Seek Learning, You Have A Work To Do

This was a lesson that I taught in 2012.  I felt impressed to read many of the referenced articles at the end of the article that we will be learning from today.  The name of the article that we will be looking at is “Seek Learning:  You Have a Work to Do” by Mary N. Cook.  Mary N. Cook was the First Counsellor in the Young Women’s General Presidency.  In this article, she is talking to the young women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints about getting an education.

It may seem inappropriate for us to be discussing this article, however, the same principles apply to us no matter our age or living circumstances.

Let’s look at the Standards for Youth.  They have been republished in 2011 and can be found on LDS.org.

Read page 9 “Education is an important part of Heavenly Father’s plan to help you become more like Him.  He wants you to educate your mind and to develop your skills and talents, your power to act well in your responsibilities, and your capacity to appreciate life.  The education you gain will be valuable to you during mortality and in the life to come.

Education will prepare you for greater service in the world and in the Church.  It will help you better provide for yourself, your family, and those in need.  It will also help you be a wise counsellor and companion to your future spouse and an informed and effective teacher of your future children.

Education is an investment that brings great rewards and will open the doors of opportunity that may otherwise be closed to you.  Plan now to obtain an education.  Be willing to work diligently and make sacrifices if necessary. Share your educational goals with your family, friends, and leaders so they can support and encourage you.

Maintain an enthusiasm for learning throughout your life.  Find joy in continuing to learn and in expanding your interests.  Choose to actively participate in the learning opportunities available to you.

Your education should include spiritual learning.  Study the scriptures and the words of the latter-day prophets.  Participate in seminary and institute.  Continue throughout your life to learn about Heavenly Father’s plan.  This spiritual learning will help you find answers to the challenges of life and will invite the companionship of the Holy Ghost.”

As we read this, we should ask ourselves, how can I relate to this standard?  What can I do to gain more education?  Hopefully, by the end of the lesson, we will each have some ideas.

Mary Cook does provide some ideas that we will discover as we discuss this article.

 

One of the first things that Ms Cook says is (paragraph 1 page 120) “We see you courageously arising and shining forth with light in a world where great challenges accompany great opportunities.  This may cause you to wonder, what does the future hold for me?”  This same statement can apply to us.  There is no reason why we can’t apply what Ms Cook says about the youth.  After all, older people have challenges and opportunities, too.  The only difference is that older people have certain experiences that the young people have not had the opportunity to have.  Every time that Gordon comes home and tells me about something happening at work, I wonder about where we will be, when will we be going and what does the Lord want me to accomplish.  Just because we are older does not mean that Heavenly Father doesn’t have anything for us to do.

The next paragraph is interesting.  It reads “God gave you moral agency and the opportunity to learn while on earth, and He has a work for you to do.  To accomplish this work, you have an individual responsibility to seek learning.”

That still applies to us.  All women have this responsibility as well.  Why do we need education? 

There are a number of reasons why we need education:

1.  “Education will open the doors of opportunity.  As you follow the Lord’s admonition to ‘See learning, even by study and also by faith’ you gain not only knowledge from your study but added light as you learn by faith.  President Gordon B. Hinckley said “The pattern of study you establish during your formal schooling will in large affect your lifelong thirst for knowledge.  You must get all of the education that you possibly can. Sacrifice anything that is needed to be sacrificed to qualify yourselves to do the work of this world.  Train your minds and hands to become an influence for good as you go forward with your lives.” 
2. President Thomas S. Monson said: “Often the future is unknown; therefore, it behoves us to prepare for uncertainties.  I urge you to pursue your education and learn marketable skills so that, should such a situation arise, you are prepared to provide.”
3. “Gaining knowledge now will pay huge dividends when you become a mother.  ‘A mother’s education level has a profound influence on the educational choices of her children.’  A mother’s education can hold the ‘key to halt the poverty cycle.’”
4. Educated mothers tend to:  give birth to healthier babies, have children who are healthier, be more confident, resilient and have improved reasoning and judgement.
5. In “The Family:  A Proclamation to the World”, it states:  mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.  Providing an education for your children is part of that nurturing.  Mothers will be the most important teacher that children will ever have.

