I did sharing time today, and we opened some gifts as part of the lesson. You should have seen all the hands up when I asked for a volunteer. I had the hardest time picking. I think we need to use the "stick" route to picking volunteers. The kids are all super cute and so smart!
Funny Story.........(To start, I taught sharing time today in Primary). This dad came up to me after church and said, "You scared my 11-year-old son today". I was slightly concerned at that point and had no idea how or why? Our lesson was on the birth of the Savior. Then he said, "My son asked if those were tatoos all over your legs?" We both laughed. Maybe I shouldn't wear these going forward.... :)
Visalia does an annual Candy Cane Lane Parade the Monday after Thanksgiving, which happened to come a little early this year. Last year we didn't even know there was a parade until after it happened. So this year we made sure to make it and luckily Trav had work off that day. Let me start with the not so happy part. The one disappointing thing was that when the American flag went by hardly anyone stood up or even put their hand over the heart. I was very saddened by this. Where is the American pride and respect for our country? Now on to the cheery part. A lot of people gathered on the route that went down Main Street. In the parade there were lots of bands, dance groups (a lot of baton twirlers surprisingly), some very pretty horses, and of course lights! I really loved the feel of everyone in the city getting together to kick off the Christmas Season.
There was a lot of Christmas music, which is my absolute favorite!!! Once Thanksgiving is over, I love to listen to Christmas music in the car, while cleaning, and while I'm getting ready. The parade lasted an hour and a half. I was pretty impressed with the parade and I definitely will return. It was a lot of fun and just the beginning of many festivities. I LOVE THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!
Our Thanksgiving weekend was a total whirlwind. Thanksgiving morning we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which I always enjoy. Then we headed up to a restaurant called "The Gateway" up in Three Rivers, right outside the entrance to the Sequoias for an intimate Thanksgiving Meal. We were sat next to the window overlooking this view.
The weather was perfect and they had the window open so we could hear the calming sound of the water. The Thanksgiving feast was delicious and we were completely stuffed by the end.
We also had a great time stopping on by Slick Rock Recreation Area that is near Kaweah Lake and got some great shots.
Trav wanted to cook a little hen for dinner. It turned out pretty good. I was impressed. :)
That night we hit up some early Black Friday sales. We went to Target, the Tulare Outlets, and Macy's. We continues our shopping the next morning. We got some good deals, but there wasn't really any particular sale item we really needed or were anticipating. We were mostly going just for the rush and fun of it all, but boy did it wear us out. On Saturday, we kept the busyness going. We headed to Santa Clarita to go to Magic Mountain. We were pleasantly surprised that the lines weren't a mile long. We enjoyed a perfect weather day of a high of 78 degrees and thrill ride after thrill ride.
We have so much to be thankful for. Our jobs, our home, our family, our friends, the gospel, and our freedom and many many more.
I always loved getting hot chocolate at the gas station only because they would had the mini marshmellows. That was the only reason I got it because, let's been honest, gas station hot chocolate is scolding hot and overly choclately. When I saw these mallow bites at the store last year, I was overjoyed. Seriously! I was so excited to create the cholately marshmellow taste at home with Nesquik.
The summer went by and it was plenty hot outside, so there was no need for hot chodolate. Well now I'm so happy some colder weather is here. As soon as I spotted these marshmellows I immediatly bought them, and I have had a glass a hot chocolate frequently. :) These mini marshmellows are my winter treasure.
I was just starting to get more comfortable teaching the "Teaching for Our Times" lessons in Relief Society. They focus on talks from the Apostles and Prophets General Conference Talks. I have grown such a strong testimony of God's special witnesses here on Earth and I soak up their teachings. I have been teaching for just over a year and I just got released. I'm really going to miss Relief Society.I got called to be the 2nd Counselor in the Primary. It is definitely a change from teaching women to teaching children. The biggest adjustment is to figure out what keeps the attention of junior primary vs. senior primary. I did my first sharing time today on the Articles of Faith. The children surprise me with their knowledge. Here's to a new adventure at church and I sure hope it goes well.
I would consider age 30 as "old" ha ha...I guess it seems old to me. Luckily Trav hasn't reached 30 yet. He turned the big 2.9. this year. He worked on his birthday, which meant he didn't get home until 8 o'clock. So we went to his favorite of favorites and ate at Red Lobster. I was so glad that they have expanded their menu very recently to include more non-seafood dishes and I actually liked my dish a lot. Trav got the meal that has lobster, shrimp, and crab. He didn't want to miss any of the good stuff. They recently remodeled the Red Lobster in Visalia and I liked the new feel it had. It was more of a romantic setting and we had a great dinner together.
