Visitor :->

12 November 2012

My good friend and "Relief Society President" Kristen East came to visit me.  What fun! Her husband is in Salt Lake for business this week and they are staying next week to have Thanksgiving with family. She came up to Logan to visit with me and her sister. I enjoyed hearing about what is going on in the ward lately. After lunch I gave her a tour of our office (not much there) and took her over to DI to see what goes on there. She revealed that it was her first time in a DI Store.  They are easy to get to in Utah, but few and far between in California.

We no longer have any AJS candidates for our program. There are quite a few people who come through wanting to look for jobs online, but just aren't ready to make the commitment we ask in AJS. If they will do what we ask, the candidate could find a job in about 30 days.

Veterans Day -- Thank You for your Sacrafice

11 November 2012

DI pilgrims

Thanksgiving means pilgrims to me and I have been having a heck of time finding pilgrims to display (I have several in storage in Livermore).  I can find pumpkins, scarecrows, and cornucopias, but no pilgrims.  I finally found some figurines at DI.  Then yesterday I received a care package from North Platte.  I had been complaining to Jeanne about my struggles to find pilgrims.  I guess she and the kids had gone looking for some pilgrims without much luck.  They printed off pilgrim pictures from the internet and colored them for me.  I was so touched I wanted to cry.

Pilgrim pictures

Pilgrim tea towel

Thanksgiving pictures

Sad News :-(

21 October 2012 - Sunday

Sister Bews learned this past week that the wife of her oldest brother is in the hospital.  She had cancer and was sent to the hospital for treatment, but had a couple strokes while there.  It put her in a coma and she is not responding, although she is breathing on her own.  They will have to make a decision about what happens next tomorrow.

28 October 2012 - Sunday

Sister Bews has to fly out next Thursday.  Her sister-in-law died last Tuesday and the funeral is Saturday in Edmonton, Alberta.

1 November 2012 - Thursday

We were up by 5am and on the road by 6am so Sister Bews could catch her flight.  She went to Edmonton, Alberta for her sister-in-law's funeral.  I spent the last half of the day at the ERC.  I was very tired come the end of the day; I was in bed by 8:30pm.

5 November 2012 - Monday

I spent half a day in the center.  I had some personal business to take care of before I headed off to Salt Lake to pick up my companion at the airport.  Her flight arrived at 4pm, just when people were heading home from work.  We went to dinner in Salt Lake in hopes of avoiding some of the traffic.  We ate at the Garden Restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith building.  I've eaten there a couple times before, but didn't remember it costing so much.  It finally dawned on me that I had always eaten lunch there which is less expensive.  The meal was good and worth the price.  We still encountered some traffic on the way home, but nothing like the Bay Area.


 

Halloween

31 October 2012

Utah Ogden Mission Conference

This was our first opportunity to attend a Mission Conference.  Besides, President Hiers, Elder Falabella from the Quorum of the 70 was there to speak and teach. 

President Hiers started the conference.  Emphasized looking for the Holy Ghost in the Book of Mormon.  He mentioned it might not always be in the words, but in the spirit.  We were asked to think about and share "I have felt the most love from someone when _____."  Consequently, it is showing love to others that we find and feel love.  President Hiers referred to President Monson's talk about the sweet experience of feeling a prompting, acting on it, and being the answer to someone's prayer.  We were encourage to do likewise.

Sister Falabella spoke next.  She spoke in Spanish and one of the missionaries translated for her.  She shared the conversion story of Elder Falabella's father.  Two ministers had come to his door in Guatemala and told him that he was living in darkness.  Two elders from the Church came shortly after that and were inspired to tell him that "they were bringing him some light."  He was curious about this light and invited the missionaries in to explain.

