Dear Richard
It’s been two weeks since I had a chance to write, and I looked at how
I ended the last one to check where to start off, and that hectic week I told
you about is about to start… I asked Andrew for a blessing today just to give
me the strength to get through this week at work, and then to also be in a
better state to deal with the rest of my life at the same time… And the spirit was
so strong – it was wonderful! So I know I’ll be able to get through, but I also
know that this is going to be tough, and I need to constantly be asking
Heavenly Father to help me get through. I’m not going to be able to do it on my
own!
Just a few things that have been happening over the last two weeks. At
work I’ve been lecturing the 1st years, and my 3rd years
handed in their video projects on Friday. So I had a great mix of interactions
with the two groups. And now I get to start some of the most pleasant marking
I’ll do this year, of the video projects. Should be fun J After the test marking I just did which
dragged and dragged, it will be a welcome relief! And then I also edited a
paper that my friend/colleague has submitted to a journal… I’m better at the
editing than original writing!
We had a family home evening a couple weeks ago where Josh decided he
wanted to conduct, and then also give us a lesson about tigers and their babies
(which they’d been learning about at school). When I got him to focus on the
lesson I had prepared, we read about tithing in the Doctrine and Covenants
scripture reader, in preparation for when he gets money from the tooth fairy in
the near future. When it mentioned Joseph Smith I asked him if he knew who he
was, and he told me just about the whole First Vision! I was so impressed with
what he knows!
Josh and Hannah also decided to start putting together their Christmas
lists. They have already started singing Christmas songs at school, so they’re
getting all excited! And we’ll get to speak to you on Christmas Day too J
Last Saturday I reached my breaking point with the toys in the house
that were completely disorganised. They get all neatly put away, but just in
whatever container, which was starting to drive me nuts L So after the kids went to bed I pulled
out all of the toys from all over, and sorted them, also throwing away old
stuff, and putting aside some to pass on. It does me SO much good to be in an
organised house again! And so far we’ve maintained it J
Last Sunday was ward conference, which went quite well. Pres Holmes
seems happy with what is happening, and spoke very highly of Andrew, and the
confidence he has in him as the bishop, that he feels the ward is in good
hands, so he doesn’t have to worry about it. Really nice to hear. And then
today in Sunday School Sam mentioned as well that one of the women at work had
been told by a client that whenever they speak to Andrew on the phone they calm
down. Interesting that he has that calming effect on people. Really nice J
In the afternoon I attended a family relations/communication fireside,
while Andrew attended a meeting with Elder Cook of the Area presidency, about
the things they’re going to be doing to be getting the church closer to the
people and more accessible, to allow more growth. Exciting stuff, which we’ll
keep you update on. The one progress so far is that Klein Drakenstein has been
made a ward, so more progress towards the stake split. Apparently Elder Cook
was talking as if it is imminent. So you should definitely come home to two
stakes J
Interesting insight from Sunday School last week. We were talking
about the pioneers, and someone spoke about how they were organised into
companies of 100, and as they were journeying the company could not go faster
than the slowest member. So even if someone went ahead they would have to go
back, and they couldn’t arrive before the others. And she likened it to how we
can’t say that we’ve arrived in Zion if we’ve left people behind. Because the
Christlike thing to do is to reach out to everyone and bring them with. So we
can’t be saved on our own!
Tuesday last week was Heritage Day, and the schools were all closed on
Monday as well. So because I was going to be at home with all the kids anyway I
decided to have a mammoth play date. We had Joshua’s friend Connor, as well as
Dane and Emily coming over. Dane’s family is moving (more on that later) so I
wanted to give his parents a chance to get a bit more work done on packing. And
Connor’s mom is going through a rough time, so I also thought to give her a bit
of a break. I was exhausted by the
end of it, but for the most part it went really well! But I did really enjoy
sitting down in the afternoon after they all left! Josh and Hannah then wanted
to paint, which I was nervous about in terms of mess, but they actually did so
well – not a single mess! So they’re growing up! And then Mom and Dad got back
from Joburg, so we had them and Cindy over for supper, which my kids really
enjoyed. Caleb is just obsessed with Mom, or “Ra-ra”, and almost daily he wants
to go over and say hello. When I was learning to talk apparently if something
broke I would say “Daddy swix” because Dad could just fix anything… Well Caleb
needs his “Ra-ra swix” every day, it seems J
But all the kids have been missing Andrew quite a bit recently. He
hasn’t been gone that much more than
usual, so maybe it’s just them being sick, and me being more stressed… I don’t
know, but Hannah actually cried the other night because she wanted Daddy to
sing for her at bedtime. So the next evening, when he had to go out again, I
asked him to sing for her before he left, even though it wasn’t bedtime. So he
sat her on the edge of our bed and sang for her, on one knee, almost serenading
her J She sat there with this little shy smile
like she so often does. So beautiful! And she didn’t cry for him again that
evening, which was great!
We went to a High Priests get-together yesterday. It was quite nice to
have Sam there – another young High Priest now ;) I realised that the 3
youngest High Priests in the ward are the bishopric… Interesting that! But
anyway, we had the single adults with us as well, and there was one sister,
Annette Guy, who is less-active who came and joined us. It was so nice to see
her! And she’s talking as if she will try and come to church J Hopefully we’ll actually see her again!
I had a few missionary moments over the last couple weeks J At swimming Lindsay was talking about
another family, and then was saying she doesn’t know how I do it with the three
kids. She already knows about us being members of the Church, and she was an
Osman’s fan, so she remembered a few things about the word of wisdom and stuff.
So I said part of what helps is the eternal perspective I have. We didn’t talk
much more about it, but then on Sunday I read an article in the July Ensign
“Living for the Eternities” which really expressed what I was trying to say. So
I sent her the article, and bore my testimony of those things. And she sent a
nice reply thanking me for it. So probably nothing more will come of it any
time soon, but another seed J
And then with Dane and Emily’s family moving we offered ages ago to
help them move, which seemed to really surprise them. We’ve been in regular
contact about the move, and then we had the kids on Monday, and also on
Saturday afternoon to give them some time. It turned out that they decided to
do the big move today (Sunday) so we couldn’t actually help, even though Andrew
brought the bakkie home from work to help them. But… I had the idea to see if
the missionaries could help them move, and then even though they changed their
moving day to today, the Elders still went and helped with moving all of the
garage stuff yesterday! So Pierre, the dad, spent a few hours in the company of
the missionaries, and they were so impressed with them J But what was also cool was to see how I
was guided by the spirit, even down to deciding to fetch Josh and Hannah first
on Wednesday, which meant that I happened to arrive as Pierre and Melissa were
walking out the school fetching their kids. So I got to speak to them in person
about the missionaries. (Oh, and I didn’t expect that you being on mission
would give me conversation openers like, “Remember I told you about my brother
serving a mission for our Church in Zimbabwe? Well, the two young guys serving
here in our area…” A nice added bonus to your own mission service J) So it’s been a really great experience
all round, and I feel like we’ve been able to really give a positive impression
of Church members as well.
So despite some tough times, there have also been some good times. But
I’m going to be really relying on Heavenly Father to get me through this last
stretch for the semester now! Wish me luck J
Love you
Shelly
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