On Yesterday Was An Awesome Sunday!

I forgot that there were five of us sisters.  Sister Leishman, Sister Henderson, Sister Fusi, Sister Wagstaff and me.  I don't know where we all slept.

***June 18, 2004 JOURNAL: Mochiko Powder Pancakes
          If I stay here any longer I'm going to get fat!  Sister Henderson is such a good cook.
          Training was really good this morning.  I really feel blessed to be assigned to this mission.  President Pulsipher is such a good motivational speaker.  I enjoy listening to him speak.
          Tomorrow is our last day together.  The elders all leave to their respective areas tomorrow night.  I'm here until Monday.  Our "district family" will really be separated.  Kind of sad, but it's a good thing.  I know I'm going to miss them. HAWAII PARTY JUNE 2006!
          Time is flying by so very fast.  I can hardly believe it.

29 April 2013 A Sunday Review

Yesterday was a good day.  Last week we attended Nanakuli ward and this week we were back in our home ward.  Both weeks we sang Hark All Ye Nations.  And I thought I better get back on my blog!

In Sacrament Meeting, the primary Presidency spoke on the topic of prayer and revelation.  Sister Laura shared about her daughter Victoria, who went to an activity with her soccer team.  Sister Laura shared that she was worried about this particular activity and didn't get a chance to talk to Victoria's coach about what they were going to do.  Sister Laura prayed for help.  Later that night Victoria called home to be picked up early because the team was going to watch an inappropriate movie.

Sister Fernandez shared part of Elder Bednar's talk, "The Spirit of Revelation."  She shared that less often revelation comes to us like a light switch being turned on.  Instant knowledge and understanding for what we had been seeking.  More often we receive revelation like a sun rise.  Slow and steady, line upon line and precept upon precept.  She talked about how she and her husband would always receive revelation and help with raising one of their sons whenever he was in trouble.

Sister Johnston said the more she aligns her life with the will of God, the more she is able to receive revelation.  She invited us all (not all at once) to come to primary and feel of the spirit there.  She shared her testimony about how living the gospel is improving her life.

The gospel doctrine lesson was "Thou Shalt  ... Offer Up Thy Sacraments Upon My Holy Day." Sister Porter taught us that our Sunday worship is defined by us, individually and the way we observe the Sabbath day is individual and personal.  It was shared that Sunday worship is a process of being sanctified and that we are all in different places in that process.  My favorite part was shared by Sister Porter when she explained that Sunday's activities should make Sunday feel different from every other day of the week.  I sometimes struggle with knowing what is okay or not to do on Sundays.  But that explanation shed some light for me.

In Relief Society Sister Lewis taught from "Being a True Disciple" a talk from the October 2012 general conference given by Elder Daniel L. Johnson.

Discipleship is all about doing and becoming. As we obey His commandments and serve our fellowmen, we become better disciples of Jesus Christ. Obedience and submission to His will bring the companionship of the Holy Ghost, along with those blessings of peace, joy, and security that always accompany this third member of the Godhead. And they can come in no other way. Ultimately, it is total submission to His will that helps us become as our Savior is. Again, becoming like Him and being one with Him is the ultimate goal and objective—and essentially the very definition of true discipleship.

Sister Kalama shared that she learned a more effective way to talk with her adult children about ways to improve and keep the gospel in their lives.  When she normally would address her children about keeping commandments and attending church they would end up fighting about it.  Then she started saying a prayer with them individually, then talking about what they should be doing to keep the gospel in their lives.  Sister Kalama said it is much more successful with less fighting.  I am trying to do this, this week.  I told Nakeu that Pwopwo and I are going to be praying all week!  Yesterday, in the few hours we were home after church we had three prayers then discussed her behavior.  Lloyd and I had one prayer and discussed his behavior.  It's not an instant fix, but at least I don't feel as upset at the babies when we are talking about not listening or hitting or other inappropriate behaviors.

