Sunday

I had an amazing experience this weekend and last week. I want to write it down so I don't forget. I had known for a while that I would be teaching Relief Society in the Spanish Ward in my Stake for their Ward Conference. I asked their Ward Relief Society President that if there was anything that she wanted me to teach and also told her that I all ready had a lesson prepared that I had taught in another Spanish Branch Conference. She said that it was fine so I was glad that I did not have to prepare another lesson. But everyday this past week when I woke up in the morning I would wake up with a new idea that I had to share with the sisters of that Ward. I also was asked earlier this week to speak at another Spanish Branch RS birthday celebration. Everyday the thoughts kept coming for both the talk and the lesson. As part of my lesson I was going to share a pioneer story from the Hanson family just like I had done in the Branch lesson a couple of months ago. But when I woke up Sunday morning it was clear that I was not to share that story but instead I was to share my story. I was in tears on the way to church I felt the spirit so strong that someone needed to hear that everything is going to be fine in spite of our adversities, that she could learn from my experience that after being a widow and everything that I had gone through that it will all be OK. I gave my lesson and at the end shared my story, I could barely speak and told them how Heavenly Father had blessed me with a wonderful husband and that we now had 5 kids. I told them that going through it made me a stronger person and all of our trials and circumstances whether good or bad are for our progress. After the lesson a few sisters came and hugged me, the RS president said there was not a dry eye in the room. One of those sisters that hugged me could not stop crying and another one said she was also a widow. But the last sister told me that recently her husband had abandoned her and that on Saturday she had no self esteem but now Sunday after hearing me she felt uplifted, she felt better and that things would be fine. I was crying on the way home. I knew that the Lord loved her and He was thinking about her. My lesson was for her!! That is why I had to tell my story. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us and our suffering and trials, I am humbled to have been able to help her. Like I told the sisters we are Heavenly Father's daughters and he loves us and knows us each and everyone of us! He wants us to be happy and to return to Him again. I am amazed at how eventhough it was the same lesson, it was completely different in each of the two Relief Societies. Heavenly Father knows what we need and each lesson was taught especifically for the sisters there!!

Conner

Recently I was scanning old pictures of Conner because we are making a DVD of his pictures for his baptism. I can't believe he is getting baptized. These are some of the pictures.

Alison's mission call

On Wednesday Alison got her mission call. She is going to the Milan Italy mission. We are so excited for her. She has never liked spaghetti so now she will get to eat a lot of it!! She is going to do a great job! We are proud of her!

Time Out For Women: SEEK THE GOOD

Virginia Hinckley Pearce

Chris Williams

Jericho Road (not a good picture)

Our Best Bites: Sara Wells Kate Jones

Hillary Weeks and my friend Carmen Anglero

Virginia Hinckley Pearce: I really liked her talk!

She spoke about "Forgiveness". She started out by saying that we need to forgive all who hurt us. She said that in the pre-existence we had so much faith in Jesus Christ that He would do what he said He would do, that we risked everything to come to earth. Jesus extended forgiveness to everyone. He healed all the wounds that we inflict and that others inflict on us if we allow Him too. She quoted Ephesians 4:32 Where it says to "Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another; even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. She said forgiveness is possible even when there is no restitution or remorse on the other person's part. Forgiveness is between you and the Lord. The critical part is to listen to what the Lord will direct you to do next. Sometimes He will direct you to the other person sometimes He will not. When we want to forgive it puts us on the path to forgiveness. To want forgiveness creates the ability for the Lord to help you. Sometimes it takes a long time to work through pain and loss, but always keep a place in our heart for forgiveness. Forgiveness is comlete when we spontaneously desire good things for the perpetrator. The Temple is a great place to be when we desire forgiveness. Carrying around resentment and nursing unhealed wounds, keeps the Lord from helping us to forgive (Powerful words). She said we should put ourselves in the other persons shoes, and look at the situation through the other persons point of view. We SHOULD expect our lives ot be difficult. The idea that we should not have things happen to us is against the plan of Heavenly Father. Life is going to be hard. Sometimes it is us who hurt others!! Jesus came to bind up our wounds and the wounds of those whom we have hurt, because we ALL have hurt someone. Plead with the Lord to help us to FORGIVE!!

Hillary Weeks: The Power of THINKING

Brighan Young said: Learn to control our thoughts! She had a "clicker" and she used it to record her negative thoughts. She was averaging 300 negative thoughts in a day!! She said that luckily she did not take it to church! HAHA. Her kids noticed how many negative clicks she had so she decided to start clicking for her positive thoughts. She said "Focusing on what is good and positive, is the environment in which the Spirit can reside" (something like that, I really liked it). Elder Richard G. Scott said "We become what we want to be, by consistently being what we want to become" (love it). Michael Wilcox said "Our souls were not made by God to be sorrows home"(love it too).

