Today I went to the Bountiful Regional Center to un-decorate after last night's devotional (Thanks, Donna for your help!). For just a few moments I was in the auditorium by myself vacuuming the stage of fake pine needles. It was literally like three minutes or so, but in that short time my mind was able to go over the last three years of Christmas devotionals.
The first year, I was so thrilled to be able to be a part of it! I was anxious to help, to decorate, to sing, to do whatever I could to help someone out. It was exciting and new! I remembered volunteering to decorate the stage, and then being so scared I couldn't really pull it off. Many people donated things for me to use, and I had a great schedule back then, so I was able to hand make all of these ornaments. I spent hours, and it all ended up being wonderful! Things were fun and exciting, and I loved it!
The second year I took on a different role in the Christmas devotional. I still got to decorate, and added a few things to the decorations, and it looked lovely. That year I was part of the leadership, and there was a lot of tension in the build up, and it was way more tiring! I enjoyed the actual devotional, but the tension outweighed the beauty of the night.
This year, I totally was not looking forward to it! My newer role had me heading this event, there were three of us that had worked on it in the past, and one got married in November, so that left the two of us. Anyways, there has been some amazing tension, but the evening went wonderfully!
Okay, so here's where I'm going with this. In these three years, I've let the stress associated with this event and the work up to it, make me not be too thrilled to be putting this production on at this building. I'm sure I would've felt the same about any other building, too. As I was vacuuming the stage, with just the hum of the vacuum, I was able to feel the Spirit so strongly! I knew that I was cleaning the stage of a dedicated house of the Lord. I was cleaning it for Him. There was this peace that I felt so strongly! I was able to ponder all of the amazing experiences I've had there, and the amazingly wonderful people that I've been able to get to know through those events. I was able to feel His love for me. It was a humbling three minutes with many millions of thoughts about how grateful I am for the opportunities I've been given and for the amazing friends I've been able to work with. Thanks everyone for your help on these devotionals!
Monday, December 16, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
What you may or may not know about me :)
On Facebook, they've been doing that "give you a number" thing, and then you post that amount of things about yourself that people may or may not know. I don't usually jump on the band wagon with all of those things, like the breast cancer awareness... going here for how long, etc. I figured I could share some things on here if anyone was interested...
1. I used to fish with my dad, and loved it! Every once in a while we go to a fish farm now, but that's not the same... I still don't have to ever touch the fish, though!
2. I only made it through one girls camp, while I was in young women. Every time I ended up having some kind of strange disease that landed me in the ER or broke my leg on a night hike, etc.. Once I missed it, because I went to Disneyland.
3. I broke my leg in the chapel at church falling down the stairs. No one got up to help me, and the deacons all laughed. I hobbled all the way outside before crying. I was 20. Haha! So embarrassing!
4. I'm an introvert. Probably not a surprise to my family, but probably is to my friends. I'd rather play with the kids then do anything else at family parties, because we can just play, and I don't have to talk to the adults, not that I don't love them, I just feel like, why/what would they want to hear about me. When I first started having to be in front of large crowds, I'd have to go off by myself, pray and then put my "I'm in front of people" hat on.
5. I totally hide behind my responsibilities so I don't have to be in uncomfortable situations.
6. A guy I dated for a while, last year, biggest complaint, that he stated to me, was that I didn't communicate very well. I don't think I ever called him more than twice. I decided I would work hard to be better at that in the future, when that was all done. I'm still not good at it. Maybe one day. Sometimes I'm too cautious about what I'm saying, and I just beat around the bush, which never works. Then other times I come straight out and say it, which hasn't worked, either.
7. I know tons of people! I know their stories, I know their hardships and their joys. I'm grateful that I get to know it, and support them. Only a tiny amount of people know me like that. I don't know if I'm scared to let people in, because they'll leave, or if I just don't like talking about myself.
8. I say that I love to travel. I do love seeing new places, and enjoying the beauties there. I don't like huge crowds. When we were at Disneyland last week, Akston kept throwing himself on the ground (he's almost 2), and I was nearly having panic attacks knowing he was going to be trampled.
9. My most favorite place ever is American Fork Canyon! Other favorites include Snowbird and Eden/Huntsville area... I'm a home body.
10. My piano is my greatest outlet! When I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm hurt or when I'm thrilled, when I want to share my feelings without saying them, I can play them!
11. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true! I don't know where I would be without this knowledge. I love reading the scriptures and the words of the prophets. I need to be constantly reading and studying in order for me to feel peace through all of the worries, concerns, fears that I often have.
1. I used to fish with my dad, and loved it! Every once in a while we go to a fish farm now, but that's not the same... I still don't have to ever touch the fish, though!
2. I only made it through one girls camp, while I was in young women. Every time I ended up having some kind of strange disease that landed me in the ER or broke my leg on a night hike, etc.. Once I missed it, because I went to Disneyland.
3. I broke my leg in the chapel at church falling down the stairs. No one got up to help me, and the deacons all laughed. I hobbled all the way outside before crying. I was 20. Haha! So embarrassing!
4. I'm an introvert. Probably not a surprise to my family, but probably is to my friends. I'd rather play with the kids then do anything else at family parties, because we can just play, and I don't have to talk to the adults, not that I don't love them, I just feel like, why/what would they want to hear about me. When I first started having to be in front of large crowds, I'd have to go off by myself, pray and then put my "I'm in front of people" hat on.
5. I totally hide behind my responsibilities so I don't have to be in uncomfortable situations.
6. A guy I dated for a while, last year, biggest complaint, that he stated to me, was that I didn't communicate very well. I don't think I ever called him more than twice. I decided I would work hard to be better at that in the future, when that was all done. I'm still not good at it. Maybe one day. Sometimes I'm too cautious about what I'm saying, and I just beat around the bush, which never works. Then other times I come straight out and say it, which hasn't worked, either.
7. I know tons of people! I know their stories, I know their hardships and their joys. I'm grateful that I get to know it, and support them. Only a tiny amount of people know me like that. I don't know if I'm scared to let people in, because they'll leave, or if I just don't like talking about myself.
8. I say that I love to travel. I do love seeing new places, and enjoying the beauties there. I don't like huge crowds. When we were at Disneyland last week, Akston kept throwing himself on the ground (he's almost 2), and I was nearly having panic attacks knowing he was going to be trampled.
9. My most favorite place ever is American Fork Canyon! Other favorites include Snowbird and Eden/Huntsville area... I'm a home body.
10. My piano is my greatest outlet! When I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm hurt or when I'm thrilled, when I want to share my feelings without saying them, I can play them!
11. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true! I don't know where I would be without this knowledge. I love reading the scriptures and the words of the prophets. I need to be constantly reading and studying in order for me to feel peace through all of the worries, concerns, fears that I often have.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
I know that Heavenly Father watches out for each of us, and knows each of us individually.
Last week we had stake conference at church. Mom and I were anxious about this one, because we knew that that would be the end of our serving in the stake young women's presidency. Mom had reached her 5 year mark of serving in that position, and I had been in for almost 4 years. We had known this was coming, since June, which made each activity more bittersweet.
We had a visiting member of the Seventy presiding for our stake conference. I had a MidSingles activity on Saturday night, so I didn't attend the Saturday night meeting or I would've known what I'm about to share a day earlier.
We had a "morning-side", like a devotional, but we had it at 8:00 a.m. with our youth and their leaders. We got there a couple minutes before it started, so we sat on the second row and near the center. The meeting was going, it was a nice meeting, and then the member of the Seventy started talking. He had this cute Spanish accent, and he was talking about growing up in Argentina. As I was listening to him, I thought that my cute dad would've loved to have been there. He served his mission in Argentina...
---Once upon a time Sandy Nicholes was shopping at Harmon's in Sandy, and overheard a young woman speaking Spanish, Argentine-Spanish. He followed her voice, and introduced himself to her. After talking for a short time, he invited her and her family to dinner at our house the next night. My poor mom, being the only one not able to speak Spanish, besides us little ones, made dinner and passed it to everyone without being able to communicate with them.
Our families hit it off right away! The girl at Harmon's name was Christina, she was married to a man named Rudy. Christina's mom, Maria, took care of Cristina's kids, and when I was 4 and Collin was 2, she babysat us for a while. (I have no memory of how long, but I don't think it was very long, because once I started kindergarten, we were babysat at Grandma Mamie's .)
