The Often Rainy Month of April Turned Out Rather Successful

School update:

The roads dried quickly last week allowing more days of school than expected. We only missed one day due to rain rather than three. That was a welcome surprise.

Good Book:

However, school or not, we found time to read, read, read. One of Amy’s favorite books is Be Happy by Hank Smith. A few tips to brighten your day that he suggested were to write down three things each day for which you are thankful, recognize your trigger points and start to be proactive rather than reactive in response to them, when trying to change behavior, it takes 15 days and no less to make a new pattern. There were of course many other tricks for a happier self. It was very entertaining so I’ll let you discover the rest yourself.

Ranch update:

Below is a new baby horse at El Quebracho. We see plenty of terrneros (baby cows), but this is the first fowl we’ve noticed.

 

 So sweet!

Service:

One of the sisters in our branch has only one skirt to wear to church so the Relief Society President asked me to make a pattern for the sisters in the branch to use to make another one for her. Service can make one happy.

Is that a porta-potty in the middle of the road? 

Wow… Yes it is! What could possibly be the rationale behind putting a porta potty in the lane of traffic? Hmmmm….It would be safer for the workers on the other side of the outdoor facility. Hmm... What else? If I were a road worker, I would not lollygag at all, but get right down to business because there are plenty of ancient vehicles on the road that could feasibly lose their braking capacity at any moment. Okay, that must be it! Put the porta potty where workers will be reluctant to spend much time and they'll get back on the job quickly. 

At least they have an appropriate arrow to guide us around their privy because otherwise, we just might not know to go around. :)

What do you say to earnest seekers of truth who have been told that the Bible is complete and anyone attempting to "add" to the holy work is evil.

The Book of Mormon does not add or take away words from the Bible, but rather it supports it contributing another testimony of Christ from an entirely different nation. Why murmur about having two witnesses to the same glorious event (the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ)? Why reject a supporting explanation of how we can overcome sin and error and return to our loving home in heaven. God has commanded prophets in many lands throughout time to write the truths of eternity. The Bible and Book of Mormon are just two of them, and coming from the same source, they will teach and clarify the same principles. Cool if you think of it in that context don't you think?

New way of assigning visiting teaching:
For those of you reading this blog who do not belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I will explain what visiting teaching is. The women's organization is called the Relief Society. The President of the Relief Society is asked to oversee the women under her stewardship. In order to reach all of the women (we call them sisters), the visiting teaching program is organized so that every sister has a "friend" who visits her home and seeks ways to help and uplift their friend. Visiting teachers are called in pairs.

So, yesterday, the Relief Society President asked who went visiting teaching for the month of April. No one had...nada...no one! So rather than getting upset, she said, "Let's change everything." Then she and her counselor proceeded to ask who would like to visit with whom and who would they like to visit? With a few additions and suggestions from the president, the women were all reassigned. (I was included as a visiting teacher but am too far away for visitors to come here.) 

I've been a Relief Society President a few times, so I know how beneficial and important the visiting teaching program is, but I've never seen assignments divvied out in such a way and so quickly. It usually takes hours of thinking, pondering, and planning. Way to think out of the box Feliciano Branch Relief Society!