Darren came to visit. Don, Darren, and some of Darren's children hiked Shinob Kibe one morning while they were here.
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| Before radar was invented, planes were guided by cement arrows that could be seen from the sky. Seeing this arrow is the highlight of the hike. |
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| The view is not bad, either. |
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| Don and Darren |
We had a good concert planned in 2020. We got shut down by COVID just as we had it memorized and ready. We had a full schedule of rest homes and assisted living centers to sing for and, of course, a concert in the tabernacle.
We finally were able to do that program on April 6, 2022.
For a couple of weeks before the concert, we performed in local rest homes and assisted living centers. It had been over two years since we had been able to enter those and sing. It was wonderful to be back. Ken came and took some pictures at one of the places we sang. A couple of our singers were missing that day.
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| A crowd-pleaser, Happy by Pharel Williams |
We finished watching all of the Signed, Sealed, Delivered movies on Hallmark. We loved every one of them. We love these quirky characters, their goodness, and their desire to help people. We highly recommend these movies.
What did the prophet ask us to do in April, 2022 conference?
Saturday
Morning- Preaching the Gospel of Peace
Pray for those in need
Do what we can to help the distressed
Seek the Lord’s help in ending major conflicts
Every worth, able young man should prepare for and serve a
mission
Sunday Morning- The Power of Spiritual Momentum
Fast and pray for all the people being hurt by this calamity
End conflicts that are raging in your heart, your home, and
your life
Bury any and all inclinations to hurt others
Repeated: Do all you can to end personal conflicts that are
currently raging in your hearts and in your lives.
Five actions we can take to help us maintain positive
spiritual momentum:
1. Get on the covenant path
2. Discover the joy of daily repentance
3. Learn about God and how He works.
Cast
Satan’s influence out of your life!
Have
daily experiences worshipping the Lord and studying His gospel.
Let God
prevail in your lives.
Give God
a fair share of your time.
4. Seek and expect miracles
Do the spiritual work to seek miracles.
Prayerfully ask God to help you have
faith
5. End conflict in your personal life.
Sunday Afternoon- Now is the Time
Do those things that will increase your positive spiritual momentum
Counter worldly ways by focusing on the eternal blessings of
the temple. Your time there brings the blessings of eternity.
We discovered these delicious snacks at Costco. They are SO good! They make a perfect snack while watching a movie!
The pool where I go to exercise is finally open! I am so happy. It has been closed for refurbishing for months. It looks beautiful!
Another cute Hallmark movie. The title is a play on words since it is about a restaurant.
The oldest sister in our ward recently passed away. The ward asked for memories of her. This is what I wrote:
Ken and I
have known Jean for a long time. She and
her husband, George lived in this ward back in the 1980’s. Their home was in what is now the Bloomington
Hills 8th ward, but was part of the 4th ward then. They were kind, good, and faithful
people. George’s hobby was woodworking
in which he incorporated clocks. Their
home was decorated beautifully. Jean was
called as the Primary secretary when Ken was the bishop. At that time, monthly inservice meetings were
held for Primary teachers, and I remember attending some of those meetings in
their lovely home. Jean was a gracious
hostess, providing refreshments for all.
I don’t
remember exactly when, but she and George moved from the ward for a while,
then, after becoming a widow, we were happy to have Jean move back into the
ward. She faithfully served as Sunday
school secretary for many, many years. I
have memories of her leaving Sunday school class a bit early each Sunday, and
soon thereafter you would hear the bell ring, signaling the end of class. She was punctual and faithful in her
calling. [They don’t do that any more.}
Right to the
end, Jean faithfully attended church meetings every Sunday. Even the Sunday before she passed, she was in
both sacrament meeting and Relief Society.
What a fine example of faith and endurance.
Jean was a spunky 94-year-old. She bowled right up to last week of her life, usually six days a week- sometimes twice a day. She also walked her dog every day as we would see her on the trail behind our house most days. She collapsed while walking her dog, and died that evening. She died in the saddle, so to speak. Her philosophy was to keep moving and it served her well. Church won't be the same without her as she was there faithfully every week. Those are the things I learned from Jean. A side note: She looked like and kind of sounded like my cousin, Linda. Every time I talked to her, I thought of my cousin.
Jan. 14- 1928-March 19, 2022
One of the meanings of the word "Israel" is "let God prevail." President Nelson taught us that in a conference talk in October 2020. I am sure we have all pondered what that means for us, personally, in our lives. "Let God prevail" can be a most important mantra for each of us. I find it brings a peace and a calm to me in these troubled times. It is a matter of faith. "Just let God prevail," I say to myself.
I looked up the word "prevail." One of the definitions is: proves more powerful than opposing forces.
God is more powerful than every opposing force. We need to put our trust in Him and let Him prevail.
Sammy's family recently spent their spring break week on the beach in San Diego. Just as they were leaving, Sammy, though his birthday was still over two weeks away, announced that he wanted to have his birthday party on the beach. Kristen grabbed some balloons and candles on their way out the door. When they got to San Diego, they went to Costco and bought a cake and Legos and they were set. Sammy had a wonderful beach birthday.
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| I've said it before, I'll say it again: Sammy is the most facially expressive child I have ever seen. After they got home, we facetimed with Sammy while he opened the presents from us:    At the end of the call, I read him this cute A. A Milne poem. He really liked it.  |
My sister, Joan, and her husband, Tom came to visit March 24th-27th. It has been tradition since our children were tiny that they come to visit each spring. Because of Covid, they haven't been here for a few years. We had such a nice time.
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| On Thursday evening, we met Pam and Roger at Rib and Chop and had a nice dinner together. We then came back to our home for dessert. |
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| On Friday, we took Joan on a tour of Washington county while Tom golfed at Sun River golf course. That is our new Red Cliffs temple in the distance. |
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| They had never been to Pine Valley, so on Saturday, we drove to Pine Valley. |
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| Joan had read about Bryce, who was asked to build the Pine Valley chapel. He was a ship builder, so designed it as an upside-down ship. |
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| We had to find our nephew, Bryan's cabin. It is beautiful. |
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| We then drove up to visit the sobering Mountain Meadows Massacre site. |
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| We then drove to Enterprise to eat at the famous Marv's. Though a long wait, it was delicious! |
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| That evening Ken barbecued chicken for dinner. We also had roasted vegetables, cucumber salad, and orange jell-o salad. For dessert, we ate little pies we purchased from some polygamist girls selling them in Enterprise. |
