4.2.18 Week #40 Conference Craze

Well this week has easily been my busiest week of my mission we have gone from appointment to appointment starting in the mornings. My companion now is Elder Motuga he is from California but his family is Samoan he is awesome. So on Monday the other Portuguese Elders got to stay the night with us then on Tuesday Morning we headed off to Kitchener. We had a lesson then a dinner appointment then we had English Class and that pattern stuck through the week.

Its nice to see all of the familiar faces and it is cool that both Elder Motuga and I have served here before so we both know the area pretty well. Unfortunately because we have been so busy we have not been able to do our studies yet or our weekly planning so this upcoming week we need to fit those in. It's nice though to see the change in the area since when I first arrived here the work is hastening we have more tools and are slowly becoming better at doing the Lord's work. One cool tool is that we posted an advertisement on a Brazilian page here in Kitchener and we had 10 Brazilians show up for class and some are interested in learning about the church which is really exciting. Another side effect of being so busy is we have been eating out more because we are not home. One morning we had Tim Hortons for Breakfast and then Poutine for Dinner -- there's a true Canadian meal it's pretty Canadian ehh. 

A fruit from our labors is that we have been finding and meeting with some investigators which is really cool. They are all pretty cool and hopefully will keep progressing. One we met on Wednesday first we helped out at the Bishops storehouse then we headed to our weekly service at the Cambridge food bank which has some pretty desperate people. While there we started talking to a guy, after talking for a little while he told us that he had just called his nephew that morning who is a member to call the missionaries so that he could meet with us and he called the missionaries in Toronto and they told him that we would run into him sometime today. Here is the coolest part we didn't know that he was going to be there and we found him 2nd coolest part as we were walking away we received his referral on our phone. So we have been meeting with him and teaching him. We also have another investigator that we haven't met in person but we have been on the phone teaching him for many hours he is very knowledgeable and honestly I am not sure why he isn't a member if he is not. He knows the Book of Mormon inside and out and has studied it and almost every other part about our church while talking to him he quoted the Pearl of Great Price, Articles of Faith, The Family Proclamation to the World, Doctrine and Covenants, The Book of Mormon, General Conference talks and more. We are almost convince that it is just some Area 70 playing a joke on us but it is sort of cool teaching him because we are both learning and we explain things how we see them and why we have the beliefs we do.

We had the opportunity to go to the temple and it was lots of fun we got to see the other missionaries and it's always a blessing to go through a session. Then Saturday and Sunday we had General Conference. Which was amazing! There was so much that happened at it and we had investigators with us and with all the changes it made it lots of fun. And also a little bit tricky to explain to them when they asked questions of things that we hadn't yet heard about. It's is super exciting to see the hastening of the Lord's work and to see it in action out here in the field. I have been reflecting on all the changes that have been happening since I have been out and there are a lot. I love Elder Hollands comment ;) "What a prophet". Conference was great. It was awesome we had conference in 3 different chapels and then had some drop by appointments with members where it was fun to say hello again and see how they are doing. 

Some thoughts that I liked from General Conference are

- The Lord is willing to give revelation; he will help in all righteous desires

- No one can take a witness away from you that was borne by the Holy Ghost

- Knowing for ourselves that Jesus is the Christ is the balm for life's deepest despairs

- Our divine identity(spiritual DNA) allows us the potential to overcome our challenges

- Our failures are for us to learn they are rather steps to success rather than mere failure

- If we receive and believe in the prophet we receive and believe in Christ. He is our Watchman

- We have a responsibility to love and strengthen one another it does not have to be big just genuine. It has a bigger impact than what you think it will do

- Miracles happen as we work together guided by the spirit

There are so many other good things but I will let you all watch and read the talks to find some that stand out to you. I know that these things are true in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I hope everyone has a good week and that you all enjoyed General Conference and will act upon the promptings that you received. 

Love,

Elder McClellan

Power of Moms

Dagnabbit! I had a post all written and just as I was finishing it up, it disappeared in to cyberspace. I know, I know you are all amazed to see me on here. I will try sometime to rewrite what has gone on but I just can't get myself to do it tonight.

I do want to say that as I have been thinking about life and its/my purpose I have been doing a lot of reading on the power of moms website. My greatest happiness in life comes from my family and my children. While my boys are such great kids, parenting can be hard. Especially with Finn. Sometimes I just hope and pray that I am not screwing up my kids. It was such a rough year last year with all of our medical problems that I feel like we are just pulling out of it. Anyway, for all of you moms or anyone trying to find ideas/helps on parenting and motherhood check out powerofmoms.com. I am amazed at all of the wonderful ideas the Eyres (some of you may have heard of them-they started Joy school and have written many books) have and wish I could follow them around the world as they give talks and speeches to moms all over the world. Don't ya love reading about people thoughts and feelings on blogs and websites. I remember as a kid wishing I could read peoples minds and know what they were thinking, nowdays with technology you almost can. One of my favorite blogs is 71toes.blogspot.com.

