I REALLY LIKED THIS ARTICLE.

From a devotional address given at Brigham Young University—Idaho on October 30, 2007.
(I'M ONLY SHARING BITS AND PIECES OF IT. IF YOU WANT TO READ ALL OF IT-SCROLL DOWN THE SIDE OF BLOG UNTIL YOU FIND MY FAVORITE SITES. CLICK ON THE CHURCH SITE. THEN GO TO: GOSPEL LIBRARY, MAGAZINES, ENSIGN-2010 MARCH-LEARNING THRU LIFE'S TRIALS)
The trials of this life will ultimately lead to joy if we patiently trust in God’s plan and discover how to use adversity to grow stronger. ......
I’ve learned that the way I respond to trials can have a great effect on whether they become roadblocks in my life or expressways to learning and growth. When I anguish over difficulties, the experiences only serve to weigh me down. But remembering that these trials are part of the great plan of happiness helps me to see them as opportunities to grow and learn.
The Purposes of Adversity
Apostle Orson F. Whitney (1855–1931) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, explained: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God …
Trials give us opportunities to show the Lord and ourselves that we will be faithful. We can choose to feel sorry for ourselves and ask, “Why me?” or we can grow from our trials, increase our faith in the Lord, and ask, “How can I be faithful in the midst of this trial?”..... We can let adversity break us down and make us bitter, or we can let it refine us and make us stronger. We can allow adversity to lead us to drift away from the things that matter most, or we can use it as a stepping-stone to grow closer to things of eternal worth......
Benefiting from Adversity
Since adversity will come to us all, consider the following ideas to help face trials and benefit from them.
•Rely on Christ
One of the purposes of trials is to help us come to know Christ, understand His teachings in our minds, feel them in our hearts, and live them in our lives. Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explains that God loves us perfectly and “would not require [us] to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for [our] personal benefit or for that of those [we] love.”

FRIDAY MARCH 12 -BIG DAY FOR OUR FAMILIES

Well, I had another opportunity to perform the Temple Initiatory work in Spanish.  I only got to do 2 of the booths, but it was great practice.  The Spanish Sister was just leaving and one of my regular English speaking sisters came.  She heard me speaking Spanish.  When she realized who I was, she said she speaks Spanish fluently. She said she didn't care if I practiced with her also.  I had one English Speaking patron also.  I would do Spanish with one, then do English with the next one.  I was able to practicve my Spanish for the whole hour that I was there.  They said they could understand me.  I didn't have to use my card (for help) hardly at all.  That was a pretty great way to finish the day.  I'd started out with a terrible headache.  In the evening, a friend asked if I still had my headace.  I didn't.  I had forgotten about that.  I was in too good of mood to dwell on my headace. 
I stopped by mom's place after my Temple shift.  I just missed seeing Gary & Debbie by about 15 minutes.  I ate supper with her.  I was pleased to hear that Jeremy asked Gary to baptize him tomorrow.

Laurie had her twins in the morning.  One was born at 10:00 a.m. and the other one was born at 10:01.  All 3 are doing well.  However one of the boys is not as good as the other.  Laurie is supposed to get to go home on Monday.  The boys are premature and will have to stay in the baby unit at the hospital for awhile.

Most of you probably know that Allison had her baby on Friday afternoon.  I'm not sure of the time.  She had a little girl.  Last I heard, they hadn't decided on a name yet.  It wasn't even a year ago, and Gary & Debbie had less grandkids than us.  Then, they got 2 new ones just before the end of the year.  They caught up with us then.  Well, with Alllison's new baby, Gary & Debbie have surpassed us now.  How wonderful!

ANOTHER UPDATE ON LAURIE

Steve just called me. He wasn't aware that Robyn had called me. The babies are over 4-lbs. each, their hearts are beating good. The Dr. doesn't think they will last the 2 weeks that they hope for. Probably, Laurie will have to have the surgery sooner.
Steve & Laurie have already named the twins. Mason Edward and Chance Alan. (Chance is spelled odd, but I don't remember how he said. It has a "Z" in it.) They will be known as Mason and Chance.

CATCHING UP--PICTURES, LIFE, ---LAURIE'S UPDATE

I told you that I had made a new Temple Garment bag during the holidays. I finally got around to adding a picture of it. Of course, it's red in color. My old one was also-because red is my favorite color. (You should see my closet-many versions of red.)

