Author: Angela

I write so my family will always have letters from home.

Small Plates

The Come Follow Me curriculum with teens has taught me the power of one or two insights each week. My job is not to cover everything, but to help them identify and remember the insights that come to their minds as they read. These insights and feelings are personal revelation, or what the Lord wants them to learn individually.

I had some wooden books and rings left over from a girls camp and our family used them to make “small plates”. We found art from the Come Follow Me manual to paste on the covers. As you see, not everyone participated in this craft activity. Typical! I could have just as easily bought simple notebooks. The papers are small, just a quarter sheet. As we read a chapter of the Book of Mormon aloud, we focus our attention on a topic from the manual and write down what we learn from reading. If our sons write one insight a week, this adds up to more than 50 insights a year for each of them. 50 pieces of instruction from the Holy Ghost. 50 helps from heaven. If we each write down one insight a week, we will have over 200 lessons gained as a family. Not that I am counting, or even looking at what they write. These are their sacred, small plates.

Reading as a family is a challenge. When we finally sit down to read after all kinds of contortions to make it happen, the family seems to lose all energy, and the dog becomes extra needy, distracting, and playful. It is during these times I call the little dog Satan and wish the teen years weren’t so tricky. But when I listen to the boys pray after we read, I hear their words of thanks for the time spent as a family. The sweetest advice I have been given is to LISTEN to what your teens say in their prayers. This is how they really feel.

This year we’re keeping our study small (focused) and simple (personal, in few words), trusting that great things will come of it. (Alma 37:6)

Not much to say but hello

Date night
Trying to stay warm
Sweethearts dance

Hello, friend! I have been so cooped up this week, hiding from the snow and working on the nest. I needed to make a path through the craft room so I could reach my sewing table. I *think* I am ready to put together a quilt. I am reading a long biography of George Washington and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I can see the floor of every room in the house but one. I am writing a lot. The Valentines Day decorations are up, and the pops of red on my shelves make me happier than any other color. See, not much to report. But I think of you and this makes me smile.

Thoughts on a Snow Day

The snow day, and its limitations and opportunities, has brought out different things in each of us. I pull into my familiar routines of comfort, warmth, and words. Richard makes gallant efforts every few hours to push the next 8-12″ off the driveway since the last pass. Tim has been gone since 5:45, earning money shoveling snow. Mark, feeling caged and frustrated, made toffee, then a gourmet lunch, and settled in for an afternoon of television. Whenever he surfaces, it is to complain how snow days seem like they will be great until they happen. Tim is driving our best snow vehicle, but we have no plans to go anywhere in this weather. I just watched the mail carrier’s truck fishtail out of the circle, despite chains on his wheels. No mail today. When storms like this come, it is often 24 hours before the plows can reach our home. 18″ of snow fell today. I will feel better when Tim makes it safely back to the driveway. I will make warm, starchy comfort food and keep alternating between two delicious books.

We had a video call with Daniel today, in a new area with a friend assigned as his new companion. Challenges include crime, no hot water, very high temperatures and no wind, and an empty area book. He smiles and smiles while telling me this, and I know he’s having the best time.

The Book of Mormon and Mental Health

This is a post about how I read the Book of Mormon and some things I am learning. I don’t think my way is better than your way, but it works for me.

For personal study, I try to read a certain amount of time each day. I focus on one topic as I make one complete reading of the Book of Mormon. I don’t mark my scriptures much, but I read with paper and pen in hand to take notes on the topic. I write on loose leaf paper, folded in my scriptures, and when I finish the Book of Mormon, I staple the note pages together and use the notes when I need them. My notes include quotes from the Book of Mormon, but more often, the notes expand beyond the words on the page and reflect what I think the Spirit is teaching me. Over the years, my topics have ranged from the gathering of Israel to qualities of the Savior, and strategies for facing family challenges to forgiving others, and more.

Currently, my focus is, “What does the Book of Mormon teach about mental health?” Holy hand cramps, Batman, there is a lot about mental health in 1 Nephi.

