"Give Me The Strength to Hold On Just a Little Longer"

There is always someone who needs us in this world. Anytime I'm hurting I ask Heavenly Father to send me someone I can help, so I can stop feeling sorry for myself and lighten my own burden. Without fail, He always comes through for me.

I love how He works miracles in our lives! The key is to recognize the miracle and go with it when it happens. Or perhaps go one step further and act on that knowledge and bless someones life and your own, by helping them out.

As I've been reading all the articles about Haiti, I'm blessed by the stories of fortitude, service, faith and the inner strength of the members of the LDS church. How I wish I could hug a sweet sister named Charles Marie Murielle. Her words and description of the quake and destruction touched me deeply. Most of all, the way she described the spirit and how calming it was when others were screaming and crying, comforted me in my own personal battle with pain.

Her words, as quoted by Meridianmagazine.com were as follows, "Give me the strength to old on." I had the spirit whisper to me, in addition to that, to add another quote by a great man of God President Dieter F. Uchtdorf-- "Hold on a little longer". I put them together for the title of this article. It was magic to my ears as I read it out loud! The spirit comforted me and gave me strength to keep going today. The reason? Today was a painful day for me. Now my spirit is a little lighter and willing to keep going. I'm grateful for this little miracle today.

I wish I could hug that sweet sister I quoted, bring her into my home and share everything I have with her and her family. I would if it were possible. I pray she is safe, and can be a nurse like she wants to so badly one day. What a comfort she is and will be for so many. I feel it's true.

I pray for the Saints and all the good people of Haiti-- to heal and have shelter, food and clothing. I pray for the volunteers to have strength and to hold on a little longer when they want to lay their heads down and sleep from exhaustion.

Heavenly Father is well pleased, when His children help each other and give of themselves unselfishly.

Sister Murielle, I wish you knew that you made a difference in my life today for the better. I'll be praying for you and your country, in the years to come. May God bless you and keep you safe.


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After you read my blog entry, please go to the above link and read about our brothers and sisters in Haiti. Don't forget your Kleenex, you'll need it. Then read the following article talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. You won't be disappointed!

A Call for Articles and Recipe's

This is an official call for articles. You don't need to be a professional writer either--although you are very welcome to submit if you are. The content of your story is what is important. I'll help you with the rest. Please read further down for details.

It is a comfort to be prepared for unemployment, long term illness, foul weather and a failing economy. But I want to go one step further. I want to promote hope. Hope buoy's us up and keeps us going in hard times like these.

I am asking for donated articles about food storage. Uplifting stories about miracles and about how having food storage has helped your family in times of need. I'm also in need of recipe's using food storage to place between the pages. All stories need to be less than 750 words. Some exceptions will be made of course--especially with regards to recipe's.

If you are interested, e-mail me at valora.otis@gmail.com . The deadline for this has been extended to November 1st 2009. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!

"Cultivate Within You, The Attitude of Gratitude"

Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. My parents joined us for the first time in many years and it was memorable for us all. We also had the blessing of taking our son Ryan to the temple for the first time. He was such a ray of sunshine that day. So happy and so grateful to be with us in the house of the Lord. I will never forget that day.

This was a week of Thanksgiving like no other for our family. We are all deeply thankful that our dear husband and father of my children, Terry Otis is still with us after his unfortunate accident in October.

Today is his first day back to work. I felt such an ache in my heart as I sent him back into the world. It's been two months since his accident. It's been a time of fear, pain, suffering, elation, spiritual healing and gratitude for us all. So many emotions have been shared. So many miracles have been acknowledged during his convalescence.

We have learned something important. We know that there are no coincidences--only miracles. The more you become aware of these miracles, the more you see them. It's amazing! Start giving God the credit and you see more. Try it and your eyes will be opened today. Then be thankful in your prayers and the spirit will fill you too.

Our family has seen miracles from the moment Terry was hurt to this very day. This day is a miracle when a man who was in a motorcycle accident returned to work so quickly and nearly healed from all his injuries. I am filled with thanksgiving that he is whole and happy and getting back to the day to day task of supporting his family.

When I think of miracles, gratitude fills me and I know what my evangelical friends are so fond of expressing is true. God is good!

This mindset didn't come to me overnight. After the initial shock of the accident wore off a few weeks ago, I felt myself falling into despair as I became angry and even felt vengeful. I'm human right?

