The Right Place at the Right Time

Recently, my family has experienced some trials or mountains to climb.  At times we have had discouragement or frustration, but with the help of our Father in Heaven, we have been able to keep moving forward with faith.

On January 16, Bryce returned from his service as a missionary in the El Salvador, San Salvador mission.  Both of his hips began to give him some pain around the first of Decemeber, that gradually became worse, until his last week he spent in El Salvador, he was confined to his bed.  Walking is difficult and he slowly shuffles his feet, while using a cane to relieve the pressure and pain he feels as he moves around.  When we go to doctor's offices or other places, we use the wheelchair to move him around.  It is quicker and less painful to use the chair.

After 6 weeks of searching and finding answers, we have found a doctor who will be operating on his hips.  He has Femoroacetabular Impingement bilaterally.  On his right hip, the pincer has worn into the labrum and has torn the labrum, producing a sharp pain.  He has pain all the time as there is no position that eliminates the pain, but lying down does help relieve some of the pain.

We have wondered why this had decided to manifest itself now, now that he is 19 and was serving on his mission.  Why did it not manifest itself sooner- when he was a little child?  This has been developing since he was a child, yet he has had no signs or symptoms of hip impingement until now.

I believe that the Lord has a plan for each individual person who is given life.  He knows what we can accomplish and he knows the desires of our heart.

In the short 5 months that Bryce was able to serve in El Salvador, I believe that he was able to do what the Lord needed him to accomplish.  His first companion was Elder Leonardo, whom Bryce grew to admire very much.  The two of them worked hard and strived to do what was asked of them.  Elder Leonardo was serving as the District Leader in Paleca when Bryce became his new companion.

One day while studying together, Elder Leonardo asked Bryce, "How can we become missionaries like Ammon?"  Bryce then received revelation and remembered a scripture that Matt had shared with him earlier, found in Alma 17: 2-3
"Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.
"But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God."

Elder Leonardo and Elder Bryce decided then that they would begin fasting and offer prayers to the Lord on behalf of those they were teaching and those they would come in contact with.  Within this one day of fasting, they were able to commit two of their investigators to baptism, had been able to contact two more member referrals and had their lives spared when they came in contact with a gang.  (I'll write more about the gang later.)

This had made such a great impact on their companionship and those they taught, that Elder Leonardo decided to challenge the district to do the same.  The district began fasting and praying for miracles.  This plan grew throughout the district and the wards of each companionship were seeing great changes in their missionary efforts.

Bryce was later transferred to Los Llanitos on December 26.  He became companions with another stalwart missionary, Elder Defigueiredo.   Elder Leonardo was called as the Zone Leader in Paleca, Soyapango and continued to spread the work as described in Alma 17: 2-3.

Elder Defigueiredo sent our family a wonderful letter.

After reading this sweet letter, I knew that Bryce was sent to El Salvador for a reason.  He was in the right place at the right time.  He was an instrument in God's hands and by his ability to act upon the revelation that was given him, he was able to do what the Lord asked of him.  

When he was interviewed by his Mission President, he told Bryce, "The Lord has accepted your offering."    President Glazier then called our home to let us know of his love for Bryce and what an amazing missionary he was.  He wished he had a dozen more like him as he came so well prepared for his mission.  Many great leaders and teachers who were dedicated to their callings have helped prepare him to serve the Lord.

Had his Impingement shown earlier in his life, he probably would not have been called to serve in the El Salvador mission.  He would not have been able to touch those he grew to love.  

We are climbing our mountain- but we know that we can do this.  We will become what the Lord wants us to become as long as we keep our faith in His plan and our eyes looking up.

It is our duty and privilege to share what we know with others, so that we can help them on the path to eternal life.  We have been blessed with so much and feel that where much is given, much is required.   I know that there is no greater joy than sharing the message of the gospel with others.

Oh Deer, Oh Deer, Oh DEER!

Well, this is my new year's resolution!  Let's just get a new van!  We have been hit by two deer, some raccoons, cats, dogs, cars, trucks and a spiky ball of gray something stuff.  Seriously, our car speaks to other objects and tells them to hit us!  I think that this was my last straw with the van.

Today, I was on the computer sending Elder Bryce some important exercises from the Physical Therapist.  He has been having hip problems for three weeks now and it's not getting better.  So I talked with his Mission President's wife and she was so helpful and kind and reassuring that they would do what they could.  

Then, after all of the emotions of what might happen... I decided to go to the Temple and pray about things.  I was thinking that the 12:30 session fit into my schedule and then I remembered that I needed an appointment.  So I called the Temple and they only had one opening for me in the 3:30 session.  I arranged for Matt to pick up the girls and I headed off.

I love going to the temple and feeling so peaceful.  It is where I needed to be.

On my way home, I  had decided to follow the laws of the land and go exactly the speed limit.  I also drove the exact speed limit on the way to the temple.  As I drove, I tried to keep my eyes out for deer.  Apparently, they weren't watching for me too close.  Three deer bounded across the highway and I missed the first two, but hit the third.  I couldn't stop fast enough.

The tears came and I sat in the car wondering what in the world I should do.  I needed help so I called Tom first- but he didn't answer.  Then I got out of the car and picked up the front grill and my headlight off the road.  I got back in the car and called 911.  I had to try and explain where I was, because I had no idea what the address was.  Then, I waited for them to send out the search party for me.  

