January 1st - 8th

In Our Family This Week...
* Rang in the NEW YEAR!
* Dad went to Gillette for a couple of days
* Girls started back with their Irish Dancing lesson
* Dad and the boys went to see Star Wars Rogue One
* Mom and the girls went Thrift Store shopping
* Mom and Dad went on a date to the Temple
* August invited the family over for dinner
* Ben spent the night with August

Seth Spotlight...
* Had a Zone Christmas Party - they did secret Santa's and he felt blessed when he received a Hammock AND a Nicaraguan Baseball type shirt
* Church time moved to 10am so he doesn't have to get up at 5:30am on Sundays anymore
* Lopez made a trip back to Managua (he returned home last month) and came back for a quick visit
* Rang in the New Year at Pidul's (he mentioned that a tradition there on New Years Eve is to hang life-size Scarecrows from the trees... creepy!)
* Participated in a Zone wide fast for progression in the work
* We received a sweet letter from his Compaion (Elder Alfaro) sharing his testimony with us
* We also saw another picture AND a short video clip of him that his Pidul posted to FB

Spiritually Speaking...
* Ben had an AMAZING Spiritual experience happen (but it's his place to share when he's ready). A promise was made to him that will bless him throughout his entire life!
*  Mom and dad went to the Temple... we decided to do 1 hour of Initiatories and then meet in the Celestial room. Well, I entered the Celestial room at the designated time but... no dad! In fact, he didn't show up for another hour! However, that gave me an entire hour to ponder and pray and receive some answers that I'd been needing!
* Today was Fast and Testimony meeting at church. Lexi decided last night that she'd like to share her testimony today so she promptly went over to the computer and typed up her testimony (so that she could practice and be ready to share it during Sacrament meeting)... Here is a copy of what she wrote (I didn't change a thing - this is exactly how she wrote it). She was confident today during church and did a great job sharing her feelings with the congregation :)

                                                 Lexi's Testimony    

I would like to bare my testimony. That i know the church is true. And i know the scriptures are true. And i know families can be together forever. I know we can have happiness and peace in our hearts when we read the scriptures. And i know that heavenly father answers all of our prayers.

I say these things in the name of jesus christ aman.