Them Migrants and the 1 Cent Challenge

The deep breath didn't last long. Calendaring and keeping up with our life took over as usual but it's happy and full for the most part!

Yesterday I began my German class for migrant women. Do you know how odd it is to identify with calling myself a migrant woman?!d And yet it fits as I was seated around a table with 12 women, a few children playing nearby on the floor supervised by a couple of the facilitators of this program.

I grew up in Eastern Washington where every spring and summer brought waves of Hispanic migrant workers into my neighborhood to work in the cherry, apple and peach orchards. They seemed to keep to themselves as far as I can recall. There were incidents of bikes being stolen from our yard, blamed on these migrant workers. For all I know, they could have just been easy scapegoats. As a camp counselor for the YMCA summer day camps in my teen years, I worked with some of the migrant workers' children. One family's mother would sometimes send the best breakfast burritos for her son to share with me. Yum! I had a hard time imagining what it must have been like to be a migrant worker, always feeling on the outside of the communities you moved through.

But here I am in Germany five years, not a true migrant although Ryan and I often like to dream that we will be able to live here for a very long time because we love it so much. I have come to a greater sense of kinship with families in various places I lived in the US who were migrants or immigrants. Most of them were from Central or South America. How could I have been more supportive to them? There had been a Spanish speaking congregation set up in our Leesburg ward for a couple years before we moved to Germany. I'd thought then how overwhelming it must have been for them to learn a language and navigate a new country! And now I've gotten to experience that for myself to an extent. I've been so spoiled here not having to fully immerse myself in learning and navigating in German because our ward, military base, and int'l school communities all speak English. Even my neighbors like to practice their English on us.

But it's time to learn a bit more than the random words and phrases I know here and there.

In my class, there are two instructors. One is from Poland, the other is German. Then there's my Italian friend from church/int'l school, two ladies from Japan, two ladies from Sri Lanka, one from the Ivory Coast, another from Serbia, and then three Americans including myself. All of them are mothers, ages ranging from 49 to 29. I know this because we had to line up according to our ages as one of the exercises. We had to introduce ourselves, the members of our families, where we were from, how long we've lived here, and what our hobbies and least favorite chores to do were. I liked the kinship I felt among them pretty quickly.

Please pray for my brain to absorb and retain what I learn and practice! I asked McKay what a certain word meant last night. He didn't understand me and said, "Mom, sometimes I can't help you because you don't say it right so I don't know what you're saying." True. Like the word for married - such a long word that trips me up every time. Verheritat. Oi!

Speaking of being married, I'm loving Ryan's new calling as early morning Seminary Teacher! He's doing such a great job thoughtfully preparing, making it meaningful and challenging for the kids, and having fun! I love him! And I love that it makes pulling a good FHE so much easier! Last night he gave a great lesson to the kids about prayer. He made up our Prayer Plan on the white board and issued the 1 Cent Challenge to the kids. As Morgan told us at breakfast she'd remembered to say her morning prayer and McKay reminded me to give the kids each their 1 cent for their shoe today, I was thanking my Heavenly Father giving me this great husband and father of my children! The 1 Cent Challenge was to put a 1 euro cent in their shoe to remind them to have at least one meaningful prayer today.

Other stuff on my mind and heart lately:
- Handbook 2: Administering the Church, Chapter 3 - Leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ. So inspiring in my calling right now!
- Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture." Really great. After I finished listening to it, Ryan and I watched his lecture on youtube on Saturday.
- A conference "Women and the LDS Church: Historical and Contempory Perspectives." Interesting.
- Rootstech family history sessions! YAHOO!
- October 2013 General Conference - this week is Elder Bednar's "The Windows of Heaven." Just what I needed to hear, answered a hope I'd had going into Conference, and I loved being touched by his humility and love during the second half.
- On Netflix, I watched "Forks over Knives" and "Vegucation." Lots of food for thought! I've got some friends who have been going vegan for the past year for their own or family's health and I've been intrigued. Also some friends here are very knowledgeable about essential oils and hold classes so I've been dabbling a little in that.