Next Post: President Pulsiphers Message from the June 2004 Messenger, Elder Ballard's talk and pictures from the weekend!

Bringing the Past Into the Present

Back at it.  Trying to decide whether it's easier to type with one hand, or the baby in the crook of my arm ...

While at the MTC we one of the elder's in our district joked about going home and Sis. King decided we needed to watch a talk by Elder Jeffery R. Holland entitled, "Don't You Dare Go Home!"

***Elder Jeffery R. Holland: Don't You Dare Go Home
          A. Don't miss a day, don't miss an hour
          B. Don't live with regret
          C. Serve for all 18/24 months
          D. Every good blessing I have, is because I have gone on a mission
          E. Savor, embrace and cherish every minute of it - it will never come again
          F. Enhance, magnify, glorify and underscore yourself
          G. Plan now for the stories you will tell your children
          H. We can't guarantee heroic results, but every one can pledge heroic effort
          I. We do our missionaries a great disservice if we expect anything less than their best, we can't expect more than your best effort
          J. Obey mission rules, obedience is the first law of missionary work
          K. Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21 - the promise is in the obedience
          L. Be bigger and better and bolder than you've ever been
          M. Don't miss the chance to gain these blessings
          N. It is His work and His glory done His way
          O. It is the hardest work I've ever done
          P. ADVICE
               1.  Teach the atonement of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world
               2.  We want them to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent, then be baptized for the remission of sins
               3.   Do not take the simple doctrine for granted - We should talk more about the basic saving ordinances
               4.  Why isn't it easier to get baptisms? - missions have to be hard
                     - salvation is not a cheap experience - it wasn't meant to be easy
                     - If I'm going to be his missionary, how dare I ask not to get close to the anguish he felt
                     - Be disciples of him who did atone
                     - Christ's only imperfections are the one's he choose to keep, the wounds in his hands, feet and side
          Q. Serve suffering (allowing) the will of the Lord from the beginning.

***June 7, 2004 JOURNAL: The Temple
          I'm so glad we got to go tot he temple this morning.  I felt so much better.  I really missed not being able to go the the temple for the past two weeks.  I'm grateful that Greg took me along with him to the temple for that month leading up leaving for the MTC.  I've come to be entirely grateful for the temple.  A great work goes on in the temple and I felt such a calming peace.  It is truly the house of God.  Overall it was a very, very good morning.
          GOOD: went to the temple, did laundry
          COMPANION: understanding, caring
          GOALS: 4th discussion simple summary, work harder, have fun, teach 3rd discussion, lights out at 10:30pm

11 March 2013
Two months later and here I am again.

For historical purposes:
At the end of January we celebrated Alessandra's birthday.  We had a great time with our family at Shakey's Pizza.  It was, of course, Minnie Mouse themed.  We hoped she felt special and especially loved for her birthday.
At the beginning of February, on the evening of the 5th, Itasca was born.  We love him.  More will be shared about his birth story and first month of life in coming blogs.

Yesterday was a great day to be at church.  We were under flash flood advisory and it seemed like Heavenly Father wanted us to work to get to the goodness.  Brother Patrick and Sister Lori Soma spoke in sacrament meeting on the topic of repentance.  Sister Soma a shared personal story about how she stole a piece of candy and her older brother made her apology and paid her debt to the store owner.  She was five-years-old when she first, truly learned the principle of repentance and about the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Lloyd shared a talk in primary about Jesus Christ is my Saviour.  He talked about Enos' wrestle with the Lord.  How Christ's atonement allowed for Enos' forgiveness of sins.  And because Christ's atonement covered Enos' repentance, we can repent and be forgiven as well.

Nake'u and I were able to catch part of the Sunday School lesson after Lloyd's talk.  We learned that the core of pride is enmity.  Separating yourself from God, from those around you, from your family. etc.  We are constantly reminded of the need for humility because we don't all tend toward humility.  Our need for money and "worldly stuff" becomes pride when our focus changes from serving others, to uplifting ourselves in the eyes of others.  Daily and constant prayer can help to keep our focus on God and humility and away from pride.

