Help Available....

Our Temple is closed for a real thorough cleaning/repairing stint and there is still one more week before it reopens.  I love the blessings of the Temple and the feeling of the Temple.  I enjoy the peace of it.  The bonus of help to us as individuals, the promise of help in the solutions to individual problems/struggles makes me eager to go.

My quest for blessings to be obtained by Temple Attendance was posted on April 5, 2012  entitled We Are so Blessed.  some of my very favorite powerful quotes with promised blessings are listed there.  check it out.  Here are a few others.  I don't think I duplicated them below.  We have so much help available in our trek through mortality.

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The temple is a place of revelation. The Lord may here give revelation, and every person may receive revelation to assist him in life. All knowledge, all help come from the Lord, directly or indirectly. Though He may not be there in person, He is there by His Holy Spirit and by earthly men holding the priesthood. By that Spirit they direct the Lord’s work here on earth. Every person who enters this sacred place in faith and prayer will find help in the solution of life’s problems.

                                                                                                --by  John A. Widtsoe

Do we return to the temple often to receive the personal blessings that come from regular temple worship?

...President Ezra Taft Benson 1988

...members of the Church who absent themselves from Temple attendance, where it is possible for them to attend, are denying themselves rich blessings.  

---Elder David B. Haight 1990

As we study the scriptures, we learn that the doctrine of the temple requires...frequent attendance for personal spiritual benefit

---Elder W. Grant Bangerter 1982

A Temple recommend is one of the highest accolades we may receive. To use it regularly permits us to participate in the choicest gifts within the keeping of the Church.  

---Elder A. Theodore Tuttle 1982

One of the great revelations of the Temple to those who go often, is the reality and nearness of the spirit world....We should go to the temple often...But we cannot have it's spirit if we don't go regularly.   

 ---RS Manual 1983  Harold Glen Clark

I promise you that, with increased attendance in the Temples of our God, you shall receive increased personal revelation to bless your lives as you bless those who have died.  

 ---President Ezra Taft Benson 1987

Regular Temple work can provide spiritual strength.  

---Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin 1992

Come to the Temples worthily and regularly.  

---Elder David B. Haight 1992

Clever!!!

When I read this today I was caught off guard and at the same time so impressed.  The Church really is a class act in so many ways.  Clever!! 

Isn't there an old saying about hold your friends close and your enemies even closer??   I thought of that saying 4 years or so ago when President Obama appointed Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.  Not going political on you.  Just stating a thought that popped into my mind.

Enjoy reading this article and  enjoy your day!!! 

http://ldsliving.com/story/70081-lds-church-buys-ad-space-in-book-of-mormon-musical-playbill

Robyn....

My daughter's friend, Robyn, the double lung transplant recipient, has pneumonia!  Jeanee asks for prayers from all of us.


Robyn is in the hospital with pneumonia. Please say prayers for this amazingly brave mother, daughter, friend, wife. She is suffering so much and needs our strength and prayers. I just saw her last week and she was doing great, walking, talking, breathing, laughing. The nasal infection has caused the pneumonia. I will keep you posted, but please send out a wave of prayers from you and your friends. Thanks xoxo  Jeanee

 I know I've posted this before but this is my favorite picture of Jeanee and Robyn, seeing each other for the first time, after her surgery.  Jeanee has very small hands and you can see how small Robyn is by looking at Jeanee's hand on her left shoulder.  She was down to 82 or so pounds at surgery time.  My prayers are with Robyn and her family.

Did you already know all this???

Have you ever wondered how the monies you so freely give for use in the Church is spent?  This is very interesting.  Talk about bang for your buck!  The relatively small amount of money I give in tithing, fast offering and donations just comes back and is such a blessing to me.  The meeting houses and Temples and manuals and hymnals and library supplies and on and on the list goes of very practical things but wait until you read this.  It goes way beyond my little donated funds.  How wonderful!!!  Enjoy reading and learning!!!  It's amazing!! 

Humanitarian Aid & Welfare Services Basics: How funds are used.
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/humanitarian-aid-welfare-services-breakdown-donations-costs-resources

a couple of pictures!

This is one of the earlier years when the girls went to the Sound of Music in Leavenworth and then this year 2012.

   

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David- 4th child/3rd son.  First day of school this year for Grace and Sam.  David loves his children to pieces!  Some children have to be told to smile.  These two are happy campers from the inside to the outside.  I fell in love with David when I first held him at a day old!!  He's a handful but he's always loved his Mom.  and his Dad.  Yes.  He is a super handsome guy!  All dressed up and looking ready for Church but don't hold your breath as he won't be there.  Marches to his own drumbeat.  For the underdog.  Born with a daring nature.  Sometimes lives life on the edge.  Loves his wife.  Social.  Hospitable. Fantastic communicator.  Affectionate.  Best dancer I've ever seen. 

Breathtaking!!!

Grudgingly!!

I continue to get in touch with people that have been a part of my life.  I have never forgotten 2 Missionaries that were in Homer.  I'll first share a bit of the correspondence that I have had with one of them. My first in 39 years!  Elder Poulos.....


8/30/2012-- 
So wonderful to hear from you, Sister Seljestad!!! I have such wonderful memories of you and your family when I served in Homer!

8/30--

I remember going to the Lower 48 to help with one of parents surgeries and finding out when I came back that Terry had invited you to pitch a tent in the back "yard". I was horrified!   He and I really had a go round. Down in the woods, no real road, no real running water, 3 children and a baby, and on and on!!   

