Thanks Giving

Thanksgiving Day for us started with an hour of pure thanksgiving.  We sang a hymn, prayed and expressed our thanks for the many blessings we have been granted.  Then we read letters from children and grandchildren listing the things in their lives they are grateful for.  I read them aloud and SK cried...I read and he cried, and I read and he cried.

I actually get broken up too.  The lists reflected their heart-felt thoughts and feelings.  The lists were absolute treasures.  I put them in plastic pages and we will save them to read again.  For all the Thanksgivings we have had, and considering how much we miss our family, that little "devotional" we had this morning was one of the sweetest.

We went to the center early to get started on the great and wonderful broccoli soup.  Lea, one of dear young friends and called to say that she had a ton of food left over from a luncheon served to her father's employees.  The food was catered by the father of another one of the YSAs, and he makes delicious food.  She wanted to bring it for dinner....I said absolutely.

SK and I wondered what we ought to do with all the fresh broccoli.  Finally we decided to make the soup, freeze it and serve it in the coming months.  SK and I peeled and chopped and put together broccoli soup and I thought it was excellent.  Then the girls came in and shooed me out of the kitchen.  I attended SK's class and just sat and relaxed with everyone else.  It was wonderful.

By the time class was over, the smells coming out of the kitchen were divine.  I went in with everyone else to dish up my plate.  I wish I had snapped a picture.  The table was covered with beautiful and exotic dishes.  The main dish was duck.  There was also duck pate and many other delicious foods.  I loved every single one.  It was a feast.  I had no idea that duck was so delicious!  I am going to order it the next time we are in a restaurant and see if it is as good as it was tonight.

By the time the girls had cleaned everything up in the kitchen and everyone had said their goodbyes and departed, we checked the soup to put it in containers and in the freezer.  We were properly sad to see that it had been completely overcooked and burned on the bottom and was in a word - lousy.  So it was all tossed....so much for the good deal on 10 heads of broccoli.

While in SK's class, a young woman who is here from Portugal and working for an international company made some absolutely wonderful comments, that illustrate to me great faith and a depth of understanding of the gospel.  We were talking about the process of repentance and that, when properly done, the Lord will remember our sins no more.  A young man said that we must remember our sins so that we will not repeat them.

She answered that she doesn't want to remember her sins.  What she wants is to come to love the Lord so very much that sinning is not tempting to her.  She elaborated on it, and did so articulately.  I was inspired by her comments and by her ability to express herself...in another language!

Rebecca was there tonight....she is the one who will be leaving for her mission in England next week before Institute.  She will be speaking Sunday in Church.  I expressed surprise that she would sacrifice the time to come tonight when she will be leaving so soon.  She said she felt that it is more important now than ever to make that effort now that she is practically a missionary.  The full-time sisters called her yesterday and asked her to go with them to teach an investigator.  She had a lot of other things to get done, but she felt she couldn't say no since the whole focus of her life right now is the Gospel and sharing it...so she went.

We are so blessed to be able to work with these amazing young people.  I am thankful for them.  I am grateful for our dear family who have been so encouraging and supportive, and for friends who are constant.  I am grateful for the Gospel and the beauty and strength it gives to life.  I am grateful for a companion who loves what I love and who is a constant in my life.

I love Thanks Giving.