“Life is perfect for none of us. Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life. May we recognize that each one is doing [his or] her best to deal with the challenges which come [his or] her way, and may we strive to do our best to help out.” -Thomas S. Monson
Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy
It was so HOT today I was trying to stay cool. Then I found this picture my darlin’ took from inside a snow cave! It actually looks nice in there. We have a few more months of heat so I’ll just pretend I’m in this snow cave when I need to be cool. 
Riley and Janet took Natasha to Dinosaur Park. She was standing so still trying to decided if they were real. They certainly look real. It is amazing that dinosaurs once roomed the earth isn’t it? They had such a fun time!
Hold still Natasha!
So me and my sweetie pie have had a few struggles with money from time to time in our marriage. We are very blessed mind you, wealthy compared to the world. That being said, we still have run a little short on funds from time to time when we needed it. There was a particular time in our marriage that we needed to find some income. We decided to “donate” plasma. I don’t know why they call it “donating”, because you get paid when you do it. It’s not a bad gig. Since we both were planning on doing it, we decided to call it a date and go together. Sounds fun, right? We would sit next to each other. They had TV’s and there were ear phones we used to listen, so we wouldn’t disturb others watching their show. We would always pick the same show, which happened to be Northern Exposure. We both love that show. It is not on TV anymore, but it was on in the 1990’s. One particular time, while we watched one of our favorite episodes, we both started laughing. We were laughing so hard we had tears streaming down our faces. Everyone was looking at us, wondering what in the world was going on with us. Finally, one of the employees came to check on us, and was wondering why we were laughing so hard. When we told him what we were watching he just a got a big smile on his face and said, “Oh yeah, that is a funny show.” When I look back on the days we dated at the plasma center, I am so happy we had that opportunity. It was a blessing and fun at the same time.
Check out this short clip of Northern Exposure!
1. We went to the beach once on P-day! But we mostly just clean, email, grocery shop and hang out with the other missionaries. I love P-days they are great! I need to get some souvenirs…. I heard that people regret not getting some from the places they go to.
2. No we have a car 🙂 BUT that day when we walked and walked our car was being worked on in the shop… Usually for contacting we just park the car and walk though.. But our area is way too huge to not have a car. And it is probs not super duper safe!
3-Where does your ward/branch meet? and how many members are there? How many missionaries in your area/district?
4. Ummmm… I think all of their kids are older.. I actually don’t ever see them. I’ve only really spent time with them once. With the different islands here it is too hard. So we have like a senior couple on each island that we check in with. I do email President M. every week but I don’t know much about that… Sorry!
5. Yes we have a goal to be very unified and we are doing well. We all teach great together! But Sister C. is leaving this Wednesday and so me and Sister T. will need to re-figure teaching out. I think it’ll be fine 🙂
6. My companions have been out for over 3 months! That’ll probably happen to me.. But it’s fun! We are all learning together.
7. I have not received any letters yet! Hopefully soon!
8. The people and their life styles…. They all have a chastity and word of wisdom problem… It is pretty rough…
9. It does rain a lot…. Because right now it is rainy/hurricane season! I love the rain though. It is fun and it cools us down! It is still very hot and sunshiney too 🙂
10. I don’t remember! OH! I bought a bottle of water but I had to spend a certain amount of money so she charged in on my card and then gave me the change back 🙂
11. I’ll have to check with them and let you know ok??
12. I just sent some pictures so I hope you liked them. Things are not very high tech here so it is very hard. I won’t get to send them very often… The internet is really slow and it’s rough.
Hahahahaha mom…. That is so funny that you are creeping on me. I died of laughter. Sorry I have limited time and the internet is slow that it takes up a lot of time. I hope you had fun being the toothfairy! You are so cute. Sorry I am going to have to keep it pretty short today. But I love you so darn much and hope I answered all your questions 🙂
Daddy: That’s awesome about your missionary experience!!!!!! 🙂 I have those everyday 😉 I love it out here. It is hard but AWESOME to be a missioanry.
Anyway I will write a letter with things that happened this week. That is the bad thing about picture is then there is less time to email! I’m doing great. I love it here so much. Life is great! I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH.
After a long day!
“I urge you with all the capacity that I have to reach out in a duty that stands beyond the requirements of our everyday lives; that is, to stand strong, even to become a leader in speaking up in behalf of those causes that make our civilization shine and that give comfort and peace to our lives. You can be a leader. You must be a leader, as a member of this Church, in those causes for which this Church stands. Do not let fear overcome your efforts, for as Paul wrote to Timothy: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). The adversary of all truth would put into your heart a reluctance to make an effort. Cast that fear aside and be valiant in the cause of truth and righteousness and faith” -Gordon B. Hinckley
Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy
We had a wonderful wedding a month ago!
Everything turned out perfect!
It was a wonderful day!
What a sweet and darling girl! I love you, Natasha!
If you visit ourjoyfulnest very often you will know that life has been extra busy.
In the month of May, my oldest son got married, and my youngest daughter left on a LDS mission. Both of these events can, and usually do, require a lot of time for planning and money to make them happen. I am a firm believer that we are truly blessed, and we will continue to be blessed with the things we need (Key word: need). We are always blessed by a loving Heavenly Father. We live in a wonderful neighborhood, and have amazing friends. We have had so much help from others. Our friends and neighbors and family have been amazing.
So during all of this planning and spending, getting ready for the wedding and preparing our daughter to leave for a year and a half, the thought crossed my mind a few times, “Are we going to have enough money?” Then I would push that thought out and think, “Of course we will, we have to!”
One day while busily going about my day, an envelope showed up on the back porch. One of the kids said that it was just sitting there. I opened it not knowing what to think. As I got to the card I could see cash peeking through from inside the card. The card says, “Just thinking thoughts of you”. On the inside of the card written by hand it said, “You’ve prayed me here, now what will you do with me.” My eyes filled with tears as I counted the money, lots of money.
An angel or angels came to our home and blessed us. Straight from Heaven. I cried and cried thinking about how thoughtful people are. It was truly a miracle in our lives. I hope to someday be able to thank those angels who blessed our family. I don’t know if it will happen, but I will most definitely pay it forward. I love you angels!
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