One of the awesome things about our Sunday family council was that while we were discussing our things, we got a text from my brother. We had been in the talks of picking up the car we lent to Jacob as soon as was convenient for him. It was seeming that we were going to meet him in the middle to pick up our cars. The middle would have been Blythe so we suggested that he drive out with my mom in two separate cars so that she could take him back in her car. It was also in the talks that maybe he drive out with his girlfriend, Audrey. Well, we got a text with another suggestion. “Why don’t you come to California so we can celebrate my birthday and you can meet my girlfriend and pick up my car.” It was very convenient that we were already discussing what our week looked like when we got that text, and after some discussion we decided to take him up on his offer.
Monday was great! We went to work at the beginning of the day and decided to try to visit one of our members in the mental hospital. Unfortunately we didn’t have a PIN # provided by the patient, so we couldn’t get in. So we drove home, and after some talking and grounding ourselves because of the feelings we had being at the reception area of the mental hospital, we made some calls. I only made two calls in regards to members that needed an appointment, but Sarah made many a call, because the Relief Society President from our fellow Spanish Branch, Liahona III, invited the our branch’s sisters to an activity teaching about nutrition. Sarah enlisted the help of her counselors in calling all of the sisters. While she did that, I picked up some requested movies from the library. Actually, they were the three ultimate movies in the Mission Impossible series.
That said, we didn’t get to watch any of the movies those first three nights. Monday was off the table for 2 reasons, really good reasons. In Sarah’s calls to the sisters, she had come to find out that a sister in our branch, Hermana Gonzalez, the very first sister I ever met in the branch, was having some car troubles, as well as needed to set up an appointment with Bishop. One of the car troubles was that the air conditioning wasn’t working very well in the car. Sarah told her that I had recently bought and filled our car with some air conditioning fluid. I had just learned how to do so. So we decided to drive to her home to try to perform this service for her.
When we got there, her youngest son, who lives with her (she is an elderly lady), knew what the problem was with the AC, and it was that there is a leak/hole in the system. We unfortunately did not have the type of fluid we needed to repair leaks. But in the process we helped the Hermana feel less anxious about meeting with bishop the next day. She invited us into her home and we were amazed by the amazing beauty that her home demonstrated. In every space of the home there was a story that was told, mostly telling us of her devotion to Christ and his Gospel. It felt amazing in her home, and I can’t wait to be invited back soon. We arranged to pick her up the next day.
The other reason was right when we got home, our friend, Heidi Greathouse, gave us a call. She asked if she might come over for a blessing and to chat for a bit about her life. She had been experiencing some health problems and had come to get some counsel from the Lord about things. We chatted with her for about a half hour, while watching some funny YouTube videos. The blessing was really nice, and I am grateful every time someone asks me to give one. I sometimes have all these preconceptions about what I am going to tell the person based off what I know about their problem, and what advice I could give. But, when I place my hands upon a person’s head, be it my wife’s or another person in need, after I have prayed, the words just flow, and sometimes it is the thing that I was thinking of, but really, things are said that I hadn’t previously thought of before. It is a nice assurance, for me, that Heavenly Father is “well pleased” with me, enough to entrust me with His power guided by His spirit. Sacred, just sacred.
That practically ended the night, except that on Sunday night, we had decided to do our best, to clean up after ourselves, following a chore chart we had made. It has been working well. That said, I was tired and not in the mood to help with the cleaning, but I did read to her from the short stories of Sherlock Holmes. We are reading “A Scandal in Bohemia,” which is about Irene Adler, his only scandalous relationship. Sarah was very interested in the outcome of the story, as this was her first ever reading of one of those stories. We loved the details placed, and the craft of the story told.
Tuesday was great in that we had the whole day, away from work, to ourselves. We decided to spend the day cleaning. We went through a great deal of Sarah and my clothes, parting with dear pieces of clothing that we have had for ages, that are so hard to give away, or throw away, because of the emotional attachment we have to them.
The sister missionaries came over after lunch that day, so that we could practice Be Thou My Vision, which we will be performing in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. This was our first practice, and being that it was our first, it went really well. It did because Hermana Rusk knew the song really well and because she is also a very talented singer. She arranged to get her step-dad’s own version of the song, and one of which Hermana Rusk is comfortable with. We decided to practice a couple of times at our home, and later that night in the Relief Society room.
That same day we organized old papers, which was mostly old mail that needed to be discarded. Then we decided to do something that made our unity even stronger, we turned all of our bills into paperless billing and we are having all the paperless bill emails sent to the same email account which we created that same night, instead of emails being sent to at least three separate personal email accounts. We were super excited to do so and it was a nice joint effort. For the most part, it worked out pretty well.
That was the night I found out about the extra $30 in our Venmo account. I was in the process of hooking Venmo to that account and noticed that we had money in that account. It came at the most opportune time, since that night was the night we would be using the gas most before another day of work.
We picked up Hermana Gonzalez for her appointment but made some alterations to the plan. I asked, while she was in the car, if I could change her appointment to later that night with President so that she could go to the Relief Society activity with Sarah. She was willing to do whatever, so that is what happened. We had to juggle it around because of the fact that after her appointment with President, she would have no one to give her a ride home, and she would be at the church until someone became available.
Not sure how good that decision was later for her, because the change of appointment caused her to be at the church til a little past 9:30, and Sarah and I didn’t get home til 10ish. Tuesday was a little crazy, since we were having our semi-annual audit. I sat with, but our branch clerk was able to do it. That night, Carlos Santos asked me if I could give a talk on Sunday, on the sacrifices that are made, and that we make for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The next day started as a day of work for me. I spent most of my down time thinking about and writing down my first thoughts about the topic Carlos had assigned to me. Then, I continued my Come, Follow Me study.
We had arranged to eat dinner with our friend, Ashley Cooper, who lives in the furthest region south of Phoenix (personally, I wouldn’t consider it Phoenix because it is divided by a mountain, but….), it’s actually in Ahwatukee, which is (at least what I know) kinda an Indian reservation area??? I will learn about it later.
It was a super, super fun time with Ashley. She made us a really great chicken casserole with a side of rice and salad. We just “ate it up.” Sarah was able to have a fun time just chatting with her, mostly about Ashley’s newish boyfriend. He seems like a really cool guy and we are happy that she found someone. With that, they got into a conversation of religion, because Ashley is spiritual person and her boyfriend seems to be religious himself, just not really devout. Ashley just had some question about things related to receiving answers from Heavenly Father. Like most people, including me sometimes (but trying to get better), she feels it isn’t an easy thing to receive answers.
