The Winds of Change

Isn't it amazing how life can turn on a dime.  For the past week, every day has brought the same expression to our lips...WOW!  No time to catch one's breath...just one WOW after another.  The constant through all the bumps, turns, turmoil and anxiety has been the sure knowledge holding us on the path that we have a living prophet who guides this church according to the will of our Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ through divine revelation. 

As word came first of changes to our Sunday worship, the assurance from the Spirit rested on my mind and heart that we've been preparing for this for some time.  Then as the whirlwind of adjustments directly affecting early morning Seminary and Institute, it felt like our mission assignment was slipping through our fingers.  We still had released time Seminary which we taught on Monday afternoon, then found out Monday evening that the school was closing so that would end as well. 

Then official word came Monday night from our Mission President that the Area Presidency had determined that seniors in our mission were invited to return home!  We would have loved to stay and teach remote seminary (which I think will be an awesome experience for the youth who will be engaged in it) but because of the lack of internet access where we live, our S&I coordinator gently advised us to "pack your things and get out of Dodge!"  A whirlwind of emotions to process!  But I've powerfully felt these words,  "Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side, With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.  Leave to thy God to order and provide, in every change He faithful will remain." 

On the heels of all those WOW's, we had a freaky wind storm and blizzard Friday night with white out conditions.  The unusual high winds took down so many trees and power lines and transformers with them that there was a massive power outage that lasted nearly 2 days in some places.  It was widespread from the Spokane area to Bonner's Ferry, with something like 15,000 homes without power.  And here in our trailer park, that meant no water for everyone and no heat for those like us without wood-burning stoves.  We went to bed when the power went out Friday night and woke up Saturday to a freezing house...38 degrees.  Brrr!

The winter gear helped but we soon realized we had to get someplace warm.  Living in a refrigerator was not in our job description.  Wind chill temp outside was -5 degrees.  More brrrr!  Most gas stations and stores were closed.  Thankfully Walmart was open so we were able to buy water to flush our toilets and we wandered around keeping our distance from others til our feet and hands thawed out.  Our friends the Harris's invited us to their cabin.  They have a wood-burning stove to keep warm.  We headed there in the blizzard only to find downed power lines across their driveway so we turned back toward home. 

Still freezing there so next was the library with other "storm refugees" grateful for warmth and power to charge up our phones.  When the library closed we decided to either spend money on a propane heater or get a hotel room...whichever was less if our power was still out.  What a welcome sight to see this when we turned the corner of our little lane!

Let there be light!  Oh, did our heated mattress cover feel good Saturday night!  Sunday was such a sweet blessing to have Sacrament Meeting, with just the two of us in our cozy doublewide.  We felt so grateful for light and warmth and the Spirit!  Such a feelings of peace in the midst of turmoil.

Monday we viewed some of the storm's damage nearby.

This was a big tree...coming down!

The unsuspecting truck was in it's path.

Notice it's now in pieces...the truck and the tree!

And it immediately fulfilled one of it's measure of creation... lots of firewood!

That must have been a rude awakening!  Yikes!

l went on a little hike near our chapel with 2 of our favorite YSA's, Nicole and Brandon.  We like to think played a part in matching them up, but I'm sure Someone else did that.  It's been so fun to watch their courtship.  They've been a great part of our Institute and YSA branch.  Heading to tie the knot in the Temple soon!  

More evidence of Natures Power!

What a glorious view.  Notice the tree going off toward fishers.  Hmmm....when is it going to fall.  Please not on me on the way down!

                  Oh, how we'll miss this lovely land!  It will all be a memory very soon.

Here's what I won't miss.  After power outages and randomly whenever...we get surges of rusty water through our ancient pipes in our trailer park.

Nice cold drink anyone?  The natives say they've been drinking it for years...hmm...I always suspected such.

When this comes out of the faucet, I have to run the water for 20 minutes til it clears up.

I've learned to run the water BEFORE I put the clothes in the wash.  This started clear...but then...the laundry gods were against me!  I had put Bill's white shirts in, of course.  Quickly got them out soaking wet with rusty water.  Rinsed the in the sink.  Ran several cycles of this water til it was clear again.  The pioneers might have had it better in a clear stream of water!

