Enter His Holy House

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Draper, UT LDS Temple

"When we keep the temple covenants we have made and when we live righteously in order to maintain the blessings promised by those ordinances, then come what may, we have no reason to worry or to feel despondent."

Temple Worship: The Source of Strength and Power in Times of Need
Elder Richard G. Scott ( LDS General Conference - April 2009)

Attending: Mom, Dad, Cath, Doug, Deb, Will, Sarah, Lance, Grandma D, Roger, Leslie, Mary, and Brittany.
It was memorable and I couldn't be happier!

What happens in Vegas

You know you're in Vegas when you see this... times a lot.

Or this.


But surprise, bet you didn't know this was in Vegas! We didn't either before we got there. In fact, it was still opening week!
Serendipity


Yes, of course we ate there and had their famous frozen hot chocolate. I have got to figure out how they do it. It was amazing!


Natalie and I at Serendipity

The view from our room was spectacular. Thank you front desk man for accidently putting us in a better room than we reserved, and messing up our payment so we could stay in the better room... AND, for being the reason we got free breakfast buffet the next morning, when you so kindly told us, "This is Vegas, breakfast isn't free." :)

Day 2 - M&M Store, a total must!
At Trader Joe's we saw this, and couldn't help but laugh! Love the description of milk glass and tater tots! As if we couldn't tell. Sweet.All in all, it was a great weekend. Thank you random stock market holidays for giving us a reason to leave.

Back to the Basics

A couple weeks ago, our relief society hosted a small retreat to Midway to celebrate the birthday of relief society. I must say, we have some amazing women in our ward who planned the best retreat ever!

(Liz, sorry I stole your work off the ward blog. Thanks!)

We started out with a great dinner and some games, then we all sat down for some spiritual time. Preface: as my presidency and I prepared for 2009, we all felt inspired that the sisters in our ward need to better understand the basics of relief society. So, as we worked with the Enrichment Committee, we planned the retreat around the 6 purposes of relief society as outline in the RS Handbook. The girls were all very receptive and the spirit was very strong.

Over the last several months, the most prominent lesson I have learned is that the Lord has designed his church just the way it should be. There are many things that we think will help improve the camaraderie or the attendance, when in reality all that's needed are the basic which are outline for us. I have been impressed with how much has changed as our relief society has eliminated the unnecessary fluff and added musical moments or training meetings. It may not always sound the most appealing, but somehow it just works! I look forward to the continued changes that we will see, but even more for the lessons I am learning. I can see myself being sculpted by the Master's hands. I am grateful He trusts me enough to care for 76 of his beautiful sisters. I pray that I will not let Him down!

As I said to my mom when I was called 6 months ago, "The Lord prepares you for your callings, but they will still stretch you and you'll have to grow."