Sunday, November 22, 2009

Another lovely Sunday in paradise - it can't possibly get better than this! :-)

We had another wonderful day at church - we really are feeling more and more a part of this branch each time we meet with the people at church.  Today was the Primary presentation in Sacrament meeting.  There were six children in the presentation - one boy, Ethan, who's 12, and five beautiful girls.  It was very different from the Primary presentations I have been used to in the past (count yourself lucky to be in Orangeville, Terri-Ann, where the Primary is huge :-)  The presentation started off with one of the young girls introducing the theme of the meeting and then the children and Primary leaders sang a song (one that I had heard the children sing when I was in the Orangeville Primary - 'My Eternal Family' - it's so neat know that children are learning the same songs the world over in the church - it makes me feel so connected. :-)

After the song, Ethan gave a really good talk about being a strong family - he seemed much older as he gave his talk - he spoke very eloquently.  After Ethan's talk, the same young girl as before (with the help of her older sister) introduced the next part of the program which was one of the leaders, Debbie, sharing what the children had learned this year in Primary.  The congregation then sang a song.  After that, another young girl introduced the Primary President, Sister Newton, who spoke about strengthening the family.  She also talked about how much she loved being with the children in Primary.  The meeting closed with President Brown (the Branch President) talking about how wonderful children were and how they were the leaders of tomorrow in the church.  One of the stories he shared at this time was about his grandson: he said that the children in the ward where his grandson attended were making covers for the scriptures and his grandson chose material with $ signs on it.  When his mom asked him why he would choose that cover for the scriptures, her son said "Mom, when you have the scriptures, you are rich."  Out of the mouth of babes, eh?  The thing that I found different about this Primary presentation is that I am used to hearing lots of songs sang by the primary children and also more involvement by the children.  I guess because they only have a few children and some of them are only able to come every other week, it's difficult to put something together.  It made me appreciate the Primary that Colin and Caleb go to.

Sunday School was taught again by Rosalea and it was a very good lesson (this time I made sure to go up and tell her afterwards what a great teacher I think she is).  Her lesson was about how every member is a missionary.  We talked about how it's not just what you say that counts, but also the example we set for those around us.  She also said that this teaching starts in the home.  We made a list of all the things that we thought children should be taught at a young age so that they can be good examples in the world, too.  Some of the things we thought they should be taught were: love, compassion, tolerance, honesty, work ethic, and integrity, among other things.  I really enjoy the Sunday School lessons in this branch - so many people participate by sharing their thoughts!

Relief Society was taught by Julianne and it was titled 'Be of Good Cheer' from the May General Conference.  It was basically about how we all face trials in our lives and how we need to remember that if we "remain steadfast and of good cheer" and make "the gospel of Jesus Christ the center of our lives", "this attitude will pull us through whatever comes our way. It will not remove our troubles from us but rather will enable us to face our challenges, to meet them head on, and to emerge victorious."  "Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.”  The talk ended like this: "Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us."  It was a really good reminder of how much we need to remember to find the positive in all around us.

After church, we got a ride home from Chris and Chris and they invited us to lunch with them and the missionaries.  We had already organized lunch, so we just brought our lunch (sweet and sour chicken, mashed potatoes and corn) to their picnic table and Chris brought out stuff for sandwiches and we just shared it all.  We must have sat for about an hour and a half just eating and chatting (mostly chatting).  The weather was magnificent (sunny and warm) and there was a light breeze blowing - if I didn't know better, I would have thought we were in heaven already. :-)

When we came back into our granny flat, we put on one of our Blockbuster movies, "Basic" starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson.  It's basically about a U.S. Army training exercise gone bad.  The story was good, there was too much swearing (typical army mouths) and the ending took a little time to think about, to get what had been happening throughout the movie.  I gave it a 6.5 and Mike gave it a 7. 

We then did three more entries in our Star Princess cruise blog today.  They have updated the program and so it took a little getting used to.  Some parts of the update are better and some are not and, at times, I got really frustrated, but Mike is good at calming me down when that happens and so we were able to get through it fairly well.  It's getting closer to being done which is exciting.  It's been a lot of work, but also very rewarding recording this amazing journey in our lives.

After supper, it was on to another movie: '28 Days' starring Sandra Bullock.  It's the story of a young woman who is addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs.  After she crashes a car into a house while under the influence, she ends up sentenced to either 28 days in rehab or jail - she chooses rehab.  The movie chronicles her struggles as she deals with her addiction in rehab.  We both thought it was a really good story, but it moved a little slow at times.  I gave it a 7 and Mike gave it a 6.5.  We are finding that there are very few good movies out there.  I wonder if all the good ones were made years ago - if you look up the 'AFI's 100 Movies (2008)', how many have been made in the past ten years?  The answer is TWO: 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Sixth Sense'.  Just goes to show that the calibre of films today are not what they used to be and that is disappointing.