FHE - Isaac and Rebekah were Covenant Makers

In preparation for a family trip to the Holy Land in January, we have been using Family Home Evening time to learn about the people and places of the Bible. We will not get through it all in time for the trip, but any effort will be helpful. (I’m still listening and studying a General Conference talk each week on my own – but we’ve shifted focus for FHE for this trip.)

Last week we learned about Abraham and Sarah, so tonight we’ll cover their son Isaac and the distant relative he married, Rebekah. We’d used the lds.org Scripture Stories videos to talk about Abraham and Sarah’s life last week so I started my prep there but was disappointed. There’s no scripture story in the reader about Rebekah at the well! I love this story!!! 

Eliezer's prayerful desire to find a Holy Woman for his master Abraham’s son is answered. Rebekah's example of going beyond expected hospitality is inspiring. (Did I blog about our ward's recent Young Women in Excellence evening about the Holy Woman challenge? Probably not, it's lost in the shuffle of my new calling and having family visiting for Thanksgiving. Anyhow, it was an AWESOME evening of testimony from these young women who took the challenge!)

But back to Isaac and Rebekah. Here's a 3 minute cartoon about Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, finding Rebekah for Isaac to marry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrwZrMzX09o

The story of Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Esua’s youth, marriage and birth right disputes in a 25 minute Biblical synopsis with good images to help narrate. It is pretty darn great compared to my reading of the account in Genesis 24+.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6tuBsYDhOo

Primary 6 Manual: Old Testament – Isaac and Rebekah

"Purpose: To teach the children that the same eternal blessings promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob can be theirs if they make and honor temple marriage covenants."

https://www.lds.org/manual/primary-6-old-testament/lesson-12-isaac-and-rebekah?lang=eng

I see the scriptures as records of men and women who sought God and God shared his Plan of Happiness with them. God has preserved these records to bless countless generations with a knowledge of how we can seek and know Him, our loving Heavenly Father. It is very instructive that the Bible account shares how these men and women dealt with each other, their extended families and tribes, and with the idolatrous local populations while trying to live in remembrance of their God and duties to Him.

There are faith promoting stories and difficult events in each of their lives. I appreciate seeing how they navigated their time on earth. God worked with them with such love, despite their failings. For heaven’s sake, Isaac lied to the Canaanite king that Rebekah was his sister and gave her to be one of the king’s wives because he feared for their lives! That’s complicated! But the way this was resolved is so beautiful! The Canaanite king could have dealt justly and cruelly with them for their deception but did the most magnanimous thing one could do. Through Isaac and Rebekah, we learn of their struggle with infertility, the blessing of God’s messengers visiting them, their miraculous conception of twins, Rebekah’s difficult pregnancy and giving birth to Esau and Jacob. And that’s nothing compared to the trials of raising twin boys who couldn’t be more different from one another and each parent favoring a different child!

The gospel of Jesus Christ was transmitted to the next generation through Jacob who sought to make and keep covenants with God. Esau did not as we understand in this account because he sough wives of the local populations, not from those who sought to make covenants with God. How were their lives different?

Here are quotes from my study of General Conference that reflect why I loved studying Isaac and Rebekah's lives.

"Decisions determine destiny . . . a pivotal spiritual attribute - Self Mastery . . . the strength to place reason over appetite." Elder Nelson

"Covenant keeping strengthens, empowers, and protects. Keeping covenants is essential for true happiness. Keeping our covenants demonstrates our love for the Savior and our Heavenly Father." Sister Linda Burton

"Priesthood ordinances and covenants . . . arm sons and daughters of God with power, God's power." Sister Carol Stephens

"The key to spiritual protection is reading the scriptures." Elder Packer

Elder Eyring - On a notecard on my GenConf board after studying his talk. "One overarching commandment helps us meet challenges and leads to the heart of a happy family life: Love God with all thy soul and mind. Love thy neighbor as thyself." Matthew 22:35-40

"Shall I falter or shall I finish?" (Job) and "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee!" (Joshua 1:5) shared by President Monson

And Elder Uchdorf - "Come, Join with us! Our daily walk with Jesus Christ leads to peace and purpose . . . joy and eternal salvation."

