We sure love all the dads in our lives! Thank you for being such great examples to us and being worthy to hold the priesthood!
WE LOVE YOU!!!
Sunday, July 3, 2016
~~YOUTH CONFERENCE~~
We had Stake Youth Conference up at Reid Ranch the middle of June. It was so fun to spend time with all our youth (especially Jake and Will). We had 20 girls and 14 boys come. The boys slept in tents and the girls slept in the lodge which the rooms were awesome. They had 4-6 girls in a room with a made bed for everyone and private bathroom (shower, toilet and sink). How awesome is that? It sure was nice being a girl this weekend, haha :) The theme was PRESS FORWARD. They had 3 different stations. 1- GAZE UPWARD - this was a speaker we had in the middle of a field one night that talked about the big picture and that Heavenly Father and Jesus are all around us. They love us and they know everything. 2- LOOK INWARD - this was a station they had where the stake presidents wives had the kids build houses with graham crackers and other supplies and then threw things at them and poured water on them and tried to see if they could with stand things and have a strong foundation. 3- REACH OUTWARD - this was my favorite station. They had asked all the current missionaries in our stake to answer a couple of questions about their missions. Here are Rachel's answers...
~~~What is the hardest thing about your mission? Okay the hardest part about my mission- The hardest part is probably when I bear my testimony as strongly as I can, and I can feel the spirit testifying, and then they reject what I say. It's scary to put yourself all the way out there, testifying as strongly as you can, and knowing they felt the spirit, but they don't want to accept it. It's really frustrating. But with every rejection, I learn something new and it really does end up strengthening my testimony.
~~~What is the best thing about your mission? The best part - Wow there's so many things to choose from... so I'm going to choose three haha. I really love studies! It's been so cool to really really study the gospel. It's something I'll never get to do ever again. I love the members! They are my family away from my family. It is something really amazing to be able to be so loved by people I've never met. And especially up here in the Spanish Program, we only have two ward we'll ever cover, so we get to the know the members really well. I absolutely love it. And I love teaching through the spirit. Teaching someone and knowing that what you are saying is true..it gives me a fire and I love it so much! Those are only three things, but I love EVERYTHING about my mission. Best best best best decision I could have ever made. Love you! Hermana Dean
I loved this room because there was such a sweet spirit in that room. All the missionaries photos were hung around and they had soft music playing and to see the kids go around a read all about the missionaries was so sweet and awesome. They had us write a letter to 3 missionaries and it was so fun to see the kids really take it serious and write these letters. There was definitely a sweet spirit in that room! :)
PRESS FORWARD - was the last station. We listened to a couple Brother and Sister Erlich speak. It was very touching because Brother Erlich was born deaf and he went totally blind at the age of 40. He told his story in sign and sister Erlich told it in the microphone. He said on their first date he took her to the Bountiful temple and told her to feel the door knob on the door. It is in a beautiful flower shape. Sister Erlich said she had never noticed that before. Brother Erlich helped her stop and really notice things around her. Their message was super sweet and the kids loved it! We ended the evening with a testimony mtg with our individual wards. It was so sweet to listened to several youth and leaders bear their testimonies. Those bonding experiences are so important for our youth to experience together. I shared my testimony on the importance of keeping the word of wisdom. I shared a few examples of people in my life that have chosen that the rules or following the word of wisdom and commandments has been too much for them so they don't follow them. In the end their lives are full of sadness and I know those choices have only led to that sadness. I know if we follow the commandments and guidelines of the church it can only bring us happiness! :)
Other activities at Reid Ranch were: Canoeing, horseback riding, soccer, sand volleyball, swimming, frisebee, archery. It was a great few days being with our awesome, fun youth! Man I sure love my calling. It is the absolute best!!! :)
~~FAMILY HISTORY TALK~~
My talk I gave in sacrament on June 12th on the temple attendance challenge. Mike was lucky he didn't have to speak!! :)
When the ward council was given this temple challenge by the
stake presidency the beginning of April my first reaction was seriously spring
is such a busy time how on earth am I going to fit this in my own busy schedule
but knowing the obedient person I am there was no doubt in my mind that I
wouldn’t take it serious and I am sure glad I did. I decided that I wanted to take this
challenge and try to utilize as many of our family members as I could since it
was after all a “family history challenge”.
So even though we have awesome family history leaders in our ward that
offered to help us we decided to find our names, we would ask Mike’s dad Roger
who is on the family history committee in his ward and does indexing at the
prison for his church calling to come over and show Mike and I how to find a
name. It was fun to see him do something
he has a passion for and that he is good at.
We sat at the computer for maybe 30 minutes and we each found a
name. Well I put my name on reserve and
when I went back to the list I noticed the woman I had picked had 3 brothers
and 3 sisters that also need their work done.
