All I can say is that the days are going by
very quickly. The end of fall is approaching, and winter is peeking around the
corner. The weather has gotten cooler, and I want to wear my big coat all the
time, but then I get too hot in the car.
Oct. 29, Wednesday, started out with a full
calendar and ended with lots of cancellations that allowed work at the
apartment and a meeting with Victor. Afterwards, we took Denise and Timmy to a
Halloween Party at another Ward since City Branch can’t have one because of our
location. Timmy had a blast. It only took a few tries before he got the hang of
trunk or treat. I miss going trick or treat with the kids. What fun! We did get
a great picture of Adam, and I was thrown for a loop as I found myself looking
at my brothers – James and John. I sent the picture to James, and he couldn’t
say because he said he didn’t know how he, himself, looked. But I know that
Walton is in the genes of my son.
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| Talking with Bethanne at Halloween Trunk & Treat |
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| Timmy having fun |
I hate cancellations, especially when we passed
up something else we could have been doing and then we have slow times.
However, we managed to stay busy with trying to work out some work schedules
with the Spanish missionaries in Kenosha. President Cutler wants us to help
them more, so we left Wednesday mornings open so they could make arrangements
with members there and we would go with them to help the members set up their
family history accounts. The missionaries decided that they really did not want
to come up here, and we didn’t want to travel down there every week, so I was
able to get one of the Family History Consultants down there to get in on
training them more. I’m hoping this will
get them started. They are such a great missionary couple. They had been on
several missions within the SLC Valley and then went to Texas, and he got sick.
They went home for a month, and then elected to come back out and were assigned
here. Good people.
On Thursday, we acted on the advice of
President Fritz from the Branch who indicated to us that one of our members
felt they had hurt our feelings or something. Anyway, Craig called her to make
sure we made contact and cleared up any confusion. She is hardly able to move
around very well, and she has so many health problems. She doesn’t get to come
to Church much, and she has been doing her family history online. It is hard
for her to get to the Temple, and she needs to get her reserved family names
released for others to take to the Temple. We will have to get over there and
help her when she feels she is able to have us.
That evening we had Pathway. Our lesson this
month was on time management. The sister that taught it did a fabulous job. She
used a mixer and making cake as her object lesson. I won’t go into the details,
but it was fun to watch the learning process among the students. Elder Bednar gave a talk that we used for the
lesson. We teach a lot about teaching with the Spirit. But learning also
involves the Spirit. As Elder Bednar
said (quoting from the Book of Mormon – Nephi is a great Prophet):
Nephi teaches us, “When a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power
of the Holy Ghost carrieth [the message] unto the hearts of the children of
men” (2
Nephi 33:1). Please notice how the power of the Spirit carries the message unto but not necessarily into
the heart. A teacher can explain, demonstrate, persuade, and testify, and do so
with great spiritual power and effectiveness. Ultimately, however, the content
of a message and the witness of the Holy Ghost penetrate into the heart only if
a receiver allows them to enter. Learning by faith opens the pathway into the heart.
When we teach, those who listen have to allow
the teaching to touch them in order to learn. What a great concept.
Friday brought Halloween!!!!! All missionaries were to be in by 4:00 (gets
dark here) unless they had a dinner appointment. We spent the morning helping
get some groceries for a member. We had an appointment at 5:00 with Denise.
In-between we got some time to work on our own genealogy and to get some
paperwork done. It is amazing how much paperwork you can have to be organized
and involved in so many projects. We had to work with Denise, and she takes a
lot of time. Some of the time is taken up as she constantly stops us to do
something with Timmy or her phone, or she will suddenly ask something out of
the blue. WOW, it gets to be wild. We are learning to teach in 5 minute
increments. hahahaha
Saturday, we had hoped that Craig would be able
to have lunch with some older (retired) Priesthood members who meet once a
month. It wasn’t to be! The Elders were
to meet with Denise and her older boys to teach the boys the lessons. We went
to pick up the Elders to take them over, and on the way, we got a phone call
from Denise saying the boys were not coming. The bus that was to pick up the
boys and bring them to her had lost its way and wasn’t going to make it. She
was a little upset. We turned around, dropped the Elders off, and went back
home. Craig had been dealing with a
cough for most of the week, and he was really glad to go home and get back into
bed. It is cold here, and he hasn’t felt well. While he has gotten out to do
what we need to do, he has tried to take care of himself without taking a ton
of medicine. We spent some time that day trying to round up a key for the
building where we have to meet on Pathway. Those who are supposed to open the
building are not getting there in time for our class. We are supposed to start
at 6:30 and end at 7:30. We have to make sure that we keep within the time
given to us by the Pathway program.
On Sunday, we had a wonderful Fast Sunday. We
love to hear the testimonies of the members. There are some uplifting and
inspiring people in our Branch who have learned so much in this life and have
special relationships with our Father. We went home for lunch and then that
afternoon we visited a Sister and her granddaughter, Rebecca, who have been
inactive for almost 10 years. Their husband is coming to Church ever so ofter, with
them also, but he is a chef and had to work on Sunday. They are a good family.
