October 18, 2015
Today in church was the primary program. It was so awesome to see my girls get up
there and be in front of the members of the church. They sang so beautifully. Each of them had a talking part, and each of
them had it memorized and performed it perfectly. Most of Emily’s class (sunbeams) went to the
podium and waited for the program leader to whisper their part in their
ears. As Emily walked to the podium, we
could hear her whisper to the teacher that she could do it herself. It was pretty cute. She then stood up and gave her part. Angela’s part was a bit longer, and took her
some time to memorize. It was fun to see
her stand up and say it beautifully. She
had a big smile on her face, and she said it more smoothly and beautifully then
she had ever practiced it. I do think
she received some help from heaven. In
addition to Carolyn saying her part really well, she also played the violin with
two of her classmates and with Sister.
They played Come Follow Me, which was beautiful. She is quite the talented young lady. It also struck me when she stood up there
today how old she is becoming. She is
quite the beautiful young lady, not in a little kid way like I have seen her in
the past, but just sheer beauty. She
already mentions that she thinks some boys in her class at school might have a
little crush on her, and I don’t blame them.
Yesterday was Saturday, and Jannie took all of the girls up
to Brighton to see old friends of ours.
Emily and I stayed back and got to spend a good 4 hours with each
other. We had so much fun. All of this happened after Emily’s soccer
game, which ended with another 4 goal performance by her. I truly believe that she was the best player
in her league this year, and generally outscored the other teams by herself
despite having 7 kids on her team, and thus, playing in less than half of the
game. Anyway, after her game, she and I
went to the bank (which she called the worst part of her day), then went to get
some donuts at King Soopers, then walked over to Orange Julius and got a couple
of Orange Juliuses to enjoy our donuts with.
We played Jenga at the Orange Julius, and it was all a lot of fun. We came home and played even more games. She is quite the competitive little girl, as
she beat me at Sorry, Chutes and Ladders, and Memory. We also played Bowling and Tennis on the
Wii. Finally, we at some lunch together
and watched Shrek. She was beaming from
the experience and it strengthened our relationship.
A few things about the girls:
Tommy – Tommy is just a little cutie. He really likes going outside and sitting all
bundled up in his car seat. He just
started smiling a week or so ago. I am
still not sure what causes the smiles since they are at random moments, but it
is sure a joy to watch.
Emily – She loves games, as mentioned above. She will play games all day long if she could. She is also very proud of her ability to get
icy cold water for everyone at dinner time.
She moves her chair over to the refrigerator and fills everyone’s cups
with ice and water.
Angela – She is in gymnastics right now, and absolutely
loves it. She then comes home and never
stops doing gymnastics. Whether we’re
having FHE, eating dinner, watching a show together, she will be doing
somersaults off the couch, be doing a cartwheel or a handstand in the corner,
or doing some other gymnastics type of activity. She is also particularly grateful these days,
saying thank you all the time to people in her family.
Carolyn – She is an amazing young lady. We went to a baptism yesterday for a
nine-year old named Addison. Carolyn
hadn’t met her, but wanted to attend since they are the same age. She came home excited about how she made
Addison laugh four different times. She
is a little goofball, but I got to see one of those times, and she was joking
about how loud I get watching games. As
I mentioned above, she is also getting so beautiful too. I love seeing her interact with other kids –
she has an infectious little personality.
Finally, during General Conference a few weeks ago, I felt
like I should write down some of the spiritual experiences that I have had in
my life. I am not sure exactly where to
start, but I will randomly write down some of these impressions as I make time
to hear in my journal.
Spiritual Experience –
October 2001
About a year into my mission, we met a man while tracting
who was a member of one of the large Christian churches nearby. I don’t remember the name of it, but somebody
told me that the church had funded one of the prominent anti-mormon videos that
was out there. Anyway, this man was
eloquent, intelligent, and knew the Bible.
He said some things over the course of the evening that shook my
faith. It wasn’t anything new or that I hadn’t
heard before, but for some reason, it really bothered me in this instance. I went home that night and called my mission
president, who wisely did not give me answers to my doctrinal questions, but
said that I should turn to the Lord. I
did just that. I spent the next week or
two wrestling with the Lord. I don’t
remember a lot about those weeks, except that I was anxious.
Wonderfully, this happened shortly before General Conference. Our district went to the church to watch the
conference together, and Saturday morning, Elder Eyring gave a talk about
Prayer. He spoke about how he saw an
increased spirituality as he saw the strength of prayers increase after 9/11. He spoke about Joseph Smith and how he prayed
and received an answer to his prayers.
It was funny because I looked around during the talk and the people
around me seemed to act the way people do during normal talks, but for me, the
Spirit testified with great power that the gospel was true and that this talk
was an answer to my prayer. I can’t
describe how powerful the Spirit was. I
was sitting there amidst the small congregation that came together to watch the
conference with tears coming down my cheeks and with an assurance that God
loves me, that He answers prayers, and that the gospel was true. Over the course of the remainder of my
mission and at times thereafter, I would listen to this talk and would again
receive the assurance of the truthfulness of the gospel.
This moment was a turning point in my mission. I believe I was a pretty good missionary
before that, obedient, fairly eloquent, and tried to work hard. However, I began to testify differently in the
weeks thereafter. The reactions to my
testifying were different as well.
People could tell that the power of my testimony was strong and that I
truly believed the things I was saying.
I had a real power that was with me, and had success in testifying as a
result.
I love this gospel, and wish that I would remember Christ
with a little more consistency in my life, and to think of these moments where
my testimony and reliance upon God was most prominent. In my moments of greatest need, God has never
left me alone. He has been with me,
answered my prayers, and testified of His love for me. This was never truer than when I heard Elder
Eyring’s talk.
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