A few of the mental health tips I have gained this week from Nephi:

Keep a record of goodness in your life. (1 Nephi 1:1)

Acknowledge the goodness of your parents above their flaws. (1 Nephi 1:1)

Create things with your hands. (1 Nephi 1:17)

Show courage in your beliefs. (1 Nephi 1:18)

Find evidence that God delivers us and write about it. (1 Nephi 1:20)

Did he mention that murmuring is a bad idea? (everywhere)

Be community minded. It’s not all about you. (1 Nephi 1:5)

Understand you won’t always know what to do, but you can trust that the Spirit will lead you if you are obedient. Also, keep moving even if you don’t know how to proceed. (1 Nephi 4:6-7)

Understand that sometimes it’s necessary to go through really unpleasant things. The difficulty you are facing now may be essential, and may help countless others. (1 Nephi 4:13)

Identify when you have misplaced blame for your own crisis on a loved one, and identify poor logic in your thinking. Be humble, apologize, and share what you have learned. (1 Nephi 5:2-6)

Seek out your genealogy. It will fill you with the Spirit. (1 Nephi 5:14-17)

Search, make use of resources the Lord has provided to inform you and help you. Hint: they are not just the scriptures. (1 Nephi 5:21)

Create goals and value statements, identifying your righteous purposes and live by them. (1 Nephi 6:4-6)

Press forward through the mist, and hold on to your faith. (1 Nephi 8:24)

Nurture humility, practice awe in God’s greatness, and proclaim truth. (1 Nephi 10:8)

All of us have things to overcome, including mental health challenges, and God has prepared a way for each of us. (1 Nephi 10:18)

When you don’t understand something, or why something has happened, push forward in your mind the knowledge that God loves his children. (1 Nephi 11:17)

The Atonement of Christ is necessary in a journey to better mental health. Don’t forget that one fruit of the Atonement of Christ is joy. (1 Nephi 11:22-23)

Believe that angels minister to you, and prepare you for healing in Christ. (1 Nephi 11:30-31)

No one escapes mists in which the devil seeks to tempt, blind, and harden. No one escapes some degree of misery, but having an overriding perspective that good will triumph can be helpful. (1 Nephi 12:17-18)

We don’t draw up the contract of how we will be acceptable to God. Crippling perfectionism, and dependence on self mastery alone cannot save us. We must look to the words of Christ to know the terms by which he helps us and saves us. (1 Nephi 13:41)

I don’t think Nephi set out to write about mental health, and if you look up the references to what I have written, you will see that the scriptures that inspired these thoughts are not really about mental health. But that’s the beauty of the Book of Mormon. It is a means to receive revelation for what we need right now.

What have you learned from the Book of Mormon recently? It doesn’t have to be about mental health. Truly, I would love to hear from you.

Opera Night

My friend Anne invited me to join her at the Opera this week. This is what we saw. I especially loved the three-tiered set, the three leaders of men, and the scene in the snow where they sang about simple things of home. And the poppies.

Eagles

They did it, with so much help from so many people, they did it. There will be only one more post about Boy Scouts of America on this blog, and that will be when we hold their court of honor. But an Eagle rank will always stand for something great, and we are proud of our boys for persevering.

This is God’s Work, not Ours

There have been baptisms that took place on Daniel’s mission that he never told us about, and sometimes we piece together that he is a leader or training someone. He sent home a memory card of photos and we learned all kinds of things. He is not trying to be a tourist missionary, always remarking on the novelty of the people. I am glad of that. Some photos, such as this one, really grab my attention. He shared this photo with me to send to friends this week, and I have had more responses to this image than any other message he has shared.

He wrote,

“In these last few weeks it’s been made very clear that this is God’s work, not ours, and that there are people prepared to receive the gospel.


‘For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations … who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed’ (D&C 123:12,17).


‘For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.'” (2 Nephi 27:23)

Elder Ross

The ritual of reclaiming the house

The ski passes are back in use and school has begun. Slowly, in quiet minutes and hours, I retake territory lost over Christmas by wrappings, wedding packages, Eagle project donations, furniture swaps, gifts, and decorations. During the past three months, many things expired in the fridge without my notice, and the coat collection grew out of bounds again in the mudroom. We ran out of some staples in the food storage room. On Christmas Eve or so, Timothy cleaned out his closet and I told him to just plunk his castoffs down in the middle of the craft/wrapping/sewing/printing workshop for me to deal with later.

I had everyone’s help, friend, family, and fiance to set up Christmas, but this year, I have taken things down by myself. As I stow each light, ornament, and dish, I find order, but also an expensive gift that I had hidden and forgot to give, and more cleaning supplies that need to be donated ASAP. Never mind, the peace still seeps in with each room reclaimed.

I thought I would need a couple of days to recharge after the wedding, but as I helped during a stressful Stake baptism day last Saturday and ventured to a friend’s home this week, I see that I am not ready for my usual routines. I am still in need of the gentle cycle of rest, reading, comfort, and quiet. January was invented for just such needs as these.