July 20th and before

Today is Sunday.  We did not have the kids this weekend so it has been a quiet Sunday.  We talked about the Holy Ghost and the requirement to be baptized to obtain it in your life as a constant companion in the classes this week.  We also talked about the fact that we need to accept the Holy Ghost into our life in order to obtain the blessings and that we need to read, pray and keep the commandments to draw near to the spirit.  Both Relief Society and Sunday School were good lessons.  Our Mission President's letter for this week also dealt with the Spirit and the ability to feel it.  It was very enlightening to me and so I share it here for all to read.

Picture of Christ I downloaded for my phone

"During the sacrament prayer, we hear the promise "that they may always have his Spirit to be with them" (D&C 77). Consequently I am often asked, "If I am keeping the commandments with exactness, then why don’t I feel the Spirit with me always?" The question itself is evidence that the promise of the sacrament is very misunderstood.
Notice that the promise is that "they may always HAVE his Spirit to be with them;" it is not that "they may always FEEL his Spirit with them." Some missionaries (and many members) think that if they do not FEEL daily surges of spiritual euphoria, then they must not HAVE the Spirit. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Modern apostles understand this common misconception and have raised a voice of caution. President Boyd K. Packer said, "I have learned that strong, impressive spiritual experiences do not come to us very frequently" (PMG, 99). President Howard W. Hunter said, "I get concerned when it appears that strong emotion or free-flowing tears are equated with the presence of the Spirit" (PMG, 99).
Now to be sure, there are moments, occasional moments, of marvelous manifestations, undeniable witnesses, profound effusions of grace, even typhoons of tears. However, these experiences come "seemingly" at rare and random moments, always according to the will of God, and usually after the trial of our faith. To expect to spend our lives in a Divine Disneyland, enjoying every ride and feeling the excitement of the next adventure, is not only unreasonable, but it is contrary to the wisdom and the designs of God.
The promise that you "may always HAVE his Spirit" to be with you is real and is literal. "But how do we know that we always HAVE his Spirit if we cannot always FEEL his Spirit?" The answer is in our ability to see. Like the blind man healed by Jesus, we too can sing the song of redeeming love, "whereas I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25).
What do we see? We can see and understand those things which are understood only by the Spirit. We can "see the kingdom of God," meaning that we recognize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as God’s kingdom on earth. Jesus told Nicodemus that ability to "see the kingdom" was only possible to those born of the Spirit (John 3:3-8).
We have "great views" (Mosiah 5:3) of that which is to come, meaning that we understand the resurrection and judgment like no others; we know what happens at death; we know of Christ’s return and of his millennial reign; we know of the glories of eternity. Because we have the Spirit with us always, we are a believing people (Mosiah 5:1-2; AoF 13).
In addition many of the gift of the Spirit come without an "attached feeling." For example, the gift of wisdom, the gift of discernment, even the gift of tongues come more often from a quiet and subtle increase in understanding and ability over time than they do from a sudden bolt of a singular spiritual experience.
To his meridian seventy, the Lord said, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see." I say unto you also, my fellow missionaries, "Blessed are your eyes, for the things that you can see and understand are evidence that you truly do HAVE the Spirit to be with you, always–otherwise ye would be as blind as the world."
Paul taught: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14).
May we always HAVE his Spirit to be with us, that we may ALWAYS exclaim, "I can see.""

To me that was a very enlightening statement and leaves me with a peace about my ability to feel and have the spirit.

Sacrament also dealt with the role of discipleship and many of the talks focused on being able to draw closer to the lord.  They had a young girl talk that was 12 about her experience going to the Houston Temple to do baptisms for the dead and she did a good job.  I later learned that she was just baptized about a month ago so that made it even more remarkable that she did such a good job as often converts come into the church with a fear of public speaking.

Last week was a busy week in many ways.

Monday we went to Weight Watchers in the morning and we both gained weight so we were determined to do better this week.  I tried to get in more activity during the week but I know I did not get as much on the weekend with the kids not being here.

We spent the afternoon in the office because the Williams were gone that day.  I got somewhat caught up but there were some glitches in the way the Weekly Zone Reports were transmitted and so I just had to wait for the new information to sent from the Zone leaders.

Monday night we got Nathan's suit out and got it ready as he was going to the mediation for his divorce the next day and had been advised to dress up.  It looked pretty good for having been in a clothing bag for more than a year.  I was bothered because it was a little wrinkled but all we could do at this point was to hang it in the bathroom so it could steam in morning showers.

Tuesday was the mediation.  Nathan had to be there about 7:45 a.m. which is about an hour earlier than we ususally do things so we got up earlier to accommodate.  He put on his suit and it fit fine and he looked good but her had problems with getting the pants up and down.  We determined that I would have to be there at various times to help him in the bathroom.  I went back to the office to work but had to be back at noon for him to go to the restroom.  