In Relief Society Sister Ilona Kaonohi taught "The Grand Destiny of the Faithful" from the Teachings of the Prophet Lorenzo Snow.  She shared about how her son Jared is training and competing in track and field.  In order to qualify for states in shot put he needs to throw the ball 45 feet.  However, he keeps landing short of the 40 foot mark.  She constantly tells Jared that he is doing all he can to train, focus and get proper form.  That he needs to keep competing without giving up and the time will come when he will be able to throw the ball far enough.  Sister Kaonohi also shared a Mormon Message by Elder Holland, "Good Things to Come."  I liked that Elder Holland reflected on advice he would give to his younger self:  "Don't you quit.... You keep trying. ...  Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven.  But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.  It will be alright in the end.  Trust God and believe in good things to come."  Sister Kaonohi encouraged us to read scriptures daily, because the scriptures will nourish our souls with the hope we need to get from day to day, until that great day when the work is finished and the Lord stands with open arms to greet his good and faithful servants.

I didn't realize I thought about home so much while in the MTC

***6/5/04 MISSION CONFERENCE NOTES

    1.  President William J. Williams

          A. Challenge to keep the doctrine pure - Dallin H. Oaks

          B. Teach the simple doctrine of the church

          C. Some times it is okay to say, "Well I don't know that, but here's what I do know..."

     2. President James G. Andrus

          A. We are here to learn what to be, then we won't be salesmen, we'll be Saints

          B. How do you judge a missionary's success - we judge not by any numbers but by the attributes of the Saviour that we see in their grandchildren

          C. The Saviour will know us because we will be like him

          D. The people we teach will pick up the attributes we project

          E. If we stay tuned we will pick up the attributes of our Saviour

          F. We change as we are called to serve and as we serve we gain the attributes of Christ

     3. Sister Andrus

          A. We live in an impatient world

          B. We get frustrated or impatient when things are slow

          C. "Be still and know that I am God"

          D. Everywhere in nature demonstrates patience

          E. "continue in patience until ye are perfected"

          F. The opportunity for patience comes to each of us in different ways

          G. Patience is not a gift, it must be cultivated

          H. Bearing pain calmly

          I. Patience is not indifference, it is caring very much, but being willing to submit to the Lord

          J. Just because we are willing to move on doesn't mean those around us are ready

          K. Christ is the perfect example of patience

          L. Do not let discouragement overcome us, be patient with ourselves

          M. Prayer + Patience --> The Lord with his patience for us, will help us gain patience

***6/5/04 PERSONAL STUDY JOURNAL NOTES: Studying/Teaching by the scriptures

          --The scriptures are useless unless we apply them to our own lives

          A. Know and describe the background

          B. Use relevant scriptures

          C. Let them read the scriptures

          D. Make it easy to find - know the page numbers

          E. Don't pick scriptures that are condemning

          F. Break it down

          G. Use questions to gauge understanding and encourage thought, questions and application

***June 5, 2004 JOURNAL

          This morning started out kind of slowly.  It was alright for most of the day, I was not all here.  Although not depressing my thoughts kept on returning to home.  I really wish there were more hours in the day.  I'd like to be able to study more and to write to more people at home.  I'm hopeful tomorrow isn't going to be hard like last Sunday.  But at least I know I will be able to go to the temple on Monday.

          Every time I learn about the sacrament i gain a deeper appreciation for it.  We talked on it some yesterday.  It helped me to re-realize that we re-new covenants.  All covenants made.  Every week the Lord gives us a chance to try again.  So great!

          We got to teach the first discussion to Elder Foster and Elder Ale tonight.  Elder Ale is from Maui.  The spirit was strong during that time.  It's really great.  Elder Ale has such a strong testimony of the gospel.  He's only been active again for a year or so, and he says he doesn't know much about the gospel.  But when he bears testimony there is no doubt in my mind that he know i'ts true.

