A few lines from the pages of notes I took last week:

Elder Holland: Cling to the standards works. The mists of darkness settle on the faithful and the unfaithful. Help the missionaries cling to the rod.

Elder Cook: The Lord's hand is in the hastening. This is an unprecedented and blessed time to be a missionary!

Sister Wright: Rededicate your life to Jesus Christ. Begin with exaltation in mind.

Elder Renlund: Remember the converting power of the Book of Mormon.

Elder Christofferson: Treasure up the word and it will be in your heart and mind when needed.

President Eyring: Pray to know the missionary's hearts. See their goodness. God has called you and He will strengthen you when you are weak.

Elder Bednar: Become servants of the members. As you serve the members, you'll earn their trust.

Elder Andersen: The Lord will bless you with miracles if you believe in Him.

Elder Gong: Repentance looks like walking towards Christ with His arms outstretched.

Elder Rasband: Live in thanksgiving daily.

President Oaks: Connect your teaching to the doctrine of Christ. Ensure that the missionaries have a testimony of Joseph Smith. He has not called you because you will be the same as someone else. He has called you because you are you!

Elder Uchtdorf: There is a sacred flame of fire inside each missionary. Your purpose is to invite. this is under your control. Continue to trust the Lord even when miracles do not happen.

Elder Kearon: No effort is wasted. Turn to the Lord and He will uphold you. Be happy! Embody what you are teaching.

Sister Freeman: Your mission is a time to become more like Christ. You will be blessed with power suited to your circumstances.

Elder Stevenson: Have high expectations and have high love. 

Elder Soares: Study and pray and the fear will go away.

President Nelson: The Book of Mormon contains the answers to life's most vexing questions. Blessings will come as you study, teach from and testify of the Book of Mormon.

We met several couples at the MTC who are going to serve as mission leaders in the Philippines. Some of the couples are from the Philippines and are moving from one island to another, and other couples are Americans who will be serving at a location in the Philippines for three years. There are now over two dozen missions in the Philippines.

We feel energized and uplifted after receiving instruction. The task still seems daunting, but we have been promised heavenly help as we humbly ask for it.

A little change in plans as we are now pointing at the Philippines on the map, and not Toronto, Canada. We are honored to serve.

 

 

I have a friend named Laurie who is finishing her mission this week.  She and her husband have been mission leaders in Brazil the past three years. She wrote this in September, 2024, and I learned from it:

Am I speaking perfect Portugues? Absolutely not! But I understand and am understood and it is absolutely wonderful.  In the first year of our mission I asked Rick if he could fast forward and get to the end of our mission with no negative consequences, i.e. we'd have done well and it would be over, would he do it? He was a little put off by this hypothetical question and said, "Of course not! I want to experience it all." But I admit that I was totally in for the fast forward. The days were very long that first year when I could only understand parts of what people were saying.  Year two things changed and I started to hear about the miracles first hand and it was a lot more fun. Now in year three, if given the option to fast forward to the end of our mission, my response would be the same as Rick's, "Of course not! I want to experience it all." Now that I understand what's going on and can fully participate. I don't want to miss a minute.

 

On Friday, June 6th we were asked to go to the Church Office Building and meet with an Apostle.  We were told of an unusual circumstance where a mission leader is having health issues and needs to be released. We were asked to serve in the Cebu, Philippines mission as mission leaders for three years instead of serving for eighteen months in Toronto, Canada. Most mission leaders are called in October or November and have months to prepare.  We are scrambling to be ready to leave for the Philippines in a month. There are so many details to think about and take care of. My mind is full and I am having a hard time sleeping, but we keep coming back to the fact that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ will help us do this!  They have called us and now we trust that They will qualify us. Though we feel completely overwhelmed, we are at peace and excited. Now, back to my "to-do" list...

 

Brian Kershisnik

Night's Impossible Burden

"For an artist, a painting is like a sentence in a novel that you're writing your whole life."

"If I am not careful about how much I reveal my own intentions, I run the danger of closing the door on what the painting can mean to you or anyone else.  What a viewer takes away is every bit as legitimate as what I intended, possibly more legitimate than what I intended."

Brian depicts women as very capable and thoughtful and going about engaged in great work. He paints women in real situations, and there's not a sense of putting them on a pedestal where they're not given anything to do, but rather embracing women in lots of different capacities.

Brian always paints a kind of heaven that is close, that is near, that wants to intervene or help or point you in a direction. It doesn't become too weighty because of the hope that is also there and the angels that want to intervene and assist and aid and comfort.

(Michael R. Walker, "Everyday Heaven," Y Magazine, Winter 2025)

 

Anthony Ray Hinton is a hero of mine. 

He spent 30 years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. 

His time in jail was spent in solitary confinement in a five-by-seven-foot cell, allowed out only one hour a day. But, Hinton quickly became a friend and counselor to other inmates and the death row guards, many of whom begged Hinton’s attorney to get him out.

