A Nice Week

This week has been nice.  On Monday we worked outside raking and sweeping up leaves and cleaning out the garden shed for winter.  After dinner, Brian read his dad's life story to us.  It was wonderful to hear again the story of his conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He was living away from home when his parents became members of the church.  They told him they would like him to join, too.  Brian's dad decided to be baptized into the church to keep peace in the family, but determined to leave the church as soon as he turned 18.  His resolve changed on the day of his baptism; he was so filled with the spirit of the lord, he knew that he had joined the true church of Jesus Christ.  He remained a faithful member throughout his life.

Brian's Dad, Wally

Thursday was activity days.  My church calling is to work with the eight and nine year old girls of my ward (congregation) in doing activities that promote their Faith in God.  Next week, we plan on visiting a local rest home to sing Christmas songs to the residents there.  The girls sing wonderfully as a group and we thought that this would be a great way to spread Christmas cheer.  This last week, we planned on having the girls make poinsettias to had out to the nursing home patients after we sang.  The poinsettias are a craft I came up with and I was excited to help the girls make and share them.

 Sometime during the week previous, however, I had a different idea, and I think it was a prompting from the Holy Ghost.  The thought of a sweet lady in the ward came to my mind.  She is unwell most of the time and rarely gets to leave home except to attend an hour of church services every week with her husband.  They are an older couple who try to stay busy and positive, but I know that it's hard some times.  This wonderful lady has a collection of dolls from all around the world displayed in her living room.  As I thought about her and how lonely she must sometimes get, I knew that a visit to her from my little activity day girls would brighten her day and enrich the lives of the girls.  When I asked her husband if he thought she would be up to the visit, he said she would absolutely love it.  He asked me to call her to make the arrangements.  When I did, I knew she was delighted by the little laughs in her voice as she talked.

On Thursday, we went to their house and had a wonderful time.  The husband showed each doll and explained where she was from.  Afterwards the girls asked a few questions about the dolls.  They also wanted to know who made the beautiful hand-crocheted ornaments hanging on her tree and were very impressed to hear that she had made them herself.  Before we left, we sang "Silent Night and Jingle Bells," then we went out the door with "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" ringing in their ears.  Such a simple thing; such a wonderful feeling!


Yesterday, (Saturday) we went to the temple to see the beautiful lights and the nativities.  We had a wonderful time!