I refuse to bathe in it!








But we've learned to cope.  And now it's going to be over in a a few days.  Feeling a little like we're abandoning our ship, mid-voyage.
But the Lord knows best and we will obey our leaders.

What a privilege it has been to work with these fabulous Young Single Adults!  Dear to our hearts forever!







So we're homeward bound...to shelter in place, self-quaranteen and earthquakes??!!  What's up with that?  I guess the Lord really wants us to wake up!  No more spiritual snooziness!  President Nelson's admonition rings in my ears.  "In coming days it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost."  When we heard that angel Moroni's trumpet fell, I thought of the words to my favorite hymn.  "Oh Lord, haste the day when my faith may be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, even so it is well with my soul!" 

And so it is well with our souls.  Hope to see you soon...as we soldier through this together!

Elder and Sister P.

It's a Winter Wonderland!

Hello family and friends from the frozen forests of Northern Idaho.  Here's some evidence of all that's happened in the last 6 weeks.  

You don't see this every day out your front window.

It dumped and dumped all through January and we shoveled and shoveled!

No, I didn't shovel all of this but I felt like I had!  This was plowed at the end of our lane.

Our roof had built up about 2 feet before a a huge chunk broke off onto our porch.  Thankfully not on our heads!

This could be lethal!

Haven't seen icicles like this since we were kids.

Our rental agency decided to send men to shovel the roof.  Nice!  However, after I went inside they shoveled off the side of the roof right onto our gravel driveway that I had just finished clearing.  Heavy wet snow!  Thanks a lot!

Backyard wonderland.

                      Isn't the church beautiful?  I love the icicles and covered shrubs. 

                  Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go...over the river and through the snow! 

Walmart parking lot.

I guess they're taking it somewhere?

Gives new meaning to the phrase, "Blanket of snow!"

Most of the days have been like this.  Gray, gray and more gray.

But occasionally, when the sun comes out (both days) it's postcard beautiful!

We have thankfully been able to summon up sunshine in our hearts for the most part.  Our seminary students are bonding with us...finally.  I think they have decided that rather than fight that quirky old couple, they'll join us!  Truth is, I think they're finally feeling our love.  And we do love them!  We're  learning so much!  We just listened today to a CES broadcast with Elder Bednar.  He taught all about receiving revelation and the mistake so many members make in thinking that in order to receive personal revelation, they have to experience some marvelous manifestation.  Just because we don't have an amazing spiritual experience to share in Fast and Testimony Mtg. we think we're somehow unworthy. The truth he taught was that we are normal...it's the dreams and visions and angel visits that are rare.  And those experiences don't usually convert anyway; it's the daily little things...trying to do our best to keep our covenants and stay on the path, and listening for that quiet nudge or impression or new thought...that constitute the revelation of our lives. 

We don't have to check off a list of things to do to qualify to receive revelation...as members in good standing, not perfect but repenting and striving...it's with us every day.  And we need to teach our students that they are likely receiving revelation daily as well and may not recognize it...looking for something out of the ordinary or grandiose.  He asked this question of his audience of teachers, "What have your heard today that wasn't said?" (by me or by anyone else in the room.) Isn't that a great question?  And then we invite them to act on what they heard.  Hmm...lots to ponder.  We're looking forward to doing our best to implement this in our classroom, hoping that our students may have a moment that they can hear and recognize the voice of the Spirit. 

So onward and upward we cheerfully go,
Praying for Spring to come, not snow!

(It will come, eventually.  But there is snow in the forecast for the next 10 days. Oh well...it is northern Idaho after all!)  At least the wind doesn't blow! :)

And besides...all is well with our souls!  Love to all!

Elder and Sister P.

 

We finally made it to Christmas Break...still standing!

Whew!  What a ride we've had since school started!  Honestly, there have been times when we wondered if we were going to survive the early mornings, the sleepy and often distracted seminary students, the hours of lesson prep, the daily alarm going off at 4:45 am.  Do you remember the movie "Groundhog Day" anyone?  "Put your little hand in mine, there ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb...I got you babe!"  Ah...the temptation has been ever present to smash that alarm with a sledge hammer.  But, we resisted! 