          GOOD: learned the fourth discussion, had some time to think to myself

          COMPANION: working on being able to see the good in people, working on trying to say more sincere prayers

          GOALS: simple summary - 4th discussion, pay attention during sacrament meeting, have a good day, not to feel too homesick, smile

3 January 2013

Uhgg.  It's the pits when one spends the whole day cleaning and loses something important...  Or when one spends lots of time folding clothes and the baby decides to re-organize said clothes.

It's been a long, slow process (because I move slowly these days) (two days ...  o.O) to rehab the upstairs of the house after week of fun.  Week of fun was totally worth it!  Also downstairs was forced to stay clean because we had family over for the new year.  Upstairs wasn't too bad, I'm just slow at folding clothes.  But all the clothes are folded now, and there's just pwopwo's room left to be cleaned and to put her clothes away.  I dread putting the kids clothes away most weeks, because without fail one of them will decide that all their clothes needs to be pulled out of the drawers and spread out on the floors.  And only one of them knows how to, albeit reluctantly, put clothes away.

In November I started working on a home management binder and a planner binder.  I will talk more about these later.  I want to get my personal system straight first.  They have both been very useful, as I can't find an app on my kindle fire that can do everything, the way I want it.  Also there's something about writing things down on paper and being able to cross it off that appeals to me.  It's my planner binder that I've managed to misplace in all my cleaning.  I'm sure it will beanbag (for future reference) frog itself tomorrow.

I want to remember today that I feel blessed and loved by a loving Heavenly Father, by my wonderful, amazing husband, by the crazy babies and Dwight the Dog.  Thank you Finale of Les Miserables: "To love another person is to see the face of God!"

Got My Temple Recommend!

Just telling you about my life at the time.  Since I received my call to serve as a missionary I made myself very busy attending church meetings and spending time with friends.

***May 2, 2004 JOURNAL: It's a Sunday
          Got my temple recommend signed by President Paet.  Went to the branch for Sacrament.  I miss the branch.  I'm so glad the people in the branch "hang out" a lot more than they used to.
          Leo came over to help us move some stuff yesterday.  I haven't seen her in a long while.
          Penny leaves the night of my party.  Went to her house yesterday.  I enjoy hanging out at her house.  Her nephews are so much fun.  I'm glad she stayed as long as she did.
          Greg has been over more.  We've been having fun doing fun excursions together and watching movies.
          This has been a re-telling more than anything else.  How I feel about things are hard at the moment.  I've been very tired this past week.  In part due to lack of sleep and part due to lack of good sleep.
          Here is what I know: I'm leaving to serve the Lord in less than a month.  I'm going.  I am going to serve for 18 months.  As long as I have that set in my mind I know I'll be alright.  That is my focus.  As long as I can focus on leaving and keeping myself straight, I am alright.

11 November 2012

I am a cryer.  I never anticipated being the crying woman in the movies and when my babies do great things.  Today was the Primary presentation in our ward.  For one song just the 4-6 year-olds sang.  I cried.  Not hysterically.  Just the welling up of tears that start to drip un-control-ably.  He usually yells his favorite part, "...the best, I can ..." and my heart just swells.  It's hard to believe he's four-years-old.  I see him as ageless.  All I know is he's my baby.

