Good and Faithful Servant

The last two weeks have been full of emotions. Two Fridays ago our former Bishop and Stake Presidency member passed away very unexpectedly. This came just a few days after one of Bryan's classmates from the MBA program passed away from cancer. Our hearts felt broken over these two sudden losses.

We spent the next week mourning as a family and with our former ward family. We both reached out to his widow to send our love and did our best to respect the privacy of their family. We attended their ward Christmas party and hugged and cried. At the end we all took luminaries and placed them along their driveway to show our love. The next Monday at seminary was spent talking about grief and loss and preparing the kids for the return of their friend and classmate who had lost his dad. Phoebe, Sophie, and I were asked to sing in a small women's choir at the memorial. On Thursday evening I attended a book club comprised of friends who spent some time sharing our heartache.

Topher offered our family prayers a few days after his death. He said, "Please help the D family to be happy. And please help Brother D to have a good time in heaven and to see Jesus." I cried at the tragedy and the beauty of that prayer.

Those of us singing took different paths to prepare. One friend approached it clinically to keep her emotions in check, focusing on musical dynamics and crisp diction. Another friend listened to the song, Peace in Christ, over and over and over, trying to get all the feelings out in advance. I did some of that as well, but I also knew that I would be feeling everything while we sang, that's my nature. I asked my aunt, an experienced singer and voice teacher, for her counsel. She suggested that we pray that we feel enough to invite the Spirit, but not so much that it get in the way of being able to sing. That's what we did.

Last Saturday we gathered at the church building early. Our final kid choir rehearsal before our big interfaith concert had been scheduled for that morning. We changed the time and started earlier in the morning to accommodate the memorial. After that rehearsal, we gathered to practice Peace In Christ. Then Cooper and Phoebe served as ushers along with most of the other youth from what used to be our congregation. Bryan, Sophie, Topher, and I stood in line to give hugs and condolences to his widow and their three kids. She had been Topher's primary teacher and when she saw us she dropped down to her knees, pulled him into a tight hug, and whispered that she had Tic Tacs, a treat she regularly handed out to her class.

I told her about Topher's prayer and she said she'd had several witnesses throughout the week that confirmed he was having a good time in heaven.

The memorial was beautiful. We got through our small contribution, thankful that it was the opening number. There were two additional musical numbers and I cried through both of them. All three of his children, ages 25, 21, and 17, spoke about their dad. His good friend and coworker spoke about serving with him as a pilot. And his wife gave a talk, not from her perspective, but from his. She reminded us that if he were there, and she said she was certain he was, he would ask how we were doing, about our kids, our pets, our projects. He would ask what books we'd read recently and recommend one that he loved. He would help us to feel welcomed and loved. Then the Bishop stood and spoke about the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ that make it possible for this family and all families to be together again. He spoke from a place of deep personal connection and love for his friend and mentor. Then we were invited to go outside into the cold December air and watch as his friends did a memorial flyover with their personal planes as well as his own plane.

The stories that were shared matched our experiences with him. He really was the type of person that noticed if you were new and immediately came to welcome you. He remembered names and stories you'd told him. He advocated for our family in some difficult situations. He was a support and cheerleader for the children and youth. He led with love and kindness. He did his best to follow the Savior's example.

We left the memorial, still sad, but determined to live a life more like the one he had led, one of kindness, love, and faith.

If the Savior Stood Beside Me

Sophie spoke in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. She was given the prompt "What are things that have helped me feel closer to my family and Jesus Christ?" She and I talked through some different ideas. I found out that she had written an essay for school about our Christmas Eve tradition. I suggested that would make a great talk. This is what she came up with. I've opted to keep her original spelling and punctuation.

I love this time of year because of the joy, warmth, hope, and peace I feel. I really enjoy the traditions my family has, some of my favorites include; 

Decorating our Christmas tree together, watching Christmas movies, making wassail, and opening Christmas pjs. My most favorite tradition is our Christmas eve tradition. On Christmas eve instead of having a huge feast, we have a simple meal of bread and soup. There are two reasons why we do this. The first reason is what happened on my parents' third Christmas. My parents hadn’t made any special plans so they didn’t have a big meal prepared. Their Bishop came by with loaves of bread for the couples who had stayed at school for Christmas. My parents were very thankful for the bread they found some soup in their cupboard and that’s how the tradition started but the reason we keep it going is because Jesus was born into humble circumstances and he continued that way throughout his life as we read in Luke chapter 9 verse 58 we learn “ And Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the son of man hath not were to lay his head.”

