I am in love with this game! I bought it over two years ago for gameschooling, but it took us until now to play it as a family. I played it three times in a row recently as part of our family reunion, and then the next day I played it again once with just my grandsons. It’s that fun!
Here’s a video showing the basics of the game.
It’s a great game for the whole family. You don’t have to be able to read so prereaders can join. My five-year old grandson enjoyed playing it. It involves tile drawing and laying to make patterns that give you points.
It even has expansions. See the list here. I hear the best ones are the Inns and Cathedrals and the Traders and Builders.
The guys from Dice Tower go into a deep dive of Carcassone below.
So if you are looking for a fun game that involves all ages, one that has strategy and luck, with beautiful components, AND on top of that, is easy to learn and explain, look no further. Play Carcassone! It’s based on a real city, and the illustrations really look the the real place.
It would be fun for gameschooling to pair it with some books on knights, monks, and medieval times.
It’s interesting to note that this was the game that first introduced the word “meeple” which is a kind of pawn. It is as a contraction of “my people.” At my recent game night we played Kingdomino which also uses meeples. I dropped one of them and asked someone to pick up my meeple, and my friend thought I said to “pick up my meatball.” She had never heard the word “meeple” before. So she learned something new. She loves games but favors card games so had never encountered a meeple before.
If you want to go into more of a deep dive, watch the video below and learn why sometimes it can’t be fun. He does have some valid points. I can see that if I played this game with people who who can memorize all the tiles that are available and played aggressively it might not be as fun.
July is over, but I feel like sharing more missionary moments, after the ones I shared here, here, and here. These are stories of people learning of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Today’s story involves a Jewish woman who was living in Philadelphia, working at the Independence National Historic Park. Her friend introduced her to a young man, her co-worker, who didn’t drink or smoke. The friend said that he was a courteous date who always dropped his date off at the doorstep with a goodbye kiss, nothing more.
Harriet Rosser Kirkland, the woman, says, “I attended Northeastern University in Boston, where I completed a B.A. and M.A. in History. For me, these years, from 1969 to 1976, were filled with rebellion and searching. As I look back I can characterize this time as one of spiritual darkness. I felt something lacking in my life but did not know where to turn.”
Harriet didn’t realize what she was in for when she met this man. One day at work, they were talking about history. she says, “He then asked me what I knew about the American Indians. I responded that I had very little knowledge. Paul told me he had just the book for me and it was an all-time best-seller. The following day he gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was quite different from any book I had read.”
Go here to read the whole story, from which I took the above quotes from. It was published in the July 1986 Ensign magazine, and is titled, “A Book Different From Any Other.”
You can listen to Harriet/Sister Kirkland, tell her story here. It’s fabulous!
Want more missionary stories? Go here to get my free Family Devotionals Ebook, then go to the July section.
What is the Nemenhah record? It is a document that some people believe to be scripture. They believe it to be a parallel record of the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. In other words, it covers the same time period that the Book of Mormon does, but supposedly it was written by other people who lived at the same time and witnessed some of the same events. It’s like the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible cover the same time period in the same place, the time and place when Jesus walked the earth, but they were each written by different people. The Nemenhah record has some of the same stuff in the Book of Mormon, and then things that aren’t in the Book of Mormon. I have two friends who are completely enamored with it. They say it contains a blueprint for living a Zion society. They say it answers questions of where Hagoth went. That it shows that Corinaton has a different story in this book as well as Samuel Lamanite. They say it was translated from records in San Pete County Utah and shown to Brigham Young.
I, however, am skeptical of it. I talked to Rod Meldrum of bookofmormonevidence.org about it. He gave me the red flags he has seen for why he doesn’t believe it is of ancient origin.
These videos I have here in this post show the reasons why I’m skeptical, in addition to what Rod told me.
The chief reason is what Connor says above around the 31 mark, namely that we Latter-day Saint Christians have not fully, 100% completely accepted the Book of Mormon. Until we do, we will not be receiving any additional scriptures. We are still under condemnation for not fully believing and acting on the Book of Mormon.
Doctrine and Covenants 84:57-58:
“And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—
“That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion.”
