MINISTERING...A HOW-TO

This is How it Started
Monday's lesson in Seminary talked about goal-setting, planning, and being guided by the Spirit. Here's the quote from President Dallin H. Oaks:

“Faith and trust in the Lord give us the strength to accept and persist, whatever happens in our lives. …

“… Do not rely on planning every event of your life—even every important event. Stand ready to accept the Lord’s planning and the agency of others in matters that inevitably affect you. Plan, of course, but fix your planning on personal commitments that will carry you through no matter what happens. Anchor your life to eternal principles, and act upon those principles whatever the circumstances and whatever the actions of others. Then you can await the Lord’s timing and be sure of the outcome in eternity” (“Timing,” Ensign, Oct. 2003, 17).

Good and sage advice. Jonathan even used the quote (when I gave it to him) for a writing assignment for his online class. I'm always telling everybody (I am sure this is literal) that all the quotes, counsel, principles and doctrine do little good if they are not applied. And, I am no exception.

Figuring Out This "Ministering" Thing

Sunday, I finally got my list of sisters to minister to. (BTW, I did not find out who is supposed to minister to me. I am very curious.) Three sisters, two of whom I'd been getting to know already, one of whom I was lightly acquainted but, now...

I had a plan to visit one Tuesday; I'd planned it before I even knew I was to minister to her. She'd recently had surgery. I went to cheer up and keep her company. We did a lot of chatting, ran through some things she needed addressing, and just generally had a good time. Then her husband came home.

He's great, that wasn't the problem. The problem was him going out to their garage (they moved recently to a new home) and finding one of their freezers totally off and everything in it (it was full) completely defrosted. New problem! 

I'd already been there a couple of hours and needed to go home and check on Analiese. So I told them to look through things, decide what they wanted done with it all, and let me know what they needed me to do. I hadn't been home long when I got the call to go back. I took Analiese with me; it was time to spring into ministerial action!

Three Sisters, One Freezer, a Whole Lot of Pork

Analiese and I loaded our van with four big boxes full of previously-frozen meat and vegetables. The meat, in particular had to be handled NOW. It couldn't be put back into a freezer without cooking it first. And Sister #1 asked: who could use it?

Guess what? Sisters #2 and #3 have big families. Was it okay to deliver some to them? Yes, as long as I kept some for myself. Sister #1 already kind of knows me; she was pretty sure I'd give it all away and not keep it, just to be nice.

I call Sister #2, she's home. Analiese & I go to her house and ask her to give us an empty laundry basket and come out to the van. Analiese held the basket while #2 picked out what she wanted for her family. She's pregnant with numero six, so I had Analiese take it into her home for her. 

I called Sister #3, left a message, and went home. I sorted out the remains - threw away a few things gone back (no food poisoning, please!) and made up a big box for #3 when she called. I told her I'd bring her box by on the way to pick up my son from work.

She, too, is pregnant (with numero ???), but gratefully her husband was there to take the box off of my hands, since Analiese wasn't with me. They have a VERY big family and I was sure this would be a big help to them. As well as to Sister #1. And to me. The current meat truck. 

All Porked Out

Suffice it to say, there was a lot of pig meat. A few things of veggies, but mostly pork roasts and such. And I had to figure out what to do with it.

Monday, we'd already had Ken's Creamy Potato Soup...with bacon. That was pork of our own choosing. Tuesday, I had actually planned on grilled ham steaks and homemade rolls. (See the Pres. Oaks' quote above: it didn't happen.) Instead, we had oven-baked BBQ pork ribs (from #1), oven-roasted broccoli (ditto), and baked potatoes. Actually, my kids raved over it! The ribs were huge and plentiful (seven) and Jonathan only had one!

Wednesday, I switched gears. There was a bag of defrosted hash browns now in my fridge. What to do? I made a breakfast casserole with the hash browns, eggs, and...pork sausage. Look, it was that or bacon and I had both in my fridge. It was still good! (Add a little green onions, top with some salsa...)

