Oh, the beginning of the Pohnpeian people that stole my heart!
***June 24, 2004 JOURNAL: In a Rain Forest
The rain was our enemy today. (The rain is never my enemy - we got to play in the rain!!!) We walked to a couple of houses but since it was raining a lot of people (in general) were still asleep. So, we came home for an early lunch. We met a lady named Yolanda. I order to get to her house we have to go trekking through the forest on a (muddy) footpath and cross a river, then walk a little ways before getting to her house. We tried to get to Yolanda's house earlier in the morning, but the river was too high and the current was running too fast, that's when we came home for lunch. Sister Garside baked a cake for Peter (Yolanda's husband) during our lunch break then we tried to get out to Yolanda's house again. We all went in slippers. This time the river was much nicer. We talked to Yolanda about faith and had a little birthday celebration. By then the rain had started up again. The river was running way too high so we had to take a "back road." I like to call them foot paths. Two-hours later we got to the main road, caught a taxi and came home. We waited out the rain a while and met with another lady.
20 May 2013
A Test on Organization: I am learning that the more organized I am the more successful I feel. I spent a goodly amount of time last night organizing my week this week. I wanted to accomplish more this week than I normally set out to accomplish. "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." We'll see if I organized and planed enough to accomplish my goals of blogging week daily, gospel study and scripture reading daily, couponing and starting a freezer "stockpile" in addition to the normal cooking and home cleaning.
A Sunday Review
We had awesome talks in Sacrament Meeting from two high-council speakers on OBEDIENCE!
Brother Porter shared a story about a dog they had while living in Texas. He said they walked her on a particular path that would protect her from harm and heat. However, she occasionally enjoyed running away and off the path. When this happened she would be heard not to long latter whimpering or crying because of a thorn in her foot. Brother Porter related this to our lives. About how sometimes we get off the path of the straight and narrow, sin then need help to get back. We do learn over time how to stay on the path and how to be obedient. He mentioned that sometimes in life we may simply try to cover our disobedience with bandages instead of fully repenting and getting the thorn taken out of our feet. Brother Porter testified the times he felt the power and influence of the spirit were times when he was most obedient.
Brother Magoay said the focus of his talk was to help us increase our faith and our power to be obedient. He said, in our flesh lies our weakness but in our spirit lies our desires to do right and return to heaven. Our lives are a struggle to overcome the flesh and choose to be obedient. He said that we are obedient for three reasons: first we obey because we don't want to be punished, then we obey because we want the reward and finally we reach a point where we are obedient because we love God. We continue to learn obedience to prove ourselves and to prepare ourselves for the glory we will inherit. We are disobedient for two reasons: we are weak and we are deceived. Brother Magoay closed with, "In the commandments is safety. In the commandments lies the dilema to be obedient or to give way to carnal desires."
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