Author Archives: joyful_admin

"Bonus Baby" is 17!!!

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Newborn Emily
My darling Emily turned 17 today!!
My how time flies! It seems like I was just doing a post about her sixteenth birthday. What a fun girl!!
Em and Natasha

So here goes, 17 things I love about Emily (in no particular order):
1-she is funny
2-she is a good friend 
3-she gives the best hugs
4-she is entertaining
5-she isn’t afraid to talk to people
6-she is a good example
7-she is creative
8-she loves to keep her room clean
9-she is beautiful
10-she is very helpful
11-children love her
12-she has lots of friends
13-she is tender
14-she loves the Gospel
15-you can count on her
16-her laugh is contagious
17-she loves Heavenly Father and Jesus

So when she was born the Dr. said, “She’s a little peanut!” She was tiny, and was such a blessing then and now. I am so grateful to be her mom and to have such a wonderful daughter!! I love you, Emily! 
Happy Birthday!!

What a beauty!!!

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

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Swaziland Flag
Elder Flexy 10:2 -email-

Make,

man that is so good that Ariane came to church and with the cute baby that’s awesome. but ya this week has been awesome we had some planned STRIKES (I think this might mean coming to church) happening but its kinda funny cause the people get all exited and ready to strike then they end up staying home and doing washing instead. so nothing really happened. 
1 Are your investigators doing well?
1.yep they are doing awesome the main ones will be baptized on the first of may.
2 Did you see conference? I can’t remember if I asked.
2.we only saw one of the sessions but it was vary good the one with the announcement of the Rome Italy Temple.  

3 If so, where did you see it?
3.at the chapel yesterday.
4 Do you want me to send you a copy of the Ensign when it comes?
4.no the mission office gets some so you don’t need to.

5 Have you done anything fun this week?
5.well other than missionary work not much….ha
6 Favorite scripture?
6.Mosiah 18 the whole chapter.
7 When will you get to see the game reserve?
7.well we saw a small one but idk when it will happen again.

Special question:

8 What advice would you give to someone who wants to come back to church and it’s been a really long time since they’ve been?
8.well i would just use the wisdom of someone else and tell them that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step so you might as well start now and keep going slow and steady!
anyway all is well here in swaziland. love you
Love Elder Dirkie(my Afrikaans first name)  

Baba
ya sounds like you are still staying busy. that is so good that Alex came over to help has been to church since i left. i was so happy to see him at my unfarewell but you should give him fire for me and tell him to come back to church. but ya i’m glad he bought a honda i miss cruzin with Riley in that old beater. but ya mission is starting to feel like we do the some thing every day but i guess thats appropriate because that is what we do every day but its good and its fulfilling. anyway i hope life keeps you on your toes. love you dad
love Elder Flexy

M
thats so good that your pull your grades up i’m glad your going to all the dances and stuff its good and vary fun. but anyway sorry i’m running short on time but i love you my little seester. 
Love Elder Flexy  

Sunday Best!

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Matthew 18:2-5
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
***********
Hope your Sunday was the Best! 
Love, Joy

Family History Friday: Location, Location, Location!

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Location isn’t just important when buying a home. When trying to research our families, having the right location is important, because territories, state lines, and counties have changed over the years. Since most records are found at the county level, it is important to know the date when the county was formed. Most Family History Centers, Genealogical Libraries, and even Public Libraries have books available such as “The Red Book” and “Map Guide to the Federal Census”. But today, with so many places to look on the internet, we can find the same information there. Be careful not to get so caught up in one location where you are researching, that you forget to look in the surrounding areas. These surrounding areas may have been part of that county or state at one time. My mom was helping a patron at the Family History Center who was trying to locate her Pioneer ancestry. She was moving backwards in history looking at Census records. She had already looked at 1870, 1860, 1850 records. My mom noticed that she was standing with a puzzled look on her face and asked her if she was having a problem. The woman said, “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I can’t find the film for 1840 in Utah.” Then she smiled and said, “Oh yeah, they didn’t even get here until 1847!” At that point she said, “I guess I’m going to have to look someplace else.” And my mom said, “Yes, you will.” She was successful at what she had been doing, but momentarily forgot that there was a change in location. That’s why it’s important to always check the year and the location. 
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Totally "Fort Worth" it!

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Hermana Kelsey 2:4 -email-

Madre,
Hola! How are you doing? I hope you are great. I am doing fanstatic! I had a couple days when I was struggling a lot with the language, but it has been getting better. I have to constantly remind myself that I have come so far. Before I got here I didn’t know any spanish, and now I can somewhat speak it. Anyway, I would say the best way to learn spanish is to study a lot, and to speak as much as you know all the time. We have to speak spanglish pretty much everyday, but we learn a lot that way.
Anyway, this week was good. I found out that my male teacher, Hermano Haderlie, is two weeks younger than me, so that was weird. His birthday is in August. It’s crazy.
Anyway, there are all kinds of crazy funny things that happen here, but most of them aren’t even worth writing about. There are just funny things that keep us from going completely crazy. So I’ve decided that I am terrified of the real world. I want to live in the bubble of the MTC forever. 🙁
Anyway, I better go now. Love you lots. I’ll be sending some more pictures soon, so look forward to that. 🙂
Love, Hermana Kelsey  
Padre,
Hey, so do you remember that guy who stood up in stake conference and talked about his mission, but didn’t say where he was called? I saw him here at the MTC a little while back and he is going to South Dakota, Rapid City mission! Isn’t that cool?! I told him about Ron, so he’s going to watch out for him. Anyway, I’m glad you got that tree taken care of. You are such a good example to me of hard work. Anyway, I better go now. Love you lots.
Love, Hermana Kelsey
Ileray! (Riley)
You need to write me a letter. It is necessary for my salvation!! Love you lots, bye! 
Emmaline!
I’m glad you are doing good. You better write me a letter! I need mail!! Just kidding. But seriously. Keep doing great in school. Remember, that your grades now will affect you in the future. I wish I had tried harder to get good grades. I’m not sure what else to tell you. I’ve gotten bad at writing in my journal, and that is usually where I get things to write home about. So I don’t really have very much to say. Sorry. I better go now though. Love you tons. Be good.
Love your sister forever, Hermana Kelsey

Fifty Fifth!

