An Eventful Sabbath

Last Sunday was a pretty eventful day for us despite the fact that our church meetings were cancelled. Today was another eventful Sabbath. Malia was asked to meet with a member of the bishopric before church today. She was a bit uncertain about it because this is the first time she’s ever been asked to meet like this, but we reassured her that it was nothing to be worried about and since parents are allowed and encouraged to attend these meetings with their kids, I went with her. The meeting was, as I expected, the extending of a calling, Malia’s very first calling ever. She has been called to serve as the secretary in her young women class. She was apprehensive about it right at the start, but with a bit of time to think it over, I watched her excitement grow. The funny thing to me is that she hadn’t actually even been to her young women class yet. Today was her very first day! 

January is always a busy month since the youth advancements are all done at the beginning of the year now. And since our meetings were cancelled last week, today was extra super busy because there were advancements and ordinations to take care of as well as settings apart for multiple new presidencies in the youth classes. As a result, Kevin and I skipped out on our second hour meetings. We joined the young women class as Malia was set apart and then snuck into the last few minutes of our meetings. Afterwards, we dashed down the hall where Matthew was ordained to the office of priest. We had a family dinner to get to, so the Bishop had him at the top of the list. We also made sure we had Malia’s temple recommend in hand before we left the church.

It was nearly 4:00 when we got home, which meant we only had a few minutes to finish cooking our contribution to this month’s family dinner which was also our celebration of Chinese New Year. The official day isn’t until the 22nd, but my folks will be relaxing in Mexico that weekend, so my mom moved up our holiday a bit. As always, there was a lot of good food and almost all my sibs were in attendance. Darilyn, a cousin once removed of mine who joins with us when she can, made her first appearance for many, many moons and brought her cute new baby with her. Matthew has followed Kenji closely on Darilyn’s Instagram feed and was so very pleased to finally meet him in person!

Later this evening, Nathan, who moved back to Logan yesterday, called us to tell us that he had received his first email about his new calling. He still doesn’t know much, but there are only seven people on the council and they are scattered all over the U.S. They will be meeting via Zoom and after their first meeting, he should have at least an idea of what his calling entails. And he is still so excited!

Sundays are often called a day of rest, but I know that often it is simply a rest from the things of the world. This Sabbath was full of exciting gospel events in my family as well as some quality family time and it was wonderful!

New

This year did not start off with a proverbial bang, but with the gentle hush that accompanied the biggest snowfall we’ve seen in years. I love the quiet that comes with the snow. It muffles the hubbub that is a part of our busy world and makes everything seem a bit more peaceful. Add to that the clean white of newly fallen snow, and it was like the year was starting fresh. As Anne Shirley, heroine of some of my most favorite books ever, would say, “Tomorrow is a brand new day with no mistakes in it.” That’s what starting a new year with a delightful coating of snow felt like. 

The snow fell all day and the snowplows hadn’t made it to the residential areas, so our 1:30 church meetings were cancelled. We didn’t really concur with that decision because it wasn’t that much snow, but then we got two of our cars stuck in the snow right in front of our driveway. That got us a little bit more onboard with our leaders’ decision. 😂 The bishop encouraged all of us to help our neighbors with snow removal, so instead of our normal meetings, everyone in our part of the neighborhood was out and about with snowblowers, shovels, and ATV’s with snowplows clearing the snow. 

I cleaned out the coat closet yesterday and discovered that we still had one of the magnifiers I purchased years and years ago as part of a snowflake watching kit. I thought the boys had lost all of them, so it was a pleasant surprise, one that meant Malia could do some up close viewing of the flakes that were falling. And because there were no official church meetings, Malia got to wear her Converse for the second Sunday in a row.

Although our church meetings were cancelled, the wards with earlier start times still met and the stake presidency was still doing meetings and interviews. Nathan had received an invitation to meet with a member of the stake presidency this afternoon (one of the cars that got stuck in the snow was Nathan coming home). He will move back to Logan on Saturday, so he had no idea what the meeting was about. These kinds of meetings are usually when callings are extended, so he was prepared to tell them that he wouldn’t be able to accept whatever they had in mind for him. When he came home though, he was super excited. The meeting was indeed about a calling, but it is not a stake calling. Nathan has been called to serve on the newly created ASL Institute Council. The council, and the calling, covers the North America region. So definitely not a local calling, but one he can fulfill from wherever he happens to be living.

When Nathan told us his news, both Kevin and I had a strong impression that this is the next part of his missionary service. He had to come home from Texas so he would be in the right place at the right time to meet the right people. The place was the ASL institute class he has been taking. The time was the last time this particular class was held. The person was Rick Jensen, the coordinator and advisor for the ASL seminaries and institutes in the North America region. Bro. Jensen, who is deaf, showed up in the institute class on the last day they met before Christmas and was talking to the young adults in attendance, of which Nathan was one. In November the church created the ASL Board of Education to help support deaf youth and young adults and Bro. Jensen is a member of the committee. The deaf sister who was teaching that class is now the head of the ASL Institute Council.

Nathan has been waiting on the Lord. When he came home from Texas, he knew that was the right choice. When he decided not to apply for a service mission, he knew that was also the right choice. When he applied for and accepted a job, he knew it was the right one. And when he decided to go back to school starting this month, again he received confirmation that he was on the right path. But through all this, he had no idea what the Lord had in mind for him in terms of missionary service or ASL. But the Lord has been orchestrating Nathan’s life, as he does with all of us if we let him, and He has put Nathan right where he needs him to be. Nathan has no idea what this calling entails. It is a brand new council after all. But he is so excited about this opportunity to serve. 

On the flip side, we are starting the new year with yet another run in with Covid. Kevin’s parents have Covid and unfortunately, Kevin was exposed. He is starting the year all masked up and counting the days to when the necessary Covid tests should be done. I know this is just our new world, one where Covid has joined flu and RSV to make a mighty triumvirate of common diseases that tear a swath through society every fall and winter, but the scare campaigns of 2020 have worked far too well in my mind and I’m still dealing with the fallout of those tense days. I’m working to get my anxiety under control though. I guess that’s one of my goals for this new year: let go of the unnecessary and unwarranted fear and anxiety that seems to crop up far too often. That is certainly easier said than done, but I’m working on it. And I know the Lord will help me in my efforts.

So new year. New snow. New calling. New goal. That makes for a pretty eventful day. 

Sing, Wiggle, Repeat

I just got a new(ish) calling. Once again I will be a primary chorister. It’s good thing this is a calling that doesn’t freak me out or make me feel completely overwhelmed because I’m still the choir director too…guess it’s time to dust off the file boxes and pull out the wiggle worms.