Tender Mercies for Emily

I know I have shared some of my experiences with you with Emily Heaps (in pink), but after Primary today, I feel to share some of the tender mercies God has for her, through me.

A few months ago, Emily shared with the whole primary class that she would not be able to come to Primary for the rest of the year, probably not until next spring (2009). She said she would be in the hospital for 6 weeks or more to receive chemo therapy and a bone marrow transplant. Before I could think about what I was saying, I reassured her that I would bring Primary to her, every week. The thought just popped into my head and there was no question I would have Primary with Emily. I wondered how I could make such a promise. What if I got sick? I couldn't risk making Emily sick. With her lack of immune system, it could be fatal. Then there was the possibility that family (hers and mine) stuff might interfere, my anniversary was on Sunday... So many things could come up. I didn't say, "I'll see if I can make it". I told her I would come! It was so strong in my mind that I would be there for Emily. What ever potential distraction that would come up earlier in the week, would be gone by Sunday. At least three times I thought I might be getting the illnesses going around the neighborhood or through my house, but when Sunday came, there was never a sign of illness. Even when they gave me a new calling, the person I was to replace ended up staying until the end of October, so I get another month with my little sweethearts! When I hung up the phone with the chorister (person I was replacing) when she told me I could keep teaching my class, the spirit whispered, "Emily needs you to be her teacher!"

I have to say, that today, while were having our lesson on honesty and then we practiced the songs for the Primary program (even though she won't be able to participate) I could feel angels there buoying her up and blessing her. That kind of spirit can't help but rub off when you're in the same room. Some of them must have followed me home, because that feeling didn't leave when I left the Heaps home.

I've heard some say that I must be some great primary teacher to give Emily her own lesson, but I'm not. Truthfully, it is an honor to be in her presence and with the rest of my class. They are the most beautiful, innocent, sweet, sometimes painfully honest spirits I have the blessing to be with.

I'm grateful for the tender mercies God has given me, so I can be there for Emily. I just imagine how much God loves her to put her in a family, friends and neighborhood that would love and support her through this difficult time in her life and what a blessing it is to have her in my life.

When she went into the hospital, I gave her one of my angels to watch over her. I can only say that that angel probably found the room pretty crowded with the other angels , just as I felt them today.

This Just In!

Brotherly Love!

A note from Zack:

Dear mom,

Thank you so much for sending me that package (with his coat)! it hasn't actually rained recently, but when it rains it pours. I enjoyed your brownies! they were very delicious! thank you for also sending me my prescriptions and the picture and my priesthood lineage. I sent you a letter today so it should be there in a few days.

Yeah we's gots a cell phone. it doesn't have texting though lol! its nice to have so that we can call and reschedule appointments if we need to.

His response to: "What was I thinking when I bought 100 wooden bears!" LOL maybe you got the bears to give to your primary kids and forgot or something. or maybe it was for your cubscouts?

About bugging Jake: Tell John to keep up the good work and I'll think of him next time I'm at Cow Town (fleamarket). I'll keep a look out for the the linky-bracelet things, but I haven't seen them yet. Have something else in mind incase I am not able to find a store that sells them.

Dad writing a letter: I bet that dad has at least started, but he probably hasn't gotten around to mailing it off yet. so it will probably get here around next week or so.

I got your package on monday. I'm actually surprised it got here that fast. I haven't seen any Krispy Kremes in NJ, but I've seen a lot of Dunkin' Donuts. I haven't been able to talk Elder Palmer into taking me there, but its a work in progress.

Jake & John getting out of school: No way! They lucked out of school just because there was no electricity? Every room has at least one wall with a window in it! Its not a heavy trimmer, but its hard to hold straight with just one arm. LOL! it took two of them to do the job of one of me. :P good excercise though.

Satan is already hard at work. What usually helps me is to say a prayer to help me. I've noticed that its been easier to see his craftiness since I've gotten here. Just ask yourself: "Is this fruit good, or is it bad?" and if it's a bad fruit, cast it out. But if its a good fruit, then keep it. 'ts what I do.

The reason that it took me so long to write to you is because now that we no longer have a washer and dryer, we have to go to the laundrymat. We're used to being able to wash clothes when ever, but now we have to budget not only our time, but our money and clothes. We're trying to work something out with the Hermanas, but we're still negociating. You actually thought I wouldn't right you? Come on mom! its still wednesday! Give me a chance! :P

Well I gotta go to a dinner appointment, so I'll ttyl!

Love,

Elder Holladay

A Morning With Emily

Emily and I had Primary on Monday this week, so we could hang out together while mom got her hair cut. After our lesson on Tithing Emily agreed to help me dress these bears for our class. I promised my Primary kids that we could have the wooden bears, so I thought we had better hurry and make them before I got kicked out of class for good. We had to improvise some ribbon to make the bows, but Emily put them in just the right place.

