It Was Amazing!

Every other year our stake puts on a stake Youth Conference. In 2008 it was a Pioneer Trek. This year the youth of our stake were each called on a Mission with the theme from Joshua 1:9: "Be strong and of a good courage." 215 youth dressed in missionary attired gathered at 6:30 p.m. Friday night at the "MTC" next to our temple to meet their mission president and his wife (one of 30 couples from our stake.) It was amazing! Previous to their arrival they knew very little about this activity--they did not know who their mission president would be or what other youth they would be with. That alone took courage for many of them!

We spent a lot of time preparing for the 8 young men that would be coming to our home. We also did not know who they would be ahead of time. We picked a name for our mission:

We studied hard for the teaching and training we would do:

We prepared bedrooms and study areas, following our Olympic theme:

We even put some fun missionary cartoons around the house:

And of course with 8 boys coming, we prepared food! Hot fudge sundaes, pancakes, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, snacks and some yummy brownies:

We posted the schedule (which we were given) that we would follow while they were at our home:

On Friday night we received our "official" missionary badges and attended a short meeting with the youth and parents. The featured speaker was President Harrison!

The the mission presidents were called forward one by one and the names of the people in their mission were read off. They followed their mission president out one door and the parents exited through another door. We loaded our 8 boys and all their gear into 3 cars and headed to the "mission home."

Here are our boys--they range in age from 18 to just turned 14 two weeks ago. That tall one in the middle back is an 8th grader! And for Charles, the one sitting in the front with a jacket on is the younger brother of Austin Collie.

We spent Friday evening getting to know the boys and preparing them for their experience on Saturday. It was amazing! I couldn't believe how pleasant and eager they all were to participate and do their best. We had fun but it was also very spiritual.
They all went to bed at the appointed time and got up at 6:30 for their showers and breakfast.
Here they are Saturday morning getting instruction from "President" Harrison before they begin their personal study time.

Dan went around a took a photo of each one as he studied on his own. 10 people at our house on a Saturday morning--8 of them teenage boys--and it was totally quiet for almost an hour!

Then they spent another period of time with their companion planning out their teaching. They were teaching about the Restoration of the Gospel including the Joseph Smith story, the Book of Mormon and Prayer (pp. 36-40 in Preach My Gospel). Here they are with their companions ready go forth and teach the gospel!

They followed a walking route knocking on doors of members for our ward who had agreed to be "friendly investigators." They spent about 20 minutes in each of three homes giving a lesson and answering questions. It was amazing! They came back excited and happy and hungry.

Afterwards they each had an interview with their mission president and his wife. As part of the interview Dan asked each of them: How have your feelings about the First Vision, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon changed in the last 24 hours? and, Did you feel the Spirit as you taught and how did it feel? The answers we got were amazing! I wish I could have recorded them. They each had a great experience, felt the spirit, learned that they know and can testify of things, saw how having a companion helps so much, gained a new appreciation for Preach My Gospel and had their testimonies strengthened.

At 12:30 we transported them back to the Church where they had lunch. I talked to quite a few of the other "mission president" couples and they had all had amazing experiences as well. I never heard of a problem or difficult situation. Then they gathered in the chapel for a meeting with our Sacramento Mission President, his wife and several full time missionaries. The elders and sister missionaries who spoke told of their experiences as youth, deciding to go on a mission and in one case, joining the church. It was an amazing meeting!

From 3:00 to 5:00 they had P-Day games for the kids which included activities inside and outside. Then a group photo and dinner. From 6:00-8:15 p.m. was a testimony meeting with 52 youth giving their testimonies. It was amazing!

Dan and I left at this point but the youth stayed and had a dance!

It was so wonderful participating in this activity! I learned a lot myself!! I especially enjoyed the interviews where the boys shared with us some deeper thoughts and feelings. And a special treat to me was to hear Dan bear his testimony to each young man at the interview as he looked him in the eye and testified of some truths of the gospel.

