Finally Something to Say

I'm sorry for not posting for such a long time, but I just don't have much to say lately.  This changed yesterday as a few very strong impressions came into my mind that I have to share with you.
Yesterday was Father's day and so in our Sacrament Meeting we had a father and son speak.  The father was our Bishop who was released just 2 months ago and his son is a missionary who is serving in the Romania, Bucharest mission.  The guy who was conducting made kind of a joke that Elder Peterson came all the way from Romania just to speak to us. :)  The actual story is that he tore his ACL and had to come home for surgery and is now on a medical release and hopefully he will be able to go back to Romania in September or October.  I keep hearing about missionaries who have to leave their full-time missionary service for a time.  I just heard that Elder C. (I haven't talked about him much, but he was in my home for a while and he had to go home for a while) just returned and there have been others.  It is very cool to hear about these awesome young missionaries and their dedication to the Lord.  If I had left part way through my missionary service, I would never have gone back and that's sad to think about.  But these young men are totally devoted to giving the Lord their all for 2 years and they are serious about it.  I am so impressed with their strength.
Well, Elder Peterson had successful surgery on his knee and is now going through some intense physical therapy.  But, when he spoke yesterday I was impressed at how well he is dealing with being back home.  He is working with the Single's Ward in our City and encouraging many young men to get ready to serve missions and he is working 3 days a week at the MTC helping teach Romanian to a Senior couple who will be going there soon.  His talk was a little random at times, but that's how my brain works so I connected with his message perfectly and one of the things he said that really impressed me was that he recommends getting a journal that you can take to church with you and then in Sacrament meeting write down, not notes on what the speaker says, but what the spirit is teaching you.  That is so cool!  I am going to try that.

So, now reason number two on why I had to write on the blog and it also happened yesterday.  I woke up about 6:30am (I know, I kind of slept in, but it was Father's day so I took advantage).  When I looked out the window to my back yard I saw a flood of water.  I thought, at first, that I had left the sprinklers running all night, but there was way too much water for it to be from the sprinklers.  So I went out and investigated.  The city I live in is kind of rural and there is about 10-20 acres of open field behind me and that neighbor had opened the gate to the irrigation canal Saturday night.  That's not uncommon, farmers will often flood their fields to water their hay so then they only have to water weekly.  But the problem that happened Saturday night is that one of the dams, which was built up to divert the water into his property failed and the water went into the vacant field behind me and then into my back yard.  The water went through my garden across the weeds and onto my next-door neighbor's driveway then onto the street.  We got the irrigation gate closed and the water finally stopped coming, and when I investigated, there was no real damage to my yard or basement.  The only thing that really happened is that I lost some topsoil from my garden. 
I told the guy who did the landscaping on my backyard that he graded the lot so well that all the water was diverted away from the house.  In talking to him, I said that it would not have been a huge problem, because my basement is mostly unfinished, except for the missionaries apartment, so I guess it was lucky.  Then the landscaper said something that was very cool, he asked me if maybe the reason that the water diverted away from the house was not so much his landscaping but maybe because the missionaries were down in the basement and the Lord protects His missionaries.  I like that reason better.

Wow, this was a long one.  Maybe next entry will be sooner and shorter.

Keep strong in your faith.  The Lord loves you and wants to bless you.  Share your testimony with someone you care about and do it soon. 
Keep praying for our missionaries.  Elder U and Elder T are still great and the pranks continue.  Until next time.