With all of the flowers, grasses, and trees spreading their pollen in the air, it has been a busy week treating missionaries with seasonal allergies. There has been no rain to knock down the pollen and there have been breezy days to spread it around. But never-the-less, I do love the flowers and green all around!! And I love the missionaries too.
I started my daily walks on Monday by the river with a beautiful sunrise.
I’m not seeing as many geese and ducks now. I am wondering if it is because the days are getting longer so they come out earlier to feed while it is still cool. I did come upon this group of geese. Look at how big the goslings are getting!
Wednesday I was invited to a lunch for the senior sisters in our ward. It was nice to meet and to get better acquainted with those who attended. We were served four different kinds of salads, some delicious orange rolls and cheese cake with fresh strawberries. It was a delightful time.
It was the birthday of one of the elders, so someone brought by a cake to the office. Everyone loves a chocolate birthday cake. LOL
Friday I decided to switch it up a little and walk the hills of my neighborhood. Boy! That gets the heart rate up.
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| May not look too steep but it is a workout and this is just one of the hills along the walk |
I am seeing a lot of peonies.
It always reminds me of my parents and their dedication to decorating family graves on Memorial Day. We lived in Las Vegas but every year for as long as I can remember and until my parents could no longer drive so far, we would leave after work on Friday and drive all night to Pocatello Idaho where my mother’s parents lived. (We sometimes stopped on the way in St. George Utah where my dad was raised. Other times we would decorate the St George graves on a different weekend.) Mom would search all over until she had enough peony flowers to decorate the graves of family members in Arbon Valley and then in Cache Valley on our way back to Las Vegas. I remember a few years that she was really upset because it was too early or too late for the peonies. I don’t know why she only wanted to decorate with peonies. I should have asked her but I didn’t think about it at the time.
My dad would drive all night Sunday to get home so he could work all day Monday. True love and sacrifice!!
Friday evening I was blessed to go to dinner with Sisters Thompson and Cummings. We ate at Red Robin. So fun to get to know these sisters better.
Saturday morning bright and early I picked up Elder and Sister Crump and we walked along Amazon Creek and the wetlands.
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| It was smoky. There must have been a fire close by or smoke from the Canadian fires. It did clear out a little later. |
Amazon Creek is a stream that runs through southeastern and western Eugene, Oregon, United States. It is a tributary of the Long Tom River and is Eugene's second-largest waterway after the Willamette River.
Amazon Creek's headwaters are located in Eugene's southeast hills near Spencer Butte..
In 1946, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers widened, deepened, and realigned the creek from Hilyard Street to Fern Ridge Reservoir in a diversion canal as a means of controlling floodwaters in the area. The Amazon flood control project was completed in 1958, using a trapezoidal channel designed to withstand a 25-year flood.
The City of Eugene has designated Amazon Creek as a natural area, noting, "These areas support a wide diversity of plants and wildlife, including many endangered and rare species. These areas also provide valuable ecosystem services… and many other important functions that benefit our community."
I went grocery shopping after I got home and then in the afternoon I went to Hendricks Park Rhododendron Garden and walked some of the trails through the park with my friend, Diana, and her dog, Scout.
It has been a great week. As I walk each day, I listen to Come Follow Me podcasts, conference talks or BYU devotional speeches. One morning this week I enjoyed a BYU speech given by Sister Stacey Shaw titled: Your Path to Discipleship.
I want to be a better disciple of my Savior. In order to do this I wanted to know exactly what a disciple should be and do. Here is what was said by Elder Robert D Hales:
“Many people hear the word disciple and think it means only ‘follower.’ But genuine discipleship is a state of being. This suggests more than studying and applying a list of individual attributes. Disciples live so that the characteristics of Christ are woven into the fiber of their beings, as into a spiritual tapestry” (“Becoming a Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 46).
In her speech, Sister Shaw begins:
Each of us here today has an infinitely unique story. Your path of discipleship involves embracing your imperfect story and sharing who you are in a way that meets the world’s great needs.
I am a social worker and a researcher. In those roles, I listen to and support people as they deal with devastating change. Most of my work has been with refugees of diverse backgrounds. Right now, more than one hundred million people are forcibly displaced. This equates to one hundred million individual stories, such as one from a young woman named Daria, a native of Ukraine. After leaving her country, Daria talked about her experience. She said, “I never really thought about refugees before, because it was never something I thought might happen to us. I never imagined I would experience war and find myself in this situation.” Forced displacement alters people’s stories. It changes opportunities and what people envision for their future.
She goes on further to explain:
I believe that loving God can ground us as we face global and personal challenges. And following Christ as His disciples can help us access the transformative power of love and grace.
To consider how our unique journeys can benefit the world around us, I will explore three interrelated components of discipleship:
First, know and value who you are. This is foundational.
Second, learn to see and love others with empathy. This is where we draw on that foundation to build understanding and connections with other people.
And third, choose lifelong service. This choice becomes a manifestation of our discipleship as we build and strengthen the world around us.
I will work on these three components of discipleship and pray and serve and try in every way to become a better, more Christ-like person. I pray that you will have a wonderful week ahead full of love and charity as you come to know that you are a precious daughter or son of a loving Heavenly Father and that you will be happy.
I love my Savior.
I love you my family and friends.
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