tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90524593458114755332024-03-13T11:21:18.296-07:00T&C Pearce...the Next Phenominal Phaze....The life and times of the Tony and Carrie Pearce Family as they enter this new phenominal phaze in their lives.carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-87165349685088182982017-09-30T15:48:00.001-07:002017-09-30T15:59:40.023-07:00On Testimony and Feeling the Spirit Testify<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; position: relative;">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal;">I found a few drafts in my folder that I started and never posted. If you are confused at the date, that's why.<br /><br /><br />http://geoffsn.blogspot.com/2012/08/russell-hancock-on-testimony-and-church.html</span></h3>
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Russell Hancock on testimony and the church</span></h3>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.36022329865954816" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a transcript of unprepared remarks by Russell Hancock</span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.36022329865954816" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1st Counselor, Menlo Park Stake Presidency</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to the Valparaiso Ward Elders Quorum</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6 May 2012</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m grateful for the invitation to speak to your quorum.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My objective today is to tell you about my faith journey and offer up some conclusions and observations. I’m going to speak the only way I know how: honestly and with complete candor, nothing withheld. It means making myself vulnerable in front of group I don’t know well (yet), but we think you have a right to know your new stake presidency. If you sustain me as your leader then you need to know exactly what it is you are sustaining. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So here, for what it’s worth, is my story.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But first: it would appear that there are two types of Mormons, or at least two paths to conversion. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One set of members base their testimony on some sort of sensory encounter which they describe as a burning in the bosom, a witness of the spirit, or some sort of infallible encounter with the Holy Ghost. They might hear a voice, or have a tingling, or find themselves in tears, or some other such sensory experience. Many people that I trust and admire describe their witness in these terms, and I believe them. I absolutely believe them. If I’m being completely truthful I will also tell you there are others who speak of this, and I wonder if they are confusing the Holy Ghost with something else, something emotional or intentional or overwrought. But I have decided never to judge, to accept their claims at face value, and I do not doubt the possibility of such experiences. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The scriptures of course describe this. The most famous instance of it is the promise at the end of Moroni where we’re told to test the gospel and seek a manifestation of the spirit. We’re also taught that the manifestation of the spirit will be the Holy Ghost revealing truth to us.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So that’s one way of ascertaining truth. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now here’s the true confession: I’ve never had it. This has never come to me. That’s not how I’ve obtained my truth. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, for most of my life, especially while praying, this is something that led to the sense that I was alone, and led me to feel like I was a second class Mormon--second rate because I couldn’t accomplish this sensory, infallible encounter with the Holy Ghost. I thought that there was something wrong with me. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It came to a head for me when I was in high school and began asking the big question that looms over the life of a young Mormon male: am I going to serve a mission? And by the way, I was born in the church, “born of goodly parents,” and raised to have faith. And I loved the church--loved everything about it. So as that crucial milestone came in my life where I had to decide whether to go on a mission, I wanted more than anything to serve! I </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wanted </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to do this, and yet when I was honest with myself I had to confess I didn’t actually know for myself that the Church was true. I was following my parents’ religion and way of life, and the testimony of family, friends, and ward members. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is the next confession that I need to make: I did something I’m not proud of. I began to speak more loudly and in a voice that was more shrill, and I would actually testify. I would stand up in church meetings and say things that I had no right to say, that I didn’t yet know for my own self. But I thought that in the act of saying them--and saying them more loudly--the testimony would come. So there’s another confession for you. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, my public speaking notwithstanding, I did what Moroni challenged me to do. I think I was very sincere. I worked very hard to pray and I approached my Heavenly Father in that prescribed way and I asked for a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. And brethren, it didn’t come, I knew that if I was being honest with myself I had to admit I wasn’t feeling any palpable sense of the Holy Spirit. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what am I to do? Well brethren, here’s the next confession: I served a mission. You could say I caved. But I wanted to serve, and I think I had righteous reasons, but I should also tell you I felt like it was an important rite of passage. I felt all of the pressure that you feel to serve a mission, knew the opportunities I would be foreclosing if I didn’t, so I submitted my papers and received a call. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I get into the mission field, where it started to trouble me that I was saying things to investigators I thought were true but didn’t </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">know</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> were true. That troubled me. So I thought it was crucial to continue this effort, to find out for myself if the church is in fact everything we’re taught. In fact, I would wait for my companion to fall asleep every night, and when I heard his heavy rhythmic breathing I would get up again and spend the night trying to induce this thing. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, it didn’t happen. That manifestation that was promised in Moroni eluded me. So this was a crisis point for me and I actually felt like if I was going to be true and have integrity then I should probably confess these things to my leadership, to my mission president, and also to my parents. So I actually wrote a letter home to my parents saying that I felt I was a fraud: I loved the church, but that I didn’t know it was true through this encounter with the Holy Ghost. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instantly, back comes a letter from my mother. You have to know my mother to fully appreciate this. She doesn’t suffer fools. She can be very stern. So back comes her letter, and she says “Rusty, enough of this nonsense. This is pure foolishness. Stop this at once. Stop praying with your knees, start praying with your feet.” And that was a sweet relief for me. It was complete and total liberation. I took her advice and decided “I’m going to stop doing this thing. I’m going to stop holding a gun to the Lord’s head and insisting on a sign. I’m just going to live my life as if the gospel is true.”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So you must understand: what I did upon reading that letter, was that I made a wager. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I decided to bet my entire life that the gospel was true</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I decided I would wager my life that the church is everything it claims it is and live out my life accordingly. So that is what I’ve done and what I continue to do.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, there’s more I need to tell you on the subject because of course, the story doesn’t just end there. The kicker is that in the course of serving and fulfilling priesthood duty, knowledge does in fact come. But for me it has come in ways that were unbidden. Knowledge for me has not arrived because it was beckoned, or because I said ‘give me a revelation.’ For me it has come in ways I can barely describe, and never on command, and I’m not even sure that they’re sensory or palpable. But I can tell you brethren and sisters that I somehow crossed a threshold into an area that I think we can call something more approaching knowledge. When I speak with conviction about our church it’s not merely with hope and with faith but with something that is approaching knowledge. That I can tell you. But it’s never come on my terms and never come to me on my timetable. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now here’s what’s striking. Every time I share these experiences I am assailed by people who tell me “that’s my feeling, that’s my experience too.” So I’m starting to draw conclusions that there really do seem to be two sets of Latter-day Saints. The two sets are people for whom these are experiences are forthcoming and those for whom they’re not. That’s a curious outcome, but there it is. I think we can observe it empirically throughout the church. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now there is a section in the Doctrine and Covenants that speaks to this, and for some reason it doesn’t get the press it deserves, certainly not as much press as Moroni. It’s section 46, and it says:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">13 To some it is given by the </span><span style="font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a</span><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/46?lang=eng#"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Holy Ghost</span></a><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God...</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">14 To others it is given to </span><span style="font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a</span><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/46?lang=eng#"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">believe</span></a><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on their words</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s me, okay? That’s definitely me. And yet believing on the words of another is described as a spiritual gift--a legitimate spiritual gift. One that we might even seek, to believe on their words. This is me. And today I don’t think that makes me less of a Latter-day Saint, or less of a disciple. Actually I think I can stand before you and make the case that this makes me a gifted Latter-day Saint, and that gift I have is to believe on their words. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Furthermore, long years later, many years later, I encountered the writings and the talks given by a number of general authorities in the church, and if I could only have known this at the time of my mission and when I was very young, it would have saved me so much consternation, self-doubt, and recrimination. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to share with you the story of President David O. McKay, which I had never heard! But he stood up in the 1968 General Conference and told a story that turns out to be just like mine. I had </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">never</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> heard this from a church leader. Let me share it with you. This is President McKay:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am going to tell you what happened to me as a boy upon the hillside near my home in Huntsville. I was yearning, just as you boys are yearning, to know that the vision given to the Prophet Joseph Smith was true, and that this Church was really founded by revelation, as he claimed. I thought that the only way a person could get to know the truth was by having a revelation or experiencing some miraculous event ... So one day I was hunting cattle. While climbing a steep hill, I stopped to let my horse rest, and there, once again, an intense desire came over me to receive a manifestation of the truth of the restored gospel. I dismounted, threw my reins over my horse's head, and there, under a bush, I prayed that God would declare to me the truth of his revelation to Joseph Smith. I am sure that I prayed fervently and sincerely and with as much faith as a young boy could muster.