This tradition makes me happy it makes me feel as if Jesus were right next to me and I feel warm inside, I know it’s his love I bear my testimony that I know that Jesus loves everyone of us and we can feel his warmth as we grow closer to him in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

In the Clouds

This evening, while driving home, I looked out the front window of my car and saw these clouds. I was stopped at a red light and my phone was on my dashboard showing me directions. I tilted the phone in its stand and clicked a picture. There were dark clouds below and bright, sunlit clouds above. I suddenly had the impression that the dark clouds could represent the turmoil and sadness that sometimes exist on earth. Those bright clouds above were a reminder that God is there and He loves us, even when things aren't going well here.

Sometimes clouds can be a tender mercy.

A Glimpse

I just got home from attending an Endowment session at the Philadelphia Temple. I went to support a sweet friend from my old ward who was going through for the first time. If my count is correct, there were at least twenty-one of us in attendance to encourage and support my friend and her husband. I've never been in a session with so many people that I hold dear. None of us wanted to leave the Celestial Room when it was over and I kept thinking, "This is what heaven will be like."

It was wonderful.

In Case You Forgot

Topher wrote this out when we got home from church yesterday. It says, translated from the kindergartener spelling, "Jesus loves us." I think it's a good reminder.

Instant Choir

Last Wednesday night I got a text from a member of the Bishopric. He let me and the Ward Music Coordinator know that the upcoming Sunday was Ward Conference. The Stake leaders had asked for a special musical number for the Conference, but the Bishop felt that wasn't enough time to prepare. The counselor that reached out to us had been to a "ward once and the choir director just invited anyone to come sing a hymn as a musical number." He thought that would be a great solution for Sunday.

The music coordinator gently said we should have been alerted to the need for a musical number a few weeks ago, then wisely deferred to me to make the choice. After more back and forth between the two of them, I chimed in. What he was asking for was an instant choir. It looks effortless, but requires work behind the scenes. I said it would depend on finding a song that would work, getting a pianist to agree on short notice, and reaching out to a few musical families to make sure that at least a few singers would join us for the "impromptu" number. He said that sounded good.

And then my head exploded.

No, not really, but it was stressful making a choir number happen on short notice and with no real practice from the singers. I looked to my own sheet music collection and found a Hymnplicity arrangement of Our Savior's Love that would work. My friend who plays the piano said yes to accompanying and I got the sheet music to her on Thursday afternoon.

One of the draws of Hymnplicity songs is that you should be able to use the hymnbook and copy a half sheet of paper to slip into the hymnal with the directions for the singers. It tells them if one line is sung only by the women or if the whole group should sing the melody in unison. This works, in theory. It's fine if you've at least had a chance to run through the song once or twice. But since we wouldn't be singing together at all until we were on the stand with an audience, I didn't think it would work.

My solution was to spend most of Friday night and Saturday morning editing sheet music together. Once upon a time the church had this amazing online hymnbook. You could look up a hymn, then transpose it into any key you needed. Since the arrangement we were using had two key changes, I really wanted that feature. But that tool relied on Flash, a program that doesn't work anymore, so my plan to just transpose and print didn't work. My next solution involved me spending several hours inputting all the notes the choir needed to sing, plus words and some dynamics, into a music writing program called MuseScore. When I was almost done with that I mentioned my dilemma to Bryan. And, being the technological wizard that he is, he found the replacement program for transposing, currently being beta tested. He transposed and shared the needed music with me.

At that point I shifted gears and used Kami to edit the PDFs of the transposed music. Then I printed it out and physically cut and pasted the three verses together, with directions found in the accompaniment, but not in the hymnal version.

After scanning and running it through a final digital edit, I printed off a copy of the music and stuck it in the choir bag.