Sheri Dew: 2 Nephi 28:30 Line upon line, precept upon precept

Listen and try to receive what message the Lord has for you. Mind the gap, the gaps in our lives. Gaps about who we are, who we see we are, who we can become. There are many things we are dealing with (not being married, not having children, as this is the case with her). she said she was very shy and missed out on a lot while at BYU. "Heavenly Father expects the same from her as from someone who is married and has children, because life is about what comes next", she said. "This life is not about this life. This life is about what comes next", she said (I love this quote). Putting on the whole armor of God is to be suited for God. Just ask the Lord (D&C 88:118) and He will teach you. Make time to seek to understand the gospel, to know, to seek revelation one step at a time. Read the scriptures and pray daily. Pleading for the gifts of the Spirit is pleading to be more like the Savior. Plead for gifts to be more kind and pleasant. Plead to identify your weaknesess. The way to put on the whole armor of God is to receive what our Father has given us, the power in the gift of the Holy Ghost and the power of the Priesthood. She said "Sink your roots deep". We can not do anything alone, we are to be strong because we are here in the Latter-Days!

Chris Williams: Forgiveness

On February 9th, 2007 He was in a car accident that killed his wife and 2 of his 4 children. 3 of his children were in the car, one of those two killed was his only daughter. Right after it happened and while still buckled up he looked back and knew that his children were were dead, there was no sign of life. After he saw them he heard a voice that said "let it go!". He commited to let it go and not lash out. These trials are an opportunity to grow and bring miracles into our lives. He has since remarried a widowed woman and has 2 daughters with her, one was born last month. These little girls helped heal his oldest son who had a hard time with losing his brother, sister and mother. He is now serving a mission. The last little girl was born on February 25, the same day his son Benjamin was born, the one who past away in the accident. Two hours after the accident he said he was in pain from his injuries. He found someplace in the hospital where he could be alone and let it all out. He said "he lost it", emotionally. He heard a voice that said "buck up". He knows it was his wife because that is what she used to say to him. Immediately he knew to not have "self pitty". He spent many hours praying with gratefulness for all the things he had experienced, for 18 1/2 years with his wife. He was greateful for Jesus, for suffering for his pains. He also felt repentant because he felt inadecuate to express gratitude for Jesus Christ's suffering for him. He learned the Lord wants us to have mercy. At a press conference he asked people to forgive others. He forgave the young man who caused the accident. He felt his wife and children were busy helping others, so he felt he needed to be busy himself. He ended by saying, "What burden could you lay at the Lord's feet that he can have a miracle come into your life?"

Afterwards I went and spoke with him. His talk really touched me because I had been through it, with the difference that I never knew who had caused the accident and I never had hatred toward anyone. I thanked him and told him that I knew what it was like to lose a spouse but that I, just like him had remarried and that I knew healing is possible!

Sara Wells and Kate Jones ( they wrote: Our Best Bites) Don't let the social media make you feel inadequate!

I really liked their "400 Special". Which is when they don't have time to cook and they rumage through everything in the freezer and they look for foods that they can bake at 400 degrees (chicken nuggets, french fries etc.) I LOVED IT. Sometimes I do that! President Uchdorf said "Don't let fear paralize you! Whether it is from the inside or the outside. We do have talents sometimes they can't be seen. Elder Ballard said "spend a little time to develop talents. Pick a couple of things to work on." Enjoy the moment everyday. No matter what stage we are in our lives we have divine gifts, enjoy every stage!

Anthony Sweet: Charity

Why is it necessary? Enos said; My soul hungered! We all hunger for something like happiness and joy. Charity feeds that hunger. Lehi found himself in a dark and dreary waste. Charity gives light to that darkness. Charity is about the Savior. Moroni7:44; charity is linked to our believe that Jesus is the Savior. Julie B. Beck said in a BYU womens conference that "Charity is the atonement working in us, purifying us, changing us. Is becoming like the Savior. Charity is when I receive of the love of God that pure love that God has for us, we receive it, we feel it, we taste it. When we are posessed with it then we do what we are here to do; Moroni 7:46-48. These are the effects of charity. Partake of the fruit of the atonement then the effects of charity will happen, will take place in our life. We then pass that love unto others. He said that "we should all be charity cases." Some people turn to the wrong place, sources to fill their hunger. If we want to feel love in our life, the love of God will fill that hunger, or everything else like peace, beauty, happiness and joy. The adversary uses counterfit things to momentarily fill that hunger. 1 Nephi 8, The vision of the tree of life. The tree is Jesus and the fruit, the atonement or love of God or charity and makes one happy. When we partake of the love of God we will want to pass it on, it won't be forced. How do I then feel God's love in my life? Through his blessings. Anything that brings the Holy Ghost into our lives, to influence it, is partaking of His love or charity. The effects of charity: it will fill our soul and feed that hunger. Seek for the Good Shepherd.

Wendy Ulrich: Forgiveness

Be reconciled with thy brother! If someone else is mad at you, you go reconcile with him/her, not that you are mad at someone, it is that someone else is mad at you. Make it easy for others to forgive or be reconciled with you.

Quiz:

Who has annoyed you or hurt you lately?

If that person sincerely apologized, how would it help?

