One Week Later

It is strange to think that one week ago today I was an emotional wreck. Today I am feeling too blessed to be as angry as I was that night. After the initial shock, Mark and I have felt so positive and so grateful. The young women in our ward are working on reading the Book of Mormon all the way through so that they can earn a trip to the General Young Women's meeting in March. I just got put in, so I have a long ways to go, so I only just got through Mosiah a week or two ago.  I love Mosiah 24, and I couldn't have read it at a better time.  It is about Alma and his people who are suffering through bondage at the hands of Amulon. The Lord promised that he would ease their burdens so that they might later stand as witnesses that the Lord does visit his people in their afflictions.

In verse 15 it reads, "yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheefully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." I am not there yet, but I do feel like the Lord has blessed Mark and I with peace of mind and strength. I don't know how patient I am, and I am not grateful for this trial completely yet, nor am I always cheerful about it,  but I do feel blessed. I do feel like I can testify that yes, the Lord does visit us in our afflictions!

Tonight was a night where we totally did feel cheerful. One of the great blessings of this trial are the relationships Mark and I have been able to start, develop, and the ability to strengthen existing ones. We love people! This world is full of amazing people. We had such a great time at dinner with a sweet family and a very strong little boy. Mark and Jace seem to be kindred spirits and share many things in common, one being their love for baseball. Mark and his family are avid Boston fans, so we decided we wanted to give something to Jace to help forge a link and a friendship, start a new relationship. When Jace walked in and saw Mark in his Red Sox coat, he told us it was his favorite team too. I think Mark was relieved he didn't say Yankees! I hope they don't mind me posting these, I forgot to ask, but they are just too darn cute and I can't help myself. Have you ever seen such handsome boys? They almost look like an advertisement for the majors. I told Jace he was ready to hit spring training!