The next morning, Sunday, I had to take Cooper to church early for a meeting. I used that hour and a half before church started to copy, hole punch, and highlight twenty-two copies of the song. I finished at 11:01, just in time to meet the pianist for our single run-through. This is the first page of the copy that the singers were handed in the few minutes before church started.

I spent the entire first half of the meeting alternating between stressing and praying. Seriously. I sat in the pew, mentally going through the cues I needed to give the choir and sometimes discreetly beating the time with my right hand. I'm sure the talk that came before the song was very nice, but I'm afraid I didn't hear much of it.

And then it was time.

I had no idea who would actually get up. The Bishop announced the song, saying we hadn't practiced at all and that anyone was welcome to join, even if they had never sung with the choir before. I had handed out most of my choir notebooks, but had the rest ready to go just in case we needed them.

We definitely needed them.

Bryan, who was one of the singers, estimated there were about forty people that joined us to sing, including the Stake President who admitted in his talk afterward that he was so excited he got swept up in the moment. From my vantage point, I would guess it was closer to forty-five. Indeed, there were people that had never sung with us before. I made sure the altos and tenors and basses were in the right spots (the sopranos all seemed to know where to go), mouthed a few quick directions ("the women start, watch me!"), and signaled the pianist to begin.

Was it perfect? No. I was very aware that the altos were somehow overpowering the other parts, while the men seemed to mostly sing the melody, even when they weren't supposed to. However, enough of the singers knew their parts and sang them well that most of the congregation probably couldn't hear what I heard. It wasn't polished, but I don't think anyone expected it to be. The singers watched me enough that all entrances and cutoffs were clean, a trick that doesn't always happen in a well rehearsed song. I think we were all anxious enough about how the number was going to go down that we paid extra close attention.

A shared sense of relief washed over the choir when we finished. Several of the participants told me afterward how well they thought it went. The Stake President started his remarks by saying he loved getting to hear the song in surround sound. The best comment was shared with me by one of our basses. He happened to be sitting next to a man who is not a member of our church and was visiting our congregation that day. Once the song was over and the bass had returned to his seat, the visitor leaned over and said, "There is no way that you all just got up there and sang that without practicing."

I'm relieved it went so well. I realize we probably could have sung something right out of the hymnal that would have saved me hours of work, but I guess my brain wanted to do this the hard way. My biggest concern at this point is that the Stake President had such a wonderful experience that he'll begin requesting instant choirs from all the congregations (we have twelve wards in our stake) he visits. I hope that doesn't happen.

Families Can Be Together Forever

Shortly after General Conference last month, my 91-year-old grandma made the decision to be sealed to her late ex-husband, something that I didn't even know was an option. She would then be sealed to her two children, including my mom. I had the thought that I'd like to be there, assuming it would be far in the future. Then I found out they were hoping to have it done as soon as possible. I felt wistful that I live on the other side of the country and wrote off the possibility of going. But the thought of attending kept coming back. I mentioned it to Bryan and he agreed right away, I should go to California for this sacred event.

Unfortunately, there were some circumstances that kept the date from being firm. A date was picked and I quickly looked for flights. And then that date was canceled and tentatively bumped back a week. I had toyed with surprising them with my arrival, but I needed to know if the date was going to change. Also, it occurred to me that maybe I shouldn't surprise a 91-year-old. I texted my Mom and let her know what I wanted to do. They were delighted, however they wouldn't know the actual date until just a few days before.

And that is why I bought a plane ticket on a Thursday and got on a plane the very next morning. I flew from our local small airport down to Charlotte, North Carolina, then from NC to San Diego where my dad met me at the airport. I got into the habit of texting a selfie to Bryan each time I was safely in my seat after boarding.

The last time I was home was May of 2013. They've come to see us many times, but I hadn't been to California in nine and a half years. That's too long. When I got to my parents house we stayed up much too late talking (especially since I was still on Eastern time) and had a great visit.

The next morning my parents drove to the San Diego Temple in one car while I drove with Grandma in the other car.

This is where Bryan and I were married. I love this Temple.