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the conclusion of the prayer, I arose from my knees, threw the reins over my faithful pony's head, and got into the saddle. As I started along the trail again, I remember saying to myself: "No spiritual manifestation has come to me. If I am true to myself, I must say I am just the same boy that I was before I prayed." I prayed again when I crossed Spring Creek, near Huntsville, and again in the evening to milk our cows.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Lord did not see fit to give me an answer on that occasion, it wasn’t until I had been appointed president of the Scottish Mission, that the spiritual manifestation for which I had prayed as a boy came. And it simply came as a natural sequence to the performance of duty. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So that is President McKay. That’s interesting! And I want to read to you this quote from Elder Oaks, which was interesting:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have met persons who told me t</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hey have never had a witness from the Holy Ghost because they have never felt their bosom “burn within” them. What does a “burning in the bosom” mean? Does it need to be a feeling of caloric heat, like the burning produced by combustion? If that is the meaning, then I have never had a burning in the bosom.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That was Elder Oaks. Interesting, right? Now here’s Elder Packer:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some have been misled by expecting revelations too frequently. I have learned that strong, impressive spiritual experiences do not come to us very frequently. Revelations from God—the teachings and directions of the Spirit—are not constant. We believe in continuing revelation, not continuous revelation. We are often left to work out problems without the dictation or specific direction of the Spirit. That is part of the experience we must have in mortality. The people I have found most confused in this Church are those who seek personal revelations on everything. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let me read you another one, this from Elder McConkie:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some people postpone acknowledging their testimony until they have experienced a miraculous event. They fail to realize that with most people—especially those raised in the Church—gaining a testimony is not an event but a process. Being born again is a gradual thing, except in a few isolated instances that are so miraculous that they get written up in the scriptures. As far as the generality of the members of the Church are concerned, conversion is a process; and it goes step by step, degree by degree, level by level, from a lower state to a higher, from grace to grace, until the time that the individual is wholly turned to the cause of righteousness.</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Boy, that’s me! That describes my experience precisely. I wanted to share that for what it’s worth. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, I also want to point out that the Book of Mormon actually proposes actually </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">two </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">different models for obtaining faith and testimony. This is very important. The one model we’ve covered and everybody knows because it gets all the press, and that model is Moroni 10:4: Ask and have a witness be delivered unto you. That’s a legitimate model; it’s scriptural, I believe that it’s true and that it can take place exactly as described. And yet there’s another model laid out very clearly in the same book, which we must also take as scripture and therefore literal and therefore equally valid. It describes an entirely different path to faith and testimony and it is found in Alma 32, where the gospel is likened unto a seed. It uses an agricultural metaphor.. That one really resonates with me. It describes my own life experience. Here we’re not asked to have this dramatic confrontation with Deity, to seek out something bordering on mystical and to have it delivered on the spot. Instead, we’re asked to do something altogether different, which is to cultivate a seed, to nurture it through our actions. It’s the horticultural approach, where a testimony is a thing to be carefully planted, cultivated, watered, tested. And what do you test? You test the fruits, right? To me the fruits of the gospel are delicious. They pass my taste test. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I find that a curiosity why missionaries don’t actually lead with </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I would lead with that if I had it to do over again. This is what I would be asking my investigators to do. I would say “just plant the seed, test it. Try it. You might have to try it over a lifetime, but take a look at this seed and then make your own decision on the merits, whether it is good or not. That’s been my experience. To me the fruits are so beautiful and so good that I’ve been willing to bet my entire life upon it.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So there’s my story, and we your stake presidency feel that you have a right to know us in this way. You have a right to understand our spiritual journeys, how we come by the things that we say. And I will make you a promise right here, that you will never hear me say anything over the pulpit or in a church setting that is beyond my knowledge. If you listen carefully you will hear me choosing words like “believe” as in “I believe this is true” or “I trust this is true” or “I have accumulated enough evidence to persuade me this is the better path.” I’ll be using words very carefully.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now having shared my story, I want to make five observations for all of us here in the Menlo Park Stake, each on our own faith journeys. Indulge me in five observations. Here they are; </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, and I want to say this very clearly: if you happen to be somebody who wonders; if you happen to be somebody who is experiencing doubt about the church or about the gospel or any of the great existential questions, if you happen to be a person who wonders I say: Marvelous! How marvelous that is! This is your home. You belong here with us, and you are badly wanted. I want to be very clear about this, the Stake Presidency wants to have a community of saints who are probing, who are discovering, who are testing, who are faith testing, and who are making serious, critical investigation. We’re not trying to cultivate a stake of passive believers, mouthing platitudes. We are trying to cultivate active seekers. This is the kind of stake that we seek to lead. So that’s the first thing I want to make clear, that if you are finding doubts or asking questions, this is a safe and appropriate place to do that. And I can say that because my own Hosanna have passed through the crucible of doubt. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The scriptures make it perfectly clear that there is a place for doubt and for skepticism and that this is part of the journey. Remember in the book of Mark when the man seizes upon the Savior and says “Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief,” and how the Savior looked especially kindly upon him. Count me as one of those. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Observation number two is to issue a challenge to those who are feeling comfortable, or those who are feeling complacent in the faith. We want to root out complacency. We don’t think there’s a place for that in the church. Forgive me, but I think there are a few too many Mormons who have decided that because the church is true, we therefore have all the answers to all of the questions, all of the theological questions that have plagued scholars and theologians for centuries. Disciples have been breaking their heads open over these questions for centuries, but because we have the gospel, we know every answer and there’s nothing left for us to do but to be perfunctory Mormons. We don’t think this stake should be a place where people can be smug. Nobody is excused from this lifelong journey of probing and questioning. An unexamined faith is not worth having. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not only that, there is yet so much truth that need to be revealed, that needs to be discovered. Remember we believe in continuing revelation. So there is a great deal more for us to do. I fear that many of us confuse faith with depth, and this we must never do. So the second observation I wanted to make is that all of us have a duty to examine our faith, and to be breaking open our heads all over the great questions that our theology poses. It’s breathtaking if you allow yourself to participate in that kind of an exercise. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s the third observation that I would like to make. The church is a dynamic organization. By dynamic I mean it changes. The gospel is timeless but the Church is not. I have lived long enough to witness the Church make many great and significant changes in my lifetime. Significant things, things like doctrines, teachings, or practices about women, about priesthood, about the garments we wear, among others. So this is significant. We should all understand that the church is a dynamic thing, and one that will grow and change and mature, and we will witness it in our lifetimes. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s my fourth observation. I want to suggest that we have a role to play in that evolution. We should be agents in helping discover truth, agents in helping the church grow and increase and improve as an institution. Now we make distinctions of course between the gospel and the church right? There was a great talk in this past conference about that, the difference between the church and the gospel. Read that and apply it to our stake as well. Over the 9 years of our stake presidency I’m sure you’ll see many things come and go, changes made. We want you to be enlisted in the change. We want you to feel like you are agents in this. We want you to be innovative with us, and entrepreneurial and creative. We want you to bring your best thinking and we want you to help us. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s the last observation I’d like to make. It’s an invitation to the members of our stake. We hope that you’ll pray with your knees and also pray with your feet. We want you to pray on your knees, we rejoice in those prayers. We seek those prayers, but we also want the stake full of people who are caught up in the work. It’s a work of compassion. It’s a work of saving, one person at a time. It’s a work of sweat and equity in this place where we’re trying to build a portion of the kingdom. And it’s our experience (it’s certainly my experience) that in the act of service, in the act of fulfilling our duty, this is where the greater knowledge comes, the greater light and knowledge. So we want encourage that among all of us. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, we’re living in an exciting time, when the church (I think) is asking more and more, asking more of us, asking us to be more like Ammon who served the king, who was willing to serve all his days. The church is asking us to be more like Ammon. The church is asking us to be less like Samuel the Lamanite: declarative, standing on the wall, shouting the truth. There’s a place and time for that, of course, and in stake conference I’m going to speak on this subject. But the church here locally is trying to be a bit more like Ammon, praying with our feet, ministering to the people around us. It’s really exciting, to be a part of this. Our mission, for example, has stopped all tracting, on a pilot basis. Right now we’re not tracting! We’re working with members, and seeking out service opportunities for our missionaries. We’re going to take that very seriously, and it’s a way that we’ll be doing that praying with our feet. So that’s the invitation that we want to make to all of our members.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again for inviting me. I would love to answer questions and make this a dialogue now, instead of a monologue.
