I had a slower week at the office, but Gary is always
busy. He works harder now than he ever had to when he really worked!
So, for the weeks’ activities....
Monday, our surprise day off, we decided to go to the
movies, and saw “Monuments Men”. It is a
movie that is a true story about the work of trying to save art during
WWII. Art that was stolen by the
Nazis. It was a good movie. I had never heard of the story before.
The work week went fairly slow. The weather has been absolutely beautiful! Weather was in the 60’s and 70’s this past
week, with lots of sun. Oh, we learned
Tuesday that 4 of the elders that live in Greenfield were in a serious accident
Monday, rolling their car. Only 1 of the
4 were hurt, requiring some stitches, but basically they were okay, thank
goodness! It is sure scary thinking of
these young missionaries driving in this crazy traffic when they have so little
driving experience. There is an accident
or more each week, usually not serious, but damage to be repaired none the
less.
Funny story about driving……Elder Clayton was asking one
newer sister missionary if she wanted to drive.
She said, yes. He said, well we
need to start the process to get you certified then. I need to see your driver’s
license. She said, I don’t have a license…….she
had never driven!! Such naïve kids!
Saturday, we had a senior outing in Monterey. Sister Clayton and others had managed to
round up passes for all of us to get in the aquarium for free. Those who went: Elder & Sister Clayton, Elder &
Sister Layton, Elder & Sister Cattron, Elder & Sister Hallman, Sister
Hammer, and us. We took the big mission
van and the small mission van. Gary
drove the small van and Elder Clayton drove the big one. We had the Hallman’s and Sister Hammer in the
small van with us. We had a good time
seeing all the exhibits in the aquarium, then stopped for a late lunch/early
dinner at Sly McFly’s before some headed to check out the shops
along Cannery Row. Then we headed for
home. We got back to our apartment about
7:30.
Today was Stake Conference.
There was a wonderful spirit in the meeting. The Stake President of the San Jose
California Stake was the first speaker. His
name is President Will Hoggan. In his
talk, he spoke about one Christmas years ago, asking his wife for some ideas
for her Christmas gift. She said all she
wanted was a red shawl. She said that in
a picture she always looked at in the Oakland Temple, is Mary with a red shawl
on by the tomb, talking to the resurrected Christ. She said that shawl reminds her that Mary was
beloved of our Savior, and that when she wears her red shawl, she is reminded
that she is also loved by our Savior.
Years later, they packed a gift in their daughters suitcase to be opened
when she arrived in Brazil on her mission.
It was a red shawl for her, to remind her that she was loved by our
Savior also. Their daughter used that
shawl for others to help them remember when they had bad days. He then went on to speak about the enabling
power of the atonement. He said most of
the time we think of the cleansing power of the atonement, but we should
remember the enabling power also. It
enables us the power to change our very nature, to “put off the natural man” to
become a saint It enables us with the
strength to bear our afflictions. We
need to draw on the enabling power of the atonement to help transform us into
the person who can return to dwell with our Heavenly Father again.
The next speaker was one I had never seen before. It was an
8 year old girl. She talked about how
she was recently baptized, and how she had invited some non-member friends to
attend her baptism, and invited them to church.
She was a great example of being a missionary, and sharing what she
loves with her friends.
The next speaker was a woman who spoke about faith, and her
ideas went along with the things I have been studying for my next Relief
Society lesson.
The next speaker was a 65 year old man who was baptized Jan.
4th. He gave a wonderful
talk!! He talked about enduring to the
end in faith. He mentioned how in the
past when he used to read the parable of the workers in the vineyard, he never
thought it was fair that those who started work late would get the same pay as
those who had worked all day. But now he
said he understands……because his joining the gospel at his age is like those
who started the work late. He is
grateful that he gets the same “pay” as those who have been in the church their
whole lives. That he has the same chance
for eternal life with our Heavenly Father.
He told about the time when he was taking missionary lessons, and the
missionaries wanted him to attend church for the first time. He said he had had a pain in his foot for
some time, but had been afraid to go to the doctor about it, because with his
diabetes, he didn’t want to hear that it was related to that and wouldn’t get
better. Anyway, he said he drove to the
church. As he got out of the car, and his foot was hurting him, he thought to
himself about the scripture that talks about keeping the commandments and
enduring to the end. And about having
faith. And so he just started walking
towards the church, and his foot just quit hurting! It was his miracle of being obedient and
keeping the commandments with faith.
