The grandchildren were delighted to gather to watch me open my mission call last Wednesday night. I was delighted to have them here, parents and all in tow. Aren't they a beautiful bunch? I will miss them, but pray this mission will bless their lives as it blesses mine.Friday, February 13, 2009
Bamma's Mission Call
The grandchildren were delighted to gather to watch me open my mission call last Wednesday night. I was delighted to have them here, parents and all in tow. Aren't they a beautiful bunch? I will miss them, but pray this mission will bless their lives as it blesses mine.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Lord has Better Ideas for Us!!
Dear Loved Ones!
What fun it is to read what everyone is doing/thinking. I loved to read Kayes' 'streams of consciousness'! Can't wait to read her book about Beaver. Lucky she has finished it or she couldn't leave for her mission yet!
Don't you all agree that the Lord has better ideas for us than we could ever think up? Maybe Julie and Elaine and Silvia don't think the ideas are so great, but the rest of us do-- for them!!
Bruce and Elaine in San Diego
Kaye in Frankfurt
Carol and Raye in Israel, Egypt
Janet and Wayne in South Jordan
Ralph and I in the Church Office Building
Elaine has us doing stuff we never dreamed we would be doing! We are trying to learn all about the EFY program so we can go to Frankfurt the end of the month and teach 60+ people from 8 different countries. They expect to have 3400 young people involved in the program this summer! Ralph is trying to resurrect his German and I am trying to learn more French than conjugating verbs from high school daze!!
We will blaze the trail for Kaye. I wish we could stay and welcome her but 3 days after we get home we will fly to Auckland, New Zealand to train people from Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and Tahiti. Elder Callister, our contact person in the area presidency, said, "You can't come all this way and not visit Sydney and the islands." So we are taking the long way home by way of Tahiti. Shelly, our daughter, served a mission in Auckland. She wants to be our escort, but she has to drive boys to soccer, and piano lessons and mutual instead!
Speaking of good books: Gerald Lund's book, "Hearing the Voice of the Lord" is The Best book on Personal Revelation. The focus for EFY for the leaders this year is, "Creating a climate for Revelation". Every page is so specific, detailed and AHA!!Experiences.
A dear friend from college days (Kaye, you remember Judy Cochran Starley-- we talked about this and I gave Matt your greetings. He said he and Gretchen were in Kindergarten on up through school together!) asked if her son could stay with us while he studies for the bar exam. Wouldn't you know, this boy was a counselor and coordinator for EFY for 5 years so he is helping us understand the 'inner workings' of EFY. The Lord knew we needed extra tutoring. Matt also served a mission in Sydney, so he is helping us get around the city and see what we should see.
I occured to me when I give instructions to the Lord, I am limiting His willingness to bless me-- more than I have any idea to ask for! Would Kaye have prayed that she could go to Germany and teach young people the Gospel? (Maybe she did!) but I think when He knows we are available for whatever, and we trust Him, His ideas for us are The Best ideas! Just a little thing like letting a boy come and live at your house for 6 weeks has turned out to be a very personal, helpful blessing!
Another thought: As you all know- Sharon has no 'landing gear'! I fly up in cyber space somewhere without knowing how to land but Ralph has the 'landing gear'. We are having the MOST FUN working together! He has the brains and thinks through every detail after I have flown around a while. Together, we make a good team. We will get important emails that we need to respond to and I will put the 'nice to hear from you, thank you for your counsel etc. etc. and Ralph will pinpoint exactly what needs to be said, and I will 'say' it. I think it is called symbiosis-- or Marriage!!
Kaye could see that we would be scattered all over the world and this blog will keep us connected. Thank you Kaye.
Love to all of you dear, precious friends who are making our world so good! The world itself may be going down the tube, but the Kingdom of God is rolling forth to cover the World! Isn't it fabulous to be on This Team Together?!!
sharon
What fun it is to read what everyone is doing/thinking. I loved to read Kayes' 'streams of consciousness'! Can't wait to read her book about Beaver. Lucky she has finished it or she couldn't leave for her mission yet!
Don't you all agree that the Lord has better ideas for us than we could ever think up? Maybe Julie and Elaine and Silvia don't think the ideas are so great, but the rest of us do-- for them!!
Bruce and Elaine in San Diego
Kaye in Frankfurt
Carol and Raye in Israel, Egypt
Janet and Wayne in South Jordan
Ralph and I in the Church Office Building
Elaine has us doing stuff we never dreamed we would be doing! We are trying to learn all about the EFY program so we can go to Frankfurt the end of the month and teach 60+ people from 8 different countries. They expect to have 3400 young people involved in the program this summer! Ralph is trying to resurrect his German and I am trying to learn more French than conjugating verbs from high school daze!!
