a miraculous world .. 

 Fun sign where we wash the car.  Great place, only $6 to go through the car wash, but for no extra charge you can  pre-scrub tires or windows or bugs, and use their strong vacuums.

The Sign:  "Do Not Beat Floor Mats Against The Building"

 Wonderful 2014 BV 4th of July memories.  Craig/Krishelle's daughter Sarah is on the left and Stephen/Em's daughter Brinlee is on the right.

Fast forward, June 2018 - Sarah, Stephen/Em's son Riley, and Aaron/Becca's daughter Jane-Claire.  They are at Riley's baseball game in Pleasant Grove.

Elder Waite with Josh Jones, baptized at age 13, and one of those converts who has stayed strong and brought the gospel into many lives, including his father.'s  He lost his mom to cancer while he was on his mission, came home for a couple weeks to help take care of everything, and returned to finish.  He has been home about a year, headed back to BYU-I.  Also, no surprise, he is great at sports.

The view from our parking garage .. another tender mercy we are grateful for - we go from an attached garage at our apartment to covered parking at the institute - all out of the rain.

     We are daily grateful to be here with each other, grateful for our good apartment and car and the list goes on.  Most grateful for our family, we do so love them and are grateful for modern day electronics that keeps us caught up with what and how they are doing. 
     Almost at the end of the Book of Mormon again, my reading is in Moroni.  7:3 talks about the peaceable followers of Christ.  That led me to L. Tom Perry's conference talk in 1989 - Peaceable Followers of Christ,  which has great reminders to help us remain faithful.  We are grateful for direction from a loving Father through our leaders today.  

The Peaceable Followers of Christ – L. Tom Perry -  Now I would like to change subjects and conclude my remarks with some counsel to the membership of the Church. We have been taught about the mission of our Lord and Savior and that by following Him we receive the greatest joy and happiness to be found here on earth. We have experienced the joy of service in our Heavenly Father’s kingdom and know the soul-satisfying fulfillment it brings to our lives....We need to, by our actions, show which kingdom we seek.

Could I offer this little suggestion to you? In the elevators in the Church Office Building we place scriptures and sayings of the prophets to make the time that people spend in the elevators productive as they ride up and down. This is an idea we could carry into our homes. We have an appliance we use all too frequently in our homes—the refrigerator. We need to place a sign on our refrigerators to elevate our thoughts. And by so doing, we could remind ourselves of the scriptures as we go about our daily duties—of who we are and what we represent. 

  Could I suggest just a few scriptures to you for starters? The first is in the book of Matthew 5:43–44 [Matt. 5:43–44]:  “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.  “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

Maybe a second would be from Luke 6:35:  “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest...”

6/10/2018 Temple Trip, Wedding, Baby Blessing, Okefenokee Swamp

Sorry for the break - we will try to be better. President Lee takes the missionaries who are either halfway or at the end of their missions to the Orlando Temple.  One of our most fun things is being able to drive those who serve in our area.  We meet up with those from the Jacksonville and Georgia areas.  All of the senior couples that can attend also come.  It is a blessing to be able to attend the temple and another blessing to be able to see those missionaries we have served with in the YSA before they leave for home.

Temple group this time - President & Sister Lee front center.  As a fun side fact - Sister Lee was a backup singer/dancer for the Osmonds back in the day of the Donny and Marie show. The shows were recorded at the Osmond studio in Orem.  She also did backup for other professional singers and groups coming into the Salt Lake/Provo area.  She happily gave up a career for marriage and family.

 

 It was the first time we have been to the temple that it hasn't been cold and it was beautiful.  We have served with most of these Elders and a couple of the sisters.

 

They looked so content in the temple lobby, lots of love.  I'm happy that I took the picture before someone told me they didn't think you were supposed to.

May 26 we were able to make a quick trip to Utah Valley for Allison (Aaron's oldest) and Bradin Hanson's wedding.  We were grateful to be able to be there with all of our family.  We flew out of Orlando Friday morning and back in Monday morning.  We stayed at a hotel close to the airport Thursday night because it was an early flight Friday.  The desk clerk asked about our missionary badge.  We explained we were missionaries - she discounted our room another $20.  Bless her heart.

An extra tender mercy is that John-Evan and Rachel blessed their new little Abigayle on Sunday the 27th so we were able to be there.   Everyone from both families were there, so there was lots of Priesthood around that precious little one.