Elder Falabella asked what the missionaries had expected from him and had it written on a chalkboard, then asked what questions they had come with and put those on the chalkboard also.  He explained that he would use this information to guide what he would share.  He had us looking up quite a few scriptures and talked about what they meant.  In Moses 1:4, 6-7 Moses is repeated called "my son" by Heavenly Father.  In Moses 1:12 Satan refers to Moses as "son of man" trying to confuse his thinking.  Satan is trying to confuse our thinking so that we forget we are children of Heavenly Father.  We are being "proved."  In D&C 124:15, 20 we are to have integrity of heart.  We are a "covenant" people that are being tempted by Satan.  2 Nephi 2:14 speaks of agency.  We have a choice.  Things can act upon us or we can act upon everything.  Satan has limited agency because he is only a spirit.

Sister Hiers was the first speaker after a wonderful lunch of taco soup.  She had chosen for her topic "Sharing Faith."  Many stories in the scripture talk of faith:  brother of Jared, woman who touches the hem of Christ.

Elder Falabella spoke last.  He spoke to how to baptize more people.  He used the example of Ammon.  First give service; second teach the father first; third teach the mother.  The father and mother will teach children, family and friends.  Invite family, friends, neighbors, co-workers of investigator, ward members, and missionaries' neighbors to the baptism.  And ask for referrals from everyone.  He also said that doing temple work for ancestors will help to retain new members because it is a special spiritual experience.

The Mission Conference was very fulfilling.

Happy Birthday Bekah

It was Bekah's 6th birthday.  We did a video chat and she showed me how she dressed for Halloween and some of her presents.  I just love being able to video chat with my grandchildren! :-)

Boise, Idaho, Temple Open House

28 October 2012

Friday we left for Boise about 10:00am. It was a bit on the cold outside, but the sun was out. There were some clouds floating across the sky and some were even down on the ground at the base of the Wellsville mountains. As we travelled closer to Idaho the skies filled with up more with clouds.  It looked like we might get rained on but it never happened.  We stayed on 84 all the way out of Logan into Idaho.  We didn't stop until we reached Twin Falls about 12:30pm.  We ate a quick lunch at McDonalds then continued on to Boise.

Our first stop was the Employment Center.  I wanted to touch bases with Sister Lee and Sister Remnet, my MTC companions.  It was about 3pm when we walked into the ERC.  We compared notes on our two AJS programs.  Our next stop was the Boise Temple Open House.  Unlike the Brigham City Temple Open House, they had guided tours with explanations until we arrived at the Celestial level, then it is was silent.

I took Sister Bews to her family's place which wasn't more than 20 minutes away then headed over to Sister Lee's and Sister Remnet's apartment.  We went to Sizzler to enjoy their salad bar (I'm becoming a fan of the Sizzler salad bar), then back to their apartment to talk and catch up.  I stayed the night with them.  Sister Bews went Trunk or Treating with her family and spent the night with them.

Our trip home was much longer.  I wanted to go through Preston, Idaho, to see what the area looked like.  Our mission and ERC serves all the way to Preston.  We stopped again at Twin Falls for a bite and took pictures.  Sister Bews has been past Twin Falls but never stopped there to see the sights.  We only stopped for gas in Pocatello then headed down I-15 and took the Downy/Preseton exit to 91.  The rest of our trip was along 91.  It is pretty country and farmland along that route.  Most of the cities are less than 1000 in population until you get to Preston which is just over 5000.  Highway 91 is two lanes until you get to Preston then it goes to four lanes through Logan and Brigham City until it hits I-15 again.  We left Boise around noon and arrived in Logan at 6pm (I thought it would be 6:30pm).  We ate dinner at Sizzler then went to the apartment and crashed.

Snake River

SNOW !!!

6:30 AM

23 October 2012

I looked out the window this morning to see the ground covered in snow.  It was still falling from the sky.  How fun!  Later today it rained, but the ground was still pretty white in Providence.

