* Mackowiaks stayed another night with us on their way back home to Minot
* Irish Dancing for the girls
* Mom attended the Temple
* Dad and Nathan went to an Elders Quorum activity (of roasting a pig!)
* Ben got new glasses
* Mom and all of the kids went to Pizza Ranch while they waited for Ben's glasses to get made
Seth Spotlight...
* His companion is still very ill and so they weren't able to even leave the apartment at all this week - not even to attend church
* Even though he didn't get to go to church, he was told that he is assigned to another small branch (not as small as Leon) but they only have 18-19 people in attendance each week
* For their Pday this week, they took a bus into Managua for his companion to go to the Doctors. While he was at the hospital, Seth was able to meet up with one of his previous companions (Elder Lemus) and they went around to see some people that Seth had grown to love (specifically Piduhl and Jimmy). Sadly, both of them were at work, but he was able to see their families and get some pictures
Spiritually Speaking...
OK, so this week I had a very interesting (and unusual) experience while in the Temple. I went to do the Initiatory work for our family names that the Youth had taken on their Baptism night. So I'm in there and there was a young, sweet Ordinance worker who I just felt a connection with. There were other Patrons also doing Initiatories and so there was a few times where I had to wait with her. During one of those times I asked if she was waiting to go on a Mission and she replied "No." and so I asked if she was a Returned Missionary and again she replied "No." So I said something along the lines of "Oh..so you just wanted to get your own Temple work done and move along in the Kingdom of God - that's really neat!" (of course, I didn't really yell this but was said in a whisper)... Anyway, there were a few additional exchanges between the two of us and I just thought to myself how she was such a sweet girl who obviously has a testimony and was serving the Lord on a Friday night! So I get done with my names and I head to the Celestial room to do some pondering and praying. When I come out, I see that she is sitting on a couch located just outside the door. When she sees me, she lights up and heads my way and says "I just wanted to thank you for coming in tonight. I really enjoyed having you in the Initiatories. You made the night really fun for me and I hope you don't think I'm weird but I just wanted to come give you a hug! I asked the other workers if that was weird, but then I told them I didn't care!" I told her that I'd love a hug and so she gave me a super sweet hug outside of the Celestial Room. She asked where I lived and I told her in Park City - but she didn't know where that was (she lives in Livingston about 2 hours West of the Temple). I asked her if she'd be driving home that night (since it was already close to 9pm) and she said that she would be. I expressed a little concern for her and she said that her grandpa also works in the Temple and they ride in together (she also told me that her grandpa calls her his "Temple Buddy"). I told her how cool that was and how wonderful that she could have such great quality time with him and make some memories. So I tell her maybe I'll see her again sometime and she tells me that she works the 1st, 3rd and 5th Friday's of the month. We say our goodbyes and I head into the dressing room to get changed. While getting dressed a thought came pretty forcibly into my mind that said "You need to give that girl Seth's email for her to write to him!" It literally stopped me in my tracks and I was like "What?! No.. Seth's on a mission and he doesn't need any distractions." And the thought comes again "Give her Seth's email." Again, I have some inner dialogue with myself that consists of things like "That is too weird! I can't do that! What if she has a boyfriend.. or is engaged! I don't even know how old she is (she looked somewhere between 18-21) and plus, she is going to think I'm crazy!" So I talk myself out of it and finish getting dressed (I did do a quick search through my bag to see if I even had paper to write on - which I didn't and so I figured I couldn't do it anyway!)... I start walking out and with each step the Spirit is telling me "Don't leave without giving her Seth's email!" I'm ashamed to say that I was too embarrassed to go find her and do it and so I walked out!! The closer I got to the van the thought was "This is your only chance.. you NEED to go back!"... Again, I was too embarrassed and so continued on towards the van. I got in and started it up (and yes, you guessed it - I was still feeling prompted to go find her!) I start the van and decide to say one last prayer to make sure that it just wasn't "Me" and truly inspiration (and I do have to say that several times the thought came to me "you just received inspiration INSIDE of the Temple...and you're questioning it!?) During the prayer I felt that for some reason Seth and her need to be acquainted with each other -maybe she'll help him in some way or maybe he'll help her.. or maybe through her he'll meet someone -who knows! All I know is that when I closed my prayer I knew I had no choice but to go back in and find Lisa. So I walk back in and tell the worker at the front desk that I know they're closed but I need to run real quick back into the dressing room. (side note: while I was putting some names on the Prayer Roll, I took one of the tiny blank pieces of paper and wrote Seth's email on it!) So I get back into the Dressing