I can’t believe that two weeks have passed already since I wrote. We have been keeping busy what with church, FHC, exercising and just plain living. My sweetheart has been fighting a bad cold for two or more weeks now. It’s been forever since I’ve had a kiss. But I haven’t caught his cold! So that has had good results that way anyway. He has been able to keep up with the FHC but hasn’t felt well sometimes while doing it.
The work at the center is going very well. I’m able to help people without having to ask other missionaries how to finish up with something. It feels sooo good! A week ago on the same day, I was indexing and at two different times I looked up and two different people beckoned me over to them. And I knew enough to help them. Last Saturday, another missionary asked me to help him help another patron. That was very rewarding also. It had to do with importing another PAF file onto the patron’s own file. For some reason it wasn’t working. When I walked her thro’ it, it worked. Another missionary asked for Brother Sweat and he was downstairs on another assignment so I offered to see if I could help. I could! This time it was exporting a partial PAF file to add to her main file in such a way that there wouldn’t be a lot of matching and merging to do. The nice thing about that was: that was what I was teaching my PAF class on that afternoon. It was very good review for the class. Brother Jim Larsen came to my class. There were nine there in all at one time! The most ever. He teaches the Wednesday evening classes. He said he even learned something knew from me and was impressed with my handout. I got my handouts from Brother Sweat who used to teach the PAF class on Saturday. They have step by step instructions for each procedure. I don’t think he taught the Advanced PAF class tho’. So I will have to make my own handouts for the coming Advanced classes. I at least have an example to follow from the previous classes. It will just take more time to prepare each week than it has before since I already had the instructions. We have been on our mission now for 11 months. I’m thankful that we extended as long as we did. I’m really beginning to feel like I can do some good now and know what I am doing. A couple of weeks ago I taught my husband how to do indexing. He spends quite a bit of time on a computer now. It is good to see him doing it.
I had my annual eye exam a week or so ago with good results. Altho’ my eyes are very dry, the doctor could tell just by looking at them that they were dry, my retinas and everything look good. The vision in my right eye is 20/50 but the left is 20/30. So I’m still good to drive. I just need to put Systane eye lubrication drops in my eyes three or four times a day. They really do feel much better. I felt like I had allergies or something because they were burning.
I also went to see my orthopedist a couple of weeks ago. The nurse measured me and said that I was 5’ ¾”. I said, “I am not! I am 5’2”!” She asked if I wanted her to prove it and I told her yes! Well, she remeasured me and proved that I am 5’ ¾”. When we went to our daughter’s place Saturday to help celebrate her middle daughter’s 22nd birthday, I stood by her and she is considerably taller than I am. She is 5’2”. I also stood (all of us were in stocking feet) by her youngest daughter who is 5’ 1 ½ “ tall and she is also noticeably taller than I am. So I am shrinking for sure!! I used to think I was almost 5’ 4” because I knew I was about ½ inch shorter than my mother who always said she was 5’ 4 ¼ “. So I figured I was between 5’ 3 ½ “ and 5’ 3 ¾ “. When I had my knee surgery, they measured me and said I was 5’ 2” then. That’s what I was the last time I was measured. I admit it has been awhile since I was measured and I can’t reach my top cupboards like I used to could (thank goodness my husband is tall) but under 5’ 1” or just over 5’! It makes me wonder what I will end up at. Oh, the crowning convincer of my shortened stature: we had a Hawiian Luau for our ward party last Friday night and I wore my muumuu and kept tripping over it! Which I had never done before.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
The Last of February to the First of March
Last Monday we had zone conference there at the FHC. President and Mrs. DeMordant of the IF Temple presidency were the speakers. I got to know him at the hospital. He was one of our radiologists. He and his wife have been mission parents in the South Africa, Johannesburg Mission. Sister DeMordant stated that one way they kept their new converts coming and not falling between the cracks was they instituted a program where within one week of their baptism they were visited by members who talked to them about doing baptisms for their kindred dead. They started this by asking if they had any other relatives who were members of our church. If the answer was no then they started telling them about baptism for the dead. They started them on making some records with starting with themselves, adding their parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. In essence, starting on their family history. Within two months they had them entering the temple doing baptisms for their kindred dead and after one year 80% of their converts entered the temple for their own endowments. It sounded wonderful! President DeMordant told the history of Family History. I found it very interesting. The one statement he made that really thrilled me and I sat up and took notice of was: The general authorities (I don’t remember which ones) have stated that those who work on geneoalogy, family history, whichever you wish to call it we be greatly blessed and their children and their children will also be greatly blessed. And angels will attend them. My tho’t was, our children and grandchildren will have angels attend them because of our service here as well as my husband and me being blessed. That made me feel very good.