When I got back I determined that I needed to stay for a while after lunch so I took my computer and worked on what I could do in the lobby of the law office.  Nathan did not want anyone to be in with him and stipulated the same for same for Sara and her lawyer.  I ended up being there until about 8:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. waiting so I spent a lot of time on the computer.   But they were able to come to an agreement about that time.  So it took about 12 hours to complete.  I don't know when the divorce is final but the agreement has been reached.  Nathan ended up giving Sara the house even though she has said that he could have it so we will not be moving anywhere but staying in the apartment.  It is probably for the best as the house is not handicap accessible and the kids will not be displaced.  He is looking for a house to buy or build with his VA money.

Wednesday we worked in the office all day and it was amazing how much I got done.  All the baptisms in and all the referrals in and the stake report done and name tags ordered.  I even got the bike records updated.  I was excited because we baptized 15 more people in June in the mission than we had in the previous months 65 to be exact.  Larry has been swamped with cars coming in and being sent out.  They had zone meetings this week and he had to make sure all the cars were inspected and okay.

Thursday we worked in the morning and I was surprised that I was able to get all the work done for that day in the morning the Lord was really blessing me.  We went home for lunch and then Larry went back and I went to buy some hairspray and then went back and did a few things but then I left at 2:30 p.m.  I had to take Nathan to meet Sara to get their bank accounts divided up and to take her name off the phone plan. We had to go to Converse to do this and so we just went to the WWFSC Bingo night at 4:15 p.m.  This time we were way early and last week we were way late.  We got to sit with Lori from Warm Springs because she only had one patient with her.  Larry met us there about 5:00 p.m.  For once one of us won a game of Bingo.  Nathan won a Visa Card for $35.00 in one of the games.  I doubt that Larry and I will ever win but the meal is worth it.

Friday we worked all day in the office.  We had decided to go to John and Judy's for the night as we were not going to get the kids this weekend.  We asked Nathan if he wanted to go but he was not comfortable going because their house is not handicap accessible.  He would not let me call anyone to help him or stay with him so we left him with a large pizza and some food in the fridge and headed out.  He said that he would call someone and he did find Mark Johnson to help him get into bed.  I was frustrated that all he ate was pizza the whole evening and next day but he survived and he thought I was worrying too much about his eating.

Larry eating fried okra

Larry and I had a good time visiting with John and Judy.  We didn't get there until about 7:20 p.m. but they took us to one of their favorite restaurants in Kerrville, Texas called Billy Gene's.  The food was very good but we succumbed to eating a chocolate caramel cheesecake that was soo good!! Worth every point.  We visited there for a while and then went to their home and visited for a few minutes until Larry and I started falling asleep at the table.  We finally went to bed at 11:00 p.m. which is late for us as we get up at 6:00 a.m.  We actually got to sleep in until about 7:30 a.m. which was nice.  We read our scriptures and said prayer and then joined John and Judy for breakfast.  However breakfast was fruit until we went to get brunch about 10:00 a.m.  But they had the best nectarines and peaches so we did not starve.  They also had other fruits but those were my favorites.

We went to the Hunter House cafe for breakfast.  Apparently John and Judy go there a lot and the lady that is one of the waitresses cleans Judy's house once a week and her husband is their plummer so they are on a first name basis.  John ordered fried okra which is a popular side dish here.  We were all trying it and I liked it except for the fact that it is fried.  Larry does not like Okra, in fact when we got married he told me he would eat anything except boiled okra.  I teased him about he said boiled okra so he told me to take a picture as we would not see him doing this again so I did.  He ate one fried okra. I have the picture to prove it.  But, he says that he still does not like it but fried is better than the boiled. 

John's ship on the top and Landon's on the bottom

John had a lot of stories to share and I wished about half way through that I had brought a recorder so that I could record some of his stories.  He also showed me that he had printed a picture of Landon's ship the USS Battan and posted it on the wall with the picture of his first ship that he was on when he joined the Navy.  He was on the same type of ship that Landon is and he told is all about how it does the jobs that it is asked to do.  He is a real expert on anything Navy.  But of course he would be.  It was his life's work.

Judy had a lot of things to show Larry with genealogy.  He wanted a picture of his Grandfather Presser and so she dug in some things and found two.  Unfortunately they are regular pictures and we did not get a digital copy and we do not have a scanner here so I cannot post them.  He also got a picture of all of his Presser Grandparents family.  It was quite a big family.  I was disappointed as we drove home that we did not get some pictures of John and Judy because we were talking too much.

We stayed at John and Judy's until about 4:00 p.m. but then we started back.  We stopped for some food at Wendy's before we got home and so we didn't make it until about 6:30 or 7:00 p.m.  We did learn how to get off of I-10 at Wurzbach Parkway and make it home.  The GPS did not want us to go that way but we are learning a few things that we can do that the GPS won't tell us.

As we said, Nathan survived his first 24 hour period alone so we are making progress.  The Lord is blessing him and us everyday as we try to serve him.