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carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-38022735684723459922017-09-30T15:48:00.000-07:002017-09-30T16:01:09.304-07:00Changing Lives<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4tp55" data-offset-key="71hn4-0-0" style="font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span data-offset-key="71hn4-0-0" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This evening after conference, we had the opportunity to help teach a brother that we had been talking to briefly before we went into watch conference in the stake center. He has been learning about the church on and off for many years and has always canceled right before his other two baptism dates.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8be5t-0-0" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His current missionaries decided to teach him a lesson right after the conference session (at 5:00 p.m. we watched the morning session live). He has decided he needs to change his life or he is going to end up an old man with nothing to show for it so about a week ago he contacted the missionaries again.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="dpjr2-0-0" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think there were a few things we taught him about that really connected with him. We taught him that everyone in this life goes through trials. None escape unscathed. It's how we respond to those trials and tribulations that define us.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9ot30-0-0" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do we turn our eyes heavenward and shake our fist at God and ask "Why me?" or do we drop to our knees in humility and ask Heavenly Father's help in bearing the burden and lightening our load? Do we angrily blame everything on God or do we ask for comfort and peace?</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9en79-0-0" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He told us how when he is with the missionaries and/or at the church he felt the Spirit and was more able to resist the temptations that surround him. We explained to him that once he was baptized he would "receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" as a constant companion so that he wouldn't lose those special feelings in between visits.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a76fa-0-0" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We taught for a long time as he bared his soul about his life and struggles.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="217qb-0-0" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We taught him about repentance, and how baptism makes you clean and God remembers your sins no more. That He doesn't expect you to be perfect and that by taking the sacrament each week we can fully repent again and again.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8j9rn-0-0" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a wonderful time teaching. It went on so long we missed out on visiting with all our missionaries whom I had sent to the store for everything for banana splits. They finally ate without us because the ice cream was melting and they had a curfew they had to keep.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="enur6-0-0" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I LOVE being a missionary! I love seeing how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change people's lives.</span></div>
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carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-87471714639742309202017-09-02T18:06:00.001-07:002017-09-02T18:08:01.293-07:00Two Weeks and Counting!The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. <br />
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We got here to England two weeks ago yesterday. We started out in a temporary flat that we stayed in for ten days until the missionary couple that we replaced, the Goodsells, went home. They spent those ten days training us and showing us around. We love them and are sorry that we didn't get to actually serve with them for longer than ten days. They are much loved by the missionaries and the ward and YSA members and will be missed.<br />
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We are now in our permanent flat and expect to be here our entire mission. It's in a lovely spot in south west London.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking out of our kitchen window, we see a lovely grassy area and across the street from that is a humongous park. I will be doing some walking around that park to get some exercise.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Living in a temporary flat in Sydenham was fun. It used to be an Elders apartment so Sister Goodsell and some of the sister missionaries came and gave it a good scrub before we got there. It was pretty big and roomy.</td></tr>
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Learning to drive in the craziness of London, on the left side of the road and down extremely narrow streets has been hair raising and a bit of a strain on our nerves. Today both Elder Pearce and I took turns driving home from a weekend zone conference and felt like we did a much better job of driving and not reacting to each other's driving. We work as a team to navigate the roads. We couldn't possibly get around with our our Satnav or maps. Tonight we couldn't even find the Tesco (grocery store) that we were looking for even WITH our satnav. We might just figure it out about the time we go home in 18 months.<br />
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In response to my sister-in-law, Caroldean, posting about someone honking behind her, I thought about all the times I've been honked at these past two weeks. The honking is getting less frequent but most of the time it's well deserved.<br />
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<!--StartFragment-->
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 18.6667px; letter-spacing: -0.133333px;">Honking</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">We've
had a LOT of honking at us in London this past week. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
person honking behind me, I'm not challenging the double decker bus.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
person honking behind me, I'm not entering the round about when I don't know
where that ambulance is going.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
person honking behind me, I can't go forward until the car coming in the
opposite direction on a two way street that is barely wide enough with all the
parked cars on both sides for one car to get through without breaking off mirrors,
gets through.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
person honking behind me, sorry. I totally screwed that one up, sorry!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
double decker busses, please don't run over me!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
pedestrian dressed in black at night crossing outside the crosswalk with no
street lamps, please wait for your light!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
motorcyclists! Please don't assume I see you coming up so fast cutting the
lanes!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
person behind me honking, why do so many lanes merge in the middle of an
intersection?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
person behind me honking, I have absolutely no idea why you just honked at me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
person behind me honking, if I go faster I'll get nailed by the traffic camera.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
person honking behind me, if I go any faster over all these speed bumps it will
wreck my car!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear
person behind me honking, Oh, it wasn't me you were honking at....I think....<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dear fellow Londoners, thank you for your patience while
Elder Pearce and I learn to drive here!</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMPQ7-PY4ZE/WatNP3tT7kI/AAAAAAAAWqM/Obuo6haICvwKAYKGBMVo6pGhBdwaMGoXACKgBGAs/s1600/20170819_130608.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMPQ7-PY4ZE/WatNP3tT7kI/AAAAAAAAWqM/Obuo6haICvwKAYKGBMVo6pGhBdwaMGoXACKgBGAs/s320/20170819_130608.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our maiden voyage the very first day we were here ended up with us destroying the tire on our car. Running into curbs isn't so good for them.<br />
<br /></td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
We have really enjoyed getting to know the people in our area, both the missionaries, YSA's and ward members. We are in a very ethnic ward with people from Africa, Jamaica, South American, Spain, England and who knows where else. It's awesome having so much diversity. I look forward to learning more about everyone cultures.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ocXEThTYUPc/WatNP26UQ-I/AAAAAAAAWqM/nhZD8Fj3cMUI8G7XgcZ8w6TDE6sauSqeQCKgBGAs/s1600/20170820_194112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ocXEThTYUPc/WatNP26UQ-I/AAAAAAAAWqM/nhZD8Fj3cMUI8G7XgcZ8w6TDE6sauSqeQCKgBGAs/s320/20170820_194112.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The YSA council comes over every other Sunday evening to make plans for the coming weeks. They are a fine group of young adults.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qdHDQncsjXA/WatNP1ANcQI/AAAAAAAAWqM/Di9DlaepVSowi2TG7uWty1NqvswBGzzugCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170828_130754_408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1564" data-original-width="1564" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qdHDQncsjXA/WatNP1ANcQI/AAAAAAAAWqM/Di9DlaepVSowi2TG7uWty1NqvswBGzzugCKgBGAs/s320/IMG_20170828_130754_408.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We came at just the right time of the year. Everyone seems to be getting a last outing in before the end of the summer. Riding for about 2 hours in a tour bus, we went with the Crystal Palace ward to Bournemouth Beach.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
We spent the last few days at a senior zone conference in Exeter and touring around a bit in Southern England. The first night we introduced ourselves and heard a few words from our mission president, President Gubler, and his wife. They work so hard! What a job to be responsible for so many missionaries. We will do our best to not be a burden to him but to lighten his load.<br />
<br />
It's late so I'm just going to share about a very special experience that Elder Pearce and I had on the very first leg of our flight from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas.<br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12pt;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>We got to the airport plenty early and were sitting in the
waiting area with Elder and Sister Hatch who were with us in the MTC and are in
this mission as well.</i></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The time came to board and Dad and I got on as quickly as we
could. The window seat was not occupied
yet and since it was a pretty full flight we knew that someone would be coming
in.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Before too long, a woman apologized for needing to get into
the seat and Dad and I got up happily to let her in. Well, maybe not so happily because as I
backed into the isle I stomped on Dad’s toes. He had already taken his shoes off. Owie!<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Anyway, we all got settled and underway. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>My first inclination was to start knitting but I decided
instead to be friendly with the woman sitting next to me. I asked her if Las Vegas was going home for
her or if it was just a connection to somewhere else. She said it was home and then suddenly blurted out that it was no coincidence that
she was sitting next to us on the
plane. She said that she was having a
really really hard day and that she was on her way home from spending time with
her mom who had just died. I asked her
if she needed a hug. She immediately
said yes and just grabbed me and allowed herself to be hugged for a couple of
minutes as she cried.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Her name is Kristy.
She then proceeded to tell us that we were an answer to her
prayers. When she had been feeling so
badly on the first flight from Seattle, she was praying to find someone to give
her a hug. She had seen us in the
waiting area and felt like she needed to ask us to help her and hug her but she
didn’t because she didn’t know how we would react and that we might think she
was weird. Then she got on the plane and
found that she was sitting right next to us.
She had seen our badges with “Jesus Christ” on it and felt safe with us.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The amazing thing was, as an afterthought when we checked
in, Dad asked if we could change seats so that he could have and isle
seat. No big deal.<br />
All these wonderful things came together for us and her. We talked the whole flight and asked her
questions about her mom, her family and just let her talk.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>We also talked to her a lot about the grieving process and
how Heavenly Father can and was helping and comforting her. She exclaimed over and over again how she
knew that we were sent to her.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Mostly she just needed to talk and to know that what she was
going through was normal even though it was so painful and that someone
cared. I also suggested to her that a
wonderful place to go to feel peace and comfort was the grounds of the Las
Vegas temple. It’s such a beautiful
place and you can really feel the Spirit there.</i><br />
<i>
Earlier that morning as Tony and I were saying our prayers I asked that we
would be able to be the answer to someone’s prayers. </i><br />
<i>
It was a wonderful testament to us that Heavenly Father hears and answers our
prayers. That he is aware of our sorrow
and pain and will use each of us to help bare the sorrow of another if we are
listening and are willing to be guided.
