Guest Blog: Seminary General Conference by Elder Dog Walker

I remember that I was asked to write a Guest-blog about the Seminary kids. Well I found some good pictures of them. These kids are very sweet. I hope that there are certain ones that you think are great.Most of these students sit in wheelchairs. It's great to push them to and from Seminary, because it feels like I'm loving them when I do it and it feels like Heavenly Father and Jesus are taking care of them. (This is the Riverton seminary. I'll talk about the Taylorsville Seminary next time).

Anyway, I wanted to talk about an amazing thing that happened at the Riverton seminary yesterday. Since this weekend, it'll be General Conference, the managers at the seminary thought that it'd be great to get the kids prepared for General Conference this weekend by presenting videos of General Conference and to explain to them that it will be a great opportunity to watch and learn.

Some of the kids in the seminary were very excited to watch General Conference this weekend. I've been praying that these kids will understand the church and General Conference and to learn that it will lead to happiness. Some of the prayer has been answered and I hope that it'll answer the rest before I know it. They even asked me to bear a testimony to them and to help them to know that the church is true and that President Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet and that General Conference will be a great meeting to watch on TV or in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.

I hope that you enjoyed it!

Letters from Teach in Texas

I never get tired of hearing about my sweet girl on her mission in Texas! I hope you don't either. I actually got to email with her for almost 2 hours this week. I'm not sure why, but I'm not going to complain! She is in such a happy place right now. Well, don't take it from me, when I asked her if she had a good week, she said:

yes ma'am! (: It was fabulous. We didn't have a baptism, but we should anytime between now and April 12th. (: Nick told his mom and she wants to come (which is wonderful news) His grandma came to church with him yesterday. Totally Irish Catholic but she is so sweet. She even signed up to feed us and she wants to read the Book of Mormon. (: So many cool things with that. Nick is awesome. (: We had our first real lesson with him and it was filled with the Spirit - he is so committed to this- and when we got in the car the CD turned on full blast and played The Hallelujah Chorus! (: It was one of the funniest yet most accurate moments of my mission. (: 

I don't believe she has ever called me ma'am in her entire life. Must be a Texas thing, because we sure don't hear it much in Utah unless it's from a cashier or something. One thing Teach has definitely gained is a clearer understanding of the scriptures.

Mmmm... Well, that scripture is just one that is always in my mind. I read it again this morning so it was in the forefront of my mind, but yeah... they just float around in my head.  One of the gifts the Lord has blessed me with for being a missionary is the ability to understand the scriptures. I just have this beautiful data base that the Spirit pulls on when I need them. I read the scriptures a lot though and I have prayed for the Lord to help me retain- and He has. (: I really hope I can continue to keep these scriptures in my mind when the mantle is taken away. I actually am working to memorize scriptures. 

I think it might be a part of my gift of organization. I can't really... explain how, but my brain has organized the scriptures in a visual way and it just retains things. I remember the first time my mind caught a hold of that scripture was when Sister Ames shared it during a devotional. Then I just....remember it when I need to stand still. 

But this is my favorite part of what she shared with me this week. I hope it's not too personal for her because I thought it was super cool.

So yesterday was Fast Sunday. I LOVE Fast Sunday. SO much. (: As I was closing my fast I was praying and praying and pondering and praying and pondering again. (it's a process (: ) and near the end I was on my knees and I had asked the Lord what He would have me know. Then I listened. I cleared my mind and just waited. It was interesting because I could sense that the Spirit was shuffling through my memories. Like I imagine it like an office filled with many filing cabinets, drawers, and files. He was looking for exactly what He wanted to place in my heart. These are the phrases and things that came to my mind... in this order and in these exact words.

• This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
• Onward Christian Soldiers... with the cross of Jesus going on before. 
• Everything is gonna be alright, rock-a-bye
• Good job, Kiyna!
• He lives! All glory to His name, He lives my Savior still the same, Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives, I know that my Redeemer lives!
• Count your many blessings
• We can be together forever (song from a really cheesy missionary video)
• Your family past, present and future are rooting for you.
• Your work is pleasing and is affecting generations.

These are the exact thoughts. It is so cool to me to see what the Lord draws on (: Then at the end of my fast as I was walking out of the room... very clearly the phrase came to my mind, "thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed." I now know that these aren't just the workings of my mind but these are words put into my heart by the Spirit. That's so cool!  

I think I need to try a little harder when I fast. :)

Free Donuts at Krispy Kreme

I'm pretty sure we have talked about Krispy Kreme donuts before and I hope you are fortunate enough to have one near where you live! We have one, although it's not that close, it's about a 40-minute drive from our house.

The kids love Krispy Kreme for many reasons, the hats, watching them make the donuts (we can only go there when the HOT sign is on), but most of all, the FREE donuts! Yeah, I said free. Yesterday we stopped on our way to the Drama Queen's play (Baby Doll had to use a potty and we were so close...). We walked out of the store with 4 dozen donuts + the 9 free samples they gave us hot from the oil and we only paid for one dozen.

That's because Krispy Kreme thinks that school and good grades are important! They give the kids a donut for each A up to 6. So I have six kids in public schools and they each received 6 donuts. When the kids earn their donuts, I let them do whatever they want with them. This year Crafty and Princess gave theirs away, but typically it has been a tradition for them to write their names on their boxes with Sharpies the minute we get home so we don't have any trouble. But recently they have begun decorating their boxes. I think Sport spent an hour on his this time. I know the pics aren't great, but his box is covered with all the sports he loves. Curly just put football on his, but doesn't he draw well for a kindergartner?

I only took pics of the boys this time although I'm sure the girls did a great job too. I ought to link this to Krispy Kreme, shouldn't I?! I'm giving them some great free advertising! Which seems fair, since they gave all of us some great free donuts.
Thanks, Krispy Kreme!

Ghosts Make All the Difference

Even the program was blurry and creepy!

Pretty sure I've told you that the Drama Queen is now actually in charge of the Drama Dept at her high school. It's a little school, but still a big job and she takes it very seriously!

She came home this weekend for a few hours even though she had to be back at school to help with Prom on Saturday night. Her Spring One Act play started today and she had to get some props and fix some costumes... you know, all that stuff that a drama teacher does?

She borrowed a shovel and I donated a zipper for one of the costumes because it had broken and she really didn't have time to run by a store and pick up another one. After fixing the zipper she sewed two creepy little dolls that were carried by a couple of extra ghosts in her version of Hamlet. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.

When she finally had everything together, she took off. On her way out the door, she again invited us to come and see her play. She had rewritten Shakespeare. Oh, not the words, but definitely the flavor of the show. She took the original Hamlet play with only the ghost of his father, the dead king, and she added a bunch of new characters (all ghosts) that livened things up a bit (no pun intended). The ghosts were fun and different and they helped explain the show to little ones (like mine) that might not really understand what was going on given the language. It was clever and creative and pretty amazing!

Not the pic I was expecting, but fun anyway!

It took us almost an hour and a half to get there and then we had the other long drive back, but it was definitely worth the time spent. After the play was over we all went out to eat at Wendy's. Drama Queen took a pic for me but forgot to send it to my email so I could include it. Hopefully this will remind her and I will add it. :)

That is if she even has time to read the blog today. She has another performance tonight.
Break a leg!
Not that you need a good luck wish, you are already incredibly amazing, love you, so proud of you!