Sandcastles at Cannon Beach

I had a dream this year of going to the beach with my family. I love to walk along the sand and smell the ocean breeze. We live about an hour and a half from the beach so this dream could be a reality. The only problem that I had was getting my family to come along. They are scattered across the United States from the West Coast to the East and so it took some problem solving for me to get them all there.

On Saturday Cannon Beach was having its annual Sandcastle contest. If you have never been I would recommend that you go. They have a children's contest and then a professional contest. We saw everything from sandcastles to turtles, dragons, and even vacation homes made out of the sand. My favorite was the reproduction of the Wizard of OZ.

I hope you enjoy our family pictures at the beach this year. It was a pretty cloudy day and some of us were either overdressed or underdressed for the weather.

The Path to Joy from Jenessa

Ciao tutti!!

Don't worry...I didn't forget to write!! We had to change our pday from Wednesday to Thursday this week because we had zone conference yesterday with Elder Kopische from Germany. It was an incredible spiritual experience, and definitely something I really needed!

This last week has been incredible. Harold's baptism was on Sunday, and the spirit was just so strong!! I asked him during church if he was excited to be baptized and he said, "oh no, no no no, not at all!" and I asked him why, and he said, "doesn't excited mean scared? I am very happy to be baptized!" I laughed and explained to him that excited means to be full of joy. Then as we were waiting for the font to be filled with water, I was talking to Harold and he said to me, "I will never forget you and Sorella Barbiere for finding me, and introducing me to this gospel. Thank you." That really touched my heart.

I've realized how true the words GOLDEN INVESTIGATORS are. Those who are ready for baptism are ready. There's no way to beat around the bush. Harold is a beautiful example of this. He was searching for the truth...he had met with two other priests the same day that he met with us. Every time that he would learn a new principle of the gospel and he would be asked, "will you do it?" he always replied with, "of course!" Anziano Herrick asked him one time why he was always so ready to accept it, and Harold told him, "Because I have to." When we truly understand the gospel, the atonement of Jesus Christ, we truly understand the principles and doctrines of the scriptures. It's so true what Harold said...we do it, because we have to in order to be happy.

I was thinking yesterday about the choices that we make in this life. Whenever we're faced with a trial, we stand at a crossroads, sometimes unsure of what road to take. We may sense a little voice in our head telling us to take one road, but either we're staring off into the road with flashing lights, enticing music and we're so distracted that we can't hear it, or we think that we know better than that voice, so we take another road. As we walk down that road, we begin to stumble. There are rocks everywhere. The incline becomes steeper and steeper, and our burdens become heavier. You ask yourself why you took that path. Why is it so hard? This journey isn't enjoyable as you were promised before. That's when you realize you weren't right, and sometimes that's the hardest thing of all to realize. Then you realize that your burden seems lighter. You turn around and see the crossroads again. There's a book, that voice, leading you down the right path. There are a few bumps along the way, but there seems to always be someone right beside you, wiping away your tears, warming your heart, holding your hand. At the end of the road you turn and see Christ. He was there for you the whole time. Even when walking down that terrible road before. He opens his arms and you fall into him. He tells you that he loves you, and that he felt it all too. This is why i'm here. I've felt the joy from repentance in my life. I'm definitely not perfect still, even as a missionary. But i'm learning every day. I'm so grateful to have Christ in my life. To hold my hand, to tell me that he loves me. I want this for everyone. For them to understand that pain, that heaviness they feel doesn't have to be. Our trials may seem like the hardest times in our lives. We may think that we don't want to go on. But then we turn around and see the right path, the path that brings joy. Our trials may be hard, but we can be happy through them. I bear testimony because I have learned that myself. The power of prayer is incredible, and it has always taken away that heaviness from my heart. Just let go of it all. Christ will take your burdens from you.

Marcelo has been making incredible leaps and bounds. We teach him principles and find out that he has been following them already without even knowing about them. He is having a really hard time though..his landlord told him yesterday that he has to pay his rent or he'll be kicked out of his apartment. We taught him about the priesthood this week, and he asked for a blessing of comfort, so the Anziani gave him one last night. He was literally skipping out of the building (kinda funny because he's a big man) and he said he felt lighter already! He's going through so much right now, but he really understands the meaning of hope and faith.

I love you all so much. This gospel is true. It is full of joy for those who are willing to recieve it. Sometimes recieving it is the hardest thing. If you've lost that joy, look back. I promise you, it's worth it.

Love,

Jenessa

PS...The pictures are of Harold at his baptism, and the Spanish Steps.