Then in the video below, around the 35 minute mark, we see Adam Boyle’s repsonse to the Nemenha record. He talks about the doctrine of Christ which is in 3 Nephi 11 of the Book of Mormon. He compares that with the doctrine of Christ in the record of Oug in the Nemenhah record. He shows how the Nemenhah record does not line up with the doctrine of Christ given in the Book of Mormon. He says that it looks like someone took verses from the Book of Mormon and then adds more words to mansplain the verses.
So definitely for now, I’m holding off on accepting it as an ancient record inspired by God, because of those reasons. I could be wrong, we shall see.
Let me know what you think after watching both the videos, in the comments below.
It’s August! Time to recap my thrifting hauls from July 2026. Here are the treasures I was blessed by God to find last month at thrift stores. It was Thriftmas in July!
I get a bit chatty as I describe the stuff so if you want to cut to the chase, just look at the photos and read the words in bold. Skip all my descriptions that give you a museum tour of my life with social studies/cultural and church history lessons/stroll down my memory lane/deep dive into the miscellany of a homeschooling LDS mom of 7/almost empty-nester life.
Above we see one of my July hauls at the Provo Deseret Industries (DI), one of my happy places.
–The flowery thing is a dress. $6 minus 15% off. Perfect for summer with my floral beige sandals. I have been wanting more dresses. If you take a survey with the code on a receipt from a previous purchase, you can get 15% off clothing on your next purchase. So that’s how I got the 15% off.
-a little matching word game by Usborne, $1, to play with my emerging reader grandchildren, current and future. I love Usborne books and products, which is why I have sold them a few times as a consultant. I generally pick up Usborne items whenever I can find them when thrifting. It’s basically a Memory game with words and pictures. Years ago my married daughter got the Usborne alphabet book with these same farm family characters for Christmas from her grandparents.
-Snowflake Bentley (!), for $1. I bought a copy of this book over a decade ago through a homeschool friend and after three moves I can’t find it. So I’m thrilled to have a copy again for just $1. Balance restored! One of my all-time favorite picture books, as Snowflake Bentley was homeschooled and created beauty in life, all because his mentor mother nurtured his passion. It’s a family tradition to read it aloud every winter for homeschooling and read it aloud in whatever homeschool co-op class I’m teaching, then make paper snowflakes. It is definitely going to be added to my hygge for winter picture book collection that I use to decorate my front room/school room/office/dining room in January, which you can see all here. One photo is below. I had to borrow a copy of Snowflake Bentley from the library last year to use.
–The Missionary Companion for $1 will go into a birthday care package for my missionary son. He’s got 8 months left!
–He Lives,$2, with music by Hilary Weeks, is to add to my Easter picture book collection. $2.
–The Star Wars craft book, $2. To give to my married daughter at Christmas. I found out that she likes to celebrate Star Wars day, May 4th, with Star Wars-themed stuff with her family of husband and three little boys, so this will be perfect for that.
–The Christmas Wish, $2. I got a copy of this a few months ago when thrifting. Now I have two. I will give one away at Christmas time to a minsiteree sister in a thrifted gift basket. I read it a few years ago when I found it at the public library. It’s a heartwarming Christmas story.
–Following the Light of Christ Into His Presence by John Pontius, $2. I read this years ago and loved it. I highly recommend it! It is the best book on how to feel the love of God. I will be giving this book to one of my children at Christmastime or maybe to my missionary son. It is sooooo good!
I have a friend, Terri, whom I met over 25 years ago when I was a young mom, at church. While she was living in my ward/congregation, she met John online and then married him and moved to Alaska to live with him. Years later, I got to hear him speak at an LDS women’s retreat two of my friends organized, in October 2012. I blogged about it here. Sadly, he has passed away, but his legacy lives on in his books, including the most famous one, Visions of Glory. Much misinformation has spread about that book. Learn the truth here.
Everything above was less than $14 total. Amazing as to how much happiness can be had for so little!
Then I went back to the Provo DI a week later looking for a swimsuit. This is my second haul of the month.
