Friday, May 18, 2018

What Did the Prophet Ask Us to Do? April, 2018

What Did the Prophet Ask Us To Do?
April, 2018

Sunday morning, Revelation

Follow the example of the Prophet Joseph:  Find a quiet place where you can regularly go.  Humble yourself before God. 

Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. 

Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.

Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses- yes, the very longings of your heart. 

And then listen! 

Write the thoughts that come to your mind. 

Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. 

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation.

Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of

Increased purity

Exact obedience

Earnest seeking

Daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon

Regular time committed to temple and family history work

Continue to be obedient

Express gratitude for every blessing the Lord gives you

Patiently honor the Lord’s timetable

Increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation

Let this Easter Sunday be a defining moment in your life

Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly.

Come unto Christ and lay hold upon every good gift, beginning with the gift of the Holy Ghost, which gift will change your life.



Saturday afternoon, Let Us All Press On

I exhort you to study the messages of this conference frequently- even repeatedly- during the next six months.

Conscientiously look for ways to incorporate these messages in your family home evenings, your gospel teaching, your conversations with family and friends, and even your discussions with those not of our faith.

We invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto the Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life.

Identify those things you can set aside so you can spend more time in the temple.

Priesthood Session, Ministering with the Power and Authority of God

Know the difference between a prayer and a blessing

Use the priesthood to bless.

Don’t just give admonitions and instructions- Bless!

Stake presidents and bishops: ensure that priesthood holders know how to give a blessing.

Inspire members to:

Keep covenants

Fast and pray

Study Scriptures

Worship in the temple

Serve with faith

Obey

Be Righteous

Listen to the Holy Ghost

Minister to the one!

Open doors

Give priesthood blessings

Rise up, O men of God!




Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Spring 2018 Keynote Concert

After returning from our mission in Japan, I rejoined the singing group I have been part of since 1990, the Keynotes.  Before our mission, I led the group, but since returning, have enjoyed just singing with them.  Our mission is one of service.  We put on two concerts a year: spring and Christmas.  Leading up to those concerts, we perform at local rest homes, rehabilitation centers, and assisted living facilities.  We find great joy in singing at these places.  Our programs include songs and narrations around a theme.  This year, we sang about the gifts God gives us.
Keynotes:  Cindy Alton, Debbie Everett, Kay Hinton, Jennett Labrum, Valerie Jones
Front: Connie Spilker, Tami Peterson, Kim Myers, Marsha Brinkerhoff, accompanist, and Marla Hannig, spring director.


Ken took some pictures while we performed at a local rest home.
As we started our performance, a lady in a wheelchair (Not in picture) yelled out, "That's a bunch of b  . . . s . . . !"  She was quickly wheeled from the room.
But, on the other hand, this sweet lady in the purple, sat with head bowed and quite unresponsive throughout the program- until our last number.  I start the song, "Amazing Grace," singing the first verse as a solo.  She recognized it and immediately started singing with me.  She sang the entire verse with me.  It was the sweetest duet I have ever sung.  It was difficult to control my emotions and keep singing.
We memorize all of our songs- about sixteen in each program. Most of have little solos in the songs.
Our final spring performance was at the Electric Theater in downtown St. George on April 30th.  Here are some pictures Ken took that evening.  The lighting isn't conducive to good photographs, but it shows the setting.  We have enjoyed performing in this historic theater.


I love each of these ladies and so enjoy singing and performing with them. They are good people and good friends.   This hobby/activity has enriched my life for nearly 30 years!  We will take the summer off, and start learning our Christmas songs in September.  I love being part of Keynotes!

Friday, May 11, 2018

Isaac Fox Journal

I enjoy reading and reviewing books.  I usually write my reviews on goodreads.com.  But the book I recently read would not be on that website, as it is a history of my great-grandfather, published by my sister, Patty Gabrielsen Mickelsen.  
This is the cover.  My sisters and I helped transcribe and edit the journal. Patty had a copy of the handwritten journal.  We all took sections and transcribed them.  But Patty was the editor in chief and spent many hours putting in extra material, pictures, and even wrote some of the introductory information.  She has a passion for family histories.  She has blessed all of our lives, publishing this one.


These pages are all in the back of the book and include precious family photos.  They are treasures.



I love these pictures.  The top is the family home of Isaac.  The bottom is a picture of a time we visited Aunt Norene, the youngest and last-living child of Isaac.  Though totally blind, she lived alone and was still very sharp mentally.  Ken and I visited her several times, too.  We loved Aunt Norene.  Those in the picture are my sister Patty, my mom Dorothy, Aunt Norene, me, and my sister Joan.
I wanted to finish reading the journal while on our cruise to the Caribbean, so, the night before we left, I took photos of all of the remaining pages so I could read it from my phone.  It worked great!