For his birthday he requested tickets to the BYU vs. San Jose State Football Game tickets and a battery for his watch. Pretty simple I know. I decided when I was out and about at the mall to pick him up some Hickory Farm Sausage and mustard. He loves that stuff. The surprise for his birthday was a big Y flag from his parents. He was super excited about it. It's crazy to think that 6 years ago, while dating, I surprised him down in Price with a cake and painted Happy Birthday wishes on his car windows. Good Times.
Saturday, November 17-BYU vs. San Jose State Football Game
Travis was had a lot of anticipation for this game. It was originally going to be played at 1:30 PM which would have worked perfectly for the face that it is a 3 hour drive there and then back, but about a week ago they changed it to 7:30 PM because it was on ESPNU. We headed out and as always had a fun-filled car ride. There is never a dull moment with Trav. We have a blast and it included the usual singing. Our game tickets came with tickets to the BYU Tailgate Party. So we went early to be a part of that. It was held at a Baseball Field near the Spartan Stadium. We ate a BBQ dinner, watched some BYU highlights, and got in on the Cougarettes dancing with Cosmo. There were a ton of BYU fans!! They were everywhere!
After the tailgate party we headed to find our seats. We were about 30 rows up at the 50 yard line. In all the other BYU games we've been to we have been on one of the end zones sides. We had great seats and it was a lot easier to tell how many yards they picked up per play. It sprinkled off and on and rained at the end of the game. BYU had two opportunities to win. In the last 1 minute of the game Trav and I really thought that BYU was going to pull it off, but Riley Nielson got tackled during a pass and fumbled the ball and it was over. San Jose 20 vs BYU 14. Bad loss for BYU, but never the less entertaining and a whole lot of fun!
Don't let the empty seats behind us fool you. It was all packed with BYU fans by the start of the game. If I were to guess I would say 50% BYU 50% SJSU.
Trav got a picture with Chad Lewis, former BYU Tight End who went on to play in the NFL.
We headed out at about 11 PM. We had a 3 hour drive ahead of us and it was still raining, which didn't help. We wouldn't not have drove home that night, but Trav had work the next day and I had Sunday commitments. Trav and I spent some time analyzing the game and giving our input of what we would have done as a coach. I like that I know quite a bit about football and most sports in general. It helps me know what is going on as I watch the game and it's always interesting to talk through the plays and the game with Trav. It always nice having something in common. It was a fun day trip to San Jose, CA. Too bad we didn't have more time to explore the city...Maybe next time.
Let me just make it clear that all holidays are more fun with children. They just get excited about every little thing, which is so cute!
I told Trav that I really wanted to carve pumpkins this year because last we we waited until the night of Halloween to look for pumpkins and couldn't find any. This year we thought we would head to the local pumpkin patch and pick out the ones we wanted. It was the weekend before Halloween, so needless to say the patch was pretty well picked over, but we were still able to find us some good ones that had one good side, stood up, and still had the stem. :) We had a great time carving them together. Travis is Frankenstein and mine is the "Wicked" one. While carving Trav asked jokily, "Are we too old to carve pumpkins." I happily responded, "We're never too old to carve pumpkins." I thought they both turned out great and they kept treat-or-treaters coming on Halloween Night.
On Halloween, since Trav had to work until 7, I went to the ward Halloween party with our friends The Deans. I loved seeing all the kids costumes and talking with friends. The kids went around and did the trunk-or-treat. Then we went back to the Deans house to hang out, Trav joined up with us, we ordered a pizza for dinner, and played Hearts. This was all in between playing with cute Lily and answering the door for treat-or-treaters, and holding Bella (their dog) back to not scare the kids with her bark. There were actually a few groups that came by with quite a few kids. I was glad that it was worth buying some candy. I always like to be the house with "the lights on" :)
Up next is Thanksgiving! This is the finished project of the owls I did with my mom and sisters while in Utah. I think it is so festive and I added some garland and leaves or sorts from Hobby Lobby. I actually put this up before Halloween. Trav inquired, "Isn't it a little early to be putting up Thanksgiving decorations when we haven't had Halloween?" I answered, "They are just owls dressed up in their Halloween costumes." He had no response and we laughed. Looking forward to whatever we plan for Thanksgiving!!
