Mt. Whitney Recap by Eric

Eric gave a great recap of the events and only some of what he learned on this trip.  I'm so grateful for all of the Young Men and Adults that made sure our guys made it back safely.  What an experience!  These are notes from his speaking assignment on Sunday during our Sacrament service.  

Sunday 7/31/2011

Intro

            “We’re all going to die.” ~Brother E

“We’re all going to die,” were the first words said as we got in the car at 4:30 in the morning.  It was then said by the hour, but as we got higher in elevation it was said more frequently to the point where it was said maybe every 5 minutes. We arrived at the trail head and were disappointed when Mt. Whitney was nowhere to be seen. I figured Ian was right when he said it was just over the hill so we started our trip. From then on we never heard “We’re all going to die.”

             On the first day I remembered a scripture 1Nephi 3:7

In other words we will not be tested on something that Christ does not believe we will succeed in.  So everything we do we are expected to prevail in. This thought changed my opinion on this trip. I started worried and scared, nervous that we were all going to die.  I finished this trip to find that the entire time I was never worried, never once uncertain that we would not finish or be subject to harm or accident.

             Brother D would frequently check on everyone asking if we where alright. For the first couple of days I would reply saying “Yes I’m fine.” Or, I’ll be alright.”  On Friday when he would ask I replied a little differently saying “No.  But that doesn’t matter anymore.”  From that point it didn’t matter how I was feeling because I knew we would finish and everyone would be safe.

Friday was what the rangers said to be the worst storm since the 1980s.  From the time we reached the summit of Mt. Whitney (11:00) to the time we finished (6:00) it was raining, hailing, snowing, there where lightning strikes every second (one hitting 30 yrds from my dad and Brother E) there were also rock slides, flooding, rivers that seemed to be impossible to cross and no trail.

             Knowing that there was no chance of stopping and making camp we continued to travel in these weather conditions. We stopped to pray and after the prayer we found our speed to have increased at least 3 times faster and any pain we had was numbed, maybe from prayer or the fact that whatever was hurting was probably frozen solid.

As we were nearing the end we saw a sign that said Mt. Whitney Portal 1 mile. That sign brought hope and cheer to our group so we followed the trail. We walked maybe 100 yards to find a flooded river that seemed to be impossible to cross. All that hope and cheer was then crushed by the simple river but an unexpected angel appeared, almost perfectly timed. It was a fry cook from the Mt. Whitney portal restaurant. He had found a path that hadn’t been used since the 1907(?).  He told us it is a safe trail and then he ran off to help other hikers in danger. We finished the hike safely but nervous for the rest of the hikers. Every single hiker that came down said the exact same thing “Thank God for the fry cook”.  Four of the hikers in our group didn’t make it down until the next day but even the next day the fry cook was still up there helping other hikers.

When we stopped and prayed we prayed for something or someone to help us find the way and the fry cook did. Some doubted him and continued to go across the river but those who did follow him made it safely. D&C 4:5 if we have faith and hope then there is no doubt we will make it to the end.

Bear Testimony

Politics & Sundays...

I go to church on Sunday to renew my covenants I made with the Lord partaking of the Sacrament, and to be uplifted and edified.  Politics and government do not fall under either of those categories. 

I have way too many pet peeves, but ranking up there, my number one right now, is discussing politics in church.  Zaps the Spirit right out of the meeting.  I'm the Bishop's wife and I not only want to be there, but I really need to be there as well.  And when I hear politics or government being discussed I want to just go home and put on nice soft music.  It's like someone just popped my Spiritual bubble.  It starts off my week with a nasty taste in my mouth.  Sunday is the first day of the week for us and when I feel that way it makes the rest of my week stink.

Even when I walk by two people discussing government or politics I feel like I'm walking passed a heated argument.  Even if they agree, the conversations are naturally heated and temperaments are visible in body language and audible in voice tone and inflection.  Definitely not spiritually uplifting.  Conversation in the church should comfort and be around the Lord.  Regurgitating highlights of radio talk show hosts excited comments, best be done at another place, on another day.

I know He sees all of these in the public sector as His children as well, so I feel it best not to demean or talk down of any of His children.  I think we all agree that some/much of what is read on the internet or said over the air is embellished or unfounded.  You might be interested in this ARTICLE regarding why we believe even obvious lies.  The best quote, "Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true."

Be Thou an Example of the Believers....

I just love this message!

You're never too old for some tests....

Yesterday, Mr. D was sustained and set apart as the Bishop of our Ward. I'm SO grateful for our previous Bishop. The theme for Ward Conference was about Capt. Moroni. The meeting was wonderful, and it was nice to know how many people love and respect Mr. D and support him. We're very excited about the blessings to come. I'll have to post more later. But today was definitely a day of tests for this new Bishop's Wife.

