Change=Nostalgia

There is a flip side to everything...even the thinnest of pancakes has 2 sides.  I'm loving and excited about all the changes.  The Church is alive and we are being led by a President that happens to be the Prophet for the world.  Not just us!

There are a couple of changes that make my heart have pangs of nostalgia.  I love paper things...books of course and I really enjoy the Ensign.  I have watched it morph and change and decrease in size and this month there are even some things for the DIGITAL ENSIGN.  It then lists 3 Digital-only articles for March. 

The format no longer features a message from one of the Presidency and other changes also.  Like a lot more coverage for the Young Adults (needed and timely!)

I'm banking on them always publishing a General Conference issue!

Digital magazine in our future?

I use my Paper Conference issue all the time.

This last week I have been so thankful for my testimony of Prophets and Apostles.  I believe what they say and I know we can go back to their counsel again and again for guidance.  I was doing some studying and ended up reading two Conference talks by President Monson.  They took me in a direction of thought that I wasn't looking for and I spent enjoyable time just thinking and pondering about how timely and totally inspired, for their given time of assignment as President/Prophet.

In 2012 he was talking about some of the Temple extravagances and how hard the youth worked etc. etc.  He then told about the back story on the Kansas City Temple youth production.  I remembered that story because our granddaughter was in that cast.  She experienced being a part of that prayer.  I thought back to her excitement in being involved and how much it meant to her.

Then I ended up reading President Monson's talk in 2008 and in that one he announced that there would be a Temple in Kansas City!  Sort of ironic that I read them out of sequence but I remembered how happy we were for that particular Temple.  The thing that really got my attention was again he talked about the extravaganzas and mentioned some that he had seen.

He said...

The evening before each of the temple dedications took place, magnificent cultural events were held. In Curitiba, Brazil, 4,330 members from the temple district, supported by a choir of 1,700 voices, presented a most inspirational program through song, dance, and video. The enormous soccer stadium where the event took place was filled with spectators. The wind had been blowing, and rain threatened. I offered a silent prayer asking Heavenly Father to look with mercy upon those who had prepared so diligently for our entertainment and whose costumes and presentations would be damaged if a heavy rain or wind enveloped them. He honored that prayer, and it wasn’t until the end of the show and later on that evening that rain fell in abundance.

A history of the Church in Brazil was portrayed in song and dance. A particularly moving scene was the portrayal of Elders James E. Faust and William Grant Bangerter, who served as missionaries in Curitiba in 1940. As their photos were displayed on large screens, a tremendous cheer went up from the audience. All in all, it was a glorious event.

In Panama City, Panama, the evening before the dedication of the temple there, we watched some 900 of our youth, gathered from across Panama. They were dressed in colorful folkloric costumes as they danced and presented messages of family, fellowship, and faith. We learned that they had been practicing for a year. They came from points as distant as the San Blas Islands and the Changuinola region in northeast Panama. The trip to the capital city for the San Blas youth exacted three days of travel over land and sea. The event was magnificent and inspiring.

In preparation for our most recent temple dedication, in Twin Falls, Idaho, local Church members constructed a huge stage at the Filer, Idaho, fairgrounds and filled the dirt arena with sod and other decorations, including a large waterfall to represent Shoshone Falls, a popular landmark located two miles (3 km) from the new temple. The evening of the performance, 3,200 young men and young women entered the arena waving blue and white ribbons, turning the arena into a representation of a great river of flowing water. Titled “Living Water,” from John 4:10, 14, the celebration brought together youth from 14 stakes in the new temple district. They depicted, through song and dance, both their dependence for their spiritual lives on the living water from the Savior and their dependence for their physical lives on the mountain streams and rivers in their area. Those of us privileged to witness this event were uplifted and edified.

I am an advocate for such events. They enable our youth to participate in something they truly find unforgettable. The friendships they form and the memories they make will be theirs forever.

With the current Prophet- Some Pageants are being discontinued that are old and familiar.  The most striking thing to me...I never heard it announced but there are no cultural dance/story extravaganza for the youth at Temple dedications but now...a Devotional for youth only is held.  I think that is just absolutely beautiful to think about.  Everywhere we look...the youth and that includes the 11 year olds and up, are being gathered in and taken care of on so many aspects.  I love it!

The thing that I really mulled over and will miss forever is how there will never be Church callings that are for teaching every single week for however long that calling lasts.  I have been so blessed with the joy of serving in wonderful exciting fulfilling callings and teaching a class has been my dream and I've been fortunate to teach lots of classes...institute/seminary/Gospel Doctrine/YW/some RS and one Primary class when I joined the Church and then one Primary class last year.  

