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| Karen was up early to get ready to visit other wards to deliver the CD’s I made for next years Primary program. She visited 3 others besides ours. We had PEC and met a newly assigned missionary to our ward. One of the things we talked about is that some people feel that their Patriarchal Blessings are no longer valid because of poor choices they have made. They don’t understand the power of the Atonement and the foreknowledge of God. The Bishop was to have our Stake Patriarch come in January and talk about that and personal revelation in general. Brother Mullen spoke in Sacrament and drew a great analogy to a Magnolia tree he had planted in his back yard. It had grown and he had cared for it during various trials and breaks and diseases. It had survived an ice storm and a hurricane and had bloomed for many years. And then during the drought last year, he had not watched it closely and it had died of thirst. It compared that to our testimonies that must be constantly watched and cared for. It was a good talk. I taught the HP lesson on Elder Bednar’s talk about expressing love and testimony and being consistent. I think his analogy of the painting of the wheat field in his office is one of the best I have ever heard. The Peabody’s came over to home teach us. We talked a lot about David’s upcoming sealing. After they left I wanted to take a nap, but it was too late. I spent most of the afternoon reading and studying the Gospel of John. I stared a couple days ago and finished it today. It is so beautiful and so powerful. I can’t even count how many times the Holy Spirit bore witness of the truths contained therein. To the Revelife question about Jesus being in Hell after His death and before His resurrection, I commented: Jesus said to the thief that he would be with Him in Paradise, but immediately after His resurrection, He said that He had not yet ascended to His Father in Heaven. When His body died, His spirit went to the place where the spirits of all men await the judgment and the resurrection. The righteous wait in a place called Paradise, and the wicked wait in a place referred to as a prison. 1 Peter 3:18-20 says, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”So during the time between His death and resurrection, Jesus visited this spirit waiting place and organized the preaching of His Gospel to those who never heard it in this life.1 Peter 4:6 says, “For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”It is awesome that Jesus is the Savior of both the living and the dead, and that He has provided a way for all to hear and know. “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.” (Romans 14: 9) I am so grateful for the witness of the Holy Spirit that our loving Father in Heaven has provided a plan of salvation that is available to all His spirit children. | | |
| It was a cold and rainy morning. That sounds like the start of one of Snoopy’s top of the doghouse stories. Karen woke up early for a Saturday and we drone down to a clinic to do the lab tests her doctor had ordered. We thought it was going to take a long time, but she was only there long enough for them to draw half her blood. After that we went to Denny’s for breakfast and then to the mall. Yesterday, my Rockport shoes, which I have worn for a long time, started to flop on the bottom, as part of the sole had finally worn too thin. I really wanted another pair of the same kind, but they discontinued this model. I went to 5 different stores and looked at their Rockport models, but there was nothing I liked or fit right. I ended up buying some Sears shoes that were on sale. In the meantime, Karen was shopping for a dress for the wedding and finally found something that will work. Later, she got some shoes at Payless and we did our food shopping at Wal-Mart. I tried to call her when I was finished with the food, but she couldn’t hear because whoever had the phone last has set the loud ring to an audio level of “1.” Serious eye roll! In the evening, we watched the TV-edited version Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which I had recorded earlier. That is one weird movie. | | |
| It was busy today with our logistics lady taking a vacation day. She will be using up the last 10 days of her 5 weeks vacation, and the purchasing person and I will each be using up the last 5 days of our vacations. We can’t carry any days over. I was able to take a short nap at lunch, which was good. Kevin had asked for a couple of things, which I sent him today. Karen didn’t get home from school until after 6pm, but surprisingly, we were still able to get in to the restaurant without waiting. Afterwards, we went back home for a while and then to the Freeman’s for the open house for the Woods, who are leaving the ward. | | |
| I woke up about 4:30 and instead of trying to go back to sleep, like I’ve been doing lately, I stayed up and read a lot in the Book of Mormon, the conference talks, and the New Testament. It set a good tone for the day. I finished reading and marking all the talks. Now I need to copy those notes to my carry around pages. Danny cooked brisket for lunch, since all the sales people were coming over after their meeting. It was a really good lunch. Danny had his own recipe for beans that were similar to the charro beans I like. It is always a little sad to me that some of the older sales guys, who I only see once a year, know me, but I can’t remember their names. I have always envied President Monson’s gift of remembering names and faces. I worked through lunch, since we were so busy, and since we can’t work overtime, I got to leave a little early. Karen got home pretty late, but is feeling a lot better. She had a workshop today at a different school. She was watching a show upstairs and the station would come in right. That TV has the antenna I built on it. I moved it back and forth and only got a little signal. Finally in frustration I turned it on its side and the station came in perfectly. Go figure! | | |
| Before work, I wrote a letter to my friend Kevin and told him I had been praying for him and that I put his name on the Temple prayer roll. He wrote back latter to say he is still looking, but has felt the hand of the Lord strongly in his life. This morning was the chilliest it has been so far. That was good, because we were moving around a lot of the old computers and electronics stuff that is being recycled soon. There are a lot of decisions about what to throw and what to keep. The new trailers arrived that will become Building C. They have done a lot of work in Building B – putting in a new door through the back wall for access to C, putting in new carpet and tile, installing cubicles for the manufacturing guys, getting new furniture from some of the offices, and painting. It looks pretty good. While I was talking to Danny, he told me I had a big mosquito on my head. I reached up to brush it away and my hand came away all bloody, and there was a lot a blood on my head. I didn’t have any kind of welt or bump, so it must have been someone else’s blood. Wonderful?Since some of us can’t be gone at the same time, the three of us in Scott’s group arranged our vacation schedule for the rest of the year to use up our remaining day. Today was the last day to sign up for the health insurance, but I got it done before the deadline. I found a new endocrinologist for Karen for her thyroid and she thought he was great – a doctor who actually listened and talked to her. I got my conference DVD’s in the mail. I like re-watching them at least once before the next conference. | | |
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