Our Russian Missionary

A couple of mornings ago I was checking my facebook and I had a "friend request" from a girl. I didn't recognise her name but I noticed that she was in the Novosibirsk Russia Network. So I accepted it thinking that it must be someone from Mindys mission. I opened her page and everything was written in Russian except the status at the top which was in English and said, "My baptism will be on Saturday at 3 o'clock p.m. Invite you! :-)" I was so excited when I realized who this was. Mindy and her companion have been working with a young gal named Donna. In Mindys recent emails over the past few weeks she has asked us to pray that Donna would decide to accept the gospel and be baptised. This was such a neat surprise to read on her facebook that she has decided to get baptised.

Then I looked at her photos on FB. And the first one that came up was this one with Mindy. (Notice Mindys shorter haircut)
So I made a comment back to Donna thanking her for putting a picture of Mindy on her facebook so that I could see her. She wrote back and said this about Mindy:

"She is great! we have a lot of fun! I feel S. Gneiting change my life! And that's sooooo awesome!!! And Mindey’s mom can be proud for daughter.

We love and take care about her."

Then she said. "you can watch the album called "awesome!!!!!!!!!" on my page." (Which I assumed she meant to go look at her photos again, which I did and she had just put up some new ones of her and Mindy.)

I think the one above is Mindy and her companion (on the right) with Donna.

And this one below is Mindy with one of the Senior Sisters.

This looked like it was a party of some kind with some of the local members.

(Mindy is on the left in purple. Donna is at the end of the table)

Then in Mindy's last email she gave me the address for a blog of one of the senior couples there in her mission. So I checked it out and it is really fun to read. They update it frequently so I will be able to keep tabs on what is going on thre. They write alot and put alot of pictures on which is nice for us to read and see and understand what Mindy is experiencing. (Thanks Elder and Sister Simmons)

This picture was on their blog so I kinda stole it off (I hope that was alright Elder Simmons :) This was taken at their zone conference they had recently. Mindy is the 4th from the right on the back row.

I believe that all of these things were once again little "tender mercies" that the Lord has sent to assure me that Mindy is doing well and is where she is suppossed to be and doing what he needs her to do. I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that understands us and knows how to comfort and send us peace. We are so pleased with Mindy and her desire to serve the Lord and we know that she is going to be a great missionary and that she is an instrument in the Lord's hands as she brings the truth and the Lord's love and happiness to the great people of Russia.

Our Little Buddy

Joe and I just love this little guy. He is really growing and getting so big. He has started to smile and you all know how those little smiles just warm your heart.

We just cant get enough of him. We got to see him last weekend. He is so precious!

Yay for Bumpo Seats!!!

This last picture is "the boy" sitting and watching Baby Einsteins. He is going to be brillant . . . just like his grandma!!! hahahaha Isnt this picture so cute?!

13 ARTICLES OF MORMON CULTURE

A friend sent this to me in an email and I just had to share it with you all. I thought it was pretty funny!! ENJOY!!


13 ARTICLES OF MORMON CULTURE


1. We believe SUVs and minivans to be our form of transportation, and in 
knee length shorts -- which are always nice and, of course, . . . . in multilevel
 marketing.


2. We believe that church ball players should be punished for their own 
fouls, and not for unsportsmanlike aggression.


3. We believe that through bread crumbs, cheese, creamy soups, and rice, all 
casseroles can be saved through obedience to ward cookbooks and creativity 
in the mixing bowl.

4. We believe that the first layers and ingredients of the Dip are: first,
beans; second, cheese; third, chopped tomatoes; fourth, the gift of sour
cream; fifth, olives; sixth, salsa; seventh, guacamole, that is, if you have 
it. 


5. We believe that a Mormon should have a distinguished or a cute name, that 
it's appropriate to name a child after a church leader or a historical 
figure including an ancestor, that alternative spellings and French prefixes 
only add to a name, and that when referring to the names of General
 Authorities, middle initials should be a part thereof.



6. We believe in the same wall decor that exists in many Mormon homes,
 namely, framed family proclamations, vinyl lettering, inspirational word
signs, family photos, pictures of temples and Jesus, and so forth. 



7. We believe in the gift of re-gifting: church books, crafts, family 
photos, baked goods, emergency supply kits, and so forth.



8. We believe in sparkling grape juice -- so long as it is non-alcoholic; we
 also believe in bringing root beer and sprite to ward and all other parties.



9. We believe in all that we have scrapbooked, all that we will now
 scrapbook, and we believe that 
we will yet scrapbook many great and important things pertaining to our 
family, friends, pets, and vacations.



10. We believe in the literal mixing of ketchup and mayo and in the generous
 application of ranch dressing; that CBAs (church-based acronyms) will be 
used to describe YM/YW, PEC, the Y, NCMO, and CTR; that Mitt Romney will get 
Mormons to vote for him any time he runs; and, that the Mormons will enjoy
 reading Twilight and The Work and the Glory.