I have loved all of my classes but I tell you that Primary class last year surely ranks up at the top.  There are a lot of reasons why but the main one was the joy I felt when I got the call and then to have a spiritual confirmation of their specialness and what I needed to do in teaching the class and what needed to be accomplished.  Little did I know that it would be a historical time in the Church...the last year of that class as a part of Primary...11 year olds going to the Temple and all the things leading up to today with an 11 year old, in this years class being ordained a Deacon!  I have never loved a class as deeply as that group of kiddos.  It was the best time ever!!

Things like that will not happen again.  Now that excitement about the Gospel and growth of their testimonies will take place, rightfully so, in their homes.  In our current class we have two teachers and 2 Sundays for lessons.  I will teach this Sunday, the first week in March and I won't teach again until May!  The other sister  taught in February and she will not teach again until April!  Stake Conference and General Conference are on our class day.  You can see from that schedule that it's not like the olden days!  Also you can feel my hope and prayers that all of their parents are doing their level best to do the lessons at home.

I will not be the least surprised to find this was a transition time and we will end up with no classes and just a Sacrament meeting, with Saints connected with fantastic ministering, at some point!

Okay.  I'll stop the talking!

I'll end with expressing gratitude for prayers being answered.  Lately I've had a super tough time...just life and concern for Terry and just stuff that happens to all mortals that has to be dealt with...life is always about regrouping!  I've been having a general check-up and one of them was to check the arteries.  When I got to the place, new to me, the woman asked for picture ID.  I pulled out my wallet and opening it and there was nothing in the slot!  NO drivers license!!!  the blood just drained from my face.  I have never had that happen.  Ever!  Anyhow I searched and searched and prayed but scouring the same places over and over did not reveal the DL.  I knew I was going to have to replace it and I was just stumped as to how it got out of my wallet.  Was it stolen...my thoughts went everywhere.  So I decided to make plans for a new one.  A mind-voice said...check the clutch bag. I have my Mother's purse.  Her clutch bag.  I went and got it out and checked the 3 pockets and nothing but when I unzipped the side zipper...there it was!  I use that bag when I go to the theatre for a play as it's rather flat and easy to carry etc.  Then I remembered 3-4 months ago going to a play and slipping my DL in there for just in case!

In spite of all the happenings in the world and all of the stuff I'm working on in my own life...the Lord is aware of me.  I'm thankful and appreciative of that fact.  He cares and I love Him. 

Change=a breath of fresh air!

 The March Ensign arrived on LDS.org and I was surprised at the coverage on women and the Priesthood.  More and more we see and hear of women's involvement in so many things.  You know how excited I am about all of the things happening!   here  and here

*******************

Today this popped up on facebook..

Elder Dallin Oaks...
I have spoken before about how we are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood in their Church callings, but what other authority can it be?

When a woman—young or old—is set apart to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary, she is given priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function.

The same is true when a woman is set apart to function as an officer or teacher in a Church organization under the direction of one who holds the keys of the priesthood.

The March Ensign magazine includes an article titled “Connecting Daughters of God with His Priesthood Power” that discusses this issue. I invite you to take some time to study and reflect upon the teachings included in this article....   link

*********************

yesterday a friend dropped by and we talked about all of the changes that have happened!  She and I both enjoy changes so we always have a good conversation!  I was surprised when she shared that she, and her hubby, had long felt 2 hour meetings were needed and how to do them (just like they currently are!).  I told her the thought had never once entered my mind but it is marvelous!!!

*****************************

I'm thinking something monumental will happen at this next conference and it will impact we women!  (us women?)  Well, which ever way you slice your bread...you get my message!

Goin' to the dogs!

Recently my daughter walked solo across Spain on the famous Camino De Santiago!  500+ miles!  One step at a time!  Usually with some sort of painful physical challenge...blisters...skin splints...bed bugs...24 hour flu and on and on but persevere she did and continued to look for the beauty around her.

Actually that was 4 months ago.  She shared her journey on her u-Tube channel.  She opted to wait until she came home so we could watch them with her.  One evening we binge-watched all of them.  It was so fun to sit with her as she relived those many days.  There were tears and laughs from all of us.

Now she is outside of Fairbanks and on a 5 day dog mushing adventure with her husband and another couple that are close friends.  Her adventuresome spirit and the wanderlust and curiosity she was born with are a topic for another day!