This man spoke about how we all
experience events in our lives that aren’t good. He mentioned some big ones, like war, Dec. 7,
1941, Sept. 11, 2001. He said these type
of events can bring anger, fear, disappointment, loss of trust…..and that each
of these things can cut us off from our Heavenly Father. He talked about having his 1st
heart attack, and happening to be sitting by a cardiac nurse when it
happened. Not a coincidence. He had been introduced to the church through
a ward member. He had 6 months of
lessons before he decided to be baptized.
He said, like Joseph Fielding Smith, he wanted to say, repent, repent,
repent, then have faith and repent some more!
A member of the Oakland Temple presidency spoke, I think his
name was President Bennion. He said we
need to draw close to the Lord in all we do….by working with a difficult scout,
by home teaching, by attending the temple.
Our Heavenly Father loves each of us personally and wants us to come to
the temple. The temple teaches about
love and family.
President Dwight Clark of the mission presidency spoke
next. He talked about meeting another
recent convert, and this gentleman said to him that when he learned about the
plan of salvation, he thought, Why haven’t I heard about this before?? He also mentioned that in the parable of
the sower, we learn of the different soils to grow the seeds, but we need to
remember that nothing happens without a sower planting the seeds.
The last speaker was an area seventy from Hawaii, can’t remember his name. He spoke about the “Siamese twins” of the
gospel……missionary work in this life, and missionary work of the next life….family
history and temple work. He spoke about
Stand Ye in Holy Places. He said the
holy places can be wherever we are. We
need to live and make each area of our lives a holy place by the way we
live. He said at his job, there was a
jar in the office that the others referred to as a “swear jar”, and had money
in it. When asked, they said that when
they swore, they had to put 50 cents in the jar, and it was quite full!! He said, I have never heard any of you swear,
how is it the jar is so full? They said,
we know how you live, and that you have never sworn, and we would never swear
in front of you. So, by his example, he
was making his work place a holy place.
He talked about some something that occurred where he lives in
Hawaii. The youth do what they call a
temple trek. They hiked 10 miles to the
temple for a youth activity, wearing shirts that said “Keep your eye on the
temple”. Then, as a group, they decided
to wear their shirts to school one day.
They created a holy place at their school by being an example. Others asked questions about their shirts,
and learned about their beliefs. A holy
place is wherever we create a wonderful spirit.
The Bible Dictionary states that only the home can compare with the
temple in sacredness. He talked about
the many types of families, but in all we have the responsibility as parents to
teach the children to understand the doctrine (Doctrine & Covenants
68:25) In Deuteronomy 6:7, it says “And
thou shalt teach them diligently unto they children”. Putting a picture of the temple in your home,
such as in your children’s bedrooms, makes it the first thing they see when
they wake up, and the last thing they see when they go to bed. He spoke of home teaching a man that wasn’t a
member, but his wife and kids were. He
would have his sons prepare a lesson when they went home teaching with him, to
help them learn. This particular time,
he had his 11 almost 12 year old son with him.
He asked his son, do you want to go over the lesson with me? The son said, Dad, I’ve got this. So they get to the home, and the son begins
his lesson. The boy always referred to
the man of the house as Uncle Bobby. He
said, Uncle Bobby, how come you aren’t baptized? The response, I don’t know. Do you love Auntie? The response, yes, with all my heart. Do you
love your children? Yes. Don’t you want
to be with them forever? Yes. Then the boy said, then Uncle Bobby, you’ve got
to bet baptized! Then a spirit came over
that man. He had had 10 or 11 sets of
missionaries through the years working on trying to teach him. But at this point, it finally sunk in……he
wanted his family forever. He still didn’t
understand everything, but he knew he loved his family and wanted them
forever. A year after he was baptized,
the family were sealed in the temple.
A holy place is wherever we bring the spirit of the Lord. This 11 year old boy brought the spirit with
him that day, and that spirit helped to change a family.
As you can see, I really enjoyed conference, and had these
notes that I took.
This afternoon, we have face timed with Melissa and her
family (they told me all about their trip to Disney World). Sophie has a loose tooth and is very
excited! Dylan lost a tooth while at
Disney World. Natalie just chatted away
telling me all the fun stuff they did and saw.
After that, we face timed with Shelley and her family. Emi is now pulling herself up to the couch to
stand. Then Hope called, and I chatted
with her. We are excited to be able to see them this weekend! They arrive Friday afternoon. So, we should be playing pinochle Friday
evening! Candice and her girls are
coming over to visit too, I’m not sure when they arrive, but Hope thinks it is
Saturday. They live in the Sacramento
area.
Well, time to end the day now and get ready for another work
week!
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