There are signs of spring popping up all over this area... daffodils and dogwood are starting to bloom, and cardinals are regularly showing their faces. They are all so beautiful!
This week we saw a lot of people... let's see if I can remember all the friends we saw: JD Robinson, Lorrie Ann Cantu, Joyce and Norman Adkins, Gregory Harper, Provilene, Deska, Emasa, Leccius, Wolffencia, Brinette, JR Rouse, Clifton Huggins, Sandeline, Monica, Lafortune family, Christmonor, Edrice, Steeve, and a bunch of people that we visited with the young missionaries on two different days.
Each of these people are special to us and have stories. I love hearing people's stories. Norman served in the Marines during the Korean war. JD was a NC State highway patrol officer for years. Both of these men have great stories. Clifton recently lost his wife. He has such a tender heart and told us how he is helping another man still grieving over the loss of his wife four years ago. As he helps others his own heart heals. Wolffencia just graduated from high school in December and is working full time to help her family. She's excited to start college in the fall. Monica is a beautiful young woman who gets bullied at school, but is finding friends at church and helps with her family at home. She's learning to count her blessings and rely on the right things to find joy. I could take hours to tell you about all these wonderful people. They all have hard things, but keep going, love those around them, and have so much to share. I learn from them every time I'm around them. (I wish I'd taken more pictures.)
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| Brinette |
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| Dwight and Clifton |
We went to a fun youth activity in the Woodington ward on Wednesday night. We took the three Faison children who had a great time. The activity was a "Bake Off." There were four teams that each made a different dessert. That had to use a secret ingredient given to them by the leaders. They were judged on taste, creativity, team work, and presentation. We were the judges along with the young sister missionaries. It was a lot of fun. The kids worked really hard on their desserts. There was one boy I wanted to enter into a real bake off. He had some actual skill. There was one dessert that we all finished... and that's all I will say. :)
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| Sisters Sillanpaa and Koger, Susan and Dwight Judges |
Our young missionaries are so busy. They call Dwight about 10 times a day asking him to participate in a lesson. Their work shows in two ways. We've been having baptisms every week. And this week at church we had 52 Haitians friends in attendance (We picked up seven of them). Our first baptism wasn't even a year ago... last year in April. Today Dwight blessed two of the young children of one of our members. It's been a great week.
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| Elders Bates, Nordgen, Hafen, Paul, Elder Smiths, Dwight and Susan |
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| Dwight and Wilgimps |
This week I read an article that had the following pictures of Mt. Timpanogos. The author was making a spiritual point about the "mists of darkness" covering the mountain. It was a good article, but as I was reading, before the author got to the point, my mind went in a different direction. The picture of the mountain on the clear day... the top of the Mountain can represent God. The mountain obscured by clouds, can represent things in life that get in the way. Have you ever driven up a mountain in the fog. It's hard. You have to go slowly. Sometimes you have to pull over. You may even have to walk, but you can get through the clouds and get to the top. In life, when we have hard times (clouds, fog, mist), sometimes God feels far away. He is not. He's right there. We just have to slow down, pull over and talk to Him. We may have to change what we are doing--stop driving and walk. He can help us through our hard times (clouds) and up the mountain to Him. Next time you look at Mt. Timpanogos (or any mountain) remember that our Heavenly Father is always there.
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