The kids went sledding up at a member's home today, it was a joint ward Mutual activity. So, Mr. D went with the kids and drove some. Me+ice= BAD idea. Everyone understands, lol. So, I went and ran a whole bunch of errands. First on my list was Walmart. The girl didn't charge me for something so I went back in and she rang it up. She handed me my Mentos gum to put in my purse but they didn't ring up. I just couldn't drive away!

NEXT stop, Dollar Tree, and she didn't ring up one of the colored sand things, but I caught it before she totaled it up, lol. NEXT stop, CVS. I asked the cashier if she had seen any of those coconut M&Ms and we started talking about how delicious we must imagine them to be. I put 1 12 pack of Diet Coke on the belt and I guess she got distracted, she didn't even see the other 3 in my cart. LOL So, I get out to the car, double check the receipt, and sure enough, she only charged me for 5 out 8 items. LOL So, I went back in. HF is testing me! Am I really qualified to do this?! I was laughing, seriously laughing. She got it all worked out and I left.

Next I go to the grocery store and there are coupons in their ad I need but they were all out. So the lady at the customer service desk said a lot of cashiers have extras. So, when I went up, those were the ONLY coupons left the one cashier had, lol.

I get home, unload everything by myself, everyone is gone, I turn on the computer, and the kids get home. Mr. D says Ick needs to go to the ER. Oy! So, I look at his hand, he smashed his left hand when the 3 boys and him crashed the inner tube they were on. His knuckle above his ring finger was GONE. So, we're thinking the thing is totally dislocated.

So I take him in, and an hour and a half later we finally get triaged. In the mean time we're being quite entertained by a kid(probably a HS Senior) and his girlfriend and a chaperone and his daughter. This kid, K, wasn't wearing a helmet and he obviously had a concussion. "Where am I?" You're in the ER. "What happened?" You hit your head. "Where? Where was I?" At Dodge Ridge. "I'm SO sorry (sobbing too). I never fall, I'm so sorry I ruined your day." It's okay K, you're more important. "Where am I?" You're in the ER. "What happened?" You hit your head. It was JUST like out of 50 First Dates. It was so hard not to giggle. But even his friends were. The chaperone told Ick, "THIS is why you always wear a helmet!" LOL His parents finally got there, they were from Pleasanton, about an hour and a half away. Poor kid, he was waiting in the hallway because the ER was PACKED for a CT Scan. His forehead was totally scraped up too. He was vomiting and SO tired. They had him laying semi-erect and let him fall asleep. He was just getting so agitated before that. His dad was caressing his arm though and kept making sure he could wake up.

So, they finally x-ray Ick's hand and by the time the Dr. comes out his knuckle is back where it's supposed to be. So, if it was dislocated, it went back by the time we left. It's actually bothering him more now, but it looks better. After all that, a lady puking blood in the waiting room, that poor kid, I decided Heavenly Father was having fun with me today. But I was taking it all very well.

Oh, and the BEST part!!!!!! Since the ER was full(yes, I called the ped. first and he was closed) they took Ick and I back to the "Psych" room. She explained that she may have to rush in and throw us out, sometimes they only get maybe 60 seconds notice. So, we're going in and there are a pair of nurses on each side of the bed, one is changing the pillow case. The ER Manager(?) leaves the room and the nurse starts to take off Ick's jacket and the other guy is eying Ick. The ER Manager comes running back in and tells the nurses that he's not a 5150! LOL That's code for 'danger to himself'. The nurses turned all sheets of red and started laughing. They were getting ready to strip him down for a psych hold! LOL I told Ick, "SEE, this is what happens when you're sarcastic to the triage nurses!" Bwahaha

Happy New Year!

Last night we had 25 youth(including our 4) over for a New Year's Eve Party along with a presentation for the youth's new theme, which is Joshua 1:9(..."Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.) You can print up some great handouts, posters, bookmarks, etc... from sugardoodle.net . The handout below I found HERE.

We have such great kids between our two wards(church talk for congregations) and they are fun, friendly, and great to be around. They get along SO well too, no boundaries or issues when they get together. I hope everyone felt welcome and included, by the looks of things, everyone was having a great time.



We devoured a lot of goodies the kids supplied. Mr. D made crepes and the kids brought the fillings, some sweets and snackies. I really hope we didn't offend any French, I some with toppings probably more suitable for ice cream sundaes. But, oh well, it all looked good and disgusting at the same time. LOL




The adults gathered around the piano for some Boggle and games too. It looked like they were sitting around a piano bar, lol. Kept waiting for someone to come over and play something.


