Leroy's Hero

Leroy just adores his uncle Brian. Whenever we visit, he is frequently running down the hall yelling "Brian! Brian! Brian!" So since my baby brother is leaving in a month to serve a two-year mission in Brazil, I thought I should prepare Leroy for his upcoming absence.

Me: Leroy, in one month Uncle Brian will be a missionary and move to Brasil for two years.

Leroy: I am one! I will be a missionary and move to Brazil!

Me: You need to be 18 to be a missionary. 

Leroy: Oh! I am 18! So I will be a missionary and move to Brazil with Brian. 

Me: You are moving to Brazil?

Leroy: Yes. 

Me: What am I supposed to do?

Leroy: I think you can move to Brazil too!

Everyone is pregnant

Okay, not everyone.  But this is a photo of all the women in our ward who are due this year.  Rachel already had her niño.  Next is Fran, who is due already.  Melba is due at the beginning of August, Noemi is due the middle of August, I am due the beginning of September, Angel's wife (she was visiting, so I can't remember her name) is due a week after me, and Leti is due in December.

I just had to get a picture of all of us.  Fran, Melba, Noemi, Leti, and I are all expecting our first child.  So much fun being pregnant with so many other women.

Ward BBQ

Our ward in Alcalá has some pretty fun ward parties.  The thing that I found the most funny was that they were all very similar.  The women did the cooking, mostly outside, but passed some things through the window from the kitchen.

The men played soccer.

 

Hollis did such a good job playing.  I loved watching him play.

  

Had I not been pregnant, I might have joined in, but at our first social I didn't join in because I was too hot and no other girls were playing so I felt kind of awkward.

Things Temporal and Things Spiritual

By Hollis

Today during my personal studying of the scriptures (which can be long and drawn out if I want because I am a stay at home husband and we don't have kids), I came across an article in the July 2005 issue of the Ensign (an LDS publication containing messages and stories of a spiritual nature) on the role of the Presiding Bishopric. It describes the role of the Presiding Bishopric in the LDS church as the presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood as well as administrator of the temporal matters of the church. They are also general authorities and thus are likewise called to assist the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in any capacity requested. Bishop Keith B. McMullin, author of this article and 2nd counsellor in the Presiding Bishopric, cites D&C 24:34-35 in reference to the Lord saying that He has given no law that is temporal and goes on to explain what this means. I hadn't previously understood how every law could be spiritual, even those seemingly temporal.

He states,
"In most people’s minds, the temporal affairs for which the Presiding Bishopric is responsible are the business aspects of the Church. But in the 29th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord says, “Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; … for my commandments are spiritual” (D&C 29:34–35).

The Lord does not look at things the way we do. And so it is with the temporal affairs of the Church. Because a copy of the Book of Mormon is a printed book, to the unknowing eye it may appear to be like any other book. But this book is produced to introduce to the world the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. And so the “temporal affairs” that bring about the translating, printing, binding, and distributing of the Book of Mormon are rife with spiritual implications. This principle is true for everything “temporal” the Church does."

I just wanted to share that.

Trek

Hollis and I were asked to be Ma and Pa for a youth handcart trek. It was from July 13-16.

On the first day, it was so dusty that I couldn't see. I covered my face with my bandana, and so did Hollis.

The second day we had a small reenactment of the last crossing of the Sweetwater River. Hollis carried me across.

Most of the time, though, Hollis and I just walked hand-in-hand behind the handcart while our children pulled it.

This inspired two of the Pas in the group to write verses to the tune of the Handcart Song.

The Pas are strong, the Mas are too,

We know what you are going through.

Though you may ask with pleading heart

We cannot push or pull your cart.

As handcarts moved towards Zion's land

The Mas and Pas walked hand in hand.

Their children worked just as they're told

For Mas and Pas neither pushed nor pulled.

For YOU must push and YOU must pull

As we mosey up the hill.

For merrily on our way we go

Until we reach the valley-o.

However, there was one time that I had to push the handcart. I helped during the women's pull. Sometimes while crossing the plains, the men would get injured, sick, or die, and the women had to pull their handcarts alone. We did not have to pull our handcarts very far alone, just up a tall hill. There were five of us on our handcart to pull it up the hill.

After three days on the trail, we pulled into Zion. There was green grass and shade, and there was no more walking to be done! There were several stations with fun pioneer activities (candle dipping, axe throwing, log sawing, etc.) and one glorious hair-washing station. It felt so good to get water on my scalp. Then we had family pictures. This is my favorite one of our family:

This is the candle I made:

My brother and sister also came on trek, so we took a picture with them too.

That evening there was a big hoe-down. This is the only picture I could find of me dancing.

I wished there were pictures of Hollis and I dancing because we were awesome! And it was a ton of fun. After dancing we had a fireside.

It was a good experience being in the adult leadership for a youth activity. It is completely different because the activity is for the youth, and the experiences are not for me. I am there to help the youth feel the spirit and learn from our common pioneer heritage. During the trek, I asked myself and God what I could do to help the youth learn the things they needed to learn instead of directly seeking to learn things for myself. I did learn, and I did feel the spirit, but it was the result of trying to help others.

EQ Frisbee Night

Some guys in our ward got together to play ultimate frisbee, but only four of them showed up, so they played frisbee golf instead. On this hole, they had to throw the frisbees over the backstop and make it land on home plate. Notice the yellow disc in midair.

I caught this toss on camera.

To end this hole, you had to throw the firsbee down the slide.

And it took a while, but we finally got a "diving catch" on camera.

I wasn't playing, but I started taking pictures because that was fun too.