G: “I don’t like raisins.”
Emily: “Why?”
G: “They are just too curious!”
Two Cents! By T and G.
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Author Archives: joyful_admin
"…stop accumulating…"
Andrew Carnegie, one of my heroes said,
“I resolve to
stop accumulating
and begin the infinitely more serious and
difficult task of
wise distribution.”
——————-
I am about there.
I have lived in my home for 14 years. I have been bringing things into my home for 14 years. I do take things out too, but too much has come in and not enough has been taken out. One day my dad was here visiting, and he looked around and said, “I can see you’re still a gatherer!” Ouch! He and my mom had just moved from a 4000 square foot house, into a 2 bedroom apartment.
How did they do it?
How did they do it?
“Wise distribution!” I have been wanting, needing, to stop accumulating and distribute more! I am going to work on this, I am going to stop accumulating, stop bringing things home. And make more trips to donate! Now, if I can get the others I live with to do the same, we’ll be in good shape!!
Totally "Fort Worth" It!
Hermana Kelsey 4:2 -email-
Mama,
Hola! Como estas? I hope you are doing well. That’s good you’ve been looking for a job. I have been praying for you and I know that the Lord will bless you. Keep the faith and it’ll all work out!
Thank you so much for the package! I got it the other day, and I was so excited. I won’t be asking for much anymore though. I’m just so thankful for the shampoo! I needed it so bad. Muchas gracias!!
It is HOT here! I will give you some of our sun, if you give us some of your rain. We have been almost out of miles for the last week or so, so we’ve been walking and riding the bus a lot. It has been super hot and humid, so we are miserable the entire time. It is not fun, but I’m getting used to doing it so it’s okay. Yesterday for p-day we played football outside. It was so fun! All the elders think I’m cool because I can actually play a little and throw pretty decent (thanks to dad :)). They chose me to be on their team before even some of the guys. It’s awesome.
Anyway, we have a baptism this Sunday! This guy A___ who has been meeting with the missionaries for like 2 1/2 years is finally getting baptized. He’s pretty cool. It’s exciting. I feel like I’m finally starting to get used to the work. But I’m a little worried because Sister Vaughn is leaving in a week (ish), and none of the other sisters that could be my companion have ever served in my area. I still don’t know a lot of the people or the way to get around our area very well. I think we are going to get lost a lot. 🙁 But it’ll be okay I guess. Our branch is so great. They are pretty good with fellowshipping and becoming friends with our investigators. It’s sad though because all our people who are really good at it will be leaving soon. We have a really cool member family, but the parents are getting deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan soon; the branch president’s brother and sister, who come on exchanges with us, are leaving to go to Utah and Idaho soon. We aren’t going to have many people to help us. But, it’ll be alright. Esta bien!
That’s crazy that Landon is coming home already! I swear it hasn’t been two years. It’ll seem like that with me I’m sure. 🙂
Hermana Vaughn is still cool. She’s getting a little bit trunky now, but not too bad, and not more than is expected when you are going home in a week.
One of the things we have to do with investigators that have problems with the law of chastity is just wait it out. We can’t really do anything to help them, because most of the time it has something to do with legal or money issues, and we don’t have anything we can use to help them with those. It’s kind of hard to watch, but we just pray for them a lot.
Anyway, I probably better go now. Love you lots. Keep doing good things.
Love, Hermana Kelsey
P.S. I’ll hopefully send some pictures soon. I haven’t printed any for a while (since I left the MTC to be exact), and I haven’t really taken that many, but I’ll try to get some to you.
Papi,
Howdy! How’s it going? I hope things are good. That’s crazy to hear about all the flooding. Hopefully our weather switches soon. We are also having a dry season. We could seriously use some rain. But I guess this is usual in Texas about this time.
In our combined meeting, we talked about keeping the chapel clean (by parents not having their kids drink red punch :)), and being member missionaries. It was a pretty cool meeting. 🙂 Kind of. Anyway, I’m glad you are getting as much yard work and stuff doen as you can. Hopefully, the weather will work for you to be able to do all the things you need to.
Anyway, I better go now. Sorry this is so short, but I’m all out of time. Love you, bye.
Love, Hermana Kelsey
Emmysaurus Rex!
Hola mi hermana! Como estas?! Aren’t you so glad school is out? I sure remember that. Although now I miss school It’s funny how your out look changes depending on where you are in life. Anyway, that’s also exciting you are finally getting your license. It is about dang time! Just kidding. But seriously. 🙂
Please write me a letter!!! Letters are so fun. Anyway, I better go now. Love you my little seester!
Love, Hermana Kelsey
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
I wish I was a "cool" mom!