Maria's husband, Hugo, owned Precision Time clock store. We moved to Layton, and Daddy died. We'd occasionally see them at their stores when we were downtown or at Fashion Place, but we didn't have much to do with each other after that. We saw them around Collin's mission farewell. They gave him a beautiful watch. Sometime in 2007 was the last time we saw Maria, right after her cute Hugo had passed away.---
So, back to Sunday... I leaned over to Mom, and said, "That guy reminds me of Rudy." His name was Elder Rudolfo Franko. Rudy/Rudolfo, I didn't put it together until the end. We were heading out, in between meetings to clean out the stake yw closet, and when I stood up, I looked down the row, and there was this woman, that although older, had eyes that I would never forget! It was Christina! I walked over to her, and Cyd was going to introduce me to her, and I cut her off (not even thinking), and said, "You're Christina. Maria babysat me!" What an amazing experience! We talked for a long time! I got to hear all about their family, and how everyone is. We talked about my dad. It was so sweet! Rudy... Elder Franko was up talking to some of the leaders, but then he came down, and Christina told him who I was. He turned to our stake president and told him what a great guy my dad was. He then told me that Dad has been a part of their family. They talk about him, and have wanted to be like him, because of his kindness and love for everyone.
Some sad news was that this sweet Maria passed away last Christmas. I wish that we would have known. She was an amazing, beautiful woman that was so kind and generous! Whenever I hear Peter Cetera on the radio, my heart jumps back to being in her living room listening to it with her, as she watched us, and taught us about her Argentine culture. We were so blessed to know her!
I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father gives me little tender mercies, when I need them!
Last week we had stake conference at church. Mom and I were anxious about this one, because we knew that that would be the end of our serving in the stake young women's presidency. Mom had reached her 5 year mark of serving in that position, and I had been in for almost 4 years. We had known this was coming, since June, which made each activity more bittersweet.
We had a visiting member of the Seventy presiding for our stake conference. I had a MidSingles activity on Saturday night, so I didn't attend the Saturday night meeting or I would've known what I'm about to share a day earlier.
We had a "morning-side", like a devotional, but we had it at 8:00 a.m. with our youth and their leaders. We got there a couple minutes before it started, so we sat on the second row and near the center. The meeting was going, it was a nice meeting, and then the member of the Seventy started talking. He had this cute Spanish accent, and he was talking about growing up in Argentina. As I was listening to him, I thought that my cute dad would've loved to have been there. He served his mission in Argentina...
---Once upon a time Sandy Nicholes was shopping at Harmon's in Sandy, and overheard a young woman speaking Spanish, Argentine-Spanish. He followed her voice, and introduced himself to her. After talking for a short time, he invited her and her family to dinner at our house the next night. My poor mom, being the only one not able to speak Spanish, besides us little ones, made dinner and passed it to everyone without being able to communicate with them.
Our families hit it off right away! The girl at Harmon's name was Christina, she was married to a man named Rudy. Christina's mom, Maria, took care of Cristina's kids, and when I was 4 and Collin was 2, she babysat us for a while. (I have no memory of how long, but I don't think it was very long, because once I started kindergarten, we were babysat at Grandma Mamie's .)
Maria's husband, Hugo, owned Precision Time clock store. We moved to Layton, and Daddy died. We'd occasionally see them at their stores when we were downtown or at Fashion Place, but we didn't have much to do with each other after that. We saw them around Collin's mission farewell. They gave him a beautiful watch. Sometime in 2007 was the last time we saw Maria, right after her cute Hugo had passed away.---
So, back to Sunday... I leaned over to Mom, and said, "That guy reminds me of Rudy." His name was Elder Rudolfo Franko. Rudy/Rudolfo, I didn't put it together until the end. We were heading out, in between meetings to clean out the stake yw closet, and when I stood up, I looked down the row, and there was this woman, that although older, had eyes that I would never forget! It was Christina! I walked over to her, and Cyd was going to introduce me to her, and I cut her off (not even thinking), and said, "You're Christina. Maria babysat me!" What an amazing experience! We talked for a long time! I got to hear all about their family, and how everyone is. We talked about my dad. It was so sweet! Rudy... Elder Franko was up talking to some of the leaders, but then he came down, and Christina told him who I was. He turned to our stake president and told him what a great guy my dad was. He then told me that Dad has been a part of their family. They talk about him, and have wanted to be like him, because of his kindness and love for everyone.
Some sad news was that this sweet Maria passed away last Christmas. I wish that we would have known. She was an amazing, beautiful woman that was so kind and generous! Whenever I hear Peter Cetera on the radio, my heart jumps back to being in her living room listening to it with her, as she watched us, and taught us about her Argentine culture. We were so blessed to know her!
I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father gives me little tender mercies, when I need them!
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