In His own time and in His own way

I have spent this past month and a half pondering on the topic for my Jan talk, "the thing of most worth" from D&C.  I have considered on this every week, lots on Sundays, and many other times during the time.  I begin to get a bit worried when I have considered the topic so much, but I still feel unsettled and don't have a good plan for the talk.  Even this weekend I spent at the barn campout with Gavin and Ty and as I settled into bed I read some things and tried to formulate a plan.  Notta.  I have gathered lots of good ideas, lots of quotes or personal experiences that support it, but no overall plan to make it work.

So this morning I try again and really consider on all the things I have been pondering.  And many of them I really like and felt very inspired to use, just no plan of how to get them all into a cohesive whole.  I went to church and continued on the thoughts but no plan.  I came home, napped (yeah) for a short while, and then got it out again since I really need to have the plan today since I speak next week and usually have little if no time during the week with work, other meetings at home, volunteer stuff for scouts or such.  I started thinking again and poof, I had one thought, started with that, and the rest just started falling into place.  He really helped me put together something I am very settled with and can tie in to many important principles that I need to share.

So even when we try hard, we still have to continue to trust in Him and in His own way, and in His own time, He will answer.  I really feel blessed at how much I am taken care of.  

I got to renew my temple recommend today.  It was very nice to have such confidence in my responses and know I am worthy to enter, learn, and improve myself.

Our scripture this week has been Romans 13:12-13 and we all really like the phrase "armor of light."  Give it a read!  It is also fun because the pen mom used was running out of ink, so as it goes along, it fades.  And as the scripture goes along, it talks about putting of darkness and putting on the armor of light.  So the ink gets lighter.  Simple mind, simple pleasure!

The campout was very nice to be at.  Reasonable food, very cold weather but a fire indoors to help keep it not too cold, great time to discuss with Gavin and Ty the Duty to God program and how they are doing, plans they have, and how they are trying to be better men.  Later they had a contest to build structure to protect eggs as they dropped them from the balcony.  1 foot of duct tape, straws, toothpicks, a plastic bag, and 2 spoons (straws and toothpicks of a certain limited number, but I did not count).  Three eggs out of about 20 did not splat, and you can guess that Gavin and Ty did not splat.  They even did it over and over and it survived.  Kind of a parachute structure with springy spoon and straw legs to cushion the landing.  Worked really well.  Everyone had 15 minutes to work it then they had to stop.

I had tons of key meetings this last week, so all week was crazy working to get the right material, the right answers, the right alignment between groups, so in the meetings we could have unified message.  They all went quite well and I am glad that is over.  I hope to be able to work through a lot of miscellaneous smaller things this week and feel like I am back in control.  We will see.

The washroom goes well, I got a door of sorts on the water heater so it closes it off to the room and makes it look less like a utility area.  I also added some shelves on top of it so Mom can store wash things, TP and paper towels etc. in bulk.  As you know we don't have much storage so this will be nice.  I still have to laminate the shelves but it is close.  I am really close to paint, and then the counter top to finish it all off.  

I helped the White boys get started on their Citizenship in the community merit badge.  I have not done that one for a long time.  We discussed a number of things and they have assignments to go to a city council or school board meeting, interview a government person on a issue etc.  They are all good learning things.

I am also getting things ready for a fireside in Feb. that will focus on "I'm a mormon" theme.  I am getting local people to do the I'm a mormon shorts, will use a few from the web, and then finish with a couple of doctrine based mormon messages and discussion on them.  All in an effort to help the community know who we are and what we believe.  I think many will see we have much in common with many in our community.  We are getting the word out through the wards, the youth programs (they are using this as a Bishops youth discussion for the three wards in our building) and through the interfaith council in the Dayton area.  So others can understand more of who we are.

Love you forever, work hard, study hard, pray hard.

3 John 1:4

Dad