I asked their dog, Leo, if he wanted to join us for Primary and he jumped up on the couch by Emily. Emily was getting ready to say the opening prayer and told Leo he had to sit down and get ready for the prayer, so he came over and laid down on my lap and put his head down. How cute is that!

This is Leo with the costume Emily made him!

Mama's happy again!

No, not cause we caught fish! Because I finally got my e-mails from Zack! OK, Zack is pretty obvious in this pic, but can you tell who the rest are, and which is who? This is one of our trips to Moosehorn Lake up in near Mirror Lake. We loved to fish here because the fishing was great and we never got skunked here. The boys used to call it "Muddy Lake", because there was always mud to go through to get to our favorite spot!

Here are some excerpts from Zack:

Hey Momerdoodle!

I did get the email thing figured out, so I shouldn't have anymore problems with it. Transfers last 6 weeks. Every 6 weeks we have a transfer meeting. There's a possibility that I may move every 6 weeks, but its not likely. Anyways its best to send packages to my apartment within the first five weeks of the 6 week period. if its during the last week of the period, then its best to send it to the mission office. I think it should be fine if you sent the package on wednesday though.

I will try to send the pictures that I've taken since I sent the package so that I can keep up with it so I don't have to spend money to get them developed. I just wanted to make sure that you got all of the pictures before I started to delete them when I run out of room. so far I haven't had to delete any though.

Update on RJ: on the 7th, RJ came to church again. When we were in priesthood, Pres. Mordecai asked us to flip open to Mosiah 18: 8-9. RJ was the first one there, so Pres. Mordecai asked RJ to read it and RJ was happy to oblige. As he is reading, he thought that he was supposed to read verse 10 also, so he kept reading on to 10. After he read it, he pulled out his highlighter and marked verse 10. After church, he told us that that verse was his revalation to be baptized. so we showed him the baptismal font and we set up an appointment to talk with him about discussions 2-4 so that he can get baptized as soon as he wants to. that appointment is tomorrow, so hopefully it goes well.

Thats cool that James and Aunt Steph and Amanda are comin down to visit! Has James decided to go on a mission yet, or is he still scared? Is Amanda still reading them twilight books? How's steph doing with the house practically to herself all day?

Regarding the tiling: Woohoo! you got the easy part done! You should make a goal to have the bathroom finished by the end of the month if not sooner. maybe even set up "appointments" with dad to do certain things on the shower.

Our shower is still broken! lol We need to talk to management again to see if we can get it fixed. I think I included a picture of it on the cd.

Sounds like you had a really good regional conferance!

We had a Zone Conference yesterday with Elder Nuenschwander(sp?) of the first quorum of the seventy. He talked about Preperation. We should also write down the revalations and learnings that we recieve from the Holy Ghost. when we do this we will learn more. ("line upon line, precept upon precept"). Also when I know that I'm going to be somewhere where the Spirit is mostly likely going to be, I should bring a paper and pencil to write things down.

1. I should expect to use what we study in personal and companion study that very same day

2. I need to focus on the people

3. I need to be consistant in every day preperation.

4. I need to be willing to sacrifice.

I feel that sacrifice is a crucial part of being prepared. In fact when we found RJ, that was during the day of sacrifice. and also on fast sunday, he said that he wanted to be baptized. I have found that as we sacrifice, God will pay us back way more than we gave up.

It was a very good conference as well! I enjoyed it!

Woo! you finally decided to clean out the garage eh? how far did you clean? did you decide to clean underneath the stairs too? cuz that needed cleaning (at least when I left it did) and also the storage room by dad's computer needed some work too. Then you'd have a completely clean house! well except for Mike's and Jakes room, and possibly spencers.

Honestly, I'm not surprised that you decided to move things around. LOL! When I left, I expected everything to be almost completely different than from what it was when I left. I'm sure you could recruit kyle to move the heavy stuff. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a job yet. :P

Re: Jake talking on the phone all the time with girls around the country: LOL! I'm going to be honest, I can't help but chuckle at Jake's whole "situation". John: I need you to do me a HUGE favor: When Jake is on the phone with one of his "girlfriends" say "I Love you!" in a really annoying voice. If you do this for me, I'll get you something from New Jersey and send it to you. I'll have mom tell me if you actually do it or not.

Mom: tell me if John actually does ^that^ or not. Also keep buggin' Jake. I'll send you something too if you'd like.

I think Piano lessons would be good for Spence. looking back,--I never thought I'd say this-- I kind of regret giving up piano lessons. I think having the talent of at least one musical instrument is beneficial.