As I sat in Sacrament Meeting yesterday, I felt prompted to ask Morgan and then Easton why we were here to take the sacrament. Why is it important? We’re here to remember our covenants with God and/or to prepare to make them.  We’re covenanting to remember our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ and try to be like him as we go through our new week. We will make mistakes each week, but this is our chance to reflect on last week, be repentant, and covenant with God to try again. I love taking the sacrament for these reasons. I need it in my life each week and hope my family learns to desire it too.

My life has been blessed by making and keeping covenants of baptism, the endowment, and temple marriage. These covenants remind me to strive to become a better me. They help spare me from being mired in harmful distractions and appetites. I appreciate feeling empowered to direct my life for good. I love knowing that my God is invested in me and is helping me as I seek Him. When Ryan and I have had our struggles, I have leaned on our temple marriage covenant to realign myself. When I can't resolve something with Ryan, I find such strength in knowing we aren't alone in this marriage. We made that covenant with God in His holy house. He is invested in our marriage succeeding and will mediate our difficulties if I turn to Him. I can't change Ryan or my children, I can only work on myself and God will guide me. These have been powerful guiding thoughts for me over the years. I am a covenant making and keeping woman.

Ryan and I are traversing the learning curves of new church responsibilities. Bumpy rides for sure, but it's fun to be growing and learning from our experiences together! 

FHE - President Eyring's "To my grandchildren"

I didn't feel as prepared going into this FHE as I have the previous weeks and was tempted to bail. What I need to do is start delegating these lessons on a regular FHE responsibilities rotation but I have yet to actually finish making and use one of those handy charts. I have crafting fear, it's totally dumb. 

It wasn't a whiz bang FHE, but it happened! And sometimes consistency, simply having the Spirit present, and their participation is what matters most. A bit of last minute inspiration due to earlier study totally paid off too! 

You see, I was pretty worn out because it was Monday. And the kids had all been home all day. I needed some serious comfort food so I slaved away on a home made chicken pot pie for dinner. This recipe only happens maybe twice a year for me but oh how we love it! It's Ryan's mom's and it's totally Delish. All the kids thought so too, yet Jake threw his tantrum not two minutes after this picture. Full plate and cup of milk swiped off the table across the floor. Awesome. To his room he went while I finished enjoying my homely creation while McKay praised me up and down for the pot pie and for not losing my temper (sadly, me losing it is rather routine at dinner). Love that kid!

So back to our FHE. We watched the first few minutes of President Eyring's talk together until he finishes sharing the scriptures in Matthew 25. I'd asked them to listen for:

"There is one overarching commandment that will help us to meet the challenges and lead to the heart of a happy family life . . . 

We watched it and discussed what this means.

“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
“This is the first and great commandment.
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”¹

But the kids were as pot pied as I was, so we needed a kick. And this was my last minute inspiration: We used the Friend magazine! YAHOO! I love how being in the Primary presidency has made me aware of the monthly themes and the past two months' themes fit President Eyring's talk perfectly! 

And we closed with . . . 

"Life in families will test us. That is one of God's purposes in giving us the gift of mortality - to strengthen us by passing through tests."

True. True. True. I had lots of other favorite parts to the talk like this one  . . .

"We cannot force that on others [a remembrance of their tutelage in the pre mortal existence of the plan of happiness], but we can let them see it in our lives."


But for me, a wonderful blessing of my study of this talk came yesterday. It's been a pretty calm week here at home with me trying pretty hard to let the kids be kids, but also to not let contentions escalate without me stepping in to mediate. Boy is that hard sometimes - especially since daylight savings has not meant kids sleeping in and Jake has been up between 3:30-5:30 each day!!! Argh.

But like I was saying, a great moment happened when I had a call from a new friend who is struggling in that nasty Bermuda Triangle of transition we call moving here, their first overseas assignment which came quickly and unexpectedly. One of her children is really struggling. Have you ever felt that loss of hope for the end of a struggle? I was there this summer and I remember that dark place through a few of my life's rough transitions. And I felt prompted to share a couple parts of this talk with her and we cried together. 

". . . God has devised means to save each of His children. For many, that involves being placed with a brother or a sister or a grandparent who loves them no matter what they do.

