Missionary Moment

Elder Gale with Pres. and Sister Satterfield~Georgia Atlanta Mission

Our Elder Gale made it safely to the mission field last week. We got TWO letters from him yesterday--an email and a nice, long hand-written letter--yay! He is very expressive in his writing and thus very generous with his use of exclamation points!! I also have noticed that his emails are one long sentence with the exclamation points sprinkled throughout but his letters are neatly written with proper punctuation and capitalization. Since he was homeschooled for most of his education, I am relieved to know that he does know how to write a proper letter. Here are some highlights:

"I am officially in the field! Georgia is stinkin awesome! It reminds me of Washington with all the trees, although the dirt really is red! Kinda cool.  I'm serving in the Rivercrest area, about ten minutes from Alabama! It's one of the only biking areas in Georgia. Lucky me! My trainer is Elder Baleiwai, he's from Fiji! His name translated means something like: "William moves around a lot becomes a grandpa has two eyes and falls in water." Pretty outrageous, but he's super nice and is a great missionary!

We have this huge map in the apartment covered in pins of potential investigators, so we don't have to actually tract much if at all, which I'm happy about! We have a pretty full day planned today. Hopefully we can make some of these "potentials" into full 'gators! (investigators) We'll see, I've still got pretty high hopes to baptize 1 million people, so I like to think they'll all become 'gators and get baptized!

Positive attitude makes all the difference! I'm just gonna work my butt off whilst I can and do what I can for the people here! Human souls are at stake, yet they have their agency, it's just my job to give them the opportunity!

The apartment is purdy ok and I'm healthy and happy! So don't you worry mother! I love you and miss you all but this is where I need to be!

 A quick note for Sam and Shane: Make serving your goal now and plan everything around it! Nothing else will be as important as building God's Kingdom and saving souls! There is no greater duty, honour or privilege you'll have than to join the tiny percentage of the world's population authorized to be official representatives of Jesus Christ! Not to mention we owe it to God to sacrifice and serve him!

And here Gentle Reader, comes the hallelujah every parent hopes for-- please forgive me for basking in this moment of parental redemption....

Listen to Mom and Dad! They know what they're doing and are the greatest blessing in our lives! You punks are lucky and have so much (both temporal and spiritual) and you have an obligation to act on your knowledge. "To whom much is given, much is required." Elder Holland said, "We expect a lot from you and we do not apologize". We have nearly 200 years of missionary tradition to uphold and you both are directly responsible to save certain people who are this minute being prepared and are waiting for you. Don't blow it. If you are already planning, great! Keep it up, but don't ever pass up the opportunity. I love you and will see you soon! Just remember who you are, where you came from and what you have been foreordained to do and become! The church is true, everything about it. Don't ever doubt it and never think you know better than Mom and Dad, and you'll do all right....

Love,

Elder Gale

On the Way to Costco

Sam was riding shotgun on the way to Costco today. He's always a cheerful companion to have along. He jumped right in with this as a conversation starter:

Sam: The missionaries asked me to read the Book of Mormon along with (his friend who is taking the discussions) so I have been reading every night no matter how late it is. I read it on my itouch.

Me: (thinking to myself) This is news to me...I didn't know he was reading along with his friend. (also thinking to myself) maybe that itouch isn't such a total time waster after all.

Sam: So I'm at the part where they just got to the promised land. Mom, I really think that Nephi is amazing. You know how Alma is so all deep with doctrine and stuff, but Nephi is all about doing--he just does what he is supposed to. Something needs to be done, he does it. Like when the Lord tells him to build a ship. He's all "OK where do I find the ore to make the tools." He's not questioning whether he can build a ship or not. He does what he's asked and he builds the ship and it's of unusual and fine craftmanship because he didn't try to make it his way, he listened to the Lord and built it right.

Me: (thinking to myself) I think I need to pinch myself and see if I am dreaming. No, that is my 14 year old son expounding the scriptures to me. Enthusiastically. I might cry. NO DON'T CRY.
Me: (out loud) Yeah, Sam you are so right.

Sam: You know it's so ridiculous that Laman and Lemuel just didn't get it. They were so miserable but they didn't have to be. Why didn't they just ask like Nephi did? I have noticed this myself and I already know that it is so much easier to live the Gospel and be happy. I see it all around me--people who are miserable because they won't do the things that bring real happiness. You know, you would think it would be so obvious to Laman and Lemuel when they tied Nephi up on the ship and they were going to go down in the storm, that they weren't the best ones to be in charge!  You know, it's funny that is says they were acting with much rudeness. That would be so annoying--a bunch of grown-ups too-- acting all rude! As soon as they let Nephi go, even though his hands and legs were swollen, he went straight off to pray. As soon as he was back in charge, they were fine and back on course.  So, what do you think happened to Sam after they got to the promised land? Was he just like, Nephi's sidekick? He was always supportive of Nephi and listened to him. But he was older, maybe he died before Nephi. It must have been so cool for Nephi to have one older brother who was there for him.

