Well October is pretty much dominated by one main event--yes it would be Cassidee’s birthday month!
There were a few other events, such as General Conference that cannot go unmentioned, and a trade-show that was entertaining, and let us not forget about midterms.But for the most part, October serves one main purpose and that is to allow for many excuses to party, play, and pig-out!This year’s murder-mystery party was brought you you courtesy of ancient Greece (oh and Mom of course). Once Poseidon and Hephaestus went missing, the dangerous group of gods and goddesses were called together to solve the mystery. Among the attendees were:Zeus and HeraDionysus
Hestia
Ares
Aphrodite
with Hades and Persephone as hosts
and Apollo (in oracle form) and the hero Theseus as aides to our hosts.
The culprit was, in fact the old trickster himself, Hermes!
Then of course we have the annual birthday sushi! We also tried something new, Pirate Island Pizza! Good times all around!
And we won’t forget about Elder Lewis, here is what he had to say this month:
“if I had to pick a theme [from Conference], I would summarize it like this:
God has given us a supreme gift of agency, the ability to choose. With our agency, we make choices that bring consequences. Satan, the author of misery, tempts us to use our agency to bring about consequences that will make us miserable, while at the same time slowly taking away our agency as we follow him. On the other hand, our loving Father in heaven has given us several tools that allow us to use our agency to receive blessings. Among these tools are priesthood leaders, personal revelation, and fathers and mothers who teach us how to reap the consequences of using our agency wisely. Ultimately, if we utilize these tools in the manner that God intends, we will receive the greatest of all the consequences available: eternal life.”
November brings with it cold weather and massive feasting!It also brought Braydon’s performance in CATS (as Bustopher Jones, he also was Apollo in last month’s party)and my first niece McKenna was born! Unfortunately not many picture were taken-actually if you left it up to us (Cass and Ty) pix just wouldn’t get taken-unless you want to see our cat-but he’s pretty boring. Luckily for us Kevin and Kayron were preparing Ry’s Christmas package and they needed pictures to send so we have a few from that.
Had we got to go to Georgia for Thanksgiving we might of had some pix with McKenna, but alas the life of a college student doesn’t allow for such adventures. Thank goodness they’ll be out in January for the baby blessing-I can’t wait to see that little girl! (Oh and the rest of the family too)!Oh and, no the pic of Bustopher Jones is not of Braydon-we missed that photo opportunity too-he did a great job and we figured we could at least see what his character looked like.
Before it gets forgotten, Village Inn must be mentioned because it is in fact pie season! Cass had a lot of fun revisiting the VI for a serious pie intervention!
We can’t leave November without first hearing from that dear, devoted missionary, serving in the field:
“For your scripture (and most of your letter) today, Dad asked me for some ideas for missionary commitments. Well, have I got something for you! Taken from a talk I gave not too long ago, I give you:
Letting your light so shine
Becoming an effective member missionary in 5 simple steps- Pray for missionary opportunities, and be willing to receive them (see the example of Ammon in Mosiah 28ish plus D&C 4:7)
- Be a friend! It´s pretty difficult to share the gospel with friends if we have no friends to share it with. Not having a social circle does no more good than sticking your candle under a bushel. (see again the example of Ammon in his relationship with King Lamoni in Alma chapter 17 I believe, especially where Ammon says the golden missionary line "I would desire to dwell among thy people for a time"
- Be thou an example. This includes constant resilience to the things we should not do (drink, participate in crude humor, listen to/watch unfit media, etc) and constant obedience to the things we should (service, church activity, optomism, etc.) Only the worthy see miracles. The rest spend their lives trying to find the trick. (See Ammon´s dedication to service in the next chapter, his love for his fellow servants, his great sense of duty for the king, and his unconquerable faith in a dangerous situation.)
- Look for missionary opportunities. Remember the promise is not only Ask and ye shall receive, but Seek and ye shall find. A missionary opportunity can start out as simple as explaining why you don´t want a cup of coffee, as simple as explaining what you do in seminary, as simple as letting others know, under the direction of the Spirit, that there is a way to ensure that our families can be together forever. They will come. To think that they do not come is to deny the promises of the Lord. (Again, look at the very interesting missionary opportunity that Ammon found. Faced with certain death, he rejoiced "that the power of God might be made manifest" through him.
- This is the most difficult part. Let´s look at Ammon one last time. At this point, he´s brought face to face with the King. (You can imagine the scene, Ammon and King Lamoni staring at each other from across the room with a bunch of dismembered arms on the floor decorating the scenery.) We seem to imagine that King Lamoni was a golden investigator. He was curious of what Ammon had done, he was definitely thinking about deity. But the scripture says that "he answered him not, yeah for the space of an hour, for he knew not what he should say." (I´m totally paraphrasing, and in English). At this point, Ammon has a choice. He can say what missionaries hear everytime they ask for a referral: "Almost everyone I know is Mormon." or "Well, my friends know who I am. When they are interested they´ll ask me." or "They probably just need more time." or "I don´t want to impose my beliefs on anyone else." or "I don´t think my friend would be interested."
NO.
NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.
That´s not what Ammon did. He took the initiative. He took a risk. He took step number five. He opened his mouth. You know the rest of the story.”
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