I'm not adding a picture of my Temple skirt that I made. It's pretty, but the material is not of good quality. I wore it for the first time yesterday and it snagged in many places. (I've had the material in my closet for about 3 years, so I can't take it back.) So much for all of the time that I put into it to make it. While I was making it, my machine wasn't working very well. It has triple seams everywhere. My machine has been repaired since then. It had a metal plate that was wore out and causing the tension to not be good.


About 2 Fridays ago, Stephanie was at work. She was opening a box, and sliced the palm of her hand. She ended up having 16 stitches on it. The next day when she woke up, they had opened. She had to go to the Dr. again. This time her hand was wrapped up in ace bandage to protect the stitches. I believe she has the stitches out by now.
That afternoon, Rick & I fulfilled a Temple assignment. He prefers to do Sealings. I prefer to do Initiatory. Because of other responsibilities, we opted to do Initiatory. That was great, because the Shift Coordinator knows that I've learned the Spanish. I was able to be a patron in the Spanish Booth. That really helped me.
After the Temple, we rushed to Filer. Heather was celebrating Jacob's birthday (his birthday is the 15th of February.) We watched them bowl.

We gave him a jar of cash for his present.

Jacob gets a little embarrassed at times.

That evening, we had a Stake Relief Society dinner for our spouses also. It was a great evening. The first Counselor of out Temple and his wife had gone on a mission to India. They came and shared pictures and stories of the mission. It's neat, because many years ago, -about 25-27 years. He was our Stake president. He is the one that said, "I promise you if you pay your tithing, we will have a Temple in Twin Falls." After that, I just kept hoping people would do as he said. Look at us now, we serve in that Temple.

I took Rick down to Salt Lake this last Friday. He's at the University of Utah getting a series of shock treatments. This is sort of a last ditch try at getting a handle on his depression. We've heard good reports on this therapy. It usually has at least 80% chance of some improvement. At this point, any improvement is good. He will be there about a week and a half. Then he will go down as an outpatient to get the remaining ones in the series. He will need about 10-12 treatments. He may need more occasionally. Time will tell.

Laurie's mom called last night. This last Saturday, her water broke from one of the twins. She's not due until the 5th of May. Today, she is 32 weeks. The Dr.s are hoping they can wait 2 more weeks, before they take the babies. Her surgery is scheduled for the 24th - I believe. Robyn said that all 3 are doing well and under good care. The babies have a good weight-4 lbs. Laurie will be on antibiotics until her surgery to prevent infection-since her water broke. Laurie is in the Twin Falls hospital-room number 281. Laurie will be having some kind of treatments often. If you plan to visit, it may be better to call her before you visit. Her personal phone number is: 208-358-3989. She has her phone with her.

Well, I've spent way too much time on the computer. I need to get busy.

THANKS HEAVENLY FATHER FOR THE AHA MOMENT.

Today was fast & Testimony meeting. I am the 2nd counselor in Primary. It was so-o gratifying when some of our Primary kids got up and bore their testimonies. When I could tell that they were actually thinking about what they would say next, instead of just memorizing something, I realized that we are doing a good job in Primary. They really are listening. We need to be a good example always.

I DON'T REALLY SPEAK SPANISH.--- TUESDAY SUBBING FINISHED.

The Spanish Branch is combined into our ward.  We have joint Primary and Relief Society (translators in Relief Society).  This last Sunday, as we were getting ready to leave church.  Relief Society was just getting over.  The Spanish Sister that I had in Initiatory 2 weeks ago, that didn't speak English, saw me.  We both hugged.  I must have done o.k. a few weeks ago with my Spanish.  The reason:  she started talking to me in Spanish.  The only things that I understood was that she asked me how I was and she told me hello.  I responded back in Spanish to the 2 things that I understood.  However, I couldn't actually talk to her in Spanish.  She must have thought that I actually knew Spanish-instead of just the Temple Ordinances.  She was with a young gal that I have worked with at Green Giant.  She's investigating the church, but comes all of the time.  I imagine after I left, my friend from work told the older sister that I don't speak Spanish and the older lady was saying that I did.  Cute situation.
Well,  last week-Tuesday- was my last day for " regular" subbing at the Temple.  I've been officially subbing on Tuesdays since the second week of December for 2 different ladies.  I received a call from the Shift Coordinator yesterday, saying that the one sister thinks she's ready to go back to the Temple today.  I will miss being there.  It's been long enough, that they feel like my shift also.  However, it does seem nice to have some extra time at home.  Now, I will just sub whenever people call me-which is still often.
Oh, let me tell you a neat story that someone told me last week in the Temple break room.  It was someone eles's story being retold to me, but true.  I'm not sure when the story actually happened.  Their  story started 13 years earlier.  Their son had left the church and didn't have anything to do with them.  They had not even seen him in 13 years.  13 years later, they decided that they wanted to go on a mission.  They put their papers in and specifically stated that they didn't want a proselyting mission because they were too old.  They received their papers for a proselyting mission for a particular town in Florida.  They asked their Bishop to resubmit their papers.   He did.  They got a new call.  It was for the EXACT SAME MISSION-SAME CIRCUMSTANCES.  They went - heavy hearted.  The  first week they sat in their apartment doing nothing.   The next week, they realized that they couldn't spend the next 18 months inside their apartment.  They decided to get in their car and get a feel of the land and feel more comfortable with their surroundings.  THE VERY FIRST DOOR THEY KNOCKED ON, WAS THE DOOR OF THEIR SON THAT THEY HADN'T SEEN IN 13 YEARS.  IT WAS FATE.  IT WAS AN ANSWER TO MANY PRAYERS.   IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE HE CAME BACK TO THE CHURCH AND THE PARENTS AND SON HAD RESTORED THEIR FAMILY RELATIONS!

