October 4, 2006 – Saturday. The morning was filled with studying Indonesian and preparing for my PH lesson tomorrow. Our studying of Indonesian – we are working on prefixes – did not go so well. The rules for prefixes are difficult and we ended up with more questions than answers. But we will try again tomorrow and see if having a day to digest some of the information helps.
Preparing for my PH lesson went much better. On Thursday I was sure I knew what I was going to teach and had made a start on a lesson plan. However as I sat down this morning to flesh it out, I was prompted to change it completely. Instead of talking about D&C 50, I was impressed to share some of the things I learned from classes, books and the scriptures that have made major differences in my life. After making this decision things went well and I soon had most of the thoughts I wanted to share and then have discussed.
I finished with the preparation just when it was time for lunch. Mary was out doing grocery shopping for tonight’s gathering and so I sat down in front of the TV with my chicken and rice. As I looked through the list of recorded programs I felt that I should watch part of a conference session. When I hit the button for the Sunday afternoon session I found that I had stopped it just as Elder Packer was ending his talk.
To make a long story short, I listened to Elder Bednar and Elder Merrill’s talks. I found both of them spoke to things I needed to hear. Elder Bednar’s point was that we needed to take responsibility for our actions and not try to let others actions affect our relationship with God. Elder Merrill’s talk was about what we need to do to get the most out of church meetings. Both of these subjects are among those I was going to teach at Priesthood tomorrow. I took this to mean that I was in tune with the spirit as to the lesson plan.
We called Olivia this morning to wish her Happy Birthday and caught the family out having breakfast. Olivia really likes to talk on the telephone but I am afraid I am not often hearing what she is saying. But her excitement and sweet spirit comes through clearly.
We also called Steve to see if they were coming for Thanksgiving and found that they could not get it all together so they will not be here. We had a good talk about work and his trip to China. It sounds like he was busy every minute of the two weeks he was gone. Maybe the next time he goes to China he can take a quick trip down to Indonesia to say hello.
Bob and his family arrived about 4:00 and from then until about 8:00 we had a lovely gathering of family. The main entertainment before dinner was watching ‘Footloose.’ The grandchildren wanted to know why the film was so important to those who were young in the middle 80’s. I do not think I have ever watched it all the way through before.
Tamara and Andy, Daniel and Becky joined us for a family spaghetti dinner. After dinner a group of us played ‘Mexican Train.’ As usual I did not do well. A couple of times Tamara was one away from winning but skillful play by others kept it out of her grasp.
After everyone had left and we finished cleaning up, Mary and I watched ‘Numbers.’ Then I was ready for bed but spent some time writing email and looking at my lesson plan. Mary watched a couple of other of her favorites that had been recorded before we turned off the lights and headed for bed.
It was a good Saturday. I feel that I am getting closer to the spirit each day. I know that I will need to have Him close if I am to be effective on our mission.