I’m so thankful that we were able to help her. We found each other on Facebook and have chatted
a bit back and forth. </i><br />
<br />
We miss home and family but are so grateful for this opportunity to serve. We know that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. We need to open our hearts and allow those answers to change us, comfort us and help us. We need humility.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cb5mPlEva28/WatNP83tUAI/AAAAAAAAWqM/YR88z4r0JJ0fcABJQ8MhQ6aKIae0LE3xgCKgBGAs/s1600/20170829_125147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cb5mPlEva28/WatNP83tUAI/AAAAAAAAWqM/YR88z4r0JJ0fcABJQ8MhQ6aKIae0LE3xgCKgBGAs/s320/20170829_125147.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I brought these peg dolls and this piece of agate from home. They represent my daughters, grand daughters, sisters and mom. They make my heart happy. Now I need to find something to represent the men in our family. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's really quite wonderful to be able to see Eric and family on occasion. We spent a few hours here at a beautiful park in west London called Richmond Park. These Red Deer or Kings Deer roam freely and have no concern whatsoever about people being close by.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the really special things about being here in this part of England is that I get to schmooze with my England grandbabies. Hugo and I were working as a team to take a selfie.<br />
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Mission life has been wonderful so far! It's time to buckle down though and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and bring souls unto Him.</td></tr>
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carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-35583104253154174962017-08-03T11:50:00.000-07:002017-08-03T11:56:20.254-07:00I Love Him. I'll Serve Him. He is my Savior.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My Savior, My Brother, My Friend</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The time is almost here. In just a few short days we report to the MTC to start training for our mission. I have had many tender moments as I think of leaving all those I love and will miss so much. Tears have come to my eyes as I have sat with grandchildren on my lap or watched my children together this past couple of weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When Tony and I served in the MTC for four years working with the young men and women who were there getting ready to serve their own full time missions. Many came with heavy hearts. There were many worries about problems at home. Sickness, financial burdens, family struggles and homesickness. Leaving home is hard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The scripture we shared quite often with our missionaries comes from Doctrine and Covenants 100:1.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The background of this revelation to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon is they had been absent from their families for several days as they went out to preach the Gospel. They had left their families in dire straights but followed Heavenly Father's will to go bring others unto Christ. They were worried about their families. Their hearts were heavy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The scripture reads:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="verse-number verse" style="background: 0px 0px rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0.01); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<i><span class="verse-number verse" style="background: 0px 0px rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0.01); border: 0px; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0.01); font-size: 18px;">Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends Sidney and Joseph, your families are well; they are in </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-style: initial;"><span class="page-break" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background: 0px 0px rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0.01); border: 0px; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0.01); font-size: 18px;">mine hands</span></i><span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0.01); font-size: 18px;"><i>, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0.01); font-size: 18px;"><i style="color: #333333;"><br /></i>As Tony and I prepare to leave, we are exercising much faith in the message of this scripture. We have family concerns and many who count on us for different reasons. We have faith that Heavenly Father will take care of our loved ones. He can do it much better than we can. He knows their needs, loves them and knows how best to help them. The Lord will provide. We know that our family will be blessed as we serve Him with all our hearts, might, mind and strength.</span></span>carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-34948301389821219232017-07-19T11:09:00.000-07:002017-07-19T21:34:09.786-07:00New Grandbaby, Change in Mission Assignment and Travel, Change in MTC Plans!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The time is coming so fast!! When we first got our call back in March, four and a half months seemed like forever until we would be leaving. Now it's flying by. Time seems to have both speeded up and slowed down at the same time now that we are getting so close.<br />
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It has been hard getting ready because we can't really pack until it's time to go but I have slowly been getting some organization done and have been going through about 20 years of collecting stuff since we moved into this house. I have thrown away (Oh look! This medication expired 10 years ago!), given away and now will be packing away a lot of stuff that we won't be needing on our mission. This will give Andie a clean and mostly empty room and bathroom to move into while we're gone (at least my half of the space will be packed up).<br />
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Tony and I (we are still Tony and Carrie until August 7th then we become Elder and Sister Pearce) recently went to Portland, Oregon for the birth of our 18th grandchild, Luci Yulia Rose Setzer. Born to Lydia and Trevor. She is a beautiful little girl. Lydia and Trevor are wonderful parents. The next time we see her she will be a toddler! They are hoping to come to England and visit while we are there. We're hoping as well! We LOVE being grandparents! It brings us so much happiness and joy! Thank goodness for SKYPE! We will miss our family so much!<br />
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The very first day we were in Portland, we were on our way to visit with my bonus Dad, Bob Garrard, in Newport, Oregon, which is several hours away from Portland on the beautiful west coast. As we were driving we got a call from President Gubler telling us about a change in our overall mission assignment and also letting us know where we will be assigned for the duration of our mission.<br />
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He got permission from church headquarters to include YSA (Young Single Adults) in our mission assignment. In addition to our Member Leadership Support calling we will be teaching Institute and missionary prep classes and helping with the YSA activities. We will also be helping out the young missionaries whenever we can and helping in the ward and stake we are assigned to.<br />
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Because of the additional responsibilities we will be at the MTC for three days longer and will be getting trained for CES (Church Education System) responsibilities. This is quite intimidating to me. Sit with me in the living room or get trapped in a car with me and I can talk your ear off and impart to you all my amazing years of wisdom, knowledge and stories (until your eyes roll back into your head and you wonder if I will ever shut up. Kind of like this post), but get me in front of a class or congregation and I get terrible stage fright and don't seem to be able to put together my thoughts and give a cognitive presentation. Most people don't believe me that I am basically a shy person.<br />
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I have great faith that Heavenly Father qualifies those whom he serves. I also know without a shadow of a doubt that if we are willing to listen with our heart, without any criticism of the person who is speaking or teaching and they have tried to prepare and are doing their best, the Spirit can and will teach you what YOU personally need to hear. I truly believe this is how all teaching in the church happens. Whether it's missionary work, lessons on Sunday, Sacrament meeting, Temple attendance, reading the scriptures, etc. I know He will help me if I put the effort of preparation and faith. I'm counting on it!<br />
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See how I wander???!!!<br />
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Getting back to where we will be assigned, we will be in a ward west of London in a village called Wandsworth. President Gubler told us the ward there has members from all over the world. We are SO excited! There is so much we can learn and people and cultures we will get to know and love. We are so blessed to get this assignment. <br />
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This is a map of the England London South mission boundaries. On preparation days we will be able to do a bit of sightseeing as long as we stay within the mission boundaries but we can get special permission to go outside mission boundaries. Since so many have mentioned that they want to come and visit while we're there, we will be able to visit some wonderful places.<br />
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This map shows where Wandsworth is in relation to London. Eric tells us it's pretty much in London proper but a nice area. We will be living in a flat with two bedrooms, living room, bathroom and kitchen. Tony and I will have fun learning to share the bathroom! <br />
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On Monday we were able to take a tour of the MTC and see all the new buildings that have just been finished and opened up for use. It was very nostalgic for us to be there as we served in MTC branch presidencies for four years. The open house is just getting going so if you are interested, you can go and see it for yourselves. The new buildings are pretty amazing and the new outdoor areas are welcoming and inviting.<br />
There are amazing murals on the walls depicting the life of Christ and other beautiful artwork.<br />
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Tony and I have been really looking forward to our MTC experience. Even though we live close enough to commute there daily, we decided we wanted to stay at the MTC and get the total immersion experience and that was our plan. Yesterday however we got a call from the MTC asking us if we could stay in our own home and come down daily. Apparently they have so many missionaries arriving at the same time as us (Summer is the highest occupancy at the MTC) that they are having to find hotels to put everyone in. Some almost as far away as we already are. I'm assuming all the hotel missionaries are senior couples like us. We are a bit disappointed but more than willing to stay in our own beds on Purple for another week and a half. We will study, eat lunch and dinner with the other missionaries, then come home to sleep and prepare for the next day. Depending on traffic, it will add one and a half to two hours of commute time every day. <br />
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I wish everyone could experience the Spirit that is felt at the MTC. It can be overwhelming and beautiful. Many tears are shed and hearts are opened as missionaries come to be trained in how to teach and learn languages but more importantly, to come to Christ themselves so that they can know what having His spirit with them always really feels like. It's amazing! <br />