The officers that showed up were quite nice and took some pictures, borrowed my license, registration and insurance information and printed me a report for our insurance company.  (You should remember to get a police report when the damage is over $500)  Then, they bid me farewell and told me to drive carefully.  Wait a minute, I thought I was already driving carefully.

With my turn-signal hanging on by a thread, I drove the long dark highway home, with tears in my eyes and a thankful heart that I was still alive.  

It's better to find the blessings in a trial than to dwell on all that was lost.  Now we are praying for a speedy recovery for Elder Bryce.

Going through pictures

There's a lot of love in these pictures!  Especially between little Toots and Buddy Bryce!

This was the part that made me cry when we said our goodbyes at the MTC. 

It will be interesting to see if these two buddies will still be like this when he returns home.

Daddy Daughter Date

The first Daddy Daughter Date- with Napoleon Dynamite as the theme!  

They had a blast!

Sporting the glasses Tom wore in 1987  

Side ponytail, pumps, leggings and a brightly colored dress

Food (quesadilla's, corn dogs and tater tots)

Fun (Napoleon Dynamite trivia and races)

Scripture Reading with Emma

We gather our little family in the morning for scripture reading.  It is so fun to hear the little girls try to read such big words.  Toots was cuddled up on my lap and had read verse one in 1 Nephi, Chapter 17 and had decided that reading was too much effort.  She has a hard time reading first thing in the morning.  We usually assign her two to three verses, but today, she didn't feel like reading more.

We moved on to little Muffin.  She started reading while sitting, all cuddled up on her dad's lap.  They like to cuddle in the morning and read from the "Big Book of Mormon".

Muffin began.  "And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck.... unto the men;" (Above is a scanned in copy of the section she was reading from.)

Immediately, we burst into laughter.  Poor Muffin had no idea what that meant and wondered why we were all laughing so hard.  She didn't realize that she had skipped a whole line.  That whole line made all the difference.

This is one of those mornings that reminded me of how grateful I am for my family.  I heard a quote once from a friend, "I smile, because I'm your sister.  I laugh, because there is nothing you can do about it."

Times like these:

Today, I started cleaning up and came across this little picture.  

 Then the tears came!  It's sweet things like this that make my heart melt.  Gracie and Bryce are the best of buddies.  She is his little "Toots" (like 'Toots'ie Roll) and Bryce is her "Bry Bry".  The two would cuddle up and watch movies together and clean his room and play Poke'mon.  Bryce could talk her into helping me with anything.

Sunday, we took a nice drive to Monte Cristo and got some pretty pictures of the colorful leaves. 

After we arrived at camp- the girls decided they were up for a photo shoot.  So we took a walk and had some fun taking pictures of the leaves and girls.

 The boys weren't too excited about having pictures taken, so I just snapped them anyway.

The tree!  We found the tree that we took pictures of the boys climbing on when they were little.  We had to duplicate it with the girls.

 Pointing at a blue bird sitting on the fence post.

Feeling like giants among small trees.

Heading home, we found this bull standing in the middle of the road.  He wouldn't budge!  He stood there staring at us, flicking his ears back and forth.  

We waited and waited...

We had to back up and give him his space before he headed off to the left, back down the hill.

Askew

Tom and Bryce (In between the trusses)  taking a rest after moving the trusses

The floor trusses

From the patio looking at the trusses.
The second to the last truss on the far right is the one that is two and half inches off!

Addition!

So let me write you a little bit about the irony that has happened this week. We have been working on a deck for the back of our home and we have been working hard. Lifting floor trusses is hard work for a little girl like me. Anyway, we had to laugh about what Elder Matt said last week in his letter to Tom about "doing things right the first time and the only time..." Well, the boys had measured and measured and marked the lines and then we brought those huge trusses over and placed them in their spot. Then we nailed them down!!!! Oh yes we nailed them with galvanized 16d nails. (Why in the world is there a "d" in there for penny?) Then we put a brace board across the top and screwed them in- and some of those trusses were a little crooked and we had to straighten them out, using a pipe wrench and those huge muscles of Toms. (This is why I call him Thormas- because he is like Thor, only stronger and better looking.) It was tough work. We had put everything in it's place and worked together to get things done. Then lo and behold, we went out this morning to start cutting the boards for the top of the deck and found that one of those trusses was off by two and half inches!!!! This was not the only truss that was askew. How in the world did this happen? Well, I just don't know.... I was the one putting the trusses on the designated line that the boys marked. Obviously, we have some more work ahead of us.


The moral of the story is: Always rethink and recheck what you are doing. Even if it seems pointless and you think that you are on the right path, it's always good to ask for a second opinion. (Especially if it is the advice of someone more wise than we are.) Then when it comes time to finish things up, you won't have to fix your mistakes. Some mistakes are easy to fix and some are hard. But no matter what the mistake is, it still needs to be fixed. It should be exactly like what Elder Matt said, about "doing things right the first time and the only time." It's too bad he's not here to join in the fun and laugh with us.


I think there is some line that goes, "The family that works together, stays together." Oh wait, its, "The family that plays together, stays together." I sure hope that one day we get to play on our deck and have some fun after all of our hard work!