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A very happy thing happened on this day, 55 years ago. My in-laws, Nancy and Pearce were married. We went to celebrate with them tonight. 
(I’m taking the picture, that’s my darlin on the right and all my in-laws)
What a great accomplishment, to be married for 55 years! They are examples of 
true love! 
I love you both! 
Happy Anniversary!
Love, Joy

I am so thankful for Gratitude!

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A lot of us don’t talk much about gratitude when it’s not November, but hopefully we express it everyday to Father in Heaven. I choose to “receive all things with thankfulness“. I am a work in progress though. I found a wonderful post about raising grateful children, that I wanted to share. Ann Voskamp at “a holy experience” posted it and you can read about it here! What a great idea! Teach children while their young to be grateful, and I’ll bet they grow up to be grateful adults. I think the world could use as many grateful adults as possible. I am going to do this with my daughter Emily. She’s the only one home now, but I think if we do it together and invite my darlin, her dad, there will be so much gratitude in our home, that it will be bulging at the seams! (does a house have seams?) Anyway, it will be a great experience! I know it! Let’s all be more grateful!! 


Howzit-Elder Flexy!

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Flexy the day he got his mission call!


Elder Flexy 10:1 -email-

Make,

this week has been a good one we have a new elder in our district Elder Reeder. he was previously an AP (Assistant to the President) so we are even more obedient than ever. we are having fun. so today we played basketball, football(american) and rugby it was very fun. 
1 How did you like your B-day package?
1. It was awesome the oatmeal was a good idea i’ve been a little more low on food lately and the almonds from dad are all i have left but the other elders in the zone appreciated it a lot too.
2 Pictures?
2.sorry we have been so busy i haven’t even thought about it lately.
3 Who is your new companion?
4 Where is he from?
3.4.its still Elder Diseko from Johannesburg
5 How is it going?
5.great he a good guy there are differences between us but all is well.
6 How are your members?
6.great we are going to do a activity to help with unity.
7 How are your investigators doing?
7.well we have three that will be baptized on the twenty fourth of this month.
8 Who are you teaching that is progressing? We would like to pray for them.
8.well pray for  Sipiwo, Kathuktula, and Nokwanza those are our B Dates.
9 Have you done any fun P-day activities?
9.just sports lately.
10 What kind of service have you done lately?
10.well we cleared this big front yard cover with weeds with slashers and pangers(bush knifes). 
11 Is the weather getting colder?
11.ya its nice i like the cold weather. 
12 When is your next Zone Conference?
12.i’m not sure but it will be in probably three months.
13 Favorite scripture or story?
13.well we talked about Samuel the Lamanite so that one is the best.

Special question:

14 How does paying tithing and doing fast offerings bless our lives and others?
14.well the blessings that you receive will out weigh the money you pay a hundred fold that’s why we do it.
ya so i’m sitting in the Email shop and Numb by linkin park came on and all of the sudden i missed my older brother a lot. ish!!!!!! i miss you guys sometimes but its all good I’ll plow through the rest of the time and all will be well right. its just a couple minutes. anyway love you guys an awful awful lot. love you Make

    Elder Flexy      

Baba,
ok so i have a story i guess i’ll tell we were teaching this guy and we wen’t to his house the other day and we knocked on his door and said to us “Guys… Go find some new friends.” BAM!!!! and slammed the door it was the most brutal door aproach i had but now we kinda laugh about it. but we might get to see him again but ya we are teaching lots of good people maybe i’ll send a real letter with some stories on it. but i hope all continues to go good. mission is going great love you daddy.

    Elder Flexy 

EM!! thats cool that all is going well i hope your keeping your grades up don’t have the same senior year that i had it kinda sucked. so i’de like o share a quote with you…”a wise man learns from his mistakes but a wiser man learns from someone else s mistakes.” so be the wiser person of the both of us you can learn a lot from the dumb things people do before you. anyway i love you my little sister.

    Elder Flexy

Sunday Best!

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My young friend Karen gave a talk in church recently and she talked about how excited she was when she got up one morning for school. The reason she was excited, is because she was having a test that day.

 Well, really, the reason she was excited about the 
test, was that 
she knew the answers to the 
test
 she would be taking. She had studied and was prepared and ready. Then she went on to say, “This life is a 
test! We can be excited about this 
test
because we know the answers!” She went on to tell us that even if we don’t have the answers right now,  life is an open book 
test. If we don’t know the answer to a particular question we know were to find them. 
Where do we find the answers? Inspired family and friends. In God’s word, the scriptures. Studying the life of our Savior. What would Jesus do? 
Listen to God’s prophets and apostles! Listen to our living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I am so excited for my 
test! I know I will do great with all of this help! You will do great too! I know you will! 
Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy