FAITH

BACK PAIN NO MORE
June 2012

FAITH in Priesthood Blessings! I wanted to document the unfolding of events that took place before dad and I's first triathlon in the summer of 2012. A few days before the race, I was helping my best friend, Stephanie Perry, move some furniture when I hurt my back. I immediately came home and put myself to bed. I kept thinking that if I could just get a blessing, everything would be JUST FINE! That night after the kids were all in bed (or most of them! LOL) John and Jeff Rigby administered to me. I was told that if I took the time to rest my body and had faith, then I would be able to compete in the race and not have any discomfort from my back. I was ecstatic! I figured I'd wake up the next morning and feel just fine!  That was not the case. I stayed in bed all of Thursday as well. One of my YW counselors (Cherilyn Clemente) knew I was "out of commission" and baked Seth's Birthday Cake for us!  It was a delicious German Chocolate cake! Friday morning came and I was feeling better.  We were planning on leaving by around 2:30 to get down to Twin Falls and pick up our race packets before the closing time of 6pm. After being up for about 2 hours, my back started really hurting again - so back to bed I went. When we left to drive to the race, I couldn't even sit in the front seat and had to make a bed for me in the back seat to lay down on the drive. I was getting worried by this point and doubt was starting to creep in. I'm one that tends to struggle with allowing doubt to make it's way in - so I started changing my focus on my prayers to that of not letting the doubt in and to have FAITH!! The morning of the race came, and... you guessed it - still that pain in my back. I just kept laying down. Up to about 20 minutes before our race, I was still laying down in the suburban. However, by this point, I just KNEW that once I entered the water to start the race, that the pain would be gone and I would be able to do what I needed to do! There were no other options or time limits - the race was NOW and John and I got into the water. At that exact moment - it was gone! The pain left and never returned!  I remember about an hour into the race thinking "wow!  my back feels 100% fine and I'm able to have the strength and stamina to endure this course!"  It was awesome! I sort of anticipated that upon completion, my back would hurt REALLY bad... but here we are the next day and it's still not bothering me! I know I had many people praying for me and I knew that my faith combined with all of theirs would be sufficient!  I'm so glad that we have the power of the Priesthood upon the earth today and that I have immediate access to it whenever I may need it!  I'm grateful to a righteous and worthy husband who is able to act as a mouthpiece and in Gods name! This experience really tried my faith but has certainly reiterated how things happen on the Lords time and not necessarily on ours!  

TIME WASTING PHONE HABIT

October 2015

I've been thinking a lot about FAITH this week (and particularly today since our Sunday School lesson was all about Faith)... Some of the comments made in class really touched my heart and struck a chord with me. I took the challenge from General Conference about praying to find out what might be standing in your way of your own personal growth and received the answer that my phone habits were distracting me and wasting my time (in particular Facebook!). I would find myself "checking out" at different times to check my phone and that would inevitably morph into a much larger chunk of time! I follow many different homeschool discussion boards on Facebook (which is really where most of my time goes) but realized that even that can suck up a whole lot of unintended time!  So, with this newfound knowledge granted to me, I decided to move my FB app (which had been prominentely on my phone's home page) to 3 pages over so that it wouldn't always be staring at me whenever I turned on my phone... (I must admit that I felt that I should delete the Facebook app off of my phone and just check FB on the computer once or twice a day if I needed/wanted but I didn't feel like I could cut myself off cold turkey like that! haha!) Well, 1 week later and I realized that while I was more intentional with my "phone/Facebook" time, I was still spending too much time on it when I could be using that time elsewhere, BUT I didn't want to remove the app! Why?! Because I like "winding down" with it at night before I go to bed and feeling connected throughout the day! The lesson today in Sunday School spoke to me in the fact that I'm not showing my FAITH in Heavenly Father when I have been given specific counsel and guidance from the Holy Ghost. Two of the comments that were given today that have strengthened me were:

* Application of your Faith will set you Free (loved this one! Relating directly to me, I know I will feel more "free" from the binds of my phone!)

* Faith helps us to grow and become better (Again, I know I can use the time I used to spend on my phone in other, more productive, ways)

I'm happy to report that as of right now, I  no longer have the FB app on my phone and am ready to be (even more) connected with my family and to see how this (act of faith) brings me closer to Heavenly Father. I've been thinking about this a lot today and realized that our connection (and dependency) on technology will only increase! My children and grandchildren will have an even harder time disconnecting with electronics and connecting with each other. My posterity might read this and think it's silly that I felt I needed to disconnect with FB on my phone - but maybe it will inspire them to disconnect with something that is taking up their precious time :) Who knows!?

