"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!

Catching Up and Counting Blessings

It has been a very long time since I last posted here on my blog. My life has been such a joy in recent months. As you know, our two Elders came home. Matthew arrived in January from Russia and Jason came home from Los Angeles Spanish speaking mission in March. In between we sent Elder Ryan Otis off on his mission to Everett Washington and cheered on our Senior Hunter Otis in his play Les Miserables. It was a whirlwind to say the least.

It is a joy to have our oldest sons home. They have grown to be fine men and so helpful as always. Matthew plans to attend BYU in the fall and is working at his old job making windows for the summer at Anderson Windows. He lives with friends in Cottage Grove during the week and comes home on the weekends to spend time with us. He is also the Ward Mission Leader.

Jason is still seeking employment. Please remember him in your prayers if you can. While he is looking he's helping me in both our gardens and brushing up on his fishing skills. He keeps our freezer full of fish and I couldn't do without him in the garden. He has made the work so much easier. Now that it's planted and the hot wire is up, he can put all his efforts into his job search. He wants to attend BYU in the winter session.

Hunter has his last concert in High School Choir this week. He has his senior recital on Saturday and his Seminary Graduation on Sunday. He finished his Eagle Scout service project on Saturday! Way to go Hunter. He graduates from High School next week! Wow! He plans on going on his mission next February! We are so pleased he has chosen to serve the Lord.

Ryan is serving the Lord in the Everett Washington State Mission. He is serving presently on Camano Island. It is directly accross from his childhood home in Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island. He is doing great!

Terry has nearly fully recovered from his accident last October. WE thank God each day that he is still with us. He just completed his very first solo project at work and I'm so proud of him. He is such a joy to our family and we love him dearly.

I am now the canning manager for our ward. So much to do and so little time I'm finding. I'm prayerful about preparing our ward for hard times ahead. I'm teaching the sisters how to garden, and store food. I am also teaching bread making classes. In July we'll have a cannery class brought to the church to show everyone how to put dried goods in #10 cans for long term storage. I'm excited about this. I pray that all those sisters involved will gain much needed knowledge that month to prepare every needful thing during these trying times at hand.

Well, that's it in a nutshell. I pray that you all are happily gardening and enjoying the warmth of spring. Tomorrow I post pictures of our beautiful garden as it's first budding out. Soon we'll have green beans! Hooray!

What a Long, Strange Trip......An Evangelical Christian Bridges the Gap!

When I first joined my church as a fourteen year old, I lost all of my friends. My history teacher scoffed and laughed at me. I was constantly under attack and later chose to eat my lunch in the school library. The kids found me one day. They formed a prayer circle around me and prayed for me to see the the light and be saved! I was mortified! I just wanted to crawl under the table and cry.

Many kids thought I was so smart....bookish even. I became weary of the constant persecution and only wished to eat in peace. Those were lonely times for me.

The one thing that kept me going was the fact that I knew what I believed in was true. I couldn't deny it. Spiritually I felt more whole and happier than I had been in my entire life.

I often prayed that my previous childhood friends could see that I was happy and agree to disagree and be friends once again. I prayed they would want to find common ground with me instead of trying to save me. I was still the same person after all. I still believed in Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible.

Today I found the following article in my e-mail and I cried! Cried tears of joy! Finally, some of our brothers and sisters are seeing us for who we are and what we stand for. Perhaps it's a bridge--a beginning. We do care what happens to our country. We do care about our constitution.

Time will tell, but this article below is something I have personally prayed for since I was a young girl of 14, when all the local pastors and priests in my little town told their kids not to speak to me again. I was alone. So alone and yet I wasn't for the very first time in my life! I knew with a certaintly that God lived! I was filled daily with the Holy Ghost and had never felt such joy and it sustained me through many lonely years. God is good! He never shunned me. He loves me still and he loves you too. Never forget it.

Enjoy this gift below. I am so grateful for the contents of this evangelical Christian blog entry, who understands how it is to be a true Christian. May God bless you well Mr. Schroeder.

The following article is by John Schroeder who is a well known Evangelical writer and blogger. He writes his feelings in this article (from his Article 6 Blog) on the Mormons, Prop 8.

What A Long Strange Trip It's Been Posted by: John Schroeder at 07:09 am, November 6th 2008


"Proposition 8 is now a part of the California constitution!

That is probably the best news from an otherwise difficult election for conservatives and Republicans. In very large part, we Evangelicals must thank our Mormon cousins for that fact. They, along with our Catholic brethren, were better organized than us and that pro vided a base from which we could ALL work together to get this job done. What more, as we have chronicled here, Mormons took the brunt of the abuse, derision, and even threats of physical harm that came with this effort.

And like us, they have given thanks to the Almighty that is ultimately in control, even if their understanding of that Almighty is a bit diffrent than ours. I cannot help but wonder how much more thankful we ALL might be today if we had been more willing to embrace these religious cousins a few months ago - but alas, politics is always about governing today and looking
forward to the next election.

Said John Mark Reynolds:

In the battle for the family, however, traditional Christians have no better friends than the Mormon faithful. It would be wrong if that support were taken for granted. We are intolerant of the false attacks on Mormon faith and family. We stand with our Mormon friends in right to express their views on the public square. We celebrate the areas, such as family values, where we agree. A heart felt thank you may not win points from other friends who demand one hundred percent agreement from their allies, but it is the decent and proper thing to do.
Thank you to our Mormon friends and allies!

Hard to do better than that. The "Ruth Youth" ministry proclaimed yesterday "International Mormon Appreciation Day." Very appropriate, yet still inadequate.

In addition to our thanks, Mormons deserve our protection. They have been oppressed in ways during the Prop 8 campaign that this nation has not seen since the 1960's and the civil rights movement. ; The rhetoric has been deplorable, but moreover. we have seen instances of vandalism, property destruction, and some leaders in the fight currently find themselves with armed protection because of the threats made against them and their families. Our nation will not and cannot tolerate this sort of behavior - it is incumbent on all of us to stand against it, and the best way to do that is to stand between the Mormons and the forces that would perpetrate such evil.

"Now I am sure the Mormons can, and probably want, to take care of themselves, but as a Christian, it is my duty to protect the innocent and free the oppressed. To turn a blind eye in this circumstance is not only ungracious, it is simply un-Christian.

Make all the theological distinctions you want, but in the political arena we are yoked with t he Mormons (he said borrowing some religious imagery) and it as darn well time we started acting like it. Absolutely, positively thank the Mormons - but don't stop there. Stand up and be counted against the evil that has been perpetrated towards them in this campaign. As Christians we can do no less."

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