Elder Hinckley Spoke Tonight

We had dinner tonight in the cafeteria at the MTC before going to the devotional where Elder Richard G. Hinckley was the speaker. His wife was in North Carolina visiting some of their children, so she wasn't with him. In his talk he spoke about a lot of things--about his father-in-law's conversion and baptism at age 89 and, ultimately, his sealing to his wife and family after his death (It's never too late. Don't give up on someone. The ultimate goal is to get people to the temple). He told about Pres. Hinckley recently performing the sealing of his granddaughter to her husband in the Salt Lake Temple. As part of his remarks at that time, Pres. Hinckley said, "I've sealed all five of my children and 24 of my grandchildren in this temple, and I consider that to be the finest thing I've ever done." Elder Hinckley said that is quite a statement from a man who has done so many remarkable things during his life. Then Elder Hinckley talked about missionary work. He said he had just seen Elder Perry and that Elder Perry's message to the missionaries is: "We need to do better. Your goal is to double baptisms worldwide this year." And the message from Pres. Hinckley to the missionaries is to: "retain the members you baptize." Next, Elder Hinckley told about his cousin, Terri Wadsworth Blake from Panaca, who is serving with her husband in the Majureau Islands, where he is the mission president. We have heard Elder Hinckley tell the story of their mission call three different times. I like the story--of how the Church had just created a new mission in the Majureau Islands and they were needing a mission president who could be called and attend the new mission president's training seminar in just three weeks. So they looked at a list of senior couple missionaries who had been called to serve missions in the near future (i.e., ready to go some place) to see if there was a possible mission president among the names. Elder Hinckley saw the names of his cousin and her husband on the list and knew they were the ones who should be called. Terri and her husband had been called on a mission to Canada Montreal; but their call was changed to that of mission president in the Majureau Islands. After Pres. Hinckley extended the call and the Blakes accepted, Elder Hinckley talked to Terri who asked, "Where's Majureau?" Elder Hinckley said, "I don't know." Then he proceeded to read an excerpt from one of her letters to their children. He has read part of a letter each time we've heard him speak, and the letters are beautiful. In the letter he read last night she said, "We've found that we can do more, even when we are sure we cannot breathe or move another moment." She went on to say more but I didn't get it in my notes.

[Terri is a neat lady. I knew her and her family in Panaca. Her mother is Pres. Hinckley's sister, Sylvia Hinckley Wadsworth, who was married to Don Wadsworth. They had 10 children. Sylvia died of cancer when she was just 49 years old, and Don died a couple of years later at age 53 leaving the children with no parents. Pres. Hinckley has always had a special interest in each one of them. Besides Terri, another of the children is John Wadsworth, who is one of the founders of Tahitian Noni and is currently a mission president in Las Vegas. When Pres. Hinckley went to Panaca for Sylvia's funeral in 1970, he said (in his biography) that as he went to the cemetery before the funeral and stood by her open grave, "It was too much for me. I cried in that lonely, quiet place...Here was to be the burial place of my youngest sister...Now as I walked quietly about the little cemetery a certain bitterness struck me--that she of such great promise should come to so dismal an end. I cried, and then a peace came into my heart...I thought of her ten children who had grown from the soil of this community. This is where she had been most loved, and one ought to lie where one is loved. I felt at peace." So I liked being reminded of Sylvia and Don and their children who have gone on to accomplish good things and render great service to the Church. I was able to drive Grandma Adair from Provo to Panaca for Sylvia's funeral, and I've never forgotten it. Pres. (Elder) Hinckley was there along with Elder Spencer W. Kimball and Elder Marion G. Romney, and they all three spoke. Elder Hinckley's talk last night reminded me of all this.]

After his remarks, Elder Hinckley opened it up for a few questions. An Elder asked, "What is our best tool for finding?" Elder Hinckley replied, "Be bold. Have faith. Be fearless, but don't be offensive or stupid. Have goals, and think outside the box." I always like it when the missionaries are charged to "be bold" that they are also reminded to not be "offensive or stupid."

After the devotional we met with District F and heard what they had to say about the devotional. They were all glad to have heard from Elder Hinckley. I think Elder Hinckley's relationship to Pres. Hinckley makes him especially interesting to the missionaries.