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Click on the below link to see information if you want to take a tour. Children are welcome. It's fun. You will get to see where the missionaries eat, live, study and you will get to see rooms inside the new classroom buildings. Missionaries who are actually at the MTC right now getting ready to go to their various missions join with you in line on the tour as you go through so that any questions you want to ask, even if it's about themselves or where they are from or where they are going to serve can be answered. At the end of the tour there is a short video in one of the new buildings explaining the purpose of the MTC and of missionary work.<br />
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<a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865681260/Public-invited-to-tour-new-facilities-at-Provo-Missionary-Training-Center.html">http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865681260/Public-invited-to-tour-new-facilities-at-Provo-Missionary-Training-Center.html</a><br />
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We will be speaking in Sacrament Meeting (Our non farewell) at 1:00 p.m. on July 30th in the Alpine 4th Ward. The address is: 910 South High Bench Road, Alpine, UT 84004.<br />
All are welcome who want to come and we will have an open house following Sacrament meeting at our home. If you want to stay for all three meetings then come over to visit, you are more than welcome to do that as well.<br />
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We will be flying out on August 17th. Then eighteen months of devoting all our might, mind and strength to serving our Heavenly Father and his children. What a wonderful time of life this is!carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-57835648250095807422017-06-13T13:27:00.000-07:002017-06-13T13:27:46.666-07:00Our next Phaze.....Senior Missionaries!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's finally here! Our mission call!<br />
About 5 1/2 years ago we were ready to submit our applications to become a senior missionary couple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At that time it was not to be.<br />
Tony was called to serve in the Provo Missionary Training Center and I was to accompany him as he became first a councilor in a branch presidency and eventually a branch president to missionaries going to the Philippines. We weren't in the least bit sad! We LOVED serving in the MTC and were sad when we were released.<br />
Since this is a 4 year calling, we had to put our mission plans on hold.<br />
At the end of 4 years we were released but so much was happening with our company, it still wasn't a good time to go. I'm sure we could have kept having that happen but finally after another year we just said, "Let's GO!" There will never be a "Good time to go." There will always be things happening at work, babies being born, family members with special needs and the list goes on. We just needed to bite the bullet, exercise faith and submit our applications.<br />
In the meantime, our dear friend who was our first branch president at the MTC, Ron Gubler, was called to be the mission president of the England London South mission.<br />
For many years I have been saying and wishing aloud, that if I could pick the perfect mission to go to it would be the London South mission. After all, what could be better than going to a foreign mission and still be able to visit with some of your family. Eric and his family have lived in England, just 5 minutes away from the mission office for about 10 years.<br />
To make a long story short, President Gubler requested us, we were more than willing to accept that call (although we did put on our papers that we were willing to serve wherever Heavenly Father wanted us to go). When the call came, it was indeed to the England London South mission to serve as MSL missionaries, or Member Leadership Support missionaries. We will be helping out the leaders of the local unit where we are assigned in whatever capacity they need us to. We will also be finding service projects to participate in, driving young missionaries around and even do some sight seeing.<br />
We feel like we have been blessed so abundantly and love the Gospel of Jesus Christ so much that it's the least we can do to go for 18 months to serve.<br />
The rules for senior couples are different than for young missionaries. We will get to Skype with our grandkids and kids, make phone calls home whenever we need to. We don't have to keep the same long hours that young missionaries do because after all, we ARE seniors! Another difference is that we don't get moved around to different areas like the young missionaries do and we get to keep the same companion for our entire mission! That's a bonus!<br />
We report to the Provo Missionary Training Center, the same one we served in for 4 years, only this time as missionaries ourselves, on August 7th 2017. We will give our farewell talks in Sacrament meeting on July 30th.<br />
I'm so thankful to be able to have a good part of the summer to hang out with our family before we go. The past 2 1/2 months since we got our call has flown by and I'm starting to get a bit anxious about getting everything done that needs to be done before we leave and also getting some butterflies in my tummy about the whole prospect!<br />
Emily, Luis and Olivia will be living here, as well as Bryan and Andie and her current roommate.<br />
What an exciting time of our lives!carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-9892919759681932612009-04-11T17:46:00.001-07:002009-04-11T18:32:01.807-07:00This Special EasterAs this Easter has approached I have been caught up very much in the whole meaning and how very much it means to us this year.<br /><br />One year ago the day after tomorrow (the day after Easter) Carissa Marie Pearce passed away. A tremendous amount has happened in our family in the past year. About a week and a half before Carissa died, Lydia gave birth to beautiful little Zoe, and placed her for adoption with a wonderful family. Then Carissa died. Two weeks later my Dad got seriously ill while we were visiting in Texas for Dallas and Lynda's wedding and we thought we were going to lose him. One month after Carissa passed away Maxine Law Pearce, Tony's mom, passed away.<br /><br />While we were all still reeling in shock and pain from everything else, a month later as I sat contemplating everything that had been going on, I thought to myself, "Wow! It's been a whole month and nothing terrible has happened! The next day Dan and Andrea Rae announced they were getting divorced. This was so unexpected and we were already so vulnerable that it set us back on our heals. We were heartbroken that they were going through such difficulties in the midst of everything else.<br /><br />As the year went on, it seemed that we were beset by calamity on every side. Our company was struggling with ongoing lawsuits, and it seemed that they would never end.<br /><br />We did have very happy times though. We added two beautiful little grand daughters to the family when Eric and Leanne had their first baby, and Tomi and Dan had their third. Nick and Crystal got married after having dated off and on for about 3 years. Then to our surprise and delight, Dan met, fell in love with and married a delightful young woman named Carrie whom we all adore. She brought with her another beautiful grand daughter, Taya into our family circle.<br /><br />It has been an amazing year.<br /><br />I have thought and thought and thought about Carissa and what it meant to have her in our lives and what it means now that she is gone. I have to admit I have had a tendency to shove it to the back when the feelings start to well up and tears are close to the surface. I have had some amazing days in the temple where I felt very comforted and blessed and even had what I call "My Carissa Day". It has all felt very surreal. I think when I think about the reality of her not being here, it's still hard for me to believe and really comprehend.<br /><br />I have gone up to the cemetery many times to put fun little holiday things on her site (there is no stone yet) and it's really sad to think of her body being there. It really brings a finality to it all. She won't be coming through the door. She won't be going to the store with me anymore to fight over who gets to push the cart. She won't be there to drink the rest of my mostly full drink that I always brought home to her. She won't be with Tony and I when we go to the movies. She won't be with us to do all the things that she loved to do. It's hard to think about.<br /><br />Today we had the Family Easter Egg Hunt. The pictures from last years Easter Egg Hunt show Carissa as excited as ever pulling her little oxygen tank around with her as she gathered up the Easter Goodies. She was as a little child. She never stopped believing. She loved Easter. She loved sharing what she had in her basket. She loved all the holidays. Today was a bit hard. I missed the magic that she brought to the Easter festivities.<br /><br />Today I so very much miss our beautiful Carissa. Today I rely on my faith in the Atonement. My faith in the Plan of Salvation. My faith in my lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His mission here on earth. My faith that we will be reunited with Carissa again. Any other thought than that would be just too much to bear.<br /><br />I am also filled with thankfulness. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father lent this choice daughter to fill our home with unconditional love. He sent us our own personal teacher to teach us all how to treat each other, how to choose to act even if it was contrary to how we felt. He gave her to us for a 22 short years to help us through some really tough times. Every one of us felt like she had been sent here especially to help us as individuals.<br /><br />She taught me personally what it truly means to love unconditionally. I use those lessons over and over. She was a living example of true, Christ like love. How thankful I am for that.<br /><br />I am thankful for this time of year to reflect on Christ's mission here on earth. I am thankful that through the atonement, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. I am thankful that some day I will hear Carissa's delighted laugh again and feel her arms around me giving me a squeeze that takes my breath away. I will feel her hand slip into mine as we walk together. I will get to watch as she administers to others with so much love and compassion. I will get to watch as she plays with the children whom she loved so much. I will get to listen as she bears special testimony of the gospel, Jesus and her Heavenly Father whom she had a sure knowledge of their love for her. I will get to continue to learn at this great daughter of God's feet. I will get to be with my Carissa again.<br /><br />Easter is a time of hope.carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-73565379157530996022009-01-14T13:36:00.000-08:002009-01-14T14:00:27.831-08:00<em><em><strong>Nine Months since Carissa Passed Away</strong></em></em><br /><br />I have joined a little group of moms who have lost children with Down Syndrome. The ages of the children are different as are the causes of death but one thing remains the same, we have all lost a beloved child.<br /><br />As I have been emailing back and forth it has made me want to document more what our thoughts and feelings are about Carissa, what she taught us, how her example continues to teach us and how much we miss her. It occured to me yesterday that it was the nine month anniversary of when she died. <br /><br />I wanted to post this wonderful tribute that Amy put together so that others could enjoy it. When I can figure out how, I will also post the video of Dan's amazing talk that he gave at her funeral. For now, I will just post the text.<br /><br />I am so thankful for the love that our family has for each other and that our children had for their sister and I hope that you will be touched and reminded of what an exceptional young woman Carissa was.