Saturday, March 29th, 2014

We have survived our first transfer week and met some wonderful missionaries. It's Saturday and our P-Day. Laundry got done and grocery shopping. In the afternoon, we headed for the temple hoping to do some initiatories- but the temple closed early in preparation for the General Women's Broadcast.
We did get some pictures of the temple and grounds and some from a park near the temple.

Elder Lindsey and Sister

the sister missionary wanted a new picture for our mission board- Elder Lindsay had to join in on the first picture.

Spring blossoms at the Houston Temple

More signs of spring at the temple

The Houston Temple

More beautiful spring flowers at the temple

This is just one of the beautiful fountains on the temple grounds

The Houston temple

When we first saw these animals from a distance we were not sure! But they are ducks!

There is a park not far from the temple grounds where we found ducks!

Someone was nice enough to bring bread- we will have to do that!

Food brings on a rush!

Beautiful mottling on some of these!

Also some lovely waterfalls

Elders Graham and Armacost joined the family for dinner. Brad grilled some burgers on the grill- he always does a great job.
After dinner Shauna, Mallory, Ashlynn and I headed to the Kline Stake Center to attend the broadcast of the General Women's Meeting. The meeting was very well attended- so wonderful to see the 8-11 year olds that got to come for the first time.

The General Women's Conference was so very wonderful and spiritual. It was wonderful to be able to attend with my eldest daughter and her 2 daughters. The messages in word, video and song were so very powerful. I can't wait to be able to reread them. How thankful I am to be a daughter of God! I love Him and I want to serve in His kingdom on Earth and in Heaven. I'm grateful for the love of all the women who have touched my life and made it better.

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• Jodi Mattice Winterton, Jaralynn Quick, Janice Foley and 5 others like this.
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  Eileen Kelly So glad you were able to be with some of your family! It truly was an uplifting evening!

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  Gloria Levy Walsh It was wonderful way out here in Port Dufferin to be able to see this wonderful gathering of Women of all ages .Love you .

  about an hour ago · Unlike · 1
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  Lark Miller It was wonderful!

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  Jodi Mattice Winterton I fell asleep and missed it. Rrrrr I am so thankful that I can watch it later. So glad you were able to be with your family. 

  35 minutes ago · Like

The first-ever general women's meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is under way. In addition to those seated in the Conference Center, millions of women and girls ages 8 and older are participating via television, radio, satellite and Internet throughout the world. http://bit.ly/1jlb44D ‪#‎WomensMeeting‬

Wednesday, 26, 2014

Somehow our camera did a vanishing act- so we broke down and got a new one last night- hope we chose wisely- we got a Nikon Cool pix L620. We have new missionaries arriving today! We need to be able to take pictures tomorrow when they get their new companions and head to their new areas! 9 Elders and 2 Sisters. Going through our first transfer week!!! And learning lots. Tomorrow morning we are at the mission home at 7:30 to help cook French toast breakfast for them. We sure hope that our other camera shows up! Have a great day dear friends and family,  

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• Victoria Heighton Firth, Nathan Winterton, Angela DeMelo and 6 others like this.
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  Joan Roy Tiffany Good luck. Cooking is what seniors do

  13 hours ago · Like
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  Jos Jet Charlotte, I wish you good luck and God's blessing. But please, do not talk about French toast, I am in bed with fever and can't fix one. (yeah, like you should know that, right?)

  12 hours ago · Like
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  Vicki Richardson Both girls and myself have a coolpix, and we loved them. They take great pictures and at least with ours you could even write on the pictures with the stylist that was provided.

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  Linda Berrett Thatcher New missionaries are so invigorating. Have a great transfer week. Love ya!

  6 hours ago · Like

Tried out the new camera today with our new missionaries and a Texas Buzzard also!

Wednesday, March 26,

Somehow our camera did a vanishing act- so we broke down and got a new one last night- hope we chose wisely- we got a Nikon Cool pix L620. We have new missionaries arriving today! We need to be able to take pictures tomorrow when they get their new companions and head to their new areas! 9 Elders and 2 Sisters. Going through our first transfer week!!! And learning lots. Tomorrow morning we are at the mission home at 7:30 to help cook French toast breakfast for them. We sure hope that our other camera shows up! Have a great day dear friends and family,  

 My favorite thought so far today:



You can't pray enough- the trick is to always REMEMBER to pray!

