It is all about family!

 

This week I received a special gift from my sister, Peggy.   She writes poetry.  She compiled a book of pictures about our family with pages for each family member and poems she had written specifically for that person.   I have loved looking at it and reading the poetry.  It has brought back memories of people I love and who have been and still are, making me who I am and who I will become.

The first page in the book.

I was born of “goodly parents” who taught me the Gospel by word and example.  I am the eldest of the three of us with 5-6 years between each child.  As children and teenagers, we weren’t as close as we now are as adults.  I was out of the home and away at college before my siblings were old enough to have similar interests and to really relate and interact with me.  We have more in common as we age and they have become my best friends.  I love and value our relationships.

Now my immediate family, my husband, children and grandchildren are added to the mix.  I love and appreciate the friendships and support I have from them.

This is one of the last family pictures taken including my husband, Kay.
Now there are 5 additional grandchildren in our family.

The most recent family picture taken just before I left for New Zealand. 

This week in the Come Follow Me lesson, I studied Moroni’s visits to Joseph Smith and part of the message delivered to the young prophet was from Malachi.  In Joseph Smith---History Chapter 1:38-39

“38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.”

As I read these chapters, I thought of the Family History class that Kay taught and the joy we had in researching and doing genealogy.  With this in mind, I went to Family Search where I got lost in looking at my family tree.  

My father was a genealogist.  We didn’t have computers but he hired a professional genealogist who traced several lines back to Adam.  My brother, John, reminded me that it was 7 lines.  Each of us inherited a book of our ancestors that is a good 8 or more inches thick.  I tried to follow lines in that book and I got totally lost and discouraged.

Thank goodness for computers and Family Search.  Just for fun, I decided to follow a few of my lines back as far as I could.  I found one of the lines and followed it to Adam.  It took me quite a while to do it.  Then I wanted to record the process so I wrote each name in order from myself to Adam.  I sent it to my children.  Rex told me that he had followed lines before to Adam and that he followed the line I sent and was able to accomplish the goal.

I feel like I’m repeating myself (and I am) but the beach here is so amazing.  Every day it is different.  The sand will be smooth, flat and clear one day, covered with kelp and sea by products the next, and offers little mountains and valleys the day after that.    

I don’t understand how this happens?????

Ridges of shells on this day

Like the sand, the sky is also a masterpiece of change.

Sister Lucas and I have made so many new friends as we’ve walked the beach.  It is great!
This is our new friend, Sameela.  She has a beautiful smile.

I have had occasion to be out and about on a few days this week and to meet and enjoy some wonderful missionaries.

Sisters Fonokalafi and Afu

Elders Taleni, Obley, Galea’I, and Felise

Wednesday was sister study group.  Several of the senior sister missionaries in the Pacific Area Office meet in a zoom conference where we discuss a general conference talk.  

This week we studied “Sustainable Societies” by Elder D. Todd Christofferson.  One of the things that stood out to me is this paragraph:

“There is much we can do as neighbors and fellow citizens to contribute to the sustainability and success of the societies we live in, and surely our most fundamental and enduring service will be to teach and live by the truths inherent in God’s great plan of redemption.

If enough of us and enough of our neighbors strive to make our decisions and guide our lives by the truth of God, the moral virtues needed in every society will abound.”

It seems that many are out to destroy their enemies.  So much strife and contention abounds today.  It can be overwhelming.  I often think that there is nothing that I can do about it but I have contemplated the idea and I have decided that I can do my part by loving everyone.  It doesn’t matter what political party they belong to.  It doesn’t matter what color their skin is.  It doesn’t matter where they live or what they believe.  

I will destroy my enemies!    Yes!  I just said I will destroy my enemies.  

I heard a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln.  In 1944 “The Hartford Courant” of Connecticut printed a letter to the editor containing the Lincoln version of the anecdote: 

After our Civil War was over and Lincoln was trying to help the South get back upon its feet, a woman reproached him for his attitude, “They are our enemies,” she said. “They ought to be destroyed.” “Madame,” replied the President, “how can I better destroy my enemies than by making them my friends?”

When I first heard someone talk about this thought of destroying our enemies by making them our friends, it was also attributed to several other people.  I Googled the phrase and found interesting information on this site.

It doesn’t matter to me who had the original thought, but certainly our Savior taught this principle.  If everyone got rid of their enemies by making them friends, the world would be a better place.  I commit to doing my part.

I pray that you will have a safe, healthy, and happy week.

I love my Savior.  I love you my friends and family.