–Swim top and swim bottom, $6 each. It suddenly occurred to me mid-July we had a swim day coming up for our family reunion (as almost empty nesters, we are at the point where we can/need to do/want to do a reunion for the descendants of my husband and me) at Splash Summit,, a waterslide park. I realized I needed a new swimsuit for that occasion. I also wanted something to sunbathe in to replace what I’ve been using that would expose more skin, so that 70% of my body is exposed to get more Vitamin D. Something that would not be so hot as the black bottoms I’d been using, which are a magnet for heat. Black swimsuit plus 100 degree weather is just too hot for me! I found something! I had envisioned finding four swimwear pieces when I went looking. Sounds funny, but hear me out. I decided it was too much to ask to find a white swim skort at DI, so I bought a new white swim skort on amazon, then the plan was to find a swim top and swim bottom at DI to sunbathe in. See the green top and pink bottoms above. This is an immodest bikini basically, but I sunbathe in my backyard where nobody can see me unless they are flying over me in a helicopter. To go out in public, including the waterpark, then I wanted a bigger coverup to wear over the bikini top that would cover my bare midriff, to make a modest swim outfit, wearing the skort instead of the pink bottoms above. I was so pleased it all worked out! The bottoms were brand new, still with tag attached. They are not meant to be a set but they are all fluorescent colors that I love so the pieces work together.
That takes me to my first haul from the Springville DI for July. Items found are above and below. First I found this cute gingham-checked oversized top at the Springville DI to work as a swimwear top. It’s way too big for me but since I had the green swim bikini top on underneath at the water park it all worked as modest swimwear. I had grand plans of adding some elastic to bring it in, for the waist and the shoulders, to cinch it all in, but when the morning came of the day for the waterpark I chose to paint my toenails instead of refitting the top. So I just safety-pinned it. It did look funny but oh well. Maybe I’ll get to it before the next time I go swimming. I have created a waist below just by bunching in the fabric so you can see the effect I am going for with the future elastic sewed on.
I also found another Readers’ Digest songbook on that second Provo DI trip! My seventh one! Shown above, it was only $2! I have these six below, plus the Christmas one that I didn’t want to pull out of my Christmas storage to put on the shelf. I have found all of these thrifting in the past year or so, minus the Christmas one which came from the BYU Store for my 16th birthday. Amazing! I enjoy playing this music so much! It’s a little ritual to play one from any of the songbooks as a rallying song for family morning prayer, as well as family evening prayer, and then I reward myself after my weight training session by playing a a few songs. So much fun for me! I just wish I had houseful of people to sing along with me like the old days when we would sing together as part of our homeschooling Morning Time.
The songs from this newest one I just got, Parade of Popular Hits, are from the Hit Parade, so 1930s-50s. The series has 14 different songbooks so I’m halfway there, with 7 more to go. I know I could just buy the rest all online at thriftbooks or ebay but it’s so much funner to look for them at thrift stores. That way I prolong the thrill of the hunt and discovery. Also on that second trip to the Provo DI, as shown in the fifth photo above, you can see I found two books on Scotland. The close-ups are below.
A few days before this, my husband and I had just watched The Stone of Destiny for a date night movie so that got me more interested in Scotland. Also, my married daughter and her little family had just been to the Scottish Days festival in Payson UT so Scotland was on my mind. Here I found two books about it! I do have one ancestral line from Scotland through my dad’s dad so hey that motivates me more to learn about the country. On top of all that, I have the fun fact that my mother-in-law served a mission in Scotland when she was only 18, with her mother as her companion. Maybe she was the first 18 year old female to serve a mission for the Church, back in the early 1950s. That’s a story for another day. One of her converts became a stalwart member, whose son became a mission president in Scotland.
–Ok back to thrifting.In addition to the Scotland books,I found a Christmas Peanuts Charlie Brown book, 75 cents. It’s not a Charlie Brown Christmas, which I found a few months ago, but shows different Christmas Peanuts comic strips through the years.