We’ve now looked at the reasons why we should get an education.  The most important reason has not yet been mentioned.  We have been taught that whatever intelligence that we have gained while in this earthly state, we will be able to take it with us into the eternities.

What kind of education should I be looking at?  That answer depends on you, your inclinations, and your talents.  There are different kinds of education, spiritual, intellectual, physical.

How can we get the education that we desire?  What if I don’t have much money?

Sister Cook has mentioned some of the ways that she has gained education in different situations.  Surrounding yourself with exemplary women who can teach you skills in homemaking, art, music, family history, sports, writing, or speaking.  As them to mentor you.  Any time that you have something that you want to learn, find someone who knows how to do it and ask them to help you.  That is what mentoring is all about, someone taking the time to teach you something until you are comfortable doing it on your own.  Then share your new skill.

You can return to school to learn knowledge and skills.  Many colleges run a Continuing Education department for their local communities.  You will have the opportunity to learn almost anything you want from computer skills to cake decorating and woodworking.  They can incorporate this into a certificate or diploma program. 

While we need to make sure of our job skills, we cannot forget another facet of our lives.  We also need to continue our education in the Gospel.  Ms Cook says: “Seek learning by faith.  We learn by faith as we diligently gain spiritual knowledge through prayer, scripture study, and obedience and as we seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost, who testifies of all truth.  If you do your part to gain knowledge, the Holy Ghost can enlighten your mind.  As you strive to keep yourself worthy, the Holy Ghost will give direction and added light to your learning.”

Ms Cook goes on to compare the parable of the ten virgins to gaining an education.  She said, “You may think it selfish that the five wise virgins did not share their oil, but it was impossible.  Spiritual preparation must be acquired individually, drop by drop, and cannot be shared.  The time is now for you to diligently apply yourselves to increasing your spiritual knowledge – drop by drop – through prayer, scripture study, and obedience.  The time is now to pursue your education – drop by drop.”

We never know what the Lord has planned for us.  We may make our plans, but we will find that they can be changed in an instance.  Thomas S. Monson spoke in a General Relief Society meeting in September of 2004.  He talked about a sister who could not read a word when she joined the Church.  The sisters of her ward took the time and taught her to read.  She then went on to help others to learn how to read and write.

 

The other thing that President Monson taught in that meeting was that if you are prepared, you shall not fear.

President Eyring spoke at the 75^th anniversary of the Institute of Religion program in 2001.  He gave the history of some of the educational opportunities that the saints in the early 1800’s had.  He went on to say: “It is clear that our first priority should go to spiritual learning.  For us, reading the scriptures would come before reading history books.  Prayer would come before memorizing those Spanish verbs.  A temple recommend would be worth more to us than standing first in our graduating class.  But it is also clear that spiritual learning would not replace our drive for secular learning. 

The Lord clearly values what you will find in that history book and in a text on political theory.  Remember His words.  He wants you to know ‘things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly com to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations.’ And further he said, “you remember that His educational charter requires that we have “a knowledge also of counties and of kingdoms.  There is also an endorsement for questions we study in the sciences.  It is clear that putting spiritual learning first does not relieve us from learning secular things.  On the contrary, it gives our secular learning purpose and motivates us to work harder at it.”

We as older women in the Church need to have knowledge of these standards as much as the young women.  We have potential to do great things.  This last part applies especially to us as well as the young: “No service that matters can be given over a lifetime by those who stop learning.  A great teacher is always studying.  Our education must never stop.  If it ends at the door of the classroom on graduation day, we will fail.  And since what we will need to know is hard to discern, we need the help of heaven to know which of the myriad things we could study we would most wisely learn.  It also means that we cannot waste time entertaining ourselves when we have the chance to read or to listen to whatever will help us learn what is true and useful.  Insatiable curiosity will be our hallmark.”

