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...”