This past Friday and Saturday was Time Out for Women. I am so thankful that I attended. I had never been to one before. I so thoroughly enjoyed it and feel so loved and so much better about myself than I did before. The presenters (that’s what they called them instead of speakers) were for Friday evening, Wendy Watson Nelson, wife of Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Sheri Dew with Jenny Oakes Baker playing many numbers on her violin. I loved all of it. Sister Nelson talked of asking pertinent and poignant questions whenever things get boring, or we are troubled. We can ask them of ourselves or of others as well. Sister Dew told us that our “Sphere of Influence” was much larger than we can ever imagine. Jenny played some popular, classical and familiar pieces and hymns. She plays beautiful and is quite a showman. I came home feeling so filled. My granddaughter picked me up and we met her mother there as well as my daughter-in-law, my daughter’s husband sister and two of her daughters, and my gradndaughter's mother-in-law. There were eight of us together. There were over 1800 women there. The place was sold out.
The next morning my granddaughter picked me up at 7:10 and we met her mother there. The others came later. The place was packed again. Both times the pre-show was done by Mercy River a trio of three young wives and mothers. They have beautiful voices that blend so well. They sang a few songs then put words up on the screen and had us sing some favorite hymns. It was very enjoyable and also set the mood very well. They first presented all of the presenters of the day after welcoming us. They were Kenneth Cope, Emily Watts, S. Michael Wilcox, Chris Stewart, Jason Wright, and Sharon G Larsen. Kenneth Cope is a song writer/singer. His songs are so poignant and right to the point. He writes many of his own songs altho’ he did a medley of other songs too. One of his songs was about God loving broken things (people). I later learned (I couldn’t see the program well enough to read the individual bios until after I got home—the lights were dim.) that he is now serving as a bishop. It made a lot of sense to me because he seemed so close to our Heavenly Father. I tho’t, “Ahh, that explains it.”
Sister Emily Watts is the author of “Take two chocolates and call me in the Morning”. She could be so funny and yet so serious and spiritual. She talked about Mother guilt and how we all have it but really shouldn’t because our children are given their agency and most things we feel so guilty about isn’t our fault. Brother Wilcox is an institute teacher at the University of Utah. He spoke on the great and wondrous world the Lord has made for us. He gave an analogy of the queen of chess. He explained that the queen is the most powerful piece on the board. And then he said, “You sisters are God’s queens.” My heart swelled with knowing the truthfulness of that statement. Notice I didn’t write and he didn’t say that the queen was the most powerful and important piece on the board. Only the most powerful. He was referring to our roles as wives and mothers, teachers, etc. It kind of goes along with our “Sphere of Influence being greater than we can imagine.” Unfortunately, Satan also knows that and has been trying to put women down since the beginning of time.
Brother Stewart is a former pilot with the Air Force and also a well renowned author. He wrote the “Great and the Terrible series. He could be funny at times but also very spiritual. Jason Wright wrote the “Christmas Jar” and “The Wednesday Letters”. He spoke of the way hand-written letters have almost become obsolete with all of today’s technology. He challenged each of us to hand write a letter that night. I chose to write to my mother. I wrote seven pages as fast as I could write. Karl told me that it looked like my nurse’s writing. J Sister Larsen is a survivor of cancer, infertility and a wayward son. She is also Ardith Kapp’s sister. She mentioned that when she was serving on the general Young women’s board she and Sheri Dew were traveling companions. Sheri has always been very popular and she found herself being ignored while everyone made a big fuss over Sheri. She told of one time Sheri stated, “I’m always a bride’smaid and never the bride.” Sharon said, “ I told her to stuff it! I am Ardith Kapp’s sister and Sheri Dew’s traveling companion!” She got a big laugh out of that. She was also very spiritual. She said her four most important things to remember were: (And she stated that we may have different ones but should have equally important ones to us)
Forgive and be Fogiven
Remember the Lord knows what will make you happy
Keep your covenents
And I can’t remember the last one. They were all very good.
Anyway, I came away feeling so loved by my Heavenly Father and so thankful that I am a woman. The next morning before church I was practicing for RS. I had chosen “My Nature is Devine” from the Young Women’s song book. The last part of that states, “You my child are mine” saying the spirit whispers it to us. And all of those wonderful feelings came back to me. I hope I can carry that feeling with me for a long time.