Earlier today I went down to the Sunset Heights 5th ward for Margaret Olsen's funeral. I was just thinking about her the other day, wondering about her and how she was doing. She died Jan. 17, and I think that's the day I was thinking about her. I was her visiting teacher, along with Cheryl Henrichsen, for quite a few years. She was a very lovely, special lady. Her children paid great tribute to her at her funeral. At the funeral I saw some of our old friends: Trudy Van Cott, Carolyn Mock, Marilyn Hellewell, Pam Rowbotham, Aldine Benson, Donna Paulson, Edel Erickson, and the Marcovs. It was nice to be down there and to remember old times. They have a great missionary board up with pictures of all the missionaries from the 5th ward who have served over the years. There are a lot of missionaries, with Richard and Lindy being among them.

When I talked to Tiff tonight, she said she had talked to Greg and they had decided that it would be a good idea to postpone their June 7 wedding date and wait to get married until after her internship. She said that an internship in Springfield might not happen, and she wants to be able to explore other options. I told her I thought that sounded like a good plan. We still have our plane tickets and our hotel reservations in Nauvoo; but Steven had said at the time we got the tickets that if the wedding didn't take place on that date, we could still take a nice family trip to Nauvoo.

Who was Valerie?

We had a nice New Year's day around here, just relaxing and getting some things done. Tiffany and I got our late Christmas deliveries made to the Wendts, Ellises and Henrichsens and visited for a few minutes at each of their houses. We also went by Wal-Mart, which happened to be open on New Year's day, and got her hair cut. Yes, cut--again. Even after losing 10 pounds by getting it cut the other day, it was long again! It seemed to be almost as long as it was when she got it cut the other day. We couldn't figure it out. So, anyway, she got it cut and it feels and looks much better. Now she's ready for Greg to come tomorrow.

The big question of the day is: "Who was Valerie?" Tiffany called her friend, Kate, in Natchez and told her that we had met her friend Valerie when we were at Zion. Kate said we couldn't have met her friend Valerie because she no longer works at Zion but is in West Virginia. In fact, Kate had just talked to her in West Virginia the day before. So, who was this mysterious Ranger Valerie that Tiff and I talked to at Zion who seemed to know Kate and Nate? Hmmmmm.

Tonight Steven and I went to the devotional at the MTC. I thought it was a little strange that they would go ahead and have the devotional on New Year's day instead of postponing it until Thursday or something like that. But it actually turned out to be very nice. Elder Douglas L. Callister, of the Seventy, and his wife spoke. Elder Callister has a very eloquent way of speaking and it's interesting to see and hear him as he speaks with no notes or teleprompter or anything. But he speaks as if he reading or quoting from a book. A book in his mind, I guess. He spoke about the Book of Mormon and gave suggestions on how to read the Book of Mormon; because he said it makes a difference how you read it. He also reminded the missionaries that they have a clean slate before them with this new year, and they have the opportunity to make this one of the best years of their lives. We met with District F afterward and enjoyed their testimonies and thoughts about the talks that were given. Then it was a final goodbye and adios to Elders Skinner, Tadd and Harrison and Sisters Funk, Bostrum, and Kofford.

Birthday Lunch with Sandra

December is the month of birthday lunches! Today I went to lunch with my friend and neighbor, Sandra Stephan. Her birthday is Nov. 27, so we try to go sometime inbetween our two birthdays. This year Sandra said we would have to wait to have our lunch until after her mother passed away because she was so occupied taking care of her. Thankfully, about two weeks ago, her mother was able to pass away. She was ready to go, so it was good that she could. Things have settled down a little for Sandra by now, but she's still adjusting. We had lunch at Zupa's (we like the raspberry salad) and had a good visit. She gave me the book, "Curious George and the Firefighters," along with a cute stuffed Curious George in a firefighter outift. Sandra said it's to "share with the granddaughters." I think they'll love it.

Steven had no new missionaries tonight, so he's been able to spend the evening here at home. Bro. Sanders came home teaching and we had a good visit with him.

We got the cutest Christmas card and letter from our Finnish friend, Amma, yesterday. The card has pictures of her and her husband and their three children. The kids are SO cute. She sounds really happy. I'm glad she found someone wonderful after her first marriage disaster.