I was asked to be a witness for the sealing, which I happily agreed to. When my Mom was sealed to her Mom it was as if I could feel the broken link in our family being made whole. The sealing was a beautiful and sacred experience. 

We picked up some celebratory In-N-Out on the way home from the Temple.

The next day, after attending church with my dad, Grandma Bonnie and I drove to the beach. We found the perfect parking spot so that she could stay in the car and watch the waves while I hopped out to put my feet in the water. Oh how I have missed the Pacific Ocean. We were there at sunset which was breathtaking.

And then I had to leave bright and early the next day. My Dad was the airport chauffer and I snapped a few pictures with everyone before I got on the road.

I flew from San Diego to Phoenix, then from Phoenix to Philadelphia on a fancy, new plane.

Where other than the Philadelphia airport would you find a LEGO Liberty Bell?

The final leg of my journey was on a luxury bus that took me from the Philadelphia airport to our local airport. I was exhausted and sore when Bryan picked me up, but so happy to have made the trip.

Mom and Dad, thanks for letting me invite myself to your home for the weekend. Grandma and Mom, thank you for letting me be there for your very special day. And Bryan, thanks for encouraging me to go and for keeping everyone alive while I was gone.

Embrace the Change

As a family we made the prayerful decision to pull the kids from our local school district and sign them up with an established cyber school. We finished the applications a few days before they announced a cap on new enrollments. Last week we docu-signed the official paperwork. On Friday morning we got an email with the kids new user names and passwords and instructions on how to access the school website.

Since then I've spent several hours each day (and I didn't realize I had any extra to spare) learning how the new school will work, reading questions and answers from other parents on the Facebook pages, ordering supplies off the lists that we now have access to, urging the kids to plow through as much of the summer reading homework as possible, and continuing to prepare our house to become school on Monday.

I feel like I should be stressed and overwhelmed and nervous about how this is all going to go down. I mean, all the other parents seem pretty nervous. And, honestly, I am stressed and overwhelmed, but not about this. I'm approaching this school year with much less stress and anxiety than usual. When I realized that I started pondering why. Why am I not riddled with nerves? Why am I not freaking out with questions about how I'm going to effectively supervise the real schoolwork (the end of last year was rough on families and teachers alike and did not conclude with much real schoolwork) of four kids at four levels while still running the house and engaging Topher?

And here's the answer I've come to: because it's the right choice. This is the right thing for our family right now. Peter is adamant that this will only last a year. Phoebe is ready to embrace it long-term. I have no idea what will happen educationally for our children when this school year is done. But I do recognize that peaceful assurance that comes from seeking divine guidance, then following it.

Practice What You Preach

I was listening to a book sometime last week (or the week before maybe?) and a phrase caught my attention.

"Practice kindness."

I've heard those two words stuck together before and my brain registered it to mean doing kind things for people. But this time a different meaning occurred to me.

When you want to improve at something, what do you do? You practice. My kids practice piano (sometimes) and math and reading. I spend time on this blog practicing my writing. And we know from research that deliberate practice yields much higher results than half-hearted, begrudging practice.

But how often to we deliberately practice being kind?

That's what I heard this time when the phrase "practice kindness" was said. The inspiration that came in that moment was strong. It said that my family needs to deliberately practice kindness. Because, unfortunately, we aren't doing so well at being kind right now.

I would love to blame the fighting and name-calling and critical words and judgement and hypocrisy and pride on being stuck inside a townhouse together for over five weeks. And maybe that's why it feels so overwhelming and concentrated right now. But the truth of it is that we've had these issues for a long time. Some of us have trained our brains to see the negative to the point that happy, good, uplifting things are not even acknowledged. We have practiced negativity and we're reaping the rewards.

Now, that doesn't mean that every moment is awful. But when a friend recently texted me how thankful she was for this extra time at home with her family because of how strong their relationships were becoming, I almost cried. That is not the experience we are having. Many days I feel like a broken record as I respond to the choices around me. "Please, just find a way to be kind, please."

That is why "practice kindness" struck such a chord with me.

