TIME

Sunday January 16, 2022   

Email #16

 

Aloha Family!

 

I hope that you have had a wonderful Sabbath day today.  It was our ward conference and both our bishop and our stake president gave wonderful talks in sacrament meeting on the value of giving the Lord meaningful time each day on the things that really matter.  Our stake president got choked up when at the end of his talk he admitted that even though he says his family—(his wife and children) are the most important things in his life, the way he distributes his time in the day might say otherwise.  Our bishop referenced President Nelson’s closing remarks from last general conference (the quote at the end of this letter) and then in a devotional fireside with Elder Andersen this evening, he also gave the same quotes from President Nelson’s talk.  It has been the consistent theme throughout our day and a great reminder to us that we need to make time for the Lord each and every day.  

 

Speaking of time—we spent some time doing something frivolous yesterday and it felt great.  We went to a real movie in a real theater.  If you haven’t already seen it, we recommend the movie “American Underdog”.  It is based on the true story of Kurt Warner—NFL quarterback.  It was very uplifting and inspiring.  

 

The ukulele store was not very busy this week and sometimes downright slow and boring.  I have had too much time on my hands.  (Evidently, January is typically one of the slowest months of the year.)  I try hard to keep busy in spite of the lack of customers and either clean, stock product, fold T-shirts or tune ukuleles AGAIIN.  As I worked at the warehouse on Wednesday and learned that they are very short on help right now, I realized that my time might be more valuable helping at the warehouse than working at my store. Even though I don’t love working at the warehouse, I want to be of value while on the mission, and work where I am most needed.  So I contacted my store supervisor and asked if I could come into work a little later and put some hours in at the warehouse first.  She knew that the warehouse was shorthanded and loved the idea.  I worked Thursday and Friday morning at the warehouse and felt like I was truly helping where I was needed.  It was a good feeling. 

 

During my normal Wednesday warehouse day, two other senior missionaries and I checked in 27 boxes (and they weren’t small) of product, and put price tags on all of the items.  It ended up being over 1370 items.  We were pretty excited about it and felt really good about our accomplishment.  We had worked hard and even stayed an hour longer than normal to get it all done.   I don’t have anything to compare it to, to know if it was good or not but it sounds impressive—right?  Then the next morning (Thursday) when I went to help out at the warehouse—even though I didn’t need to, I got chastised a little for our group making a mistake on the paper work that they couldn’t resolve.  And was told that we shouldn’t work together anymore so we wouldn’t make mistakes. It felt like a blow and I had to swallow really hard a few times to not retaliate in an unkind manner.  The next day (Friday) when I went in, I apologized for the mistake (even though I wasn’t the one that did the paperwork) and asked if it been resolved. I then said that the good thing was that I knew that we would not have been able to accomplish 27 boxes of product if we hadn’t been working together.  We had a “well-oiled machine” going, and if we had worked on our own, we would not have been able to accomplish that much.  The sister in charge apologized for her words the day before and said that she was under a lot of stress.  I was so thankful that I hadn’t said the things the day before that I was tempted to say. 

 

Our internet was out all day Monday.  After work, Scott did all he knew to do to get it up and running again with no success.  He didn’t want to bother the landlord but eventually had to make the call so we could get the internet back. During the conversation, the landlord (really the landlord’s son who lives in the back of the house) realized that he hadn’t paid the bill for quite a while—he had just forgotten about it.  He said he would pay it right then.  Scott and I just chuckled. We had the internet back the next morning.  That was a place Scott could have saved some time! 

 

Wink found a set of car rental keys on the counter one afternoon that had been left by a customer.  I felt like it was someone (from India) that I had helped earlier but I wasn’t positive.  I took a chance and went outside to try and find him.  He could have gone anywhere and it had been several minutes since he left the store.  I began praying and decided to go into the villages.  There are two ways to go once you arrive inside.  I chose left and walked a while and found this family taking pictures together.  I asked if he had left his car keys at our store.  He felt his pockets and—yes, the keys were gone.  I gave him the keys and as I walked away I Thanked God for steering me in the right direction. The man most likely would not have known where of all the places at the PCC he left them when he realized he didn’t have them anymore.  God is in the details!  I missed an opportunity however by not explaining to him that I had divine help in being able to find him.  I hope I will remember to do that next time.  

 

Since I’m talking about keys—here is another “key” story. One morning it was time to leave for work and Scott couldn’t find his keys anywhere.  He was in the house a long time looking while I was in the car waiting for him.  He finally concluded that he probably left them on his desk at work.  Nope—they weren’t there either.  What was even worse was that he had a master key on there to the PCC which he was going to be using that morning.  He went home again after looking at work and still couldn’t find them.  He said a prayer and found them in between the cushions in the couch.  They had fallen out of his pocket the night before. 

 

After concluding a ukulele lesson this week, a woman began telling me “her story”.  She is currently living in Idaho but previous to that, lived in Paradise, California.  Their house burned to the ground in the fire of 2018 as well as her husband’s dental office.  They lost EVERYTHING! Before the fire her husband had not been feeling well and was just dragging himself to work each day.  They found out that he had lymphatic cancer. Talk about trials.  He is doing OK for now.  Who knows about the future?  Everyone has a story.  I wish I had the time to learn more stories about the people who come in for lessons.  It was a plus that the store was really slow that day. I was so thankful I had the time to connect on a level that normally would not have been possible.  

 

Before the devotional began this evening, I became very emotional as I looked around the Cannon Center at all the missionaries and BYU students. I felt the spirit fill me with awe and wonder at the privilege we have of being here right now.  I thanked my Heavenly Father for the wonderful privilege of serving here with my sweetheart at this time.  We feel very blessed to be here and are so thankful for your support.  We appreciate your love and prayers.  We also pray for you and hope you will consistently MAKE time for the Lord in your lives!

 

Much love,

Sister Bleak, Mom, Grandma, Gayle

 

President Nelson—“I plead with you today to counter the lure of the world by making time for the Lord in your life—each and every day…I plead with you to make time for the Lord!  Make your own spiritual foundation firm and able to stand the test of time by doing those things that allow the Holy Ghost to be with you always.”

 

 

 

How I have seen the hand of the Lord in my life this week:

 

*While working at the warehouse, I felt prompted to check some of the product put back in a box and saw that several items had been missed in putting on the price tags. 

*I felt prompted to offer my services at the warehouse for the next several days while they get caught up on checking in boxes. 

*I held my tongue at a crucial time and tried to correct my unkind thoughts.

*I found the man who left his keys on the counter in our store. 

*Scott was helped to find his keys between some cushions in the couch. 

*I felt the spirit while contemplating the wonderful privilege of being here.