11. We claim the privilege of trying to identify common acquaintances with
 any visitor at church, and allow all other people at church the same
 privilege; we also believe in name dropping the names of famous people and 
general authorities how, where, or what we may. 




12. We believe in being subject to scoutmasters, pampered chef hostesses,
 and the writers of the U.S. News and World Report Rankings for professional
 schools, and in obeying, honoring, and sustaining Glenn Beck.





13. We believe in being above average, good at crafts, optimistic, and being
 fifteen minutes late everywhere we go. Indeed, we may say that we follow BYU
 football. We believe rumors about famous people joining the church, we hope
 to meet the three Nephites, we have endured many pyramid schemes, and hope 
to be able to endure all pyramid schemes. If there is anything cheap, free,
 sold in bulk, or given away when somebody is moving, we seek after these
 things.

Two posts from me in one day - aren't you all lucky?!?

I got this recipe from HERE. I thought it looked like a fun cake for this time of year. I haven't tried it yet so if anyone does let me know how it tastes.

Spice Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Spice Cake Mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 2 tubs Duncan Hines® Creamy Home-Style Classic Vanilla Frosting
• green, red and yellow food coloring
• 1 flat bottom ice cream cone

Baking Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs, water and pumpkin in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in nuts. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 25 minutes. Invert onto serving plate. Cool completely.
4. Measure 1/4 cup frosting into small bowl. Tint with green food coloring. Place ice cream cone upside down on waxed paper. Frost with green frosting. Refrigerate.
5. Tint remaining frosting with red and yellow food coloring until frosting is desired orange color. Measure 3 tablespoons orange frosting in small bowl; add green food coloring to brown frosting.
6. Frost cake with orange frosting. Make eyes, mouth and nose with brown frosting as desired on pumpkin. Place green frosted ice cream cone in center hole of cake for stem.

Food Storage

Do your food storage shelves look like this?


Would you like them to look like this?
I have been feeling lately like I really need to get on top of my food storage. But sometimes it just seems so overwhelming and like such a big task. But with the way things are in our country right now I think it is more important now than it has ever been to be prepared. We have been told for years to have our food storage and for the first time in my life I am actually feeling like it is possible that we may all actually need to fall back on it for one reason or another.

One of my friends (thanks Sam I hope you dont mind me sharing) had a post on her blog about this very thing and she had a link to a Basic Food Storage Plan that is do-able, affordable, and not so overwhelming.

By the end of 52 weeks you will have:

700 lbs of wheat, 240 lbs of sugar, 40 lbs of powdered milk, 13 lbs of salt, 10 albs of honey, 5 lbs of peanut butter, 45 cans of tomato soup, 32 cans of mushroom soup, 15 cans of tuna fish, 10 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 500 aspirin, 730 multiple vitamins, 6 lbs of dried yeast, and 6 lbs of shortening. This should sustain 2 people for 1 year. All for only $5.00 a week. (Add $5.00 for each additional 2 people in your family.)

You can find the list HERE.

I just wanted to share this with you all. I am going to get started on it right away. We never know what the future has in store for us yet we have no need to fear if we are prepared.

If any of you have any other great ideas about food storage or even 72 hr kits please share.

Just a few of my thoughts

Obviously we all love blogging.

It is such a great way to keep in touch with family and friends. I enjoy so much going to all of your blogs and seeing what you are doing and how your families are growing and changing.

It is so nice to keep in touch with family members that normally I wouldn't see or talk to very often. And yet through your blogs I know you and your families as if you live right next door.

I have been able to reconnect with friends that I haven't seen in years and now, through your blogs, I feel as though I am all caught up on what you have been doing for the past 30 yrs, and it seems like we are still as good of friends as we were way back when.

New friends or old, good friends or acquaintances - I love you all and you touch my life each day in some way through your blogs.

Some of your posts are informative ~ some are creative and fun.

It is fun to go to different blogs and see how you have "decorated" them with your own personal touches.

Some of you have recipe blogs that I use all of the time. Some of you have links to other fun blogs and websites that I enjoy going to. Thanks for sharing! It is amazng to me that we have this technology and that we can be a part of this blogging world.

In the Ensign this month is a great article on blogging. It is entitled, "Finding and Sharing the Gospel Online" and you can find it HERE.

It talks about how we can do even more with our blogs and make a difference one post at a time.

Some of the topics are:

* Blogging about the church in Everyday Life

* Being a Blogging Missionary

* Creating Blogs about Full-Time Missionaries

(Here is Mindys blog if you are interested in following her)

* A Strong Medium for Sharing Testimony

* Safety tips for Better Blogging.

I encourage you all to read this article and maybe we can all find ways to use our blogs not only to uplift and strengthen each other but to also use them to reach out and share Heavenly Father's love and truth of the gospel.

"We have entered a new age of technology, so we have new avenues of missionary work open to us. With a little creativity and boldness, we can help others to learn more about the gospel." ~quote from 'Be a blogging missionary'