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The Importance of Following God's Instructions

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(Here is the talk that I gave today in church.) Image by ChatGPT, a person using instructions to build a model airplane. I love to make things. I like to sew, knit, crochet, bake bread, put together puzzles and LEGO sets. Some of you may like to do similar things. Maybe you like to do carpentry or make fly fishing lures, or build models or whatever. Something that I have learned over the years is that when I make something new and complicated for the very first time, it is a good idea to follow the instructions. Some instructions, patterns, recipes, blueprints, and tutorials are better and easier to follow than others.… but the best instructions are made by an expert: someone who has experience. They’ve done it before, they’ve done the measuring, they know what materials and tools are needed, they’ve experimented with different ingredients to get the best flavors and textures. They’ve figured out the best way to get the best result. And then these experts kindly made the instructions t...
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Time to Prepare

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 How long is the ideal length of time between when you are asked to give a talk in church, and the day that you give the talk?  3 days? 5 days? A week? Two weeks? A month? On Tuesday evening I received a text from a member of the bishopric asking if I would be willing to give a talk in church this Sunday. I said yes. I don't mind giving talks, and our ward has so few active members that those of us who are willing get asked about once a year. What I do mind, however, is the short notice. For me, the ideal amount of time is closer to two weeks than the 5 days or less that I've been given the last few times I've been asked to speak.  Imagine a world famous chef is asked to cater a dinner party. Imagine the exquisite meal he could prepare - the freshest vegetables, the tenderest meats, everything perfectly seasoned, and each dish complimenting the others in a feast for the eyes as well as the palette.  Now imagine that same chef is asked to cater a dinner party - that e...
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Flashback to 2025: The Car Situation

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When 2025 began, we had the use of three cars.  I had my blue van, a 2007 Toyota Sienna that we had owned since March of 2017. This is the car that Peter was driving when he had an  accident last February. It had 108,000 miles on it when we bought it and only had about 180,000 at the time of its final accident. As mentioned in the blog about the accident, we bought Uncle Carl, a 2014 Toyota Corolla with 271,000 miles on it to replace the van. Uncle Carl We had Scotty, Steven's white 2007 Toyota Highlander which we bought in September of 2018 after he was rear-ended in an accident. It had 254,000 miles on it when we bought it, and has about 315,000 on it now. Scotty We also had the use of Hannah's car while she was in Portugal.  A note about Hannah's car: When she came home from her mission in 2020, her grandma Kathy gave her a silver Honda Fit as a gift, which Hannah named Jimmy Carter. (Think Gym-y CARter. You go to the gym to get FIT and it's a car; the name of the...
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Flashback to 2025: Cats

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 In 2009, we acquired four cats from my sister April. Originally we were going to "cat sit" for a year, and then return the two older cats, Abish and Ishmael to her, while we kept the younger ones, Moroni (Momo) and Lamoni (Lala). See other blog posts about the cats:  The Adventures of the Destructo-Cats ,  the time Lala caught a baby rabbit , The imposter part 1 ,   part 2 , and  part 3 ,   Ishmael's Ordeal . Momo passed away  in 2015 as we were preparing to leave on a trip.  Abish disappeared  in 2018 and we never figured out what happened to her.  Lala passed away in September of 2022. I didn't blog about his passing at the time. I think he had been sick for a while: he had lost a lot of weight, stopped using the litterbox, and meowed constantly. I was dealing with my second cancer surgery and overwhelmed with bills and life, so we didn't take him to the vet as we probably should have. It was kind of a relief when he pa...
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Flashback to 2025: Hannah's adventures

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Hannah married Moroni Torres, a Brazilian, in Portugal in May of 2023. (For a more complete backstory on the two of them, read my posts  here  and  here .)  Shortly after their marriage they began the process of applying for a visa for Moroni so that they could come to the States. Unfortunately the wheels of bureaucracy for trying to come to our wonderful country legally grind slowly, even when someone is married to US citizen. It wasn't until March of 2025 that the prerequisite for his visa application was approved... meaning they could move on to submitting more documents and have an interview and eventually actually get the visa. Meanwhile, Hannah had about a year left of schooling to get her college degree and she realized that if she didn't return to school right away, some of her credits would expire and she would have to retake several of her classes... So, in April she returned to the States, not with her husband, but with her cat, so she could go back to BYU...
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Flashback to 2025: Job Situations Part 2

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Tuesday, February 25, 2025 Journal entry: Yesterday I worked 9-1 at the register. The news came that all JoAnn stores are closing after all which is really disappointing... February 26 Yesterday work was as busy as the week before Christmas as people came to stock up on craft supplies and use their gift cards before the store closes. Many people expressed their sorrow about the closing. I came home exhausted... February 27 Yesterday I worked 9-1 and again it was like Black Friday with condolences. Already, with three cashiers the line wove back to the aisles - and the sales haven't really started yet!... February 28 Yesterday I worked again, starting with orders, but then at the register as it got busier. It wasn't quite as exhauting that way... March 1 Yesterday I worked 9-1 and came home cranky, frustrated with the vultures who are waiting for the store to die, disappointed with the sales and complaining - while I am facing the end of a job I have enjoyed the last two years a...
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Flashback to 2025: Job Situations, Part 1

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I was at work and didn't see the text. It wasn't until I arrived home and noticed Steven's car parked on the street outside our house that I had any idea of what had happened. Thursday, February 13, 2025 Journal entry:   Yesterday... Steven was laid off from his job at Krayden. It wasn't a huge surprise - I just didn't know whether he would quit from frustration, but this way he got a nice severance package and can collect unemployment. ... Recollections: Steven said he was working on a project at his desk when he was asked to talk with some people in a conference room. He was told that the company had been struggling and so some people needed to be laid off, including him. They allowed him to grab his coat before they marched him out of the building. It was a few days before he was given the rest of his belongings - including his plants. 
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