We will blaze the trail for Kaye. I wish we could stay and welcome her but 3 days after we get home we will fly to Auckland, New Zealand to train people from Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and Tahiti. Elder Callister, our contact person in the area presidency, said, "You can't come all this way and not visit Sydney and the islands." So we are taking the long way home by way of Tahiti. Shelly, our daughter, served a mission in Auckland. She wants to be our escort, but she has to drive boys to soccer, and piano lessons and mutual instead!
Speaking of good books: Gerald Lund's book, "Hearing the Voice of the Lord" is The Best book on Personal Revelation. The focus for EFY for the leaders this year is, "Creating a climate for Revelation". Every page is so specific, detailed and AHA!!Experiences.
A dear friend from college days (Kaye, you remember Judy Cochran Starley-- we talked about this and I gave Matt your greetings. He said he and Gretchen were in Kindergarten on up through school together!) asked if her son could stay with us while he studies for the bar exam. Wouldn't you know, this boy was a counselor and coordinator for EFY for 5 years so he is helping us understand the 'inner workings' of EFY. The Lord knew we needed extra tutoring. Matt also served a mission in Sydney, so he is helping us get around the city and see what we should see.
I occured to me when I give instructions to the Lord, I am limiting His willingness to bless me-- more than I have any idea to ask for! Would Kaye have prayed that she could go to Germany and teach young people the Gospel? (Maybe she did!) but I think when He knows we are available for whatever, and we trust Him, His ideas for us are The Best ideas! Just a little thing like letting a boy come and live at your house for 6 weeks has turned out to be a very personal, helpful blessing!
Another thought: As you all know- Sharon has no 'landing gear'! I fly up in cyber space somewhere without knowing how to land but Ralph has the 'landing gear'. We are having the MOST FUN working together! He has the brains and thinks through every detail after I have flown around a while. Together, we make a good team. We will get important emails that we need to respond to and I will put the 'nice to hear from you, thank you for your counsel etc. etc. and Ralph will pinpoint exactly what needs to be said, and I will 'say' it. I think it is called symbiosis-- or Marriage!!
Kaye could see that we would be scattered all over the world and this blog will keep us connected. Thank you Kaye.
Love to all of you dear, precious friends who are making our world so good! The world itself may be going down the tube, but the Kingdom of God is rolling forth to cover the World! Isn't it fabulous to be on This Team Together?!!
sharon
Dear Ones
Just to let you know we are thinking of you. Yesterday was amazing. We video taped sister Winder and sister Jack. Two wonderful women. I was struck by how much things stay the same. Same worries, same desires, same testimony, same difficulties.
We have Gerilyn and Seth coming this next ten days with 6 children to buy a house in Utah-I will believe it when I see the moving van pull up. They have sworn never to live in Utah, but here they come. She is expecting child number 7. Remember when Hope was born? Seems like yesterday. Gerilyn says that she loves the babies it is the three year olds that are wearing her down. The last two have been doozies-ruining ten dollars worth of stuff a day. Ramon has Federal auditors coming next week-we will see if he survives. They are on the war path. ( he thinks he will come out fine)
We love you all and were sorry to miss St George. It was great to talk to Christine for a minute while they were in Utah. Oh, and we had an absolutely fabulous three day party for my mothers 85th birthday. Everyone came, even Cory from New York. We had a portrait taken and just reveled in having us all there. Daddy was so upbeat-he has had a difficult winter.
Love to all,
Julie
We have Gerilyn and Seth coming this next ten days with 6 children to buy a house in Utah-I will believe it when I see the moving van pull up. They have sworn never to live in Utah, but here they come. She is expecting child number 7. Remember when Hope was born? Seems like yesterday. Gerilyn says that she loves the babies it is the three year olds that are wearing her down. The last two have been doozies-ruining ten dollars worth of stuff a day. Ramon has Federal auditors coming next week-we will see if he survives. They are on the war path. ( he thinks he will come out fine)
We love you all and were sorry to miss St George. It was great to talk to Christine for a minute while they were in Utah. Oh, and we had an absolutely fabulous three day party for my mothers 85th birthday. Everyone came, even Cory from New York. We had a portrait taken and just reveled in having us all there. Daddy was so upbeat-he has had a difficult winter.
Love to all,
Julie
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Goin' to Egypt
Dear Friends....
Congratulations, Kaye...we'll be thinking of you on February 23rd and can't wait to hear "where!" Your leaving is a doubly good reason for this blog.
Ray and I just returned last week from taking 80 students, including our own granddaughter, to Egypt. We went last summer so it was more interesting to return, knowing what we would be seeing--the pyramids, temples and museums. Going through border control was a 3 hr experience--- they even checked the students scriptures.
