Sheri Dew and Moana Street
Aloha Everyone!
The spiritual highlight of my week was attending the Tuesday morning devotional on campus and listening to Sheri Dew. It was absolutely incredible in the best sense of the word. Scott and I each felt the spirit so strongly and wanted her to go on and on. It ended too quickly. I feel like she nails it every time she speaks. We just loved her talk and HIGHLY recommend that each of you look it up and listen to it. It is called, “Prophets See Around Corners”. She has had many experiences with prophets and testified about who they are and what they do. I believe that this talk will become a classic. We will see. I certainly intend on listening to it several times. While sitting there waiting for it to begin Scott and I reminisced on our experience with speaking at the devotional almost exactly a year ago. It was nice to be in the audience and not on the stage. And no—our talks will not become classics. But we are thankful we had that experience.
I did something Monday morning that I have never done before in my life. Normally, I am very conscientious about time, but I blew it Monday morning. I drive a single (car-less) sister every to work each day and she called that morning to ask what time I would be picking her up. I told her just normal time—11:20. She then told me it was currently 11:30. WHAT? How was I an hour off? I couldn’t believe it. I was literally an hour off. I didn’t know how that had happened. I had figured it out and knew that I had to get in the shower by 10:30 to make it all work but I had figured it out on the old 12:30 time frame (that’s when I went to work in the summer) WOW—I was way off. I was so shocked and embarrassed. I was still doing my hair and hadn’t done my makeup. I hurried as fast as I could and then went to work and got there 20 minutes late. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about it. I guess I really am getting old. Laugh because it really was pretty funny. Cry because of the fear of dementia setting in!
Scott and I were told that we needed to experience Halloween in Laie by going to Moana Street to just see what Halloween is like here. We didn’t make it there last year and vowed to do it this year. We were not disappointed. It was amazing. People set up tables at the end of their driveways and some had elaborate booths and decorations. The street was crowded in a good way and there was a feeling of community and festivity. It was amazing. People who grew up here but now live elsewhere on the Island will come back every year to treat or treat on Moana Street. It made me feel very happy to be a part of this great community (even if only temporarily).
I went to bed Tuesday night very tired and with a great desire to have a good night’s sleep. Even promising myself that if my body would let me sleep in, I would give up my exercising the following morning. I really needed the sleep. But Wednesday morning while in a deep sleep about 6:20 I heard a huge, loud cheering by a large group of people outside at the point. It woke me up immediately and then the loud cheering happened a few more times. I knew that I was awake for the day and wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. I got up, dressed and went outside to see if I could tell what was going on. One woman was getting into her car. I asked her what the occasion was, and she said that they were all there to support her nephew. I asked her what her nephew was celebrating, and she said it was for American Idol. She seemed in a hurry, so I didn’t ask her anything more. It’s amazing to me that people come to “the point” not realizing that people live AND SLEEP here. For you American Idol followers—let me know if a contestant is from Laie and if they shot footage outside our bedroom window.
I had arranged with a student to meet on the temple grounds at 5:15 on Thursday. She wanted to talk with me and update me on some difficulties she is going through. She didn’t arrive until nearly 6:00. At first, I was rather annoyed (I normally pick Scott up from work at 6:00, and I was hungry). But I decided to change my attitude and enjoy the moment and the beauty of the grounds and the fountains. I began silently reciting “The Living Christ” and I felt such peace and love come over me. I wish that I would remember more often to turn my thoughts to Christ when I am annoyed, or when things don’t go my way. I am working on this.
It rained VERY hard through the night Thursday night and into Friday morning. At 7:15 our power went out. NO—NOT AGAIN! Last time it was out for eight hours. At least it was daylight this time. Because of the septic tank issue we have here, we wouldn’t be able to shower, so I decided not to go to the gym and exercise. Luckily, I can now just spritz my hair and wear it curly and not use electricity. As the time got closer to leaving for work, I began thinking that I needed to take some of our perishable foods to work to put it in our fridge there. But then, I had the distinct feeling that the power would come back on before leaving for work. So I waited and waited but the power was not restored. I debated about getting bags for the food. The time to leave was creeping up on me and the power was still out. Finally, I went to the car to get some bags to put food in. Right when I got the first item out of the fridge to put into the bag, the power came back on. I was so happy and thankful, but I wish I would have exercised faith for another 30 seconds and not gotten the bag out. Oh well.
We wish we could have joined you for Holland’s blessing today. We missed you! We love you and are so thankful for your love and support! Have a happy, wonderful week.
Much love,
Sister Bleak, Mom, Grandma
How I have seen the hand of the Lord in my life this week:
*I felt the spirit so strongly in Sheri Dew’s devotional talk. And received a witness again that we are being led by prophets.
*I felt prompted in what to say in the ARP meeting.
*I felt the peace and comfort of the Savior on the temple grounds.
*I felt like our power would come back on before I left for work.
*I felt prompted to help someone talk through her problems.
Comments
Post a Comment