I felt so bad that you had to go through that experience but I remember one of you telling me that you would someday tell your children that you, as others in the Book of Mormon, dwelt in a tent!  Now I look at it and think to myself...what a grand adventure for you to have had!!  and as for that junky looking trailer you moved into, as a step up from the tent?!, where on earth was that? I just remember feeling so bad that we couldn't offer more than a tent!  Bless your heart!

Elder Poulos, it was wonderful to share a segment of my life with you, even though it was such a hard time for me to have you stuck out in a tent!!  Terry had said...if it's not there they will take the Missionaries out of here.

8/31--
how thrilled I was to have heard from you! I still maintain contact with my Mission President, President Killpack, and when we first talked after 30 years he told me how sorry he was to have had Elder Halverson and I live in a tent on your property! He still remembered! I won’t give up that memory for anything – no need to apologize, I told him! Thank you for adding some more information regarding that experience. Time has erased a lot from my memory and I couldn’t recall the details you outlined – funny that must be now that you can look back on it! I do recall making that statement to you and that has come to pass in my life and has even been shared with my grandchildren! I can’t tell you how many times I have shared my experiences in Homer with other missionaries and friends throughout my life. Thank you forever!

9/1--
Ah, Homer was such a great place to serve as a young missionary. ....I can not remember where we got the tent, but that experience taught me I could do just fine no matter what life throws at me. All I needed to do was to maintain a positive attitude and show faith in our Heavenly Father - all will work out and you WILL be blessed for your sacrifice! Elder Halverson and I were sent to open the area for proselyting, we arrived in Soldotna and then the next day to Homer on June 23, 1973. Elder Halverson and I were together for about 2 months and he went home. My new companion was Elder Damon (he and I moved into the “hunter’s trailer” after Elder Halverson went home). We stayed in Homer until I went home on October 28, 1973. I think he then went to Anchorage (?). 
Mike and I remember our time together in Homer as the best time of our missions! 

Left- Elder Halverson  Right- Elder Poulos -- 1973

Elder Halverson-?-Elder Poulos-?-  District meeting in front of "The Tent"

"hunters trailer" -1st snow of September 1973

Oh, my goodness sakes alive.  I had long wondered what their take was on Tent Time in Homer.  It was haunting me and I guess I just needed to hear that they weren't marred for life by the experience.  I was marred to certain extent!

I found it interesting that after 30 years when the missionary contacted his Mission President that was one of the first things he talked about...putting the two Elders in a tent.  If there were to be Homer Missionaries there was truly no room in any inn! 

Terry was the Branch President.  We had survival living at that point with really severe items like....no source of steady running water, an impassable road. 4 children and the youngest wasn't really a baby, he would have been two at that time.

Not whining but it was a really tough life right then.  I had gone Stateside, with our toddler,  to help my parents through some sort health crisis.  When I get home, lo and behold, a tent is pitched out back and we now have 2 Elders.  They had no kitchen, no water, no bathroom (did they use the old outhouse?) etc. etc.  So they will be in with us but not really in with us.  They had no car (In 1973 there was very little blacktop.  all dirt and rocks etc.).

Terry said that if they weren't in the tent then the Mission would close the area as there was nowhere else for them to live.  I said one of those statements that causes a little sign to go off over your head, an arrow points at you and flashing words read...bypass the celestial kingdom and go directly to outer darkness.  I said... Then let them close the area.

Oh, my the house heated up!

I was so happy that the Elders found it the highpoint of their Mission.  I'm glad they have challenging experiences to share.  That did give me some peace of mind.

One thing the Elder said that just shocked the socks off of me...It was only 2 months!!!  That is beyond belief!!  Two months in the tent.  I thought it was months and months!  and months!  And then only 2 more months and it was all over.  4 months total!  I wish I knew were my time chart is in calibrating how long that is on the Lord's clock.  Maybe a nanosecond?? an eye-blink?

A plug for keeping journals.  Terry and I neither one have a clue about what is referred to as The Hunters Trailer.  I'm in hopes that our son Greg will recognize it.  Elder P. says that was what they lived in after the tent.  I wish one of the 4 of us had written that in a journal. 

(an aside.  When I get sick I make potato soup.  I use to occasionally make it for dinner until Terry and all the kids said they couldn't stand it.  I still make it when anyone is sick and they do get well real fast!  Anyhow the stress of reliving all this, made me seek comfort and I actually made some potato soup!  when I showed Terry, the Hunters Trailer, and we were talking about it, he was so shocked at what he saw and that he provided it, that he asked if I had any potato soup left!)

Hearing from the Elder of how much they enjoyed their time in the tent did make me feel better.

So I have a strike of evil against me.  I know it and the Lord knows it but I'm thinking during that 1000 years of sorting and straightening things out during the millennium perhaps I'll get dealt a bit of slack.  I'm well aware of my bad attitude and that is interesting when all others involved were happy and had a great attitude.  Yesterday I thought...what did their Mothers think of this tent dwelling????

Truth be told I realize it's more about me than them.  Everything in my life, at that point, was inadequate to take in other people and I had a lot of resentment when it was foist upon me.  

I told Terry, at that time in 1973, that my attitude was so bad that I wouldn't receive a single lick of service rendered in the points department!  I backed it up with Moroni 7....

 5 For I remember the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also.

 6 For behold, God hath said a man being ^aevil cannot do that which is good; for if he ^boffereth a gift, or ^cprayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real ^dintent it profiteth him nothing.

 7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.

 8 For behold, if a man being ^aevil giveth a gift, he doeth it ^bgrudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.

 9 And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with ^areal intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.

 10 Wherefore, a man being evil cannot do that which is good; neither will he give a good gift.

Elder Poulos was so sweet in his memories that I may just chalk this up as a life experience and move on.  Isn't it about time???????  I'm thinking so!