As to our busyness, President Eyring said “The Lord loves you and watches over you.  He is all-powerful, and He promised you this: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

I would like to close with “The real life we’re preparing for is eternal life.  Secular knowledge has for us eternal significance.  Our conviction is that God, our Heavenly Father, wants us to live the life that He does.  We learn both the spiritual things and the secular things ‘so we may one day create worlds and people and govern them.’  All we can learn that is true while we are in this life will rise with us in the Resurrection.  And all that we can learn will enhance our capacity to serve.    That is a destiny reserved not alone for the brilliant, those who learn the most quickly, or those who enter the most respected professions.  It will be given to those who are humbly good, who love God, and who serve Him with all their capacities, however limited those capacities are – as are all our capacities, compared with the capacities of God.”  President Eyring.

Life Happens

In March of 2015, it seemed as if life did not want to co-operate with me. As many of you may be aware, last year I was taking courses that, upon completion, I would then be able to use the new skills in a situation of employment. I completed the courses in December and in late January, began my search for the very elusive ideal position.

At the beginning of March, I took my laptop in for a minor tune up and a repair to one of my USB ports that was not working. Because I wanted the laptop back as soon as possible, the repair department sent the laptop to Toronto for the work to be completed. At the end of a full week, I received a phone call stating that my laptop could not be repaired and that they were sending me an in-store credit that could be used against a new laptop. This happened because of the fact that I had extended warranty on my laptop. I was not given a choice in the matter.

I did get a new laptop but it took time for the credit to come through, so in the meantime, I was stuck using my netbook which is now extremely slow. The credit came through and I was able to get the laptop that I wanted.

However, there were problems. I made an error while setting up one of my programs and could not correct the problem. I finally contacted the Microsoft tech through their chat. It turned out that the problem I was facing was caused by malware. It took 4 full working days spread over a week, 3 levels of technicians and a reset of Windows before my laptop was working properly.

From this, I learned that I will leave any new computers with the techs to do the updates and check everything out to make sure that there will be no problems. This experience caused me a number of headaches as I believe that the opportunity for a particular employment was lost because I had to do the testing on my netbook.

Now, my laptop is working well and I am starting to really like it. It is up-to-date as is some of the software that I use and it lets me do things that I couldn’t do before. There is a learning curve to it. I have had some frustrations with the learning curve but it’s now just a matter of learning the new technology and remembering where things are.

You might just say that about family history. The technology that we can now access to research our ancestors is so advanced from when some of us started in the 70s and 80s. Then, we had to wait up to 3 months for answers. Granted, we don’t always get the answers fast, but we can learn more about our ancestors than we ever could.

I learned yesterday that the British government has just passed the Deregulation Act which means that we will be able to get that information from those certificates that we need at a much lower price without having to purchase the certificates. This will prove to be a huge bonus for us.

I am still looking for that elusive employment, but I know that I will find something that will help me to continue to work on my own family history as well as help others as I have over the past 4 years. The Man Above will bless me as He has in the past and I will be able to help others share in the same blessing.

Good, Better, Best

This is based on a talk given by Elder Dallin H Oaks in General Conference, October 2007.  The title of the talk was Good, Better, Best.  It took me a bit of time to find it, because, when I went to look for it, I thought that President Uchtdorf had given the talk more recently. All of the quotes were taken from this talk or the Scriptures.

Elder Oaks’ presentation was set up in four sections, each section building upon the previous one.  I am not going to attempt to cover all the sections but feel that I should concentrate on the first two sections. 

Elder Oaks began by stating, “We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it.  The number of good things we can do far exceed the time available to accomplish them.  Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.” (end quote)

He goes on to state that Jesus Christ taught this principle when Martha complained that Mary needed to be helping her rather than listening to what the Saviour had to say.  The Saviour’s answer can be found in Luke 10 verse 41 and 42.  Elder Oaks stated that “it was praiseworthy for Martha to be ‘careful and troubled about many things’, but learning the gospel from the Master Teacher was more ‘needful’.” 