She was here for the last couple of weeks and we enjoyed every single minute!  We love to be together!  This was super special as we were going through snow and wind and ice and freezing temperatures.  This gave her time to try out her winter gear for her dog mushing event!  She walked each day and enjoyed every stroll in the freezing weather!

Huskies, especially sled dogs are always literally chomping at the bit...leaping forward and barking and just pulling and straining and yelping and jumping.  They are seldom docile!  They want action!

and then I see this picture!

She was born a peace maker and she can gentle out babies or animals or hotheads and I see this dog is under her spell.  He looks content and not at all eager or impatient to hit the snowy trail!

I've thought about this picture and how we each have abilities that can be used for the good.  I thought about my darling girl and then I thought about me.

Totally changing subject!!

I have a yellow streak up my back when it comes to explaining my views on Gospel Doctrine, if it differs with someone else... out of respect and fear of offending?  I find that strange when I really think about it!  Because I love doctrinal truth and the whole nine yards.

I remember as a Seminary teacher receiving notice, actually a list of falsehoods that we were not to teach.  Two stand out in my memory...One was the story circulating about the red-robed Christ and the other was about the youth of the current era being so spectacular, as Generals in the war in Heaven, that after their death, people in the spirit world would fall down and reverence them for the era they were born in and their accomplishments. 

Not to long after that counsel I attended a RS meeting and the entire lesson, taught with awe and emotion, was about that red-robed Christ painting being a true likeness.  and then I visited a Ward in Eagle, one year after that caution to not teach that story about the youth, and an adult speaker talked about how great the youth were and shared that story. 

Both times I was so squirmy but did I ever say one single word?  No.  I figured it wouldn't change anything and did it really matter?  Truth in teaching is #1 on my list and yet I had no courage to share what I'd been told. 

My friend Myra Faye and I used to talk about things like that.  I absolutely loved the way she would say in a class, when  she wanted clarity or didn't really agree with what was said...Reference. Please. I have done that if it's something that I want to look up and read about.  It's not the asking that I hold back on...it's if I feel a different understanding.  Something contrary to what I've heard. Then I stay still.

This entire new way of learning, and focus in the home with the Come Follow Me program, will require careful study and making sure the facts are straight on what is taught.

****************************

Red Robed Christ  link   Youth Generals in Pre-existence link  Both are FALSE but just backing up my story!

Incredible!!

talk about friends!!!  Ministering friends that go way beyond the norm!  here

good morning, to you!

So...I'm not going to do a study group.  It's not that I'm deep sixing the idea before it even starts...it's just not the time.  The idea and desire are right but I guess the timing is off.  Maybe it will just evolve without anything formally happening?  I have so much energy inside of me, about the Gospel and my love of it and my belief in Prophets, that at times I just don't know what to do with all of these feelings! 

I'll keep blogging.  I think I'm a slog blogger.  For sure I am a mole in the hole that writes a blog called A Candlestick and yet hides it under the proverbial bushel basket.  My Baptist Sunday School teacher loved that song.  She would sing with gusto and cup her hand over her CandleFinger.  I'm confident about my gospel feelings but feel I am so very very human that I hesitate to share how open I am.  well....in the meantime...life goes on!

******************************

Early this morning I listened to the most recent BYU Devotional (1-22-19) by Lawrence E. Corbridge.  This has to be one of the best talks I've ever heard.  I mean EVER!!!  I'm trying to figure out how to find the link to share but in the meantime...do yourself a huge spiritual favor and use your techy skills to find it and give yourself a treat!!  I'd heard about his most unusual Church assignment before and wondered how he survived.  He was to read everything that is against the Church!  I was curious as to why he was given such a task and how it was used.  He didn't share that but wow, oh wow, he is powerful and I LOVED it!  Found it!!  here

*****************

Communication--Sunday in RS a sister mentioned one way to reach out and minister is to send a hard copy.  I thought about that and how I still seem to be trying to find my way  in expressing myself and reaching out.  I thought back to my love of letter writing and how it used to be such a huge part of my life.

I remember getting up on Saturday mornings, the cold Alaskan weather made the hour feel chilly, and seeing my Mother sitting at the kitchen table with paper and carbon paper and paper clips and envelopes strewn all over.  Her coffee cup at the ready, for her pleasure, as she focused on the task at hand...communicating to family in Missouri- the happenings of our little family in the far away frozen North.