PIZZA TIPS!

Feb 2016

Tithing. Tithing is something that we have never struggled with paying - and I'm grateful for that! We have seen too many blessings come as a result of faithfully paying a 10% tithe. August had been complaining that his tips weren't very good lately and he was getting discouraged. I asked if he'd paid his tithing. He said that he was very good about putting it in the tithing envelope when he came home from work each night but that he hadn't turned it into the Bishop yet (and hadn't since October). I shared with him that while he was still an honorable tithe payer - the Lord couldn't give him the blessing associated with paying tithing until it was handed over. He decided he needed to pay it that day before heading to work. Since the Bishop is our neighbor, I told him he could go drop it off OR he could just pay it online (this is a new feature that has been recently added by the church and it is so very convenient!). So he logged into his LDS.org account and paid all of his tithing and guess what... that night he brought home the most amount of money in tips that he'd made since last October ($170 vs the typical $50 he'd been making)! He was so excited! I asked him if he felt that it was a direct result and blessing from paying his tithing or if he thought it was just a "coincidence" and that he would have made that much money regardless. He answered that there have been too many things in his life for this to just be a coincident and that he knew it was a direct blessing from paying his tithing. He went on to tell me that he had thanked Heavenly Father for those blessings in his prayers that night as well. I'm happy that he has his own testimony on the principle of tithing at such a young age - it will bless him his whole life!!

BEN GOES TO TREK

July 2016

Written by Ben...Trek was an amazing experience filled with fun, laughter, hard-work, and tears. I'm not going to be a part of half the youth saying, "I wasn't excited for Trek at all, but as I got into, I loved it!"
See, I was excited for Trek all along; I had a great lovable family, very emotional experiences, and a wonderful time.
My most memorable moment on Trek had to be the Womans' pull. Every one who was a boy/man had to stand at the top of a very sandy steep hill and watch as the young woman hauled the carts up to us. It really touched me, and I hope I never forget it.

Overall, I wish I'd be able to go on Trek again (sadly, it's unlikely).
I have a whole new respect for the pioneers, and I know for a fact that their sacrifices meant something - Ben

A TESTIMONY SHARED

Jan 2017

There was a testimony shared today in Sacrament meeting that touched me and was about submitting our will to God - for really that is ALL that we have to give to Him! She asked us to imagine ourselves hanging onto a rope and when we look down, all we can see is a white mist - we can't see through it and we have no clue how far down the ground is. Then imagine the Lord has asked you to have FAITH and let go of the rope! He has promised that he'll catch you - but trusting in the Lord enough to actually let go is hard! In our heart, we know that he is there and that he will catch us.. but to our minds it doesn't make sense to let go! She also compared it to driving on snowy/icy roads. When you are sliding through an intersection, your mind tells you to stomp on the brakes with all your might! However, we KNOW that we're supposed to take our foot OFF of the brake and then tap the brake. It doesn't make sense to take our foot off of the brake if we want to stop - but when we do it, we're kept safe. I just really liked how she related it to these 2 scenarios! This is probably something I need to be more mindful and aware of and really try to do all that God wants me to do!

A STAKE FAST FOR RAIN

August 2017

One word - FASTING! We've had a really neat experience with Fasting. Last Sunday, our Stake President asked everyone to participate in a special Fast (to "help those who have been suffering with the lack of rain and the extreme heat" - basically those whose livelihoods depend on the weather to find relief...) Well, if you had looked at the 10 day forecast on Saturday, it was to be HOT and sunny everyday. By Tuesday night, we had a big storm roll in with heavy rains and then it was in the upper 60's and low 70's for the remainder of the week! Seriously! Is that not the coolest thing! Eeven today as I'm writing this - it has been breezy and 70! We also had a second rain storm come through on Friday. We've been trying to remember to thank Heavenly Father for his (pretty much immediate!) answer to our collective prayers and fasting! That's one thing I need to be better at - remembering to THANK Heavenly Father when he has answered my prayers or when he blesses me. Ben and Nathan have been so amazed by this experience and I know it has been a definite Faith builder for the both of them (and in all honesty - it's been a Faith Builder for me, too!!)  So with such a miracle on my mind, I called all of my family and asked them to include "our Boise house to sell quickly and close to asking price!" since today is Fast Sunday (we were going to initially just count last weeks Fast for the month of August - but then realized we need all the help we can get and so did a second Fast today). I have seriously felt sooooo stressed about our house selling (to the point that it's interfered with my daily life! ha!) so we went to the Temple on Saturday and as I sat in the Chapel waiting to head back to the Instructional Room, I could tell that I felt different and when I stopped to analyze it, I realized I was experiencing ZERO stress and wasn't worried about the house. At all! I know that Fear and Worry are not from God (at least not in this scenario) and all today during my Fast, I haven't felt nearly as worried about our house selling - but rather feel confident that the right buyers are just around the corner and it will sell relatively quickly! There is real power in Fasting and Prayer and I feel so blessed to call upon that power each and every month!