In essence, we need to be able to recognize the good works that can be done, and we need to learn to set our priorities so that we are able to discern which of our possible activities are better suited to lead us towards our salvation.  This pertains to almost every aspect of our lives, work, recreation, family time, and learning.  “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom”, Doctrine and Covenants 88 verse 118.

I would like to spend some time speaking with regards to choices concerning family and personal activities. 

We are living in a time that, quite often, both parents must work outside of the home in order to provide some of the necessities of life.  With the cost of child care, sometimes it is not cost effective to do this when your family is large.  I understand this as I was a single parent and the sole wage earner for a number of years and, when I began in this situation, my sons were too young to be left on their own.  I had to be extremely careful on how the money was spent and the activities that we could do.  I wanted to be sure that I raised my children so that they would want the Gospel as part of their lives.  I’m not saying that my choices were the best ones, I did make mistakes.  I can say that, at the time of the choices, I thought that I was doing the right thing. 

Elder Oakes pointed out that “in choosing how we spend time as a family, we should be careful not to exhaust our available time on things that are merely good and leave little time for that which is better or best.” (end quote)  Annual vacations are fine, but the youth remember the time that you spend with them on a one-on-one basis more than the trips.  The youth and children want to spend time with you and want you to show them the love that you feel for them.

One of the things that I noticed that my sister did with her children was to schedule their time, especially when they were quite young.  It seemed as if they had a different activity almost every day of the week.  It was nice that she could afford to do this, but they had no free time.  They just couldn’t go outside to play.  As they grew older, my nephew became involved with hockey and, consequently, even family activities, such as the annual Christmas get together, were affected.  I can sit down with my niece and feel that she cannot imagine doing anything different than what her friends are doing.  I feel that she did not have a chance to develop her imagination to a great degree.  Don’t get me wrong, it is good to have some structure for the children, such as music or another appropriate activity, but family time activities should not be sacrificed to individual over-scheduling. 

Elder Oaks pointed out that “the amount of children-and-parent time absorbed in the good activities of private lessons, team sports, and other school and club activities also needs to be carefully regulated.  Otherwise, children will be overscheduled, and parents will be frazzled and frustrated.  Parents should act to preserve time for family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, and the other precious togetherness and individual on-on-one time that binds a family together and fixes children’s values on things of eternal worth.  Parents should teach gospel priorities through what they do with their children.” (end quote)

Whenever I look back at the time that I was growing up, I can think of the times that I have discovered how to accomplish my objectives based on the practices that my parents observed.  Almost every day, we were sent out to play and, as long as we let our parents know where we were and were back at the time stipulated, we lead healthy and relatively happy lives, depending on our home lives.  We knew that, if we did something wrong, we would be in trouble with our parents as well as the parents of the other children involved.  We knew that we would have to pay the price.  We also learned that if we were honest about our activities, any punishments would be less than if we were not honest.  In essence, we learned that yes, we would pay the consequences, but if we told the truth, the consequences would not be as severe.  As an example of this, my sister and I were playing a modified sport in our backyard when we were in our early teens.  We accidently broke a pane in the greenhouse next door.  We immediately went to our neighbour and confessed about the accident and offered to pay for it.  All that we asked was that our parents were not told about it.  The neighbour would not take any money from us.  Several years later, we found out that our neighbour did tell our parents, but they chose not to discuss it with us because we had done the right thing.

Children need free time to discover the world around them.  That does not mean that there should not be any consequences for making what they know to be bad choices.  They also need to have family time for the guidance that parents can and must provide. 

Another good choice that parents can make is to have meals together and discuss each person’s day’s activities.  This gives the children a chance to give an accounting of their activities in an atmosphere of loving regard.  Elder Oakes also provides the results that studies revealed of the development of children academically, psychologically, and keeping their lives free of smoking, drinking and drug use.

For most of the remainder of this talk, I would like to read Elder Oakes’ words directly:

“President Gordon B. Hinckley has pleaded that we ‘work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it.’