Quilting

This year I have been sewing quilt tops for fun. It gets my creative juices going. I was asked by the Humanitarian Project Leader to sew a twin size quilt. She brought over a box of miscellaneous fabric and let me create something to tie for the Relief Society. This is what I came up with...a 25 patch quilt. It is an old pattern that is easy to tie. I worked with what I was given and find that I liked doing it. It is my fifth quilt that I have done this year. This is a picture of the top.

Kristen and I started out making a quilt before she left for BYU-I. She found her favorite fabrics and we put them together in a Christmas quilt. I had the pattern lying around for about a year and thought it would be a fun project to make with her. When she started cutting fabric, I was amazed at some of the combinations she came up with and I really think that the quilt turned out nice. I had it quilted by my friend Diane Richardson who has a Gammel Quilting Machine in her basement. (If you don't know what a Gammel is it is a very large computerized sewing machine attached to a frame that a quilter like Diane can be creative with.) She quilted Christmas trees around the edges and Holly on one of the borders. I really liked what she did and was excited to give her another one to quilt.

For the next quilt I had this Debbie Mum quilting pattern that I had wanted to try out. It was a yellow, green, purple, and pink lap sized quilt with geometric designs on it. Some of the blocks were interesting because each block was different. I loved the end result and gave the quilt to Janilee for her wedding shower. She said that she absolutely loves it. She was teasing Jonathan that she was going to decorate their bedroom to match the quilt. :) Sorry, I don't have a picture of it.

In February I asked my friend Louise Brandley to take a quilting class with me. We made Amish quilts together. Louise had never made a quilt before and this was a beginners class so we had a lot of fun putting our quilts together and shopping for fabric. I did a classical Amish design and Louise made a beautiful quilt out of batik fabrics. Her quilt turned out beautiful and mine was very eye catching as you can see. Diane did some beautiful Amish Quilt designs on this quilt that I just loved. Louise also had Diane quilt her quilt which was a very different design than mine although we both used the same block pattern. Louise was excited about Diane's quilting designs too. Louise is off making another quilt, this time she is doing a rag quilt for her daughter to take to college with her. She picked out some pink and cream flannel fabric and I helped her design her quilt. It is blocks with hearts appliqued onto them that are 'ragged'. I can't wait to see the end result.

I love this store in American Fork called The Quilting Cottage. When I was there last year I found a "Buggy Barn" quilt that I loved and bought some fabric. I finally finished it last month and took it to Diane to quilt for me. This quilt is a variation of Flying Geese with stars in light and dark patterns. I loved the design and colors that are in it. When it gets back from my quilting friend I will post the picture.

Buonjiorno from Jenessa

Ciao tutti,

Another week has come and gone in bella Roma! I don't even know what happened. I'll probably have to check my agenda. But I want to start off with something I do remember...BIG news! We set up a baptism date with our investigator Marcelo two days ago!!! YAY! The spirit was incredible...we brought with us one of our new members Diana. We had planned on teaching the 2nd lesson, and she walked in and saw his coffee maker and told him that he needed to stop drinking coffee and alchohol, and not to smoke. Sooooo we started teaching the word of wisdom, and he completely accepted it, and said he had already stopped smoking recently. Then, Diana told him that he needed to be baptized, and he said that he wanted to do it...not for his ex wife Rosita (our new convert that I love with all my heart...I attached a picture of her with Nadia, my other love) or for anyone else, but for himself. This completely wiped away any of our worries that we had, and we told him that all the sins he had commited, he could be free of again, and we invited him to be baptized and he accepted! The spirit was INCREDIBLE and I have never seen him so happy and smiley (I almost started crying but my companion saw it and said DON'T CRY! haha) So July 12th, Marcelo will become a member! I know that preparing him for baptism is going to be a hard thing. Keep him and us in your prayers so he can be strong! In other good news...Harold is going to be baptized this Sunday! Yay, he is so great. I talked to him on Sunday and he said he's a little scared because he doesn't really know what's going to happen, but that the elders are going to explain it all to him. Yay Harold!!

This week is the end of my first transfer (transfers are every 6 weeks). Transfer calls were this last monday, aaaaaaaaand.....i'm staying in Rome with my companion! I think she was really disappointed because she wanted to go to another city (and she's probably dead from training me!) but i'm trying to be as little of a burden as I can to help her be happy! I'm learning so much that my joy on this mission comes only when I put others before myself. I'm excited to stay in Rome though, I really do like it here! And all the other 4 companionships in my district are changing too, which should be very interesting (and a relief!). We're hoping that things will really turn around! I'm really hoping that we can find some new investigators this next transfer. We had to drop everyone that wasn't making progress, and start over again. So, we pretty much have Marcelo! I'm still trying to figure things out, and how to find people. It's a little true when everyone says Italy is difficult....I hear about every time that I talk to someone, "that's nice, but i'm catholic!" But this work is worth it, if I can only find those people who need me. Keep me in your prayers! Stay strong. God needs this work to spread across the earth, because it's the TRUTH! It's JOY!

