* a pretty routine/normal week... kids did their regular activities
* Mom and Dad visited the Temple
* The kids saved up and purchased Minecraft for the PC and have been having fun playing that
* Ben had Cale over to hang out
* August got a THIRD job in Kearney. He is now delivering pizza's for Papa Johns. He also taught Elders Quorum at the Singles Ward and is still attending Institute!
* Another snow storm rolled in (since the snow hadn't melted from the last storm, it's just piling up!)
Seth Spotlight...
* Held a FHE with a less active family and he gave the lesson on Prayer
* Attempted to help out at a service project but they (the missionaries) ended up playing a game of baseball
* Had a sleep over at the Zone Leaders house as they were needing to all get up at 3:50am to catch a bus to a volcano (they were going to take a PDay excursion to this particular Volcano that has a Lagoon inside of it) and they had to be at the bus area by 4:30am - which they were... but the bus never showed and so they ended up going back to the church and playing games and then all went out to eat lunch together (not as cool as a hiking a volcano... but he said he enjoyed himself nonetheless)
* Had interviews with the Mission President and that went well
* Played a little joke on Sister Poncio (the Mission President's wife)... he went out to grab some snacks and he asked her if she wanted anything. She said "Sure, something rico (good tasting)." So at the market he saw some vegetable oil that was the brand Rico so he bought one and presented it to her saying "you said you wanted something rico, and here is the rico!" Haha... thankfully, he also got something else (that was rico!) and gave it to her.
Spiritually Speaking...
I have felt an increased responsibility over the past few months to be more diligent in Family History (which has since turned into a desire vs a responsibility). Anyway, I had a really neat experience this past week with finding one of my ancestors. Last April I had downloaded an app called "Take a Name" which would search your family lineage to find names that needed their Temple work done and then all you had to do was print and go do the work -easy peasy! Well, one name that wasn't a direct ancestor (it was the wife of a 1st cousin 4 times removed) only had the last name (no one knew what her first name was) and I didn't really think anything of it at the time. So we did the baptism, confirmation and Initiatory work for her but every time I went to do an Endowment session at the Temple and looked at my pile of names to choose from, I never felt "right" taking her name... and so kept putting it off. Well, it started weighing on me and I was like "We need to find this ancestor and find out what her name is!" and so I started searching... with no luck. (note: In the 1880 US Census it had her husbands name and stated that he was a Widow, their 5 children listed - the youngest only being 8 months old - and had an Andrew Stephens as his brother in law, Andrews wife and their son also listed as living in the household. Apparently at some point it was deducted that if "Stephens" was the last name of the brother-in-law, that it was probably his wife's maiden name -- and that was the name listed in family search. So I was searching everything for the this Andrew Stephens family and was getting no where! oh also, they were married in 1871 so the 1870 Census was of no help either!)
Friday morning, my alarm went off for me to take Ben to Seminary so I hopped up and went and woke him up and then realized that it was only 4:15am and the alarm hadn't really gone off (even though I totally thought it had!) so told Ben to go back to sleep. I crawled back into bed as well anticipating another hour and half of dreamy comfort only to find that I couldn't fall back to sleep but had thoughts of needing to find this persons name. So I got up and started searching for her again and came up empty handed.
Saturday (I love Saturdays as they are my day for sleeping in and I was so looking forward to it!) but I was again awoken very early (this time around 5:45am) and I had urgent thoughts of needing to find this person so I got up and started searching... and searching.. and I wasn't finding anything! I started to pray and ask for angels to help me find this person and then... I FOUND HER!!!! At first I didn't think it was her since the name was Catherine Humble (and I was anticipating a last name of Stephens). When I realized that it was indeed her (with the help of her Marriage certificate and Burial record) my body just filled with such joy, happiness and burning from the Spirit! I just sat at the computer and cried and kept thinking "We found her! We found her! She has a name!" I could feel her joy that she was no longer "lost" and I feel that she wanted to be found so badly that she kept waking me up in the early mornings to search for her!