Thursday was defrosted sausages on hoagie rolls...bangers, in our parlance. They might not have been pork. I may have used beef ones. I know there were both.

It was Friday that I went to town. I had four (4) pork roasts in the fridge to deal with. Three went in the big crockpot to roast in the way Ken loves - garlic, rosemary and other yummies. The fourth went into a smaller crockpot, all chopped up, to become Pork Carnitas. Please feel free to drool. They are so drool-worthy!

The sisters came to dinner so we had roast pork with potatoes and gravy and green beans (and chocolate cake - I took a "few" moments to bake one). The rest of the pork was shredded for pork sandwiches at a later date and placed in the freezer. The carnitas were shredded and put in the oven for their final roasting in juices and then cooled and frozen as well. Three meals...at least. There's enough pork there for probably twice that!

Saturday...was the Branch Fall Festival. The menu was chili. I assumed, generally, that most chili contains beef. Though, I've had venison, and a white one with chicken (yum). And I have a great pork chili recipe. but no! Let's take a pork break for a little bit, shall we?

Nope, it was hot dogs and brats, with the canned chili to go on top. Never mind. Pork Pork PORK!

Analiese as the White Rabbit

Make-up Close-Up

Analiese & friends at Branch Party

Other Non-pork Related Incidents This Week

I was on "opioids" this weekend for the extreme pain in my jaw. I only took them at night before bed; I am too busy during the day to be "under the influence." They seemed to help, though, and by Monday, the pain was minimal and I could go to the dentist and endure the fairly quick placing of my permanent crown on the right.

The pain really gob-smacked (Gosh! I love English) and worried my dentist a bit. He looked at the new and old x-rays; he probed and prodded. There was no evidence of TMJ damage, but something was going on. By the end of the appointment his best guess was that the TMJ ligament in my jaw had been sprained by our appointment the month before to do the filling on the right and prep for the new crown. It had been a horrific experience and my mouth (unbelievably) is too small. I've been having issues of jaws dislocating or really hurting after these appointments. If I could afford it, I'd be knocked out for all of them. I can't even do a basic cleaning without a bite block.

I now teach SIX lessons for Seminary each week. Five in the classroom and the sixth for a student I have who is struggling with MS. She really wants to come, but it is so hard for her in the mornings. She can't move very quickly. So, I encourage to come when she can and, if not, to study and home and we'll have our own little lesson on Friday afternoon. She's a great student, she just has a great struggle right now. I want her to graduate and have the other blessings of the in-depth study of the scriptures that comes from Seminary. So, this I do! I really enjoyed being with her, though, she's so receptive and earnest and sweet!

A treat for my students on Wednesday.

The bee on the top of the jar is named "Deseret." He watches over my stash!

YW enjoying the beautiful Sunday with a lesson across the street in the park!

More pics:

Pom has a weird thing about licking screens

Excited for hunting season?

When the whole fam goes to Walmart...

CHICKEN SITTIN'

Social Media Fast
President Nelson asked the sisters of the Church to fast from all social media for ten days. That's why I didn't post last week's blog until today, though I did write it last week! I think I was pretty successful, but I found laying off Pinterest to be difficult. I didn't allow myself to browse, a favorite time-waster, but only used it if I needed a recipe, or something for Seminary. Yeah, I have Pinterest boards for each book of scripture for Seminary, plus one for conference, one for games, one for Doctrinal Mastery, one for teaching tips....

This is what 10 days of no FB looks like.

Mud Like Nobody's Business!
Talk at RS today went like this: Every year where we get a lot of rain (example: 2018), we have a hard winter. Thrilling. Not.

Puddles don't seem to have a chance to dry out before the next storm comes. The mud is horrific. It's red, thick and treacherous. People in the country areas with white pickups (the majority, for some reason they all have white), find the bottom half of their vehicles sprayed with a fine mud red.