Um, what else...we recieved as a gift the best mozzarella on the face of the earth. I'm not even exaggerating. My companion says she eats mozerella every day, and she's never eaten better! The man who we donated blood for, had his son bring it to us from Napoli. It's beautiful...you can see my companion eating it in the picture. The other things we're eating are called arancinis, which are SO SO SO yummy! My companion made them for me yesterday.... you cook rice, and make a ball of it in your hand, and in the middle put red sauce, provologne, and I think the meat was bologna? I'm not really sure. Then, roll the ball in eggs, and then bread crumbs, and FRY IT. Then, you will have a beautiful lunch. Love you all lots!

Finding Time

Ever since we have been back from Hawaii it has been harder to be away from Kerry. Although he is home all weekend and once during the week it seems like I never see him. It is just that I don't see him as much. Our trip to Hawaii helped me to realize how much fun it is to be with him 24 hours a day. I really like my husband and yesterday he said that he thought that I was really fortunate to live with a man who still loves me after 31 years and then he gave me a hug.

This week I have been working on a quilt to take to Relief Society Enrichment night. I was given a big container full of fabric and asked to make a twin size quilt for the Humanitarian services. Today I spoke to the Enrichment leader and I was glad I did because she didn't know about it. The Humanitarian Service leader is out of town and forgot to communicate with her. Communication is really important when you are doing Relief Society projects so that everyone knows what is happening. Like me I was clueless as to the ins and outs of what was going on so I had to start communicating and finding important information out.

End of the Year

It's crazy to think about it but it is the end of another school year. It is that time of year when substitute teachers have to watch out for misbehaving kids who are ready to fly the coop (school) and don't care if they are suspended or expelled as long as they get out early and start their summer vacation. Yep. Believe it or not kids think that way sometimes...I hear it year after year. "I don't care if I get kicked out because it is the end of the year." or "I don't have to work, I'm flunking this class and it won't do any good." or a new one today when collecting signed report cards..."My parents don't care if I get a D...they are great parents...they give me money whether I flunk or not," she announced to the whole class. (Later the same child was competing with the other kids to raise her hand and answer the warm up questions. I think she cares a little bit.) Okay, regarding that last one...I know some kids position themselves to get attention and maybe try to make themselves look a little lower than they really are so they think they can get in good with their peers.

It is about this time of year that the jobs slow down. May and the first part of June are when the teachers rush to get their 2 'free' days in or take their sick leave because they are really exhausted. That means that substitute teachers get lots of calls. For example, I didn't turn the computer service off while I was in Hawaii. I had 51 messages on my machine from the school districts. I can tell it is starting to slow down because I am only getting about 4 calls a day now.

Teachers are some of the hardest working people I know. They don't get paid for half of the things they do and should be paid more. I don't know of any profession that is required to keep going to school after they complete their degree and get another degree to prove that they are a good teacher. In fact I think teachers are one of the most mistrusted professions. They are blamed for kids problems that have nothing to do with them meaning the ability of each child in the classroom.

How does one gauge the work of an individual teacher? Their work is gauged by how well their kids can pass the test. I don't think that testing is the answer to find out if a teacher is doing their job or not because at the beginning of the year a little Russian Roulette goes on when children are placed in a classroom. There are kids of all abilities in a wide range and the test expects children to be in the same category. If an administrator wanted to they could fail the teacher they don't like by giving them all the kids who would make the teacher look bad because SOME KIDS CAN'T PASS TESTS AND OTHER KIDS HAVE THE TALENT TO PASS THE TESTS and before the year begins the records show who can and who can't pass the test that matters...THE WASL. So which teachers win? The teachers that have the advanced children. The teachers that have the 'at-risk' kids are put on the front lines of battle.

Kristen's Blessing

This week had a lot of reminders for me of events in our family.

June 2, 1985 was an eventful day at our house. It was Cherie's 5th birthday and also the day that Kristen was blessed. Kristen was a sweet little baby with a beautiful smile. I have always loved her.

Kristen graduated from High School on June 19, 2003, That is another event anniversary that we remember this month. She graduated from High School with honors and ditto for college.

Next month we will celebrate a big occasion with her. She will graduate from BYU-Idaho on July 24th. We are looking forward to being there and celebrating with her. Wow. I am so proud of all the work that she did to get where she is now. I never thought I would have two Graphic Designers in the family. What is next?