Week 27

Querida Hermana Lutze,

I hope this week was as great as last week for you and your companions. How long with you be three? I saw a picture of Elder Osborne on KSL last week. He was standing next Elder Hamilton that was killed in Taiwan.. I looked at the picture and said, "That looks like the guy Rachael went to prom with..." I don't know if you heard about the death in your mission. I guess Elder Hamilton's foot missed the pedal on his bike and he was pulled under a car and was killed. :( Sorry I know that's not great news but I thought you might want to know since you know Elder Osborne.)

Life here is crazy busy as usual. We're two weeks away from go live with our new EMR at work, so work is incredibly busy. Here at the house we're working hard in the yard... it's that time of year to clean out flower beds, fix sprinklers, and plant new plants. Shawn is finishing our cabinets in the kitchen and an entertainment center for upstairs... so there will be much work associated with that as well. 

Hannah continues in her boot. I just let her be off crutches. It's been one month this week. We found a prom dress for her. She's excited to go with this group of 16 girls. I'm so glad she's not letting the fact that she didn't get asked to prom hold her back! She's been busy with school and work.

Natalie has been busy with choir, piano, and guitar this week. She just told me last Sunday that she wants to take violin now! We'll see... She enjoyed a party at Morgan Rowley's house on Friday. I'm glad she has a good group of girls to hang out with. I'm not as worried about her knowing the friends she has chosen.

Jakob's busy with school, soccer, and space missions. They lost their game yesterday. I cannot wait to get him off this team. We'll have him try out for an Arsenal and Surf teams in a few weeks. I'm not sure what that will look like with the new age brackets.

Well enough of my rambling... We did pick Stephanie and Kyle up at the airport on Thursday. He's here to attend Spring semester. We all went by Marissa's apartment that night to surprise her for her birthday. She happened to be outside and came running when she saw Hannah. She recognized her on crutches. Hannah threw her crutches to the ground and they gave each other a big hug while Marissa cried. Kyle had lied to her and told her they weren't coming to see her that night for her birthday. It was a great surprise.

I want to end with my testimony on the Sabbath day. I'm leaving in a few minutes to attend the 23rd Ward conference and I've been asked to bear my testimony of the blessings of keeping the Sabbath day holy. Thus the topic is on my mind...

Rachael I testify that Saturday is a special day because it is the day we get ready for Sunday and preparation is so important. I also know that Sunday is an extremely special day because it is the day we get ready for the rest of the week. We receive so many blessings when we observe it properly. We are renewed and refreshed. It is a day to re-center ourselves on Jesus Christ. It is a day put on the full armor of God in preparation for the battles in the coming week. It is a day to stand still and know that I am God. I know that as we are obedient to this commandment, we are blessed with a greater ability to obey all the commandments. We have greater strength to do this. Let me share with you three experiences regarding the blessings our family has received from keeping this commandment.

1 Do you remember when I worked extra shifts while we lived in the apartment? I made a commitment to Heavenly Father that I would not miss any church meetings even though i often worked the night before until 6 am. We were blessed. We had the money we needed because I was always able to get the extra shifts even though we didn't have many patients on the unit at the time.

2. Do you remember dad always taking you to church from the time you were babies on the Sundays that I worked? (Even if you went with hair that didn't look so great.) He learned this from Grandma. She always took them to church even though Grandpa did not attend. What an incredible example to you and your siblings of the importance of attending our Sunday meetings? This behavior of church attendance will be perpetuated for generations to come. 

3. Do you remember me talking about partaking of the Sacrament at work? My weeks were always very different after working on a Sunday when I could not partake of the Sacrament. About 15 years ago that changed and we were able to partake of the Sacrament at work. This was life changing for me. My week went better. This is when the sacrament became personal for me. Imagine having someone kneel on a cold, hard hospital floor to say the sacrament prayer just for you...

I love you and I'm so grateful for your desire to serve and to serve with all of your heart, might, mind, and strength.

Love,

Mom

Look at Alma 58:11 and read it in relation to the blessings we can receive as we keep the Sabbath day holy!!! Helaman is talking about the blessings they've received as they received additional strength for their army but isn't that what we receive on the Sabbath day.