Sweet Sisters & Time Out For Women

Marky Forrest is a sweet sister I've become very close to.  She teaches aerobic swim lessions for people who have challenges with arthritis and limited movement.  We became instant friends.  She's an avid seamstress and makes beautiful princess dresses for her granddaughter "all without a pattern."  She took me to find fabric for the baby quilt I'm working on for my new granddaughter.  The shirt she has on is her commitment to start biking again.  She couldn't face doing it after her brother died as they had enjoyed so much time together on their bikes.

Helena Lawson is in a private care nursing home, and has scoliosis of the spine.  It is shaped like a huge "S".  She is very crippled and weak, but has a cute spark to her personality that draws you in.  I can't begin to tell you what a connection she and I have.  I felt it the first time I saw her and felt I had known her before.  Saturday when we were ready to leave I held back because I didn't want to go, and I could tell she didn't want me to either.  I touched her sweet face and told her I loved her.  She lamented that I had to leave, and I told her we'd never be far apart because our hearts are connected.  She said, "I know, we were very close before we came here, and have found each other again. We are friends forever."

Coco is a friend of Helena's that has enjoyed hearing the stories and testimonies we come to share about the Savior.  She is a Jehovah Witness.  She said she wants to learn about the gospel so the Elders are now coming to teach her.  Her memory is not good, but she enjoys the visits.  We are getting her a large print of the King James Bible and Book of Mormon.  She wants to read them.  She cannot walk and will probably never be baptized, but she will recognize the gospel when she leaves this world.  She is a cute and sweet lady. 

Sisters Shell, Hulse, Clark, Tingey are new sisters in our area.  They'll be serving in Mesquite.  When we first came out on our mission there were 6 sets of missionaries serving on the new pilot program.  There are now 46 serving in this calling.  We report to Salt Lake quarterly to let them know how and what is working for us on the new program.  We decided to meet at the temple so we could "get to know" each other.  Sis. Campbell is taking the picture.

Last weekend we went to "Time Out For Women".  It was in Arlington and took us about 45 minutes to get there.  It is a wonderful time for all us women in the church.  I love the fact that so much effort is taken to help meet our needs and concerns.  This year, along with the programs for women they had a "Time Out For Girls" as well.  It was very well attended.

Bishop John Bytheway stepped in at the last minute for a speaker that couldn't make it.  His talk was on "Blessings in Disguise".  He spent some time with us, but also talked with the young girls in their session.  A quote he used, which I really liked was:  "Suffering is mandatory, Misery is optional."  It made me think of a story I heard once about a blind, elderly woman who's children could no longer take care of her.  They packed her up and moved her to a nursing home.  As she entered her new home (room), she exclaimed with joy, "Oh, I just love this, it is perfect!"  My perspective is not always as positive as this sweet woman but her feelings echo the quote so well.  We can truly be, and accept things in life anyway we want to, but the blessings come when we choose joy.

I was also touched by Bro. Chris Williams talk and sought him out during the break.  He lost his wife and two of his four children in an automobile accident.  He, his wife and three children were in a car and sideswiped by a drunk driver.  His oldest son was not with them at the time.  He shared his story about being in the hospital and finally being able to go see his young son who had not been killed, but was in the intensive care unit.  He said his shock was so intense that he could not even begin to see his way through all the obstacles at hand, and talked about the months that he felt abandoned and alone even though he somehow knew he was being carried by angels.  One day, as he knelt in prayer, he felt the spirit whisper, "Let it go"; and then he said he heard his wife say something that she had often said to him when he was feeling down..."Buck up Charlie!"

He talked about his path to forgiveness of the young man who had hit them.  He finally went to the prison to visit him and relief came as he was able to forgive....and let go.  The young man is not a member of the church, but has now changed his life and found happiness in marriage.  He talks often of the wonder that Bro. Williams was able to forgive.

The light of Christ helps us overcome tragedy.  Sometimes the Savior let's us grow slowly, but when we continue in faith we can be healed.  He knows our sorrow, he's felt our pain.



  

Love, No Matter What

I feel like I've been wrapped in a warm blanket by the beautiful blessings of conference this past weekend.  I go along doing the things I do every day, and then suddenly I'll feel the spirit close to me....testifying of the things I learned. I just love the gospel so much!  I relish the amazing blessings of having a Prophet of God, and Apostles on the earth.  The greatest blessing of all is that I know!  My heart aches for those who don't.......

Pres. Eyring gave a talk that made me think of so many sisters I visit, and people I've seen struggle through challenges they face in their homes and lives.  We each have gifts given to us so we can bare the tests.  The gifts of hope and faith always enter in, but there are also other things that we learn, or were given before we came here that prepare us for those trials.  I will share a section of his talk.

