Yesterday (Sunday), Tiffany and I joined Richard for Sunday School and combined Priesthood and Relief Society in our ward. In R.S. the bishop talked about goals for the coming year for the ward. One of the goals was to have better attendance at the monthly ward temple nights. So he opened it up for suggestions as to how to do that. There were quite a few comments and suggestions. Tiffany said it reminded her of the meetings she and her classmates have at school with lots of talking but no deciding on anything. After that, we came home and had lunch.
After lunch, Tiff went with me to sacrament meeting at the MTC. Steven and I got to speak today on the subject of prayer. I spoke about our great Christmas Eve experience with Prair and her husband, Don, and how Prair was able to come be with Lindy after all these years. I also told about some of Prair's experiences with prayer: how she had prayed to receive a Bible in both Thai and English, which she could study. And the next morning, there was one on the table in her house, brought in by her father who had received it from a Christian missionary group that was passing by. The other experience was when she prayed for Lindy's transfer to be delayed so that Lindy could be there for her baptism. As it turned out, Lindy's transfer was delayed because Sis. Lanthier (who was coming to replace Lindy) got sick. Lindy said, "Sorry, Sis. Lanthier. But you can't get in the way of Prair and her prayers." Steven told about our experiences with prayer when we lived in Iran with Richard and Lindy back in 1976. Many times our prayers for help in desperate circumstance were answered almost immediately. But our ongoing prayer for our trunks (with most of our belongings in them) to arrive went unanswered--or so we thought. The trunks never arrived, the children and I went home to the U.S., and Steven stayed behind to locate the trunks and have them shipped home. After much searching, he found them stuck off in a warehouse, where they had been forgotten. We realized that that was the answer to our prayers--not the one we were expecting--but the Lord's answer nonetheless. If it had been expedient for us to have remained in Iran, the Lord would have provided a way for our trunks to be found and sent to us in Isfahan. But they weren't found until Steven found them, so we know that what was best for us was to have come home like we did.
Tonight (Monday) for New Year's Eve dinner, I made some bean soup using the leftover ham from Christmas. It was quite delicious. We had some good old Albertson's french bread with it. Then after dinner, Steven, Richard, Tiff and I watched National Treasure and Perry Mason. Steven and I couldn't stay awake any longer, so we went to bed before midnight. Tiff and Rich stayed up to see the new year in. We're looking forward to another good year and appreciate all the blessings and good things that have happened during the past year. Happy New Year, everyone!