Our ward that we moved into when we came out here has been so good to us! I have raved about them plenty and they really have been great! As time went on we were getting nervous because we hadn't been called to do anything and we were hoping they weren't planning anything too huge for us.
Finally, David got a calling and now teaches once a month in the Elder's Quorum. Not bad at all! We both had visiting teaching and home teaching responsibilities as well, but I still didn't have a calling. I was very suspicious especially when people announce they were moving or things like that. I don't mind having a calling, but I just wanted to know what they had in mind.
Finally this last week they asked me in to chat and I was excited to hear that they wanted me in Young Women's as a teacher. I am really excited about it and the girls in there are great, I've heard. The leaders are fun too and I am excited to work with them. It makes me feel really old being in there since I am the leader now. I still remember the Young Women's theme and I feel like I was just there myself. I am excited for it!
I have been staying in Nursery the whole time with Katelyn and she is on her own now that I am teaching. She did okay last Sunday, but was still the cry baby in there during transitions or when she didn't get to keep playing with the babies. She'll get the hang of it.
I gave my talk on Easter and it went really well. I had read so many talks on the Resurrection and had so much prepared that I didn't have much to be nervous about. I was still nervous about the large group setting, but it went really well. Funny story...well it is funnier now than at the time...but I purposely left my make up bag in the car on Saturday night and David ran a last minute errand to the grocery store and brought my make up bag in with the groceries. The next morning on our way to church we were about half way there (it takes about 30 minutes) when I went to do my make up and I couldn't find it. We would be late if we went back home to get it and so I whined about it and how I looked like I just woke up without make up. David said all the right things a husband should say, but I was still irritated he wasn't thinking on the same page as me. I was about to stand in front of the whole ward and I wanted to look my best! I don't wear much make up, but enough to where it is noticeable! I think I was more nervous about not wearing make up in front of everyone than if I was prepared and ready to say the things I felt the ward needed to hear on Easter. In the end, of course nobody said anything about my make up and if they did say something it was to thank me for the talk. But is was a big deal at the time!
I was asked to fill in for a sunday school lesson for the 12-13 year old boys and girls and after giving my talk, the lesson with 5 people was a breeze! And they didn't care that I didn't have make up on either :)
This last Sunday was David's turn for a talk and a lesson. They just happened to fall on the same day for him as well. He talked on "Getting through Trials with Faith" and he definitely had experience with this topic. He shared this of his youth in his talk and had everyone in awe not realizing he had this background.
"When I was 8 years old my parents got divorced I lived with my mother along with one older brother and my two sisters. My mother extremely upset with my dad and maintains that anger even today. My oldest brother was in and out of jail during his teen years and eventually was court ordered to complete his GED. My other brother went to jail when he was 16ish through his 18th birthday. I was also told not to return home when I was 16 after having an argument with my mom. I remember attending youth conference that summer and my testimony was taking its first strides at that moment in my life. I often thought why is this happening to me? I was improving as a human being: I no longer cussed, I stopped watching R-rated movies and in general a much more pleasant person to be around in our home. After work that day one of my young men’s leaders picked me up from work and told me that I was going to go home with him. I was effectively adopted by the ward through the end of high school. I lived normally on couches, and my possessions were normally stored in spare closest. Through that time I realized how blessed I was to live these people’s homes. I learned how different families’ operated and develop a testimony of the Book of Mormon and its truth. I also learned how to live with practically no possessions other than my clothes. When I graduated from high school I was asked to find a place of my own. Which I did, I knew by my older sister’s example and the example of those around me the need to attend college. I knew college would be expensive and was worried that I wouldn’t be able to afford it, so I ask a couple of friends if I could stay with them, and most friends allowed me to for a time and when my welcome wore out I would at time live in my car with all my possession in the trunk, I showered at the college I attended and wash my close at laundry mats. My brother eventually allowed me to live on his couch for most of my second year of college. He was often smoking or drinking, but he knew that was not the life style I lived and he did not involve me in these outings. I went to school for two years at my local college before leaving Texas to attend BYU-Idaho. I had never been more than four hours away from home and was nervous and excited. I graduated from college, got married in the temple, had a baby, then moved to Baltimore and that brings us up to today."
