The Hour of your Mission has Come

Christmas this year felt like I was in a strange dream and I couldn't wake up. Having said that, I appreciated the special once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate Christmas in Puerto Rico. I had more empathy for all of those missionaries who experience Christmas on the mission. Even though you really wouldn't want to be anywhere else at that particular time, it is like "fasting from Christmas". The key I guess, is to truly remember Christ and focus on Him. I can't lie, I had to do this - remember Him -  to stay in the right frame of mind. Christmas highlights were: On the 22nd of December we shared in a very special Sunday Sacrament meeting with the saints of Humacao. We had a choir - yes including Kyle - and the Spirit blessed the meeting. While being the accompanist isn't my favorite, I grew and became very familiar with the Spanish Christmas Hymns. For me, this was a case where "weak things can become strong".  I appreciated the help from ...

Hi friends and family, The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines joy as:  a : the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires: DELIGHT This past week I saw "joy" in an 8 year old's eyes as the sisters missionaries along with the Kyle and I explained the Plan of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness. The missionaries had carefully made the visuals to represent the pre-mortal existence, the earth, and the third-estate or the three kingdom's of God: Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial. We might as well have been teaching the Scientific Method. That is how foreign these concepts were to this family. Mother, Lilianna, has been on her own with the boys for about three months. Her oldest, Julian, is now fulfilling the "man of the house" roles. I saw it manifest several times in different ways. He is only eleven years old, but acts more like he's twenty. He watches over his mother and his eigh...

This last week we were invited by the missionaries and the Bishop and his wife to go Christmas caroling. Based on prior years of caroling at Christmastime with my friends in the little town of Ucon, I tried to learn "Jingle Bells" in Spanish. I hopped on YouTube only to find that there are about 12 versions of "Jingle Bells" in Spanish and they are ALL different. Hummmmm. How was I going to learn "Jingle Bells" for caroling? I was thinking that we would perhaps sing mostly hymns with a few "fun" songs thrown in there. Well, I never did figure out how to sing "Cascabels" and I decided that I would just pick it up from the sister missionaries when we went. I also planned that I would take along the traditional tambourine and shakers because I thought that adding rhythm would definitely add to our singing. As the night approached to go caroling, I reflected back on the days of Christmas caroling with my friends in Ucon, Idaho. As youth,...

I could write a book, "Dreams Come True AND Prayers do Too" but let me just stick to today's events and the activities for this past week. Today, I was specifically fasting and praying for investigators to come to church. Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that we should believe not only in His “macro plan of salvation” but also in His micro plan for each of our personal lives. I believe that God is in the details of our life and that HE WILL bless us according to His will and our faith, but we need to ask. I think about young Joseph Smith. What if he would not have "asked" in faith? And yes, it takes faith.  I stumbled across this great article and would like to invite you to read it. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2006/12/what-i-have-learned-about-mighty-prayer?lang=eng This article gives some great tips about prayer.  Today as I was thinking about what to fast for, the investiga...