TIME: PRODUCTIVE OR NOT PRODUCTIVE

I wish Rick would get out of the house once in awhile. All he ever does is just sleep. I wake him up to eat and also to go to bed. What a life! He did leave the house to buy me a Valentines's Card after he was shamed into it. That doesn't make it very fun for me.

On the bright side of things: 3 weeks ago on Saturday, I made me a new Temple bag. Last Saturday, I got caught up on some mending. Today, I almost finished sewing a new skirt to wear at the Temple. Maybe, I'll post pictures of them soon.

MOM'S BIRTHDAY

A quick post about Mom's birthday yesterday. She had a pleasant day. Friends of Dad & Mom's came from Blackfoot and spent about 1 and 1/2 hours. (Devon & Ila Kofoed) That was the only reason they came. They had called me a few days earlier and said that Mom had been on their minds a lot and thought they should make a visit.
Just as I got to the Care Center, Grant and the twins parked right beside me. The friends left before lunch. The rest of us spent most of the day together. We stayed until around 3:00. Mom just didn't want us to leave. She recieved cards and letters from those that couldn't visit. I shared some family pictures off of your blogs with her. I didn't get all of them printed up in time. She enjoyed seeing how everyone is doing.
By the time we left, she was getting tired. Her friend that took Misty as her dog, gave her a picture of Mom and Misty that was taken just the day before. I'll try to share it with you sometime. It was a pretty good picture.

STEPHANIE'S LIFE JUST GOT MORE INTENSE.

Stephanie called a few days ago. Her oldest step-daughter contacted her and said that she was tired of her real mom getting drunk. Kari said she was moving back in with Mike & Stephanie. Jacob is already living with them because their real mom can't (or won't) handle him. I beieve from the conversation with Stephanie, the one daughter that hasn't had much to do with Mike & Stephanie for quite awhile will also be moving into their home. Stephanie is pretty stressed out. I told her that she was strong enough to do this. I reminded her that in the long run, it will be worth it. She knows that I'm speaking from experience because of me being her step-mom. We have such a good relationship. Having her also be a step-mom has brought us much closer. She appreciates everything that I did for them as they were growing up.

RED LETTER DAY ! ! !

I've been subbing at the Temple on Tuesdays since December 8th (for 2 different sisters). The Coordinator always lets me go home an hour early. When I was doing the Veil at 3:00, the Coordinator mentioned that 2 Spanish sisters had come in to do Initiatory. She said that she might change my assignment after the Veil. When I finished, the Initiatory Coordinator said she didn't need me. So I did another assignment for awhile, but I said I'd check back. About 15 minutes later, I went back. She put me in the booth with the 2 Spanish Sisters. None of the Ordinance Workers on this shift knows the dialogue in Spanish. they were performing the work in English. I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO EACH BOOTH-SPEAKING SPANISH. Since this was my first time truly doing it-all 3 booths, I did stumble a few times and had to look at my card. However, the more that I did it, the better that I got. I WAS ABLE TO DO EACH BOOTH ABOUT 3 TIMES IN SPANISH. Later, I had an English speaking sister come in. I did 2 Spanish sisters in each booth and 1 English sister. That was good experience. So much for going home early. I stayed the full hour and enjoyed every bit of it. One sister didn't speak English very well. The other one did. The both told me that they loved me, hugged me and thanked me for learning it in their language. The one that did speak English, said she could understand me. I'm sure the other one did also because of the way she acted. Gratifying! Thanks Heavenly Father !