Well, tomorrow is my big #59 b-day. Scarrrrry. Next year will be the Big 6-0. I'm looking forward to a fun day: First, Lunch with Julie; and then, Tiff comes home for Christmas break!! Her plane comes in at 7:10 p.m. That's a great b-day present to look forward to.

Lunch with Annette

Today Annette and I celebrated out upcoming birthdays (hers is the 23rd) with lunch at the Noni Cafe. I had fish tacos, she had a salmon salad. It was fun and we caught up on all the happenings this last year. Sadly, her dad passed away in September. But actually, it's good for him because he's been in such bad health the past few years. Her mom is still alive; but, unfortunately, has Alzheimers. She lives at Stonewood Manor, an assisted living facility in Orem. It's been like a full-time job for Annette to help care for her parents, but she still manages to travel with Joel and take care of the grandkids when needed. We decided that we need to keep our yearly lunch tradition because that's about our only contact during the year.

Lasagna and Christmas Cookies

You can tell from the title that for Sunday dinner we had lasagna (from frozen), which is one of Camden and Riley's favorites. For treats, we decorated Christmas cookies in the shape of stars and Christmas trees (from Macey's bakery). Camden and Riley had fun decorating and then eating their cookies. Lindy, Richard and Gramma did, too. Grammpa was busy playing with Sidney and Nate was at a fireside. So we sent lasagna and a star cookie home for him to eat. After dinner we watched "The Polar Express" with all three girls in it! That was a lot of fun. They liked seeing themselves, even Sidney who would squeal whenever she saw herself. Riley let us know that in one picture she was wearing a tank top, and in another picture her tummy was showing! They're anxious to watch it again with Tiffany when she comes home. Not too many days now--she's coming home this Thursday!

After the Barretts left for home, Dad, Rich and I went to tithing settlement and got squared away for the year. Good thing Rich has been doing his home teaching and I've been doing my visiting teaching because the bishop asked us if we had been doing it. Thankfully, we could answer yes. Steven is exempt from that, but he does triple or quadruple duty at the MTC!

Speaking of MTC, I didn't go there for Relief Society today, but went to Sunday School and Relief Society in our ward and then to the MTC for Sacrament Meeting. Steven had Elders Tadd and Skinner stand up and told the other missionaries that they were good examples of how to keep their rooms in order. He invited the other elders to stop by their room to see how it's done. Elders Tadd and Skinner also blessed the sacrament today. It was a challenge for Elder Tadd to say the prayer in Spanish, but he did it. (When he finished, it was apparent that he was quite relieved.) But after they sacrament was passed, they came up short two pieces of bread, so Elder Tadd got to say the prayer again! Afterward, Steven and Elder Skinner both told him that he had gotten to do double service today by saying the prayer two times.

We said goodbye today to District E: Elders Fish, Wright, Curtis, Mackay, and Lewis--all going to Argentina tomorrow. Sis. Bankhead was there today and starts her chemotherapy on Tuesday, so she may not be able to come for awhile.

Stake Friends' Lunch

Today was the day for the Stake Friends' annual Christmas lunch--that's our holiday get-together for the old Sunset Heights Stake YW presidency: Marie Duncan, Kathy Diederich, Connie Allen, Sue Olson, and myself. We've been doing it for a lot of years now--probably at least 17 years. It was fun to see everyone and to catch up on all the news. Connie now has 25 grandchildren! We are all turning, or have turned, 59 this year. Boy, we're old! Marie gave a report on her sister-in-law, Helen Duncan, who was diagonosed with lung cancer a few months ago. Helen was told that she was in Stage 4, so she wasn't expected to live long. She had surgery to remove as much of the cancer as they could, then she went to see a specialist at the Huntsman Institute who said her cancer was different than had been first diagnosed. It's a very rare, slow-growing cancer and she can expect to live at least 10 years more. So, that's better news for her than before. I saw her yesterday at Deseret Book and she looked really good. Marie said she's still recovering from the surgery which was pretty horrendous.

Richard started back to work at the temple today after having had two weeks off while the temple was closed for cleaning. He was glad to have some time off to get things done around here that he wanted to, but now he's glad to go back to work.

