Morning in El Salvador by "A", my 17 year old son ..What I Love About Morning
the sounds of the early birds outside my window, especially when it's warm enough to sleep with the window open.
watching the sunrise.
being up before anyone else. ("D" is more of a morning person than me, so I rarely beat him up. But still. I used to love getting up before my kids...I'd try to quietly ease out of bed in hopes that I could do it without waking them up!)
quiet streets.
getting an early start. (Anything you get done before breakfast feels like a win!)
waking up early enough to read in bed.
hearing the murmurs of groups of women walking early on a cool summer morning.
watching the world wake up.
on a clear day, that band of pink and blue that rings the horizon at dawn.
Are you a morning person? What do you love about mornings?
Last night,
we had the wonderful opportunity
of attending the General Young Women's Meeting
at the Conference Center
in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The theme for the meeting was: "Be strong and of a good courage,"
a scripture found in Joshua 1:9.
I've mentioned before
that I serve as a leader
for the 12-13 year old girls
in our Church group.
Every March, our Church
holds a worldwide meeting
for the young women ages 12-18.
Many local young women gather
in the Conference Center
with their mothers and leaders.
But most watch the meeting
from their local churches
as the meeting is broadcast
to church buildings all across the world.
Usually we watch from our church,
but this time a friend got tickets
and we were able to take
a couple of our young women and attend.
What an awesome experience.
It's an amazing feeling to gather with 21,000 women
who believe the same way you do,
and listen to speakers
who motivate and encourage
the young women to be strong and
to stay close to the Savior
in these troubled times.
One of my favorite quotes
from the meeting
was by Elaine S. Dalton:
"The world places so much emphasis on our physical attractiveness and would have you believe that you are to look like the elusive model on the cover of a magazine," she said. "The Lord would tell you that you are each uniquely beautiful. When you are virtuous, chaste and morally clean, your inner beauty glows in your eyes and in your face."
I love how our Church
focuses on these young women.
With a great goal setting program
called Personal Progress
and activities that center around spirituality and self-improvement and service,
these girls are given
great tools to help them
negotiate their way
through their teenage years
and into adulthood.
Every Sunday,
Young Women groups
all across the world
meet together and we say
the Young Women theme,
which goes like this:
We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him.
We will "stand as witnesses of God
at all times and in all things,
and in all places" as we strive to live
the Young Women values, which are:
Faith
Divine Nature
Individual Worth
Knowledge
Choice and Accountability
Good Works
Integrity and
Virtue.
We believe as we come to
accept and act upon these values,
we will be prepared to
strengthen home and family,
make and keep
sacred covenants,
receive the ordinances of the temple,
and enjoy the blessings of
exaltation.
Every time they say this theme, they remember who they are,
why they are here,
and where they are going.
Last week,
I spent an afternoon wandering around with my camera.
I got back to my computer
to look at my photos more closely,
and had a good laugh
when I saw these shots.
I thought it would be fun to share them with you.
These birds had somehow
found their way
into the airport....
and were watching
the planes take off and land
as if they were right where they belonged!
This little guy
was playing tag
with his friend
until he realized
I was watching.
Then he scrambled
to a high branch
and kept his eye on me
until I finally left.
_________
Then I spied some geese
wandering around a
small grassy area.
Really, no room to fly....
Wait for it....
wait for it....
Nope--he made it!
But from the look of things,
I thought it was going to be
a head-on collision with the tree!
Then there was one of his buddies,
who had had just about enough.
He was angrily honking
at that other goose,
who just stood there
and took it all in. Never even got flustered.
(I always thought
geese were such graceful creatures....)
If you want to get a closer look at any of these shots, click on the photos. They really are better close up!
Do you have any photos that will give us a good laugh today? Leave a link in the comments!
What would you consider a necessity in your kitchen?
The fridge? The microwave?
How about the dishwasher?
After our trip to Central America, even running water seems like a luxury.
We visited the homes of some sweet people who are in great need.
Here's where they get their water....
and this is their faucet and sink.
___________________________
I have struggled since I came home getting it all in perspective.
Why am I blessed with so much?
Do I have too much?