I talked to Bryan about this on Saturday night, then introduced this idea to our kids at the end of our church lessons on Sunday and challenged them to think of ways that our family can practice kindness. I told them we would discuss it during Family Home Evening. Then, yesterday morning during our family scripture study we read Mosiah 4:13-15:

13 And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.14 And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

I pointed out the importance of what we were reading for our situation. I was so excited to revisit those verses and make a plan last night for FHE to help us be kind. Then yesterday turned into an awful day. Really, really bad. I made the decision to postpone Family Home Evening by one day, to tonight. I could tell that we would not have receptive hearts and minds last night.

In spite of not having our official family council, I still asked the kids if they had thought of any concrete ideas to help us practice kindness. I was able to talk one on one with a few of them and hopefully keep their brains working on this topic.

What do you think? How do you practice kindness in your life? How do you teach and encourage your families to be kind, even when they're tired and stressed and would rather be mean? What council do you have for us as we make a plan to deliberately practice kindness?

A Message, Just For You

Every six months, after watching General Conference, I ask friends and family what big themes they got from the talks. There are usually a handful that we all see in common. Then we marvel at how the speakers knew just what we needed.

This year I've asked (or been asked) the same question, what were the themes from Conference? We've all said different things this time. We agree when someone brings up a theme, "Oh yes, I can see that," but that's not what stood out to us.

This was surprising to me at first. Was I not paying enough attention? How could I have missed so many messages? I was sitting in Testimony meeting on Sunday, listening to the many different themes that the people in my Ward got from Conference when a reason occurred to me.

This year a major shift took place in our church, moving to a home-centered, church-supported curriculum model. I wrote about it the first day of 2019. Each family was invited to spend much more time together studying the scriptures, specifically the New Testament, and the Gospel. We've also been reminded on a nearly weekly basis that personal revelation is a vital component of this. We've focused on this aspect in our own family study.

I suspect one reason we each got such different messages this time is that we've been working so actively on attuning ourselves to personal revelation. Each week we've had to determine what our family needs to hear from the assigned chapters, what our classes need, what we personally need. We've practiced listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. We know that the more we practice something the more proficient we become. We have practiced listening, and then acting on those promptings.

I shared this observation as a piece of my testimony on Sunday. Since then I've had people tell me they had noticed the same things.

I am so thankful that we can hear the same talks and yet receive such wonderful and divinely individualized messages.

The Conference Report

This past weekend was something I look forward to every six months, General Conference. I watched nearly all five sessions (I missed part of the Priesthood session doing bedtime stuff) and am looking forward to diving back in to listen to the talks again.

As always, there were certain talks that really stood out to me. Here are the top seven in no particular order:

• Careful Versus Casual by Becky Craven (Peter and Cooper said this was their favorite too.)
• A Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Dwells by Henry B. Eyring (This talk was a direct answer to prayer.)
• Behold the Lamb of God by Jeffrey R. Holland
• Abound With Blessings by Dale G. Renlund
• "Come, Follow Me" by President Russell M. Nelson
• Exercising Our Spiritual Muscles by Juan Pablo Villar
• Christ: The Light That Shines in Darkness by Sharon L. Eubank

I tried to make that a top five list and couldn't. There were several others talks that I enjoyed and learned from as well. And the music, which is always gorgeous, was stunning. The kids did a great job on Saturday and even shushed each other a few times so they could hear the talks. Sunday was a little rougher, but we made it.

There were a few unexpected moments of humor from things the kids said during Conference. I took notes.

Sophie: What's his name?
Me: President Eyring.
Sophie: President Irony? He's my favorite.

"Wow, he's young".-Peter, looking at Ryan Murphy, the Associate Music Director of The Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square.
"Does he even age?!" -Cooper, right after Peter.

"Key change!" -Sophie, every time there was a key change in any of the songs.

"I don't have a wife. What should I do about that?" -Cooper, after hearing President Nelson talk about Priesthood holders treating their wives well.

I'm so thankful for General Conference. I love the spiritual uplift it gives and the peace it brings into our home.

Charity Suffereth Long and Is Kind

With all the stress and worry and difficulty of last week, we would have been much worse off if not for some help that we received.