This past Friday and Saturday was Time Out for Women. I am so thankful that I attended. I had never been to one before. I so thoroughly enjoyed it and feel so loved and so much better about myself than I did before. The presenters (that’s what they called them instead of speakers) were for Friday evening, Wendy Watson Nelson, wife of Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Sheri Dew with Jenny Oakes Baker playing many numbers on her violin. I loved all of it. Sister Nelson talked of asking pertinent and poignant questions whenever things get boring, or we are troubled. We can ask them of ourselves or of others as well. Sister Dew told us that our “Sphere of Influence” was much larger than we can ever imagine. Jenny played some popular, classical and familiar pieces and hymns. She plays beautiful and is quite a showman. I came home feeling so filled. My granddaughter picked me up and we met her mother there as well as my daughter-in-law, my daughter’s husband sister and two of her daughters, and my gradndaughter's mother-in-law. There were eight of us together. There were over 1800 women there. The place was sold out.
The next morning my granddaughter picked me up at 7:10 and we met her mother there. The others came later. The place was packed again. Both times the pre-show was done by Mercy River a trio of three young wives and mothers. They have beautiful voices that blend so well. They sang a few songs then put words up on the screen and had us sing some favorite hymns. It was very enjoyable and also set the mood very well. They first presented all of the presenters of the day after welcoming us. They were Kenneth Cope, Emily Watts, S. Michael Wilcox, Chris Stewart, Jason Wright, and Sharon G Larsen. Kenneth Cope is a song writer/singer. His songs are so poignant and right to the point. He writes many of his own songs altho’ he did a medley of other songs too. One of his songs was about God loving broken things (people). I later learned (I couldn’t see the program well enough to read the individual bios until after I got home—the lights were dim.) that he is now serving as a bishop. It made a lot of sense to me because he seemed so close to our Heavenly Father. I tho’t, “Ahh, that explains it.”
Sister Emily Watts is the author of “Take two chocolates and call me in the Morning”. She could be so funny and yet so serious and spiritual. She talked about Mother guilt and how we all have it but really shouldn’t because our children are given their agency and most things we feel so guilty about isn’t our fault. Brother Wilcox is an institute teacher at the University of Utah. He spoke on the great and wondrous world the Lord has made for us. He gave an analogy of the queen of chess. He explained that the queen is the most powerful piece on the board. And then he said, “You sisters are God’s queens.” My heart swelled with knowing the truthfulness of that statement. Notice I didn’t write and he didn’t say that the queen was the most powerful and important piece on the board. Only the most powerful. He was referring to our roles as wives and mothers, teachers, etc. It kind of goes along with our “Sphere of Influence being greater than we can imagine.” Unfortunately, Satan also knows that and has been trying to put women down since the beginning of time.
Brother Stewart is a former pilot with the Air Force and also a well renowned author. He wrote the “Great and the Terrible series. He could be funny at times but also very spiritual. Jason Wright wrote the “Christmas Jar” and “The Wednesday Letters”. He spoke of the way hand-written letters have almost become obsolete with all of today’s technology. He challenged each of us to hand write a letter that night. I chose to write to my mother. I wrote seven pages as fast as I could write. Karl told me that it looked like my nurse’s writing. J Sister Larsen is a survivor of cancer, infertility and a wayward son. She is also Ardith Kapp’s sister. She mentioned that when she was serving on the general Young women’s board she and Sheri Dew were traveling companions. Sheri has always been very popular and she found herself being ignored while everyone made a big fuss over Sheri. She told of one time Sheri stated, “I’m always a bride’smaid and never the bride.” Sharon said, “ I told her to stuff it! I am Ardith Kapp’s sister and Sheri Dew’s traveling companion!” She got a big laugh out of that. She was also very spiritual. She said her four most important things to remember were: (And she stated that we may have different ones but should have equally important ones to us)
Forgive and be Fogiven
Remember the Lord knows what will make you happy
Keep your covenents
And I can’t remember the last one. They were all very good.
Anyway, I came away feeling so loved by my Heavenly Father and so thankful that I am a woman. The next morning before church I was practicing for RS. I had chosen “My Nature is Devine” from the Young Women’s song book. The last part of that states, “You my child are mine” saying the spirit whispers it to us. And all of those wonderful feelings came back to me. I hope I can carry that feeling with me for a long time.
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