Early in the year I made a goal for myself hoping that I would be more consistent in reading the scriptures. I want to read the entire scriptures. I was hoping to do it in a year, but I also don't want to rush through it just to get it done, so I think in two years I will have it completed. I want to get something more out of it than just finishing it to say that I did it in however much time. But, I want to finish it! I have been more consistent, but it still hasn't become easy and routine. I have never enjoyed reading and I hardly spend any time reading for fun unless it is reading with Katelyn or the occasional children's novel like Charlotte's Web or The Phantom Tollbooth. I still forget and get in and out of grooves, but overall it is going well, much better than before.
I know that in seeing my parents read them helped me to know of their importance and I loved reading my dad's conversionbook story and the role that the Bible played in it. I know that all of the scriptures are important, but I think I have shied away from the Bible (mostly the Old Testament and the end of the New Testament) because I knew I would get confused or lost in the reading. I am going for the whole thing and someday I will finish it all.
I have been diving in to all things teaching and Young Women's and have been refreshing myself with the Personal Progress, For Strength of Youth, and Teaching, No Greater Call. When I was set apart, my bishop mentioned that I need to be sure to keep my priorities in line and not get too caught up with Young Women's and forget about my family....Something that caught my attention. I don't teach for a couple more weeks, but this new calling is exciting and am excited to have this new challenge. That's what we've been up to at church and what we will be up to.
Finally, David got a calling and now teaches once a month in the Elder's Quorum. Not bad at all! We both had visiting teaching and home teaching responsibilities as well, but I still didn't have a calling. I was very suspicious especially when people announce they were moving or things like that. I don't mind having a calling, but I just wanted to know what they had in mind.
Finally this last week they asked me in to chat and I was excited to hear that they wanted me in Young Women's as a teacher. I am really excited about it and the girls in there are great, I've heard. The leaders are fun too and I am excited to work with them. It makes me feel really old being in there since I am the leader now. I still remember the Young Women's theme and I feel like I was just there myself. I am excited for it!
I have been staying in Nursery the whole time with Katelyn and she is on her own now that I am teaching. She did okay last Sunday, but was still the cry baby in there during transitions or when she didn't get to keep playing with the babies. She'll get the hang of it.
I gave my talk on Easter and it went really well. I had read so many talks on the Resurrection and had so much prepared that I didn't have much to be nervous about. I was still nervous about the large group setting, but it went really well. Funny story...well it is funnier now than at the time...but I purposely left my make up bag in the car on Saturday night and David ran a last minute errand to the grocery store and brought my make up bag in with the groceries. The next morning on our way to church we were about half way there (it takes about 30 minutes) when I went to do my make up and I couldn't find it. We would be late if we went back home to get it and so I whined about it and how I looked like I just woke up without make up. David said all the right things a husband should say, but I was still irritated he wasn't thinking on the same page as me. I was about to stand in front of the whole ward and I wanted to look my best! I don't wear much make up, but enough to where it is noticeable! I think I was more nervous about not wearing make up in front of everyone than if I was prepared and ready to say the things I felt the ward needed to hear on Easter. In the end, of course nobody said anything about my make up and if they did say something it was to thank me for the talk. But is was a big deal at the time!
I was asked to fill in for a sunday school lesson for the 12-13 year old boys and girls and after giving my talk, the lesson with 5 people was a breeze! And they didn't care that I didn't have make up on either :)
This last Sunday was David's turn for a talk and a lesson. They just happened to fall on the same day for him as well. He talked on "Getting through Trials with Faith" and he definitely had experience with this topic. He shared this of his youth in his talk and had everyone in awe not realizing he had this background.
"When I was 8 years old my parents got divorced I lived with my mother along with one older brother and my two sisters. My mother extremely upset with my dad and maintains that anger even today. My oldest brother was in and out of jail during his teen years and eventually was court ordered to complete his GED. My other brother went to jail when he was 16ish through his 18th birthday. I was also told not to return home when I was 16 after having an argument with my mom. I remember attending youth conference that summer and my testimony was taking its first strides at that moment in my life. I often thought why is this happening to me? I was improving as a human being: I no longer cussed, I stopped watching R-rated movies and in general a much more pleasant person to be around in our home. After work that day one of my young men’s leaders picked me up from work and told me that I was going to go home with him. I was effectively adopted by the ward through the end of high school. I lived normally on couches, and my possessions were normally stored in spare closest. Through that time I realized how blessed I was to live these people’s homes. I learned how different families’ operated and develop a testimony of the Book of Mormon and its truth. I also learned how to live with practically no possessions other than my clothes. When I graduated from high school I was asked to find a place of my own. Which I did, I knew by my older sister’s example and the example of those around me the need to attend college. I knew college would be expensive and was worried that I wouldn’t be able to afford it, so I ask a couple of friends if I could stay with them, and most friends allowed me to for a time and when my welcome wore out I would at time live in my car with all my possession in the trunk, I showered at the college I attended and wash my close at laundry mats. My brother eventually allowed me to live on his couch for most of my second year of college. He was often smoking or drinking, but he knew that was not the life style I lived and he did not involve me in these outings. I went to school for two years at my local college before leaving Texas to attend BYU-Idaho. I had never been more than four hours away from home and was nervous and excited. I graduated from college, got married in the temple, had a baby, then moved to Baltimore and that brings us up to today."
He used some of Joseph B. Wirthlin's talk, "Come What May, and Love it"
"Learning to endure times of disappointment, suffering, and sorrow is part of our on-the-job training. These experiences, while often difficult to bear at the time, are precisely the kinds of experiences that stretch our understanding, build our character, and increase our compassion for others.
Because Jesus Christ suffered greatly, He understands our suffering. He understands our grief. We experience hard things so that we too may have increased compassion and understanding for others."
"The way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life."
It was such a sweet talk and people from the ward were very proud of what a good man he has become and kept mentioning that they never would have guessed that such a man as nice and calm as David would have had the trials he did...and also congratulated him on being so faithful to turn out the way he did. David knows that there are plenty of people out there that have much harder trials than his and didn't want to offend people. He did a nice job with it and knows that if he didn't have the church with leaders and his sister to guide him and literally take him into their homes then he probably didn't have a good chance of turning out as well as he did. I am definitely grateful for those people he had to help him and show him what his family can be like someday.Early in the year I made a goal for myself hoping that I would be more consistent in reading the scriptures. I want to read the entire scriptures. I was hoping to do it in a year, but I also don't want to rush through it just to get it done, so I think in two years I will have it completed. I want to get something more out of it than just finishing it to say that I did it in however much time. But, I want to finish it! I have been more consistent, but it still hasn't become easy and routine. I have never enjoyed reading and I hardly spend any time reading for fun unless it is reading with Katelyn or the occasional children's novel like Charlotte's Web or The Phantom Tollbooth. I still forget and get in and out of grooves, but overall it is going well, much better than before.
I know that in seeing my parents read them helped me to know of their importance and I loved reading my dad's conversion
I have been diving in to all things teaching and Young Women's and have been refreshing myself with the Personal Progress, For Strength of Youth, and Teaching, No Greater Call. When I was set apart, my bishop mentioned that I need to be sure to keep my priorities in line and not get too caught up with Young Women's and forget about my family....Something that caught my attention. I don't teach for a couple more weeks, but this new calling is exciting and am excited to have this new challenge. That's what we've been up to at church and what we will be up to.
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