January 6, 2019 Turlington Rock, Campus, Kanapaha Botanical, New Years Eve

The missionaries are always talking of "Turlington" which is the centrally located, roomy, campus hub.  The other day when I took a break and walked across campus, I discovered Turlington and the 10-ton, 30 million-year-old sedimentary rock from a Florida Quarry that is called Turlington Rock, or The Potato.  

I remember again the statement - when a lot is going on, I'm too busy to write and when nothing is going on, there is nothing to say. However, we will post some UF campus photos just to give you an idea what it is like this time of year.  The oak leaves are falling, 

But the oak trees also drop what seems like thousands of hatless acorns that cover the walks

Just a random shot that was a please the eye and gladden the heart ..

We had never used an Amazon locker for delivery before.  It is fun - you scan the code that shows it has been delivered, there is a click and the door flies open to reveal your package.

For the past 14 months we drove our route back and forth to the Institute always passing a driveway marked Kanapaha Botanical Gardens.  One of the students mentioned how beautiful it was so Saturday we decided to take a drive down a short country road, just off a very busy street that wound back through the trees until you come to the gardens.

Leave no matter where you go ..

We were there late, so just took a few pictures from the porches - they have 65 acres so we'll take more time on our next trip and at least see more .. but it is beautiful!

This "maze"  was built for the little kids.

New Year's Eve we were able to go to the mission home and help with the annual fondue meal President and Sister Lee serve.  They invite one of the zones in their area on Christmas morning for a waffle and ice cream breakfast and then another zone for New Year's Eve.  Sister Lee had all the beef and chicken cubed and the shrimp deveined.  We cut up vegetables and bread for the cheese dip,  and  then got the fruit ready for the chocolate fondue.

Elder & Sister Schroeder (Record Preservation at UF and MLS)

Elder and Sister Cotter (Military Relations)

 Elders

 President & Sister Lee - She is giving instructions.  There are pots of oil to cook the meat, pots of cheese for the bread and vegetables and after that they bring out the pots of chocolate.  It is quite a process, but went very well and the missionaries all enjoyed it.

 Sister Missionaries

Our final thought this week is from Elder Robert D. Hales - "What does it mean to wait upon the Lord?  In the scriptures, the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust.  To hope and trust in the Lord requires faith, patience, humility, meekness, long-suffering, keeping the commandments, and enduring to the end.  

• To wait upon the Lord means planting the seed of faith and nourishing it "with great diligence, and .. patience." (Alma 32:41) 
•  It means praying as the Savior did - to God, our Heavenly Father-saying "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done" (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2)  It is a prayer we offer with our whole souls in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  
• Waiting upon the Lord means pondering in our hearts and "receiving the Holy Ghost" so that we can know"all things what we should do" (2 Nephi 32:5)  As we follow the promptings of the Spirit, we discover that "tribulation worketh patience" (Romans 5:3) and we learn to "continue in patience until we are perfected" (D&C 67:13) 
• Waiting upon the Lord means to "stand fast" (Alma 45:17) and "press forward" in faith, "having a perfect brightness of hope" (2 Nephi 31:20)  
• It means "relying alone upon the merits of Christ" (Moroni 6:4) and "with His grace assisting us saying: Thy will be done, O Lord and not ours" (D&C 109:44) 
• As we wait upon the Lord, we are "immovable in keeping the commandments" (Alma 1:25), knowing that we will "one day rest from all our afflictions" (Alma 34:41)
• And we "cast not away...our confidence" (Hebrews 10:35) that "all things wherewith we have been afflicted shall work together for our good" (D&C 98:3)

May we wait upon Him by pressing forward in faith, that we may say in our prayers, "Thy will be done" (Matthew 26:42) and return to Him with honor.