Analiese and I had to walk sixteen blocks home from the library Thursday evening (no vehicle) in the dark. There are few street lights and many leafy trees that block what light there is. It was tricky walking home, trying to stay on the few sidewalks there were, and keeping out of the puddles and mud. I used my phone as a flashlight so I wouldn't fall on my nose. Thankfully, there had been no rain since that morning; walking home in the rain (uphill, seriously) would have been miserable!

Chick Chick Chick!
Analiese and I took it upon ourselves to care for the Cate's eight chickens (and one guinea) while they were off on vacation. We went over to their house every other day to make sure the feathered girls were fed and watered. We also gathered up eggs to take home - yummy!

Analiese could stand up entirely in the coop,

so she'd pass the water bowls out to me to clean and fill while she refilled the feeders. Then I went around to the back to open up the area where their roosting box is to check for the eggs. I went with an egg carton (heaven forbid I try to carry eggs in my hands); we got seven on Thursday and four on Saturday. Jackpot!

It was a temptation to leave her there.

We'll go back on Monday one more time before the Cate's come home. It's been fun and not too messy. I think I could probably handle it on a full-time basis. Analiese, too.

Taco Belle
It happened. I knew it would (they say I'm paranoid); it was just a matter of time. A customer tried to pick up on my daughter Saturday. Analiese said he was probably in his mid-twenties and (apparently) not too shy on the looks himself. She just said she was younger than he thought she was. He thought she was nineteen!

With my glasses on, she probably looks even older.

Look, it's not just Mama-prejudice (though there's a healthy amount of that!). My daughter is cute and...shapely. Yikes! I warned Ken it was bound to happen and of course it did now that he's not working at the Chickasha TB. I told him to watch her. He probably did when he was there. Now, we just hope her co-workers will back her up. Mind you, she knows how to make weird faces to throw people off; she practices with her dad! She's spunky, too; I can't see her not holding her own unless someone was forceful.  But then, she's also very vocal. She can make herself heard.

But watch out, fellas! Mama's watching!

She's still a kid. Funny hair and face-painting from YW

It's not long, but the girls can still figure out what to do with it.

Zombie toes? Seriously, how is this appealing?

Crazy Drivers
I wish I had pictures for you. Some of the driving (and parking) in Oklahoma is head-shakingly astounding. But I was driving in both instances - one on the highway and one in a neighborhood about to turn a corner - so I can only describe the mania that exists here. There are people around here who have no right to be behind the wheel.

Case #1 - Neighborhood. It was a little compact car with a big dresser on the top of it. How was it secured? His (her) buddy was standing on the back bumper - I kid you not - holding it down onto the car. They were driving VERY slowly. At least there was that much common sense. What I would have given to have followed them to their destination. I wanted to see it take a corner! Or go up a hill-top driveway!

Case #2 - Highway. A pickup with a trailer going the opposite direction. On the trailer was one of those cheap carport shelters made of aluminum shed materials; basically it was just poles with aluminum siding. Crazy thing was, rather than sitting on the length of the trailer, it was perched on the width. Get the picture? He was taking up a lane and a half...and that road doesn't always have two lanes going each way!

THE JOY OF BAKING

Talkin' 'bout the weather
This is it. It's really fall. No, seriously. The day time temps are down in the mid-sixties. The wind has been a-blowing and we've had three very wet days. The Wachita River, which flows south of town is VERY full. There's been flooding: mainly in Anadarko to our west, but a little here. The drainage is bad and the streets flood a lot. Friday, during the drive home from Seminary, it was so bad I could barely see. Couldn't it just wait until I got home?

That big flier is Junior, the Juvenile red-tailed hawk that's been hanging around the church and the park. He got shy when Analiese went to take a picture!

Cozy Life
It has been nice and cozy at home, though. Preparing for my event on Saturday, I had lots to do. Cleaning up the house, cooking, baking. The latter has made the house smell so nice!

There is nothing like the smell of steamy, cinnamon-y cookies as you open the oven door. I made iced apple oatmeal cookies and...talk about heaven!

They tasted good too, which I guess is the point. I delivered some to a friend who's not been well. She said they tasted disgusting...in front of her husband. She didn't want to share!