Me: (thinking to myself) I'm glad I named you Sam.
Me: (out loud) Sam reminds me of Hyrum--the way they were both older brothers and they were righteous and supportive of their younger brother.

Sam: Yeah, that's so true. You know how you say "know, do, become"? That's exactly what Nephi was like. He wanted to know--so he asked. He saw the vision his father saw and asked all the questions. Then, he was all about doing what he was told, you know "I will go and do..." and then what? He became an amazing leader and prophet to his family and people. It must have been nice for God to have someone like Nephi that he knew he could count on. He could ask him to do anything and he wouldn't hesitate and question. He was all about doing what he was asked.

Me: Yeah, Heavenly Father could really count on Nephi.

Sam: For sure.

By then we were pulling into the parking lot. My heart was overflowing.

On the Way Home from Costco:

Sam: There's this company that makes video games (did he say Activision?) and they put out this game that was an online multi-player. But it had glitches like, a gun that if you had a grenade and you took the pin out and put it back it, you could make the gun explode like a grenade and....( my eyes started glazing over...)

Me: (thinking to myself) ok, he's a 14 year old boy.

And that is fine...my heart is still overflowing.

Nature/Nurture: Part Too (as in also)

Sam recently turned fourteen.

A magical age when young people begin to realize their parents are fallible,

even, dare we say,

IMPERFECT.

It's a difficult awakening for both parties.

Luckily for me, Sam is our seventh child so I have already been

made fully aware of my foibles and deficiencies by those who went before him.

That trail has been blazed.

And,  truth be told, it's a bit of relief to be humbled and then just

get up, dust yourself off and carry on with a little more clarity.

At a later point in time, comes the day of redemption.

The phone call. Maybe a letter.

Wherein the former fourteen year old tells you:

"Oh Mom, you were right!"

Or you might even get the full heart-melting hallelujah:

"You should listen to Mom, she knows what she's talking about."

Spoken with wisdom and authority by an older sibling to a younger one.

Those days give me the courage to carry on.

Now, as it happens, Sam is a pretty reasonable kid. He can be a pest (just ask Shane) but he will show some restraint when called upon to do so. I also get a lot of positive feedback from adults who work with him about how mature he is, how insightful, how wise beyond his years.

So I try to keep that in mind when I am trying to get him to give me my phone and get his school work done.

Or stop bothering Shane and go to bed.

And, I try to take every opportunity to spend quality time with him--to strengthen the bond--so maybe my faults will be balanced out with good memories.

 I never thought I would see the day when Moms would be invited on Boy Scout outings--but I jumped at the first opportunity that came up a few years ago with Seth.

And since that turned out fine, I tagged along

recently with Sam.

To Cedar Creek Falls.

Practically in our own back yard.

After the three mile trek slipping and sliding down the mountain, fording the

San Diego River a few times.

(OK it wasn't even knee-deep)

Sam had a blast jumping from the rocks into the pool below.

I enjoyed watching him from my dry, warm perch on the sidelines.

The rope swing was another hit.

We huffed and puffed our way back up the mountain  to civilization, just as the sun was going down.

And today during Conference, when the speaker was expounding on the importance of a good mother's influence,

Sam turned to me and gave me a thumbs up.

Some validation?

And years ahead of schedule.

Sisterly Love

I mentioned that we had dinner at Shanna's when we were in Utah recently welcoming the new grand baby. Did I mention we are grandparents? Did I emphasize enough how ADORABLE Bailey is? Oh, and by the way, we have a new granddaughter and she's gorgeous. So, where was I?
Oh yeah, Shanna made delicious lasagna and as we were enjoying it, Scott said, "This is really good--I like the spices you put  in it." (or something to that effect) Then Shanna said, "Oh, good. I made a pan of it for you to take home, but I wanted to make sure you liked it first...I would hate to have you choking it down here and then when you go to leave, I bring out a whole other pan of it and say 'Here ya go'."

The reason I bring it up: it is pleasant to know that siblings can be so thoughtful, because as I am sitting here typing this, two younger ones are disagreeing very disagreeably. Hope. There is hope.

Absolution

Daddy/Daughter
Comparing Hair With Gramps

I have heard many times that being a grandparent is payback for all the work of raising children. Yesterday I held my first grandchild in my arms when she was only a few hours old. I walked into the hospital room and saw her and burst into tears. I couldn't wash my hands fast enough and then Scott put his little girl in my arms. I looked into that angel face and I physically felt my heart melt. And then an amazing thing happened. In that moment, Scott received absolution. Every all-nighter with ear infections, every two-year-old temper tantrum, every naughty back-talk, every mischievous deed, every smart-alec remark, every worry through the teen-age years--gone. The sweet halo of perfection in that baby spread out to include him. Why? Because all of that is simply the reality of getting a child from baby to adult. We learned together as we went along and we both got through it with love and relationship strong. And now he gets to start that journey. And it's payback time for Grandma.