"Carry Through"

Humility coupled with meekness, or teachableness, is not as common as it ought to be. When we received the following letter from Shane in the MTC, I clearly recognized both these qualities in him, and my heart melted like a marshmallow over an open flame. At the young age of 19, he wants to heed the voice of the Holy Spirit. Music to a mother's ears indeed.

Before going to the RC (referral center), he got a feeling that he should bring his study journal, so he did. "I usually don't bring that, I bring the scriptures and PMG (Preach My Gospel). While I was there, I felt that someone was going to ask a question that I could answer with some notes I had taken, so I opened my little study journal and found some I'd taken awhile ago. The scripture I saw there was Ezekiel 37: 19-22, which is about the stick of Judah and the stick of Ephraim, which basically means the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Then my companion got on the phone with someone, and I thought, "Hey, I should take that call instead of Elder Glover." Then I thought, "No, that's his call, he wouldn't like it if I took his call from him." So I carried on with my business.
"No one I called after that answered, and it just so happened that when Elder Glover got off the phone he said that the guy he had talked to had told him he would not read the Book of Mormon because it was not the word of God, that Revelation was the last book in the Bible, that no more word could be added on, and the Bible was the only word of God. I had the answers to all those questions or comments in my mind, and right in front of me in the scriptures. Elder Glover hadn't known how to answer. I could have said Revelation wasn't the last book in the Bible chronologically, that the verse about not adding on meant that men couldn't add on, but God could if He wanted to, that there was a prophecy that foretold of the separation of two books of scripture that would be united, that Lehi and Nephi were descendants of Ephraim, and that they began the record now known as the Book of Mormon. I know that when we receive promptings of the Spirit we need to carry through with them all through every step. If we falter part way through, we don't fulfill our duty. I prepared to help that guy, but I didn't carry through, and he didn't get what he needed."

He's so right. Carry through just became my new motto. Two small words that can make a big difference.

Off to New York

I just finished talking to Shane at the SLC airport. He's boarding the plane for NYC right now. Our talk was so good, but it was over so quickly! He sounded adorable. And I'm going to be able to get a visual on him too. Uncle Lonnie's brother, Scott, who's a branch president there, looked him up yesterday in the MTC and said hi to him for us. I don't think Scott took the opportunity to give him a hug though. Imagine that! Please, kind Father in heaven, bless and protect him and bring our Shane safely back home to us in Nov. of 2011, and may we all have plenty of wonderful, testimony-building experiences between now and then.

MTC Highlights

Shane's emails from the MTC have been an absolute joy to receive. He freely, unself-consciously writes of promptings of the Holy Spirit, and bears his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, things he rarely if ever did before. When I passed along a warning from a friend to him that the missionfield can be somewhat of a letdown after the MTC, he wrote : "Well, I certainly believe Lisa about the mission field being a let down, but I refuse to let that bother me. I don't expect to go out and automatically have an awesome experience. The most I expect to be able to do is to bear my testimony in spanish, and hope that people will understand me. I know things will work out, but I know I won't go out and immediately everyone in New York will want to be baptized by me. That won't happen until month two."

Our sons have always been easy-going, able to get along with pretty much anyone. If they don't, you can bet that it's not from lack of trying. Case in point, Shane wrote: My companion and I were having some trouble getting along. It seemed that no matter what we talked about, we would argue about the stupidest things. After a little while I tried to stop them, but he would usually try to carry it on for a little while longer. While I was in the dorm room taking my turn at taking care of Elder Burnham who'd had shoulder surgery, my comp, Elder Glover was in class. So I made his bed, ironed his shirts, and shined his shoes. Since then we've got along well. Charity never faileth, I suppose."

After he'd been in the MTC for about a week, I came up with a litttle theme for the next two years. SW. It's his initials, and, to me, it also stands for stripling warrior. So I sent him stripling warrior figures, some to keep and some to give away to his roommmates if he wants to, a stripling warrior tie tack, gummy soldiers, and a camo fleece throw to snuggle up with after a long day of doing battle for the Lord. This is Shane week, his first week in NY, so I'll post a couple more MTC highlights later. Please join us in praying for Elder Shane Washburn, and for all of our missionaries.

Concert in the Garage

Dan and I have been enjoying a free concert several times a week for the past couple of months or so. And, we've only received one note in our mailbox, and one knock on the door from neighbors whose tastes are less refined than ours. Colin and some of his friends have started a band. They have one performance under their belt, and another one's schedduled for Jan. 30th. We're not such oldtimers that we haven't really enjoyed the noise, er music, and it's easy to tell where Colin's hangin' out too. Greg captured their first live performance on video, so maybe someday Colin will post some of it for me. Till then, if interested, you can find them on Facebook and MySpace. Just look for The Ancible and you'll hear some pretty sweet ear candy.

Looking Both Ways, Then UP

So the new year is already a week old, and I'm still looking back, getting an idea of where I've been, so that I can look ahead and decide the best route to take to get to where I want to go. It's a lot of work! Enjoyable work, but demanding work, too. Here's what I've figured out thusfar.

The year 2006 was a tough one for me. The CLL diagnosis came in March. My sweet Jordan broke my heart in July (temporarily) when he left for China without confiding in us beforehand. He later told me he regretted doing it that way. (I told you he was sweet.) The emotional pain was horrible for me back then though, something I hope other parents are spared. Sometimes, ignorance (of pain, for instance) truly is bliss! Of course other things happened that year, both good and bad, but that was the one big defining event of the year for me. .

In 2007, I fearfully started chemotherapy treatments, but was relieved that it wasn't as hard as I'd thought it'd be. Yay, score 1 for 2007! The whole year was going along well, until that night, the night of Dec. 2nd. The world changed that night, and will never, ever be the same. It was Jordan again. This time he was calling from China, with alarmming news. I don't talk a lot about it, and post about it even less, but all that happened after that phone call is still very much with me. Surely, the scalding tears must have left a visible path, which they often retrace. Things intensified a thousandfold in 2008. Jordan was ill. Certain family members rallied in his support, others defected. One even went so far as to say that she didn't care if he lived or died. He died.

Relationships became more meaningful, stronger. Others fell apart. When I began to long for death too, I knew I had to get myself some help. I did. I made it through 2008 alive, and that was saying something! A new calling as a Primary teacher was extended to me in 2009. It helped me find focus and purpose. Thank you, Bishop. I love the children. I love teaching them. I love the gospel, and I care about whether they know and love it or not, too. While some family members have made it clear that my presence and influence are not wwelcome in their sphere, my heart sings with joy that in this small place, once a weekk, I am still wanted and needed. I'm grateful to be needed here at home, too, but I have to have something in addition to that for a sense of personal fulfillment. So, where to go from here, in 2010.

I want to grow stronger, physically and spiritually, this year. There's a lot of room for improvement in both areas, believe me! More exercise, better nutrition, recording spiritual insights and promptings, more focused prayer, truly treasuring the scriptures, developing more charity, and becoming a little more like the Savior, these are the goals I am working on. Lofty, lovely goals that I am ever so eager to tackle, but only as I look up, up to the One who can help me achieve them.

Fun with a Son and His Little Ones

They came, they saw, they conquered. Well, maybe not exactly in that order, they'd had our hearts wrapped around their little fingers since birth. But oh, how we enjoyed the visit of Greg, Victoria, Julianna, and Christian. Colin agreed to post a few pictures (the camera wasn't always at hand), but I'll go ahead and write a few of my memories.

My little Primary friend, ten-year-old Ally, came over and played with the children on three different days, helping them with homemade salt dough creations, figuring out the first few steps of castle construction (Greg finished up), re-tidying the play areas, teaching Tori and Juli a cool cheer for when they modeled the cheerleading outfits made by their great aunt Jamie, acting as big sister to them at Carl Junior's and Wahooz (formerly known as Boondocks), and watching them take flight with their fairy wings my friend, JoLyn, made for us during the midst of her own holiday preparations.

You see, I owe big thank yous to several people. Julie went out on that busy Saturday before Christmas and found some extra gifts to send to Greg for me. On short notice, Penny, Neil's wife, made and delivered to Greg a cute little Christmas tree, and a funny one made of cans of soup, too. Many people helped out by sending Christmas cards and gifts to my friend, Rebecca. She wrote a happy note of gratitude on the forum we belong to, and said that we had helped her forget about cancer for awhile and made her fearful, 8-year-old son smile.

And you know that cheer Ally taught the girls? It worked! The Boise State Broncos won the Fiesta Bowl tonight!