Tonight Steven and I had dinner in the cafeteria at the MTC before the devotional. We visited with a nice senior missionary couple, the Binghams from North Ogden, who are going on a mission to Scotland. We admire the senior missionary couples who leave their families behind to go serve missions, often not knowing (as in the case of the Binghams) what kind of mission exactly they'll be serving. As we were leaving the cafeteria, we saw Bro. Rampton, one of Steven's former counselors, who said that his daughter Jennie will be on Martha Stewart this Friday demonstrating her fake food that she makes. Hmmmmmm. That should be interesting. He didn't know what day for sure.

The devotional speakers tonight were Elder and Sister Craig C. Christensen. Sister Christensen said, "You can be made stronger through the power of the Atonement. Let God work with you, let God change you, let Him make of you what He wants you to become." Another thing she said, which I think is a good reminder to all of us is: "President Hinckley gets up every day and he works hard. If he can do it, so can you."

Elder Christensen talked about Prayer and four aspects of prayer, which are: preparation, knowing what to pray for, how answers come, and how to teach others about prayer. We always get to hear such good talks at the MTC it would be nice to be able to remember everything. He also talked about principles of being a good missionary from Alma's teachings. The principles (which are quite similar to Elder Walker's of last week) are: obey, trust God, work hard, exercise faith, love everyone, keep a diary, endure to the end. (I like mentioning what the talks were about in my blog because it helps me remember.)

Afterwards, we met with the missionaries in District D. They are some of my favorites. Especially Elders Tadd and Skinner and the four sisters. Their whole district sang in the missionary choir, which I think shows they are trying hard to do all they can to be good missionaries.

Christmas Stories

Tonight after Sunday dinner, we went downstairs and had some Christmas stories around the fire. Lindy read two stories from their "Christmas Devotions" book--one for Dec. 1 and one for Dec. 2. It was a lot of fun to be down there by the fire with Lindy and Nate and the little girls. Sidney sat in the little rocking chair and rocked and rocked with a big smile on her face. At dinner Lindy handed her about a half a slice of bread and Sidney looked at her like, "For me? You're actually giving me a big piece of bread instead of breaking it into little pieces?" Then at treat time, Lindy gave her a whole cookie and Sidney looked like she couldn't believe it. It was a fun evening. For dinner we had meatloaf, potatoes, corn, and bread. Riley had a harder time chowing down on the meatloaf than usual, but she made it through the required number of bites. After dinner she sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" into the microphone while wearing the purple crown on her head. Camden enjoyed playing and listening to the stories.

After the festivities were over and the Barretts went home, Steven and I went to Berg Mortuary in Provo for my friend, Colleen Hanks' mom, Vera Millett, who passed away. She was 97 years old and had actually been doing pretty well until she got a staph infection. Last Christmas, for our club Christmas party, we had dinner at Sandy Dallin's and then put together three gift baskets to take to three of the girls' parents. We took a basket to Mary Ann Jackson's dad, Bob Bunker; one to Susan Rogers' mom, Noreen Payne; and one to Colleen's mom, Vera. All three were still living their in their homes at the time. Colleen said her mom really appreciated the visit and talked about it for months afterwards. I'm glad we were able to make those visits--especially to Vera since she has now passed away.

When I talked to Tiffany this evening she said she had seen Elder David Loveless at stake conference today. He told her to tell her mom to tell his mom 'hello.' So I delivered the message. That's fun that she runs into him occassionally. Eleven more days and Tiff will be home for Christmas break. We're looking forward to having her home for awhile--Camden and Riley are especially looking forward to their sleepover with Auntie Tiff.

Today at the MTC, I just went for Fast and Testimony meeting since there was no Relief Society there today. They have mission conference there on Fast Sunday and no Relief Society. So I attended Relief Society in the home ward. Susan Allen gave the lesson from the booklet, "Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple." Two things from the lesson stood out especially to me: From p. 1 it says: "The temple transforms the individual and makes abundantly worthwhile any efforts made to get there." (I added the italics.) Then on p. 18 it says: "As you put your clothing in the locker you leave your cares and concerns and distractions there with them." That is a good visual reminder, I think, of how we should leave our worldly distractions and concerns in the locker as we leave to attend a session. Just put everything in the locker and lock it all up while we go concentrate on the spiritual aspects of the temple.

