From Elder Ballard on Church discipline

"When members need to have certain blessings withheld, the Lord’s object is to teach as well as to discipline. So probation, disfellowshipment, and excommunication, when they become necessary, are ideally accompanied by eventual reinstatement and restoration of blessings.



I remember as a child occasionally coming unkempt to the dinner table. My mother wisely sent me to clean up and then return. My parents would have been pained if I had taken offense and had run off—and I would have been foolish to do so. In the same way, the servants of the Lord occasionally find that they must, in loving concern, send some of Heavenly Father’s children out the door so they can return clean once again.
The Lord does not want us to “miss supper.” In fact, he has a great feast prepared for those who return clean and pure through the door. He is greatly saddened when anyone decides they prefer to be unclean and miss the meal, or when they find an excuse to take offense, or when they run away. He is pleased to extend the chance to start over.

I’ve known a few rebellious people who disregard the commandments and are influenced by the evil one or by other rebellious people to transgress God’s laws. I’ve seen their distress and pain. I’ve also seen their joy when, humbled and fully repentant, they have returned to the Church and have had all their blessings restored."

Banners

A month or so ago I watched a youtube tutorial on making pennants with 10-inch fabric squares. When I saw it I thought, "That would be fun to do with the Young Women's value colors."  I got fabric packs that contained the needed colors and Michele Hastings helped me pick the colors from the packs that would work well.

I enlisted her help as she is the Young Women's President, but I didn't tell her what I was doing.  I finished all but one of the six strings of pennants tonight. I need more twill tape to sew the pennants to and will pick that up tomorrow. Will give them to her Friday.

Image to come.

What sets us off

It was election Tuesday today and I walked over to the polling place at Jack Dailey Elementary school. I was there before the polls opened so had a nice chat with another voter waiting outside. She had moved from New Jersey in December to be close to her family here.

There were problems with the machine that activates the cards for the voting booths so we got to be guinea pigs while they tried to figure out the problem.  Turns out they hadn't set the time properly on the machines that activate the cards.  Once that was done we were able to vote.

It made me a few minutes late for the Tuesday Devotional, but I got most of it which is good.

I did find it interesting what the different reactions were among the poll workers and the voters. Generally, it wasn't too bad, but for some even a few minute delay was cause for the 'why didn't they get this taken care of before the polls opened' sort of comments. Frustrations among the poll workers too.

We need to lighten up - life is full of 'inconveniences' and full of people who don't do things the way we think they should or the way we would do it.  Why does any of that matter. Life is too short, and too precious to be fretting over the stupid stuff.

Grateful in Any Circumstances

The speakers in Sacrament meeting were Toni Sproul and her daughter-in-law, Allison Sproul. Toni is the mother of Bishop Willie Spoul, and Allison is his wife. The spoke based on the talk by President Uchtdorf from April 2014 entitled: Grateful in Any Circumstances.



Toni reminded us to see with spiritual eyes because we are not mortal beings but spiritual ones. She reflected on the wonderful grace of the Lord in her life, especially the past five years when tending to a husband who was serious ill and bedridden for much of those years and who died a little over a year ago. The Lord gave her music to inspire and remind her of the great love of God for his children.

Toni is a wonderful woman and a great example to any who know her.

Allison reminded us to be grateful in any circumstance as the title of the talk reflects. If we allow the Savior to carry us, He will. It is a choice to be grateful. Do not murmur in our afflictions. He draws near to us in a very powerful way. As we keep our covenants we can call down the blessings of heaven. We are eternal beings.

I appreciate all I learn at church every week.

Birthday dinner at Black Bear Diner

Black Bear Diner - Tropicana off Jones in Las Vegas

Danny and Michele Hastings took me to dinner for my birthday. We went to the Black Bear Diner in Las Vegas. It's a chain, but good comfort food and large servings. I had the pecan crusted trout, Danny had fried chicken and Michele had French Dip sandwich. Michele and I had the chocolate lava cake for dessert and Danny had the huckleberry ice cream.

I really love and appreciate those guys.

Service at church

Starting a couple of years ago, members of congregations were given the responsibility to maintain the church building and keep it clean. Our ward gives the responsibility for cleaning to each of the organizations within the congregation.  The 1st and 5th Saturday of May and the 1st and 2nd Saturdays in June are the Relief Society.

Tropicana Building borrowed from the web

There are very few sisters that attend Relief Society, which is another story, so not many to sign-up to help with the cleaning, so I've been going over each of the weeks. It's actually an enjoyable thing to do, I do windows when possible and there are 2 large windowed doors at the front of the building then four other doors around the sides as well and the small windows in the doors of the cultural hall and classrooms. It takes about an hour or so to do them all and in addition to blessings unseen, is a good workout with lots of arm movement and stretching and bending.

Last week we didn't have enough help to get the chairs set up in the Primary, RS, and overflow areas, but this week we did.

Treading water

Who knew that treading water was such a good calorie burner and toner. At my current weight I can get rid of about 400 calories in a 30 minute span, and other than the tedium factor, it doesn't seem difficult at all to do. It's also good for all the major muscle groups.  I can feel it a little bit in my arms and core, but no soreness.  It can also be sort of contemplative and I find myself able to zone out during the treading.