I spoke today with a mother of a youth who participated in this activity. (Not the mother of one of our boys). She shared with me that her son was struggling, that it is so hard for the youth today and that she had been praying that her son would have a good experience. He hadn't really wanted to go but he did. We heard this over and over again in the testimony meeting, but always there was a positive feeling that they were so glad they had participated and that it had made a difference in their lives.

The youth of the church are amazing!

If You Can't Be With Your Family...

... for Family Home Evening, it's great to be with your friends!

I know many wards have "empty nester" groups that meet monthly, sometimes at a restaurant because there are so many of them. It's mainly a social event.

(Just for the record, I hate the term "empty nester," so if you use that in my presence, I might peck your eyes out.)

Eight years ago this month we helped start a Family Home Evening group. We meet just about every Monday night. There were four original couples and all four are still in the group although one couple is gone quite a bit for work assignments in temples around the world. A few years ago I put together this collage of our front doors:

Over the years different couples have been a part of the group, so we range from 8 to 12 people, but have tried not to get larger than that so we can fit comfortably in each home. This is not anything sponsored by our ward; just some friends who are willing to commit to a regular schedule and willing to take their turn hosting. Recently, Dan brought his camera and we took a photo of those that were there that night:

One of those couple has already moved. Here are some other people who have been a regular part of the group:

We always try to hold a regular Family Home Evening with prayers, a hymn, a lesson and of course a treat! As you can imagine over the course of eight years, we have had a wide variety of lessons and activities. We always do a General Conference review after each Conference, we've studied from the Scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and the Ensign, we've learned about the lives of the current Twelve Apostles, we've had guest speakers, watched videos, had game nights and lessons on just about every gospel topic. Some of the members of the group are converts and that has been an interesting part of the experience for me--to hear of their perspective. But the best part has been the friendships we have developed! We know each other well and it's fun to update each other every week on our lives. One time we had sort of a Family Brag Night where we each "bragged" about our kids and grandkids.

I feel badly not to be with my family on Monday nights but I'm very grateful for friends who feel like family!

It Might Have Been Valentine's Day...

But it is also Ward Conference season!

6:40 a.m. Leaves for the Stake offices

7:00-8:15 a.m. High Council (Stake PEC)--Dan in charge

8:30-10:30 a.m. Presidency meeting--Dan in charge

10:30-11:30 a.m.--Interviews and PPI

11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Attend Ward Council--half of the meeting is under the direction of the Stake President

1:00-2:10 p.m. Sacrament meeting--Dan is one of the speakers

2:10-4:00 p.m.--Attend sessions with adults, then youth and finally give a presentation to the Primary.

4:00-5:00 p.m. Interviews

5:15 Arrive home for dinner

6:15 No, he's not praying. He fell asleep while we were serving dessert! What a sweetheart I have!!

Harder Than It Looks!

Every Sunday I sit in class and enjoy the experience. Our teachers make it look easy.

But today I got to substitute in Gospel Doctrine. It is harder than it looks!

If you come to My House...

We had a wonderful day yesterday at the temple! Our temple is closed right now for cleaning but was opened from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. for the members of our stake to have a Stake Temple Day.

Members of our stake fulfilled assignments for most of the workers shifts, and every area of the temple was filled with members of our stake ages 12 and up performing ordinances.

Dan and I were at the front door greeting people from before 12:30 until after 3:30, and then we attended a session. We also made a visit to the baptistry where Dan gave remarks to the youth.

We love our temple!

While I was out of town Dan attended the temple and spent some time afterwards taking some photos. My favorite is the last one.

Today a counselor in our Relief Society gave the lesson on the temple. She invited President Harrison to submit a paragraph to her of what he would say to the sisters our ward about the temple if he were there. Here is what she read to us:
Thanks for inviting me to write something to the sisters. I'm sure you'll have a great lesson. Here are my thoughts:
It was a blessing to be in the temple with so many members of our stake today (Stake Temple Day, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010). I saw many sisters of all ages who made sacrifices to be in the temple even though they have many home, family and other responsibilities. I'm sure you have been and will continue to be blessed for making temple attendance a priority.