Riding in the car, I say to Emily:
“I wish I was a ‘cool’ mom!”
Emily: “You are a ‘cool’ mom!”
Natasha (tapping Emily on the shoulder):
“She’s really not a ‘cool’ mom!”
Kids say the darndest things!!
(Maybe I am a “cool” grandma?)
Howzit-Elder Flexy!
Elder Flexy 11:4 -email-
Make,
this week has been very nice its getting a little cold for winter. but its nothing like utah winters but ya life is good. ya i’m glad she sent that photo. ya so this week was aweosme we had six investigators at church it was so nice to actually heve people come. i bought a swazi ring from a silversmith in Ezelwini it has the shape of africa on the one side and CTR on the other and it has braided elephant hair around it. its pretty fetching sweet!!!! ya this week we built a fire in our fireplace and i guess i didn’t get my eagle scout for nothin, i got this huge log on fire and it burned for a long time. ya me and my companion have mastered the art of staring dogs down, we will never be chased by dogs again. but ya life is good we are working hard to serve our best. oh ya i made it a goal that after i hit a year i will not mention anthing about going home, till the night before i go home. anyway life is great. love you.
Love Elder Flexy
Baba,
wow its kinda weird how everything just keeps going back home while you are on mission thanks for all the updates. are you still selling the truck? thats so wierd that all those guys are graduating from high school. oh ya
the other day i got a graduation announcment from Jessica V. the graduation anouncements were really cool this year i got a little trunky i won’t lie i miss High School sometimes but life is about the same as always we just keep pushing the work forward. love you
Love Elder Flexy
M,
well i’m glad you got your licence now we can all upgrade to battle tanks, so you can’t run us off the road. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA jk i’m sure your a good driver. but ya your gonna graduate from high school by the time i get home!!!! thats Lakker sis. but anyway life is refreshing as always and the work is going forward. two of our recent converts are now teachers in our branch its pretty cool they will make you teach primary if your lucky. love you
Love Elder Flexy
Sunday Best!
Moroni 7:41-42
41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. 42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.
————–
“Faith in Jesus Christ means believing that even though we do not understand all things, He does.”
-Ezra Taft Bensen
Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy
Family History Friday: Native American Research!
-Chief Hole in the Day-
You know how you hear stories about your ancestors, while growing up in your family? Have you heard a story about being related to a Native American?
I heard those stories, too!
It wasn’t until I was in my teens, that the story became more concrete. If you have heard this story, some things you will want to know in order to do research are:
- Do you have a name?
- Do you know when and where they lived? (a location will help you identify a tribe)
- Who was it in your family that said you had a Native American ancestor? Can you go talk to them and find out more?
If you don’t have much information and can’t ask for more information, you will just have to work you way back, starting with you, until you find them.
Sometimes it is just a story.
- Another important piece of information would be to know the tribe or nation the ancestor belonged.
There are 100’s of tribes. My ancestor came from the Great Lakes Region. Most of the records for my ancestor were found at the tribal agency.
If your ancestor was a member of what they call the
“Five Civilized Tribes”,
Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole, they ended up in Oklahoma. All tribes where not relocated and my be close to their original location. Even though my ancestors tribe was placed on a reservation, they remained in Minnesota. If your ancestor was in Oklahoma, there are some very helpful Federal records called the “Dawes Roles”. They are a good source for information. You can read about them here!
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy
Bloom Where You’re Planted!
Every experience helps us grow!
—————–
What if you have been misunderstood?
What if things in your life
don’t go according to what you had planned?
What if you are sick?
Or you lose something or
someone important to you?
What if it rains and rains, for days and days,
and there seems to be only dark clouds in the sky?
What if you try so hard to be a good person,
and it doesn’t seem to be enough?
—————
Have you ever heard the expression:
“Life is 10%
what happens to you
and 90% what
you do with
what happens to you!”
-anonymous
When life is a challenge:
1-Receive all things with thankfulness!
I recently had an issue with a tooth, that just about sent me over the edge. I can honestly say that the first thought that crossed my mind was, “This is good, now when I’m feeling better I will appreciate it so much more, than I would have if I wasn’t feeling miserable right now!”
2-Think of the challenge as a gift!
What is this gift?
What am I supposed to learn? What is the lesson?
I will learn and be better than I was. I will have greater knowledge and more love, if I think of the experience as a gift. God must think a lot of me, to give me this opportunity to grow!
I will thank God for the gift!
3-Pray for peace and patience,
as we pass through this challenge!
God is the sculptor, we are the clay! Sometimes it takes a
little while for us to learn what God is trying to teach us.
4-Be prepared to hear
what God is trying to tell us!