Pres. Henry W. Eyring  "To My Grandchildren" "Life in families will test us. That is one of God's purposes in giving us the gift of mortality - to strengthen us by passing through tests.  That will be especially true in family life, where we will find great joy, and great sorrow, and challenges which may at times seem beyond our power to endure.  You will need that assurance, as I have needed it.  I have tried to seek and feel the power of the Atonement.  I have prayed with faith that human angels would come to their aid, and they came.  God has devised means to save each of His children.  For many,  that involves being placed with a brother or a sister or a grandparent who loves them no matter what they do.

Years ago a friend of mine spoke of his grandmother.  She had lived a full life, always faithful to the Lord and to His Church.  Yet one of her grandsons chose a life of crime.  He was finally sentenced to prison.  My friend recalled that his grandmother, as she drove along a highway to visit her grandson in prison, had tears in her eyes as she prayed with anguish, "I've tried to live a good life.  Why do I have this tragedy of a grandson who seems to have destroyed his?" The answer came to her mind in these words:  "I gave him to you because I knew you could and would love him no matter what he did."  (end quote)

This brought me back to an experience I had with my mother when I was 14 years old.  I had a lead in the junior high school musical.  We had been working on it for several months during which time my mother started having back problems.  Soon she had to go to the hospital for surgery.  At that time people were in the hospital for a long time when they had surgery.  When my mother came home she had to have a hospital bed for a few weeks because she wasn't supposed to move, or sit for very long at a time.  I would come home from school to help take care of her, and remember giving her sponge baths and other things to help her.  My grandmother came and helped me learn how to cook some simple things.  I felt a special sense of love in being able to do these things for her.  By letting me help her she was teaching me the joy of service, and about unconditional love.

As time approached for the performance, I knew my mother would not be able to attend.  She couldn't sit for all that time without pain.  The production was about 1 1/2 hours.  I gave her a kiss goodbye, and promised I would do my best. I was back stage just before the show began and a friend called me to come to the door.  I looked out and there was my dad pushing mother in, in a wheelchair.  Tears came to my eyes as I thought of the great sacrifice she was making.... for me.  She taught me about love.  She taught me about loving her children no matter what, and about making the sacrifices necessary to show that love.  Some of those sacrifices were big, some were small; but they left me and my brother with a sure knowledge of her devotion to us.

Pres. Eyring's talk answered a question I've had at times, when there have been challenges in my own family.  I've asked myself a few times why I was placed in the position I'm in.  Why did I have to bare trials, sorrow, and carry the particular burdens that were there for me.  I've wondered if I was weak in the pre-existence and needed more trials than most people to perfect myself.   Then I thought of my mother and of her trials.  I thought of so many sweet sisters here on my mission who suffer with illnesses and events in their homes that are great burdens for them.  I  realized that I indeed had learned to love.  Perhaps Heavenly Father was saying to me and all who suffer or grieve; "I gave you these trials before you came here because I knew you could... and would, love no matter what.

Plano Balloon Festival

This past weekend we were able to attend the Plano Balloon Festival. I had seen one on television years ago, and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was one here.  Sister Hulse,

Sister Shell and I went together.  Sister Campbell was away in Salt Lake.  We were anxious to take advantage of everything we could.

It opened at 5:00 Friday evening, but it started raining hard so we knew nothing was going to happen.  Saturday morning we got up at 5:00.  It was a beautiful sunrise and we were positioned on our spot of (probably the only hill) in Plano. We waited until 7:00 only to find that the wind was blowing in the wrong direction so they still couldn't take flight. They did, however, inflate the balloons so we could see them and take photos. There was a festival of a few vendors, but it was very small compared to our North Bend, and Salmon Days.

We left for the rest of the day but returned at 5;00 Saturday evening.  We watched the paraglider's come down.  It made me think fondly of Cade and how much he loved the sport.  However, there was another wind going the wrong direction so we still didn't get to see the balloons take flight.  We stayed to see the "balloon glow" but the only balloons that flew were the one's the kids lost. The crowds of people were amazing.  The picture only shows one direction, but we were surrounded by the same amount of people everywhere.  At one point we counted 32 balloons, but we knew there were more in the back that we couldn't see.

                                 

Well, Sunday morning came.  I resisted the urge to go sit in some parking lot close to the park and see if they lifted off this time.  Church starts in Plano 4th Ward at 9:00.  Marjean had a presidency meeting at the house at 8:00.  When her guests arrived they said, "Go look out the back window!"  They had seen eight or nine balloons earlier.  "I think we only got the tail end.....  Oh well, maybe another year!"