All is Well

"Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear; But with joy, wend your way. Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day. 'Tis better far for us to strive, Our useless cares from us to drive; Do this, and joy your hearts will swell, All is well! All is well!"-Come, Come Ye Saints

Is it just me or was conference the best yet?! So many things that I needed to hear, and so many great lessons to absorb. In fact I'm really looking forward to reading all of the talks over again, because let's face it, at some point some of them started to run together. I made the observation on our Sunday walk that when I was younger, conference really didn't have a big impact on me. It meant I was excited to play with legos in my pjs and not have to sit still in church. But on Friday night I was practically giddy with excitement over what topics would be focused on, wondering what revelation and guidance would be important enough to share. I think the difference is that I have a greater understanding and perspective. I have stress and worry, about real life problems. And listening to conference it's like the apostles and prophet know! They describe many of my experiences! They get me! More like I "get" them...and know that the more challenging life gets, the better it gets if you have the strength of the gospel.

Two thoughts from the past two weeks. My timing is Not the Lord's timing. Is it ever?! Haha I'm sure it will be, at some point. Whenever I try to speed things up in my life, take shortcuts, fire up the jet pack, it just gets harder. I get roadblocks. And more roadblocks. And in the end, after I really have exhausted all options and I'm still trying to speed things up, I realize that the roadblocks have been for my protection. And benefit. To save me from a result so far from what I had started out wanting. So I'm learning...or trying to. But the miracles that have come from these experiences have stuck with me.

Second thing. My mom has many hidden talents. Lucky for me, I'm as close as it comes to being her twin. See the picture above for reference. Among other useful skills, she's practically a concert organist. When we are traveling in Europe we stop at almost every church. (Just ask to hear the rhyme, that explains it all). If the church has an organ they let her play. In some cases, the organ hasn't been in use for years because no one knows how to play it. She's played in ancient monasteries, cathedrals, churches. And as has come to be tradition she plays the song "Come, Come ye Saints." It's somewhat ironic given that it's an LDS hymn but that makes it all the more powerful to hear. For a while now I've been getting weird urges to do some genealogy. I say weird because I have sworn not to do any genealogy until I'm too old and decrepit to do other fun things...got to leave something for me to do when I can't get out of bed. But last week I asked Grandpa Glenn for my great great great grandfather's journal. As luck would have it, he had a digital copy. I read the whole thing in a day. He was a pioneer. He spent time with Joseph Smith. He served a mission in Australia. He could literally do anything, pretty much on the first try. Catch sharks? No problem. Volunteer as a sailor? Sure. Lumberjack? Even better. I learned an incredible amount from those 40 pages...and it was humbling. Many times he gave everything he had to help someone else and recorded his tithing diligently. I really did begin to wonder if I was reading the "edited" version of his life. There were no complaining, 'woe is me' or modern-day 'fml' passages. Highly suspicious. In fact at the end of his journal he writes that he hopes his descendants won't judge him too harshly after reading his life's account. Ha! But in many ways his life's account has given my own greater meaning and motivation, and it turns out genealogy is not just a fun elderly activity.

In other exciting discoveries, this weekend I found out one of my good friends is in fact my cousin. Ok, fourth cousin. I happened to mention this journal and the name of my great great great grandfather...which coincidentally is her last name too. And her family was in shock because they have the same journal and he is Their grandfather! Unknowingly I discovered long lost relatives in Connecticut, and all because I listened to some promptings of genealogy.

So to recap -- faith is important, listening to promptings is important, and timing is so out of my control. Shout out to all of the incredible people in my life that have been my answers to prayers and been positive influences these past two weeks. You are appreciated far more than you know :)

Love,

Lolo