A unanimous Supreme Court ruling ordered his release, and he was able to walk free. In an interview he is quoted saying: “One does not know the value of freedom until it is taken away, People run out of the rain. I run into the rain…I am so grateful for every drop. Just to feel it on my face.”

Hinton was later interviewed on 60 Minutes. The interviewer asked if he was angry at the people who put him in jail. He said he forgave them all.

The interviewer asked, “but they took 30 years of your life — how can you not be angry?”

Hinton responded: “If I’m angry and unforgiving, they will have taken the rest of my life.”

(https://therockwalltimes.com/2024/04/positive/finding-freedom-the-remarkable-story-of-anthony-ray-hinton/)

Thoughts about humility: 

A humble person has a modest estimate of one’s own importance. Being humble doesn’t mean that you put yourself down all day. On the contrary, It means that you think something of yourself and of others. You are important, and the people around you are important too.

A humble person is aware of other people.

People who are humble speak up and state their opinions, but they are also good listeners.

A humble person is grateful and says thank you.

A humble person accepts responsibility. Instead of pointing to someone else, they say, “I’m sorry, that was my fault.”

A humble person recognizes that they do not know everything and they are not perfect. They admit mistakes and ask for help. A humble person is teachable and accepts advice.

A humble person doesn’t need the applause and validation of the world. A humble person can be satisfied with the validation inside of yourself, and/or the validation from God.

Humility is a moral muscle. It’s not like you are born with it or you are not. You can strengthen it. You can develop humility and get better at it.

Humility has everything to do with being a disciple of Jesus Christ and living the gospel.

Every time you kneel to pray you are showing humility.  You are showing that you do not know everything and that you invite God’s counsel and wisdom.

Every time you bless the food before eating, you are showing humility as you thank God for something to eat.

Every time you  open your scriptures and read, you are showing humility as you obey and open yourself to counsel.

As we follow the counsel of the prophet we are exhibiting humility.

In Alma 7: 23,24, Alma provides a wonderful list of qualities that a disciple of Christ should have and be: submissive, gentle, easy to be entreated, patient, long suffering, temperate, diligent, and grateful. Listen to what quality he lists first: “And now I would that ye should be humble…”

I admit that I do not know all things, but God does. I admit that I cannot face all of the trails and happenings of life on my own, but with His strength, I can face all things. I rely on God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

 

 

 

This is a picture of Lydia Partridge and she is a hero of mine. 

Steven C. Harper of the Church History Department describes Bishop Edward Partridge and his wife Lydia and their children as the "pioneering family of the law of consecration" ("The Law of Consecration" video, Gospel Library, churchofjesuschrist.org).

Let me provide a little background. Edward and his wife were searching for a church that taught the New Testament gospel. Four young men appeared at the door of Edward Partridge's hat shop. Lydia recognized the truth she knew from her Bible teachings, and she wanted to be baptized, but Edward sent the young men away. Edward sent an employee after the men to purchase a book from them. After traveling to New York to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith, Edward was baptized. 

In section 41:9 we read of Edward's calling to be a bishop unto the church, to leave his merchandise and to spend all his time in the labors of the church. Edward was given the responsibility to administer the law of consecration among the saints. That would be no easy task! 

At one point Edward went with Joseph from Ohio to Missouri and wrote to Lydia that he couldn't come back to help she and the girls move. Edward warned Lydia that once she joined him in Missouri, "We have to suffer and shall for some time many privations here which you and I have not been much used to for years." Lydia obeyed the revelation to move.

The Partridge family moved from Kirtland to Missouri, and then on to Illinois. At one point Edward served a mission and was imprisoned. In 1833, after the birth of five daughters, Edward and Lydia welcomed a new baby son., Edward Partridge Jr. When the baby boy was three weeks old, Edward was drug to the center square of Independence; he was beaten, tarred and feathered. 

In 1840 at 46 years of age, Edward died, leaving a wife and children, ages 6-20. One of Edward and Lydia's daughters wrote, "When I look back and remember the great responsibility that rested upon my father as first Bishop--his poverty and privations, and the hardships that he had to endure, the accusations of false brethren, the fault-finding of the poor, and the persecutions of our enemies-- I do not wonder at his early death."

I pay tribute to Lydia for remaining faithful through all of this!

Yesterday I was emotional because my brother and his wife spoke in church and I said goodbye to them as they prepare to leave for their mission to Newport Beach, California.  I love this good brother and his wife!
 

Pictured below: My siblings (missing our awesome brother Hal who is in heaven).

Pictured above: My sister and her husband just returned from their mission in Atlanta, Georgia.  It will be a couple of years before we are together again. It was joyous being together!

 

I liked this movie!  I did not fully understand the incredible amount of pressure Jesse Owens faced at the 1936 Olympics. What a hero!