“I’ve had a goal to study diligence…I really need to get on that.”

Quote from Sis. Thomas. Ha!

P-DAY ADVENTURES
Today we went “mini-golfing” (as they say in UT) in skirts. I tried to comment on that earlier today and instead of “mini-golfing in skirts” said “golfing in mini-skirts.” Ha! Close. Mid-calf is almost mini. And yes, Scott, my luck prevailed. Typical hole-in-ones and all that’s to be expected with golfing with me! :) Thought I should make you proud. I was laughing today as I reflected on how contentious miniature golf always was as a family activity. That and picking out a Christmas tree. Watch out! :)

TEMPLE TENDER MOMENT
So I thought this was way cool, and considered it a little “shout-out” from Heavenly Father that He is aware of me. So for those of you who don’t know, at the temple we make a series of covenants/promises with God of obedience, sacrifice, etc. You do that once you life for yourself and then go subsequent times on behalf of someone who’s deceased and never had the chance to make those covenants in this life. Typically you just show up and they give you the name of someone (that person then has a choice still of if they want to accept that or not). Anyway…on the piece of paper with the name it has their birthday. I’ve always thought it would be cool to go through for someone on their bday and today it happened! Woohoo! Out of all the slips of paper I could’ve gotten or all the people who could’ve had her name. :) It was her 98th bday. Or rather, would’ve been. :) I loved it though and thought it was a pretty good gift that I could give to my friend Martha McCulley. Loved it!

STUBBORN SOUTHERN MEN
So of course, I miss dealing with subborn Southern men since I’m not in GA anymore, but I got the chance to talk to one on the phone. I was calling to offer him a pageant CD and we just got talking. He said his wife is LDS and goes every week. The missionaries come over all the time and he’s read the Book of Mormon, he just sees no urgency in getting involved. We’d already been joking around a fair amount and I know with these guys I can get away with anything generally so I just laid it out there pretty good. We had a good chat (with him constantly trying to change the subject when it got spiritual or focused on his spiritual-ness, rather). It was pretty funny. Anyway, ultimately I left him with a verse to read (since he said he wouldn’t do a whole chapter) and something to think about and write down. It’s scary how tricky the adversary is and complacency is one of his most subtle tools cause we don’t feel like anything’s influencing us. We think we’re just being neutral. But if we’re not actively working for the Lord and fighting the adversary, then we’re following Satan. We’re just where he wants us because we’ve become removed and will not be a threat to his work. So devious! It’s like the quote (don’t know who said it but heard it long, long ago). “There’s an election going on. God casts a vote for you, Satan casts a vote against you, and you cast the deciding vote.”

Ok everyone, love you all. Keep up all the good work and thanks for staying in touch!

Love,
Sis. Cartwright