There is also nothing like the smell of yeasty rolls as you open the oven door. I made some very easy (only one 20-minute rise!) rolls that turned out so soft, aromatic and luscious. I had a sister from church pick on up and just smell it because it's so wonderful! Grocery store rolls are not the same! I think she ate several of those rolls, too, because they were every bit as yummy as they smelled!

Soup Swap
So all the baking and cleaning was for the RS Soup Swap on Saturday. Saturday dawned cool and wet...perfect weather. But a lot of people backed out: sick, busy, no babysitter. I only had five guests, but we had a good time. I'd made black bean soup and split pea, someone brought pinto bean and ham, we had two chicken noodles (one with homemade noodles!) and clam chowder. The rolls and the cookies were a hit and we just had fun sitting back and talking. Everyone got to take home a little extra soup, too, plus I collected recipes. I'm going to assemble them and then share it with the RS.

Social Media Fast
President Nelson gave the challenge Saturday Night. Sunday, after uploading last week's blog, I began my fast. No Facebook, plus I added no YouTube or games. If I was going to take a break from worldly stuff, might as well do it right! Actually, I found out this week that others have done the same. Inspiration!

The first day or so, I got a little twitchy, because I'd reach for my phone to do something only to have to put it down again. Also, I came to a realization that Pinterest is actually social media (I don't use Twitter or Snapchat and rarely ever look at my Instagram). But I use Pinterest for thing like recipes and Seminary, so I resolved not to BROWSE Pinterest, but get what I needed, when I needed it, and then get out.

After that, it wasn't too bad. I would have liked to have reminded the RS sisters about Saturday's soup swap and I wasn't able to use FB to contact Seminary students, but I have other ways to get a hold of them.  But I found time to do other worthwhile things: read (especially the Book of Mormon, which was another challenge the prophet gave the sisters Saturday night), do Indexing, visit sisters and, as the week went on, clean my house up for the Saturday visitors. Plenty of time, no stress. I think there may have even been a nap or two included there (wink).

I came to the conclusion today (no, it doesn't end for me until the end of Wednesday) that maybe the reason was to get us to wake up and see where our time had really been going. Also, many sisters I've spoken to have found better, happier things to be doing. Definitely an improvement. So much of it has been time-wasters. To be honest, I went to it (too much) for stress and boredom relief.

Drive Drive Drive
I do a lot of transporting of kids back and forth. To work. To YW. Etc. Well, Saturday, the very day of my Soup Swap activity, I had a lot of it to do. In between everything else.

Saturday morning Jonathan needed to be in Norman by 7:30 to go with the YSA ward to the Dallas temple (I cannot WAIT for OKC to reopen!) That was about an hour up and back. Then I rushed home go get my soups ready for the sisters coming at noon (I'd made the rolls and cookies the day before). Then...I had to take Analiese to work at 11:00, after which I ran home, took a shower, reheated the rolls and set the tables. Considering the past three days of cooking and baking, it was nice to have a couple of hours to sit down and relax.

Because...after that I had to pick up Analiese from work, deliver soup to my sister-friend, and then head up to Norman again to get Jonathan! I was so exhausted driving home.  This next week should prove to be quieter. Good! I need a rest!

ANALIESE ANTICS: She likes to put Pom in the hood of her jacket!

ANALIESE ANTICS: 'Nuff said.

This truck made me laugh. Even his plate is goofy!

CREEPY CRAWLIES & CONFERENCE

But not together! I'm not mixing the two, thank goodness!

Creepy Crawlies
Oklahoma is sometimes (?) a strange place. Fall is kind of here, the weather is kind of cooperating - cooling a little, extra rain. But lately, it's been an insect paradise. For them. Not necessarily for me. I thought bugs liked the heat of summer.

For one, we've been seeing caterpillars. Like, lots of them. At the park, at home, wherever. Aren't they spring-harbingers for summer butterflies and moths? Apparently not. We've spotted at least five different types this week.

This fellow was at least 3 inches long! He will become a rather large moth over time.