  He continued:  ‘I ask you men, particularly, to pause and take stock of yourselves as husbands and fathers and heads of household.  Pray for guidance, for help, for direction, and then follow the whisperings of the Spirit to guide you in the most serious of all responsibilities, for the consequences of your leadership in your home will be eternal and everlasting.’

The First Presidency has called on parents ‘to devote their best efforts to the teaching and rearing of their children in gospel principles…The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other instrumentality can take its place … in …this God-given responsibility.’  The First Presidency has declared that however worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform.’”

I sincerely pray that all hear may take these words into their hearts.  Read the entire talk by Elder Oakes and pray about what you take away today from this post and listen for the Spirit to guide you in your choices.  Remember, there are many good things to choose from.  Let the Spirit guide you to the better and best things for you and your families to be lead to salvation. 

Learning a Skill - Fun or What?

Have you ever wanted to learn a new skill either for fun or for employment purposes? Some skills just take some simple explanations and practice, where others take weeks, months, or even years to learn.

Today, I went back to the old memory bank to see if I could pull up the information on how to quilt. I had worked briefly on a quilt many, many years ago and did not take the opportunity of fine tuning any ability. Now, as I was growing up, I had learned how to embroider and do some hand sewing. When I was fifteen years old, I had the ability of doing a repair of a seam by hand and could completely hide my stitches. It almost looked like I had done the repairs on a sewing machine. My mother could not believe her eyes and was never able to do as well.

I had also learned to embroider and use an embroidery hoop at an early age. I think that I was about nine or ten at the time. Both my sister and I had been given samplers for Christmas. Once I had completed the sampler, I went on to embroidering pillow cases and table runners. My needle work was not too shabby if I say so myself.

Today, I did not learn a new skill. Rather, I pulled from my memory and retaught myself about quilting. A group of us were making quilted potholders as a learning project as one of our group who was not present wanted to learn how to quilt. Unfortunately, this other person was not feeling very well today.

Henriette had learned how to quilt from her grandmother, but she did not realize what we meant by quilting. Henriette’s mother language is French and she only learned English about ten years ago. She is still learning the English words for different things. The other thing about Henriette is that she is a beautiful seamstress. She can do almost anything when it comes to making something using a sewing machine or needle and thread. She worked away at her potholder, stopping only to have some lunch and then final cleanup before going home.

Samantha did very well, too. She didn’t know how to set up for her potholder and, so, she waited until I did the step and followed what I had done. She also worked away at hers and I think that she may have completed two before heading for home. She had to just put the finishing touches on.

Because we were making potholders, we did not need a quilting frame. We were able to use embroidery hoops to keep the 2 layers of material with the quilting bat in between tight so that we could hand stitch it. Cathy and Donna just wanted to watch and basically visit.  We had a good day, sharing friendship, knowledge, food, and fun.

As for me, I didn’t even get mine half done. But, because I figured that we wouldn’t get them completed, I was already mentally prepared to take any time watching TV to include working on this simple project. When I started stitching, I couldn’t quite remember what kind of stitch should be used. After about half a dozen stitches, I realized what stitch I needed. My work is sloppy to begin with, but as the time passed, I did get better with it.

Next month, when we get together, we will still be quilting, but we will be starting a service project to make lap quilts for the local hospitals. These quilts will not be done the same way. We will be making tied quilts for this project so that we can get a number of them done quickly. Later on, we can do a piece quilt, set up a quilting frame, and quilt to make a special gift for someone. Don’t know who yet, but the name of the person will come.

I have always enjoyed learning new skills. Now, I am learning the joy of relearning the skills and the companionship and fun that can come with it.

An Important Member of Our Family

Let me introduce you to DT. Usually, DT has a very good disposition. He takes care of most of his own grooming. He has his favourite things to eat. He drinks lots of water. He makes sure that he exercises. He gets lots of sleep. DT is in relatively good shape.

However, there are times when he is quite insistent. If he decides that he wants to go out, he will talk to whomever will listen to him. If he is ignored while in this mood, he can become quite belligerent in his tone of voice. If he feels that someone has done wrong to him, he will try to get back at them by doing things that he knows he shouldn’t.

