August 2023, Week 3

 *Today in church we had Sister Vasquez and Brother Vasquez (no relation) speak.  Sister Vasquez said something that I've been thinking about.  She said, as an introduction to something else she was speaking about, that "I don't always do things the way other people do them."  I'm glad for her willingness to say that though she may feel she's different, she still belongs and has valuable things to contribute.  I'm glad that we do things differently.  I think we'd be pretty uninteresting if we didn't.  Brother Vasquez is a High Counselor who spoke about sustaining.  It was related to the temple recommend question, but he talked about it more broadly, and I was happy to hear that he included sustaining his wife in his talk.  He shared a sweet story about making breakfast for his young son that morning, and his son was asking him why he had to go to an English ward.  (Brother Vasquez is a native Spanish speaker, and they speak it in their home and attend the Spanish Ward in our stake.)  He said that he was going to give a talk to us.  His son asked if there was anyone else who could do it, and he said that yes, there were other people who could, but he was the one asked by the Stake Presidency to do it, so he was going to do it.  It can be that simple.  You sustain your leaders (or spouse☺), so when they ask you to do something, you do it.  I try to live that way.

*Today was my last time substituting for Primary piano.  The pianist had emergency surgery a few weeks ago, so I stepped in to help, and Gracie was also going to help, but she wanted to finish her temple prep class before leaving for college.  I found out that the pianist wasn't going to be able to come back until November, and the Primary Program is in October.  I really don't mind playing for Primary, but I felt bad that Ben was teaching our class with substitutes each week (well, often with Scott, but this was his last Sunday before returning to college), and I was also asked to play for the choir (which does require a lot of practicing), so I found another sister who could help.  So--back to class for me.

It was a delight!