Sunday Best!


“Every man and every person who lives in this world wields an influence, whether for good or for evil. It is not what he says alone; it is not alone what he does. 
It is what he is. 
Every man, every person radiates what he or she really is….It is what we are and what we radiate that affects the people around us.” -David O. McKay
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Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Family Photos!

Do you have bins of photos? 
I do! 
I have a plan for what I’m going to do with them. I’m going invite my family to have a little “Family Photo Organizing Party”.  We will all sit together and go through the photos. 
This is what else we’ll do:
*Label the photos with the date, (to the best 
of our knowledge), on the back. Be sure to use a pen that is archival quality. It will be labeled “safe for photos”. (Sharpies have an alcohol base and are not good for photos.)

*Put the names of those in the pictures on the back, using the special pen again. 
*Organize them into groups: families, trips, people, year, etc.
*Then we’ll put them into some books with acid-free plastic sleeves.

One day I’ll have all of them in scrapbooks, but until then, we’ll be able to look at the photos, and be able to enjoy them. We’ll also not have to worry about remembering all the particulars about each photo. If you have a selection of older photos too, you might want to have a “Family Photo Organizing Party” with your extended family. See who remembers the important information and get it written down before it’s too late! 😉
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Receive All Things With Thankfulness!




Doctrine and Covenants 78:19

19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.
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Receiving all things with thankfulness is sometimes a challenge. At least it is for me. (I’m still working on this.) What if we are dealing with a difficult situation? What if we are sick for a period of time? What if we are sad? What if someone we love has left or passed away? What if a choice someone else made has changed our life? The list goes on and on. We all have reasons to be sad or unhappy at times in our life. But remember, we are here to experience challenges and trials, and learn and grow. What makes life wonderful is to find the lesson in each experience and learn it (quickly, if possible), and thank God for the blessing of that experience and move on. When I think of all the struggles or challenges that I have had in my life, I can usually find a blessing associated with that struggle or challenge. Sometimes the blessing is that the struggle is over. I can see how going through tough times has made me more thoughtful of others, when I see them dealing with a challenge. I consider myself a stronger person, than I used to be. I am fairly patient. I feel like I get closer or more in tuned to our Father in Heaven when I’m struggling. The most important lesson I have learned is this. Receive all things 
with thankfulness! 
Choose joy! 
The mind that lives in joy
 does not live in complaint! 
You are in charge of how you feel! 
If your first response to a situation is negative, stop yourself and thank God for the journey. 
Put a song in your heart and be happy!
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Psalm 34:1
I will, bless the Lord at all times: 
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.


Happy 
 Thanksgiving Day  
World! 
Love, Joy

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

 Elder Flexy 5:4 -email-
 
Mama
this week has been good we are still working hard. and our families are comng along very slowly. so i probably won’t be the one to baptise them but they will be baptized.ya i miss going to the temple. on saturday i won first place in chair soccer it was way fun!!
1 Do you have a favorite scripture that you use a lot while teaching?

1.well i use my mission scripture a lot for spiritual thoughts at member missionary lessons.

2 What is your favorite story about Jesus?

2.i would have to say the story of the lady who was healed by touching his clothes that one is awesome!!
3 What is your favorite Book of Mormon story?
3.Samuel the lamenite for sure!!!

4 Do you find yourself ever saying “slow and steady, wins the race?” or was that just for me?

4.ya sometimes but we try not to be in too big a hurry.

5 Are you the shortest elder?

5.yep its the same story as always
6.we see president when we go to the office and at interviews but not much else.
7.we are quite close to other elders so we see them a lot.

8 Do you think it feels so hot to you, because the humidity is so high? I looked up the temp and it was like 82 degrees, which wouldn’t be that hot in a dryer climate.

8.ya it is the humidity that is killing me i sweat so much but nothing happens its still hot!!

9 Are you still teaching the same people?

9.yep
10.yes we have two families that are progressing faster but they are still not ready.
11 Have you had any faith promoting experiences? Or experiences were you have been saved by the spirit? (Remember Chad Cederlof in the alley?)
11.we have had faith building lessons but we haven’t been protected to our knowledge.(could have but we didn’t see it.)

12 Have you received any more of my letters?

12.ya i received two more and i would write back but we don’t have much time to do it.
Special question of the week:
13 What do you do when you are discouraged to help you snap out of it? or have you been discouraged? How would you encourage someone who feels like they are not loved or valued?
13.ya i’ve been discoaraged but you just get over it and go to work. i just push thoughts and feelings like that out of my mind.
anyway things are going great i hope all is well in zion. love you mama

                                                                                  Love Elder Flexy

Baba

I shall call you Mantla( means power in zulu)Baba and you shall be mine!!! 🙂 i’m glad you are still making shelfs i’m doing some wood work of my own i’m fixing our table in our flat it should be good. ya idk if they celebrate thanksgiving and that cheese cake sounds so good!!! ya i wan’t to play some one on one soccer woth you that would be awesome. anyway i better bounce love you Baba

                                                                                   Love Elder Flexy

Sunday Best!