When we were planning this trip Trav had to make sure that he was in Utah over a weekend where BYU was playing at home. We met up with Marian, Ray, and Jaime to go to the BYU vs. Oregon State game. It was so good to see them!! We all made sure we were decked out in black and even bought the blackout specific shirts just for the game. They didn't win, which was a bummer for sure, but the BYU uniforms for this game were pretty sweet. We did make it to the first BYU Blackout ever. Trav got into the game as always cheering on his team and letting the refs know when they made a bad call.
I always love spending time with my honey. Even if it is at a BYU game.
I love that our new camera will do panoramic pictures. You can capture it all in one shot.
Adam and Austin ended up making it to the game too. After the game we headed to Sportman's to meet up with Adam and Austin. Of course the guys all drooled over all the guns they wish they had. Then we headed to dinner at Sizzler. Trav enjoyed some steak and endless shrimp, and I got myself some malibu chicken. We so thankful for Marian and Ray having season tickets and letting us go with them whenever we can.
Side note: We have been to almost every home BYU game since we have been married (when we lived in Utah). Sadly this is the only time we have actually taken a camera.
I had been dying ever since Mckenna was born to meet her in person. Of course my family had sent me many many pictures, and I had seen her on Skype, but it just isn't the same. Well morning came and me and Travis woke up around 4 that morning to get ready and head up to Fresno to catch our flight. The Fresno Airport is small and is never busy that early in the morning. Well I won't give all the horrible details of the story because I'd rather not relive it, but basically we missed checking our bags in for our flight by 1 minute. So we were totally bummed out because we were supposed to arrive around 9:00 AM MST, and the next available flight wasn't going to arrive until 3:20 PM MST. It was a TOTAL let down. Instead, we ended up going to breakfast and going shopping at the mall to waste time. Finally we arrived and I got to meet the new addition to my side of the family. She is an absolute doll, especially in person. I just could't get enough of her. We oo'd and aww'd over here the whole time I was there. That night we enjoyed dinner with the whole family: Mom and Dad, Shannon, Josh, Mckenna, Me, Travis, Jeremy, Amanda, and Shane. The guys then played Ticket to Ride while the girl's chatted away and caught up on everything.
All the girls in the family
Saturday, October 13
Saturday morning we headed up to the U of U hospital to visit with my Grandma and Grandpa Tidwell. My grandpa had open heart surgery a couple of weeks ago, and then they decided he needed a pacemaker as well. So they did that too. Lucky for us he is doing really well for being 82. He is actually home now and is working on recovery and gaining his strength back. He was really happy that they provided him with the ESPN sports package. He has always kept up on sports and his hospital stay wasn't any different. I am so lucky that I have been able to know all of my grandparents very well and they are all still with us.
I have this as my desktop picture at work. I absolutely love to see this precious bundle of joy several times a day. This is my cute niece Mckenna. I can't help but smile and be happy when I see her sweet face. I can't wait to hold her a week from today, October 12!!!!
Trav and I want to make sure that we explore California while we are here. We don't know how long we will stay, it could be a very long time, it could be short, but we want to make sure we go see the places that are now such a short drive away.
This weekend we took a trip to the Santa Monica Pier. We enjoyed the carnival rides on the pier. They are not as crazy and adrenalin rushing as Magic Mountain, but it was a wonderful date. I especially love the Ferris Wheel. The lights had so many varieties and it was kind of like watching an awesome firework show in a sense. For dinner, we ate at a place downtown Santa Monica called Yankee Doodles.
The next day we headed back down tot he pier, but decided to hit up the beach. Travis didn't want to miss out on Clam Chowder so we found a place on the pier and he had clam chowder while I had a burger. lol....I'm not a seafood fan.
--As a side note, Trav LOVES Red Lobster. I don't prefer to go there because there is basically nothing that I want to eat, well I just heard a commercial on TV that stated that Red Lobster will be offering a wider variety of foods. BEST NEWS EVER! lol :)--
After lunch we headed down to the beach. We laid out on our towels for while just feeling the perfect temperature breeze and watching the waves crash in. Of course we wanted to go for a swim. As we slowly creeped into the water it was super cold, but our bodies adjusted just fine after a a few splashes. Because I have hard contacts I have to be VERY careful that I don't get the salt water in my eyes or I am down for the day. So I stayed closer to shore where the waves would crash up high, but not completely cover me. Trav on the other hand, headed out to the deeper waters and eventually came to join me after being completely crashed on my a huge wave. He experienced being sucked under to the point he was worried about coming back up. So he thought where I was located looked perfect for him too. Which I was glad because we had a great time laughing together and loving the waves. I love the ocean! It is beautiful!! I could listen to the sound of waves crashing and seagulls all day....so soothing.