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Sopk6omOJqg/SW0fqfSwxVI/AAAAAAAAAF0/cInJV7Q06ks/s1600-h/Carissa+Portrait-touched-up.jpg"><img style="CLEAR: both; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Sopk6omOJqg/SW0fqfSwxVI/AAAAAAAAAF0/cInJV7Q06ks/s320/Carissa+Portrait-touched-up.jpg" border="0" /></a><div style='clear:both; text-align:RIGHT'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yEFgBWb5rcU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yEFgBWb5rcU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/f85DKzEc3qY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f85DKzEc3qY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-34184850730402099382009-01-14T00:22:00.000-08:002009-01-14T00:26:44.154-08:00When Carissa died, her oldest brother Dan wanted to speak at her funeral. It was such an amazing talk and meant so much to all our family and many others that I am posting it here. I hope it can help others as it has helped me. Thank you Dan, for such a wonderful talk and inspiration.<br /><br /><strong><em>Carissa – A Pure Heart by Dan Pearce</em></strong><br /><br />Carissa’s shining life and example really cannot be expressed over a pulpit. It had to be felt, experienced, and witnessed, as you all know.<br />Carissa understood love probably more than I or most of us will ever be able. She could feel inside a person’s soul and somehow, could even feel the pains of a person’s heart. If that person’s heart was hurting more than usual, she could sense it, and she would do what she did best, which was to help start the healing. It usually started with a question of concern, then a big smile, then one of her big Carissa Bear Hugs. Then, the verbal praises would start and not let up until she sensed that your heart was at peace again, even if it took weeks or months. She would laugh, and tell you repeatedly over the course of days, “You’re my favorite.” “I love you this much.” “Hello my beautiful.” “Hello my handsome.” And other wonderful things. Then, when you would leave, she’d get out a notebook and her big bag of colorful pens, and write you a letter or two, telling you how much she loved you, how much she loved her brother Jesus Christ, how much she loved God, and how much They both loved you. You see, Carissa understood God’s love for us, and she never hesitated to share it.<br />Carissa loved to make people smile. In fact, she loved to make whole congregations smile. Anyone who’s ever been to any ward that Carissa was in on Fast Sunday, has heard her bear her testimony. She was always first to head to the front, and she never missed an opportunity to tell the world of her love for the Savior or the Gospel. Her testimony was simple, and was worded something like this, “I’d love to bear my testimony, I love my mommy. I love my daddy.” And then she’d start looking around, and whoever she made eye contact with, “I love my brother Danny. I love my sister Amy so much. I love Jesus Christ. And I love the scriptures. And I love Joseph Smith. And I love President S. Monson. And I love my daddy.” (Dad always seemed to be mentioned two or three times). And sometimes she’d throw out a plug for the family business or let a few of her frustrations out between those statements of love, “And I love my brother Andy on his mission. And Amy stole the fish crackers and took them to her apartment. And I love Jesus Christ, my brother. And I love Mr. Pool.” Then, after closing, and effectively bringing the spirit strongly into the meeting, she would shake hands or hug each member of the bishopric, as well as anyone else on the stand. As she made her way to her seat, she would shake hands with members of the ward all the way down, waving to people, smiling, and feeling on top of the world. There are a lot of people who are going to miss that.<br />Carissa was not bound by pride, ego, time, or selfishness, a few of the struggles that many of us so naturally have. She was never too busy to visit or care for the sick. She never received a church calling that she didn’t complete with 100% vigor. She never thought herself better than another human being, ever. Think about that. She never thought herself better than another human being. How many of us can say that? She never hid her talents from the world. She never withheld her praise from anyone. She never compromised her values. She never believed that there was a reason to not show her love to others, and certainly never believed there was a reason for others not to love her. The scriptures repeatedly tell us that since the fall, man by nature became carnal, sensual, and devilish. Perhaps because Satan could have no hold on Carissa’s heart, she was never any of these things, and this is the reason she has so many people who loved her as is evidenced here today.<br />Carissa had a pure heart, purer than any person I’ve ever met. I am brought to ponder, reminiscing on her perfect testimony and unworldly love for the Savior if Christ’s words weren’t fulfilled while she was still here on the earth, “And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Whether then or now, I am confident that Carissa has seen her Maker and that He has welcomed her back with open arms.<br />Lastly, I want to talk about Carissa the missionary. I believe with all my heart that Carissa was put into this family, into this community, into this world, to bring souls to Christ and to lighten people’s lives. Jesus taught that the handicap are here for this very purpose. When his apostles saw a disabled man and asked the savior if that handicap was because of his sins or the sins of his parents, Jesus responded, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” Carissa was given an extra chromosome so that the works of God could be made manifest in her.<br />One week before Carissa died, my parents were out of town, and I was summoned to the hospital (where Carissa had just been admitted) to give her a blessing. As I laid my hands on her head, the spiritual pathways between God and man opened and I could not deny that the words coming from my mouth were not my own. It was a very interesting blessing for me. During the blessing, I saw Carissa on the edge of death, hooked to tubes and monitors, surrounded by doctors and family. At that point, none of us had any reason to believe she would ever get to this point, and as I saw this happening, the words of her blessing that came were something like this:<br />“Carissa, we bless you that your sickness will be a means of bringing many souls to their knees and ultimately to our savior Jesus Christ, for God’s work and glory is the immortality and eternal life of man, and sometimes He uses people like you to carry forth his purposes. Christ will carry you through the hardships you are about to face, so don’t be afraid. Only after those souls have turned to Christ, will things get better for you.”<br />Then, in her final hours, when her body had given up on her, and we knew that death was upon her, I stood alone in that room holding her hand and pleading with God to please make things better like he had promised in the blessing; it was time to heal her. She had reached the point of her blessing that I knew would arrive, and now it was time for God to do his part as promised. Then, while in my deepest pleadings, the spirit rushed into my soul and my eyes were opened for a few moments. I can’t describe what I saw or felt, I only can tell you that a true look at what Carissa had accomplished on this earth was shown to me, and I also knew right then that her work was done and that things would indeed get better for her, just not here. I stood in tears, stroking her face, and whispered over and over, “I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to be like you.”<br />I encourage all of you to spend the rest of your lives trying to be more like Carissa. Promptly forgive those who have wronged you. Sing with all of your heart, even when you can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Stop caring so much what you look like. Stop caring so much what people will think of what you say and do. Fulfill your religious duties with excitement and vigor. Love attending church. Love sharing your testimony and be one of the first ones to the front. Serve your neighbor and buoy those who are down. Stop worrying about what others will think! Worry about what God will think and act in such a way. Forget about your job for awhile. Forget about your sports games and time-wasting habits. Look around you and find someone who could use a “Carissa Bear Hug” or maybe just a warm plate of cookies. Don’t judge others. Smile and introduce yourself to strangers. Express your love for all in all times and all places. For truly, these are lessons that Carissa taught all of us.<br />Carissa was my hero and role model, and I have a testimony that her time here was done, and that her mission has been fulfilled. Just before her death, as Carissa was completely sedated, unable to hear or respond, I found myself alone with her once again, pleading with God for comfort as I held Carissa’s flaccid hand. Christ said, “Blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” I leaned over and whispered through choked back tears, “Carissa, are you okay to go? It’s okay if you need to go.” Suddenly her hand squeezed mine with the same love and strength of one of her famous Carissa Bear Hugs and a warm comfort rushed over my entire body. Even in her final moments she made sure to comfort someone else. I know that many others had similar experiences that day.<br />Brothers and Sisters, Carissa was okay to go. She had no regrets and no reason to fear. She left this world as perfect as when she came into it. She was okay to go.<br />Let’s all consider our lives and live in a way that will make it okay for us to go when the time comes. Let’s all try to be a little more like Carissa.<br />I say these things in Jesus name, Amen.carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-67340064364485070692009-01-10T17:31:00.000-08:002009-03-12T21:09:31.488-07:00Christmas 2008<br /><br />Dear Family and Loved ones,<br /><br />Wow, where do we even start with where we are in our lives right now. Every year I have written up a Christmas letter and every year it doesn’t get sent. Every year I am determined to get it done and ready to mail in November because December is such a jam packed month for us with our anniversary and six birthdays not to mention all the Christmas festivities that happen all month and every year it seems that November gets all filled up with one thing or another and it still doesn’t happen. I will try again this year. I don’t think I have gotten a Christmas letter out since we adopted Nick, Andy and Lydia from Russia about ten years ago. Over the years, many old friends have stopped sending Christmas cards and keeping us up to date with what was happening with them when they didn’t get anything from us in return. I’m sorry I have been so delinquent! We hope that this letter will find you all happy and well.<br /><br />This past year has been filled with many different experiences coming to our family. It has been a year filled with emotion, trials of our faith and going through the refiner’s fire. We have had much help from our loving Heavenly Father as He has sent His comfort and peace.<br /><br />Our biggest sorrow is that we lost our sweet Carissa in April. She was 22. She got pneumonia complicated by a rare fungus that the doctors were unable to identify and treat. When she first started getting sick she received a blessing that said, <em><strong>“And I bless you that when your purpose here on earth is done, you will go speedily back to the arms of your Heavenly Father”.</strong></em> That blessing was fulfilled about a month later as she took a very sudden turn for the worse and passed away very quickly. We have taken great comfort in knowing that Heavenly Father was mindful of us all and let us know that it was time for Carissa to return to her Heavenly home. While we all miss her terribly, we are so very thankful for the Plan of Salvation and the promise that we are an eternal family and we will be reunited with Carissa again. I truly believe that Carissa’s purpose here was and is to teach us what it really means to have the pure love of Christ in our lives. So many felt like Carissa had been sent here especially for them. She had a gift of making people feel loved and that they were “her favorite”. Whenever anyone asks me if there is someone I want to be like, I choose Carissa.