Tuesday, June 16, 2009

A Great Busy Week mid-June 2009

June 16, 2009
Benjamin sent me a copy of a general conference address in German and asked if I could read it.No, I do not read German. Yes, I did study it in high school and college, but that was long ago and I was never very good at it, because I never was immersed in it. To learn a language well, you need to live in the country or at least live in a situation where you are forced to speak it exclusively for several months. I know that over the Internet a person can select from about a hundred languages to listen or have printouts of general conference talks, but how did he get a copy of one in German?
Last weekend was fast Sunday and the family joined in fasting for Joseph and a swift recovery from his Bell’s Palsy. He phoned me a couple of days later and thanked me for inviting the family to fast for him. He said that after Sunday he did begin to see real improvement. He acknowledged our prayers as being key to that. How grateful I am for family prayer!
Speaking of family prayer, David and Fatima’s primary class were assigned the sharing time for last Sunday. They were given the theme of “Family Payer and How It Strengthens The Family”. Fatima asked for my suggestions and I printed up some for them. Unfortunately Fatima and Adryann and Brynneé were very sick with what appeared to be a 24-hour flu, so David had to do it alone. He phoned me that evening and said it worked out wonderfully well for him. He had his class members do exercises and lift some weights he brought. He explained that exercise builds muscle. Then he told them about another exercise and had them fold their arms, bow their heads, and knees. He then explained and asked questions of them and the rest of the primary children about prayer and how it could strengthen faith, trust in Heavenly Father, humility, family members understanding each other better, etc. Since his children are only 5-6 years old and don’t read yet, he had them wad up the printout of the various items and let them toss them to try to make “baskets”. His own class loved all of it and some of the other kids actually stood and clapped at the end, which of course is not very reverent behavior. So the primary leaders explained that in primary we don’t clap we just hold up a hand and “give them a hand” of appreciation that way. Remember when we used to do that in Cub Scouts?
Nathan called me with an interesting report. A few years back I purchased a small MP3 player for Daddy B.J., which he used and enjoyed till he bought an I-Pod. He gave the MP3 player to Nathan, who enjoyed it for quite a while and he made the same upgrade as his father. Nathan passed the MP3 player to Jordan, who enjoyed it for quite a while. Now he also has moved on and passed the little MP3 down to Travis, who is enjoying it in turn. We Gents certainly are good about sharing and/or recycling to get all the good we can from our earthly possessions!
Nathan also shared what I found to be very interesting information. Pahrump is in Nye County, which is the 3rd largest county in the United States roughly 18,150 sq. miles. Only Coconino County, Arizona, with about 18,600 sq. miles and San Bernardino County, California, with about 20,000 sq. miles are bigger. Nathan drove to the county seat in Tonopah for a task from the prosecuting attorney’s office where he is volunteering this month. It took him three hours each way! I asked him if he had his spray bottle along to keep cool. He said that Joseph had told him about a mechanic in his ward who was out of work and could fix his car’s air conditioning at a great price. So for the first time in the three years since he has had the car, he need not be embarrassed about asking girls on dates in his “hot car”.
David and Fatima asked me to volunteer at Adryann and Brynneé’s school’s field day. So I spent Wednesday morning with a group of twelve K-3rd graders, which included the girls as they moved from event to event running, throwing, relay racing, etc. One of the girl’s classmates asked if I knew about their upcoming birthday party and I said yes. Adryann and Brynneé together said that I made the invitations for the party. The other child looked very impressed, which made me feel great.
I finally accomplished a missionary effort I had been thinking about for months. Two of the postal workers where I check our mailbox almost daily have been extra nice to me. They greet me by my name whenever I go to the window. Since the man has an accent, I asked Mr. Hun where he was from. He said Korea. He told me that the other clerk that day was his sister. If I get to the post office in the morning, they are usually the clerks on duty. His sister has been the one to help me on Saturdays when I have a notice in our box to pick-up anything too large to fit. Though the windows aren’t open on Saturday, patrons can knock on a door and someone will fetch their parcel. A couple of weeks ago I ordered two Book of Mormons in Korean. Thursday morning I was surprised that no one but me was in the main foyer. Mr. Hun’s sister was checking keys to see that they worked in un-rented boxes. There was a notice to pick-up in my box and Mr. Hun was at the window. He brought out our package and from the return address I knew it had to be the Book of Mormons. I said, “I know what’s in there,” and started to try to cut open the tape with my keys. Mr. Hun immediately picked up a pair of scissors and opened the box for me. I lifted out the books and told him that since he and his sister had always been so nice to me, I wanted to give them the books. He asked if I could read them and I said no, but that I knew they were Book of Mormons. Now, you have got to know that at least two or three people and sometimes a dozen are in that foyer when I pick up our mail. Heavenly Father prepared the perfect opportunity for me to present the books. I would have been too shy and/or felt guilty about delaying other customers, if anyone else had been present.
I spent many hours on several days last week using David and Fatima’s pressure washer to clean the pavement, stepping-stones and play equipment around our house. We are very excited about Joseph & Kathryn’s family and Ruth and her children coming next week on vacation.
We want everything to be as nice as it can be. Daddy B.J. finally got the ground filled and smoothed in a consistent grade to his satisfaction and sowed grass seed. He has been watering every morning and night and we are praying it will sprout and grow. We have a 26-day dry spell going and we know it isn’t the best time to be trying to plant a lawn. With luck a bit of green sheen will be visible by the time our company arrives.
Friday night the missionaries held a baptism here and then a new-member barbeque. Guests brought picnic side dishes. I made a batch of chocolate and yellow cupcakes. Daddy B.J. was miserable with the pain of the gum surgery he had Monday, so he actually laid down and I truly ended up being the hostess. There were about thirty folks here and the children loved the water, paddle boats, canoes, rope swing, etc. It was a very warm day and perfect for playing. Daddy B.J. had asked the missionaries earlier to build a fire in our fire pit and I brought down marshmallows. Michael and Anna Kate phoned us on June 13th, which was Anna Kate’s 2nd birthday. Michael said she loved the birthday card we made and sent her and kept saying and pointing to “dinosaur”, “daddy”, “mommy” and “Anna Kate” herself. Over the phone she actually said, “Thank you, Gramma.” Michael said the family was heading to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle to celebrate her birthday.

1 comment:

Debbie : ) said...

It is so fun to hear about everyones lives and you have such a wonderul way of describing things. Your description of your back yard and the lake makes me miss being there and pushes me to create the opportunity to share it with my kids.... Soon! The post officers are lucky to have you as thier customer : ) XOXOXO Debbie.