I really cherish the moments that me and Travis spend together. President Uchtdorf said it well today in Conference...."We cannot take for granted one single day. I pray that we will not wait until we are ready to die before we truly learn to live." I think that with not having much of his time while he was in school, I REALLY appreciate the time we have together to laugh, to talk, to become closer, and to share life experiences.
Today I gave my R.S. lesson on the talk given by President Henry B. Eyring from the April General Conference titled Mountains to Climb.
Foudation of Faith
1. The footing or ground on which our foundation is built-Personal Integrity.
The ground on which we are building our foundation must be strong to withstand the storms that will come into every life. choosing good in the sight of god will help prepare our faithe for the tirals that are ahead of us in life.
"Our choosing the right consistently, and whenever the choice is placed beofore us, creates the solid ground under our faith. It can begine in childhood since every soul is born with the free gift of the Spritit of Christ. With the Spirit we can know when we have done what is right before God and when we have done gwrong in His sight."
2. The metal framework or rebar- The Gospel of Jesus Christ
The Gospel helps us to build our faith in Christ and enables us to receive and keep the covenants, ordiinances, and principles given to us, which also gives our foundation strength.
3. Forms the concrete is poured into-Testimonies (My thoughts)
Your Testimony is wrapped around The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes your testimony is strong and and other times when it is weak, you can rely on others testimonies to hold you up in difficult times.
Curing Time-Requires action
That curing does not come automatically through the passage of time, but it does take time. Getting older does not do it alone. It is serving God and others persistently with full heart and soul that turns testimony of truth into unbreakable spiritual strength.
"It is never too late to strengthen the foundation of faith. There is always time. With faith in the Savior, you can repent and plead for forgiveness. There is someone you can forgive. There is someone you can thank. There is someone you can serve and lift. You can do it wherever you are and however alone and deserted you may feel "If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as
well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing". I shared this quote that hangs on my wall from my Grandma and Grandpa Tidwell that includes this quote by Thomas S. Monson.
“Anxiously you ask, 'Is there a way to safety? Can someone
guide me? Is there an escape from threatened destruction?' The answer is a
resounding yes! I counsel you: Look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no
fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what
its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. It calls,
'This way to safety; this way to home.”
― Thomas
S. Monson
My first niece on my side of the family was born this week. I'll leave Shannon to tell all the details, but her name is Mckenna Jassamine Ewell (Jassamine after my Great Grandma Ford). She was 6 lbs. 6 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long. It is very hard not to be there and be able to hold her. I always imagined being at the hospital and seeing my sister's babies in the hospital, but I did get a chance to skype with baby Mckenna. It isn't quite the same, but I am grateful for technology that helps me stay connected to our families. I will be headed out to cuddle this little cutie on October 12th and it just can't come fast enough. I just want to kiss her cute little cheeks!!
She is just a little doll and my sister says that she is a great baby thus far. Shannon and Josh are wonderful parents to baby Mckenna. We are so glad to have her here with us.
I came home from work and Trav had bought me some "Just Because" flowers. It was super sweet I love having fresh flowers to look at everyday. I love my honey!
For journal purposes..
Later that weekend, just for fun, Trav and I headed up to Fresno to go shopping for Trav some new work shoes and church shoes and to find my dad a gift. We also had to check out Dog House Grill, which is a burger joint (a good one at that) accross from the campus of Fresno State. We always have a good time singing in the car together and trying to duets. I love doing the small things together!!
Trav and I have been following Big Brother 14. We love talking strategy and about who we think the Head of Household is going to put up on the block and what the winner of the "power of veto" will do. This season just got over and geeky, but strategic Ian won the $500,000, but we were both happy that Frank (who was up on the block every week and who won a lot of HOH competitions) took home $25,000 for being the fan favorite.
Friday, September 21st
One of my co-workers, Belen T. , had a birthday this week. A bunch of girl's from my work went out to dinner to celbrate her birthday at Chilito's Mexican Grill. The food was really good and we had a great time laughing about funny experiences at work. Always nice to have a girl's night out and these girls are a hoot! My mouth hurt from laughing so much. Don't worry....I had a diet coke :) While I was gone, Travis and Evan went to a high school football game...I just don't think they can get enough football!
We decided Friday night to take a trip up to Livermore-San Francisco for Labor Day Weekend. Our good friends Evan and Jessica Dean were kind enough to invite us. We had a great time relaxing and enjoying their company.