As I graduated from high school, I felt like I had the world at my hands, that I could do anything. I majored in criminal justice and dreamed of a life as a defense attorney. While I am still fascinated with the law and love watching The Good Wife, I cannot imagine loving doing anything more than being a mom. Sometimes, it can get easy though to get into a rut of making dinner, cleaning, running errands and helping with homework. I don't know if I am just hitting my mid-life crisis a little early or what but I know that I have a higher purpose. I have found such power in this website and in helping others. I think to find yourself you have to get outside of yourself. As I was reminded at Wood Badge we are all going through hard things. Life is hard. Together we can help each other and that is what life is about.

Just for Dave

I'll have you know that I tried to blog the other day but, well, since it had been so long I had forgotten my password. After figuring it out about a minute ago here I am. :) Where to start when it has been so long. Hmmm...here's what we have been doing since I last blogged.


Iron Girl Las Vegas, cousins out from Texas, Kennecott Copper, Temple Open House, Camping, Forth of July parties, go carts, swimming, game nights, food, trip to Texas, driving through, WY, CO, KS, stuck in traffic in OK, water parks, Gatty Town, kids write and put on a play, more games, Erin and Esplan, Alex's Birthday, Pioneer Primary activity, summer craft club, the smoker, Little Rock, Arkansas, walking along the waterway, the visitor center with the rocking chairs, Memphis, Tennessee, Graceland, Central BBQ, St. Louis, MO, the Arch, soda pop, Nauvoo pageant, Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain Riverboat, Caves, Nauvoo, Illinois, Bakery, making a rope, Browning store, wagon ride, Just Plain Anna Amanda, BYU Vocal Point, Trenton, MO-Grandma and Grandpa Smith's old house, Jamesport-Amish town, Carthage, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Platte City, MO, Grandma Smith, dominoes-of course, bbq, Primary activity at the gym, Steak and Shake, Back to School, Kindergarten, Maple Grove and Rochester, MN, Mayo Clinic, lots of neurologists, playing with MN cousins, Ryan's 16th birthday, Josh's first day of school (alone) and bus ride, poor sick Thomas, birds, Miller's getting ready for adoption, going to Feed My Starving children, home again, soccer....

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can elaborate on some of these and add the things forgotten, all in all it has been a pretty good year.

Please Vote for Me...

If you guys have a chance to take a look at this website, I would love your vote. I entered a cheese recipe contest with our famous (well, it was on Dave's blog, that counts right?I hope you don't mind Dave that we stole the photo, but here is the recipe for ya!) recipe Berry Brie Stuffed French Toast. I would really like your vote.

You can find the recipe here at http://iledefrancecheese.com/blog/ and I think I am the third one down. You can rate it from 1-5 stars.

Thanks!

Michael's Baptism

We are so proud of Michael. He chose to be baptized on April 11, 2009. He is such a good example to his younger brothers and we are so glad to have him in our family. I'm not sure who was more nervous, him, dad, or mom (who gave a talk on baptism) but everything went great. He was able to go up the next day on Easter Sunday and the bishop congratulated him as the newest member of our ward, a title that he will hold for a few months (he is pretty happy about that).

Eight is great!

Michael is awesome! We love having him in our family. He recently turned eight and it was such an exciting day. For his friend party he decided to play Deal or No Deal like we did at pack meeting. The kids loved getting the prizes (except maybe when they got stuck with smarties). Then it was on to other games like--Who wants to be a Go-gillianaire (apparently a Millionaire is just not enough anymore). Afterward, Michael got to play Warcraft. He had been waiting a long time for this. Dave came up and we set up a table with lots of computers and played for hours. Then we had grandma's and grandpa's, aunts and uncle's and cousins over for BYU mint brownies. Yum! I think all in all it was a great day! Michael we love you.

Share the love...

Kim just posted a little share the love post and it sounded like a lot of fun, so here goes....Here are the rules: The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a share the love post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Have a Happy Day :)

Scared to death...