Nothing better than being with family.  How we love each and all of them.

We do like Florida, still it is nice to see the mountains.  

 It is almost not possible to do a blog without posting one or two pictures of Florida's skies - we saw our first rainbow this week.  It rains almost every day - pours at least part of it. 

All of the Senior Couples - called the O-Zone -went to the Okefenokee Swamp National Park in Georgia last Friday.  Okefenokee is a National Wildlife Refuge covering nearly a half million acres.  Native Americans named the area Okefenokee meaning Land of the Trembling Earth.  Explanation on that later.

Walt Kelly's comic strip characters Pogo and Scooby-Doo spent some of their time in the swamp.

Several movies have been made in the swamp, usually including an alligator scene or two.  

The following was written by Matt Richardson who has often paddled a canoe through the Okefenokee Swamp.  He describes it correctly.  It is like being "a million years away from tomorrow."  We'll add some of our pictures to his narrative.

"A blackwater river is a river that flows slowly through forested swamps or wetlands.  As vegetation decays, tannin leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling tea or black coffee.   (Our guide even scooped it up in a plastic bottle and drank some of it just to show us that it was safe.  The tannic acid in the water apparently makes it safe to drink, even if is bitter.  He was still alive at the end of the tour - guess if it  won't kill a Lamanite,  it won't kill a Nephite.  Alma 55:32.   He also showed us how you can take the leaves from the sweet pepper bush and crush them up to make soap.  The natives - and the guides now - make the lather and rub it on their exposed skin to keep the yellow flies and other pests away.)  

 
 

 Back to Matt Richardson's writing:

     So as you travel, black water glides beneath your boat.  Water lilies and other small flowers seem to defy physics as they dance along the top of the water. 

Overhead a small heron gazes at you distractedly from a limb just a few feet away.  
                                                                                       
The heads of alligators rise out of the water in your path like scaly, prehistoric stepping stones and eye you coldly nearly to the horizon.

You are not in a dream or in some deep Amazonian rain forest, but instead in the sodden, sylvan world of the Okefenokee Swamp near Folkston, Georgia.  You are only a few short hours from home but a million years away from tomorrow.

It has been called by many names, but one of the most apt is "Land of the Trembling Earth."  Native Americans knew this place to be special for many reasons.  This wide, shallow swampland in southern Georgia that held a wealth of wildlife and unique plants that formed soggy islands that bobbed and sank with the footfall of an explorer, indeed seemed to tremble with life itself.  

 (You can see below from the sign why it is called Mirror Lake.)

This one was in a fenced off area

This one was not - you can tell we are not the ones taking the close picture

This is "Old Roy" a long time resident of the park who died in 1972 and completely preserved. 

There are several stills still tucked in along the shores, apparently a nice place for the moonshiners to hide away from the law. 

There is a 90 foot tower you can climb to see across the top of the swamp - 131 steps.  It is probably good that we walk and go to the workout room every day.  Still I was a bit sore from climbing so fast.  It didn't bother Mike at all.

 

All the comforts of home

After the train ride and the trip through the swamp in the boat 

 we finished with a live show that had turtles,  snakes and a baby alligator .. Sorry, no pictures of us holding any of them.... 

Notice the empty seat next to Mike -- I moved so I wasn't even close.

 

The more we see the more we are overwhelmed at the beautiful and varied world our Father in Heaven has given us .. there is no way all this could come about by chance.

-------------------------

     Ether 1:41-43 - An amazing and comforting promise given to the brother of Jared that we also can make our own.  When we are obedient to our Father, get all the things ready he has told us to and then go to our own "northward valley" - there he will meet us and go before us and bless us. And in Ether 2 He does exactly as he said he would - vs, 5 - the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them..and gave directions whither they should travel.  He does the same for us.  

     We are grateful to be able to be here and serve.  Grateful for life and family and prayer and scriptures etc. etc. etc.  and of course, the modern means of staying in touch.  

41 Go to and gather together thy flocks, both male and female, of every kind; and also of the seed of the earth of every kind; and thy families; and also Jared thy brother and his family; and also thy friends and their families, and the friends of Jared and their families. 42 And when thou hast done this thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee .. 43 And there I will bless thee