A Talk I Prepared

This is a talk I gave in the Makaha Ward of the Makakilo, Hawaii Stake in January 2004, as a stake Young Single Adult representative

***January 11, 2004 SACRAMENT MEETING NOTES: A Talk
          A couple of days ago I got a call from Bishop Wegesand.  I think he was a little surprised that I was to speak in your ward today and he asked me why.  I, I told him, I think it's President Paet's idea of a joke.  Or at least that's what I thought, when I saw the printout of this year's stake speakers.  I saw the email and straight away called my dad.  He just laughed at me, because he had already seen it.  In a later meeting with President Paet I found out there were not typos.  He had assigned all four of the Stake Single Adult Representatives to speak in 2004 - so here I am.
          I am very honored to be here today and to be speaking with one of my personal heroes, Brother Tiave.  When i was a youth, he was in charge of the youth program.  As I got older, I moved into the singles branch, and Brother Tiave was the 1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency.  Brother Tiave has always been an example of great patience, which anyone who knows his sons can attest to, and great faith, which anyone who knows what he drives can attest to.  And, I am really grateful to be able to accompany him today.  For me, Bother Tiave is a person that stands for his beliefs.
          President Gordon B. Hinckley wrote a book called, Standing for Something.  It outlines different things we should stand for.
           The first thing he talks about is love. He says, "One of the greatest challenges we face in our hurried, self-centered lives is to follow the counsel of the Master, to take the time to make the effort to care for others, to develop and exercise the one quality that would enable us to change the lives of others - what the scriptures call charity . . . . best defined, charity is the pure love exemplified by Jesus Christ.  It embraces kindness, a reaching out to lift and help, the sharing of one's bread if need be."
          Our single adults know a thing or two about bread; or, at least, now they do.  At one of our family home evening nights this past year, we made banana bread that was to be delivered to homes of some non-members and less-active members.  Now, normally when you bake anything, as a rule of thumb the first thing you do is mix the sugar with the butter - and that is the basic mixture.  One of our "bread-making-groups" had different thoughts; they mixed the eggs with the butter and sifted the sugar with the flour.  It was really entertaining to watch them sort of dump everything together, give it a swirl and throw it into a pan.  In the end we they had sort of a lumpy, wad that didn't resemble anything like bread batter.  Aside from that mistake, when we took the bread out of he oven we couldn't tell that one apart from the other two.  So we thought it was alright.  Because of timing, the bread wasn't delivered until a few days later.  I had asked my dad and my brother to visit a different family from the ones they had intended to visit -  which they did.  After that we invited that family over to one of our family home evenings (without all the single adults).  So, I asked the mom how the bread was.  She looked at me for a second, and was kind of deciding to put it nicely, I guess.  Finally she said, "it was horrible!  You couldn't exactly eat it, you kind of had to gnaw at it because it was so hard."  We all laughed and my dad told her the story of our poor, little wayward group.  But that didn't matter to her.  What did matter was her daughter who had considered going in-active and her son who was in-active were able to share a family home evening with us.  The next week they even came to a single-adult family home evening where they could start making friends and feel of the love we had to offer them.
          President Hinckley went on to say, "Love is the only force that can erase the difference between people or bridge the chasms of bitterness. . . . if the world is to be improved, the process of love must make a change in the hearts of humans.  It can do so when we look beyond self to give our love to God and others, and to do so with all our hears, with all our souls, and with all our minds."
          We can stand for love in helping one another and serving one another without taking thought for ourselves.
          Another topic, President Hinckley, wrote on was forgiveness and mercy.  He said, "We have need of forgiveness, mercy and compassion . . . for they are the essence of goodness. . . . Too often, too many people spend their days blaming others, nurturing grudges and planning retribution."
          My most favorite example of forgiveness is the story of the prodigal son.  With all the wrong the youngest son did, his father still forgave him.  This reminds me that whatever wrong I  do or faults I have, I still have the ability to repent.  And because I can repent, I can be forgiven, and because I can be forgiven, I can forgive others.
          We were in a class one day, either Sunday School or Institute or it might have been Family Home Evening, anyway, we were trying to decipher the difference between forgiveness and mercy.  We came to the conclusion that it was  a thought and action situation.  Mercy is the thought and forgiveness is the action.