I have now found that is possible to be scared to death and excited about something at the same time. Two months ago I would have told you that you were crazy if you even thought about me doing a triathalon. Wanda, I still think you are crazy for doing marathons:). I honestly can't believe I am doing it yet I am pretty excited. Last night was our first training for the swim and we did just over 1/4 mile. Granted this was stopping to take breaths each length of the pool. We found out we need to do 22 lengths and we did 12. I don't know if that makes me feel better or not. We swam pretty far but we have so much more to go. Brandy and Reiko are training with me and hopefully we can get a few more to join us to keep up the momentum. So if any of you are interested in joining we are doing Iron Girl Las Vegas in May. It is a .5 mile swim, 10 mile bike and 5K. If any of you have great swimming tips they would be appreciated. I am not too worried about the biking or running. If only Don and Linda's pool were open.

I've been tagged

Mindi, sorry it has taken me so long to do this. I've found myself spending less and less time on the computer the past couple of weeks. Christmas flew by way too fast! Anyway here goes.

RULES
1. List these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


1. I love to cook. But, I only like cooking new things. Almost every night that I cook it is making a new recipe and I don't like making up recipes.

2. I love Diet Dr. Pepper but I don't drink the "dregs". Which equates to about the last half of the can. Nate loves this though cause he gets to finish off my can.

3. Nate works from home and I love it. My friends all think I am crazy and think they couldn't put up with it for a week but I love that he is home all of the time.

4.I love to read. I want to spend more time reading good books this year. The problem is I can only read after everyone's in bed so I lose precious sleep. Oh well.

5. I am a great pile maker. Newspaper, mail, school work you name it, just ask Nate.

6. I hate snow (why again do we live here?)

7. I am training for a triathalon!

I tag Melanie, Brandy, Candice, Krista, Hannah, David and Jeni.

Happy 2009!

The Christmas season came and went and I hardly noticed. Seriously, I think I blinked and missed most of it. I can't believe Christmas is over for the year. It was really fun though and we got to see a lot of family and friends. For those we missed we hope you had a merry one.

New Year's Eve was a blast as Amber came out from Texas and we had our annual party. My boys (Christian and Michael) were in heaven as they got to play Warcraft while the adults played a new game called Citadel and then Carcasonne. Last but not least was the yummy food and playing MarioKart way too long.

I am excited for what the year brings. We can't wait to see all of you again!

p.s. Dave has now set me up on Facebook for any of you that want another friend.

Secret Santa

The other night we came home to a nice surprise on our front doorstep. Thank you to whoever left the yummy treats and fun stuff. It really made our night. The peanut brittle is seriously the best. Thanks for such a fun surprise!!!

Just an update on Finn. He went in today for another EEG to see how the Prednisone is helping. It turns out it has maybe helped about 10%. The doctor was a little disappointed and was hoping for a miracle. We are not really sure what to think. He wants us to come in and meet with him on the 23rd. We are grateful for all of your prayers.

Sorry again to take a little blogging break. The last month has flown by. We are excited the Christmas season is upon us and even went to the Nutcracker for the second time this year last night. We really enjoy the version at the Capitol Theatre, the scenery is amazing as well as the dancers. Turns out Jeni was even in the Nutcracker a few years back.

The past couple weeks have been hard as we have seen Finn start to develop some cognitive problems. As we talked to his doctor Wed night he wanted Finn to go in for an EEG yesterday to see if this was a result of his medicine (which can cloud his cognitive abilities) or because of the constant seizure activity. Thankfully, he was able to fall asleep really fast so we were only there about 2 1/2 hours. Late last night after the Nutcracker Dr. Thompson called with discouraging news. It looks like after all this time on these heavy meds he is still having constant seizure activity. Our next step is to start high doses of steriods and repeat the EEG next week. Unfortunately, he can't be around sick people and most of our family is sick at this point. So instead of starting today we have to wait until Monday and hope we are all better. Today we will go in and Finn will be tested by the Occupational Therapist to see if he can get help through the school.

On Sunday, for those that are willing we are going to be doing a fast for Finn. The longer this goes on the more brain damage he is incurring and we don't want to lose our sweet Finn. We have already seen some personality changes which is very tough. He is such a sweet boy.

On a postive note this is Nate's last day of work until January 2. Yeah!!!

RockStar

Sorry it's been so long. I had a post started the other day and then my kids deleted it so they could go look at some Pokemon site. Anyway, my blog was getting a little serious so I thought I would add something fun about me. So here goes.

I have always wanted to be a rock star! Bet ya didn't know that. Unfortunately, I can't sing as some of you may know. In fact I'm pretty sure the only reason Nikki and Casey invited us over to their Playstation party was so they could feel better about themselves. I know it would probably get old very soon but traveling the world, having a tour bus, lots of fans, and being a great singer would be kind of fun-right?? All right, I guess I love to just sit home with my boys and watch American Idol.