Some were playing Apples to Apples, after Curses, and before MAO(CRAZY!).





Always something to do.






At midnight we flew paper airplanes off the porch(remember this next year, because they are SO much easier to clean up than confetti and poppers). Then we watched a few quaint firework shows off in the distance. Thank you whoever put on the shows!

Legacy of Love....

Sorry for the lack of posts, this is what I've been up to though.
This was a presentation for our Stake Enrichment Meeting. Photos contributed by the members of the Modesto North Stake. I know a few of these people in the video, however the rest, wow! What a feeling of joy, happiness, peace, love, I felt. The veil is thin while in the process of doing geneology and sharing their stories.

Notes from my talk on the Holy Ghost...

A member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, has the function to inspire, reveal, and teach all things.

The Holy Ghost has several names, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, the Comforter, Light of Christ, or the Spirit of God to name a few. It is our constant companion after baptism if we live our lives with the purpose and determination to become Christ like and be closer to Him. It is promised.

I recall when I was investigating the church. I began early in my sophomore year of highschool but wasn’t baptized and confirmed until the middle of my junior year. One of my parents requirements was to be an active member of the church, being obedient to it’s teachings and proving to them that this was my choice. Their best friends are members and we had gone a handful of times, my mom attended Relief Society, and knew that this a big change in my lifestyle. It meant giving up 10% of my earnings from babysitting, no more shopping or dining out on Sundays, being more selective about what I watched on t.v. and saw at the movies, and the time commitment to attend church for 3 hours on Sunday, attending YW’s, and Seminary, and scripture study. It was revealed and taught to me by Holy Spirit to stay on this path, that what I was doing was right, and the Church was true. I was touched many times over by the Spirit during my parents imposed “probation period”. I felt I was already repentant and testifying of Christ, but was missing baptism and having the Holy Ghost as a CONSTANT companion. I remember very clearly when that gift was bestowed upon me. I remember the warm flushed feeling and happiness and joy I felt.

The Holy Spirit does not speak in a loud booming voice. It is a feeling, a thought, an inspirational daydream. It is why we can listen to a conference talk and our spouse or friend heard a completely different message. It comes to us how WE need it. Just as in our personal relationships, we need to cultivate them. If we push our friends or spouse away, we can and do just as easily push the Holy Spirit away if we do not work on our personal relationship with the Savior. Do we visit places where the Holy Spirit cannot dwell or do we invite him to be a part of our lives? The Holy Spirit speaks ever so softly, will we recognize it when we are being touched?

Sometimes I don't recognize it until after I’ve been touched. I mentioned a little bit of this in RS, that over 18 years ago my grandfather was murdered in a robbery at our family’s baseball card shop. When I drove home from Institute I always went out of my way to drive past the shop because it had been broken into before at it's previous locations and I just always wanted to make sure it was okay. I knew my parents were supposed to be out that night celebrating my grandparents 49th wedding anniversary with them. That night, I drove a shorter way for some reason, I didn't give it a second thought or even feel guilty for my decision that night. Even as I got out of the car, my friend had followed me because we going to go to my house, change, she was going to call her parents, and then we were going to go tanning, she commented about my shorter route that night because we'd done this many times before and she even went out of her way sometimes to check on the shop herself. We knew I'd be coming home to an empty house, but instead everyone in my family and our closest friends' cars were out in front. It still didn't register that something was out of the ordinary. I know now that the HG ever so softly nudged me that night to go a different direction, not wanting to set off any internal "alarms", I was told “all is well”. As it was, I had no control over anything, my going a different direction could not change the outcome, only get me home that much faster to my family. The peaceful nudge didn't give me goosebumps or make me fear something had gone terribly wrong. He was there to comfort me and protect me from seeing the police lights and tape, the news crews, and emergency personnel frantically trying to grab a hold of the scene, and my dad’s emotional breakdown outside of the shop. I had to get home safely to where my family could tell me what happened. My friend called her dad, our singles ward bishop, right away to come and give me a blessing and if anyone in my family wanted one(I was the only member). The HG also spoke to them softly that night, as they all grew to love "my" bishop, and they all have commented how they knew he was a man of God and of his love for Heavenly Father and me was evident. I was able to recognize the Comforter’s role that night. After the shock subsided I was able to recognize the source of my inspiration to go a different way, having my best friend beside me, and the protection of not coming up to that gruesome scene.