TREK 2012

MERIDIAN EAST STAKE 

I'm grateful for our Pioneer heritage!  Dad and I had the privilege of being a "Ma and Pa" this year with our Stake's Trek. August and Seth were both able to go as well and Trek for ancestors that had been on the original trek West with the Saints. During Testimony meeting, I kept thinking in my heart how I wanted to tell our ancestors how GRATEFUL I was for them and their sacrifices and immediately the thought came over me very strongly that they were given the privilege of looking down upon us and seeing us pay tribute them!  I imagine we gave them a good chuckle with the medical vehicle and water truck and port-a-potties following behind us!  

SETH GOES TO MARTIN'S COVE

TREK 2014

MINOT, ND

July 2014 

Our Spiritually Speaking moment this week comes to you from Seth who just recently returned from the Pioneer Trek to Martin's Cove!

So I (Seth) recently returned from a week long experience with our and a neighboring stake. We went down to the actual site of Martin's cove, and to Sixth Crossing. We had to meet at the church at 2:30AM on Monday morning. In total we had around a 15 hour bus ride to reach our destination. So let's just say it was long. Once we got there we met up with our families and went to our campsite a few milies away.

The second day is when we actually went to the actual site of Martin's Cove. When we got there, you could just feel and tell the peace and the spirit which was in the area. Thinking that that's where the handcart company held up as one of their only ways of survival. We also went to a place a few miles away called Devil's Gate. It was really cool and gave us an opportunity to climb up many large rocks to reach it.

The next few days we went to the other campsite at Sixth Crossing. We did a lot of walking with the handcarts and many river crossings. Each time I tried to go back and help as many carts as I could. With my family we had two diabetics so they couldn't push as much as they would like to, one girl who had something happen to her leg, another guy who got injured and couldn't run, and lastly a girl who tore her ligaments in her ankle. So I was lucky enough to be the only child in our family who didn't get hurt. So I consider that a blessing, and it also gave me the opportunity to help others out more. Since we ended up carrying one of the girls in the cart, and the last two days, after we finished with all the cart stuff, I had the opportunity to carry the girl who tore her ligaments everywhere.

On the last full day we were there, we went to this spot, the name slipped my mind, but I'm thinking it was called Rock Creek. So there we visited one of the mass graves where there were fifteen people buried on that site. You could feel their presence there, with the peace and tranquility of that place. Even with 220 youth there, it was very reverent. (Yes 220 youth. They said that we had the largest group that has ever come there.) Afterwards still at that place, we had a large testimony meeting. There were a lot of really great testimonies that touched a lot of people.

Then there was the whole drive back to look forward to. On the bright side, I can now say that I have seen what 90 boxes of pizza looks like in one pile. And I can also say, that with 220 youth, 90  boxes of pizza lasts only around 10 minutes. We finally got home at Saturday around 1:30AM.

There were so many weird and funny experiences, so many I can't write them all. Things happened from a guy getting stuck in the bathroom for an hour, to me managing to split both pairs of my pants, to every single night wherever I was at, there was almost nonstop laughter. But as I said, there were so many, it would take a lot longer than I have to list them all, and some that shouldn't be shared.

That whole week I grew spiritually, and learned a few things. I leaned that with everybody helping, the task at hand is a lot easier, every little bit helps out. After coming back, I realized that people notice the hard work that you do. I didn't realize it at the time, but a lot of people were noticing all the extra work I did, and have commented on it. My mom's said a few people spoke to her about it, and my Trek Pa (in our ward) even mentioned it in his testimony in front of everyone. That week, I managed to grow a lot closer to my Trek family, getting to know each of them personally, my friends, and God.