          President Hinckley went on to say, "The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. . . . Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology."
          We can stand for forgiveness and mercy by being quick to seek forgiveness and to forgive others.
          President Hinckley also talks about gratitude.  He says, "When we walk with gratitude we do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, but rather with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to us and will bless our lives . . . we ought to be grateful, to be thankful, to walk with appreciation and respect for the blessings of life and happiness that we enjoy."
          The holiday season is usually about the time of year when I remember how grateful I am for things.  One of my institute teachers, a few years ago, started a tradition with is students.  He had us go through the alphabet and for each letter write something that started with that letter that we were thankful for.  The real challenge comes as I try to do it year after year.  To try to think of new things that start with the letter "X", and to try to think of specific things I was grateful for in the past year.  But the point was - if you can make it through the entire alphabet then you have at least 26 things to be grateful for, and you must be pretty well off.
          One of the best places to start being grateful is in our prayers.  That is because everything we have is a  blessing from our Father in Heaven.  Being thankful in our prayers is a way we can show our love for our Heavenly Father.  I know that as we truly start to think about and pray about the things we are grateful for - gratitude towards others will become a natural reaction.
          On the topic of gratitude, president Hinckley went on to say, "We ought to express our gratitude daily in countless ways - to each other, to our parents and other family members who have contributed so dramatically to our lives, to friends who have given us the benefit of the doubt again and again, to colleagues and associates who motivate and inspire us to reach higher and do better, to prudent leaders who serve selflessly, and particularly to . . . [God] . . . from Whom all ultimate blessings and goodness flow."
          We can stand for gratitude by showing our thankfulness to our Heavenly Father and to those around us.
          The last thing President Hinckley talked about was faith.  He said, "If there is any one thing that you and I need . . . it is faith - that dynamic, powerful, marvelous element by which, as Paul declared, the very worlds were framed (Heb. 11:3).  I refer not to some ethereal concept but of a practical, pragmatic, working faith - the kind of faith that moves us to get on our knees and plead with the Lord for guidance, and then, having a measure of divine confidence, get on our feet and go to work to help bring the desired results to pass. . . . Could not any of us say that if we had greater faith in God we could do better than we are now doing?  There is no obstacle too great, no challenge too difficult, if we have faith.  With faith we can rise above those negative element in our lives that constantly pull us down."
          The scriptures are full of stories of faith; as are the Ensign, New Era and Friend magazines.  there are a great many published works, produced by the church that detail, describe and define faith.  But all of that has little meaning unless you have faith.  That is because faith, real faith, starts within you.  Faith is what got you out of bed this morning.  Some hope that all of this is true: that the church is true, that there is a living God, that the principles and doctrines we learn about every week are true.  That's where it starts.  Knowing for yourself that hose things are true.  Having that knowledge takes faith.  Faith does not necessarily make life easier but id does provide a calming peace that makes life worth it.  We can stand for faith by building our faith of what we believe in.
          If we can stand for these things: love, forgiveness and mercy, gratitude and faith, I know, we will be blessed.  Revelations 21:3 - gives us a glimpse of those promised blessings, "...behold the tabernacle of God is with me, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
          We live in a time of religious freedom.  More religious freedom than any other previous time period and more religious freedom than any other place on Earth.  We do not face direct persecution.  We do not need to fear for our lives because of our beliefs.  We do need to stand up for our beliefs.  Not by being loud.  Not by drawing a lot of unnecessary attention to ourselves.  But, simply by living the commandments of God everyday.  By not fearing the judgments of those around us, and realizing that we are not alone.  Realizing that we have the support of the members of this church.  We have the support and the love of the leaders of our church  And, we have the love of our Father in Heaven and His son, Jesus Christ.
          I know this church is true.  I know that we can stand up for our beliefs.  Although, I know, it will not be easy it will be possible.  I know that if we do stand up for our beliefs we will be greatly blessed.  Imagine the world described in Revelations 21, a world without pain or death or tears.  That is a promise I look forward to.  It is something I can work towards.
          I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.