I miss going to the gym and playing racquet ball! I do as many pull ups and chin ups in the morning and I do at least 25 push ups every day. Lately I've started to use weights when doing pull ups to build muscle faster. We also play basketball every wednesday night, but the past two weeks, I haven't been able to play as hard as I wanted to.

I have not given out any Book of Mormons this week, but I will probably give out a few this week to make up for it. I believe that my total is 5ish, but I'm not exactly sure. I know I asked you in my letter, but I'll ask you again, cuz I haven't recieved an answer yet.

How many Book of Mormons have YOU given out?

Love ya lots,

Elder Holladay

Dear Mom,

I'm sorry that you didn't get my other email. It said that it sent it, so I didn't even think about it. I think I had too many pictures attached or something so it didn't actually send when it said it did. I'll take the pictures off and resend it.

So I found out that missionaries aren't the only ones that needs to do missionary work. Its the members' job to find people for the missionaries to teach. I think that Elder Bednar gave a talk about it. It's called "Ask in Faith" Look it up on the website. I think you'll enjoy it.

My story:...I called the school at 4 to see if he actually went there and they said he had and had passed off one packet. About 6:00 pm I heard a voice tell me that Jake was getting home from school and I should go pick him up. So I got in your car and headed down to the bus stop. I had no idea when the bus would be there or which one he was on. I pulled up to the bus stop and noticed some people crossing the street from the bus going to Provo. I was getting out of the car to check to see if I could even see a bus coming down the road, when one pulled up and off stepped Jake! I was just pondering earlier how we (mormons) don't even use a 10^th of the power we have available to us, through the Holy Ghost and the priesthood, and how much more we could do if we just tuned into the spirit. Jake wasn't praying for me to be there, but it was a affirmation to me that the spirit is there to help us and that through us, if we (I) would but listen, would be an instrument in blessing the lives of others.
I'm actually surprised to hear that Jake went to school that day! I wouldn't have been surprised to hear that he slept in and sluffed school. That is a really cool experience! You should keep a journal (if you haven't already started one) about the spiritual experiences that you have. I try to keep stuff like that in my Journal because I think they're just so awesome.

Fav. Scripture: D&C 121: 45-46. and for the pic, just do one of the ones that Pres. Winegar sent you.

Thank you for that package that you sent me last week! I love everything in there! I'll have to send you a pic of me and my pillow (case) and blankets and stuff. I'm also excited to put some new music on my music player. I'm getting tired of the ones I have already. I don't have the greatest selection, so thanks for the music as well!

I didn't get transfered this time, but we had to move to a different apartment yesterday. The Hermanas moved into our old apartment. We live in Pennsville now. I'm not quite sure what our entire address is but its 815 Curtis Ave. in Pennsville. I don't know the apartment complex name or the zip. sorry I'll try to get that to you by next week or I might have Sis. Carter email it to you.

Speaking of Sis. Carter... that one day that she called you. She's pretty funny. She likes to give missionaries a hard time. and most of the stuff that she said, she exaggerated a lot. so yeah. thats my schpeil about that.

RJ is getting baptized this Saturday! We're going to give short talks and Elder Palmer is going to dunk him. He's still looking for a new job, but he comes to sacrament meeting every week. Another person that we're teaching has a baptismal date as well. Her name is Tiffany Devinshire. She has been taking the discussions for the past year or so, and she had a baptismal date before, but she had a lot of negative pressure from her family so she bowed out. But now, we feel, that she has a strong desire to get baptized and she's going to go through with it! Her best friend, Jason Reese, (you may get an email from his mom) left for the MTC on Monday. He's going to southern Mexico. Jason is Tiffany's BFF, so Tiffany was inspired by Jason's dedication, to be baptized.

2. I weigh 157.5 last I checked. My drivers license says 140, sooooo yeah. I'd say I've gained weight.

3. We have kind of been slacking in the running department lately because of the move. We'll have to scout out a good running area sometime soon.

7. yup I need my coat. It rains harder over hear because of the Hurricane season. When it rains, I get drenched!

8. When we were setting windows, I picked a street that didn't actually exist to go tracting, so we went to a street near where we had previously tracted. We found an investigator there who is searching for the true church. but now that the Hermanas are here, We'll probably let them teach her.

Flying High again!

I got to not talk to Zack today! I could hear him in the background, but I didn't get to talk to him. I was so excited to hear his voice! He sent me a hug and a kiss! Awe, Precious!
I found out that he has gained 15 lbs! Are those pants snug yet, Zack? The sister that called me (Tanya) told me he was getting a second chin. Gotta have a picture of that! She didn't send me one yet, but hopefully I'll get it tomorrow.