Along with the gingham-checked swim cover-up, I found the stuff above from that same trip to the Springville DI:
–a Christmas picture book, The Miracle of the Wooden Shoes, $3. I read it aloud last year for Morning Basket after borrowing it from our local public library. I’m adding it to my Christmas picture book collection. I do always enjoy the work of the illustrator, Dan Burr. He’s done many books I love.
–TheChristmas Chronicles, $2! I picked up a copy a while ago. Now I have found another copy which I will give to one of my children. Probably to the one I remember enjoying the story the most, my second son. I don’t think he every reads my blog so this will be a surprise. It is the best chapter book explaining the origin of Santa Claus I’ve ever found.
–Anna’s Prayer, $1.50, a beautiful story with beautiful illustrations by Shari Griffiths, the same illustrator as the one who illustrated To Witness Easter, a book co-written by my husband’s cousin, Lynne Hilton Wilson, which I blogged about here. Anna’s Prayer is about a Swedish immigrant girl. I have Swedish ancestry so I resonate with this.
I don’t know why, when each book is hardcover, the prices differ. One time when I was at the American Fork DI (back in January right after last Christmas, as detailed here) I negotiated all the inconsistent high prices down to the same price, which was $1, but this time I just didn’t have the time or energy to talk to the manager, so I paid the $6.50 for 3 books and walked out happy anyway.
Moving on to a different trip, I found these three goodies above at the Orem UT Savers.
–The knock-off Legos Nativity-themed were new, $5.49 with 25% off coupon. All the pieces were still in the sealed bags. Otherwise I would not have bought it. This will be another Christmas Eve activity for the grandchildren to do while we discuss the names of Christ with my Immanuel Wreath. I thrifted a Christmas Paint by Sticker book last month for the same purpose, with just two of the pages already used. I’m excited to have these two Christmas-themed activities to keep their hands occupied while we discuss.
–Plain and Precious, $3.49 with 25% off, a book about the plain and precious truths of The Book of Mormon by a Korean scholar, Yong-In Spencer Shin. It looks fascinating! Read his story here.
–All Things New, $2.99 with 25% off, a book by Fiona and Terryl Givens. I found this book last fall and gave it to a friend in a basket full of goodies and books for Christmas. I found it again, now for my son!
I’ll give both of these books to my missionary son for his birthday care package along with some treats and the book he requested, The Annotated Book of Mormon, which I will buy new.
This photo above is a close-up of the books in the photo below. This was my last thrifting haul for July 2026, done at the Springville UT DI.
–After Jesus, $2. This is a book about Jesus as to what happened in the Middle East after he died, as Christianity spread. It’s a Reader’s Digest book. I’ll probably put it with my Easter collection and get it out for Morning Basket after Easter is over next year. It’s full of maps and photos.
-a Jean Fritz book about the Underground Railroad, Brady, $1. I just love any book by Jean Fritz. I heard her speak at BYU the summer of 1989.
–Free to Choose and Not of this World songbooks, 75 cents each. These are two songbooks of piano music that take me back to my high school seminary days. You gotta love the 80s hair on the cover of Free to Choose. I’m adding these to my vast piano music collection. (Seminary is a religious class for high school students who want to learn more about the scriptures used in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) I remember the Free to Choose songs from tenth grade, the year we studied the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Each student got a cassette tape of the music, which I enjoyed playing. The phrase comes from a verse in the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 2:27 which says,
“Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.”
“I’m free to choose, to win or lose, no matter who, comes to try to turn my way around, I’m in control…” These songs were used in a series of videos (primitive videos of still images with an accompanying soundtrack) that told stories of teens dealing with peer pressure, to help us students apply the principles to our own lives. This music is so nostalgic for me. For your listening pleasure, listen above. They are beautiful songs. It was fun to open up both books, and discover that both songbooks contain some songs written by Clive Romney. I have met Clive. He is a wonderful man, so genuine, jolly and kind, like a skinny Santa Claus. Not only that, but he is a brother to a homeschooling mom friend of mine, Roslyn Romney Reynolds Geertsen, whose website is here.Not of This World has a copyright date of 1984, so that was before my seminary time but it brings back the same vibe.
–Then a tiny little book full of suggested Christmas traditions, $1.
