Temple Trips Times Two

The Bentonville Temple is about 90 minutes north of us and we have been going once a month on the third Friday of the month.  Every other transfer, the zone has a special missionary session at the temple on Wednesday.  And this past week, both of those things happened in the same week--just like last October.  It was a sweet week---

The weather was clear for Wednesday travel which made us all happy as we were able to head up to the temple as a zone.  This time, in addition to the office senior couples who attended the session, we were joined by President and Sister Collins as well as Elder and Sister Baird--who are our brand new senior couple.  They had arrived the night before and spent the night with the Collins.  They will be serving in Springfield, Missouri with the young adults.  

Of course, we got pictures afterwards--

President Beutler is a member of the mission presidency.  He is great and the missionaries love him.  He serves in the temple on Wednesday mornings each week.

The YSA missionaries--Sister Holding and Sister Anderson

The important selfie...

Ft. Smith Zone--January 2024----

Love these sweet missionaries and being in the temple is a very sweet experience.

As I mentioned, we went again on Friday for a session as well and were joined by Sister and Elder Ellis.  We did the 10:30 morning session and then hung around in Bentonville and then did sealings at 5:00 pm. That was also a wonderful day!  No pictures at the temple though--too cold to stand outside.

The Lord's Creations

In preparation for last week's Institute class which covered the Creation of the earth, I asked the young adults on social media to share a photo of nature-- here is a selection of what they shared!

this is Esther loving the snow that fell last Sunday

One of Jena's that she shared

Parker

Sister Anderson, one of the YSA sister missionaries

And then this photo from Elder Esera--who is now home.....

in Samoa!!!!  On a very cold day in Arkansas, we all wished we had that view of the Pacific Ocean and the warm breeze that certainly must be there!

The world is a very beautiful place and truly testifies of its Creator!

Our lesson and class on Tuesday ended up being canceled because of the icy road conditions. No one wanted to be traveling after dark.  

I had already begun making meatballs and spaghetti sauce in two crock pots before the decision was made to cancel so we dropped them off before dark to the sisters and elders' apartments.  They were happy to have a hot meal at home during a cold and icy few days.

Facebook Post-January 14th

Trying to keep track of my posts on Facebook:

"Happy New Year! We hope 2024 brings many great adventures in your lives, in your families, and in your Churches and communities. Be found doing good and joy will trail after you!

After a busy Christmas season, life became super quiet as Gary (on Christmas morning) and then Jena and I got Covid. So we spent our "break" from Institute staying home and coughing. Fortunately, none of us got really sick...mostly tired. We stayed home, read, did puzzles, and watched lots of movies!

We started teaching Institute again this past week and will start again in Clarksville this coming week. We will be teaching "Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel" in Ft. Smith and the Book of Mormon in Clarksville. What a powerful combination as the Book of Mormon serves as a second witness to the Bible of Jesus Christ's divine role as our Savior, Redeemer, and Advocate!

We were suppose to speak in Church today but meetings got canceled because of a winter snowstorm. So, we are staying home and keeping warm while watching the pretty snow flakes...except for Jena and I who played in the storm for a bit. I actually made a snow angel (photos below.)

My little miracle this past week: I was running some errands earlier in the week and driving north on I-540. I was traveling in the right lane following a truck carrying furniture in its bed. As we began to pass a merging lane onto the freeway, I thought I should move over but decided it wasn't necessary because both the truck and I would be clearly passed when the car on the ramp needed to merge onto the freeway. Just then the thought came that I was in Arkansas and it is typical to see cars merge over to the left lane whenever there are cars on the merge lane--they are kind like that here--so I merged over. Within 3-4 seconds after I merged over, a big piece of carpet along with some cardboard came flying off the truck and spattered on the road beside me. If I had remained in that lane, it would have landed right in front of me or on my car! What would have been a scary moment was avoided as I listened to that prompting to move over--like the good people of Arkansas do!

Have you seen the workings of God in your life this past week?

Have a great week and I hope you are all keeping warm!

I know it is odd to have Christmas photos first but since I posted on Christmas Eve last, that is the next day....scroll through to see the snow in Arkansas from today (January 14)"

A Snow Sunday!

In anticipation of the cold temperatures and snow, our Church was canceled along with all of the meetings within the stake.  (Good news for us since we had been asked on Thursday to speak in Church :) That was postponed as well, of course.)  As the branch president said, It might not seem like much to people from Utah, but we do not have the tools to manage the snow and ice on the roads.  We don't disagree.  We are familiar with icy roads and don't plan to leave our house if the roads are icy.  Ether way out requires traveling up or down steep hills with no shoulders.  We don't plan on sliding off a road if we can help it.

So we have been enjoying a quiet Sunday working on Institute lessons (me) and doing family history research for people buried in Arkansas (Gary).  

Jena and I did head out into the snow for a few minutes--

Jena and I tried to make a heart in the snow but we didn't get a great picture of it.  Gary said we needed to drag our feet more to uncover the green grass for the heart outline.  We love you, world!!!

He did step out into the weather to take pictures of me making a snow angel!  For some reason, it felt like the right thing to do!!

For the grandkids!!!

We thought we might try a snowball fight but the snow is too dry and doesn't pack together.

This one is for Gary (he took it) and he told me he liked it--so I decided even though it isn't my favorite that I would include it in this record.  He said he loves that I was having fun in the snow!

Now we are sitting in the warm house and watching the snow continue to fall.  They are expecting about 3"--we will see.  The challenging thing is that there is artic air behind this snowstorm and the temperatures will remain in single digits until Thursday.  That means snow everywhere and ice on the roads.  We will take it day by day.  We are set for in-person interviews with the mission president tomorrow at the Church and car inspections for all of the young missionaries.  They are worried about finding open car washes to wash their cars before inspections.  We are guessing they will be cancelled because of the snow but we will wait and see--no news yet!