We're hoping that Elder Holland is right when he says there's a special place in the Celestial Kingdom for early morning seminary teachers!  The journey has been a little rough, especially in October with a trip to the ER for Sister P with thrombophlebitis...thankfully superficial.  And a few other  dizzy health issues for both of us.  But we've gotten into a manageable routine.  And there is really only one way to
to go...forward!

And of course, yielding to the enticings of the Spirit and putting off the natural man that really wants to stay in that warm bed!  Especially on those cold, dark winter mornings!  But we manage to somehow peel the bed off our backs.

We're getting the hang of team teaching.  Different styles,  sometimes different tunes but we're mostly on the same sheet of music!







Isn't he the cutest!

And our darling YSA's are of course...pure joy!

                     

The beautiful fall came and went way too quickly!  Colors...magnificent. 

Here's a cool idea.  Rake up all those leaves and pile them up in the street.  No need to bag them because there is seldom any wind.  So front loaders will come scoop them into dump trucks or even better, big trucks with vacuum hoses will suck them up.  And Voila!!...gone before the snow flies!






Amazing!

We learned something new about evergreens.  Larch (or Tamarack) are deciduous!  So I guess they aren't evergreens, huh?  I thought all these trees had been attacked by a bug!  Their needles turn yellow and drop off.  They'll grow back green in the spring!  Who knew?

Another interesting phenomenon.  They drain a huge amount of water out of Lake Pend O'Reille in the fall, opening up the Albeni dam down river, to prevent flooding in the spring.  So the lake where we swam with our kids this summer is now 10 feet lower.  

Look, we could wade right out to that floating pier where we jumped in over our heads before!








               And now...it's a mud pit!

Another interesting site.  Remember the forest they took down in a week?  The stumps and roots and branches were left in piles.  And now they just set them all on fire...clearing the land for some new business.  What a process!

From Elder P:

I love eagles.  Our Coordinator, Brother King, invited us to his home in Coeur d'Alene for Thanksgiving.  That morning we drove down to a little bay of Lake Coeur d'Alene to see the eagles.  The salmon lay their eggs and die and the eagles have their feast every year.  They were perched in the trees and at any time they would fly down to the lake and snatch up the surfacing salmon in their talons.  It was a joy to behold.  It was very cold that morning but we got some photos of the eagles in the trees. There were, some locals said, about 150 eagles!

Next tale.  I have a friend, a squirrel of a friend.
About a week ago, I was sitting on my couch and heard someone at our door. It sounded like they were trying to get into the house.  I got up and went to the door.  There on the porch sat this fat squirrel smiling at me.  He must have just knocked or hit my door somehow.  I smiled at him and immediately he scurried down the stairs, over and up the tree right behind our back door.  It is about twenty feet from the house. He perched on a little bird house attached to the tree and smiled back at me.  During the summer when our grandkids were here they saw him sitting on that birdhouse and named him Squeeks.  After his knock at my door, I went to our pantry, got some pretzels and tossed them out on the lawn.  Here is the picture of him eating my pretzels.  I guess you could say he is my ministering squirrel (or I am his) in search of pretzels.  I have a new friend!  (Glad to hear that, Elder P!)
   

In keeping with the spirit of the season, we ventured into Hungie Jungie land in our trailer park and cut down our own little tree for Christmas!

 

Charlie Brown would have loved it!  It's just right for us!

                                               We'll probably never have a fresher one!

Our mission, though it's been extremely challenging in so many ways, has been an exercise in faith and trust and increased love of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ.  How blessed we've been to study His life and teachings daily and strengthen our own testimonies in such a profound way.    

 Our sweet children are giving us such a generous gift this year.  They are flying us home for Christmas!  We have permission to leave our mission and spend a week with our family.  No surprise  could have brought us more joy!  

Merry Christmas to all!  May it be joyous for each of you!  Thank you for your love and support and prayers.   That means so much to us!  We Love You!!

And it is still well with our souls!

Elder and Sister P