Then I got two pretty tops and a pretty dress! The dress is in the middle. It’s longer than it looks, as I folded it up a bit. The solid pink top was $3 minus 15% off, the dress was $8 minus 15% off and the floral print top was $6 minus 15% off. All so pretty!
I am feeling soooo blessed with all these wonderful finds! They are dazzles for my heart.
Wow, July continues to be a missionary-themed month for me. I announced over here that I want to share missionary stories here on the blog for July. Yesterday in church I got to hear three prospective missionaries speak and one returning missionary. The three prospective missionaries are about to depart. One is a young sister, age 19, going to Bangkok Thailand. Two are older single sisters going to Finland. Those two going to Finland were roommates in the Missionary Training Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 40 years ago in 1986. Now they will be serving as missionary companions in Finland! How fun and amazing for them! It was so cool because one of them spoke in Finnish a little bit at the beginning and end of her talk. My husband also served in Finland, more than 40 years ago. He quietly translated the Finnish for me, by whispering to me as I was sitting at his side, so I was able to know what she said right away. Then she did speak the English so everyone else knew what she had said too. She said that at the end of her mission, when she spoke at her homecoming sacrament meeting, she said, “I don’t want to be here, I want to be back in Finland.” She had fallen in love with the Finnish people and land.
That sacrament meeting was delightful to hear from these missionaries. After that meeting we went to another sacrament meeting where we got to hear a returning missionary, the daughter of my close friend Katie. The daughter just returned from her mission to Tennessee. I have known this young woman since she was 3. It is a delight to see her all grown up with a strong testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ and His restored gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith. She spoke of the power of the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and the power of Jesus Christ to change people. She said that whenever she feels negative, she reads the Book of Mormon and feels better.
My son who is the same age and friends with this young woman is on a mission too. It has been challenging, as missions are, but he recently baptized someone he taught, a young man in his 20s. This was his first baptism in over 6 months! So I am thrilled for him for that! When he first met the young man, my son asked him if he wanted more purpose in life. The young man said yes and accepted a Book of Mormon. Now he is on fire with the gospel. My son also got word that someone he taught in his previous area got baptized.
Today’s missionary story involves a missionary who served in Portland, Oregon almost 100 years ago. Her name is Esther Eldredge Decker. She had been asked by her family to come home early from her mission, 2 1/2 months, as they said they couldn’t afford to continue footing her mission bill. Yet she felt someone was waiting to hear the restored gospel truths, so she didn’t want to go home. She wrote home “I cannot leave the mission field at this time because there is someone waiting for me to come to their door with the gospel message. I must stay here until my work is completed.”
She wrote that her companion said that as long as she had money, they would both eat. Sister Decker also wrote, “The Lord, who knows all things, provided sustenance for both of us through generous people. And I was to learn that there was someone waiting to hear the gospel.”
On May 18, 1938, Sister Decker and her companion went tracting in Portland OR. They split up, with each taking a side of the street to contact. After three hours of knocking on doors, looking for someone to give away a Book of Mormon, and not finding anyone interested, she was discouraged. She decided to knock on one more door, and as she did, she silently prayed, asking God that someone in this next house would listen to their message.
What happened next was amazing! A woman with piercing dark eyes answered the door. She didn’t say anything after the missionaries offered her a Book of Mormon. So she left, and walked to the sidewalk, but then the woman, Mrs. Cook, ran after her. She grabbed Sister Decker’s arm and told the sister missionaries not to leave, as she knew God had answered her prayer and sent them there. They then sat on her porch where Mrs. Cook told her story. She said that she and her husband had lived in Gold Hills, Oregon. They had looked for a church that followed the teachings of the Bible and couldn’t find one, so they came to Portland looking for the true church of Jesus Christ.
Here is an excerpt from the story, in Sister Decker’s words:
“Mr. Cook told us that, after our first conversation with his wife, she had told him that a young woman had come to their door as an emissary of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. At first he had scoffed at the idea. What could a woman much younger than he teach him—a man versed in the scriptures? But he was willing to listen. Both of them were receptive and teachable, and they believed the testimony we bore. At last we have found the true Church of Jesus Christ,” he said.