One of the last times she was in Church was when her mother died, and the
service was at the Church. Lately, they have made a decision to come back to
the Church. We went to get to know her better. She is an artist and actually
has her work on display in a gallery downtown. She works with material (cloth
scraps) and anything she can find. She is quite talented. She had plenty to say
about the Church and why they had quit coming. I hope they will start back. Her
daughter is very anti-church, and she indicated that she didn’t have much to do
with her, even though she lived in the house. Her granddaughter is 5 years old
and really overweight. She looks much older. She never stops talking, and she
wants to please you so much. She told me that her friends at school call her
fat. I can imagine that they do. Children can be so cruel. She says she doesn’t
listen to them. When we talked with her grandmother, she would interrupt and
all her grandmother had to do was say a quick word and she would stop. She got
a bowl of cereal to eat, and it was large enough for three people. They told us
she was going to the doctor for her weight, and I hope they follow through.
Rebecca is going to have a sad and lonely life as she gets older.
On Monday, I went to lunch with the older
ladies so that I could get to know more of the women in the Stake. What a
delight. They also meet once a month, and there must have been about 15 of us.
Some I had met before, and others I got to meet for the first time. It is fun
to listen to old women talking. They have the most interesting topics. Family
history was on the top of the list. One of the sisters told me she had been
asked by her Bishop to act as a consultant for a new member in her Ward. This
is our plan! Yeah, we love to see the plans being carried out.
After that, I had to go to Verizon for my ipad
which would not accept my email accounts once I changed the passwords on each
one (I have five accounts – I know, don’t ask but believe me that I need all of
them). They couldn’t help me so I went home thinking it might be time to turn
in the old and get a new. But then once I got home, I starting thinking about
something they had done. When we tried to do one of the accounts, it mentioned
a two-step verification. I had set up a two-step sign-on verification system on
my computer (WHY? You might ask!) – because I could – Now Adam, calm down, it
only took a couple, well maybe more than that, tries to convince me to look up
the directions for getting rid of the two-step system and go back to the one
sign on. Guess what, my ipad immediately got on board and accepted the email
accounts. I love to do stuff, and I hate having to pay the piper later because
my doing got me in trouble. So, the moral is “just because I can does not mean
I should.” Hahaha
Tuesday dawned with a beautiful blue sky. We
were ready for anything. We started off at the gym. How I love to go to the gym
once I get there – making the motions to get there are a lot harder. We finally
found a post office that is convenient to get to so we drop back when we go to
the gym. We had District Meeting that afternoon, and it was wonderful as usual.
Our Christ-like attribute for the week was “Charity.” What a great teaching. I
know my mom was one of the most charitable women ever. She loved to give to
others, and I’ve always envied her that ability and desire. I think as I get older
I understand the concept of loving others to the point that we can give freely
of ourselves (not just our goods) in thought and deed. President Hinckley said
that “charity is our religion and our watch cry.” If more of us were
charitable, how changed would our world be. Remember the story of Ammon in the
Book of Mormon. He was captured by the enemy (the Lamanites), and he asked to
become a servant to the King. He did all that was asked of him because he loved
his enemy and wanted to bring the Gospel to them so that they could experience
the Grace of God in their lives. They needed to know that God loved them, and
Jesus Christ was their Saviour and Redeemer. Ammon did teach them, and they
turned their hearts to God. Because of Ammon’s charity (love) for his neighbor,
he changed a whole nation.
That night we went on a visit with the Spanish
Missionaries to visit a Spanish family that we have come to love. Juan (the
father) is a nonmember. His wife, Angie, is a member and just went to the
Temple not too long ago. A couple of months back he told the missionaries that
he was ready to get baptized. The Spanish men have a hard time accepting the
Gospel, but it looked like he was ready to change. As it turns out, he only
said that he would be baptized because Angie is pushing him to it. It is so
sad. I did not feel very good that night. I don’t think he was touched by
anything that was said. We love their family. Her mother is in our Pathway
group. She is marvelous. She lives with Juan and Angie with a younger daughter.
Lots going on in the household.
It was Timmy’s birthday today, but Denise put
off her birthday party for Friday. I’m really glad. She wants all the best
things for her boys.
Well, I’m really late getting this blog up. My
computer got a virus (I tried to download Chrome because I need it with Family
Search). I know, Adam, I didn’t get the right site because I got lots of uglies
downloaded also and soon I couldn’t even get on Family Search. UGH!
Had to put the computer in the shop for a few days to get it cleaned
up. Will I ever learn??? Probably not.
2 Nephi 2:6-7
Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is
full of grace and truth. Behold, he
offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all
those who had a broken heart and a contrite spirit and unto none else can the
ends of the law be answered.
Elder and Sister Lenhard
He freely offered himself. May we remember that
as we head into the Christmas season.
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