Finn is still so into it after we went down to Gateway last spring and saw David Archuletta. We were about a foot away from him and now Finn is convinced that one of the boys in our ward (for those of you who know him-Ashton Edwards) is Archie. So much so that each week during the sacrament as Ashton is sitting up in front he lets everyone know "Mom look there is David Archuletta and he is wearing a green shirt this week." Good thing we always sit next to our good friends the Rose's. They are so patient with us and like us enough to save us a seat by them.

Go David Archuletta!

Lucky

Tonight as I have been sitting here listening to lonely night music (you know that kind that makes you really think about life, that you can only listen to on a quiet night) I have pondered on the past couple of months. My emotions are close as I think about Finn and all we have gone through and Joan. I think of all of the people we are blessed to have in our lives. I think of my sweet boys and how lucky I am to have such great boys. Nate, Christian, Michael, Finn and Espy I love you guys more than you will ever know. I am so glad to go through this journey with you.

Life

Life is fragile. What is there one minute can be gone in an instant. Things of monetary value are thrown to the wayside as we yearn for things of eternal importance. Early Tuesday I was able to be with Joan as she passed from this side to the next. She was such a great Aunt/Sister/Mother/Friend. She was one of those people who were always willing to help out and help out she did. Everyone around her has benifited from her exceptional sewing skills-wedding dresses, blessing dresses, quiet books and embroidering everything under the sun. She was always one of the first to call to make sure things were okay. Many times she would bring something home for someone that she found while she was out shopping. She was always ready to go the extra mile. Joan we will miss you.

Tennis anyone?

Friday night Dave and Jeni came up so we decided do a little barbequeing since winter is almost here. Grandma and Grandpa Mac and Kiki came over and we had a little game of tennis going. I think Esplan won. He pretty much loves all sports-basketball, football, soccer, tennis-you name it, he loves it. Christian and Michael were in heaven because after everyone else went home we had a late night Warcraft game with Dave and Jeni.

Also a little update on Finn. We finally got a hold of his Neurologist and it looks like there is still a significant amount of seizure activity going on. Not as constant as before though. We will keep him on the Vallium for a while longer. I'm not too happy about that, but what can you do? Thanks to everyone for keeping him in your prayers.

This was yesterday.


This was today.

I think Utah is bi-polar.

15 minutes. One boy. One cup. Water. Wood Floor.

So Nate and I were up in the library figuring out what books he needs to complete his Easton Press collection. When we came down the stairs we were surprised to find a lake in our kitchen. Seriously. We had an inch of water covering our kitchen floor. Four hundred towels later, after pulling out our fridge and cleaning up the whole floor we are left with warped boards. Then as Nate went to go back downstairs to work he realized our basement was flooding. Off to grab more towels and wipe everything up. We had to poke holes in the plastic to get out the water so our insulation could dry out. This will be funny someday, right???

Peter and Tink

I just came across this picture of Christian and Sydney (Rockwood) from Halloween 2004. We thought that Tinkerbell should get a picture with Peter. Too cute! This is at our Ward Halloween party. Nate and I had just got the calling to be over the ward activities. This was our first activity and it was so much fun. We had over 400 people. Some people even came in off of the streets seeing that there was a party.

In other news: We finally got our family pics taken. Thank goodness. Seriously, I have been stressing over this for months now. I think they will turn out really well. Gary is so much easier to work with than Kiddie Kandids. We go in to check them out in two weeks. I can't wait.

p.s. Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Bunko!

Who's excited for Halloween? Tonight at Bunko we all came in costume. Krista won the costume contest as Medusa, Hannah beat me out with four Bunko's and McKenzie-well let's just say none of us knew what she was drinking...

Anyway, I love this time of year except for the thought of what comes next-all of you in Arizona and Texas are sure lucky-what where we thinking moving back to snow??? Thoughts of colorful leaves, hot chocolate, fall candles and pumpkins will tide me over for a few months. I'm good until Christmas, if only we could have kept our house in Phx. Maybe someday we will be snowbirds and spend the winter months in Sun City with all the other people looking to take a break from the snow.


Just a little update on Finn for those of you who were wondering. He got home from the hosptital this afternoon from his overnight EEG. His neurologist called this evening and said he hopes to have the results by Friday. I was a little disappointed because usually we get them the same day but this time it was not as critical. So he will be on the vallium for a little while longer. On a positive note though, he was able to handle about 1 1/2 hours at preschool by himself. Yeah!