Happy Easter!

31 March 2018

Happy Easter! And, Happy Conference!

We’re looking forward to participating in the solemn assembly this morning – as part of the first session of General Conference. How historic and exciting to officially sustain a new prophet as well as two new apostles. It’s great that even though we don’t have a TV here, we can stream it live at home.

Bob and I have tickets for this afternoon’s session, so we’ll be in the conference center for that one. Since tomorrow is Easter, we’ll try to get seating in one of the overflow venues, for the morning session, then catch the afternoon session at home.

As part of preparing for this special General Conference, I enjoyed reviewing the talk Elder Anderson gave last October. Here are a couple of quotes from it:

The Voice of the Lord

By Elder Neil L. Andersen

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

October 2017

“There is a treasure chest of heavenly direction awaiting your discovery in the messages of general conference. The test for each of us is how we respond to what we hear, what we read, and what we feel. . .

“I promise that as you hear the voice of the Lord to you in the teachings of this general conference, and then act on those promptings, you will feel heaven’s hand upon you, and your life and the lives of those around you will be blessed.”

What sweet promises!

This week has been a bit hectic and I'm happy we get to relax some between conference sessions this weekend.

On another topic, we've enjoyed discovering this new feature (below) on familysearch.org. If you have a Family Search account, and it has photos of ancestors – you can upload a photo of yourself and it uses facial recognition software to show you which relatives you most resemble. It’s kind of fun.

Wonderful Choir Performance!

24 Mar 2018

I’m excited that General Conference is only one week away! We have tickets for the Saturday afternoon session, and plan to watch all the other sessions on TV. These are exciting times!

This week, I had a couple of medical tests and check-ups — and the good news is that all is well. All my numbers look good, and I’ve even managed to lose a few pounds. (No easy feat at my age!) The down side is that there’s a new shingles vaccine and I really reacted to the first dose of it. (It comes in two doses, two months apart.) My arm has been sore for days and has a large red lump that’s warm to the touch and hurts all the time. Evidently, the old vaccine that both Bob  and I got several years ago wasn’t as effective as they thought it would be, so they’re recommending that we all get the new one. I was told my arm would be sore, but I think my reaction is more than the norm. Since I’ve heard that people get sick for about 24 hours after the second dose, I’m planning to talk to the doctor about the possibility of getting two half-doses for that one to try to diminish my reaction. We’ll see what he says. . .

Next week, Bob will have cataract surgery on his left eye. He had good results with the first surgery, so we expect the same for this one. It will still be a while before his vision has stabilized enough to get new lenses for his glasses. (It could take as much as a month.) He has commented that not only can he see significantly better from his right eye, but now colors are more vibrant than they were. If it wasn’t for his astigmatism, he probably wouldn’t need glasses at all after this surgery. It’s amazing what medical science can do!

Thursday night, we were blessed to attend a performance of The Messiah by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. Magnificent! Powerful! and Amazing! are only a few of the words that come to mind. What a great opportunity for us! The choir only performs Handel’s Messiah every other year, and we’re grateful we got to attend.

Friday, we spent time in the Bountiful Temple. We’ll miss having so many temples near us after we get home.

Congratulations go out to some of our grandchildren: to Isabelle for scoring big in water polo, and for her flute performance in band; to Holly for her performance in the play, Puss ‘n Boots; to Claire for turning eight; and to little Jack who is being blessed this weekend. We miss all of the grandchildren and can hardly wait to spend time with them this summer!

One of the brothers who serves in our zone lived and worked in Russia for several years and he told the most amazing story the other day. It was another example of the Lord’s many tender mercies — in our lives, and in the lives of others. I’m trying to be more aware of the hand of the Lord in my life each day. And, to share His love with others. I know that He knows and loves each one of us. That He is aware of us. And, that he wants to bless us when we follow Him!

St. Patrick's Day

17 March 2018

We had a lovely time in the Salt Lake Temple yesterday. Always great to be in the temple!

A few months ago, our son, John, sent this missionary name tag (below) to Bob as a gift. Our sons, Mike and John, both wore this tag at some point on their missions. Bob has now also worn the same one and labeled it for the dates of our mission.

         

- Elder Michael W. Crenshaw served in the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission, 2001 – 2003

-  Elder John D Crenshaw served in the Colorado Denver South Mission, 2002 – 2004

-  Elder Robert J Crenshaw serves in the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission, 2016 – 2018 (and he added a “+” sign and three dots to indicate our next mission.)