Fun and games- somehow deleted all I had done- version 2
Saturday, March 22, 2014

Today is our P-day that means doing our laundry, haircuts, shopping and other things there isn't time to do during the week. Craig got the haircut and I got the laundry- but Craig is always a great help!!!!

We also got to go to the temple. It opened back up this week from it's semi-annual closing/cleaning.  The elders and sisters got to attend this week and they helped with doing some temple work for us. We were grateful for the help so we went today and did some needed sealings. We got to participate in even more- our sealer was kept very busy!!!!
There were some lovely, it looked like, azalea bushes blooming on the grounds- spring is here in Houston.  I hope to go by with our camera and take some pictures tomorrow after church.

I wanted to share a poem that was shared by Brother Lindsey this week at one of our office devotionals- it really touched me:

The Measure of a Man

Not - How did he die? But - How did he live?
Not - What did he gain? But - What did he give?
These are the things that measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of birth.

Not - What was his station? But - Had he a heart?
And - How did he play his God-given part?

Was he ever ready with a word of cheer?
To bring back a smile, to banish a tea?

Not  - What was his church?
Not - What was his creed?
But - Had he befriended those really in need?

Not - What did the sketch in the newspaper say?
But - How many were sorry when he passed away?
These are the things that measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of birth.

Author: anonymous

Thoughts that were special to me today:

and

Grateful for the Sabbath tomorrow and the opportunity to go to church.

Friday, March 20, 2014
Another week is completed in the mission office. It is so inspiring to recognize the lessons that we are being taught as  we learn our duties and strive to be close to the spirit in all that we do. It is always wonderful to see the missionaries stop into the office and to hear how their labors are going. Monday we gained a unexpected missionary. He had left the Missionary Training Center in Provo and had been learning Spanish. He had to change planes here in Houston on his way to the Mexico Puebla Mission. He had been sleeping on his first flight and when he got off to change planes he inadvertently left his Visa and US Passport on his first plane so he couldn't catch his 2nd flight to Mexico. He is now serving temporarily in our mission as he applies for an expedited passport and then goes on to get his Visa replaced so he can get to Mexico. He has been a reminder to me all this week as I worried so much about my ease at forgetfulness as we prepared to come here. I was so worried that I asked Craig for a blessing and I know that Heavenly Father has answered my concerns and is helping me so very much.

Also early this week I had a stressful day- it seemed that I was re-doing everything I did- things that I know how to do like addressing envelopes etc- as we completed that day I realized that when things got bad I had forgotten to stop and pray and to ask for help. Then on Thursday I was working on a task that was totally new to me- I was requesting flight information for some missionaries that will be completing their missions soon. The system I was using froze up on me and I had to restart several times- I was ready to sit down and cry!! But this time I remembered my earlier mistake, I stopped what I was doing and offered a prayer before attempting the 3rd time on this task- this time there was no computer freeze-ups! Then when completed the travel agent in SL that had been working with me- sent me an e-mail to say that she had received my requests and that everything looked great. I finally smiled and thanked her for her help. I also remembered to give thanks for completing the task.

In conjunction with this I was reading "The Promise of Enough", by Emily Freeman- on page 73 she talks about Samuel, in the Bible, in I Samuel 7 about Samuel took a stone and called it "Eben-ezer" saying "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us"- It became known as the stone of Help.  I need to find a rock I can put on my desk to remind me that the Lord helps me do what He has called me to do. I'm so very grateful he does hear and answer prayers. The Holy Ghost does teach, inspire and lead us in righteousness as we pray, search and seek help in our daily trials.

Next week is our first experience with Transfers- and we have missionaries coming and going! Lots more to learn!
 Got to talk to my brother, Warin, today that is always wonderful! I'm grateful for his support and prayers as we serve.
We celebrated Craig's birthday on the 18th-so we talked to our children and even some of the grandchildren this wee. Please know that we love you all and pray for you all!

My favorite thought today:



My reasons to smile are because: God lives, He loves us and cares for us, He hears and answers prayers; and He has blessed me with a wonderful FAMILY and the world's best FRIENDS!