Well how could I just pick her and leave the rest of her family waiting
for someone else to do the work so I reserved all 7 names. Mike said are you sure you want to commit to
doing all those? I thought yes I feel
like we could do it. Well because I had
7 names and Mike ended up finding 2. We
decided that 9 names were enough to take our kids with us to do the
baptisms. We ended up going to the
Draper temple for this ordinance one Saturday afternoon and it was neat to see
Mike baptism and confirm Jake, Will and Sadie for these family members. For the initiatorys Mike and I went one night
to the Salt Lake Temple. With the help
from my mom, my brother Jed and his wife Mandy and visiting the bountiful and
Ocquirrh Moutain temples, Mike and I have been able to get all of these
endowments done. The last thing we need
to do now is the sealing of these 7 kids to their parents which we will
schedule in the next few weeks. We are hoping to have my whole family and
parents that can come be there for this sealing. I was so surprised with how easy the church
has made it to find work for people that needs to be done. I was under the impression that both mine and
Mike’s family had done all the work and to my surprise they hadn’t. I am so grateful for temples. Each time I go there I feel peace and love
not only for my savior and heavenly father but for all of our sweet ancestors
that have passed on and that are waiting for their work to be done. I want to Thank our stake president for this
challenge. I am so grateful to have been
able to focus these past few crazy busy months not only on my own busy schedule
but on those loved ones that have passed on and to be able to spend lots of
time in our beautiful temples with Mike and my family. I love this gospel and I am so grateful every
day for the blessings we have in our lives because of it!
I say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen
~~WAHSATCH STEEPLE CHASE~~
Jake ran in the Wahsatch Steeple Chase trail race on Saturday, June 11th. It is a 17 mile race and this is what it says about it online...
The Wahsatch Steeplechase is a tough 17 mile course that winds up the Shoreline trail above the city, past Twin Peaks to the Limestone Crags of Black Mountain.
Descends the east ridge from the summit to Smugglers Gap. A mountain pass that was named because of a group of moonshiners that operated a still in City Creek Canyon during prohibition and smuggled moonshine to the military base at Fort Douglas. From there the course descends the single track Smuggles Gap trail to City Creek Canyon, down City Creek Canyon back to the start at Memory Grove.
Jake said it was super tough. 17 miles is the furthest he has ever run and when he finished he was SOOOO TIRED! He did an amazing job though placing 28th out of 250. That's pretty incredible with a time of 2 hrs 46 min! It has been so fun seeing Jake find something he is passionate about. He told us the beginning of June he didn't want to play football this year because he wanted to pursue trail running. At first I think Mike and I were a little sad that he won't be playing as a senior under the lights on Friday nights after watching him play for 7 years but seeing him do something he is really good at and helping his confidence and self esteem grow is pretty amazing! Team sports are great but when they don't build up a person and that person feels like they aren't good enough sometimes it's better to do something individual that really makes that person feel important and do something they are good at and that's trail running for Jake :) Having confidence and a strong self esteem will last you a lifetime! Playing football as a senior won't. Good for you Jake for making your first REAL BIG DECISION and sticking with what you knew would be the best thing for you and make you happy. WE LOVE YOU and love watching you finish these races!!!
~~HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL~~
Happy "20th" Birthday to our beautiful missionary! So crazy that Mike and I have a 20 year old. Seriously where has the time gone? :) Rachel loved all her presents. We sent her 2 dresses, sweater, shirt, skirt, atonement picture book, mascara and remover, candy and a Bath and Body Works gift card. Thankfully the package came in time for her to open on her birthday! We sure love you Rachel and couldn't be more proud of the work you are doing in Calgary. Yesterday Mike got a phone call from one of his friends that he works with that is a stake president and he has a missionary serving in the Canada, Calgary mission that is getting ready to come home so he was talking to President Miles about this missionary. Some how Rachel's name was brought up and President Miles couldn't say enough good things about her. He said if only we could have 50+ missionaries just like Hermana Dean that would be awesome! What a great compliment! Keep being you Rachel and loving every minute of your experience there, you will be home before you know it but those memories will last a lifetime! WE LOVE YOU!!! :) xo
~~ALLERGIES ANYONE?~~
Poor Will went hammocking with some of his buddies at Tanner Park one Saturday and when they got back he started to itch all over. He must have walked through some kind of plant or something because his face was swollen for a few days. No fun! :(
~~OQUIRRH MOUNTAIN TEMPLE~~
Mike and I went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple with Jed and Mandy the first Saturday in June. They were kind of enough to help do some of our endowments for the temple challenge the ward council members were given by the stake president. It was fun to be together in the same session and do endowments for 4 siblings. After the temple we treated ourselves to dinner at Olive Garden. I just love our families and especially when we get to spend time in the temple together. What a peaceful place to be able to sit in the celestial room with those you love! Life is good!!! Thanks Jed and Mandy for coming with us.
We love you guys!
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