There have been a lot of spiders around, too. Some are fairly good sized, though not like those amazing yellow-and-black garden spiders back in my Altus yard. We've seen huge webs high up in the trees of the park. There's one, however, who made it's home in the vines of the wisteria on the arch on the park path. Analiese and I spent considerable time observing it this week, watching what went into it's web, etc.

On the disgusting, gross, and just-plain-annoying side... Do you really want to know? One morning, going out to the van for Seminary, I had to wipe the condensation off of windows and mirrors so I could see to drive. I keep a bunch of fast food napkins in the van for just that purpose. So, I cleaned them off and threw the napkins away in the trash can outside our home. Analiese popped into the van, I turned on the engine...and the headlights. Crawling all over said can was MAGGOTS! We had a little freak-out moment - me, more than her because I touched the can!!! GROSS! We shuddered and tried not to throw up! Trust me, when we got home, we told Ken. Time to slay the disgusting dragons!

Then, there are the stupid grasshoppers. I'm constantly scooting their scritchy-scratchy bodies off of me, the mail box, and my poor, benighted gerbera daisy plant on the porch. They've been going to town on the poor plant, who's starting to look shredded. You can tell they've been feasting a lot there, too. Grasshopper poops are a real thing.

And mosquitoes still are messing with my life. The worst part this week was the bite I got on my right arm near the area where I give myself allergy shots. Seriously? Just what I need, double itching!

One cool, non-insect sort-of creepy-crawly we found this week was a frog. Analiese spotted him behind the church building Wednesday after YW. He was sitting by a door, bathed in light. She took me over to look at him. I don't think he much liked the attention but bore it with patience.

She named him Gamamoto. Some sort of Manga/Anime reference.

Doctor Visit
No, he didn't visit me; I went to him. I went to Norman to see him (same office as the allergist) because I had had a food allergy test (blood-letting) a few weeks earlier to see if I was allergic to any food. Because I always seem to be getting tummy-sick. It's becoming a real problem; it interrupts my sleep, stops outings in their tracks, and keeps me from enjoying life in general. I do not want to live in my bathroom.

The result: I am not allergic to ANYTHING food-wise. So I looked the doc square in the eyes and said, "Then we need to have a talk because I'm having issues." (Issues is code-word for any kind of problem, especially long-term, I'm having).

So we did. He's a great doctor. I think we spent at least 30 minutes (!) talking about all the things it could be and what we could do (invasive versus non, expensive versus not, etc.). He really took the time to go over things with me. He answered my questions thoroughly and intelligently (meaning he took me seriously and didn't talk down, he recognized my own intelligence) and we formulated a plan. SIGH. Why is it never easy?

Whole 30
At first he suggested doing this program for only a week, but after some discussion, we decided to go with the complete thirty days. Why? Because of my other issues, like allergies, energy levels and cholesterol, even anxiety.

Whole 30 is a program (Ken says diet) where you restrict A LOT of foods for thirty days in order to clear out and reset your digestive system. Then, you slowly reintroduce things, one at a time, in order to see what is or isn't affecting you. Not that I'm allergic, but that something is bothering my stomach, intestines, or colon.

So, for thirty days no: grains, dairy, legumes (beans & peanuts), sugar, caffeine, processed foods. It's basically protein and veggies, with a little fruit in there. No cheating, because that defies the test and I'd have to start all over again. Grin and bear it, I guess.

I'm not starting it until the 15th of October. They don't recommend it during holidays and big events (like weddings) because the temptation is overwhelming. So, my plan is to get this over and done before Thanksgiving. Not that I can go whole-hog. I'll still have to be careful, because I'll be in the evaluating stage when I have to see what does/doesn't bother me.

Sounds crazy, right? I'm not into crazy; it makes me VERY SKEPTICAL. But...the doctor said he'd seen some pretty great, positive results from it and felt it was a good recommendation, considering my circumstances. It sounds a lot like the paleo & keto diets going on, like the one my cousin, Tim, lost a lot of weight on. But this is temporary, though it could lead to some weight loss and some re-evaluation of food choices. Which would be nice. Also, if I start having problems again, I can do it again as needed.