So my calling in my ward right now is a Relief Society Teacher. I am assigned the fourth Sunday of every month which means I get to teach the "Teaching for Our Times" lesson. I love studying the words of the prophet and apostles. I then love to share their encouraging and inspiring words with the sisters in my ward. I was thinking about the preparation that I put into my lessons and the thoughts that I have as I prepare. I decided it would be a good idea to blog about them so I can remember them always.
"What thinks Christ of Me?
Elder Neil L. Anderson-April 2012 General Conference
**Anything is blue is a direct quote**
"Jesus asked the Pharisees, “What think ye of Christ?”In the final assessment, our personal discipleship will not be judged by friends or foes. Rather, as Paul said, “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” At that day the important question for each of us will be, “What thinks Christ of me?”
**Discipleship is not a competition at all but an invitation to all.
"Jesus’s call “Come, follow me” is not only for those prepared to compete in a spiritual Olympics. In fact, discipleship is not a competition at all but an invitation to all."
I like to compare the World Olympics to our Spiritual Olympics.
World Olympics
People prepare and train their whole lives
Only the best are invited to go to the Olympic trials and then through qualifying events to get to the final event.
Judging could be unfair and biased
If a gymnast falls off the beam, the score she receives can't be erased. If a high jumper has a shortcoming of 1/100 of an inch, there out of the competition.
Only one person wins gold.
Spiritual Olympics-Journey of Discipleship
It doesn't matter what age we are, we can begin to prepare.
We are already pre-qualified by the choice we choose in heaven to follow Christ's plan.
We have the perfect coach and judge. Christ is the perfect teacher and friend and he is just.
We can erase our falls and our shortcomings through repentance.
We can all win the gold of eternal life.
The Lord blesses us with customized direction through the gift of the Holy Ghost.
**Discipleship is a lifelong migration toward a more celestial world.
Elder Anderson explains that Christ's invitation is a call to daily duty. It is showing love to God by keeping his commandments and serving others. It is having the desire to try everyday and to be willing to sacrifice our time and our talents. If we struggle one day, then we can always be better the next. That is what is so great about the gospel. "It doesn't matter where on the road to following Christ we are, it just matters that we are moving forward."
Wherever you now find yourself on the road of discipleship, you are on the right road, the road toward eternal life. Together we can lift and strengthen one another in the great and important days ahead. Whatever the difficulties confronting us, the weaknesses confining us, or the impossibilities surrounding us, let us have faith in the Son of God, who declared, “All things are possible to him that believeth."
**Discipleship is believing Him in seasons of peace and difficulty.
Jesus told the leader of the synagogue, “Be not afraid, only believe.” Discipleship is believing Him in seasons of peace and believing Him in seasons of difficulty, when our pain and fear are calmed only by the conviction that He loves us and keeps His promises.
I think the most true test of faith is believing in him when I am having trials, but also being grateful in the good times for all my blessings. Knowing that he loves me and is there to support me, and that will be on [my] right side and on [my] left side to buoy [me] up is very comforting.
As you love Him, trust Him, believe Him, and follow Him, you will feel His love and approval. As you ask, “What thinks Christ of me?” you will know that you are His disciple; you are His friend.
I can't wait for the chance to meet the Savior face to face. It is something that I ponder about often. It is something so exciting to think about. It will be a joyous day. I hope that when he sees me, he will think of me as one of his disciples and as his friend.
I wanted to play this video at church with my lesson, but you can't play youtube videos using the church's Internet. So I ended up just playing the music, but this song always brings me to tears because we can only imagine about how wonderful it will be to see Christ in all his glory and to feel the love he has for each of us as he looks us in the eye. I can't wait for that day.
In a future day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is the Christ. On that day, our concern will not be, “Do others consider me Christian?” At that time, our eyes will be fixed on Him, and our souls will be riveted on the question, “What thinks Christ of me?”
There are a lot of things about Utah that I miss....that is a given...but there is one thing that I know I love about California and that is the opportunities that I have to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and my beliefs with others.
Living in Utah, everyone is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint or they know enough about it that they aren't interested and they don't want to talk about it. Now me placing"everyone" into these two categories is probably not completely fair, but let's be honest the VAST majority fit into one of these categories. This left me with very little opportunity to share my beliefs without someone being offended.
Here in Visalia, CA it seems to be the total opposite. There are many different churches around here, and I would say that most of the population is religious in some way and they actually try to live their beliefs, no matter what they may be. Most people don't know hardly anything about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which leads me to my main point that it makes for a lot of opportunities to share what I hold so dear to my heart.
