27 Years Together

Many of those who knew us from the beginning in Long Beach, Calif may not have believed it, but we have made it another year and we are still best friends! On Thursday we celebrated by going to work and serving in our zone, exercising together and then dinner. We went for big thick steaks since that's what we kind of miss from home. Although the steaks were good it didn't satisfy our taste buds. We will have to wait to get home. Ed gave me some beautiful red roses on Wednesday evening. We are happy to be here celebrating together while we serve the Lord. Friday morning we took our Temple and Research Day and went to the Jordan River Temple because Salt Lake is still closed. It sounds like we have been married a long time, but decided that it doesn't seem like very long because we were old enough when we got married that we remember what our lives were like before we were married. This is much better.

We continue to be busy and we feel like we are getting more accomplished each day. We had a new young Elder join us this week. He is very good and we like him a lot. He is from Baltimore but his parents are Nigerian so he can help us with the Nigerian records we have. He also speaks French and he loves languages so he will be helping on the Norway project. Additionally, the FH Library is very excited to be able to use him in the evenings on the international floor to help with French. The Lord gives us the help that is needed.

Our elevators have been out twice again this week so I guess the Lord figures we can use the exercise. I'm so happy to be living on the 8th floor but it is a long way to go when you have to do it coming home from work to change to go and workout at the gym and then again when you come home after working out..... oh my!! I guess that kind of help wasn't "needed" for me.

I did experienced a little tender mercy from the Lord myself this week. It may sound funny, but I was struggling to get some Malaysian records copied and ready to give to one of our missionaries who is ready for a new project. These typed sheets from the 70's were typed in Malaysia using the European sized paper so I need to reduce the original to make a copy and then create a pdf and jpeg files to put online. I couldn't get the machine to do it! The secretary who normally helps is gone to have a baby and there was no one who could help me. I left work that evening very frustrated that I couldn't figure out a copy machine! (I used to sell them a long time ago) But I prayed about the following morning and told Heavenly Father what I needed and what the problem was and that I needed His help because I was out of time. I went to work, organized the papers to copy and went down to the big copier. I prayed all the way there, it is at the other end of the building, and when I got there I knew exactly what I had been missing and how to find the correct command and it worked the first time. I still need to get it to work with the jpegs and pdfs, but I got what I needed for the missionary. I have since found out that many of these big machines that do all the emailing and scanning and different formats are giving others trouble too so I didn't feel too inadequate but I did feel blessed that my simple prayer was answered for what was needful.

Tuesday evening I had dinner with a friend and then we met Ed at a fireside given by Rick Turley, Asst. Church Historian. It was such a good fireside. He showed slides from recent trips to congregations in Africa and Asia. I was surprised to learn how fast the Church is growing in Rwanda and Zimbabwe. He reminded us of the statement from President Spencer W. Kimball in 1973 who said that when we have prepared ourselves to spread the gospel the Lord would make things possible. It is great to be part of helping to prepare and then watch how it happens.

As Bro. Turley showed the slides from Asia my heart leaped a little when he came to Thailand. All of a sudden there were friends of mine! Some who I had taught the gospel to 36 years ago and are now leaders in that country. One of the pictures was of a former companion of mine. What made this experience sweeter is that Friday evening we went to the home of another Thai woman who I had taught when she was 19 years old. She joined the Church, eventually made her way here, married a man from here and they have two boys, both of whom were called on missions to Thailand! She had some Thai friends to her house including another woman who was one of my Thai companions. It was great to be with them again.

After the fireside we walked home in the beautiful sunset light listening to the falcons crying for food. The birders are everywhere on the lawns watching them still. I took several pictures of the clouds and the light. It was great.


Our weekly devotional was the first time we have heard from our new mission president and his wife. They have come here after recently returning as the Temple President and Matron of the Nauvoo Temple. He told us great stories about the Nauvoo Temple and the importance of that temple to the Lord, to President Hinckley and to our history.

Sister Peterson also spoke briefly. She began by saying how she hoped we had enjoyed the morning sky with the light peeking through the soft clouds. She said it reminded her of a morning when their children were younger. The sky looked much the same with the sun coming from behind fluffy clouds and her child asked, "Is Jesus coming today?" She responded that she didn't know but that they should make sure they were prepared.

Picture is of the sky on Monday morning, July 11, 2011 at 6:15AM the day of the devotional.

Isn't that great? Every morning when we see the sun come up we should be thinking about how prepared we are in case this is the day. None of us knows when He will come. Maybe we won't be here on the earth when He does come. Maybe we will be called home before that. Either way, we must be prepared to meet Him. There are so many opportunities each day for us to review our standing in His eyes. How will I do today?