Daily Tender Mercies

We met with the bishop and second counselor today before church. Rachel was released from her calling as the second counselor in the primary presidency. This was something that she requested because lately Gehrig has been struggling and not wanting – actually refusing to go to nursery. She felt it would be appropriate to spend more time with him and help him as he is needing a lot of attention right now. Brother Nope (the second counselor) made it clear that they didn’t just release her because she asked, but they prayed about it and this is what the Lord wanted. It would be wrong not to make the change. They called her to be a primary worker in the nursery. I think she will enjoy it and it will be good for Gehrig to have her there with him.

My parents came out to visit Alex and her new baby last night. So since they were out here we had a picnic at the Bountiful Park. It’s always fun to see family. As we were talking about how long we have been married it is just hard to believe we have all been married as long as we have. Time is just rolling on.

This afternoon just after we finished eating dinner we got a knock at the door. It was our next door neighbor. We don’t talk much. He didn’t say much either, he just handed me a small paper bag filled with tomatoes and said, “Enjoy!” then turned and walked back home.

We have been enjoying tomatoes lately. That wasn’t the first time they have given them to us. Rachel’s grandparents have also given us lots of tomatoes. They made for a nice salad this afternoon and BLT’s. We keep talking about planting a garden but still have not gotten to that project. I said today though that if we do plant a garden, we won’t need to plant tomatoes.

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Alex (my little sister) had her baby – London Florence Gregory – early this morning. It was a C-section delivery. They baby was just not going down the canal. 8lbs 1 ounce. 22 inches long. Baby London wins the award for the most hair on a newborn for our whole family. Seriously, she has more hair than Nolan and he’s going to be a year old in 2 weeks. We went to visit them and take Alex some flowers. I highly recommend taking new mothers flowers. I’m happy to report that mom and baby are well.

I had ward council meeting tonight. It was nice as most of our discussion focused on how we can improve missionary work in our ward. I love missionary work. In the course of our meeting I brought up a question as to how to continue to share the gospel with someone whom I have previously tried on a few occasions and had less than fruitful experiences. I ask this because I still feel that my friend needs the gospel in his life. My friend is a good man and has a nice family. He goes to an evangelical church which is great, but I think he now needs the ordinances that will seal him to his family for eternity. I’m thankful for our Sunday school president that pointed out a section of Preach My Gospel (pg. 108) that says it all comes down to the Book of Mormon. I now realize there is no more tip-toeing around this, I just need to boldly invite him to read the Book of Mormon. Hopefully there will be updates to follow.

This morning Rachel had a dentist appointment. She left the kids watching a movie in the family room while I was working in the office. The kids were surprisingly good and I didn’t hear much noise. After I while I someone going up the stairs so I decided to go check on them. When I came out of my office, Gracie was coming down the stairs. She said “Shhhhh! Nolan is asleep”. She took me into the family room and sure enough Nolan was curled up asleep on the end of the couch. “I was cuddling with him.” she said. I took him up to his crib, but I thought it was very sweet that she was taking care of him like she was.

On Sunday we had a good lesson in Elders Quorum. It was on Elder Worthlin’s last general conference talk, “Concern for the One”. It was interesting because it followed closely with what the Stake Presidency talked about in sacrament meeting. During the course of the lesson I shared what I experienced two weeks earlier in General Priesthood meeting and also last week. I think as I shared the experience, the quorum could see I was touched by it and I hope they could see my desire to have more Elders coming each week. We just happened to have an prospective Elder in the class that I don’t think has come to our Elders quorum meeting before (I have seen him in stake conference meetings), though his parents are active. After class I found him in the hall and said, “it’s been a while since I’ve seen you here, it’s great to see you today.” He smiled and I think he appreciated that I noticed him.

So how does any of this relate to today? Well, sometime this afternoon as I was working downstairs his mother came to our house and asked Rachel if she would pass a message on to me that he is trying to get active in the church again and could use my friendship and encouragement.

The stake presidency spoke in our ward today. I love hearing them speak. I always feel the Spirit strongly when President Tindall speaks. The best part was that both Nolan and Gehrig slept through sacrament meeting so we had no trouble listening.

We rented and watched a movie (Alvin and the chipmunks) tonight as a family. It was nice to relax after working outside much of the day. Gehrig and I went to the grocery store and got all the good for banana splits!

I had neighborhood watch tonight from 12:00 – 2:00 AM. My new neighbor Kelley went with me tonight. I was worried that we wouldn’t have much to talk about, but it was quite the opposite. I think we have a lot in common – especially our love of sports. The 2 hours went by quite fast and the streets were quiet.