June 19, 2016 - Sunday and Father's Day in Nauvoo

Happy Father's Day (yesterday)

Here is a late post from yesterday.  The internet was down in the apartment so I had to wait to post today.  Mom and I had a wonderful Sabbath Day together.  It was relatively cool at 7:00am this Holy Sabbath  morning, so, after our morning devotional and prayers, we started our walk to the Stake Center.  It was a nice walk as we enjoyed the beautiful morning air and the singing of the Nauvoo birds.  

I was impressed with our Sacrament speakers this morning. Particularly Sister Pugmire.  We served with her in Carthage last year.  She is on the final stretch of her mission and she will return to school at BYU.  She was talking about how we are all seeking perfection.  I could not help but think about all the challenges we face even as we seek perfection.  I have often wondered why the opposition all the time, even though we read in 2 Nephi 2:11, that there "must needs be an opposition in all things".  

Shouldn't there also be some relief?  We seem to work from one challenging situation to another, constantly being tried and tested.  And sometimes we pull through these tests feeling pretty good about our efforts, and then at other times, it is downright depressing.  It seems to me that when we feel pretty good about our progress, another situation comes and we say, what??  Not again!!!

But the key message I heard yesterday from Sister Pugmire, is that there are no perfect people in the world today.  There are no perfect individuals, families or even situations... "Perfect" literally means "complete".  Our work is not yet complete as we press forward proving ourselves fit for Heavenly Father's Kingdom! We must press forward with the faith that we can endure, well, these challenges and set-backs, as we prepare for the Second Coming of our Savior!

In fact, if we were perfect, there would be no growth!  This, to me, is significant as we strive for perfection, that we continue to learn and grow and strengthen our testimonies of the Gospel plan.  Enduring well to the very end of our lives by doing the best we can in every situation.

It is such a blessing to attend Sacrament Meeting with a desire to learn, and then have that blessing achieved, with the message that the Spirit delivers to us.  What a great life-long resource our Sacrament meetings are!  Perhaps that is why we are encouraged to never miss a Sacrament meeting if at all possible!!

We had the day off from assignments, after our block of meetings, except for a district meeting.  The district leader had a conflict so he asked mom and me to conduct the meeting.  That was good for us because I like to keep the meetings short.  Our business part of the meeting was 15 minutes and we had a social balance of the meeting that lasted 30 minutes.  So, start to finish, we spent 45 minutes and headed back to our home to enjoy the balance of this Father's Day. 

It was so good to hear from family back home and my brother and sister.  There is nothing more important in my life that my family and the Gospel that binds us together.  I sure love my family!