DT is quite nosey. He likes to think that he is the center of the universe. If you are sweeping the floor, he will sit there watching every move you make. If he thinks that you will be working right where he is, he will move but he will position himself so that he can see what you are doing.

DT also has a sense of time. He knows when it is time for breakfast. He does his best to wait patiently for it, but, sometimes, he will try to make the process go a little faster through talking out quite loudly. Most of the time, though, he will check to see how soon breakfast is, and then go wait for it in another room. Once you have given him his breakfast, he will eat very fast and then try to muscle more. He has gotten into trouble for that muscling lately. If he hears you getting your own breakfast and feels that he is still hungry, he will come to see if you will give him more. He loves to drink Coconut Dream. But, sometimes, he will come to see what you are doing but doesn’t really want anything more. If you give him some Coconut Dream at this time, he will look at it for a minute and, if he decides that he doesn’t want it, he will just walk away.

If supper smells very interesting, he will hang around until either he gets a taste, or get sent away. Sometimes, you can offer him some of it and he will decide that he doesn’t really want it. Most of the time, however, he loves to clean up the scraps. He loves it when we have visitors in for dinner. He does have to be told not to mooch food, though.

DT loves to tease. He likes to be teased and played with and will play games with whomever will play with him. He loves to play laser tag.

One of the things that he loves to do is to snuggle up with someone and stretch out while snuggling. He loves to show affection as well as receive it. He will actually go to sleep while snuggling.

DT has a wide range of facial expressions. He can look very curious with his eyes going big, very annoyed with his eyes going practically into slits, very innocent with his eyes going extremely big (used a lot when he is guilty), and all the ranges in between. He will even look at my husband as if to say, “What world is she from?”.

When DT hears our vehicles coming into the drive, he will first look towards the door and then go running to the door when he hears the footsteps. He wants to be the first to greet whoever is coming to the door.

So, please, meet DT, otherwise known as Diamond Trouble or I occasionally call him Double Trouble, one of our cats. DT is a true tabby of golden and dark brown fur in a circular pattern with a patch of fur over each eye that is golden in colour and outlined in the dark brown in a diamond pattern. He has been with us for over ten years and knows that if he wants to go outside that he has to have a leash on. If he wants to go out and the leash is within his reach, he will actually drag it for about seven-eighths of the way to us. He has even started trying to play with the broom when I am sweeping. He will watch me using the vacuum cleaner but will run if I try to get the nozzle too close for comfort.

All in all, DT is a joy to live with except for the occasional misbehaviour.

My Life's Work and Life's Necessities

I wrote this article in October of 2014. It is now April of 2016 and we no longer live in the Ottawa Valley, but in Gander, Newfoundland. I completed the work for a certificate in Medical Transcription in December of 2014 and received my certificate a couple of months later.

It’s a drizzly day in October and I am sitting at my desk wondering what I should write about. I should have finished working on the Timberline over a week ago. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, my schedule for the last two weeks seemed to fly out of the window.

This year has been an extremely busy for me and it is not quite finished. Since January, I have been working on a certificate in Medical Transcription and I will be finished in December. I have been working online at home for all of the courses, nine in all. The reason that I have been doing this is that Veterans Affairs decided last year that it was time for me to prepare to return to full employment outside of my home. Since they are providing an income for me and were willing to pay for the education upgrading, I was obliged to cooperate.  Thus far, it had not interfered with the publication of the Timberline. I do not anticipate any other problems with working on the Timberline.

Other people have had to do similar. It’s just disappointing that I do not have the credentials to be able to work in the genealogy field. Maybe, someday I will have those credentials. It will take time, money and effort on my part in order to accomplish this. Right now, I have the interest in doing this but I don’t feel that this is the right time. I have said before that everything happens for a reason. I don’t presently know why I was to prepare for employment in the medical field. However, I know that when the time is right, I will know the reason. It might be as simple as eventually being able obtain a position with an online company and working from home. It could just as well be that there is someone out there somewhere that I will be able to either help, or influence in a positive way and this is the route that I need to take in order to do this.