He is moving to a new apartment because sister missionaries are moving into his, and it's only one bedroom. LOL The biggest news is that one of his investigators (RJ) is getting baptized on Saturday! That is so awesome!

Half of my Primary class (Emily, Cambry & Kaleb) made me cookies, colored me some pictures and gave me a painted rock yesterday. I was at the store when they came over. I wish I could have seen their cute little faces when they brought their surprise! This is what Cambry writes: Dear Sister Holladay You are the best for me I love you I am sad that you are going to not being my teacher any more but I will still breg coockies love Cambry How could you not love that sweetness!

Broken Heart

I'm starting out this post with a broken heart. I just learned today that I am being released as a Primary teacher. I was shocked! I love my Primary kids so much! I just cried when Bro. West asked me to change jobs. As soon as sacrament meeting is over they all run over to wherever I'm sitting like my little chicks. They color pictures for me, Cambry brings me cookies and I will miss their hugs! I'll still get to see them in church and Primary, but it won't be the same. I was crying when I went to Emily's to give her the Primary lesson. She said I could still come visit her.God bless your sweet little spirits!

This is what we did this week.
John, Jake and Austin decided it was so hot, they would fill some water balloons and play catch. They would throw the balloon and take one step back. Whoever dropped it got squirted with the hose or balloons thrown at them. They wanted to speed up the process of filling the balloons, so they used the ditch water from the green hose. I told them not to get it in their mouth, but Austin ended up getting sick the next day.

Lesson: If mom tells you not to do something, there is probably a good reason!

Spencer and Michael learned that lesson when after I told them not to throw the ball in the house, didn't listen, the broke the clock in my living room. Dang kids!

We had a really nice rainstorm at the first of the week.
I told Jake to come look at the hail, it was the size of golf balls! He ran outside in the pouring rain to find these two golf balls he had left on the front lawn. LOL
This is the first time meeting my great nephew, Boston Duckett! Hey, I look like a grandma!!!
He's adorable! And what a snuggle bug!
Arianne, you look great! Big Hug! Thanks Joyce, for letting us come over for lunch! It's great to get family together!
Last, but certainly not least, Steph brought James and Amanda to Utah so Amanda could check out going to BYU. She had a great time and check out the free hoodie they gave her! Nice! It was a short visit, but we love seeing them whenever we can! We enjoyed a nice BBQ at our house. Good food, good times!

How'd He Do That?

I was cleaning the garage this morning and found this Rubik Cube. It was all messed up, except I could get one side all one color. I gave it to Mike and he came back with it like this! Amazing!

Another Tile update

Got the second wall up! Hooray! Dave got a couple rows above where the decorative tiles went and noticed he hadn't added those in at the appropriate spots. Luckily, the mud hadn't dried yet, so he hurried and pulled the blank tiles out an replaced them with the decorative ones. We just need to tile the short wall, the and the front part. That involves the tricky trim pieces, then we need to figure out how to put the door and window back on and something about grout and sealant before we can use it. Putting the floor down should be a lot easier (fingers crossed)! I think I put some of the tiles in upsidedown. Can you tell which ones?

Another Primary Day

Like many of you, we had Regional Conference today. There was no Primary Lesson scheduled, but the Heaps family still wanted Emily to have the Primary experience, so I decided it might be fun to have an FHE Primary experience with the Heaps/Holladay families. We talked about the 3 degrees of glory and which one would be the best for our families to go to. John and Grandma were tempted to go with the candy in the Telestial and Terrestrial Kingdoms, but we convinced them to go through the trials with us to get the the Celestial Kingdom and the wonderful blessings that would come, if we got there together.

Sometimes we made mistakes, but we learned that our mistakes are not necessarily failures if we learn from them and we can do better the next time.

Here we were doing the Service game. Jill learned that sometimes we need to compromise to meet others needs and if we don't keep our eyes on others needs, they might not be met.

Sometimes we loose our balance and have to start over again and sometimes we just need a helping hand.

I'm happy to report that we all decided to make it to the Celestial Kingdom together and this was our "Celestial Blessings" Yum! I'm happy to know there is chocolate in Heaven!

We learned many lessons in our Primary experience. We were reminded in our conference talks to look for the "real" things in life and not settle for the fake replicas. Elder Uchtdorf reminded us to always pray, read our scriptures and strengthen our families. We were also reminded to be accepting of others who are not like us, and not to judge them, just because we don't understand them. We are very grateful for all the reminders of how we can become more like Jesus.

This is Jake, unloading the dishwasher, because he wants to be like me when he grows up! LOL

Tiling Update

Dave got the floor in and Jake and I helped him with the first wall!
Doesn't it look great!