The urgency didn't stop there and I knew I had to go the Temple right away and do her work that day! So I went upstairs to tell John all that had happened and to say that I was going to the Temple - he of course wanted to join me (as he's had a big problem at work and decided it would be wise to go and try to get some inspiration) and so we got ready and off we went to the Temple. As I was sitting in the Endowment Room, I had a big feeling of relief wash over me and the thoughts of "Finally, I am here! We made it!" come into my heart and mind.
The wisdom and Revelations didn't stop there for me that day. John and I had been pondering, studying and continually praying about Nicaragua (but that was not our intent of attending the Temple) as we felt we maybe still needed to do more extensive research. After we prayed in the Celestial Room, John turned to me and said "Do you have anything fun to share?" and I was like "Fun? What do you mean?" He then asked if I prayed about Nicaragua and I said that I hadn't really- as that was not my intent of attending that day (but that I had asked for further direction on what else we needed to study out and had gotten the impression that "All would be revealed soon and that we'd know what we were to do.") John said that it wasn't his intent either but he felt like the time was right to ask as he prayed and so he did... and he got an answer... He got the answer that all of the happy, joyful, hopeful and excited feelings that we've been having about moving there were of Heavenly Father and that it was His will for us and our family to move to Nicaragua! I was like "What!? For Real?!" and John was just smiling from ear to ear and so full of happiness! I was like "Well, I feel like I need to pray about this too then!" and so I did. Before I even had the first sentence of my prayer out, my mind was just FILLED with so much wisdom and knowledge! It was seriously like a flood gate had been opened and massive amounts of wisdom and inspiration were just overflowing! These were the wonderful things that were revealed to me:
* Yes, it was His will that we move to Nicaragua - the Spirit accompanied this thought and brought warmth and peace to my heart!
* He needs us there. He needs to be able to count on us to do His will and to serve in ways that he asks us to once there.
* We need to take these next couple of years and really prepare ourselves spiritually. We need to have our hearts turned to Him 100%. We need to be ready to answer whatever he calls us to do. We need to use this time now to practice following through on all promptings and to show that He can count on us.
* If we wanted to sacrifice now (move into a cheaper rental, sell the truck, etc) and have our timeline be 2.5 years until departure then that would be fine OR if we wanted to take our time and it be more like 4-5 years away, that would be find too. He had people prepared for us in both timelines and would leave it up to us.
* If we did want to move into a cheaper rental, I felt that He really needed us to stay in our current ward and that He would prepare the perfect place for us in Laurel to move to.
* Do not doubt this answer (He knows me too well! haha)
After my mind was flooded with all of these thoughts, I was like "But I haven't even asked my question if our decision to move to Nicaragua was right or not..." (even though I was in the Celestial Room AND had already felt the Spirit confirming things, I still wanted to be on FIRE! or something.. I mean this was BIG and I wanted an EXTREME answer) and then this came immediately to me: "I've just opened your mind and given you wisdom and knowledge and revealed much to you. Would you have rather just gotten a stronger burning in your heart or had my will revealed to you?" I felt humbled (and sorry!) and was so grateful for having this answer. I have only had the experience once before where Heavenly Father has opened my mind in this way (that was when we were contemplating homeschooling) and I am so grateful that he trusts me enough to reveal His will in such a way.
So.. it looks like we will be heading down to the land of Nica!! We're tentatively shooting for the summer of 2020. Ben will be leaving on his Mission at that time and we'd wait until after he left. The kids are so excited (Nathan is a bit worried about learning the language but he has been Fasting today for the gift of tongues so that he'll be able to learn it) and the girls are beyond excited about the upcoming adventure! I was sitting in church today when I "remembered" that we got the answer to go and I was immediately just flooded with happiness and excitement! haha... it's actually kind of weird to think about!
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