Article of Faith 
#13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men: indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul–We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.  
-Joseph Smith

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“We need to greatly increase religious observance in the home. Weekly family home evening and daily family prayer and scripture study are essential. We need to introduce into our homes content that is “virtuous lovely and of good report or praiseworthy.” If we make our homes holy places that shelter us from evil, we will be protected from the adverse consequences that the scriptures have foretold. 
In addition to protecting our own families, we should be a source of light in protecting our communities. The Savior said, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.'”
-Quentin L. Cook
Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Preserving Old Family Records

We all have, or have had, a box, or boxes, of family records and history. Hopefully we have taken great care with them. How are these records being taken care of? Are they in the attic? In the garage? If we don’t take care of them properly, the condition of the records will change. 
We need to keep them: 
*In a temperature much like our bodies (like not too hot, or cold) 
*In a place that is not too drafty
*Away from direct or indirect light, especially UV light 
*The basement might not be the best place either. If a flood came, or even if a pipe in our home broke, water would fill the basement. 
*Not on the floor, especially if it is cement. 
*You don’t want animals making a nest with your records, so a plastic container would be better that cardboard. 
*And the most important thing to me, is if they can be easily rescued from the home if a fire or a natural disaster should happen. 
*One other way to care for, or preserve, your special documents is to take a picture of them with a digital camera and save them on your computer.
I keep my records together in one place, they could be easily loaded in the car if needed. But not only that, mine are not the only copies of our family history. We have several copies of our history, so if something did happen to one person’s copy, they would be able to replace it. You can find a more information about caring for you family records here!

Heroes!

Dory
I know, I know, she is a cartoon character. She is still one of my heroes! She actually reminds me of myself, in some ways. Those who know me, would say it’s because I can’t remember stuff for very long. I would say it’s because I remember the things that are really important, like family, or friends. Also, because my life long desire is to be positive in every situation. That’s what I love about Dory. She is a “glass half full” type of gal. She get’s her feelings hurt on occasion, but she forgets it, and moves on with her darling little life. I want to be more like Dory in that way. 
” Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.”

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Marlin: The water’s going down. 
It’s-it’s-it’s going down!
Dory: Hmm. Are you sure about that?
Marlin: Look! Already it’s half-empty.
Dory: Hmm…I’d say it’s half-full. 
Marlin: Stop that! It’s half-empty!


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Dory: [dreaming] Uhhh…the sea monkeys have my money…
yes, I’m a natural blue…
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Dory: I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine 
and he shall be my Squishy. 
Come on, Squishy come on, little Squishy. 
[baby talk, the jellyfish stings her] 
Dory: Ow. Bad Squishy, bad Squishy.
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They are inside the whale and Dory tells
 Marlin to let go of the whales mouth. 
Marlin: How do you know that nothing bad won’t happen?
Dory: I don’t.
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Dory: Hey there, Mr. Grumpy Gills. When life gets you down 
do you wanna know what you’ve gotta do? 
Marlin: No I don’t wanna know.
Dory: [singing] Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. 

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. 
What do we do? We swim, swim.
Marlin: Dory, no singing.
Dory: [continuing] Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho. 
I love to swim. 
When you want to swim you want to swim. 
Marlin: Now I’m stuck with that song… Now it’s in my head. 
Dory: Sorry. 

Favorite TV/Movie Quotes! Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
 Dumbledore, “Dark and difficult times lie ahead…soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy. But remember this, you have friends here. You’re not alone.” 

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

Elder Flexy 5:3 -email-

 Mama!! 

Things are going great this week we taught a powerful member present! and when we left our member stayed just to chat i think they will be good friends and be baptised. so the work is going good but the only problem is the missionaries before us didn’t plant many seeds at all so we aren’t having success very quickly but the people that come after us will. we are planting seeds like crazy and we are working hard. i’m glad you had a good birthday!!! i wll try to figure out the picture thing. 
1 Are you and Elder Martin teaching well together?
1.ya we are teaching pretty well its just hard cause he teaches way differant then i do but its going good.
2.we don’t have a whole lot in common but we have found things.
3.ya he played soccer and he just chilled with his sisters.
4.he was out about a year when i came in.
5 Do you do anything else except soccer on p-days?
5.well today we were supposed to go ice skating but we ran out of alotment 🙂
6 Can you go site seeing?
6.  ya we go site seeing sometimes but there isn’t too much to see in our area.
7.ya we saw conferance
8 If so what was your favorite talk?
8.it was the one by Richard G. Scott about character.
9 Are you still teaching the same families?
9.ya we are we have gone tracting a lot lately but not much comes of it.
10.we did get a refurral for the Lunda family and they are power we taught them for two hours strait.
11. other than the member present not to much.
12 Do you have a favorite lesson or topic to teach? Maybe about the “armor of God?”
12.well we like the first lesson just because we teach it so much.
Special question of the week:
13 How do you explain that because of Christ all will be resurrected? How can this be possible?
13.well to explain that i would just say that death is like a big rope tying everyone down but when jesus was resurrected he broke the rope so everyone is free.
anyway things are going great by the way i’m one sixth of the way finnished with my mission. crazy huh!!! Love you

                                                                  Love Elder Flexy

Baba
you ran into john bytheway that is freakin awesome and funny i was just thinkin utah is like the only place that that would happen. so i miss cold weather soooooooo bad its so hot here sometimes i just want to sleep all day and work at night. and i also miss camping and mountains there are no big mountains here just hills. anyway i wish i could go to the temple since the last time i went was with you guys. anyway things are going awesome better quit for now love you!

                                                                  Love Elder Flexy