Freedom Matters

TMM Blog 4.30.19

When we walked outside today it was already 80 degrees and HUMID at 5:30 a.m. (Have you ever noticed how old people become obsessed with the weather?) It rains very seldom here, but sometimes the humidity makes the heat feel very heavy. The flowers and blossoming trees are beautiful because of it, though.

This morning’s seminary lesson on D&C 134 (please read and ponder it!) brings us to another passion we have—the importance of protecting our freedoms under the Constitution. It fits right in with our studies in the Book of Mormon. Today we finished Alma again and were reminded of the Title of Liberty and the importance of standing up for the rights and freedoms intended by God. Living in a border town has opened our eyes to the importance of rule of law so that all of our rights and safety are preserved. How blessed we are to have the scriptures to guide us in our political thought and exercise of freedom of conscience (including religious freedom), rights to property, and right to protect life. President Ezra Taft Benson said that “life, liberty, [and] property [are] mankind’s three great rights” [“Our Divine Constitution,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 4].) We are determined to stand up for our divinely inspired Constitution and the rights and freedoms it guarantees. Jim is devoted to these principles he taught for so many years in the public schools. When he retired, one of the other teachers at Kearns High said, “Who is going to teach these kids the truth about government now?”

We are all called to be His servants. We are called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are called to preserve this great country so that it can continue to be an ensign to the nations, a bastion of freedom in the world. God bless America  and give us courage to stand for the right to preserve this country’s divinely-inspired purpose in the world.

Responsibility Matters TMM

TMM Responsibility Matters: Finding

The Holy Week before Easter was truly a blessing for us as we tried to focus on Christ. We did the “Christ-Centered Easter” activities that helped us immerse ourselves in the blessings of the Atonement and the Resurrection. I thought of my loved ones—parents, grandparents, and most recently my beloved sister Barbara—who have gone on before. It gave me a renewed testimony and hope in Jesus Christ. We are so grateful for the blessings of that first Easter! We planted the wheat (lessons from Lazarus), found a palm leaf to display(Hosanna! Palm Sunday), bought Easter lilies (the white-robed apostles of hope), displayed the Easter scene, dyed the eggs (testimony), read the scriptures from the eyes of the witnesses, and journaled those scriptures to truly make them ours.

We got some cultural insight on our trip to McAllen on Saturday. Everywhere we saw holiday items—bags of colored eggs, piñatas, flowers, and decorations—for sale along the side of the road. We also stopped at a small-town cemetery. Check out our pictures below—they are worth a thousand words, you know.

Last week’s institute class was terrific, as usual, though we were missing some of our favorite young people. Well into the lesson Ingrid arrived after teaching with the missionaries. She is the YSA and class president, so at the end she stood to tell what had happened with the missionaries. As the missionaries challenged this mother and daughter for baptism, they kept saying, “Why didn’t you find us sooner! Our only regret is that we wish we had known sooner.” Life is not so long that any of us can waste our time in the commitment to Jesus Christ! This mother has found the pearl of great price and accepts it fully.

Tomorrow’s seminary lesson is once again the urgency of sharing the gospel so that we and others may be prepared for the Second Coming of our Savior. Let’s turn our hearts to Him and follow Him in preparation for the great and powerful day when He comes again. Much love to all of you—our greatest desire is to have our family eternally.

Life-long Spiritual Learning Matters

Life-Long Learning Matters TMM Blog

As we were driving home this morning, we saw a pile of palm leaves discarded on the corner. Someone had trimmed their trees yesterday. We had decided that we would do the Easter Week activities from the “Don’t Miss This!” YouTube series, so we had to have one of those palm leaves. You can see us in the picture at the end. If you and your family want a fun series of things to do for Easter and focus on the Savior at the same time, search on YouTube or find the link at emilybellefreeman.com/Easter. We are just a couple of old people who want to focus on the Savior this week through our New Testament study in “Come, Follow Me.” If we can find wheat berries (seeds) here in Laredo, we will plant today for the Lazarus-wheat-grass metaphor. Wish we could send y’all a palm leaf!

We have a wonderful family in 1st Ward who has seven brilliant children (six boys and one girl! I relate). Dad is a history professor at the university, and Mom is a leader and teacher at home and church. It is their children who always amaze us with their understanding, knowledge, and testimonies of the gospel. The fourth-grader bore his testimony yesterday about the power of prayer and the reality of Heavenly Father. He said he was taking his state tests last week and wanting to do his very best. He offered a prayer for help; then he felt a little selfish and prayed for help for his whole class to do well. He thought of one student in particular who struggled with ADHD and learning disabilities and prayed for him. When the teacher announced scores, that boy had gone from 50% last year to 87% this year. It was so sweet. I thought of Jill and the teachers in Utah who are administering tests with the prayers of some of their faithful little people.

We had two baptisms this weekend. One was an older woman, and the other was a young man (YSA) who went to the open-house two weeks ago and joyfully entered the waters of baptism Saturday. There may be other baptisms from the open-house. Investigators were in our meetings yesterday as a result of it. It is a blessing to teach our seminary students, institute students, missionary-prep students, and temple-prep students. This weekend a former Texas McAllen-mission president and his wife were visiting from South Jordan and rejoicing in the creation of the Laredo Stake. We were lucky to be invited to lunch with them at the Orozcos’.

Happy Easter Week to y’all! How blessed we are by the Savior’s Atonement and resurrection, the restored gospel, and our Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness!

Weightier Matters

Weightier Matters 4.9.19

Conference weekends happen to be my favorites of the whole year! One thing I noticed this time was that over and over again the talks reflected the inspired lessons we taught last week in seminary and institute. The conference had the same feeling as the lessons given, too. The feeling I am talking about is the sense of hastening, an intensified effort to gather Israel, and an emphasis on covenants—all in preparation for the Second Coming of the Savior. Wow! President Nelson and the apostles are definitely prophets, seers, and revelators!

The previous weekend Laredo Stake and the Texas-McAllen Mission hosted an open-house for community and church leaders. We are so proud of our young students who explained church organizations and bore firm testimony to invited guests. They are truly inspiring! We were excited this week when one of our students received his mission call to the Utah-Provo Mission. We are proud of those who attend classes regularly in preparation for a lifetime of serving the Lord. We love them all! I cannot believe how quickly our time goes by—our mission (according to the 23-month timeline, which we may extend for seminary graduation next May) is half over.

The heat is here. Today’s temperature was 103–going for 106 tomorrow. I am hoping that I do better in the heat this summer than I did last. I know I have to keep hydrated and drink my electrolytes. Thanks to our family at home for working on keeping up the house and yard and guarding over Cameron. Cam also has stories every week of kindnesses and good works of friends there in Utah who support and love him.

Jim spent all day yesterday putting together our new bed. That’s what happens when you order on Amazon! We needed to take less room in our limited space, have a sturdy platform, and drawer space underneath. We feel blessed to have the resources to maintain two households and pay for this mission. We have also been blessed to have health, strength, and stamina to do this assignment. Our recent birthdays remind us that we are not as young as we tend to believe we are, BUT the Lord has blessed us. I was worried about Jim’s health issues and my own stamina, but we are sustained and blessed in this work. Our way of eating has been a blessing, too, as Jim’s A1C and daily blood sugar continue to decrease without medications, and we slowly (!) continue to lose weight. We know we are where we should be, doing what the Lord wants us to do!