A week ago Saturday, on the first, I was assigned to give the Spiritual Thought in our prayer meeting at the Library. I had had the assignment for a couple of weeks, so I had thought about it a lot. Finally I decided to share the story of the trip Becky Cryer and I made to Nauvoo in 2003. We had Katie and Meghan with us and it was a great trip. We laughed and told stories and probably even shed a few tears, but had a great time. Becky has a great-great grandfather who is well known in Mormon history, Hosea Stout.
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| Hosea Stout |
Everywhere we went in Nauvoo there would be a plaque or a statue or some kind of story about Hosea. I'd be driving down the road and Becky would call out, "STOP!!" I'd slam on the brakes, sure I was about to run over someone and there would be another plaque about Hosea, and Becky would have to have a picture of it. That summer when we came out to Salt Lake, I was telling my cousin about our trip and he said, "You know we have ancestors who were in Nauvoo, don't you?"
Whaaat? No, I didn't know that because I don't know the stories about my mother's side of my family. I was raised by my dad and his family. So I bought a book about my great great grandfather, Judson Tolman. On the way home I started reading it and on page 4 I read that Hosea Stout and Judson Tolman were called to be scouts to find a road through the wilderness for the pioneers to travel. There really are no coincidences; there's a plan and it's amazing.
Last Sunday in Relief Society the teacher asked different ones to share insights they had gained as they raised their families. One lady was asked to give a talk on "Forgiveness" and she decided she was having a hard time preparing it because she hadn't forgiven her son. She got on her knees about 3:00 in the morning and prayed about forgiving her son, who had been so very difficult while he was a teen-ager and had given them major problems. She said as she was praying, she distinctly heard a voice in her mind say. "You are not called to judge him, only to love him." I thought about the tremendous wisdom in that.
On Tuesday we had our normal errands to accomplish and I also had a project to work on. We went to my sister's in Sandy and took some boards and borrowed my brother-in-law's tools. I can't go into any detail because some grown children reading this may be getting one for Christmas, but it was fun to work on a wood project again. It's been awhile.
Our company arrived Wednesday evening, bearing gifts! Reba had Zummo links to bring to Robert and Matthew had asked her to bring his dad some links and some boudain, so Robert was glad to see Lena and Reba and Judson, and THRILLED to get his gifts!
On Thursday Reba came to the library and then Peggy Wilson (who lives in Orem) came to the library and we all went to the Church Office Building for lunch. Reba had decided after our pictures from a month ago, that she would be here on a Thursday for prime rib at the COB! Once again, it was sooo good! It was so fun to visit with Peggy and Reba both and remember fun times from all of those years ago. Peggy said of all the places they've lived, they really have fond memories of Silsbee, even though they were only there a year.
Lena and Judson stayed here with us on Wednesday night and then again on Monday night before they left, but the rest of the time they were with the wedding party at a beautiful cabin up at Sundance. Reba stayed here with us and we had good visits in the evenings.
Last Saturday was our zone party because our zone leader and his wife are going home the end of this month. They're wonderful people and his wife recently had to have knee replacement surgery, so this last little bit has been a little tough for them, but they're sure nice folks. At the party one of the senior elders had asked each of us to try to come up with a short little family story we could share and I have to tell my favorite from that night. One of the women told us about her Catholic grandmother. She would fix a big meal for her grandfather when he came in from working outside, then she would clean up and go outside, climb a tree and sit on a limb until he fell asleep. Then she would come in and go to bed. She explained that this was her method of birth control. She said she didn't know if it worked for her grandmother or not because she didn't know whether she started doing this before or after they had 11 kids!
Reba went to church with us on Sunday in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which is just so beautiful. I think our meetings are always great and our speaker for Sacrament Meeting was Ted Callister who was a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, but is now General Sunday School president. He and his wife were both great.
After church we went to South Jordan and had dinner with John and Janie Lauritzen, who lived in Silsbee about 20 years ago. Their oldest son, Adam, is about Paul's age and is very good friends with Brian Ratcliff. They're wonderful people and we had such a good visit (and a really good dinner!). It's just crazy that we've been able to see so many friends from Silsbee--all people we've dearly loved through the years who have touched our lives in so many positive ways.
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| In the back: John and Adam; Middle: Reba, Janie, Jake, Kara, Front: Robert and Patty |
This morning we took Jud and Lena and Dainen and Reba to the airport. We hadn't had nearly enough time with them. I told Reba, "It's like when you go to Nauvoo the first time and plan to stay for 2 days. You realize that's not enough, so the next time you stay for 5. That's not enough, you need at least 10!" It's that way here. We've been here 2 months and haven't seen a fraction of the things we want to see. I keep hoping a year of P-Days will be enough, but I'm not sure it will.
When we got home, Josh and Blanca arrived, so we don't have to go through withdrawal yet. At the moment they've gone to check out the Down East Warehouse clothing place that I've been told is pretty nifty, but they only have clothes to fit smaller ladies than I am, so I decided to stay here and catch up--I'd gotten pretty far behind on my story telling.
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