Karalie called this morning and said that her birthday party was a success and all who made it there (about 100) had a good time. I'm glad everything went well. I was sorry that we weren't able to make it, but sometimes we have to defer to the weather. It's a beautiful sunny (but cold) wintery day out there today. Too bad the storm couldn't have been a day earlier or later. But Happy #50 Birthday today, Karalie!

A Busy Day

Today I made a couple of trips to the post office to try to mail some things before the Christmas rush. It was pretty busy there, but nothing like it will be in December. I tried mailing a package to Riitta and Matti in Finland, but the postal clerk was afraid it would get crushed (it was kind of a flimsy box), so she went and found me a box in the back which I brought home to repack and I'll go back tomorrow to mail it. (That was nice of her. I was wondering if it was too flimsy and she assured me that it was.)

Next it was off to Curves and then a walk at the track. I got home just in time to get dinner ready so we could eat and then head over to the Provo Temple. The Mt. Timpanogo Temple is closed for cleaning, so Richard was home and was able to go with us to Provo. We saw a lot of Sunset Heights Stake people there. Shirley Robins was there, and I had seen her earlier in the day at the post office. Leslie Hillstrom was also there, and I had seen her earlier in the day at the track. That's funny that we all ended up in the same temple session. We also saw a girl who looked familiar to Steven. I sat by her during the session and she said we looked familiar to her, too. So as we visited later, we found out that she was in the BYU 100th ward in Provo when Steven was in the bishopric about 10 years ago. Her name is Nicole Jensen, and she has recently returned to the Provo area after living in Boston and Washington state.

I sent Tiff an e-mail today and told her that what she made her Christmas tree out of was "duct" tape and not "duck" tape. Then when I talked to her on the phone later, she said it really was "duck" tape. My bad. That's a cute idea for a tree.

Funeral for a Friend

Today Steven and I went to Doug Cox's funeral. He died last Thursday after 18 months with lung cancer. Doug was asst. director of the Bean Museum for 28 years, so he and Steven have worked together for a long time in the College. We always enjoyed Doug and his wife, Ann, every year at the Bean Museum Christmas party. Doug and Ken Packer always made sure that there was plenty of good food and fun at the party. Just last year at the party Doug and Ann seemed pretty optimistic about his chances of beating the cancer, but I guess it was not meant to be. The funeral today was a very nice tribute to him and his life. Every year at the party Ann always tells us the latest happenings with their six children, so we have always felt like we know them, even though we didn't meet them until today. Their youngest son, Trevor, is on a mission in Guatemala.

After the funeral, Steven and I had lunch here at home with Richard, and then Steven went in to work. So I just did the usual things for Monday: some laundry, Curves, and a nice walk at the track. The weather was beautiful again today after being rainy and "blustery" (as Lindy described it) yesterday.

Richard gave the FHE lesson tonight on "Gratitude" in preparation for Thanksgiving which is coming up next week. We're really looking forward to our trip to South Carolina next Monday to see Sarah, Joel and Eliza, as well as Tiffany, who will be flying there on Saturday.

Fresh Air!

It rained last night and this morning, getting rid of all that yucky stuff in the air. Then the storm clouds cleared up and it's been another beautiful fall day. We've gotten some good chores done around here today; that's what Saturdays are for, I guess. Steven got some really good things done outside and in the garage. I did something fun after I dropped Rich off over in AF. First, I went grocery shopping at Macey's, then I ran over to the Blue Goose Boutique in Lehi for a minute. It's kind of hard to get into all the Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving, but I just wanted to see what was happening. Our friend from the MTC, Jana Rampton, used to own the Blue Goose Boutique when it was Jana's Blue Goose. Now it's Teri's Blue Goose. I liked it better when Jana had it. After the boutique I had to fight all that northern traffic to get home again. It's crazy over there in Pleasant Grove, American Fork and Lehi. That intersection there in Pleasant Grove on the way to the Temple has got to be the worst. They keep trying to improve it, but it only gets worse. They were doing more work on it today, so the traffic was really bad; but maybe it will get better eventually. Richard and I have just about given up going that way. Then the craziest thing happened on the way home this evening. I was turning right onto State Street in PG, and as I did, this speeding car came out of nowhere and went right between our car and the car in the lane next to us. We were glad nothing bad happened. That was crazy.