I knew she sent the original copy to her Mother, my Grandmother Clark and the copies went to my Aunt Bonnie and my other Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles and really, I don't know how many she faithfully sent.  She would eventually progress to a manual typewriter and then eventually- many years later, when they were affordable- to phone calls.

After greeting me, she would tell me to get ready to write my 3 letters--Grandmother Clark...Grandma and Da-Daw Ransdell ...Aunt Bonnie Ransdell.  I always said the same thing...I don't know what to say.  She would always say the same thing...tell them about the weather and ask them about theirs.

When my wonderful Aunt Bonnie knew she wasn't going to live much longer, she tore all photos of me out of her album and mailed them to me along with all of those letters that I'd done as a young girl.  She had a collection saved them all in a binder.

In today's world it is so easy to send emails or PM.  It's free.  some like it and some don't.  I like one brand of e-cards and sign up to have access to them.  I think at times I go overboard on the e-cards but usually with permission.  I have friends that enjoy them and also my SS class.

Eons ago, I loved shopping for stationery and would buy lovely boxes, and would write in such detail that sometimes I'd use the entire box for one or two letters!  They weren't reams of paper and the paper size was small.  I loved stationery!  Still do!  I have some gorgeous stationery, all heavy, not like vellum, ivory hued, with my name embossed.  I communicate mostly with family on my royal looking paper.  One Granddaughter loves that we stay in touch that way.  She bought her own similar stationery and I gifted her a fountain pen.  We both love our pens!

Hard cards...take time and money but I still love them.  That being said...so far I've addressed 23 Valentines (family and SS class) with 8 more cards, recipients to yet be decided!

The real deal about all of  this, no matter how the heart-felt feelings/sentiments arrive...someone took the time to express that you were on their mind!

******************

I can't resist sharing this song.  My Baptist SS teacher did her "candle" in a circle.  Mrs. Koester was wonderful.  here you go!

The beauty of the gathering...

My daughter is here and we are enjoying every single cozy minute while the weather wales wind and snow and freezing cold.  It's wonderful!  We are heart connected...this my only, most beautiful daughter ever!, and we love to talk endlessly and reminisce and this time we are binge watching Call the Midwife (not for the faint of heart and also not the best to binge watch if you are put off by sounds of laboring women!)  We always find something to do and being housebound weather-wise is not a problem at all!

My heart is so full of love for life right now...a life that includes family and friends and a Church congregation.  I am 100% in love with the Gospel and my testimony and my belief/faith/confidence in Prophets and Apostles, has increased so much!  The doctrine/principles are always the same but the way of doing things has totally been revamped and I'm in love with all of it!  This is not the way things were done/presented/expectation of living, when we joined the Church.  It's now so marvelously Christ centered in following that simple scripture about Christ...He went about doing good.

I welcome all of the changes and am thankful that is not a struggle for me.  I look back at scriptures and think of how things were for each era for believers and how they were provided for, in dealing with life challenges, be it building an ark or picking manna or looking at a brass serpent on a pole or whatever.  Most of all I think of Adam building an altar and how burnt offerings permeated everything.  All was so symbolic and so much went into that offering.  So many things to be aligned.  and I think of how the Law of Moses was given and how there became so many facets, added by others, that it was riddled with complexities but still loved and believed in.  My mind cannot fathom how people must have felt to have been told...it's over...the law of Moses is fulfilled...stop living this...don't do animal sacrifice...it's over.  Surely that would have been a shock that some would never be able to accept those realities, even to this day, and Christ is not accepted as the actual prophesied Savior.  Even though He told them He was the One.  And that was when he was 12!  and in the Temple!

What a fantastic day we are living in.  I do not understand why we are being told to do things in this wonderful new way but I know in time I will.  I also know...it doesn't matter if I never know or never understand.  I know it's right and I know it's true and I'm loving how all of this makes me feel.  That feeling is joyous!

President Nelson was in AZ and I loved this counsel he gave.  It's so doable and sensible and inviting and promise filled.

Enjoy this!.....

• “As you work together to remodel your home into a sanctuary of faith — filled with learning together from the home-centered, Church supported curriculum — that is gathering Israel.
• “As you parents create experiences where your children can learn to feel the Spirit of the Lord — that is gathering Israel.
• “As you do family history, serve and worship in the temple, use your discretionary time to draw closer to Heavenly Father and to His Son and to help someone else do the same — that is gathering Israel.
• “As you help to strengthen the testimonies of others; as you repent and help others to repent; as you reach out in your communities and participate in worthy efforts to alleviate suffering — that is gathering Israel.