Sometimes we are so busy complaining about our situation, that we can’t hear. God will speak to us when we struggle and tell us what we need to learn and do to move on! Listen!!
5-Keep moving forward!
I heard a saying once, I don’t know who said it, but it went something like, “It came to pass, not it came to stay!” We need to remember to move forward, learn the lesson, thank God for the experience, and be a better person for going through it!
—————————
Bloom Where You’re Planted!!
Love, Joy
Totally "Fort Worth" It!
Hermana Kelsey 4:1 -email-
Mama,
Hola! Como esta? I hope you are doing great. That is so cool you went to the Logan temple. One of my goals when I get home is to do a session at every temple in Utah. I think that would be really cool. I heard about the rain that has been going on there. That’s crazy. We are actually in a drought here, but there have been a few good storms. I love the way it rains down here. It literally rains buckets. We get to take a shower in the middle of the day. It’s awesome! Although, we can’t just go back to our apartment and chill when it rains. We still have to do work and stuff. So that’s not so cool.
Jessica S. is getting married?! But she’s so young! Oh well. I guess that’s cool. I guess that works for some people. Who did Rebecca S. get married to? Keep letting me know when people get married. It’s fun to hear. 🙂
Anyway, in the next couple weeks we have a few baptismal dates. This one guy A__ has been investigating the church for like 2 1/2 years, and he is finally getting baptized on June 5th. We have a date for another guy names J___ (for June 12th), and a date for May 29th, with a guy named D___. I have only met him once, but he seems pretty legit. Also, we are trying to set a date with Luis, but he is kind of lazy and won’t come to church because soccer is more important to him. But hopefully D____ will be able to get baptized in May, because we fasted two weeks in a row so that all the companionships in our area could have a baptism in May.
We had a few new investigators at church this week. I was kind of surprised we had as many as we did, but it was cool. This one girl, Y____, came and that was surprising, because she kept telling us she was going to come for like the past 3 weeks, and she still hadn’t. But then she showed up. She also brought her brother, so that was good. He seems pretty cool too. I think she is actually starting to like us. But she also has the problem that most of the people we meet with have. They are either not married at all, or married to two people. It’s kind of ridiculous. Oh well.
I probably better go now. Love you lots. Thank you for your support! 🙂
Love, Hermana Kelsey
Papi,
That’s fun you are going to Bear Lake. We went to B.L.O.R.A. (Belton Lake Outdoor Recreational Area) for a branch activity last weekend. It was pretty fun, except we didn’t get to swim! Just kidding. It was a nice day though. The kids did all these fun activities, and they had a pinata. They sing this song while the kids are hitting the pinata that is in Spanish, and I don’t know it, but it tells the kids when their time is up. It was super cute and fun.
What on earth is Water World? I don’t think I even heard of that.
Anyway, I better go now. Love you!
Love, Hermana Kelsey
Emmysaurus Rex!
I’m sorry you are feeling sick. Hopefully you feel better soon so you can write me a letter. That would be really cool!! Anyway, how’s school? Did you get my last letter? I sent it a while ago, so if you didn’t get it, it probably is lost forever. But that’s okay. It wasn’t that important.
Well I have to go now! Bye!!
Love, Hermana Kelsey (your awesome seester!)
Howzit-Elder Flexy!
Elder Flexy 11:3 -email-
Make,
life is good transfers came and went and i’m staying so i will turn a year on mission only having two areas and four companions. but its all good plus i’m doing well i havent had to be a leader yet which is good. i like having less responsibilities. but ya all is well.
1 How was your week?
1.great we had a lot of member present lessons so it was good.
2 Did you have any teaching experiences that stood out?
2.um we had a very good lesson with this one sister she is so good and she understands.
3 Please tell how-
3.well the spirit was really strong and it was just nice.
4 How big is your area?
4.its pobably about from our house to the big ___ sign over the road.
5 Are you taking vitamins?
5.sometimes… ok not very often but i’m eating pretty healthy.
6 Have you eaten anything extra weird?
6.no, not for a while but i’ll let you know if i do.
7 What did you do for P-day?
7.well today we will play sports and help the Ezelweni guys clean there boarding.
Special question:
8 How do you learn to recognize the spirit?
8.well we learn a lot from the scriptures they tell us that it feels like peace, joy, love, long suffering, patience, and charity.
well thats it for now life is good. love you
Love Elder Flexy
Baba,
wow i miss bear lake that place is so fun. thats crazy that it rains so much. ya i miss the camping too. ya i saw that show water world with that crazy part where he drops the flare down the pipe and blows the whole place to smithereens!!!! ya that was a cool flick. but ya life is good. well i’m out of time love you dad.
Love Elder Flexy