Go here to read the complete story. It is so wonderful!
Want more missionary stories?
Get my family devotionals ebook here, and go to the July section to read the missionary-themed stories.
Do you want to read the Book of Mormon on your phone? Go here to learn how to get the app.
Want more stories about the power of the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ? Go here.
We just celebrated my fourth child’s birthday. He’s 25! This time we had the party up the canyon and celebrated with his girlfriend, who also has a mid-July birthday. So we celebrated both birthdays! What’s memorable about my son’s birthday is that it is also the anniversary of when my husband and I determined to use Natural Family Planning (NFP). I had known about it for years and had talked to my husband about it. We finally took the leap of faith and said good-bye to artificial conception after this fourth child. It’s also interesting that his birthday is always around the time when people celebrate NFP Awareness Week. This week, July 19-26, is NFP Awareness Week.
I haven’t blogged about NFP in a looong time. Since I’m post-menopausal, it isn’t relevant to my life any more but I thought I’d pass on the good word about it to my younger sisters in honor of NFP Awareness Week.
Here’s why I love NFP and why I practiced it when I was fertile:
It is the most environmental-friendly form of “birth control.” So sustainable and democratic. Anybody can learn and practice it and not be dependent on a lab, a pharmacy and/or a doctor for a prescription.
It does not have any side effects on mom or baby, like hormonal birth control does.
It allows you to have a “honeymoon” every single month. So romantic!
It allows you to be in touch with your body and respect the amazing cycles/seasons of a woman’s body. Doing so can alert to any health problems.
It increases communication in marriage, which helps increase love and unity in marriage. Dr. Janet Smith says that NFP plus paying tithing is insurance that your marriage will last. She offers a challenge for a couple to practice NFP and pay tithing, and then if they get divorced she will pay them $100. She says, at least in the speech I heard years ago, which I think is the same one as below (I haven’t watched it all the way through) that nobody has taken her up on the offer.
It’s a myth that NFP is the rhythm method. NFP is about educating yourself about your fertility signals and then acting accordingly, based on whether or not you want to get pregnant.
If you want to read a short book about NFP, read this one below. This book brings back memories! I remember reading it when I was a young mom from our La Leche League Group’s lending library.
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Then if you want a long book, read this one below.
If you are nursing a baby, be sure to read this book below so you can learn how to extend your time of not having periods and not ovulating, if that’s what you want. That is called LAM (lactational amenorrhea). If you follow the 7 Rules you can go for more than a year without a period.
My favorite method of NFP is the Creighton Method. That’s because observing cervical fluid (used in the Creighton method) is more easy than taking your morning temperature (not used in Creighton method) when you have a nursing baby. Here’s are two videos below about that. Then if you want to know more, go here. I highly recommend it!
As promised in last week’s post, I will be blogging about missionary work in July. A few weeks ago in Sunday School at my church, the teacher talked about how so many people she knows are serving missions in Texas. I’ve always felt a kinship to Texas, since I was young. Maybe it started at age 12 when my BFF spent two weeks in the summer with her cousins in TX. She came home with pierced ears and stories of her Texan adventures. This kinship has grown stronger as an adult, since at one point four out of my five sons were living there at the same time. Before that, one of my sons served a mission there in San Antonio. Both my daughters-in-law lived for a time in Texas as well. To top it all off, one of my sons got married in Texas. So it’s fun for me today to share a missionary story that involves Texans.
Today’s story is about two medical doctors who found the restored gospel, thanks to a dear friend who one of the doctors had met in Hawaii.
Our story starts out with a man named Jim Cowart. Jim was a doctor who attended a medical convention at a California resort. He felt discouraged that he had not been able to defend his traditional moral values in discussions with college students who were working at the resort in the summer of 1961.
As his vacation progressed on to Las Vegas, Dr. Cowart continued to feel discouraged with his memories of not defending his values in the discussions with college students. He remembered a friend who was living in Utah, John “Jack” Berge. Jack was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Jim and Jack had met in Hawaii seven years previous to the summer of 1961. Because they had exchanged Christmas cards, Jim knew Jack was at BYU. Jim called Jack at 3 AM to talk. At Jack’s invitation, Dr. Cowart and his wife drove to Provo to visit Jack and ask him questions.