On Monday evening of last week I got a text from my brother that lives just a few hours away, offering to help. Then his wonderful wife sent a text saying that she didn't work the next day and that they could be at the hospital/house in three hours. At that point I had only slept for two and a half hours during the last two days, so I said yes. They drove two cars up; Leah came to the hospital and held Topher so I could sleep and Jordan came to the house to help Bryan. They were an answer to prayer.

After transporting the girls to and from dance and doing the bedtime routine so Bryan could come to the hospital, Leah drove home Tuesday night. Jordan stayed and worked remotely for the next two days. In the early hours of Wednesday morning I learned that my brother Isaac and his fantastic wife Falisha had offered to fly out from California to help. They would arrive on Thursday and Friday. That meant I just needed to get through another few days flying solo at the hospital.

Later that morning, after the sun was up, a friend from church texted and asked if she could come hold Topher so I could sleep. This was shortly after I had started pumping and was feeling a little frantic about taking care of both of us. I said yes. I did the same when four other friends made the same offer. These marvelous women came and held my baby and kept me company and made it possible for me to sleep. I don't know how I would have handled everything without these sweet ladies from church.

Isaac and Falisha have been a great help, first at home so Bryan could come to the hospital, then to me and Topher when Bryan was home with the other kids, and finally in taking care of all of us when we were home again but exhausted. They've both gotten sick while here, but continued to help anyway. They will go home today and we will miss them so much.

Our family has been blessed by so many people through these hard weeks, those that came and gave their time and those that prayed and checked on us from afar. These are the best Valentine's Day gifts we could have hoped for.

It Grows When You Share It

Last night for Family Home Evening we had our own family testimony meeting. We talked about what a testimony is and about the structure. We emphasized a focus on the Savior and on being succinct. Then we each bore our testimonies.

It may be my favorite FHE we've ever had. The Spirit was strong and sweet and I know that I'm not the only one who felt it. I'd like to do this again soon.

Facing a Fear

Peter gave his first talk in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. He was completely terrified. Peter is my only child with stage fright and apparently he got a dose large enough that it could have been shared among all the children. Bryan and I insisted that Peter write his own talk, though we were available for questions and edits. The process was torturous. He took ten hours to write a three-minute talk. He even asked if there was a backup talk if he didn't finish his in time. Nope, I told him, no backup.

When it came time for him to practice saying the talk on Saturday night, he wouldn't. It took at least five minutes of back and forth for him to even start reading it aloud, and I was the only other person in the room. On Sunday morning before church I found him reading a book. I plucked the book from his hands and told him he should be reading his talk instead.

After the Sacrament was passed in church yesterday, it came time for Peter's talk. I discovered, as I watched him climb the steps to sit on the stand, that I was incredibly nervous, probably more nervous than when I am the speaker. I had been praying that he would be brave and articulate.

He did a wonderful job. He looked up several times while he spoke and didn't stare at his pages as I feared he might. His voice sounded lower than it had before. He had one small snag near the end when his pages got shuffled, but he recovered nicely.

Here's the talk. We were happy that he was able to make it as long as it is since he wanted to stop writing at the one-minute mark.

The Covenants We Make at Baptism and Blessings They Bring

When we are baptized, we make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father. We can find these covenants in Doctrine and Covenants, Section twenty, verse thirty-seven: “And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.”  

We covenanted to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ, to be called after his name, to serve God and keep His commandments, to serve each other and bear each other’s burdens, and to be witnesses for Christ and His Church.

The blessings of these baptismal covenants are that if we keep our covenants, then the Lord promises that we can have everlasting life in Heaven, that we can be forgiven of our sins, and we can have the Holy Ghost .

In Robert D. Hales’ talk in the October 2000 General Conference, he says: “ At baptism we make a covenant with our Heavenly Father that we are willing to come into His kingdom and keep His commandments from that time forward, even though we still live in the world. We are reminded from the Book of Mormon that our baptism is a covenant to “stand as witnesses of God [and His kingdom] at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life” (Mosiah 18:9).”  

Just over four years ago, on January 19th, 2014, I was baptized. When I was eight, I didn’t know how special it was to be baptized. Sure, I knew it was special, but I didn’t fully know why. I now have a better understanding that baptism lets us make covenants that allow us to return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.

