Sunday, January 7, 2018

Dearest Spencer:

Thank you for all of the pics!!!  Next time if you could please accompany them with an explanation.  :)

So tell me what happened with New Year Day.  Were you to stay indoors?  Where do you get on line?  At the church or at an internet cafe?  Curious to hear.

Also, what is going on with the bleeding when you exercise?  Is it from the nose, when you poop, when you urinate?  More details please.  I'm glad it sounds like not too much to be concerned about but would still love to hear more details.  Glad also you provided some comic relief for the other missionaries--haha.  Are the ZLs native English speakers, and is that why they joined you at the hospital?

How are things going between you and your companion?  How is the language coming along?  Lot's of questions.  :)

Spoke with Bishop and Sister Foley today and they send their greetings and commented about what a fine young man you are (i agree).

Have you been able to meet again with you investigator?  Loved the story of you talking with a man on the street who was begging.  I'm sure you made his day.

As you know, President Monson died this past week.  I've seen some of the news coverage about his life and find it quite inspiring.  I will always remember him as seeking out the "one", of listening to the Spirit and acting immediately, of inspiring people to be kind.  The past couple of days I have been preparing to share a bit about the new mutual theme, "Peace in Christ" based on D&C 19:23 "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me."  The idea of meekness stood out to me and I remembered a talk given by Elder Soares entitled "Be Meek and Lowly of Heart".  He said, "Meekness is vital for us to become more Christlike. Without it we won’t be able to develop other important virtues. Being meek does not mean weakness, but it does mean behaving with goodness and kindness, showing strength, serenity, healthy self-worth, and self-control." After reading that passage from the talk, I thought, "President Monson was a meek man."  It was hard when President Hinckley died--I remember you saying that you weren't sure you could love Pres. Monson the way you did Pres. Hinckley (or something to that effect)--I felt much the same at the time and Pres. Hinckley will always hold a special place in my heart along with Pres. Kimball--the prophet of my youth;  Having said that, Pres. Monson's life message of service, kindness and looking out for the one has been a powerful message for me.  Your dad will be attending his funeral on Friday.  I might go down if I can get Uncle Doug to check on Gpa--we'll see.

Well I believe last week I shared with you Ben Franklin's thought of beginning ending the day with a question:   "How can I help someone today/what will I do to be of service today?" and "What did I do to serve."  I'll share with you at the beginning of each day:

Mon- Helped Uncle Darrell compile a list of birthdates, anniversaries, phone, email and snail mail of all descendants of Gpa Goff.  Pretty amazing to have it all in one place!  We call it the Grandma Inez Goff's birthday list.  She faithfully sent birthday cards as long as she was alive with a $5 bill enclosed.  The list was made in her honor.

I enjoyed hanging out at Gpas during the afernoon.  When I wasn't working on the list with Darrell, I was up in his room going through papers and cleaning out.  Bit by bit things are coming a long.

We had a brief FHE regarding goals.  NJB was very serious about his goals and made a long list.

Tues--Texted several inactive youth to invite them to participate in serving the special needs mutual on Thursday--got positive response from all of them.  (although one family backed out the day of).

When the kids left for school and your dad for work, I did a bit of a happy dance. It was nice to have some quiet time after the craziness of the holidays.  Having said that, it will be difficult once we have an empty nest.  I like quiet time in chunks--not permanently. :)

began packing away Christmas

Visited with Carolee and Gpa for a bit--was nice not to have the pressure of mutual on Tues night.

When I was tucking in NJB (yes that is what happens when you are the youngest) NJB said to me, "before you say no, there are 24 hours in a day, will you snuggle with me for 1 minute." How do you say no to that?  I had him figure out the fraction that one minute is of the day -- 1/1440th.  I think i can spare a minute or two. :)

Wed--began re-typing a paper which I wrote for a gerontology class when I was at U of U.  The paper was about a woman named Ruth Hutchinson.  I met with her weekly during the semester, and there is quite a bit of information in there that I thought a family member would like.  I've tracked down her daughter-in-law and will send it to her when it is completed.  Transcribed a month or so of Gpa Goff's diary from when he was 15 years old.  Texted Amberly a happy birthday wish.

continued packing away Christmas.

Thurs--Took CAB to his colonoscopy appointment (fortunately nothing wrong,  They think it is most like Irritable Bowel Syndrome.)  Finished typing the paper.  Picked up two of our inactive girls for the Special needs mutual.  They had a good experience, realized that there are several of the Young Women that they know, and are planning on attending this week as well--I'm praying hard for them!

The special needs mutual was quite the experience.  These handicapped individuals in adult bodies who functioned on a variety of levels.  Their lack of filter was endearing.  When the leaders asked for a volunteer to pray, many hands shot up.  There were lots of hugs and I love yous for several of the individuals.  It was inspiring to be a part of.  We get to do it for the entire month of January.  Did you ever do that here in Ogden?

Fri--took Gpa to my Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Franks home in Highland for lunch.  Had a wonderful time visiting with them.  Aunt Carolee joined us.

Loved visiting with my Aunt and Uncle.  Marilyn is Gma Goff's sister and when I see her she is a bit of an ersatz mom for me.  I feel close to mom when I am with her.  Uncle Frank isn't doing that well, he has Parkinsons which set on quite rapidly.

Sat--made a bday cheese cake for my mom and took it to Gpa to share with those who came to visit him.  Visited my Mom's grave.

NJB and I went skiing for a couple of hours.  The weather wasn't that great.  When we first arrived it was raining on the lower part of the mountain.  We took the becker lift up twice and my gloves were SOAKED.  Fortunately I had some spares in the car and got them.  We only got in 4 runs, but it was fun being there.

We came home so that NJB could attend a friends bday party.  When the party was over I talked quite a bit with the friend who is absolutely FASCINATING.  She loves to travel has been in over 160+ countries, and belongs to the Community of Christ (former R-LDS church) and is a direct descendant of Joseph Smith.  Crazy!  Huh?!  Anyway, we are going to have them over for dinner.

Sun--visited Gpa, visited one of my YW who has been missing church a lot recently.

As always, it was a wonderful day.  Testimony meeting was interesting but good--heard from several people who I have never heard bear testimony before.  Sunday School we discussed Moses 1, and what a difference it makes when someone expresses belief in us and our abilities--i.e. when God repeatedly calls Moses "my son" as opposed to Satan who says, "Moses, son of man."  Important to remember that we truly are Children of God, he loves us, and needs us to arise and stand up for goodness (circle back to the thoughts on meekness) and kindness and meekness and charity etc etc.

In YW we talked about the difference between "knowing OF" someone as opposed to "Knowing" someone and that we need to "Know God and Christ", not just know "OF" them.

Well, Spence, that is about it for this week.

i love you so much and pray for your happiness, safety and success.

LTIABABA, 

Mom

Still haven't finished putting away Christmas yet--hopefully this week.  :)