grateful.
i am grateful for the knowledge that God is there and that he loves me.
i am grateful for parents love me, that raised me to have faith, encouraged me to know for myself that I have a loving Heavenly Father, that taught me that living and obeying the commandments of God will only bring happiness and joy.
i am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.
i am grateful for the temple and eternal covenants.
i am grateful for life's experiences that have molded me, even broken me down and times and the experience of being reborn through repentance made possible by the atonement of my Savior.
i am grateful for love.
i am grateful for forgiveness.
i am grateful for Paul, for his love, his thoughtfulness, his kindness, and that he "gets me".
i am grateful for my siblings, their spouses and their children.
i am grateful for my sweet doggy, Luna, for her kisses and love.  she is the best.
i am grateful for the kindness and love of friends.
i am grateful, so grateful.

I love teaching Relief Society

So, last Sunday I taught Relief Society again.  This time as an officially called teacher.  I teach the 4th Sunday, teachings for our times.  The lessons come from General Conference talks.  This month's lesson assigned was the talk given by Elder David A. Bednar called...

The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn

DAVID A. BEDNAR

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

As I prepared and studied, this talk literally sang to my soul. I have had experiences like this before but it has been a while. I took dad's big, framed photograph of William Carter and Sophronia, the photo of Grandma and Grandpa Dunlop on their wedding day and a photo of Paul and I on our wedding day as well as my big William Carter book and the book daddy wrote.  I also took handouts of the poem If You Could See Your Ancestors and chocolate.    As I began to teach I had to pause and breathe because the spirit was guiding me in a direction different than I had planned.  It was amazing to be led by the spirit and to testify with all of my heart.  I am so grateful for this calling and for the Lord's love.  May we all be inspired by the Spirit of Elijah and be blessed with a desire to do our genealogy, to go to the temple and to continue to build the kingdom of God on the earth as we prepare for the second coming.    

Here is the poem I gave as a handout.  

If You Could See Your Ancestors

By Nellie Winslow Simmons Randall
If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
Would you be proud of them or not?
Or don't you really know?
Some strange discoveries are made
In climbing family trees.
And some of them, you know,
Do not particularly please.

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
There might be some of them perhaps
You shouldn't care to know.
But here's another question
Which requires a different view -
If you could meet your ancestors
Would they be proud of you?

Serving in the kingdom

I never in 5,000 million years thought I would have so much fun doing my Visiting Teaching.  Last night I went with my companion Eugenia Perez and enjoyed myself so much.  Eugenia an older lady from Guatemala, who speaks Spanish and only a few words and phrases in English.  She lives here with her two grandchildren Alex and Mayali.  Her daughter Ana is stuck in Guatemala trying to get her visa/immigration paperwork figured out, so she can return here to Utah.  Eugenia is such a sweetheart and longs for her daughter to return, whilst staying strong so she can take care of her grandchildren.   She is a wonderful cook and loves to cook for others. Her sons also help her out.  Eugenia almost always has a smile on her face.  Our paths crossed when I was asked to translate for her in Relief Society.  Her visiting teacher asked me to come to their visit to translate too. Let's just say I became her unofficial translator.  I adore her. She has the most loving, contagious, smile.

Eugenia and I first visited Andrea and her daughter Tonia.  Tonia is 18 and has down syndrome.  Andrea is the mother of four, the youngest two are twins.  She is a very smart and interesting woman who has put herself and her family on a gluten-free diet.  She is a sweet mommy who also acts as an activist for Tonia - she has fought for integration and involvement and for her to be treated like a normal kid (within reason).  Andrea loves to talk and talk and talk.  One of those people that just needs to be listened to.  We finally had to excuse ourselves to get to our next visit. Nonetheless, one of our sisters that needs our love and kindness. I am excited to be able to serve her in the future.

We then went to visit Kerri, who is an elementary school teacher that will be retiring at the end of this school year.  She has older children and grandchildren, who mostly live out of state. Kerri's garden is gorgeous.  She grows  Her husband is a hunter and there are birds and animal heads displayed in their home (kind of cool, kind of creepy).  Kerri is darling and I just love her.  She was so grateful for our visit and thanked us for coming.

Our last sister is Monica Perez.  There is no phone number for her on file and so we just decided to swing by to visit her.  There was no answer so we left a note and a treat for her.  Hopefully we will get to meet and visit her in the future.

We left each sister with a prayer and hugs.

When I got home I felt so good. Happy. Like my evening was well spent.  I am so excited to continue to serve these women, my sisters and to spend time with Eugenia each month, serving her so that she can serve too.

I'm amazed at what FEAR produces

FEAR

produces. . .

hate, jealousy, litigation, threats, sadness, anxiety, unkindness, slander, freak outs, tears,

break ups, division, revenge, suicide, murder, insanity, war, destruction, procrastination . . .

Nothing positive comes from fear.

The opposite of fear is . . .

LOVE!