If we keep our covenants, Heavenly Father promises that we’ll have the Holy Ghost with us to comfort and direct us. There have been times where other people around me have been goofing off and I’ve really wanted to join them, but then I’ve had a prompting that I should walk away and do something calm. I’ve followed the promptings and left the room and a few minutes later the friends that were goofing off would get in trouble. If I hadn’t listened to the Holy Ghost, I would have gotten in trouble too. This is one small blessing of keeping my baptismal covenants.

I bear my testimony that I know that if we keep our baptismal covenants, we can have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion to comfort us and guide us and  we can return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Saturday at the Temple

Saturday was an important day for two members of our family. Our ward had a planned Temple trip for that day to the Philadelphia Temple for the Young Men and Young Women. This was Peter's first opportunity to attend and do baptisms for the dead. He was nervous and excited beforehand. He drove down with a friend, had lots of help in understanding where he needed to go and what he needed to do, and had a wonderful experience.

While Peter was on his way to the Philadelphia Temple, I was driving down to Washington D.C. I made the drive to attend my almost-sister-in-law's bridal shower in the late morning, then I had the lovely experience of being with her when she went to the Temple for the first time. It was a blessing being in the Washington D.C. Temple with Leah, my brother Jordan, Leah's mom, and two of Leah's friends.

Yesterday, after sleeping on my brother's couch in Maryland and making the drive back to attend morning church, Peter and I talked about the Temple. We discussed the feeling of peace, calm, and love that fills the Temple. And I was able to connect that feeling back to what we want for our home. Peter understood in a way that he hadn't before. He's been to several Temple Open Houses, but once the Temple is dedicated, it feels different. He now has first hand knowledge of that feeling.

I love that he and I both were able to attend the Temple on Saturday. We're both eager to go back soon.

One Hundred and Eighty-Seven Years of Goodness

One of my favorite times of the year concluded yesterday. This weekend, plus a session last Saturday, was the 187th Semi-Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Every six months I look forward to my soul being filled by the messages, both spoken and sung. And with all of the chaos currently in the world, I think I was aching for words of comfort.

I felt that more talks than usual really spoke to me. There are always major themes in each Conference (which is remarkable because every speaker decides on their own topic). For me, the themes this time were: the example of the Savior, service, humility, The Book of Mormon, our ability to choose how we respond to trials, and kindness.

All of the talks are available online to watch, but they don't all have the written transcriptions posted. Because of this, today I'll simply share the two talks from the Women's session (which happened a week ago and the written talks for these are already online) that I loved.

Turn on Your Light by Sharon Eubank, First Counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency, was the first talk of the evening. She quoted and elaborated on President Spencer W. Kimball's 1979 talk about women in the church and spoke with boldness about our need as women to be a "significant force" for growth in the church. She listed five things that we need to do to fulfill this: be righteous, be articulate, be different, be distinct, and do all four of those in happy ways. If you've been reading this blog for long, or have spent much time with me in person, you'll recognize that these five things have been important to me for a long time. To hear them spelled out from the pulpit was exciting and inspiring.

Three Sisters by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, was the closing talk of this session. He told a story of three sisters, one who was always sad, one who was always mad, and one who was always glad. regardless of their circumstances. Then he explained the parable. I encourage you to read it (or reread it). This will definitely be a talk that we teach during an upcoming Family Home Evening.

The kids were all just as excited as I was for General Conference. We all enjoyed our traditional breakfast of waffles, whipped cream, and strawberries. I was pleased to see how delighted each child was when they opened their freshly stocked General Conference notebooks. And even better? They listened to the speakers and each child could tell me which talks were their favorite. That always makes my mom heart happy.

Prince of Peace

Every Six Months

General Conference is this weekend! I've been looking forward to this for the last six months. I love hearing from the Prophet and other leaders for our church. It fills my soul.

Curious about what eight hours of spiritual nourishment looks like? Everyone can watch Conference from their own computer. You can go to this website for all the dates and times. We'll be watching from our Roku (if we can find it) or connecting a laptop to our TV.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from last April's General Conference.

Source

A Father's Love

Happy Father's Day.

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