Who's been annoyed with YOU or hurt by YOU lately?

Have you sincerely apologized to them? If not, do you know what is stopping YOU?

We find ourselves saying "That is NOT fair!" We have strong ideas about what is fair. We have different ideas of what is fair. "We judge ourselves by our own intentions but judge others by their behavior/actions!" and viseversa "they judge us by our behavior and they judge themselves by their intentions (I like this quote).

Sometimes we don't know how to apologize or we might see an apology as a sign of weakness.

Apology is:

Responsibility, Empathy, Fix it (REF)

Responsibility-accept responsibility for behavior

Empathy-I am sorry, I'm guessing it made you feel.................

Fix it-What can I do to make it better

Be willing to understand the other person's point of view. They also need to see you live your apology, it may take sometime to forgive you! To be effective we should say/do: So sorry I hurt you/this is what I will do to fix it/what else can I do to make it right. Some people are like: I can see this hurt you, but this is who I am so take it or leave It! That attitude is WRONG!! Others are like: I am sorry I did this to you, I am never going to forgive myself! This is WRONG, a way to turn the focus on you! Or others are: I am sorry but your overreacting, stop making such a fuss about it! This is WRONG!!!

Don't be defensive, be willing to listen.

When we apologize is never too late to change the past, to change relationships, to build connections and hope.

Laurel Christensen: Feel your feet; Be where your feet are

Being present! Feel your feet, be where they are and focus on the present and the now. Don't worry about the future because you don't know what is at the end. Take the focus off of what you are waiting for. Focus on the present but looking forward to the future. When we are waiting and being patient and obedient and if we ask obediently, He will help us what ever it is we are waiting for. Don't worry about what we can't control.

"God's math works, for every ounce of obedience you give, you get blessings back", she said. Lehi had enough faith and believed that God keeps His promises, promises that were set in motion long ago (Ephesians 1:11). Lehi said that, "He had obtained a land of promise" and this was before they built the boat, He know God would keep his promise, he had obtained the land, before they even left. He did not worried like Sariah.

Be obedient as you wait, God has a time line for our life that was set in place a long time ago. There is an end date of your waiting. Whatever it is we are waiting for, a prodigal son (waiting for him to turn around his life), or that your husband will come back to church or a diagnosis you are waiting for to come back, etc. God waits too! He is waiting for you to ask! He waits for us until we are able to receive. God is anxiously waiting to answer your prayers. Jeffrey Holland said in September 2004; "Dream, Trust, Believe". Sometimes while we wait we see things going wrong and we think, "can we really rejoice or have enough faith?"

She ended by saying; "Lay it aside today. Feel your feet. God's math works. Live as if he has already given it to you. Be obedient, dream, trust and believe".

Sister Allred

Today we had our devotional with Sister Allred. I pretty much spent the whole day at the Stake Center. I got to the Stake Center at 8:15AM to meet with the Stake Presidency and the Stake RS President. We went over how we were to conduct the sessions. Yesterday I watched the last General RS conference in Spanish so that I would have an idea of what I needed to say. Sister Hales and I only had to make a few changes to what we had already typed up. When Sister Allred got there we had lunch with her and the Stake President. At first we thought it was going to be a bigger group but it ended up being just us 4 from the RS Presidency, Sister Allred and the Stake President. It was so awesome to have lunch with her!! She loved my flan. After our lunch we went to the Spanish session. Before we walked out of the Stake offices, she said to me to come over and she showed me her bag and said, "when I packed to come here I forgot to pack my Spanish scriptures, do you have Spanish scriptures?". I had just been to a pre-conference visit with the Spanish Ward in our Stake so I did have my Spanish scriptures with me. So when she gave her talk it was fun to see her use my scriptures!!! Everyone said I did a good job conducting. I was nervious before, once I stood up I felt peaceful, and because it was Spanish it felt awesome!!! Sister Lopez, the Relief Society president in the Spanish, Windy Ridge Ward told me I sounded like a General Authority, haha, she needs her ears checked. My other friend Sister Lucy Anglero said I was so serious, and so formal!! We had Sister Allred, Elder Rulon D. Munns (a Seventy) who also spoke to us, our Stake President, the Temple Matron and the Stake RS Presidency seated on the stand, plus a room full of Spanish speaking sisters, YES it was intimidating!!! By the way Sister Allred is a very good friend of Brent's aunt Kay Hanson!! After the Spanish session we went back to the Stake offices to eat more pupusas. Sister Allred was so happy to eat pupusas. She then had more flan and she said for me to come sit by her again and she asked me how I made the flan!! I wrote down my recipe for her, she was so happy. At the conclussion of the English session she came up to me and gave me a big hug, and thanked me for being faithful (fidelidad). I wrote a ton of notes from the Devotional and we took a picture with her. But I can not share what I wrote or the picture. We were told not to because of security. We were told not to post anything on Facebook or blogs, about what she said. Maybe someday in the future I can write about it but not right now. I got home at 9:15PM and I was so exhausted!!