Would my family do it with me? Well, we're going to have a special FHE Monday and talk about it. I know Jonathan has been having some problems with food lately, so maybe he will. We'll see. If you've had any success, or have any advice on it for me, please let me know. I am in the process of researching all about it. I cannot afford doing the organic thing, so I will have to readjust some of their suggestions. Also, great recipes, including ones for breakfast, would be awesome!

CONFERENCE NOTES
I am going to leave the "Big Change" to the end of these comments, so you're just going to have to endure my take on the other parts of conference. Too bad, conference was amazing!

First off, I made it a Seminary "project" to watch and note conference. We spent nearly all of our class time on Friday talking about conference and how to get the most out of it. I was a little concerned that we didn't get to much of my lesson, but the Spirit was telling me not to worry about it - conference was more important!

There was much continued talk about ministering from last conference. "Feed my sheep" was an oft-repeated theme. I liked Elder Soares' talk about including new converts into the "river" of the church, The Women's session focused a lot on loving others.

There was quite a bit of talk about fears, trials and hardships. Elder Ballard's talk about life after death was particularly poignant in light of his recent loss of his wife. Apparently, Elder Eyring's wife is not doing well, either, and his sweet words portrayed his deep love for her. I wept.

Of course, there was plenty of upbeat words. Elder Uchtdorf was his cheerful self, talking about how the Atonement of Jesus Christ makes us better...and happier. Elder Gay of the 70 told us that no enduring joy exists outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this from him: "Can you see that every one around you is a sacred being?" What a perspective!

There were firm stands on our beliefs, too. The world is not going to sway us into agreeing in things that aren't right! President Oak's talk was unmistakable in this fashion: The truths about the Plan of Salvation cannot be learned by secular methods. Oh, and change yourself; not the Church!

President Russell M. Nelson - Prophet of God 💖
That man is so amazing. He's awful darling, too. He has such an endearing smile and manner, as if he loves the whole world and wants us all to be one big happy family (which I think he does!). He spoke a lot, not every session, but nearly. He seems to be just full of energy and revelation that he wants/needs to spill out to the world. It's so exciting to watch him!

He challenged the women of the Church Saturday evening to something similar to what he did with the youth earlier this year. (By the way, I find it adorable that he calls the youth his Youth Battalion!) He challenged the women to read the whole Book of Mormon by the year's end (not much time, but I've already started), take a 10-day media fast (I'm starting on Monday), and go to the temple regularly. I've covenanted to do all that he asks, so...there you go, you know what I'll be doing for the next little bit.

Especially touching was his talk today (Sunday) about why the Church name HAS to be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I never thought about it before, but yes, all the other permutations of the name have left out the Savior's name. And the Savior is at the center of all that we do. He was nearly in tears, it hurt him so much to contemplate it. Our covenant at baptism and each week at the altar of the sacrament is to always remember Christ. How can we do that if we don't have his name upon us in our very title? It was a perspective I hadn't considered, and then I felt badly because I had been remiss. No more! (Of note: the choir is now the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. No more Mormon.)

THE CHANGE
I thought maybe they'd wait until Sunday before announcing anything. Nope, right off the bat, comes the news. We're going down to two hour meetings on Sunday versus three in the past. Not to give us more time to relax, but instead to move our worship focus to be more in the home. I have been thinking for a long time how to increase, focus, and improve our total Sabbath worship at home. This is quite a blessing, I think, for our family and for all families who want to strengthen their bonds with the Lord through deeper, more meaningful family worship.

We've already downloaded the curriculum for next year. We're going to be thinking, planning, and discussing all of this in our family home evenings up to January, when the program changes are to be implemented. But we all seem to be in agreement - this is a very good thing!

It is good, so very good, to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter-Days. And exciting!

Analiese has figured out a Halloween costume for Pom. Not that I think she cares for it much.