My time in the Ottawa Valley is not finished yet. It may be that there is still work that I need to do here. It is my firm belief that I will be here until the right time comes that we are to move, whether it is because my husband needs to be in another location, or I have completed the work that I was to do.

I believe that family history is a major part of the reason why we came to the Ottawa Valley in the first place. If I had been in the Niagara Region when I retired from the Military, I may not have learned what health problems that I have. I may not have been at home as long as I have been. Being here has given me the opportunity to start to learn how to research thoroughly for my ancestors. It has also given me the opportunity to visit Lanark County looking for records on the family that four years ago I knew next to nothing about. I have also learned that I have a rich French Canadian heritage that I have just begun to research. Come the new year, I will need to learn to fit family history around the future employment schedule that I will have.

I still want to do the day trips to find the records that I need, but I will need to take my future employment into consideration. I will also need to learn to balance employment, family history responsibilities, church responsibilities, and personal downtime in a manner that allows me the most flexibility.

I enjoy working on my family history. It is refreshing to me that when my brother asks whether I have found anything new, I can say, “Yes”, and then be able to let him know what it is that I have found. It is my life’s work that I am doing when I work on family history. The employment will give me the financial ability to do so.

In this article, I mentioned about the purpose of our time in the Ottawa Valley. I would like to emphasis that EVERYTHING happens for a reason. We may not know what the reason was until much later in life. Sometimes, things happen for a number of reasons. For example, our move to Newfoundland was for more than one reason. There are records in St John’s that I need to access for my family history. I have a number of mariners in my family history and these records will explain things that happened. 

The second reason was that my husband needed to go to a job that was not as demanding as his job was before we left the Ottawa Valley.

The third reason was that my husband and I both have a number of years of experience as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that we have skills that we have already put to use here. It was as if the Lord had said that He would give us Newfoundland so that I could do my research and in return, we would assist in the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that I have already had the opportunity of doing some research in St John’s and I know that I will be able to go again. 

Locked Out

I need to apologise. I have already missed two nights for posting a blog. I am trying to remember, but I have a number of things going on at this point in time. One of importance is the fact that I will be doing some travelling starting at the end of next week and I am trying to get ready for that.

I just finished spending a couple of hours entering my itinerary into my cell phone. That way, I hope to keep better track of what is happening the next day while I am away. I should be able to stay on top of the blogs during this time. If I miss a night here and there, please forgive me.

Last night, I was delivering some invitations to a Cottage Fireside. I only had about seven or eight to deliver. I had finished three or four, when I tried to get into my car to drive to the next house. I could not unlock the door by pressing the button. I had to pull the key out to open the door. When I got into the car, it would not start. The lights all worked just fine. I tried a number of times but it would not work. I had to call my husband. As it turned out, he was only a block or two away. He told me to put the key fob into the ignition. I had no idea what he meant by that. The salesman that sold us the car either neglected to tell me or decided that I did not need to know. Anyway, my husband showed me what to do and it was decided that my key fob needed a new battery. After all, it was the original battery and we bought the vehicle in 2012.

This morning I had a medical appointment at 11:00 am and was running a bit late. I had forgotten that I was going to the dealership to get the battery replaced in the key fob and went for breakfast. I forgot that I had the fob in the ignition and locked the door manually like I usually do. I closed the door and then started walking towards the café. Guess what. I walked about four or five paces and then realized that I had locked the keys in the car and could not get into it. Panic attack! Twenty minutes to go before my appointment. I tried to call my husband but the phone was turned off. I sent a text message but didn’t get an immediate message back. I tried to call him at work, but they couldn’t find him. I then called the dealership to see if they could help. While talking with the dealership, my husband tried to call. I had to call him back. He did not send the message because he came right away and had to get back to work soonest.

Long story short, I made my appointment on time. I then went to the dealership and the battery was changed before I had anything to eat. Then, I had breakfast, broccoli soup and a breakfast bagel. It was good. The soup had a touch more pepper than I like but it was still good. I then proceeded with the rest of my day.