Home again!

Home sweet Home: I was grateful to find all well in my own home in California 

and had lots of help from friends moving furniture and household items, loan of a car until I bought one (with help from my neighbor), purchase of phone, set up of internet, etc., etc., food, a lunch invitation from my friend Monajo.



I have been able to feel the peace, inspiration, and comfort of the beautifully renovated and re-dedicated June 16, 2019 Oakland Temple, the House of the Lord. It was first dedicated and opened in 1964. Workers are getting used to new floor plan and procedures. I will return to serving there as soon as I am settled and finished visiting with family...

The Oakland California Temple, which stands on a hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay, serves as a beacon to planes landing at 3 international airports, but is also a place of peace and covenant-making.

As part of the dedicatory prayer, first counselor to President Russell M.Nelson, Dallin H.Oaks said:

We pray for the Youth, the rising generation, that they may take the truths of the Gospel into their hearts and manifest them in wise choices and in pure efforts in the work of thy Son. We pray for our missionaries young and old. We pray that thou wilt give all they servants power to prevail over every obstacle and go forward to fulfill they purposes for all thy children. We pray that thy way may be opened for thy servants and thy work to be established and blessed in every nation and among every people to fulfill the gathering of Israel and the fulfillment of thy prophecies and promises for thy people.  ....

In this day of selfishness and wickedness, when men's hearts fail them in perplexities and turmoil, we pray that thou wilt blunt the powers of evil against thy work and thy covenant people with protection and strength to persist in the works of righteousness."

The young people of the church and many others are a great example to me. The first to show up at my house to help me move furniture back in were the 2 young missionaries serving in my ward. I wish I had taken a photo of one climbing horizontally through my bedroom window where much of my stuff was stored by removing panes of glass, because my key didn't work. I think fondly on all the young men and women who served as missionaries in Chile, too.
There seems to be no ethnic or racial or class divide among our young adults. I'm thrilled with the diversity of the five lovely single women who have just moved in with me: 2 sisters born in Ghana, one in Korea (who served a mission in Zimbabwe), 2 in US (but having served in Argentina and Texas Spanish-speaking).

We are a world-wide church: Kuwait officially recognized our church. Nearly 300 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live and work in Kuwait; they come from many countries around the world. Formal recognition from the government allows local leaders to better serve the needs of members in Kuwait.
The Ministry of Awqaf gave the Church this recognition, Mr. Fareed said, based on the teachings of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad that focus on the desire to live in peace. “Our religion taught us how to deal with others and how to respect others,” he said. The formal recognition of the Church strictly prohibits the proselytizing to and baptism of Muslims in Kuwait.

It is great to keep in touch with friends in Chile. Ximena on the right was my Pathways English speaking partner. I learned asmuch from her as she ever learned from me! Pathways is a 3 semester on-line program which allows students to reach a certain level of English, math, and study skills that they can begin an online university program with BYU Idaho.

I braved the increased San Francisco Bay Area traffic and all the new technology of my new car to visit my brother Roy, sister-in-law Julie and niece Olivia for dinner on the gorgeous new deck Roy is about finished building. The view of San Francisco and Bay from their Oakland Hills home (not far from the temple) is wonderful, but doesn't show up in the photo.

I'm enjoying all my little reminders of Chile up in my home.
Friday I will fly to Boise Idaho, buy all the food for 27 hungry people for our family reunion, drive with friends to the lake where I will finally get to see my children and grandchildren after 18+ months.