Snow Blower Fight, Sister's Conference, PHBD Syndrome, & The Holy Ghost

I've had many friends and family checking in on me this week to ask about the storm.  It was an experience to see how the people of the city reacted.  I went grocery shopping on Tuesday last week because I thought I had better make sure I had food in house in case the storm was bad and that was the best day for me to go. No problem.  Sister and Elder Prince went to the same grocery store Wednesday evening and they said that the produce department was pretty empty as was the dairy, meat, cereals, and other sections of the store. 

There was the edict that none but emergency vehicles were allowed on the streets Sunday afternoon and night.  When the snow plows finally came on Monday late afternoon, there were piles of snow at the bottom of the hill about 8-10 feet high when they were finished clearing the street.

I went to Costco on Wednesday and the narrow streets in the neighborhood to the south were barely passable because of the snow that had been cleared from the middle to the sides blocking in cars.  On major streets where you couldn't get to parking because of the snow, cars were parked on the median between the traffic lanes. Crazy!!!

Elder Duke told me on Tuesday about an incident that occurred on his street.  A man began using his snow blower on Monday morning about 7:30 to clean the sidewalks on the street.  A man in one of the houses yelled out the window for him to shut off that blankety-blank noise!!! The man with his snow blower ignored the yelling.  A few minutes later, the yeller came rushing out of his house screaming and threatening the snow blower.  Elder Duke was watching and listening from his balcony.  The screamer began punching the snow blower knocking him to the ground.  The neighbors came out to defend the snow blower and to pull the screamer off the poor guy on the ground.  Everyone wanted to call the police but there would have been no way for the police to get there.  None of the streets were cleared.  Would you call that "snow rage"?

The snow has melted rapidly.  It was in the 40's since Wednesday.  There are still huge piles of snow in some places and on the flat areas where there has been shade.  For the most part though, the streets are clear and free of snow.

Tuesday morning walk. The sidewalks were mostly cleared but not all of them.

Wednesday morning. These cars still need to be shoveled out.

Sunday afternoon (Jan, 31) looking up the street at the snow in front of the church.

People have asked how much snow is left.
This is looking out my front door Sunday afternoon (Jan 31).

The city.

On Friday, the mission held a Sisters' Conference.  Much of the week was spent preparing for the day.

Sisters Anderson and Jenkins who live upstairs were responsible for creating the printed 27 page program/booklet for the day titled "Women of Covenant."  Over the past two weeks, they've spent countless hours using my computer and the office computer when I had work to do. I also helped them by taking them to Staples.  Would have been just once to place the booklet order and then to pick up the booklets when they were finished.  However, it required several additional trips as the third page was left out of half of the booklets one time and the binding fell apart on more of the booklets requiring additional trips.  I'm not complaining.  I was the chauffeur but the sisters were a bit frustrated.  Luckily they started the printing/binding process early enough in the week that they were prepared for Friday, but only just by the skin of their teeth.

Sister Anderson and the program booklet.

Sister Lesuma

Sisters' Conference

I was asked to do a health presentation during lunch time.  I prayed about it and finally decided that I would talk about the importance of a healthy diet in order to look good, feel good, sound good and to be attractive representatives of the Lord.  I have talked briefly about this topic before in zone meetings but I thought it wise to impress upon the sisters how much diet effects their total being.

I enlisted the help of the senior sisters, 9 of us, to help me with a skit in our Senior Sisters Playhouse.  Two of the seniors portrayed a day in the lives of the sister missionaries.  Others were walk-ons.  One of the seniors was the "good" one who ate well, exercised, etc. and one of them was the "bad" one.  The bad one skipped breakfast and lunch because she was going home in 6 months, so she had only "6 months to sexy." This is a phrase that I have heard the missionaries use jokingly but I wonder about that??? The bad sister had no energy, her thinking was hazy, her mood was grouchy, and she carried a gallon of water with her all day because she heard it would cleanse her body. They were late for a lesson so they didn't have time to go home for dinner. They stopped at McDonald's.  The good sister got a salad with grilled chicken. The bad sister had not eaten all day so she had 4 double cheeseburgers, two orders of fries, and a milk shake.  I think you get the picture. 

A couple of weeks ago, I actually had two sisters call me one night to ask how much water was too much to drink.  They were feeling rather sick.  Found out they had each had 1½ gallon of water to drink that day to do a "cleansing." 

So borrowing from real life, we made an exaggerated, funny skit, without mentioning any names. After the skit I talked to the group briefly to emphasize the good aspects of healthy eating. I talked about energy levels and mood swings being affected by skipping meals and not eating wisely.  I mentioned that I had been doing research for over 50 years on this subject and that I had developed a theory on a new syndrome that I expected to be published at any minute in a medical journal.  The new syndrome is PHBD:  Petersen Hypoglycemic Bipolar Disorder.

If you know the Petersens, then you probably know that they get rather grumpy and out of sorts when they are hungry.  Just saying…   It was a fun day.  I've had several sisters tell me that they are going to eat better and take better care of themselves.  Yeah!!

Saturday, I had the privilege of going again with the sisters to teach Ruma a lesson.  They talked to her about baptism.  Again she said that she wanted to be baptized but her husband would not let her.  They asked her to pray about it daily and to pray with her two boys.  To ask that her husband's heart would be softened and the hearts of her and his extended families as well.

They talked about the covenants we make at baptism and how we renew those covenants when we partake of the sacrament each week in church. They talked about the steps of repentance. They talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  The sisters asked me to tell Ruma how I feel about the Holy Ghost.

I have felt the guidance of the Holy Ghost many times in my life but one particular time came to my mind as I was talking to Ruma.  When Deanne was going to school at Weber, Kay and I went up to Ogden to take something to Deanne or for some reason that I can't remember.  Anyway, I had noticed a day or two before that one of the front tires on the Lumina which we were driving, was very bald with some of the steel wires exposed.  I really didn't even think about it anymore.

That afternoon, Kay went into the school or wherever we went in Ogden and I sat in the car and waited because we were in a hurry.  As I sat there in the quiet watching the students pass by, a thought came to me that we had better check that tire before we went home.  I dismissed the thought as needless worrying.  We were in a hurry after all.  A few minutes later, the thought came clearly to me again:  Get the tire checked before you get on the freeway.

When Kay came out and got into the car, I told him about the tire and that I felt we needed to get it looked at.  Even though we were in a hurry, he pulled into a tire place near the freeway entrance.  The man there put the car up on the lift.  There was a big bulge on the inside of the tire that no one could have seen without the car being on the lift or without lying on one's belly under the car.  The man told us that it would probably have blown out before we had gone very far.  I know that I was prompted by the Holy Ghost and that we were protected from danger that afternoon.

I know that the Lord loves us and watches over us and wants us to be healthy and happy.  The Gift of the Holy Ghost is one of the greatest blessings in my life.  I have felt the guidance and promptings throughout my life and on a daily basis here on my mission.  As a wife, a mother, and in callings in the Church, I have felt the presence and influence of the Holy Ghost.  For this, I feel most grateful.

I love you my family and friends.

I still love to cook. Sister Anderson helps me by eating what I cook without a complaint.
In fact, she and Sister Jenkins are most complimentary. I do enjoy their company.

This touches my heart.

I like this thought.