<br /><br />One week before Carissa passed away, Lydia gave birth to her beautiful little daughter, Zoe. Lydia had a very difficult decision to make and had the courage and love for her daughter to place her for adoption with a wonderful young local family. We had the blessing to see Zoe and hold her on several occasions and Tony and I were even privileged to witness the sealing of this beautiful little girl to her adoptive parents. We are proud of Lydia and that she made this heart wrenching decision. Lydia is now working as a nanny and little children can feel her love for them.<br /><br />A couple of weeks later my Dad got very ill while we were visiting my sister Penny and her family for her son Dallas’ wedding. We were very worried about him as he had to be hospitalized away from home. He is doing better now.<br /><br />A month later, Tony’s mom passed away. She had been steadily getting in worse health and for the past year had been living in an assisted living center.<br /><br />One month after that, I had just thought to myself that a whole month had gone by without another calamity when Dan and Andrea Rae announced that they were getting divorced. They just finalized their divorce about a month ago and our prayers are with them that they will both be able to find the happiness and joy of eternal marriages. They have one beautiful little son, Noah who is about 22 months old now. They are working hard to help him know the love of both parents. Dan owns and operates one of our MyComfort stores and Andrea Rae works for him as a sales associate. Dan also is really getting into photography and has his own site: <a href="http://www.capturethem.com/">http://www.capturethem.com/</a> Andrea has her own blog site also where you can read what’s going on in her life: <a href="http://www.annandnoah.blogspot.com/">http://www.annandnoah.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />We have had joy in our family as well. Tomi and Dan added another beautiful baby to their family about three months ago which brings their total of children to three. They have Sammy, Joshy and now Elizabeth Carissa. We are honored that they chose to name her after Carissa. Dan owns one of our MyComfort stores and is an aspiring author. Tomi is busy with graphic design, scrap booking and being a wonderful mommy. She has a family blog spot <a href="http://hilltimes.blogspot.com/">http://hilltimes.blogspot.com/</a> and a scrap booking blog spot. <a href="http://www.tomiannie.blogspot.com/">http://www.tomiannie.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br /><br />Eric and Leanne also added their first beautiful little daughter to their family. Amelia Carissa is one week older than Eliza. Having two new grandbabies named after Carissa is a special blessing. Eric also owns one of our stores and Leanne is busy being a wonderful mommy and wife. She does the bookkeeping for Eric. They have been living in England where Leanne is from for the last several years but decided to come and give the retail business a whirl.<br /><br />Amy and Emily are both working together owning and running two of our stores. They make a great team and work hard to be good business owners. They are both attending singles wards but neither are dating anyone seriously right now. Amy served a mission to Chicago South and has been home a little over a year. Emily was able to get her drivers license and has been enjoying her new found freedom.<br /><br />Nick moved to Grand Junction and owned and operated one of our stores there. He just married his sweetheart, Crystal in November in a wonderful wedding and reception at our home after dating off and on for about three years. They have just recently switched to our store in St. George and moved there. After Christmas, us old folks will go down south to visit them and enjoy a bit warmer clime.<br /><br />Andy is on a mission in Nicaragua. He has been out for about 16 months and will be home in August of 2009. He has had a lot to deal with while on his mission but has kept working hard and has had many opportunities to share the gospel and baptize many. He has grown and changed a lot from his experiences. He loves the work and the people. To read most of his letters and see a few pictures go to: <a href="http://steadfastfaithinchrist.blogspot.com/">http://steadfastfaithinchrist.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />Andrea Nicole graduated from Lone Peak High School this past June. She is currently working at a clothing store and is getting ready to apply for college. She is doing a lot of graphic design just messing around on the computer and is also taking voice lessons. She isn’t really sure where she wants to attend yet. I think she’s just enjoying being an only child and claims to be the “spoiled” one.<br /><br />Tony and I are thoroughly enjoying being “Bapa and Nana” to all our sweet grandchildren and ‘adopted” grandchildren. Every Sunday everyone that can, comes home to Sunday dinner. We usually have anywhere between 14 and 24 and love being together as a family. There is nothing so sweet as having a little person come running down the hall with arms outstretched, ready for big hugs and kisses. It is different being faced for the first time with being empty nesters. We always assumed that we would be a happy threesome with Carissa as we all fulfilled missions and worked in the temple. I’m thankful for these little ones that brighten our home and lives and help fill that void.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Tony</span> has been working hard being the President of MyComfort, using the technology he </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >and Terry <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >invented to make the very best and most wonderfully wonderful </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >sleep systems</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" > and other</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:lucida grande;font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" > new and fabulous</span> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >cushioning materials. Unfortunately we have been </span>involved in law-suits for several years as we try to protect our patents. There is never a dull moment. It is wonderful knowing that they invented such a wonderful product that has helped so many people. Tony is also the second counselor in our bishopric and works hard in that calling. He has enjoyed going archery elk hunting with Terry every year for many years now.<br /><br />After Carissa passed away, I became a temple worker. I work two days a week at the Mount Timpanogas temple and love every minute serving there as an ordinance worker. It’s kind of fun that I’m considered “a young one” there. Everywhere else I’m considered “getting up there”. I enjoy skiing with my boys and have been trying to get back up the nerve to get into horse riding again. I kind of lost my nerve the third or fourth time I got thrown. I still bowl and am just enjoying all that life has to offer, especially being a wife, mom and Nana. Did I mention how much I LOVE being a Nana? I am also doing a blog spot although I don’t keep it updated like I want to. Pretty much our whole family is on Facebook and keeps everything up to date there and we would love for you to add us as “friends” if you would like to. Just type our names into the search bar and you should be able to find us.<br /><br />Although it’s been a tough year for us, we are always amazed at the many blessing Heavenly Father sends our way. We have so many wonderful family members and friends that have shown us amazing amounts of love and compassion this past year. We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the promises of being together eternally. The December 2008 visiting teaching message quoted President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency: “The gospel of Jesus Christ has the divine power to lift you to great heights from what appears at times to be an unbearable burden or weakness. The Lord knows your circumstances and your challenges. He said to Paul and to all of us, ‘<em>My grace is sufficient for thee.’ And like Paul we can answer: ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me’</em> (<a href="http://scriptures.lds.org/2_cor/12/9#9" target="contentWindow">2 Corinthians 12:9</a>)”<br /><br />This past year has brought our family closer to Christ as we have come to rely on him for comfort, peace and strength. We are becoming better prepared to do the work He has for us. We rejoice in and testify of our Savior Jesus Christ and the many tender mercies we have been shown throughout the year.<br /><br />Our hope and prayer for you and yours this Christmas season is to be able to feel of His divine and profound love in your lives not only now but throughout the coming year.<br /><br />Love,<br />Tony and Carrie Pearce and familycarrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-48375265517565054482008-08-25T23:35:00.000-07:002008-08-25T23:38:12.038-07:00I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me!<strong>From Elder Andrey Pearce Dated: August 25, 2008</strong><br /> <br />It’s been a treat to read the letters from Mom and Dad. This week has been really hard as we worked super hard. I feel like some times on the mission my faith is tried and if we pass, we gain a stronger testimony. We pushed hard this week to accomplish our goals and hope to see the progress in the future. <br /><br />Dad, I started my mission 22 de Agosto. I think I am starting to learn how to be better in Spanish than English. I was thinking the other day it’s easier to write.<br /><br />This week we found a lot of new converts and we had conference which was very well done and spiritual.<br /><br />The other day I had an experience that led me to understand that my Heavenly Father loves me so much. So, we are walking to our appointment to eat. We are just tired, the rain is coming down and we don’t have anything to cover us. I really didn’t want to get my shoes wet. As the street are like rivers, I am jumping around, dodging the puddles. I come to one part that I have no where to go. So I start thinking, “What am I going to do?” I walked back and forth for awhile. It’s dark, I am looking for rocks to cross and nothing. At the moment that I was about to jump, up rides a man on a bicycle and tells me to jump on, so I did and he passed me through the water without getting wet. I jumped off and thanked him. He drove off and I didn’t know if he was a member or not.<br /><br />I just remember what he looks like. I was thinking at that moment what love my Heavenly Father has for me, that He provided a way for me to cross the waters.<br /><br />We are still working with the Munoz family but they’re having a hard time. They don’t want to change their Catholic beliefs so we are going to meditate a lot this week to see what we can do for them.<br />From Elder Andrey Pearce Sent: August 25, 2008<br /><br />This week we had another Mutual with members. We talked about unity and it went very well. <br /><br />I love this mission and all the opportunities that I have to serve, to learn and to give of myself. I hope this next year that I can give more and do better. <br /><br />I was thinking the other day, when we first start out mission, we just jump in and start swinging our sword but not really hitting anything, just making noise. Then as we gain experience we sharpen our sword and with every blow we make a difference having strategy how we battle. I know this is the work of God. I love my Savior and hope to come to know him better and shape my life after Him.<br /><br />Mom, I received the other package today, so I got both of them. Thank you so much for all that you do. It sounds like you are loving working in the temple. I hope I get the chance one day to work in the temple.<br /><br />Wow! Eric is a dad. I can’t believe that my brother Eric is a Dad. I hope that you will congratulate Eric and Leanne for me and let him know I love him. I don’t have his email.<br /><br />Loves,<br />Elder Pearcecarrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-84233259324446257652008-08-18T17:59:00.000-07:002017-09-30T15:49:17.385-07:00Phaze in... Amelia Carissa Pearce!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Sopk6omOJqg/SK-VQLIAviI/AAAAAAAAAEk/oZC8JpmRwY8/s1600-h/n609157012_844083_8702.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237568996752014882" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Sopk6omOJqg/SK-VQLIAviI/AAAAAAAAAEk/oZC8JpmRwY8/s200/n609157012_844083_8702.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br />