Today I had yet another opportunity. I tried to take advantage of the questions I was being asked, but make sure not to be overwhelming. When I really think about all the things I have learned about the gospel in the past 25 years of life, it is a lot to try to share in one sitting and a bit overwhelming to say the least. So I try to share bits and pieces about it when opportunities arise.
This is how we got on the subject.
I was telling one of my friends at work about how we are planning a retirement party for Trav's dad. We are going to do a family dinner at the Roof in Salt Lake City. I was telling her about how we want to make all the money arrangements to pay for the meal before everyone gets there because we know Trav's mom and dad will try to pay if they bring the check to the table, and we want to make sure we are treating them to a nice evening. She asked, well how is that going to work? I said, well it is a buffet so you can just go get whatever you want and have dessert and all of that. She said, well what about if you order drinks? I said well we aren't going to be having any special drinks. She was like not even a glass of wine to celebrate? I said no. This led to me telling her I have never had coffee, wine, beer, alcohol, etc. She didn't understand why? This led to that it was part of our religion not to drink that. She was a little confused and I shared several thoughts with her, but I told her that we believe that our bodies are a sacred gift from God and she was like oh okay, that makes sense why you don't drink then. I didn't even have to explain the connection to her, she just understood. We talked about several gospel topics in our conversation. The other thing I touched on that really made her think was about how we pay tithing. She said, "Oh yeah, like to pay the pastor." Then I was able to explain to her that the prophet and bishops, etc. don't get paid to do their callings. She didn't really have anything to say, it just made her think a lot about that. She was like, "that's interesting". I bet she is still thinking about that because she was rather shocked. It was just so nice for someone to be interested in hearing about what I believe and not taking offense or feel in any sense that I was pushing "doctrine" on them or trying to convert her.
There is another friend at work that has asked me different questions over the past few months about the church. Last week she said, "Michelle, I want to ask you a question" She told me that her friend had told her that Mormons don't believe in cutting their hair. She asked me if we, as Mormons, weren't supposed to cut our hair? I told her that my hair might be long, but there was nothing in our religion that said we could cut our hair. She laughed and said, "That is why I asked you. I wanted to get the answer from the source." I just loved the fact that she was willing to ask someone who is a Mormon if that is really the case versus just believing what other people tell her.
There have been numerous other opportunities I have had to share small pieces of what I believe with others. I love how they want to know more and they continue to ask questions. They don't judge me and I don't judge them.
The gospel is so special to me and that is why it makes me so happy that my friends and co-workers want to learn more about the gospel and take interest in my beliefs. I love to share the true gospel of Jesus Christ with others. To have the knowledge I have is the greatest blessing I have been given. I was so happy about the conversation I had with my friend today and it made me think of this scripture.
D&C 18:15
5 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people,and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
I just feel pure joy! I hope that I will continue to have these amazing experiences and opportunities to share the gospel here in California. My faith and testimony increases as I share it with others.
It has been pretty hot here in Visalia and so we decided to take a short day trip to Kings Canyon. We looked to the travel app on Trav's phone to find the best driving route to get there. We took the shortest route and needless to say I was pretty motion sick by the time we made it. It was an hour and 1/2 of back and forth and back and forth. We talked to people since and they say that is the windiest road, but the most scenic. It was really pretty, but I don't know how much I was able to enjoy the scenery because the road just made me so sick. When we got there it was the perfect temperature and the air was so clean. I love breathing in fresh forest air. On our drive we saw the sign that said Centerville 33 miles. I really wish that was the case :)
This tree had tipped over long ago. It had been hollowed up by what they believe to be a fire before it fell. The sequoia tree is so huge that you could walk through it.
This is Trav with General Grant. The second largest sequoia tree. These pictures don't do these trees justice.
This was the other side of the fallen tree. Back in the 1800's, this tree was used as a shelter and camp where settlers would come and stay. They would also use it for a stall and tie up their horses.
We were glad we took 5 mins to pull over and see this lookout. God's creations are just breathtaking!!
On our way home, we decided to stop by The Old Spaghetti Factory in Fresno. It was delicious!! I love the weekends when Trav is not working. It's so fun to hang out. We had a great time enjoying the nature and beauty that is so close to us. I also love our car rides. We always have fun jamming to the music and we had some good laughs while listening to Car Talk. We don't mind taking long drives, as long as we're together. :)
