Happy 35th birthday to Hiram
on the 7th! Papa Josh turns 65 on the 11th!
Dear Family and Friends,
One of the delightful blessings of the mission president’s
wife having been a 2nd grade teacher is she got all the
missionaries up and singing “I Want to be Happy.” Zone Conference this week was
great fun! Just watch the first three minutes of the video—you’ll love
it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poL1R3aRVSM Before I tell about our week,
there’s one more link I want to share. I enjoy reading the weekly articles
from The Interpreter Journal, written by Mormon scholars. This one,
called “Unveiling Women’s Veils of Authority,” is one of my favorites—it
clarifies that today’s western culture sees a woman covering her head as
subjugation whereas the early church saw the veil as a sign of power and
authority. Here’s just a bit from the Abstract: The
Apostle Paul’s theological explanation for female veil wearing (1 Corinthians
11:2–13) highlights the woman’s head covering as an expression of female
empowerment or “authority/exousia.” . . .Paul
described this empowering veil as a sign of unique female authority to pray and
prophesy (1 Corinthians 11:5). By covering her head, female saints received
“power on her head” and could interact with angels (1 Corinthians
11:10). http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/unveiling-womens-veils-of-authority/
We spent Monday and Wednesday traveling to and
from Birmingham, but spent all of Tuesday with Hiram and his family. He took a
vacation day and we dropped the kids at school, visited Heavenly Donuts, spent
time with the kids after school (including Joe and Lindsay dancing in the
garage), finished the sheetrock in their new room, and enjoyed dinner at Shrimp
Basket. The ordination and then setting apart was a special occasion for us
all, and we were truly blessed to be there. After Josh ordained his son a high
priest, the member of the stake presidency quietly said, “We just heard Lehi
blessing Nephi.” In the setting apart as second counselor in the bishopric I
was reminded that high priests are teachers, just as the Savior was a teacher.
Their little family will continue to receive blessings because of their
faithful service.
During bedtime scriptures with Hiram’s family,
their scripture reader provides definitions for tough words. When he came to
“large in stature,” James read the definition not as “physically large” but as
“prehistorical big as a dinosaur,” which made us all laugh. Before they crawled
in bed James said he wanted to give Grandma a “prehistorical hug.” Biggest hug
I’ve ever had!
Thursday was Zone Conference and then Saturday
was a baptism, Josh interviewed a sister for baptism, and then we drove to
Craig (2.5 hours away). From west to east it takes five hours to travel the
width of the Craig Stake, so going to stake conference becomes quite an event
and a commitment—many families stay the night. The stake was just formed in
October 2017 so this was their first conference as a stake. Josh trained the
ward mission leaders from 4-5 pm and then we spoke at the evening meeting from
6-8 pm. The Stake Clerk is a Crookston from Pocatello—his grandfather and my
grandfather were brothers.
Family news: Jess sent us a Marco Polo video
showing Rexburg’s weekend snowfall! Matt’s team had a heartbreaking loss in the
state basketball semifinals. We saw a cute video from Kai’s ball game. Ivory is
sitting up but Livi has been sick and out of school. Kufelds are planning the
reunion to Steamboat Springs. Haleigh had to visit the chiropractor four times
this week but she’s now in Cancun enjoying Spring Break. Hiram did his first
setting aparts today. James and Suzanne are going to Manchester England!
We heard many powerful stories this weekend, but
I’ll just share one. A man almost bounded up to the podium after stake
conference ended and said, “I just want to thank you for the good job the
sisters are doing. They are just what my wife needed and she was baptized 6
months ago. And today I was rebaptized after 15 years!” He radiated happiness
and his eyes glistened with tears. He also told us about a tender mercy for one
of the young sisters. Bro. R. and Sister H. are both from Longmont, California.
When they called Brother R.’s elderly father after the baptism and told him the
names of the sisters who had taught his son, and mentioned that one of them was
from their hometown, the father recognized the name. Many years ago three
children went into a nearby river. Sister H.’s grandmother went into the river
after them and she and one child didn’t come out. Bro. R.’s elderly father was
one of the men who searched the river for a week to recover the bodies. Sister
H.’s grandmother died before she was born, but today a struggling sister
missionary learned why she was transferred to Craig and that the grandmother
she never met is watching over her.
“Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing.
Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.” Jeffrey
R. Holland
Have a wonderful week! Sure do love ya,
Karen/MOM