Noon

19 October 2012

Nathan has had his own way of doing the AJS program.  At first he spent a lot of time on the computer.  About the first part of September we got him out networking a bit.  He went to Salt Lake City to attend the Networking meeting they had there.  He also started making contacts with headhunters on line.  He has had several interviews over the past few weeks.  Yesterday he had a third interview with EMC in Draper and they offered him a job.  He took a day to consider it, then said yes.  He will move his family to the Salt Lake area because he doesn't want the two hour commute from Logan--I don't blame him.

At the afternoon meeting, Nathan presented the tie he received from Michael to Randy.  He had worn it to the temple which was one of Michael's conditions.  He actually wore it to several interviews including EMC.

16 October 2012

I feel like I haven't succeeded when our candidates don't get jobs or settle for something different than what they originally aimed for.  I realized today that I am focusing on the temporal more than the spiritual side of this calling.  During a staff meeting today we were talking about our candidates and the difference in their demeanor when they first come in compared to where they are later on, especially after taking the Career Workshop.  They walk in feeling beaten down and leave with hope.

14 October 2012

The Relief Society President stopped by this evening and gave us a list of five ladies who desperately need reliable visiting teachers/friends.  Two of them of moms (one a single mom), one just became a widow, and two live in an extended care facility.  The two in the extended care facility rarely have family come to visit them.  One comes out regularly to church, one occasionally attends the sacrament meeting they hold at the facility.  Guess we will be kept busy.

13 October 2012

Belated Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October.   They  don't have pilgrims, but they do celebrate the harvest.  If they waited until November, like we do, there would be snow on the ground and the harvest past.

We were invited to the Bigelow's to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving.  Sister Bigelow is a Canadian also.  They had invited everyone from the ERC to dinner.  I think close to 30 people came.  They had put together the whole works for everyone. I learned that some Canadians put mashed potatoes in their stuffing mix, besides having them as part of the main course.

11 October 2012

Today President and Sister Hiers of the Utah Ogden Mission came to visit us at the Employment Resource Services center.  Janea, one of the director of Deseret Industries, gave them a tour of Deseret Industries.  They were able to meet both Becky and Paul, our manager and assistant manager.  President Hiers invited Becky to join us for lunch.  There were a total of seven of us:  the Eubanks, Becky, Sister Bews, the Hiers, and me.  We went to the Sizzler and enjoyed their salad bar.  (I would like to go back there again.)  The Hiers are such a sweet couple.

7 October 2012

General Conference, Sunday session

This morning I put up the rest of my window gels. I guess I am still an elementary teacher at heart. I like having some kind of seasonal decoration up. The window gels are fun. Jeanne sent me some after I first moved here and I have just been adding to them.

Today during General Conference I made a fleece, tied blanket.  I remember Jeanne doing that with the kids during one conference.  I thought it would be fun to do while I listened to the talks.  It would also be nice to have a warm blanket as the weather gets colder.  It turned out to be a lot of hard work, however.  I thought the scissors in our drawer were pretty sharp.  I guess for paper, but not for cutting fleece.

President Monson's, Elder Holland's, and Elder Hales' inspired me.  President Monson advised us to be sure to go back and read the the talks when they come out in the Ensign and Liahona for more depth and meaning.  Elder Holland's talk about John 21 impressed me. When I heard him quote versus 15-17, I immediately thought of the song I have sung in choir "Feed My Sheep."  This time around the story seemed to have more meaning for me.  Elder Hales also went John 21 but took a different  approach.  He focused on the role of the Holy Ghost. 

6 October 2012

Sister Bews and I decided to check out the Deseret Book store sale during Priesthood session. They do this every General Conference, but this is the first time I have been close enough to a bookstore to take advantage of it. They have a 20% off sale during the two hours of Priesthood. The place was packed with women and children. They had lots of chairs out for sitting around in. They do a drawing about every 15 minutes and lots of women hang around for it. Sister Bews found a great bargain, a lovely painting priced at $75 on sale for 80% off. The frame alone was probably worth more than the $15 she paid for it. We have decided that we won't need to go to another one of these special events.  Too many people for our taste; great place for others to socialize.