Years ago a friend of mine spoke of his grandmother. She had lived a full life, always faithful to the Lord and to His Church. Yet one of her grandsons chose a life of crime. He was finally sentenced to prison. My friend recalled that his grandmother, as she drove along a highway to visit her grandson in prison, had tears in her eyes as she prayed with anguish, “I’ve tried to live a good life. Why, why do I have this tragedy of a grandson who seems to have destroyed his life?” 

The answer came to her mind in these words: “I gave him to you because I knew you could and would love him no matter what he did.”

And then . . .

President George Q. Cannon said this about how God has prepared you and me and our children for the tests we will face: “There is not one of us but what God’s love has been expended upon. There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He has not desired to save, and that He has not devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given His angels charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes, and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are the children of God, and that He has actually given His angels—invisible beings of power and might—charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping.”²

What President Cannon taught is true. You will need that assurance, as I have needed it and depended on it.

So there are people we are put here to save with our love and who are put in our lives to save us with their love. And then there's also "His angels - invisible beings of power and might." I take great comfort in this and have felt both to be true in my life. It's pretty darn awesome!

If you've read anything of Brené Brown, you'll know that feeling this sort of connection with someone like I had with my friend is pretty much what life is all about. Of course, our prophets and apostles have been saying it all along, quoting the Master, but lately I've loved a fresh vocabulary found in her work that reaffirms truths of the gospel to me! Just to be real though, I've been so enmeshed in my busy little home life this week that each time this friend has called, I've not been the most empathetic patient good listener and I found myself messaging her to apologize often asking her to not give up on me for my fumbling efforts to not be such a hermit. Seriously, sometimes this stay-at-home motherhood thing zaps me of my social skills and ability to speak intelligibly. It's not awesome.

My kids are on Fall Break from their school this week. Germans take off and travel or visit family but Ryan's on the US holiday schedule so he's working. And I'm pretty proud of him. He's got a lot going right now, doing presentations of his team's work to generals and their staff which has been well received. So much so, in fact, that his gov't liaison sent an email praising him to Ryan's bosses up the chain. I really appreciate leaders who take the time to give credit for a job well done!

As for me and the kids on the home front, we didn't plan anything special but we've had something every night which is unusual, and draining, for us happy homebodies. On Tuesday, our Home Teachers came. I think this is probably the third time in the five years we've had someone come so the kids were intrigued, wondering what a home teacher was and why they were coming. We had a nice visit getting to know our newly assigned ones. Wednesday we invited some good friends, the Rays, for dinner as they are in a hotel until they move back to the US on Saturday. Waaah! Their daughter and our kids got to each share their research unit project speeches with us which was fun. Topics: Migrations - pioneer ancestors; The stories about us - George Washington; and Creepy Crawlies - daddy long legs. Tonight was trick or treating, tomorrow night is a ward CARnival trunk or treating and chili cook off, and Saturday is the Relief Society Super Saturday with Thai and Mexican cooking, photography, crocheting, bunting sewing, and a few others. See, I'm so glad we've laid low during the day getting chores done and alternating technology and play days as most of us battle annoying colds.

I've finally decided how I would display the nuggets from these FHEs. It's mostly for me, but the kids do sit at this desk now and then for homework so maybe they'll glance at it! 

FHE - Shall I falter or shall I finish?

I believe God speaks to us personally and also through his servants, prophets and apostles. I love General Conference and I greatly anticipated this one with a handful of questions and concerns. 

I’ve been inspired by the bloggers listed at the end of this post because of the ways they prepare their families for General Conference. They really study and use the messages to teach their young families. I want the kids to feel like the messages are relevant, to understand these leaders' role to instruct us by revelation as they study and live the gospel, but also to be able to recognize our leaders by face and voice. And not just from this funny video we have really enjoyed - have you seen it?! 

As I absorbed sessions as they came available last week, I decided on a plan. For Family Home Evening each Monday, we will discuss a talk going in order of their calling beginning with the Prophet, President Monson. I’m still trying to decide how to visually display this in our home as an ongoing learning effort. German walls are just tricky!

To start, I listened to President Monson’s talk “I will not failthee, nor forsake thee.” I loved this message! Then I read it and the scriptures he referenced which were very illuminating. I then prayerfully made all if it into a lesson plan. It is a very simple lesson but it went well I think.

The key, in my opinion, is that this lesson would be utilized in teaching moments throughout the week so I can apply and reinforce the principles "in real life." 