When I thought of the woman sitting at home unharmed after turning her SUV in front of my husband who was on an errand to pick up medicine for our son. I was angry because Terry was in excruciating pain after his hand surgery-- which she caused. I couldn't seem to get the pain under control with several medications the doctors had given him. This is a kind hearted man who always goes out of his way to help others and was never angry at the woman once!

I had to work through my feelings with the help of our beloved Heavenly Father. I begged for the anger to be taken from me. It didn't happen overnight either. I prayed daily. Some time after asking for help, information found it's way to me about the woman who had hurt Terry...

She hasn't been able to drive herself to work since October 3rd, the day of the accident. She has been shaken to her core by fear of hurting another person. Her daughter was cut by flying glass and is healed quickly, thank goodness! We found this out innocently by renting a rug cleaner at our local rental store. The clerk is the neighbor of the woman was the driver of the SUV.

We could have gone to the other rental place in town that day. I feel we were meant to gain comfort with the knowledge we innocently gleaned from the rental clerk at her insistence. Such tender mercies swept all pain from our hearts as compassion filled us up for this woman who was suffering so much. I pray for her daily now. We all do.

There is so much good in the world today. It would be easy to get derailed by this unfortunate accident our family experienced. Instead we choose to see the good now and not be changed forever by the bad. It's a choice we must all make when bad things happen to us in our lives.

This week I read a quote from President Monsen that I'm posting below. I hope it touches you as it has touched me. I pray you have a very good Monday.

"This is a wonderful time to be living here on earth. Our opportunities are limitless. While there are some things wrong in the world today, there are many things right, such as teachers who teach, ministers who minister, marriages that make it, parents who sacrifice, and friends who help.

"We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues"
President Thomas S. Monsen. Ensign, May 1992, p. 54

Our Elders in Russia and Los Angeles! Letter Day!

From now on I'll be posting my two missionaries letters on Wednesdays! If you see XX you'll know that I'm trying to keep private names private. Miracles have happened this week in Jason's life while serving in Los Angeles. He has the calling of District Leader and Missionary. Matthew is wearing two hats as well as Branch President and Missionary. He is watching his tiny branch grow and hearts change for the better in Russia. We feel blessed as a family to have sons who love the Lord and are willing to serve for two years as full time missionaries.

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Hey all!

So this week I met someone of special interest to me. Our Bishop in the Santa Monica 1st ward told us about someone earlier this week who had been less active for some years but recently decided that he wanted to come back to church. He said his name was Chad. Now, the first person I thought of when I heard that last name was one of the councilors in our Stake presidency from back in the day. I'm sure you remember him. Well I didn't think much of it after that until just yesterday when I got to meet Chad for the first time. We got to talking and found out that he has a smoking addiction and really wants to get rid of it. In the process of talking he of course asked where I was from and when I said Minnesota he said "Oh yeah? Me too!" He then asked if I knew his father from the St. Paul Stake. I said "Yeah, I love that man." He then said "That's my dad". AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! WHY IS THE WORLD SHRINKING!!!???? I cannot tell you how excited I was to meet this guy! I had heard a long time ago that XX had a less active son. Now I get to help him come back to church! Amazing!!!!! How does this stuff happen!? If anyone ever tells me that God doesn't exist from now on I'm going to laugh in their face!!! God does exist and He is watching out for every last one of us.
So that was one of the interesting things that happened this week. I'm going to have to type up a letter to finish all of my stories for this week. I just don't have the time to write it all.
I'm sorry to hear about what's happening with the XX family. I sometimes wondered how XX would feel when she found out about that. I know she'll be fine though. Especially now that she's married and all. MARRIED! WEIRD! I wish I could talk to her. Oh well, I'll get to soon enough I guess. 5 1/2 months! HA! NOT COUNTING! NOT COUNTING! ; )
Anyway, I'm still here in Malibu with Elder Schneiter. I'll be sending some pictures pretty soon so you'll get to see what he looks like. Right now we have about 7 investigators that will probably start to progress soon. It's pretty exciting. I'll be meeting with Chad this evening to start his quit smoking program. It's gonna be awesome! He's really got the desire to work hard for this. He knows the gospel, he just hasn't been living it. He said he's getting to that age where he feels like he needs to start taking care of himself. Yippee!
Okay well I'm gonna write a letter to Ryan now. Probably Hunter as well. I'm glad to hear that everyone is so happy over there. I can definitely see the blessings that have come from serving a mission. I know as well that there are many more that we don't see or haven't even come yet. So keep up the good work everybody. You're all doing awesome! I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder J. Otis
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Now, a letter from our Russian Missionary Son

Hey Family!

