Dad's papers

  Happy Thanksgiving! Even though we don’t all get to be together this Thanksgiving, we wanted each one of you to know that you are at the top of what we are most thankful for. This week our Bishop asked the ward members to consider those we are thankful for and to express this gratitude to them. That is an easy invitation for me, because I get to tell each one of you how much Mama and I love and are thankful for you. I felt a little guilty this week as I was studying Elder Uchtdorf’s message from conference when he was joking, talking about “the perfect family”. He said, “Doesn’t it seem reasonable to hope that if we keep the commandments and are sealed in the temple, we will be blessed with a large, happy family with bright, obedient children, all of whom stay active in the Church, serve missions, sing in the ward choir, and volunteer to help clean the meetinghouse every Saturday morning? I certainly hope that all of us will see this in our lives. But what if it doesn’t happen?” ...

  Hello Family, Snow is beginning to fall here, and the calendar keeps rapidly moving. It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week, and by the time we get through that weekend it will be December. Crazy how fast it goes! Everyone at Church just received Emma and Noah’s wedding announcement and the excitement is in the air with that being just one month away. We are all super excited for you both! As time keeps flying by, I thought the message I would share from my personal study this week is just that, the principle of time. In preparation for my Elders Quorum Presidency Meeting this week, I had asked each member of the presidency to come prepared to discuss Section 23 of the Handbook about sharing the Gospel.  In this section the principles of Love, Share, & Invite are taught. Something new jumped out at me as I was studying. When you hear “Share”, in this context what is the first thing that comes to your mind? I think of serveral things, but one thing that reall...

  Good Morning Family, Thank you again for taking the time and making the effort to all be together this past weekend. For mama and I it is our greatest joy when we get you all under one roof. We love each of you so so much! I will try and keep it short today. I wanted to share just a thought or two I’ve had as I’ve studied Elder Uchtdorf’s most recent message. There were several things that stood out to me, but I’ll shre one specific thing that I’m trying to apply into my life now. That is, to step back and evaluate the things that are important to me, things I spend my time in my day doing, the things I think about, and prioritize. Then try to categorize these things into what is eternal and what isn’t. Elder Uchtdorf taught that “One of the most important things we can learn in this life is the difference between what is eternal and what is not. Once we understand that, everything changes—our relationships, the choices we make, the way we treat people.” He testified that … “Know...

  Hello Family, When we heard that Sadie and Seth were coming home this weekend with Miles, Emma, and Noah we were all doing cartwheels in the living room! We are so excited for another chance to all be together.  Recently as a new Elders Quorum Presidency we have been reorganizing ministering assignments. I have spent all my personal study time this week learning about our responsibilities and the importance of ministering. I thought I would share with you what I’ve shared with the Spurwing Elders Quorum, because it applies to all of us. Can you believe in was 2018 when the change of Visiting/Home Teaching was replaced with Ministering? At that time all of you were still youth. Six years have passed and as the emphasis of the Church has focused more and more on covenants and temples it has become even more apparent for the need for faithful ministering.  In 2018 President Nelson shared the following. It was at Priesthood Session, so he was speaking specifically to the br...