Kathleen Nielson (left) is so great at doing our ward bulletin. She previously also kept our ward website up to date & has been a ward family history consultant. She was recently called to be a stake family history consultant. She has had quite the adventures, including working in the White House under three different U.S. Presidents. I am her visiting teacher & Jay is her home teacher. Kaye & Dave had other exciting news to tell us. While we were there they found out that their daughter, Amy, & her family will be moving into their nice home across the road for at least two years (they have six children & we so need more families in our ward) while Dave & Kaye serve a two year mission as directors of the same church history sites they just returned from. They will report back to their mission in January & Glenn & Cheri Warr from our area have just been called to go & serve with them, in their previous calling. I'm looking forward to when Jay & I can serve missions, hopefully some will be in places that our children & grandchildren can come to visit us. We sure had a fun visit with everyone today, including our children & grandchildren that we were able to Skype & talk to.
Here is a picture of Bart, at the head of the table, after he arrived home from doing several setting aparts of church callings. He is 2nd counselor to Bishop Rick Nielson & served as executive secretary to Jay when he was Bishop. Mike Davidson is the other counselor. Jay & I (Janece) are to the left of him. Susan & Heather are to his right.
We just love the Bart & Susan Hawkins family! They have 11 children and are going through withdrawals now that they only have 6 children at home. Susan's parents (who lived across the road) recently moved to their Timber Mt. cabin up by Cle Elum. The move was hastened because Susan's mother, Judy Rowley, broke her leg after falling from a stool while cleaning some cabinets up there. Jay & I are now taking their spots at the dinner table & loving it, but we're feeling a bit guilty about it. Pictured from left are Susan, Aaron, Alan, Marci, Kathleen Nielson, Kaye & Dave Freeman, & Jay Wood. The Hawkins' kids said they felt really privileged to have both of their previous Bishops at the dinner table with them. There were 13 of us altogether. The chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, biscuits, squash, apple slices w/caramel, strawberry salad (which I made), punch & cider were all very delicious.
Here's Jay talking & looking at maps with Dave Freeman (Bishop in our ward before Jay). He & his wife, Kaye, on the right in the background just returned from a six month mission to the Church History Handcart sites in Southern WYO as physical facilities coordinators. They guided tours at the Martin & Willie handcart centers, & helped with treks hiking around a 15 mile area over Rocky Ridge and other areas. Many groups came in the summer to do handcart treks. That is a place I would really like to visit & meet with my children & grandchildren one day. There are ancestors that were in both the Martin & Willie Handcart companies.
South Pass in that area, is where my grandfather, John Franklin Moody, Jr. age 16, about died when it got cold & he was out of provisions as he was traveling by himself on horseback from around St. George, Utah to meet up with his family, who were settling the Big Horn Basin of northern WYO (where I was born). Indians came to his rescue & took him back to their camp & nursed him back to health & gave him provisions to continue his journey. Grandpa was always friends with the Indians after that & tried to help them out. Quite a story, told in more detail by my cousin, Jay Hampton. Grandpa told Jay lots of stories when he was living with Jay's family, when Jay was a boy. Grandpa died when I was three years old & his wife Juditha Maud, died long before I was born. I got to know his 2nd wife, Mary, a little, but she died when I was 8.
Here we have Heather, Jessica, & Brian Hawkins. They all did a great job as they took part in the primary program. Susan, their mother, has been so kind to invite Jay & I to Sunday dinner, when we are at home in WA. We will be gone most of the winter to Utah or traveling to Coriann's BYU basketball games. We are trying to return the favor this week by having a barbecue party & were going to swim, but our pool heater has gone on the fritz. I guess we can have a polar bear swim & then jump in the hot tub.
Today was our Primary Children's Program in our ward. The theme was, "I Am A Child Of God". The children are such 'angels' & always an inspiration to me. (It really made me miss my precious grandchildren). I can't help but get emotional as I watch them sing & say their parts & tell their stories. I wish I could have taken a picture. Some of them even got emotional, themselves. Stephanie Garza & her children were the main little spotlighted family that conversed as narrators between everything else. Their grandma, Barb Winder, who is the first quilter pictured in the blog before this, was really struggling to keep her emotions, when they talked about being a forever family. For those of you who know their family, it's quite a story in how Oscar, the father, came to join the church, & how awesome it was when they were able to get sealed in the temple. Dad/Jay was Bishop & so we were quite involved with the situation & witnessed it come to pass. Oscar also has some amazing, miraculous stories to tell about when he went to war in Afghanistan/Iraq & his life was spared on many occasions.
Walt Lowe does such a great job in teaching our gospel doctrine class. Our class covered 3 Nephi 12-15 "Old Things Are Done Away, And All Things Have Become New". A lot of discussion on the Beatitudes, being the 'salt of the earth', a 'light to all people', & how Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses & taught the higher law & how we can be true disciples. As we were talking about lust, it was so cute how he told us, "I have the answer. When you are constantly confronted with immodest women or the ugliness of the world, the key is to quickly turn your head away & don't look back." Other comments were, to quickly replace thoughts with a scripture or hymn, & I was thinking, "shut it off, if something bad comes on TV or the computer, etc., or quickly leave a place that the spirit of God can not be. We are in control. Satan wants us to think we aren't, but we always have control over him, if we choose to." It also reminded me of a scene in the inspirational movie, "Fireproof" that Dad/Jay & I saw Fri. night. The actor, Caleb, was tempted to click on some porn & knew that if he wanted to save his marriage he was going to have to overcome this temptation, so he grabbed his computer and threw it out the door by the garbage & started beating it to death with a baseball bat.
Then Stephanie Barrow Brook, taught a wonderful lesson in Relief Society, "A Heart Full of Love and Faith: The prophet Joseph Smith's letters to his family." She has had quite a life, herself. Stephanie's husband is not a member & she has a teenage daughter who is in Utah, getting the help she needs to deal with some mental & emotional issues. She pulled out all of the letters that have been written by this daughter to the family & how much they mean to them. She also pulled out some letters written from her own mother, Judy, when she was dying from cancer, when Stephanie was a teenager, & how wonderful it is for her to be able to read them over & over, & how it gives her a boost when the 'going gets tough'. This has given me the encouragement I've needed to try harder to write more e-mails & letters to my children, on a regular basis. We'll see how I do. I know I cherish what letters I have from my parents, children, grandmother & other relatives & friends. Pictures of course are extra wonderful, too.
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