Our group hiked up to the top ofMt. Sinai 2 am in the morning to see the sunrise. Of course we went with them---it was a 4 mile, killer hike for us but I'm so glad we did it. It was terribly cold, we nearly froze to death---even the girls were getting adema in their fingers and frozen tear ducts. It was so cold they had to forego the planned testimony meeting.
p.s. I noticed when I post pictures that they always get put at the top of the blog. It's easy to put them where you want them in your entry. Put the cursor on your picture, then right click---when the list comes up, click "cut". Then put your cursor to where you want the picture to go and under "Edit"---top left, click "paste". You can then type around the picture and work it into your story.
Congratulations, Kaye...we'll be thinking of you on February 23rd and can't wait to hear "where!" Your leaving is a doubly good reason for this blog.
Ray and I just returned last week from taking 80 students, including our own granddaughter, to Egypt. We went last summer so it was more interesting to return, knowing what we would be seeing--the pyramids, temples and museums. Going through border control was a 3 hr experience--- they even checked the students scriptures.
Our group hiked up to the top of
But it was everything you imagine---the mountains, I mean----rugged, dramatic, austere and elegant---7,000 ft high---worthy of the sacred experiences that happened there. The stars were incredible. The last part of the hike is 900+ stairs straight up, built by a catholic priest 700 years ago. We didn't make it that far but we went to the summit and saw the sunrise from there. We arrived there an hour before sunrise. It was so cold that we rented heavy woolen sheep blankets ($4.) and waited in a Bedouin store (large stone room), visiting with a few other tourists and Bedouins---fascinating. Our own guide who helped us up the mountain was the kindest man, a 27 yr old who spoke 5 languages. His wife was from
Our guide explained that in the old days there were eight tribes in the Sinai area---now they're all one tribe with about 50,000 people. Bedouins originate from
The whole week was so wonderful, sharing it with Whitney, who will be getting married this summer. She's never lived near us so it's been doubly fun to see her almost every day.
Two more pictures to share...it's amazing to see the arrogance of these three pharaohs.
"Perception is everything. Don't trust your eyes if your nose is as big as a Sphinx."
In all it was an amazing experience. I hope you get there before you die---you'd love it too.
p.s. I noticed when I post pictures that they always get put at the top of the blog. It's easy to put them where you want them in your entry. Put the cursor on your picture, then right click---when the list comes up, click "cut". Then put your cursor to where you want the picture to go and under "Edit"---top left, click "paste". You can then type around the picture and work it into your story.
The Second Time is Very Different
On Thursday morning I received a phone call from the Missionary Department. The caller happened to be someone serving there who used to live in our ward. So we chatted a minute and then he said, "I need to ask you when you can be ready to go."
I replied, "I can go tomorrow."
"Well then," he said, "I can tell you you'll enter the MTC on February 23. And your name goes before the Twelve tomorrow."
So I know WHEN I'm going, just not WHERE. Luckily, that is not much of a problem.
So you and I will have FHE together here at my house on February 16. Won't that be fun?
I replied, "I can go tomorrow."
"Well then," he said, "I can tell you you'll enter the MTC on February 23. And your name goes before the Twelve tomorrow."
So I know WHEN I'm going, just not WHERE. Luckily, that is not much of a problem.
So you and I will have FHE together here at my house on February 16. Won't that be fun?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Book of the Week
by Kaye Hanson
Bruce and Christine suggested reading Andrew Skinner's book, Temple Worship, 20 Truths to Bless Your Lives, so I've been working on it this week. It's amazing. First, Andy Skinner is a friend of mine from Jerusalem days and I not only admire his work I admire his character. His grounding in the Middle East is superb and his scholarship excellent. But the best part about this book is his depth and ability to look at something very familiar to us all and make it clearer, fuller, richer, more complete.
Huzzahs for both Margaret and Nina for getting entries onto this blog this week. Now, both of you, hurry, get back on the horse (or camel) before you forget what you did. The ease comes in the doing and there's plenty more still to learn. Anybody else? Let me know if I can answer any questions.
Bruce and Christine suggested reading Andrew Skinner's book, Temple Worship, 20 Truths to Bless Your Lives, so I've been working on it this week. It's amazing. First, Andy Skinner is a friend of mine from Jerusalem days and I not only admire his work I admire his character. His grounding in the Middle East is superb and his scholarship excellent. But the best part about this book is his depth and ability to look at something very familiar to us all and make it clearer, fuller, richer, more complete.
Huzzahs for both Margaret and Nina for getting entries onto this blog this week. Now, both of you, hurry, get back on the horse (or camel) before you forget what you did. The ease comes in the doing and there's plenty more still to learn. Anybody else? Let me know if I can answer any questions.
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