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Baby Amelia is finally here! What torture it is to be thousands of miles away, clear across the ocean!<br />
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Eric called to let us know that he was taking Leanne to the birthing center. We waited with baited breath to hear whatever news would come next. What heightened the interest is that we were fairly certain that Tomi Ann was in labor too. How much more exciting could it get in one night???!!!<br />
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As the evening wore on, Tomi Ann's contractions pretty much stopped, even though she was on the verge of having us take her to the hospital. We had taken her out to bowl, eat dinner, then go to a play. All to no avail. Boohoo!<br />
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When we got home, Eric called again, this time to let us know that they had been sent home from the birthing center because Leanne just wasn't ready yet. Boohoo! Two false alarms in one night! How much more of a let down could we have in one night?<br />
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The next morning, Eric called to let us know that they were in the hospital and Leanne was dilated to eight! They had started out at the birthing center but because Leanne's blood pressure went up and there was muconium (sp?)in the water when they broke it, that they needed to go to a hospital because it was becoming too high risk of a birth. Now I was getting excited! They were in the hospital for the duration this time!<br />
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After calling two different hospitals and being turned away, they ended up in a hospital about an hour away from home. I'm thinking, "Poor, poor Leanne and Eric! What a miserable time for them to be driving around! No room at the inn!" it turns out that Leanne was taken by ambulance with a midwife in attendance just to be safe in case the baby decided to come.<br />
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After talking to Eric, I decided that I would stay home from church so that I would be there to get the good news as soon as he called. I supposed that it was the next best thing to being there.<br />
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After getting Sammy and Joshy ready for church (they were having a sleepover at Nana and Bapa's house....just in case....) I hung around for a bit waiting for the call. I finally left for church, with my cell phone on vibrate, ready to jump up and run out if the call came in. I have to admit, that between sitting by myself with Sammy and Joshy and worrying about Eric and Leanne, I can't tell you what the Sacrament meeting talks were about. A red headed return missionary whom I didn't recognise and a high councilman whom I did recognize but when he said his name I realized that I had been thinking of him by the wrong last name all these years were the speakers. I got a lot out of Sacrament that day.<br />
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As I sat with Sammy in Primary opening exercises, I was getting more and more antsy about Eric calling and missing his call. I finally quietly got up and left and took Sammy with me and we went home to see if there were any messages and to see if we could get any news from anyone! It had now been several hours since Eric's last phone call. Surely the baby had come by now!<br />
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I called Leanne's parents house there in England and got ahold of Leanne's dad, David. He hadn't heard anything so I asked for Eric's cell number. It turned out it was his mother-in-law's, Leslie's, cell phone but she wasn't answering. She was with Eric and Leanne throughout the entire ordeal. What a good Mom!<br />
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I called David back and asked him to please call me if heard any further news. He offered to call Leslie himself and try and see what was going on and that he would call me right back. I hung up and waited a few more minutes, then Sammy and I headed back to church. By this time there was only 30 minutes left of the 3 hour block. I was there in body but not in spirit!<br />
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After retrieving the boys from their respective classes, I rushed home to see if I had missed David's call or a call from Eric. No such luck! I was starting to go crazy!<br />
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I once again called the Bridgstocks and got David on the phone. As I had feared, he couldn't find our phone number to call us back. He had heard from Leslie that the baby just wasn't coming, she was turned a bit askew and she was presenting face first. Leanne was exhausted and it was time to take the baby C-Section. He said that the call had come about an hour previously. What I feel badly about now is that at the time I dialed the phone, it didn't even occur to me that I was calling David in the middle of the night. It was about 2:00 a.m. London time. He was a pretty good sport about it though.<br />
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So, we hung up and started waiting again for any news. An hour previously? Surely they would have the baby by now???!!! We consoled ourselves with thoughts like, "Well, I'm sure that they are just loving on the baby and resting and that's more important than making phone calls", etc. etc.<br />
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FINALLY a couple of hours later the call came in. Eric, sounding very exhausted was calling to tell us that they had a brand new baby girl and that both mother and baby were doing fine. It turned out that the baby needed to be in the special care nursery for observation for a couple of hours to make sure that she was okay because of the muconeum in the water and the stress of the very lengthy labor. It turns out she was being born right at the same time that I had made my last call to David. 2:00 a.m. London time.<br />
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Many prayers were offered up in Leanne and the baby's behalf as we waited for the call, many more were offered up in thanksgiving when we finally heard all was well! We are so happy and excited for this brand new Amelia Carissa Pearce. Tony and I will be traveling to London next month to meet the newest grand daughter to be added to the family! Now if only Eliza would make her appearance!<br />
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I figure that Carissa has been up there with both girls keeping them distracted from coming down by telling theM Knock, Knock jokes. "Knock, Knock!" "Who's there?" "Not!" "Not who?" "Not YOU!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-8323989430375826432008-08-15T15:32:00.000-07:002008-08-15T16:11:24.222-07:00Introducing......The Pearces!!!!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Sopk6omOJqg/SKYL3EFN28I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/fK_7DXV7TOI/s1600-h/Tony+and+Carrie.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Sopk6omOJqg/SKYL3EFN28I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/fK_7DXV7TOI/s320/Tony+and+Carrie.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234884657481112514" /></a><br />Alrighty then! Since everyone else in the family....well.......maybe a few other people in the family are starting their own blogs, I decided to jump on the band wagon and start one for our family as well.<br /><br />Right now, here at home our family consists of Dad (Tony), Me (Carrie), Ange, Andrea and Noah. On Sundays, that number swells to anywhere between 10 and 20. We love when everyone comes home for Sunday dinner.<br /><br />We are kind of going along somewhat tentatively here, not quite sure what to do with this sudden "Empty Nester" thing. We never really considered it happening to us. We always thought we would be a threesome, Dad, Mom and Carissa. With Carissa's passing it has all changed. Gone are the visions we had of going on missions with Carissa, working at the temple with Carissa, having Carissa as a companion when everyone else is too busy or isn't interested in the outing. Suddenly Tony and I are faced with being....ALONE!!!!....TOGETHER....ONE ON ONE.....after all these years of having lots of little people to think about and drive here and there and provide for, suddenly we have to figure out what to do with ourselves.<br /><br />I can tell you one thing for sure, we are NOT ready to crash in the Lazyboy and watch TV the rest of our lives! The world is our oyster! Tony and I are going to have a lot of adventures being "Bapa and Nana", going on missions,traveling, etc.<br /><br />For the first time in about 24 years, we don't have anyone starting school this fall. There has never been a time when Lone Peak High School didn't have a Pearce child or two or three or 5 in attendance. I even got a call from their automated system telling me when registration was. I think they are in denial. "No Pearces? How could that be???!!!" We have "Phazed Out!<br /><br />I know Ange is at home still but she is now 18 and considered an adult. Ann and Noah pretty much take care of themselves except when I get to play with Noah on Saturdays, so I am left to my own devices. Maybe I will finally get all the junk sorted out of the house, make all the kids take all their stuff, and finally have an organized house....nah.....<br /><br />Tony continues to invent and figure out what to do with MyComfort. That takes up most of his time. His annual elk hunting trip is coming up and it will be wonderful for him to get a little R&R if not an elk. He goes with his brother Terry and it's nice for them to get away together for a week or so.<br /><br />My biggest love right now is that I have started working in the temple as an ordinance worker. I'm working two days a week at the Mount Timpanogas Temple. I am still in training but every time my shift comes to an end, I am sorry to go. On Thursdays when I get done it seems like forever until I can come back again the following Tuesday.<br /><br />In the next few days or so we will be adding two new grandbabies to the family. Tomi Ann is due with her 3rd on August 30th but is expecting to go much sooner, and Leanne was due last Sunday with her 1st and REALLY wants to have this baby and have it now! Mine and Tony's next trip will to be to England for a couple of weeks in September to meet our little grandbaby. We are so looking forward to it!<br /><br />I am going to try and catch up on our lives a little as I get more into this blogging business. I will try to keep it updated with the "phazes" everyone is going through.carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052459345811475533.post-73828132961205337432008-08-12T23:17:00.000-07:002008-08-12T23:19:27.074-07:00Fun Fambly Pics<div><embed src="http://widget-7b.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=2522015791334312827&site=widget-7b.slide.com" style="width:400px;height:320px" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed><div style="width:400px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=2522015791334312827&map=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-7b.slide.com/p1/2522015791334312827/bb_t046_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide1.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=2522015791334312827&map=2" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-7b.slide.com/p2/2522015791334312827/bb_t046_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide2.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=2522015791334312827&map=F" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-7b.slide.com/p4/2522015791334312827/bb_t046_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide42.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a></div></div>carrieaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02353367209502829684noreply@blogger.com0