You Can't Eat Too Much Thai Food

Well, like Lindy says: "You can't eat too much Thai food." So this evening, Steven and I went with Russ and Lorene Nielson to the Thai Chili Gardens restaurant here in Orem and had a delicious dinner. Russ and Lorene invited us, and we were happy to oblige. Lorene served her mission in Thailand, making her a Thai food lover, too. Steven and Russ were happy to let us girls make the menu decisions, and Lorene seemed to like all the same things we do, so we ended up with our usual favorites: fresh spring rolls, mussaman curry, pad Thai noodles, plus stir fried veggies & pork. We would have had mango rice for dessert, but they didn't have it. The waiter said mangoes are out of season right now. (Good thing they weren't out of season at Thai Village yesterday. I did think the mangoes could have been riper, but they were still good.) At the end of dinner, Russ and Lorene gave us the good news that they are expecting a baby girl in March. Russ is Steven's assistant in the College, who was hired a few years ago. After working with Russ for awhile, Steven thought it might be nice to line him up with a cute single girl we knew from our BYU student ward days, Lorene Flake. So Russ took her out; and long story short, they ended up eventually getting married. It's our one and only matchmaking success story.

I went over to the Barrett's for awhile this morning to stay with Riley and Sidney while Lindy went to Camden's class to help out. Sidney was asleep, so Riley kept me entertained by showing me all the cute pictures that she and Camden have drawn and by bringing me lots of good food down in the playroom.

Tiffany called this afternoon from a cafe in Mattoon, Illinois, where she and her roommate, Alyson, were having lunch. She said that Elder David Loveless, a missionary from our ward here in Orem, was also having lunch there with a group of elders. Just last Sunday I told his dad that Tiffany was living in David's mission (Illinois Peoria), so he thought that was interesting. He said David was serving in Effingham, which I told him is about 30 (actually 39) miles from Charleston. We didn't know that in less than a week they would be running into each other in Mattoon! David didn't know Tiffany was back there, so he was surprised to see her. We keep finding out that it's a pretty small world.

I can't let the day go by without mentioning: It was another beautiful fall day. The only drawback was the inversion which made the air kind of yucky. The orchard owners down the street had a big fire going that caused lots of smoke which the inversion trapped down low, so the evening walk at the track was pretty smokey. Other than that, the weather's still beautiful.

An Evening with Elder and Sister Bednar

Tonight at the MTC we got to hear from Elder and Sister Bednar! The missionaries were thrilled to be able to hear from an apostle. Two of the missionaries who are leaving tomorrow for the Dominican Republic were especially thrilled. Elder Smith said, "I was hoping and praying that I could hear an apostle speak before I left." Several of the missionaries mentioned that they appreciated hearing Elder Bednar say, "You can do this." He spoke about the Articles of Faith and how in sequence and content they explain the doctrine of the Church. He said, "The Articles of Faith can answer any religious question." He also told about receiving an e-mail today that reminded him of where he was exactly 35 years ago tonight at 7:00 p.m. He was baptising a young German man who has now been a faithful member of the Church for 35 years. The German man e-mailed Elder Bednar to remind him. Sis. Bednar spoke about the importance of missionary service and encouraged the missionaries to be "the kind of missionary your mother thinks you are." Afterwards, several of the elders mentioned that they wanted to be that kind of missionary. It was a very nice evening. I especially like hearing the comments from the missionaries afterward. Before the devotional we had dinner in the cafeteria with our friends, Rick and Yevon Romney, who are in another Spanish-speaking branch presidency. It was good to visit with them. Rick made us laugh with his funny food combinations. For example: french fries, saurkraut and turkey followed by two bowls of vegetable beef soup, a banana, ice cream bar and chocolate dessert.