The three had many long discussions, and the Cowarts left with Jim not interested in joining the Church. He did, however, leave with two convictions: 1. He wanted to be a better Christian, and 2. His mother was right when she taught it was important to trust in the teachings of the Bible above the teachings of men.
The Cowarts returned home to Texas. Dr. Cowart decided to be more engaged in the church he had already been attending. His pastor asked him to teach a Bible class. “That was the beginning of the end,” said Jim.
Whew, it’s been hot here in Utah! I shouldn’t be surprised. I think Utah always hits the triple digits in July. Time to cool off with some lemonade! If you want some sugar-free lemonade, check out my cute friend Jonell Francis’ recipe over here at her website. All you need is lemons, water, and stevia, and ice if you want it extra cold.
Jonell is an expert in natural health, especially in regards to leaky gut syndrome. So while you are there, check out all her offerings. She is one of the O.G. Veggie Gals, but has moved away, so we don’t get to see here as often as we’d like.
Years ago, I got her recipe book, which you can get here. All the recipes are gluten-free and sugar-free. She is a fabulous cook! As a mother of 9, she has lots of palate pleasing recipes for children.
Check out her sugar-free pomegranate dark chocolate bark here, and her frozen vanilla custard recipe here. So yum!
This month of July I’m going to blog a bit about missionaries and pioneers. That’s because July is when a new batch of mission leaders start their three-year term for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for leading whatever mission they are assigned to. July is also the month of Pioneer Day, a state holiday in Utah which commemorates the entry of Brigham Young and his band of pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. I have many ancestors who were pioneers. My husband does too. I feel gratitude for my pioneer ancestors and all the pioneers who braved the trek westward.
Ok, back to missionaries. About 25 years ago we lived next door to a couple, Marcia and Kelly Ogden, who were called to serve as mission leaders in Chile. I remember hearing them give their homecoming talk at church when they were done serving. It was so wonderful to hear Sister Ogden talk about how she felt like she had been a midwife for three years, assisting in the spiritual birth of missionaries as they went through the “born again” process to be fully converted to Jesus Christ. She said the most important convert for any missionary to convert is him or herself. (Of course, the Holy Spirit is the real converter.)
The Ogdens wrote a book together about their mission leadership experience in Chile. I remember them giving our family a copy. I remember bringing it into my bedroom, and then it promptly got lost in my home of 5 children. I thought when we moved it would resurface but it never did. It is full of missionary stories which I was really looking forward to reading. I’m realizing, 20 years later, LOL, it’s time to just get another copy if I’m ever going to read it.
The Church recently hosted a training seminar last month to prepare the new leaders. This was an exciting time! President Dallin H. Oaks announced some wonderful news, that in the coming months, the Church will have the largest amount of missionaries it has ever had. See the article here. The photo above shows some of the statistics about the missionaries serving in the Church right now. Of course, my mama heart feels pleasure knowing that my son is one of those numbers.
President Oaks also gave a talk at the seminar about the three features that make the Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter-day Saints the only true church. Watch below.
The gathering of Israel continues! Hurrah for Israel!
If you want some missionary stories, go to the July section of my Celestial Family Devotionals Ebook, over here.
Credit for Photos Above and Below: amazon.com (not aff link)
Today’s Celebrate America 250 idea is to use the above book every day. That’s because it has daily readings related to America. I found this at the Provo Deseret Industries thrift store for only $2 last fall. I am thoroughly enjoying it! It has one page for every day of the year. First there’s a paragraph explaining a major event that happened that day, then it has a list of other events that happened on that day in America. We use it for the beginning of our Morning Basket every day, as part of homeschooling, even in the summer. Go here if you want to learn more about Morning Basket time. This book is suitable for ages 12 and up, so I wouldn’t use it for Morning Basket with little children.
You could also use it for dinnertime sharing/discussion.
Want more America 250 celebratory ideas? Go here. It’s OK to celebrate all year long!