Glad to hear that Ryan's papers will be coming in soon, I can't wait to hear from you guys. About my phone number...I forgot to write it down (I have a cell phone so I don't know any numbers lol), but what you can do is look up the email I sent you in may, it's the same number and everything so, it will work. But maybe I'll look it up and send you and e-mail real quick tomorrow or something. Just make sure you call me after 8:30pm, or before 11:00am my time, I am always home at those times.

Thats sad to hear about the hurricane, the U.S. just keeps getting pummeled by Hurricanes, seems like there is one every year. Well, signs of the times I guess. If Russia ever gets a big earthquake they're done for. All of their buildings will crumble to the ground. Well, thanks for the inspiring emails this week, I got a lot! I felt loved =).

Well, the mission is going good. Missions are so interesting, they are always changing, and you are always learning something new. Sometimes they seem to slow down and you think you are learning much, but in reality if you are working hard something is always happening. And the times when things are going fast, you don't even realise that you are improving, but you are. Anyway, I've been in this area for a long time, and while I don't feel much different I know that I have improved a ton since the day that I came in to Pervouralsk. I am grateful to be serving here, it has been amazing. Well, I am trying to get FHE going in both cities to help bring the members closer together. Also, I am going to be working on the home teaching out here, on saturday we had a Priesthood conference, and it was all about Home Teaching. I was writing notes like mad, everything was great. Home Teaching is exactly what this branch needs, the blessings that President Allen talked about in his talk that come from Home Teaching are exactly what we need out here. The problem is that a lot of people have tried to start up home teaching(including me), and none of the members have done anything with it or been excited about it. So we are going to start talking about it often in Priesthood meeting, and I'm am going to try and motivate them and be excited about it. Andre and I can help it get started. And when it does, the work is going to move forward a lot faster. We just need strong families, we only have part families here, and not a lot of them. We need to baptize a few whole families, that would be a miracle and a great help to the branch. There just isn't a lot of stability and we need that to keep growing strong.

I don't think I need hand-warmers, Mama Jo and PapaDe sent me a bunch last winter and I didn't use them. I just wear small mittens and keep my hands in my pockets and they stay warm. Anyway, I've got a voice recording, I recorded it on the street so I hope you can hear, my Russian was kind of sucky in it since I didn't know what I wanted to talk about so it was stupid lol. I'll send you a recording of me reading in Russian, that will be cooler. Well, have a nice week!

Matt

Cultivate an Attitude of Happiness!

“I believe [the Lord] is saying to each of us, be happy. The gospel is a thing of joy. It provides us with a reason for gladness. Of course there are times of sorrow. Of course there are hours of concern and anxiety. We all worry. But the Lord has told us to lift our hearts and rejoice. I see so many people . . . who seem never to see the sunshine, but who constantly walk with storms under cloudy skies. Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine” (Gordon B. Hinckley, “If Thou Art Faithful,” Ensign, Nov. 1984, 91–92).

I felt such joy as I read Gordon B. Hinckley's quote! It is only as we look to Christ and His example, that we can deal with all that life throws our way some days.

There are times when I'm asked how I can be so happy? I answer that I have given my worries and my fears to my Savior when I can no longer carry them myself. I choose to look for the light and the good in my life rather than dwell on the pain, the suffering and the lack of.

My life then flows with blessings and as I count them they are without number! We can each do the same. From the smallest thing to the most magnificent!

I can find the love of what our Heavenly Father has given me in plain dirt if I have to! yes! Dirt! A handful of dirt has millions of granules each with a purpose, each with a history! That dirt can be carried to the far corners of the world and grow almost about anything that is planted in it with a little care and some water and sunlight.

I often stand in my veggie garden in my bare feet feeling the dirt between my toes, it's soft, warm goodness all around me-- growing my tomatoes, zucchini, green beans and water melon too! Flowers blossom, bugs wriggle through it as I stand in one place watching miracles pop up all around me in a whirl of life. I imagine my cares going into the dirt through the bottoms of my feet. Soon I forget what was bothering me as I bend to pull a weed.

I challenge each of you to look for the love of our Father in heaven in your daily life too. Look for the miracles that abound all around you. Let the hours of concern and anxiety be smaller. Dwell on the possibilities of life and learn and grow doing something you love. Seek those things that will make your spirit sing! Let go of the past, the pain and the negative. It will leave you if you let it. Then allow our Saviors love to encompass you in all it's sweetness. I know you can.....I did it and if I can, anyone can do it too.