We heard some good news about our oldest son, Bob, the other day. Evidently our friend, Penny Oman, is singing his praises because he found some information on line (about water fasting) that has really helped her with the chemo treatments she’s been having. (My husband, Bob, and I happened to see that same info not long ago and it was fascinating.) It's great to hear that it has worked for Penny.

We’re going to miss a couple of big events in NC in the next few weeks. Our granddaughter, Claire, is turning eight next week and will be baptized in early April, and, our youngest grand, sweet baby Jack, is being blessed next weekend. Wish we could be there with everyone.

We look forward to being back in NC at the beginning of August.

A Weekend Full of Friends

10 Mar 2018

Last Saturday was a bit of a whirlwind. Besides popping back and forth to various sessions of RootsTech, the missionary who baptized me, Rich Sheen, stopped by for a quick visit, along with his son, Jordan, and two grandsons. Rich flew in from Texas, so he could be here to help ordain one of the grandsons, who just turned 12. They didn't stay long, but it was great to visit with them.

Then, that evening, our Cary, NC friends, Bob and Phyllis Bray stopped by and we enjoyed a meal and a visit at our place. (The Brays were in town for RootsTech.)

My newfound cousins, Vicki and Debbi, stayed in town for a couple of days after RootsTech and went to church with us on Sunday. 

Afterward they came back to the apartment for dinner and a nice visit. On Monday, after they checked out of their hotel, they spent some time at the Family History Library, then came by our office — and we gave them a bit of a tour of where we serve. I have loved getting to know them, and we hope to sync up again sometime.

It was also great to see my friend, Mary Cooper and her husband here on Sunday! They completed their MTC training and moved in last weekend. It's extra special to have someone I used to serve in the temple with now serving in our mission!!

Bob had cataract surgery on his right eye Tuesday, and everything went really well. He was back in the office the next afternoon. He has another follow-up appointment next week and perhaps will get an idea of how long he needs to wait until they can do the other eye. Each person is different, and because he had a radial keratotomy (sp?) years and years ago, those incisions in his eyes will affect how the healing goes after this surgery.

Last night we went to a performance of BYU dancers called Living Legends. It was fabulous! And, the costumes were AMAZING!! If you ever get a chance to see them perform, go! The whole evening was very high energy — with performances representing dances from various cultures (mostly Native American, Latin American and Polynesian)

Someone asked me the other day how much longer our mission is, and it was a bit of a surprise to hear myself say, “Four-and-a-half months.” That doesn’t seem long at all! Now, I just need to keep myself from getting too trunky! 

RootsTech!

3 Mar 2018

I’m so excited!! One of the features at the RootsTech conference was an app (kind of like relativefinder.org or “find relatives near me”) that showed you everyone at RootsTech who is related to you. I had a list of 300 names – and was told later that they weren’t able to download all of my relatives (who were there) because there were too many people using the app at the same time.

I met up with two of my fifth cousins – sisters, who live in New Mexico, that I never knew before! As soon as we met it felt like we’d known each other for years– we had so much in common!! It was awesome.

Deborah Vavra, me, and Vicki Young

Debbi joined the church in 1986. Missionaries came to their house looking for her husband. She didn’t even know her husband was LDS, or, what that was. But, she was interested in their message. Then, in 1994, her sister, Vicki, also joined the church. They live in the same ward and stake in the four corners area of New Mexico.

I told them how we were tracted out in Berlin, Germany and were baptized in 1972. And, also, how my grandfather homesteaded in NM before it was a state and that I have a brother who lives there now. We found out we all love reading Tony Hillerman mysteries, too. (His books are set in the four corners area of NM.) Both of them have callings doing indexing (they have more than 130 indexers in their stake!) It was really fun to get to know them! We met them on Wednesday, then went to dinner with them on Thursday. They are delightful!

Bob was surprised to discover that he’s related to one of the sister missionaries who works in the mission office.

I also met briefly with two other cousins—both were 8^th cousins. It was interesting to learn that each of the cousins I met is also an adult convert to the Church. It makes my heart swell with joy to know that my extended family is being gathered in to the gospel of Jesus Christ!

While sitting in sessions at RootsTech this week, I’ve found myself thinking, several times, “Oh, how I wish my mother was still here so I could ask her about ____.” Or “Why didn’t I ask my mom more about _____? Now I have no one to ask.” (Sigh) Such is life. . .