Dear Sam,
We have had a real treat this week with Stephanie staying a couple of extra days as she and Bowie recovered from a cough and waited for her green card to arrive in the mail. Though it was a bit stressful for Steph, we were so happy to enjoy being with them for a little longer. Little Bowie has completely captured our hearts!
We had an interesting experience coming home after the week-end in Southern Alberta. As we pulled into the garage on Monday night, Hawk was in labor. One live and one dead birth followed 2 more live kitties within the hour we came home. Of course we had to move them into the house :| but it was fun to watch the process and enjoy another of God's miracles in birth. The girls were all very excited.
Because it was reading week, we enjoyed having Sam and Ben stick around for a while and hang out. We were back up to 8 in the house again and loving it.
Check out the family Facebook page to see some of the videos we shared with Grandma and Grandpa including the grand kids singing Loch Lomond.
This week-end we were privileged to attend Stake Conference meetings. Saturday afternoon I was able to help do some training for the SS presidents in the stake. One thing that struck me was a video explaining why we should practice teaching. In it, a soccer game is under way and a player runs up tugging on his journey and demands the coach let him in the game. The coach looks at him incredulously and refuses on the basis that he has never showed up for any practices. The over eager player runs on the field anyways and ends up scoring on himself. The underlying message is that if we just wing it when we teach the gospel without practicing (e.g. in Teacher council meeting), we can end up creating a negative or at least a non-inspiring experience for our students. Good lesson to learn.
I loved listening to Elder Hathaway, the visiting general authority from Idaho. He was so clear and inspiring. He was a master teacher. A couple of thoughts to share from my notes.
He told a funny story about growing up with a Mom who insisted on having clean toilets in their house. She taught him the 600 item checklist of a clean toilet (exaggerated a bit) and the 37 inspection points she did when she checked up on his cleaning job. He described how later with his children he taught them Grandma Hathaway's toilet cleaning routine so he wouldn't have to do it anymore. He would always first show them how, do it once with the, then let them do it and inspect. Invariably, he said, they would all miss the small space behind the toilet. When he would point it out, they would complain that it was too hard to reach. He would say
"OK" and dismiss them, and while they were gone, he'd place a $5 bill in that spot. Then he'd call them back and say,
"Oh ya, one more thing", placing them in a position that one would always say
"Dad, Dad, there's a $5 bill back there!".
"Oh really?" he'd feign, "can you grab it for me."
They of course would at which point he would point out
"Hey, looks like you can reach that spot after all"
His lesson was that in a similar way, with God, nothing he commands us to do is "unreachable" or impossible. It is often the case that when we think we "can't" do it, it is more that we "won't" do it. I hope I can be like Nephi and say when asked to do hard things by the Lord "I will go and do".
Speaking of that scripture, we watched the face to face for youth today with Elder Gong. That is next year's theme. The girls are so excited by the new program. I love how much they choose to be all in to the gospel. It is the safest, most fun way to live i.e. fully engaged.
The other thing I really liked was a 6 step formula for sharing the gospel. I think I liked it so much because I believe I can turn the steps into a habit. In case you haven't noticed from recent emails, I've been really studying and trying to create good habits in my life. '
Here's the steps:
- Make a list of all the non members I know in our stake
- Get to know who they are
- Identify those who know about the church in some form
- Ask the Lord what the next normal and natural action he wants me to take to help this person progress by a certain date and time?
- Invite them to take the step
- Go back to step 4, remembering that outcomes belong to the Lord. Our job is to invite with kindness and faith.
What habits have you found that you've developed on your mission?
No pictures this week as my internets acting up this morning. I'll send some separate if I can.
Check out the family facebook page if it lets you for videos and pictures from last week-end.
Love you lots!
Dad.
From Steph & Tyler on hanglouts
From Sam - Great Two weeks
Hey Family,
I don't have much time. I'm going to give you all the pictures over the last two weeks and leave it up for your interpretation. I'll repent next week.
More to come in another email.
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