In a recent Sunday School class I attended in another ward, a sister commented that she had been praying that the Lord's Spirit would be felt more strongly in her home. Then this thought came to her mind and her heart: "If you come to My House, I will come to yours." Going to His House is one of the best ways to draw nearer to the Lord and feel His influence in our homes and in our lives.

The temple grows on you. The more we attend:
The more we understand;
The more we love the temple;
The more blessed we are; and
The more the other pieces of our lives fall into place.
The temple is central to our doctrine, our worship, our service, and our spiritual growth.

God bless you for your faithful temple worship.

I'm Frankly Earnest or Am I Earnestly Frank?

One of my guilty pleasures is to have a good laugh at something clever. I am rarely disappointed when I read the Frank and Ernest comic strip.

Here are some of my favorites from the last few days.

I'm LOL!!!!

My Tube!

This is my first attempt at posting videos on my blog. I did some editing with titles and such, but then blogger wouldn't let me upload them. So these are raw videos.

This first one needs some explanation. Courtney's 2nd grade teacher has had the kids working on a wonderful project! Courtney has been so enthused about it. Every day there was always something exciting to share about when she got home from school. The class has been developing a business. Each child went through a job interview process and was assigned to an area some of which included advertising, accounting, manufacturing, etc. and Courtney was in packaging. It was a popcorn company and they actually sold bags of popcorn. The name the kids came up with for their company was Pop It Up Popcorn. Advertising made up a song and a dance that the children performed before the entire school as part of their advertising campaign. So here is Courtney doing her part to advertise for the class business:

Three girls dancing:

Ice skating Elizabeth:

The Dreaded Visit!

There are things that cause stress in our lives that are a piece of cake to some people.

So it's hard for them to understand what we are going through.

But I recently went through some stress that I am still recovering from.

You will probably laugh at me. And that will make me feel even worse. So that's why I'm sharing this on my blog and not on the phone.

OOps, don't say that word!

I have been dreading this for months. I have been psyching myself up for the big day. I was hoping it would never come but unfortunately after putting it off for as long as possible, it had to be done. The only thing that got me through it was that Dan was with me and it stressed him as much as me. It was so comforting after going through it to sit beside him in the car and have him express the same questions and share the came concerns. Why was that such an awful experience? Hopefully we won't have to go through it again for at least two more years!

And what was the cause of this great distress in my life?

Getting a new cell phone!

It's true! Walking into that Verizon store takes all my courage. I take a deep breath and then face some young kid who comes at me in some foreign language I do not understand. I look around for help but everyone is young and talking quickly in this same foreign language. I keep asking questions and nod when he gives an answer. At some point I say: I do not understand a single thing you just said. He tries to explain it again. I still do not understand but keep nodding. He punches up stuff on the computer, tries to talk me into plans, more minutes and more features, disappears and comes back several times. All I want to do is get out of there. He tries to show me how it works but my brain and eyes can't work that quickly. He has me sign things and then tells me a bunch of things I'm not sure I understand and whisks me out the door. It's over at last and I give a sigh of relief. But that is only temporary relief because now I have to spend a good part of my life over the next few weeks trying to figure out how to use it!

More Than Just Baby Stuff!

There was lots more going on in Kansas besides fussing over the new baby!

I got to stay in this decorated room:

Courtney is very good at writing stories. Here she is reading some of them to us:

Sarah is lots of fun! I got to take her to her gymnastics class one morning:

Elizabeth is very good at difficult jigsaw puzzles and playing board games:

One morning it was very quiet upstairs so I didn't think the girls were awake. I went up to get started on breakfast and found all three girls busily making these snowmen under Courtney's supervision:

We had a fun Family Home Evening with Sarah conducting the music with Stop and Go signs:

Courtney read us a book about Baptism and then jumped up at the end to make her point that she is excited to get baptized:

Lots of crafting going on:

And I got to see a little of Jeff's family. Here is Penny who is walking everywhere:


Peter loves his Daddy:

The whole family loves their rock band jam sessions:

There was lots of dancing at the McClellan household. (I'll be posting some videos). Elizabeth especially liked pretending that she was ice skating:

Here are the Big Finish poses after two of the dancing/skating shows:

And the last day there was some fun outside in the snow!