Today has been a good day. I went for a nice fall walk at the track and got some things done here around home before leaving for AF and then the MTC. I'm looking forward to being with the little Barrett girls tomorrow for Halloween. Richard will be at work and Steven will be at the MTC greeting the new missionaries who come tomorrow. So I'm going to pick up a Jack-o-Lantern pizza at Papa Murphey's and take it to the Barretts for dinner. It will be fun to see the little girls in their costumes. We're looking forward to hearing about Tiff's Halloween adventures and seeing pictures of Eliza in her costume. Happy Halloween Eve everyone!

Another Beautiful Fall Day!

It was another beautiful fall day here in Orem. You couldn't ask for nicer weather. Today was my hairdo day and a day for laundry. I also went to Curves again because I won't be able to go tomorrow. (I usually go every other day.) I also had time for a nice walk at the track this afternoon. While there I saw Cheree Marcov and her two cute little boys. She said to say "hi to the girls" (she saw Richard while there at the track). On my way back from AF I stopped by Lindy's and played with the little girls while Lindy finished a big sanding project on the Barbie house which she has been trying to get to forever. The girls and I had fun in the playroom--Camden and Riley fixed lots of good food for Sidney and me. Sidney quite enjoyed all the things they gave her to "eat." Then tonight Bro. Sanders came for a home teaching visit and talked to us about conference. Now we're on our way over to AF to get Rich and to make a stop by Macey's. Tomorrow I'm heading down to St. George with Karalie so we can attend Auntie Reah's 90th birthday party on Saturday. Steven and Richard will hold the fort down here, and then I'll be back Sunday in time for dinner, which Lindy was nice enough to say she would fix. Steven's hoping that the Rockies will do better tonight than last night when they lost to the Red Sox 13-1! Adios for now.

An Evening at the "Empty Sea"

Steven and I had a nice evening at the "Empty Sea" (MTC) last night. We had beef soup and mandarin chicken salad for dinner (pretty good, actually) and visited with Bro. and Sis. Rampton while we ate (he used to be one of Steven's counselors in the branch presidency). Then we went to the devotional where Sis. Cheryl C. Lant, Primary general president, was the featured speaker. Her husband, Pres. John Lant (president of Branch 3 at the MTC), also spoke. He spoke about how we should not only read the Book of Mormon, but we should know the Book of Mormon. He told of a missionary in their branch who was having trouble with the language and Pres. Lant asked him if he had read the Book of Mormon. The elder said he hadn't. So Pres. Lant challenged him to read the Book of Mormon, which he did. And it changed his life. Pres. Lant said the Holy Ghost descended upon him; he became more obedient, the language came more easily--he was a changed missionary. He said, "The Book of Mormon will change your heart." Sis. Lant spoke to the missionaries about using the scriptures in their teaching. She said, "The scriptures give validity and authority to what you are teaching." She also encouraged the missionaries to involve the children of the families they are teaching because children can receive a witness to the truth for themselves. She reminded them that many times, children will lead the way for their families.

After the devotional, Dad and I met with the elders in District C in their district meeting to hear their testimonies and their thoughts about the devotional. Elder Pulu told about how when he was a young boy he didn't talk very much. He stuttered and couldn't use very many words. Then his mother gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read it. He didn't want to at first; but he did, eventually, and it helped him be able to speak better. I like being in the district meetings and feeling the spirit that is there with the missionaries. I left a bit early to go to American Fork, so I didn't get to hear from all of them.

I had a fun time over at Nate and Lindy's in the afternoon with Riley and Sidney while Camden and Lindy went to the dentist. Camden had on her red polka dot skirt and looked so cute. Sidney was asleep and Riley was at her friend's house but came home before too long. We read Halloween stories and played a matching card game until Sidney woke up. Sidney always acts surprised to see Gramma when she wakes up, but she was so cute and we had fun until Lindy and Camden came home. Camden had three cavities. Oh. Oh.

Well, it's about time to head over to Lindy's to help with Sidney while she has Riley's pre-school this morning. Maybe Sid and I will go for a walk if it's not too cold. That's always fun. Then this afternoon I'll go to Curves before heading to AF with Rich. Steven isn't getting new missionaries tonight so he gets to be home this evening. That will be nice.

I hope things go well for Tiffany's presentation in her Museum class today and that Sarah and Joel and Eliza have a nice day in South Carolina