August 28, 2016 We will get what we really want, not what we say we want.

Do we really want God's blessings? Or do we simply say we do?

 "According to our Will"-Clyde J. Williams, September 2016 Ensign

It's been another one of those weeks...

Four missionaries had to return home early due to "health" issues. Three on Friday!

As much as we would love to jump up on our soap boxes and plead with anyone within hearing distance to please, please, please-stop rescuing your teenagers and making excuses. Listen to your heart and to them when they say they are not ready.

Instead we will try to be be short and sweet: Please take time to teach them how to do hard things; like becoming self motivated, dealing with stress and depression and how to make themselves happy. (Especially when you are not there)

We have valiant young men and women called to serve, who are worthy and willing only to crash and burn because they often had loving mothers (and fathers) who did everything for them and expected miracles to help carry their children through the tough times.  

Enough said.

Since the expansion of Idaho missions we have had to cut back on our allotment of vehicles. As a result we have sold and relocated 11 vehicles just this week. This car carrier is on it's way to a new mission in Idaho Falls with just of a few of our vehicles. 

We are quickly becoming a biking mission, which isn't a bad thing until you factor in miles of rural areas and the promise of snow in the winter.

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to fulfill an assignment we had volunteered for in our old Bainbridge Ward weeks ago. Serving in the cannery is so much fun! Especially when the peaches don't arrive as planned so you get to play with the water hoses and clean the facility, leaving a whole two hours earlier than planned.

Because of our agency, God grants us what we really want. If we want to rebel and reject His plan, He allows that, even though He would deeply desire otherwise.  But it also means that if we want exaltation and demonstrate our desire by living worthy of it, we will receive it.

 

The Savior is the perfect example of how to use our agency best. He declared,

 "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."

John 6:38

We decided to check off another item off our "To Do" list this week by getting a side fence installed. We love the extra storage space it offers and now our grandson,Cale, can feel safer at night.

Submitting one's will to God's is not easy and will require sacrifice and likely some suffering. But we have been promised, it will be worth it.

Grandparent's Corner

   Sienna's first day of kindergarten

                                      

                                 Kahlen sleeping soundly after her 

                             first bout with the stomach flu.

              
                                                 

Dax at bat at the second game of a double header on Saturday. 

He scored a tying run for his team only to be beaten by one run in the last inning.

Each of us is in charge of our own destiny.  We will receive that which we ultimately choose.  The famous author and theologian C.S. Lewis profoundly explained:  "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'  All that are in Hell, choose it.... No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it."

Make it a great week!

Sanctify yourselves and teach one another the doctrines of the kingdom

 When each of the more than 75,000 full-time missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints arises each day, many different activities await them-lessons, visits, and meetings.


Every three months missionaries in several districts hold a zone conference, which is held under the direction of the mission president. Since our mission has expanded geographically it was decided to hold four zone conferences this week at various locations to cut down on the amount of miles our missionaries would be required to travel to attend these important meetings.

 





                                           

Vehicle inspections

                         

Training in the chapel

                                             

                         

        Making new friends and keeping the old...

 The overall theme of our Zone Conference was found in Doctrine and Covenants 14:8

"And it shall come to pass, that if you shall ask the Father in my name, in faith believing, you shall receive the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance, that you may stand as a witness of the things of which you shall hear and see, and also that you may declare repentance unto this generation."

 

                                         

 

 Not only were we fed spiritually, but the local Stake Relief Societies fed us as well.

               

 Boise East and Boise North Zones

                 

Boise West and Meridian Amity Zones

                                                             Twin Falls and Jerome Zones

                    Rupert and Burley Zones

"And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring sous unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father."

Doctrine and Covenants 15:6

 

 "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!"

Doctrine and Covenants 18:15

 

 We actually had a free Saturday, so we decided to go adventuring...

 Silver City is a ghost town in Owyhee County, Idaho. At it's height in the 1880's, it was a gold and silver mining town with a population of around 2,500 and approximately 75 businesses. Today the town has about 70 standing buildings, all of which are privately owned. Many of the owners are third or fourth generation descendants of the original miners.

Silver City was founded in 1864 soon after silver was discovered at nearby War Eagle Mountain.  The settlement grew quickly and was soon one of the major cities in Idaho territory. The first daily newspaper and telegraph office in Idaho Territory was in Silver City and the town was the first to receive electric and telephone service.

Throughout it all, including a short side trip to Silver City, the common thread of mission life is a our purpose: "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

The Church continues to grow here in Idaho! 

Today at Stake Conference (in the Star Stake which we joined just three weeks ago) a new Stake was created of which we are now a part.  And our new Bishop in the Verona Ward was called to be the first Councilor in the new Meridian Linder Stake. 

With all the recent changes pretty soon we should know just about everyone :)