Review
My great-grandfather was a faith-filled man.  Reading his journal was/ is a blessing in my life.  It made me realize and ponder the fact that I am part of grand family.  I stand on his shoulders.  One of the last things I did before we left on our mission to Japan, was to finish transcribing the part of his journal that I had been assigned.  I was privileged to transcribe what I think was the hardest part of his mission.  He and a companion were sent to the Big Island of Hawaii.  He got extremely seasick on the way there.  The conditions and food were deplorable.  He had to hike over lava rock, live in unsanitary conditions, and often eat rotten food, if there was any food at all.  He was very homesick for his wife and family and longed for letters from home, which didn't come.  He couldn't communicate, as he didn't speak the language well, and people were often rude and unaccepting.
All of that was fresh on my mind when we embarked on our mission.  We had difficulties, but I often compared our conditions to his, and recognized how blessed we were.  We had a nice, new, and very American apartment with good heating and air conditioning.  We traveled by car.  We had access to good, clean food- and were able to shop at Costco occasionally to purchase even American foods.  The people were accepting and loving.  We could communicate by texting and skyping with our family regularly and by email frequently.
As we served, I felt Isaac's support.  I don't know how to describe it, other than I truly felt I was standing on his and my other great-grandfather's (Andreas Peterson's) shoulders, and that they were helping me serve.  I especially felt Isaac when I worked in the music and started a little branch choir.  I didn't speak the language and it took everything I had ever learned to do what I did.  I felt him helping me, as he had done the same thing- organizing a band and a choir in Hawaii in a foreign tongue.  He knew what to do and helped me.
I loved his sense of humor.  Even in his difficult circumstances, he found ways to laugh and make jokes.  I loved his tenacity.  He struggled learning the foreign language.  Boy, could I relate.  But he kept at it, and in the end, was leader over the whole island of Oahu.  He conquered.  I loved his integrity.  He stayed true, even in trying circumstances.  I loved his diligence.  He wrote in his journal most days.  Most of his entries were repetitive.  But he kept at it.  What to him, I'm sure, seemed like a boring journal, has become one of the foremost sources in the history of the church in Hawaii.  His day to day writings are the foundation for many papers written about that period of time.
Some of those papers and historical reports are included in the back of the book.  Reading those, gave me a sense of the power of this humble man's journal.  Because he served with President Joseph F. Smith (who was in the First Presidency at the time and was in Hawaii to avoid authorities seeking him because of polygamy charges) every detail of what he wrote has become very important in the history of the church.  He was with President Smith when he finally obtained the Spaulding Manuscript for a short time and Isaac helped copy it for the church.  That alone is a huge contribution to the history of the church.
I think this has taught me that simple, everyday work and ministering can make a big difference- an eternal difference in peoples' lives.
I have to think that Isaac and Joseph F. are still friends in heaven and that they had a hand in our serving in Sendai, Japan.  Let me explain.  You probably know the story of our mission call.  We had arranged with a mission president in Wisconsin to serve there.  We thought it was a done deal.  Then we got our call to Sendai, Japan.  Our mission president was Jeffrey Smith, the great grandson of Joseph F. Smith.  Isaac and Joseph F. served together.  They wanted their great grandchildren to serve together.  It may be a coincidence; but I think not.
I am so very grateful for the worthy example of my great-grandfather, Isaac Fox.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Easter/ Conference Weekend with the Prince Family

Joan left Thursday, then the Prince family came on Friday.  Early Friday morning, (about 4:00am) I was awakened by our fridge "dinging."  It was warning us that it was not working.  I got up and looked through the owner's manual, not finding anything in the manual even closely related to what was happening.  So I woke up Ken.  Luckily, we have a spare fridge in the garage.  He turned it on and went back to sleep.  Later that morning, we emptied the fridge and freezer and put everything in the garage fridge and called the repairman.  Nothing like starting the day with a little excitement!
The Princes arrived in time for us to have pizza, then drive to Cedar City to go to a Vocal Point concert.  Brian's brother, Carl is the bass in vocal point.  This is his last year, and we were so glad we got to see them perform before he graduated.


The show was really great!  It was so fun to be there.



Signing an autograph for his niece

Modeling their new vocal point t shirts
  The fridge repairman came just before conference started on Saturday. He diagnosed the problem as that our circuit board was going/ had gone out.  He said he would order a new one.  On  Monday he called and said they no longer make the circuit boards for our fridge (it's only five years old.  He said that was an indication that they have had a lot of problems with it, so they just quit making it.)  But he said they could get a guy in Vegas to rebuild ours for $300 and it would take a week.  After discussing it, we decided to take our chances.  We turned it back on, moved the food back in, and it has worked absolutely perfectly since.  Prayer? Miracle?  Are we crazy?

Okay, now back to Saturday.  Here we are, all ready for conference.



My little conference buddy, Gabbi (I should have put on make up)


Michelle always has fun things for the kids to do during conference

I loved this sweet moment when President Nelson went down to greet Sister Packer

Brian's sister, Michelle was in the Institute Choir that sang in the Saturday afternoon session.  She is third row, 2nd from left with the long curly hair.

Finding Aunt Michelle

One of our favorite elders from our mission was also in the choir.  He is 2nd row, third from left- Tyus Morris.  Ken texted him and told him he should find and meet Michelle!  Ever the matchmakers!

We had fun  blowing bubbles and later, hunting for candy-filled Easter eggs.


Grandpa Ken and baby William


Grandpa and his conference buddy, Jaron

Dancing in bubbles


Jaron helped Grandpa plant flowers

Kenny hunting for Easter eggs



Gabbi found the golden egg


Easter morning

The Easter bunny definitely found our house


Even baby William was thrilled with the plastic eggs




Gabbi took notes during all of the apostles' talks.

William fell asleep

Our new prophet

I love this festive picture!


Our Easter dinner ended with this delicious lemon cake

Table is all set

Our Easter feast


Monday morning, we hiked the new temple quarry trail.  This is where the pioneers got the sandstone for the temple.

Hiking buddies: Kenny, Jaron, and Gabbi


Proof that I did it.


Do I look tired?  I was!








Sweet Gabbi and Grandpa held my hands all the way down.  We made it!  Next time I'm taking walking sticks!
Thank you so much for spending the weekend with us, Princes.  Such great memories!