Am I grateful enough?
What should I do about it?
I can't say that I've figured it out. I'm still struggling.
But a friend who is serving an LDS mission in a poverty-stricken area wrote this, and it helps:
"Serving in this mission, we have seen people live without. Without electricity, running water, plumbing, an assortment of food, cars, and jobs.
"We've wondered aloud, why we have been blessed with so much back home?
"Should we feel guilty for the excess we have always taken for granted?
"We don't have the answers... but we believe we should enjoy what we have been blessed with, share it, and thank Heavenly Father for all that we have been given."
_______________________
I wrote this post last year, after our trip to Guatemala. Since then, we went to El Salvador on another humanitarian trip. The same questions filled my mind as we served and worked with those wonderful people.
One early morning, I woke up with these words ringing in my head, "You are so blessed so you can give."
You are so blessed so you can give. It makes sense, doesn't it?
I have been given so much, so I can share it with others.
Not just so I can have more.
It's good to step out of your comfort zone once in awhile to learn life's lessons that really can change everything.
In the mid-1800's,
humble people across Europe,
and throughout the United States
began hearing the message
of the Mormon missionaries--
of the Book of Mormon,
and that the Church of Jesus Christ
had been restored.
Many of my ancestors in England and Wales and Denmark heard and believed this message.
My great-aunt wrote this about her grandmother in Denmark.
"At approximately the age of sixteen, my grandmother first heard the gospel from two Mormon Elders who visited the home of her father at Kanehavehus.
"A most glorious feeling filled her breast as she listened to those strangers. However, the Mormon missionaries did not remain long on the island. Many years later after she was married and had her family, there came three more missionaries to Samso and knocked on her door.
"As she listened to these men, the same sublime feeling of joy surged within her that she had experienced years before, and she knew of the truthfulness of the message they brought. Grandfather was deeply impressed and after prayer and investigation, he and grandma and Marie were baptized in the cold waters of the Baltic Sea.
"They suffered from the rebukes and scorn of their friends and relatives, as did all of the early converts. This was willingly endured because they were so happy in the truths of the gospel.
"The early saints had such faith in God's servants and a love of the gospel so strong that they were willing to endure anything to fulfill their hearts desire. This great desire in the hearts of the early converts was to gather with those who believed the same way they did--to go to Zion, to America."
_______
These early members
of the LDS Church,
like my ancestors,
were often persecuted
for their beliefs.
For a time they gathered
in Nauvoo, Illinois,
but were eventually
forced from their homes
and had to go west
to find a place far away
where they could
live their religion in peace.
They loaded their wagons
and their handcarts,
and traveled at great hardship
across the country
to their new home,
the mountain valleys of Utah.
Tradition has it that
one of these early pioneers,
William Clayton,
composed a new hymn
that quickly became
a Mormon pioneer favorite.
They say it was sung
when they were coming
across the plains
and around their campfires
when they stopped for the night.
As members of
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints,
or the Mormons,
we still sing it,
and it is still one of our favorites.
I like to think
of my ancestors singing it,
whether it was
by their wagons and handcarts,
or in their church meetings,
or in their homes.
It makes me feel closer to them,
like I have carried on
where they left off.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
is requested to sing it often,
and on this
beautiful Sunday morning,
I thought you might like
to hear this hymn,
called, "Come, Come Ye Saints."
Yesterday, I had the gift of a day. Well, at least an afternoon.
In a city far from home, with nothing I had to do, and no place I had to be, I decided to go for a walk through the city's historic downtown.
It's a quaint city
with lots of
turn of the century buildings
and fun little shops.
And it's also a state capitol.
My mom will recognize this city
because we lived here
when I was very young.
Just being here
brought back
all sorts of memories
I didn't even know I had...
I watched people walk their dogs...
squirrels play in the trees...
and a biking team race through the streets.
Spring is farther along
here than at home--
the forsythia is already in bloom!
It was a chilly, but beautiful day.
To top it off, I drank a hot chocolate
with whipped cream piled high on top.
(It was so good
I forgot to take a picture of it!)
If you had the gift of an afternoon, what would you do with it?