Lesson Plan:

When you run a race, you’re excited right? 

What do you do if you fall while running during the race? 

Do you give up and throw a tantrum or do you pick yourself up and finish the race?

Kids said, “Finish the race!”

Tonight we’ll talk about President Monson’s talk from General Conference. He asked, “Shall I falter (fall and quit), or shall I finish?” Did you know that President Monson’s wife passed away a few months ago? They had been married almost 65 years! Do you think he misses his best friend, his wife a lot? Do you think it is hard for him to face each day without her there? President Monson knows that we all have to face hard things each day – but that with God, we can finish and not falter.

President Monson spoke about Job in the Old Testament. Let’s watch his story and see how he finished without faltering. Watched OldTestament Scripture Stories – Chapter 46: Job.

• Did Job falter or finish?
• How did he find strength to finish when faced with losing so much? And suffering with sickness? And having his friends judge him instead of help him?
• How can we be like Job when trials come? Let’s listen to what President Monson wants us to know.

Watch last three paragraphs of talk starting at 15:25-18:00 “Only the Master knows . . .” Direct them to listen for two things President Monson says will help us be close to our Heavenly Father like Job was.

After the video, reiterate the promise we've been given that the Lord will not fail us, nor forsake us. We, in turn, should try our hardest to not fail Him, or forsake Him. We must ever strive to be close to our Heavenly Father by praying to Him and listening to Him every day. We talked about when we can pray, how we can pray, how we can listen. 

This week has already provided a couple teaching moments.

Easton has a job. He walks our friend’s dogs twice a week. His accumulated earnings combined with McKay and Morgan’s helped them buy a used ipad mini this weekend which Ryan found listed on the local yardsale site for a steal.

On Tuesday, Easton was quickly overwhelmed by everything we chatted about on his to do list as we drove home from school. It was raining hard and he usually walks the dogs right when he gets home to have it done with. Then guitar practice, homework, prepare his student council election speech, and even Scouts at the church. He pleaded to skip out on the dogs. When I reminded him of the commitment he made and asked if he was faltering or finishing strong, he growled that that lesson only applied to homework! Sorry kiddo. He grumbled a bit, but then I was very proud as he humbled himself and headed out into the downpour to walk the dogs. Sitting Easton down later and thanking him for being good example of this principle was one of those perks of parenthood and I loved seeing him beam from my praise.

We actually skipped Scouts so he could work with Ryan on his speech after we celebrated Morgan’s birthday with dinner, cake, and presents. It was so fun to hear Ryan and Easton brainstorming on the speech, practicing it, and then sharing it with the rest of us! I’m sure that qualifies for a merit badge qualification!

Easton faced Wednesday’s election feeling confident. McKay had won his class’s seat on the student council last week. There was no way to know how many students would run in Easton’s class and I was nervous for him. He’s the one I had to talk into running because while he wanted to be a part of the council, he wasn’t thrilled at first with the idea of doing a poster and speech asking for his classmates to vote for him. I wish I would have faced that fear as a youth and run for student councils. I know I would have enjoyed it. Easton was cool as a cucumber on Wednesday morning. He liked his poster and was happy with his speech. As long as he feels prepared, Easton is confident.

When I picked the kids up yesterday, Easton was happy. He hadn’t won but was the alternate. He was pleased with how his speech had gone and wondered what was for lunch. I let him know I’d prayed for him that morning that he’d be happy with his performance no matter the outcome. I loved getting to love on him and praise him for his effort! I recently attended a lecture where the speaker told parents how we need to help our children learn to "fail well" and be resilient, engaged learners and workers. I really liked that concept.

I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I'm so grateful for the guidance it has provided me all my life so that I had the self confidence to avoid things that would not help me become who I want to be. I am so grateful for the resources the church provides as I raise my family and for the opportunities to serve others and be a part of a worldwide community of people striving for eternal attributes and relationships.

Here's the blog roll I seem to frequent the most for ideas:

Jocelyn Christensen - We talk of Christ, We rejoice in Christ

Allison Kimball – Simple Inspiration

Stephanie Dibb Sorensen - Diapers and Divinity

Shannon - Red Headed Hostess