The Family Visit; The "A" Charaters at the Ball, Gospel Principles, & President Hinckley's Daughter

He that is faithful and endureth shall overcome the world.  Doctrine and Covenants 63:47

I needed toothpicks to keep my eyes open in Sacrament Meeting today.  We had the family visit for a week and we traveled, hiked, and were going, going, going trying to fit in the great things to see in England.  I'm in trouble already for not posting any pictures.  Below are a few of the 500 plus we took.  It'll take a while before more are posted and find time to catch up on things.

Arrived a day late due to flight cancellation, but they are here!

Longest name--Wales train station

Lake Windemere in Northern England

Castell Penrhyn-Wales (or Penrhyn Castle)

 As soon as our family left, we spent two days price comparing and shopping for food for 150 single young adults who planed to attend the temple conference activity.  Friday, we had two hours sleep followed up by 18 hours on our feet Saturday night.  We got home at midnight with sore bodies.  I don't ever remember my feet hurting like they did last night.  I had to prop them up in order to sleep.  It seems my shoes have lost their support as they near the end of our mission.  Elder Blain got up at 4:30 a.m. to go to high council meeting that begins at 6:30 a.m in Chorley.  He picked me up heading for Blackburn's bishopric meeting.  Consequently, we were both shattered, as they say here in England.  The evening "fancy dress" dance was around an "A" theme.  See if you can guess the "A" characters.

Our YSA president is a fantastic leader (his soon-to-be wife on the right)

You can imagine my state of mind (zoned out) when I walked into Relief Society and the smiling, perky, bright-eyed president (probably had eight hours of sleep at least) says sweetly, "Could you please give us a short spiritual message on a principle of the gospel?"  I managed to find a scripture during the opening song and had fortunately heard some great speakers the day before at the YSA conference, so I chose to speak about enduring to the end in faithfulness.

The speakers I am referring to were the Chorley MTC president and his wife (Walkers).  She is the daughter of President Hinckley.  The two of them shared the pulpit and gave the most delightful talk about how they ended up married seven years ago after they both had spouses die unexpectedly.  They gave background childhood information and Sister Walker (Hinckley) said her life was normal growing up and her father went to work for the Church until he was called as an assistant to the twelve (which shocked the family because they didn't think ordinary people like their father became general authorities).  You would have had to have been there to gain the full impact of the humorous anecdotes they shared about their individual lives and how they eventually converged against their own wills.

The focus was for us to let Heavenly Father guide our lives as we remain temple worthy.  Neither one wanted to get married again (Sister Walker she was liking being an independent widow and certainly wasn't expecting any more heavy Church responsibilities), but the Lord had other plans.  He had many things they needed to accomplish for Him, which required them to find each other and be a couple (temple president and matron of  the Salt Lake Temple & mission president and wife). 

After sharing their story, they suggested to the young people that they work towards becoming temple worthy, if they weren't already, and to stay worthy all their lives so the Lord can use them as instruments to accomplish His work.  The president said the temple is a spiritual university education.  They both testified that submitting oneself to the Lord's will by doing all that he asked is the only way to reach our fullest potential and grow and become who we are meant to be.  They said there really never is "retirement" in serving the Lord.

We stopped to see the temple at night

We stopped to see the temple by day . . .

The spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ is accelerating for both the living and the dead.  Temples are popping up all over the world so people can do the work for those waiting in the spirit world.  Our young people are specifically wired for technology to do indexing to help others find their family members, and to do their own family history and temple ordinances for their kindred dead.

After baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, a person must continue to spiritually progress and prepare for the temple.

Attending the temple and receiving saving ordinances from those having God's priesthood authority, provides the way for people to fulfill their divine destiny--to gain Eternal Life.

Peace and joy will come to those who attend the temple.  No matter what happens in the world; no matter what trial one has, a faithful temple attender will receive strength and personal revelation to help him or her to solve problems and cope with challenges--to endure faithfully to the end!