Church – Page 12 – Letters from Home

My letter this week

Dear Daniel,

Did you ever look through a kaleidoscope? That’s what life feels like right now. We get used to looking at a beautiful pattern through the lens, but it’s only temporary; the world rotates, and little pieces of our lives shuffle to different places. For a time, there is a grating noise, and some resistance to rotating the scope. It feels chaotic and uncomfortable, but another pattern emerges from the shuffling of pieces. Beauty and order always find a way. There are beautiful patterns emerging from this time of upheaval. We don’t know how our little pieces will rearrange themselves, but they will, all under the direction of a loving Heavenly Father.
We love you and we are proud of you. I choose to celebrate who you are, and not focus on the “change of plans” so much. Coming home a little early will not change the impact you have had on people in Chile. It will not change who you are, and who you have become. Your love for the gospel is needed here, and the Lord will use you, wherever you are. I feel gratitude to the members in Chile for their loving care of you. My heart goes out to your president and his family. I pray for everyone.
I am filled with hope and peace, and it will all work out. A silver lining for me is that I will have you around again to talk to. We’ll enjoy the next pattern in the kaleidoscope soon.
Love,
Mom

Some Things I Love

I finished assembling the quilt top, thanks to the gift of an extra day.

Tim broke the family speed record for skiing. I wish I didn’t know this.

After 11 years of searching, then waiting for a sale, I bought a piano lamp.

Richard and I spent about 5 hours preparing French food yesterday, and it was really disappointing how awful it tasted. Ours actually looked like this photo. pc: tablespoon.com

This week, as I ran errands and shopped, I was asked a few times if I was planning to do something fun. Yes! We celebrated Richard’s birthday with food, food, presents, food, and desserts. At Costco, someone asked if the next big birthday was the big 4-0, and since the scales have tipped toward 50 for me, this miscalculation has embedded itself in my heart and grown into many private smiles. I love celebrations with family, the preparation, anticipation, and the memories.

And, if you want to see Paige’s 8 beautiful paintings inspired by The Secret Garden, her show is coming up soon. I love seeing Paige’s illustrations.

As for the Daniel, he had the opportunity to meet Elder Uchtdorf and shake his hand last week, and he was invited to share his testimony in Stake conference. He is moving to a new apartment that has hot water. He has been busy assembling emergency kits for each companionship in the mission. With summer holidays coming to an end, they expect more protests and violence in his area, but the kits are more in preparation for earthquakes. He is teaching Rosa and others with his companion who is from Canada. I had my first bad dream about his safety, and I can’t hear The Prayer (Bring Him Home from Les Miserables) or Danny Boy without tears. Still, I love being part of a missionary family.

One thing I do for my calling at church is teach Primary children during ward conferences. I made this visual aid for last Sunday to teach about Isaiah’s “Mountain of the Lord’s House” and it was a lot of work, but the kids really loved the doors and windows. They also loved talking about how temples are like mountains, places to feel peace, quiet, and see beauty and light. I also loved the comment about mountains being places of adventure. I think learning of God’s ways is one of the great adventures of life. I love what I learn as I serve in Primary.

Eagles

They did it, with so much help from so many people, they did it. There will be only one more post about Boy Scouts of America on this blog, and that will be when we hold their court of honor. But an Eagle rank will always stand for something great, and we are proud of our boys for persevering.

Paige and Michael’s Wedding Day in Pictures

Good job if you made it to the end of this post. Most pictures are by our niece Rachel (Rachel Angela Photography). Most of my memories, thoughts, and feelings are recorded in my journal, where they will stay. If you were there, I hope you found your face in a photo or two. We are very grateful to all who came and all who showed their support in any way. It really was the very best day.

Testimony

I didn’t realize this is how grown up our family looks. I’ve had lots of moments to reflect on life and our Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness in the past few weeks. This picture (even the absence of our adored missionary) represents all that the Savior has given us: absolutely everything that brings us joy. Here are just a few things this photo represents to me, made possible by our Savior:

repentance and forgiveness

the Gospel of Jesus Christ

covenants and ordinances

marriage

sacrifice

missionary work

miracles of healing and understanding

children

hope

testimony

faith in Christ

obedience to commandments

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

patience

love

Joy, December 17

And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be.
1 Nephi 13:37

One day on Instagram, I decided to “follow” each living Apostle. What a satisfying exercise! President Russell M Nelson: Follow; President Dallin H. Oaks: Follow….Elder Jeffrey R Holland: Follow…

In a world full of people publishing things, I have learned that reading blogs, social media, commentaries, and listening to podcasts are of much less value than studying the gospel of peace from the scriptures and living prophets. The words of the prophets have sometimes been hard for me to take, but as I follow their direction, I have found joy where I didn’t expect it. I have learned that I can’t always trust my feelings or first thoughts about what they teach, but I have come to know that I can trust that God works through them.

Joy, December 9

“And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.”
Alma 36:17-21

One of my favorite lines in the new Young Women theme is, “I cherish the gift of repentance and seek to improve each day.” YES! To repent is to be reintroduced to Jesus Christ. How joyful is that?

Joy, December 5

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King…Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together.”
Psalms 98:4-6, 8

I’m pretty sure as we sing in church as this little boy is singing, with eyebrows raised and the words coming from deeper than just our throats, we grow in joy. As I play my violin this season, I give thanks that the Lord has given me a means to express how I really feel, and allow others to experience deep emotion together.

The week of so much paper

This week, the kitchen table in its 104-inch majesty was our repository for stacks of paper for two Eagle projects, merit badge work, hundreds of wedding invitations, and handouts for 40 women for Stake organization training. I really like what all these stacks of paper represent, and neat stacks of paper, some of them so beautiful, were satisfying to see.

Today, though, I am tired. And I hope I didn’t stuff merit badge cards or baptism guidelines in the wedding envelopes by mistake.

That is all I have today. It’s just a full time. (You may know I hate the word busy…)

Tin Tin and Life Scout

Tin Tin has been a favorite at our house for a long time. In fact, I wonder why we haven’t thought to do it before now. It’s delightful when a thirteen year old smiles because of a costume.

This week was the last Court of Honor with Richard as Scoutmaster. He prepared a slideshow of the places the boys have been in 2019 and it was impressive. They’ve camped in snow, rain, desert, mountains, and sand.

This was the last song in the slideshow. (The video is not anything. It’s just the only one I could find with the right version of the song.) It was a sweet goodbye to his Scouts who will move on next January to new leaders.