“But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”
1 Samuel 30:6
David was in a pretty bleak situation, and people around him were grieved. “But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”
This is my personal scripture phrase of the week.
1. I can encourage myself, and not wait around for someone to fix things.
2. I can trust the Lord’s strength, not my own.
Last week, my favorite scripture phrase was,
“I perceive that ye are weak”
3 Nephi 17:2
The Lord does know that I am weak, but I find comfort in this: the same “weak” people who couldn’t understand all that the Lord had to share, Jesus also told them they had “great faith.” (3 Nephi 19:35)
I love when people are described by really different adjectives in the scriptures. Everyone has a lot of dimensions to their character, and the Lord understands this about us. He knows we are not perfect (complete) and being weak doesn’t mean we can’t have greatness in other areas. Being weak can also be the impetus for great faith.
I found this Etsy artist who makes cross stitch patterns of miniature masterpieces (2″x3″). I am addicted to these tiny projects. I think this activity helps me to go blank for a while, and just focus on counting and color. Do you sometimes need to go blank for a while, too?
We learned that Tim will be able to go to the mission to which he was originally assigned. He will leave Canada where he is currently serving and travel to the Micronesia Guam mission at the end of July. Covid restrictions in Micronesia have been the barrier to Tim being able to travel there. We had hoped that Tim could at least be in Guam for the new temple dedication, but it was not to be.
Here are a few facts about the Micronesia Guam mission that Tim shared in church before we learned he would be reassigned to the Canada Vancouver mission.
I’ve been called to the Micronesia Guam mission, speaking Tagalog. So for those of you who don’t know where Micronesia or Guam is, Micronesia is a group of islands about Papua New Guinea and east of the Philippines and Indonesia in the South Pacific Ocean. If anyone is still confused, I’ll allow you to pull our your phone and Google Earth it right now.
Here are some other fun facts I learned recently about my mission.
The Micronesia Guam mission is one of the largest geographic missions in the world, the majority of this area consisting of the ocean.
It is nearly 2000 miles from Palau to Kosrae, the farthest apart islands. For some scale, that’s farther than from here in Utah to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Missionaries serve on Guam, which is a US territory, Saipan, Tinaian, Rota, Palau, Yap, Chuuk, Fai Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae.
I’m speaking Tagalog, which comes from the Philippines. Missionaries also teach the gospel in English, Palauan, Pohnpeian, Kosrean, Yapese, Chuukese, Woleaian, and Kap in Gamar Angi. So a lot of languages I’ve never heard of and probably mispronounced.
The mission covers 3 different time zones. Currently, it is almost 4 o’clock tomorrow morning in Guam. 17 hours ahead of our time.
Dress code for the mission does not include suits due to the tropical climate year round. In addition to normal dress shoes, missionaries are also allowed to wear sandals, so the other day I picked up some Crocs. Now, I don’t know if I would have believed you if you told me a couple years ago that I’d one day be preaching the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ in a pair of Crocs, but here we are.
All in all, I’m very excited to go out and serve the people and the Lord.
Elder Timothy Ross, November 14, 2021
I wrote this post about my thoughts about missionaries in the isles of the sea a few months ago. I am grateful that so many prayers of so many people have been answered, allowing missionaries to serve.
I keep a running book list on this blog (see the sidebar), mostly for me. I realize I am not exceptional in my reading, and I tend to forget titles, so the list is a good reminder of where I have been. If you’re on a mobile device, you can find my book lists in the drop-down menu.
I have read a lot of good things this year, and enjoy talking about books. I don’t know many people with a similar taste in books, and hope that if you find something that you enjoy from one of my lists that you will let me know.
I haven’t finished this book in the picture, but I can recommend it. Three words to describe it are Poignant, Real, and Snarky (when necessary).
Art like this brings back memories of hearing these stories for the first time in the 1970’s from records and my mom reading from the illustrated Children’s Bible.