Room and I'm thinking "How am I even going to find her!?" when all of a sudden out she comes from around the corner! She sees me and smiles and I motion for her to come over to me and then I say "Ok, now it's my turn to be the weird one! I don't know why, but for some reason I keep getting the feeling that I'm supposed to give you my son's email who's on a Mission." (at this point, she kind of looks at me a little strange but accepts the piece of paper that I had written it on with a smile - and yes, I was feeling very awkward! haha) I then tell her that I had actually left and was in my car and the Spirit kept telling me that for some reason I needed to come back in and give it to her (at this point, she was like "Really?! Wow!") I told her that I didn't know why and that there was no pressure and that she could do with it what she wanted but if she did decide to write to him, she could just say "Hey, I met your mom in the Temple and she felt impressed to give me your email so I'm writing you!" (she told me that's exactly what she's going to write to him! haha) Anyway, I told her he was serving in Nicaragua and she said that one of her very good friends just got home from Nicaragua (like last week and she had just given her Homecoming Talk last Sunday).... Anyway, I told her I was embarrassed to be doing this but I couldn't ignore the prompting(s) that I had received in the Temple any longer and then we said our Goodbye's for a second time! I tell you - it was definitely not how I expected the evening to end up! And of course now I'm super curious as to how this will all play out! That's the thing though - everything in the Lords timing, right? And who knows when that will be! Honestly I feel a bit sad on this (especially now when writing it all out) that I am always such a DOUBTER when it comes to promptings and answers. I wonder why my first instinct is always Doubt and not Faith! Maybe that is a Spiritual Gift that I need to work on and plead for! If something is out of my "comfort zone" it's easy for me to rationalize the thoughts away as my own... BUT I'm so grateful for such a loving Heavenly Father who is so Patient with me and my need to have repeated promptings. I will say that the Conference Talk by Elder Rasband earlier this month kept coming to my mind about following the promptings that the Holy Ghost gives to us. He said that "We must act on the first prompting" (yikes, something I obviously did NOT do in this instance!) and that we "shouldn't question Heavenly Counsel" He also said that if we respond on the first prompting - we will be right 9/10 times and that it's pure inspiration from Heaven! I am going to work on being a "First Responder!"
A second tender mercy this week was... SUIT TIME at the GOODWILL!! Ben was in desperate need of a new suit that fits him. I had looked last week for Easter but didn't see any... This week, on the way to the Temple I had the feeling that I should just run into the Goodwill and check to see if they had any and so that's just what I did (see, now since this wasn't out of my "comfort zone" I easily listened on the first prompting! haha) So I head back to the suit section and... there were SIX suits in his size! I bought them all with the intention that I'd have him try them on and take back the ones that he didn't like or that didn't fit right.... Honestly he looked great in FOUR of them and for the insane prices on them - we only took back 2 and kept the other 4! There was a Blue one for $3.99, a Gray one for $5.99 a Black one for $5.99 and an AWESOME brown one for $7.99 - so for like $24 he now has four new suits! (plus he is kind of rough on his clothing and so we figured we'd have some backups!)..I also picked up a few new ties that were really sweet for a few bucks! (pictured above with all of this weeks pics is him in the brown suit along with one of the new ties)...He sure looks handsome! In fact, he looked so handsome I had to include another set of pictures of him below!
And a THIRD awesome thing that happened this week was.... Nathan gave the Scripture for Opening Exercises in Primary today!! He has been reluctant (which is actually just a nice way to say he has refused! haha) to do any assignments in Primary. One of the members of the Primary Presidency asked me last week if I thought Nathan would do BOTH the prayer and the scripture this week. I knew he was ready and told her that he would. Earlier this week, we selected a scripture (Moroni 10:5 "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things.") He could read it and we practiced it multiple times a day all week long! I knew he was really nervous to do it and he kept telling me he was worried throughout the week. I told him HE COULD DO IT!! and that Heavenly Father would be right there to help him and to help him not be too nervous. He couldn't eat breakfast this morning and all through Sacrament he kept telling me how nervous he was! We said a special prayer and he seemed to be a bit better. Finally it was time for him to say the prayer and he did great! Then it was time for him to read the scripture. He had practiced it so many times that he had it memorized and just got up and said it (without opening the scriptures). I was so proud of him! I knew that took a lot of courage for him! On the way home I told him not only were dad and I so proud of him, but that his Heavenly Father was also proud of him! He seemed pretty proud of his accomplishment! Here's a super cute picture I took of him on the way home...
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