There and Back Again: Week 31 House of the Risen Son

GREAT NEWS!!! My back stopped hurting last Sunday. After two weeks it was such a delight to get out of bed and not be in pain!!!!! Thank you for all your prayers. So because I was well, we rearraged the house and made this room our COUNCIL ROOM. Where we could council together in love and righteousness and make maps of our Carthage site, list our duties, mow schedules, blow schedules, etc.

OK, I'm not going to lie...it was our goal, but it started out rough. We were frustrated with each other, contentious, and had to go back to our corners...literally different rooms and breath, humble ourselves, pray for help and come back. THEN it got better, then it got GOOD! As a result...we were organized, had a plan, and called it our first experiment. We will reconvene this Sunday and talk about what worked, what great ideas we had while working and what needed further pondering and review.

Because we followed our "first experiment plan", things went OK. Like having time to paint weathered and cracked wood on the visitor's center. Last Friday was the FIRST day since we moved here that we didn't feel chaotic and worried about all we had to do, all we had been doing, and what did we not know about that we should be doing! We have 4 or 5 different "bosses" here because we have so many responsibilites. They have all been extremely kind, calm, compassionate, humorous, forgiving, and supportive. Immensly supportive.

While cleaning bricks of bird poop, I thought to myself. WHY are we doing this when literally the birds are pooping behind us as we clean?! Then I thought about my life and why I need daily repentance. If we just cleaned the bricks once a week, or once a month it would look SOO bad and be so much harder to clean. Cleaning it daily keeps it looking great for a longer period of time. Additional repetitive big splats are taken care of by us or the site missionaries when they are seen. It's like when I get contentious...big splat...stop and repent...clean that up right away. Eventually, unlike the bird poop, it's going to stop. LOL

One of the BEST blessings this past week was being asked to help provide lunch for a visiting general authority! Elder Kyle McKay and his wife, and the mission president Daniel Mehr III, and his wife. Sister Workman was in charge and we had so much fun making delicious food and presenting it nicely. OF course our husbands were right there beside us making it awesome.

Elder McKay and his wife were so fun, funny, and deeply spiritual and loving. I loved everything he had to say. This one line stayed with me. He said that with any church calling including being a general authority, that when he is doing it he feels both incapable and strongly confident. He knows that if he's doing what the Lord wants, even if he's never done it before he's going to get good at it because God will help him. I LOVED that. I have experienced it myself.

Last night at the missionary Welcome/Farewell Dinner some of my friends and I performed a song that I wrote the lyrics for to the tune of House of the Rising Sun...one of my favorite tunes. Elder Cullen ran the slide show for us. You can see it at the link below It was very well received and we got great compliments from it. So until next week...continue to repent daily, be creative, try new things in the confidence of God. I love you. Alma 60:25,26 25 -I will leave the strength and the blessings of God upon them, that none other power can operate against them— 26 And this because of their exceeding faith, and their patience in their tribulations. I love these verses because it shows that we don't have to be perfect to receive blessings and strength from God. We just need to have faith in Jesus Christ and strive everyday to be better, and more like Him.