The story of Gideon is my favorite in the book of Judges. When I taught seminary, I remember shocking my early morning students by smashing a clay pot in my living room where we met, just like Gideon’s army smashed their pitchers. With trumpets, shattering pottery, lights, and voices, Gideon’s 300-man army surprised the host of sleeping enemies, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” and their enemy was destroyed. This might have been the only day my students left seminary more awake than when they arrived, except maybe the day we cast “stones” at a life-sized mural of Goliath.
This week as I studied Gideon’s story, I focused on two contrasting verses during the exchange between the angel of the Lord and Gideon about his call to deliver Israel, verses 12 and 15.
The Lord sees Gideon as a mighty man of valor, while Gideon sees himself as poor and unimportant. Pretty much my only takeaway this week from Bible study is enough: God knows who we truly are, who we were before we came to earth, and who we can become. He sends messengers to remind us that He is with us.
I have had a few messengers in my life who have helped me live with courage. One was a friend named Jody who told me that I had the capacity to homeschool my kids. Bishops and stake presidencies have also been messengers of the Lord’s confidence in me, and reminded me that the Lord would be with me. Perhaps the most common messengers are the people who trust me to listen to them and help them. When a friend opens her heart to me, I see this is as a call to valor. Today, we help rescue Israel one by one
When Mark helps me decorate the kitchen for summer, we tend toward maximalism.
This cold week, I feel more like making a cozy beef stew than anything else. Truly, that’s on the menu tonight. So weird. We decorated for summer, despite the snow and nonsense. Summer decorations in the kitchen signal good times ahead.
One evening last week, Mark and Richard worked to set up our new entertainment center downstairs. Mark wouldn’t let me come down until it was all complete, wires hidden and pieces all in place.
Mark designed and made this piece in woodshop this year. He enjoys working with wood so much that he deferred Drivers Ed to be in this woods class. (He’s taking Drivers Ed this summer.) He agonized over the details and specifications of his design throughout the year, and now he can enjoy his project every day.
I am doing a little quilt work each day this week. I have set up my sewing station in the kitchen so I can come and go easily, or sew a few seams while I wait for something to cook. This strategy is working, and the blocks are stacking up.
This blog is the tiniest window into what I do and think. You certainly won’t learn about my stance on current events here. I hope that is refreshing.
Richard and I spent time in Salt Lake City to celebrate our anniversary. The hills north of downtown were verdant and vibrant. These hills are usually straw yellow, but the grasses were young and bright.
The high school flags line the front of the school, the last concerts are over, and a new class graduates this week. Time is so compressed for me lately, it doesn’t feel like a year since Tim graduated. But then again, our lives are so different now, that time must have carried us to this new place. We certainly haven’t arrived at this end of another school year by any conscious, overriding plan of our own. We just kept working and kept moving, and here we are.
Here is an important quote I keep using as I see complexities in how to balance love of God and love of neighbor (thanks to my mom for this one),
“Ignoring the first commandment, or reversing the order of the first and second commandments, risks a loss of balance in life and destructive deviations from the path of happiness and truth. Love of God and submission to Him provide checks against our tendency to corrupt virtues by pushing them to the extreme. Compassion for our neighbor’s distress, for example, even when the suffering is brought about by his or her own transgression, is noble and good. But an unbridled compassion could lead us, … to question God’s justice and misunderstand His mercy.
“There are those, for example, who believe that loving others means we must twist or ignore God’s laws in a way or ways that advocate or condone sin.” (Christofferson, The First Commandment First, 2022 BYU Devotional)
I work in the yard each day, trying to reclaim sections of neglected areas. It’s so satisfying. Dirt outside and thread and fabric inside are my materials for work lately. In June, I will move to paint as my medium, as we cover more surfaces in my grand plan (many years old) to repaint every inch of the house.
Someone asked me what we are doing this summer. A wedding. Two family reunions. Drivers Ed. A trip to Yellowstone. High Adventure. Pioneer Trek. These are big events, and this is my last morning with Mark at school for a little while. I just keep moving and keep working, and here we are.
