Beautiful Sunshiny Week

I have been thinking a lot about faith lately.  Each week I try to listen to the "Follow Him" podcast by Hank Smith and John Bytheway.  They always have a guest who is generally a Bible scholar.  A few weeks ago, the guest said something to this effect:  For any of you who are having a "crisis of faith" challenge, whether it be caused by church history, or cultural, political or social happenings; Let your faith inform the question--don't let your question inform your faith.  He continued, "Faith is a choice.  If you choose to believe, you can find so much that affirms your faith.  If you choose not to believe, there are lots of people who will give you reasons not to believe." 

I have had lots of faith building opportunities the past two weeks, starting with the annual Cook A Rama, and carrying on through conference and service opportunities.

Cook A Rama

The Cook A Rama was held on the Thursday before General Conference, which is our usual night to gather each year.  I think I need to push for an alternate date, because each year we have to compete with missionary reunions and sports.  This year was no different--BYU played Utah State that night, and at least Nan and Bruce were unable to come because of a missionary reunion.  Thankfully, Christine and Steve came, and Caitlyn and Dallin.  I know it's hard for my other kids because of their own children's sports, music lessons and bedtimes.  This year I volunteered to do most of the dinner because our President, Dan Ditto, had just had some serious surgeries.  I seem to volunteer, or get volunteered to make the sloppy Joes each year, and this year I also took on the Costco run.  Anyway--it's a lot of work to do when we know we won't have a huge crowd.  Still, we always have a few new Cooks show up and usually around 50 people, so I guess it's worthwhile.  

This year my first cousin, Geoff Smith came with his daughter (Becca) and her family, who happen to live in my stake; and Colleen Wright Hopkins and her new husband (first cousin once removed).  There were also a few others who heard about it through the newsletter.  Honestly, we don't advertise it long enough or well enough.

Our speaker this year was Val Christensen, who is a member of the Bountiful Temple Presidency.  He talked about his two missions to Russia as the legal counsel for the area.  His main project was working to legalize Family Search and get it back into use there.  As I understood it, in Russia, the citizens are not allowed to download personal data in any form that will leave the nation.  The very nature of Family Search makes it illegal, so it has been shut down for some time.  He shared the miracles that occurred as he worked with a Russian lawyer to figure out how to get by the rules without breaking the law . Their first mission was three years in duration.  Sister Christensen told me that serving for a third year made all the difference because it felt like they truly belonged.  Then they were asked to return...  The most difficult part, she said, was leaving the grandchildren.  I wished I had called my brother Dave and invited him personally, because he would have been so interested in the information about Russia after serving for two years as area auditor over eastern Europe.  Of course, both Brother and Sister Christensen are very sad about the war there; so much of the work has been slowed or stopped because of it.

General Conference

The day after the Cook A Rama, Roy and I drove up to Flaming Gorge to enjoy conference weekend.  It was beautiful and quiet up there.  We even took the kayaks out between sessions on Saturday.  It was a little cool, but still a lot of fun.  Caitlyn and Dallin drove up, too.  They took a hike (Caitlyn thought it was too cold to Kayak) between sessions and took some beautiful pictures.

General Conference was fabulous as usual.  I loved so many of the talks, but one that stood out was Seeing More of Jesus Christ in our Lives by Tracy R Browning (2nd counselor in the general primary presidency).  She compared her poor eyesight and her need for vision correction each day to the Savior's teachings to give us clarification and direction in our lives.  She says,

 "As covenant children of God, we have been uniquely blessed with a rich supply of divinely appointed tools to improve our spiritual vision. The words and teachings of Jesus Christ as recorded in scripture and messages from His chosen prophets and His Spirit received through daily prayer, regular temple attendance, and the weekly ordinance of the sacrament can help to restore peace and provide the necessary gift of discernment that brings Christ’s light and His understanding to the corners of our life and in a world that may be cloudy. The Savior can also be our compass and our pilot as we steer through both the calm and the turbulent waters of life. He can make plain the correct path that leads us to our eternal destination."

She then quotes President Russel M Nelson,

“Our focus must be riveted on the Savior and His gospel” and we must “strive to look unto Him in every thought.”⁴ She continues,  "President Nelson has also promised that “nothing invites the Spirit more than fixing your focus on Jesus Christ. … He will lead and guide you in your personal life if you will make time for Him in your life—each and every day.” 

I would recommend reading the whole talk because it was excellent.Seeing More of Jesus Christ in our Lives 

Ollie's 10th Birthday (and Baseball Game)

Ollie celebrated his 10th birthday on the 3rd--the day after conference.  He celebrated doing what he loves best, playing baseball.  We, along with his other grandparents and a few others of the Green family, all went to watch him play.  His team won.  One of the other grandmas there watching told me that her grandson said that Ollie is the best player on their team.  He did a great job pitching, and then playing short stop.  

After the game AJ and Adrienne treated us to dinner at PF Changs.  It was delicious.  I've never eaten there with so many people eating family style.  It was fun to be able to try everything that was ordered.  The kids ate very well.  I think they were pretty hungry by the time we finally got to eat.  

The Hunt

Roy and Dan had a fun weekend together hunting for elk.  They had a limited permit that only allowed them to shoot "spikes" (young bull elks).  They saw elk, but no spikes.  They had a great time anyway.  They had invited Nick, too, but he was on babysitting duty while Sara went to Las Vegas with her sisters to see a show.  It has been such a mild October, which is nice when you're camping in a tent.  When Jennie got married in 2019, I was hoping for a mild October.  The day she got married (the 3rd) was the only day of the entire month that it would have been possible to have an outside reception.  This October has been warm every day so far.  

                                                                     This was their dinner.  Roy likes to camp in style!

 

 

Dan and Roy helped this guy get his 4-wheeler out of the trees after he veered off the road.

Other Pictures from the Week

Harvey is finally enjoying his preschool

Here we are volunteering at the Kaysville Pasta Plant.  Roy and I pushed cans for four hours.  We switched off; here I'm guiding the cans so they don't get stuck at the neck.  Roy was using a long pole to push the cans off of the pallet onto the conveyor belt.  I think in the four hours we only got about two hours of work done as the equipment would shut down periodically.

Harvey's a monkey.  I think he only wears clothes when he goes to school.

I helped Nick out Friday morning while Sara was in Las Vegas so he could get some work done.  Avie, Camden and I had a great time.  I told Nick that Camden got pretty tired and he'd probably fall asleep...

This is after he got home.

We are going to Adrienne's tonight for cake and ice cream to celebrate AJ's birthday.  If we take any pictures, I'll share them next week.