Because I have recorded and shared this experience many times, I have been working on “memorizing” the Gift of the Holy Spirit and the promises made to me in my baptismal covenant. I can call upon the HS to calm me when I’m scared, to comfort me when I’m grieving, to inspire me in what to do, and teach me the truth. I have a testimony of these promises if I keep my sacred promises as well. This is something every worthy member is promised, whether we are 8 years old or 100, male, or female. HF does not renege on his promises. We repent and revisit the Sacrament weekly to maintain our promises to Him. President Marion G. Romney, former Second Counselor in the First Presidency: “The purpose of the sacrament is to promote the maintenance of spirituality.” 16

President Howard W. Hunter: “Developing spirituality … will not happen by chance, but is accomplished only through deliberate effort and by calling upon God and keeping his commandments.” 10

President Gordon B. Hinckley: “I feel deeply that far too few of our converts have read the Book of Mormon. I feel that far too few have any understanding of the history of the Church. … Those we teach need the Spirit and the conversion power of that great and sacred volume [the Book of Mormon].” 11

We do not gain a full testimony of the BoM by skimming through pages. We may know it is true, but to have that full burning in the bosom, feeling, we need to be in constant study of it. This I learned from another family that read the BoM over and over and everyday as a family. We found a time that worked best for us, it is a commitment, and as a family we have now read the BoM several times. It is not always the most reverent study, but we have as a family the testimony that we are involved in something great, and wonderful, and true. And it brings a sense of solace and peace, and things just seem to go right for us and things that come up seem managable. I believe this is because we are in harmony with the Spirit and able to make clearer and better decisions by the knowledge and peace he bestows upon us.

President Thomas S. Monson : “The spiritual nature within us should not be dominated by the physical. It behooves each of us to remember who he or she is and what God expects him or her to become.” 12

Our spiritual nature, or divine nature, is inspired and revealed when we listen to the still small voice of the Spirit.

My favorite quote: "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
- Marianne Williamson

When we let the Light of Christ within us shine, we put off a glow of contentment and happiness that others will seek. They will want to know why we still smile at the gas pump these days. Why we still have hope that all will be well. Why we attend church on Sundays. Why WE know we are a Child of God and we love Him. They will want to be happy themselves and have those same feelings. No one seeks out an Eeyore to emulate. They do seek out someone who knows who they are.

President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “The Holy Ghost communicates with the spirit through the mind more than through the physical senses. This guidance comes as thoughts, as feelings, through impressions and promptings. It is not always easy to describe inspiration. The scriptures teach us that we may ‘feel’ the words of spiritual communication more than hear them, and see with spiritual rather than with mortal eyes.” 13

The Holy Ghost can make words jump off of pages when we are reading. Inspiration can be a thought that comes out of no where. It can be the impression to check in on somebody that might seem out of ordinary for you to do. It can be an impression to share a story or two with a Home Teacher or Visiting Teacher. I’ve had 2 family members taken from us out of tragedy, and looking back there were some odd things they’ve done that make you scratch your head. Just an hour before my sister was killed by the drunk driver, she made my aunt & uncle turn up a song on the radio and announced she wanted that played at her funeral because it had a very special spiritual message. It was I Will Remember You by Amy Grant. Our friend Scott, sat down with his Home Teacher just before he was killed by a drunk driver and went in to great detail about each of his 6 children. It was an unplanned visit, they were just hanging out after setting up for a ward activity because they were too tired to go home just then. Their casual conversation had turned into an unusual and very personal and detailed acct. about their lives. When the Spirit whispers, will we recognize it? Will we remember it?

President Kimball: “The gift of the Holy Ghost grows with worthiness. If you are baptized when you are eight years old, of course you are a child, and there is much you would not be expected to know. But the Holy Ghost comes to you as you grow and learn and make yourselves worthy. It comes a little at a time as you merit it. And as your life is in harmony, you gradually receive the Holy Ghost in a great measure.” 15

I like this. The Spirit comes to you in the best way for you. Not for Joe, or Sally, but for YOU. The Holy Spirit does not speak in code, or test you, but you must listen and be ready to receive and understand it.

If the Spirit is not in a member’s life, he or she should review the qualities just mentioned to see what is missing. “Spirituality is not a function of occupation or calling,” said Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “Spirituality is determined by personal outlook and priorities.” 18

Pres. Dallin H. Oaks: If we are practicing our faith and seeking the companionship of the Holy Spirit, His presence can be felt in our hearts and in our homes. A family having daily family prayers and seeking to keep the commandments of God and honor his name and speak lovingly to one another will have a spiritual feeling in their home that will be discernible to all who enter it. I know this, because I have felt the presence or absence of that feeling in many LDS homes.

Testimony

A little LDS Humor...

I thought these were just too cute not to share: