A Tribute to Laura

 This Saturday we got the COVID vaccine!! I joke with everyone that I've been waiting for this day since before COVID even existed. I'm ready for things to open up again. 

Although that was exciting, I do have to admit that I have NOT been waiting for the day after we were given the vaccine haha. I thought that since all of the missionaries are young and fairly healthy we'd all come out of it with no side effects, but that was definitely not the case. Our zone was wrecked😂 When Sister Maycock came scooting back from the bathroom (not walking. Scooting. Because she was so stiff she couldn't walk.) We had to reevaluate some of our daily plans. We only went to one church meeting instead of 3, and it was a longgg day. 1000% worth it though! 

Hands down the most exciting news of this week is that my friend Laura got baptized!!!

Laura was one of the very first people me and Sister Maycock started teaching in Boise. We met with her daily for months, and we grew very close to her.

Her baptism was so amazing. She has been waiting for this day for a long time, and throughout the service, tears were streaming down her face. She told me after that she is excited to go to the Temple soon so she can get the work done for her daughter who passed away in January.

Seeing her now versus when we first met her made me feel so happy. She started off so bitter. Bitter at her kids. Bitter at her situation. But most of all, bitter at herself. She's had a hard life, and she was fairly certain there was no hope for her mistakes at all.

When she came out of the baptismal font, I've never seen her smile wider. She was glowing with happiness and with peace. I could tell that she knew she was forgiven of everything that had gone wrong before. She has a clean slate, and she knows how to use the Savior's atonement to start clean again every time she needs to.

I'm so grateful for a Savior who gives us the way to be clean again! We are never too far gone for Christ. He brings peace into our lives beyond anything we could ever think was possible.

Laura is so selfless and generous and willing to change, so it made me so happy to see that she is beginning to see those positive qualities in herself. She has changed so much! And it's all because of Jesus Christ.

Love you all!

Pictures:

Quilts with Mo

-Car selfie after we were wrecked by the vaccine

-the district

-cute neighborhood kids

-Laura!!

-missionary friends came to visit us

Wrapping Up High School

Get ready for lots of Parker posts.  I remember blogging at the end of Brinley's senior year.  It was Brinley everything...Senior pictures, Black Magic, grad cards, grad gifts, college plans etc...  Well we have definitely hit that point in the year with Parker. 

He's finished athletics for his high school career.  That has been a huge part of  his life at Permian.  He told me somewhat sadly, "Mom, I'm officially a has been."  

He's planning Prom, taken his senior pictures, mission papers are in, graduation meetings are happening...get ready for a lot of Parker blog posts!  

Here are a few pictures.

He officially asked his girlfriend to Prom.  It's not until mid April.  

Bethani asked him to be her date to Symphony.  Here are a few pictures.  He's my handsome boy.

We shopped and purchased a new gray suit for this and his mission.  Nice that it can double up!  And I really like Bethani. I don't know her very well, but she is easy to visit with. She is an excellent student, an athlete and a leader.  She is also low drama which Parker appreciates.  

Left-rt: Parker, Cole, Kendyn, Harper, ?

Here are his Senior pictures which I LOVE.  I think Grandpa Vore did such an amazing job with these!  He also took the time to fit Parker into his busy schedule the week before he left on an African safari.

And then this...we borrowed the gown from the Vores.  Why buy a new one?  They also had all of these cool cords and stoles so Parker wore them as well when he was trying the gown on.  He is a little disappointed he will only have a white and a yellow stole and no cords. Those are usually earned academically and that hasn't been his main focus in high school.  We are glad he made it into Honor Society though!  He should have been in last year, but he had too many unexcused absences.  (Maybe left over from the Disney Cruise we took in the middle of the year...I don't know.)  Graduation here we come!

March 20-ish, 2021

A few of friends and I put together a baby shower for our friend Emily Ormsby.  It was actually supposed to be at the church a month ago, but that is when the big snowstorm hit.  The church is still under repair, and so we moved it a month forward from the original date and to my house.

Aubrey was so cute to help out last minute and come up with some fun games.  One was a penny drop into a bowl, another was a Price is Right game with baby items and I can't remember the third one.  It was nice to have a little diversion, and we even got together some little gifts at the last minute too.

Parker went to the ranch with Austin to help out again.  They were able to mix in some fun time as well.

Bri is settling into his new job.  In West Texas it can be terribly windy and dusty, especially in the spring.  When he is out on the fracking sites, practically in the middle of nowhere, the dirt and wind are out of control.  He said he wore a face mask for about two hours one day when he was outside directing traffic around an accident.  The mask was brown with sand.

Here is a picture he sent during an especially windy day.  And the alert below was sent to us in the big city.  It was pretty gross.  (We were watching Parker's track meet during one pretty bad day.  So gross!)

We had our first Relief Society "Lunch Bunch" get together.  I recruited Amberly Jackson and my mom because I wasn't sure if anyone else would show up.  We had a respectable group though, and it was a lot of fun.

lft-rt: Kyla McKown, Amberly Jackson, Laurel Vore (AKA Mom), Donna Thompson, Kara Thompson (not related to Donna) and Kristi Phillips

Brinley Kate was able to go to the temple for the second time.  I'm so happy for her.  A sister in another ward was going through and felt like she should invite two sister missionaries.  She spoke to the elders who told her they knew just who she should invite.  Brinley and Sister Maycock had been praying for the temple to open so they could go again.  It was a wonderful blessing and testament to her of God's love.
 

Compassionate Detours

 Sister Gwilliam's letter  April 5, 2021

I'm not gonna lie this week was pretty long. And when I say long, I mean longgg😂 

A weekend of Easter devotionals in "General Conference" could not have come at a better time. I really just needed to sit and do nothing else besides think about Jesus Christ. I love General Conference!

One really cool experience did happen this past week. We spend each Wednesday night with the youth in the congregation. We headed up to the church for the activity, and one of the leaders asked us to share our experience about a camp we went to. 

We stood up at the front and Sister Maycock started talking all about the camp. As she talked, I started getting very hot. I was trying to focus on her words, but my vision was blurring, and I couldn't stop myself from swaying back and forth. It got to the point where I knew that if I didn't sit down, I was going to pass out. In the middle of her presentation, I ran to get a chair and just sat down right next to her.

Sister Maycock had no clue what was going on so she finished talking and pulled up a chair next to me. We just sat there awkwardly while the girls moved on with their activity. Everyone was confused but I was just grateful I wasn't blacking out😅 After a few minutes of sitting there I finally felt good enough to walk outside to the hall. I told Sister Maycock what was going on and we decided it'd be best to leave the activity early and do something where I could be sitting. 

We went to the car and started contacting people in our congregation. One of the members (who we LOVE) replied and said "It's my birthday. Tell me Happy Birthday🥳"

We thought that was funny, but we wished her a happy birthday and then made some more contacts. Eventually we decided that because our plan to go to the youth activity that night was cancelled, we should drop by a birthday gift for this sister.

We planned to just knock and run, but right as we pulled up, the door opened and she saw us, so we went in to give her our gift.

When we handed it to her, she thanked us over and over and over again. It was just a small chocolate bunny, but she was so grateful. She was talking a mile a minute to us. She was just so happy to see us. 

I didn't think much of the whole thing until I went to give her a hug. This sweet sister started sobbing and didn't let go. She was shaking as she told us that she and her husband were having some troubles, and we were the only people to wish her happy birthday all day. That little chocolate bunny is the only gift she recieved. I have never felt so grateful to leave a meeting early. If I hadn't felt dizzy, then we would have stayed the whole time, and wouldn't have had time to reach out to this lady.

This past week in a missionary meetings, we talked a lot about how the Savior was unique in the way that He made time for "compassionate detours." He was efficient and dependable, but He was never ruled by a schedule. He walked days out of the way to minister to the woman at the well or to comfort the widow of Nain. He never let a task to be done take priority over a person to be loved. 

Me and Sister Maycock have been trying to add more leeway for compassionate detours in our schedule. All too often we find ourselves caught up in things we need to do instead of people to be helped.

I still have no clue what was wrong on Wednesday night, but I'm so grateful it happened, because it cleared up room in our schedule for a compassionate detour that wouldn't have happened otherwise. 

And on this harder week, several people made room for compassionate detours to help us! Busy people cleared up their schedules to give us Easter baskets, drop off banana bread, and just tell us they're grateful for our service. Those people have no clue how much I needed those little moments to get through the week.

My invitation to you this week is to be on the lookout for someone who could use some of your light! Leave some time in your schedule to serve someone unexpectedly. I think you will find that it blesses both you and that person more than you expect.

Love you all!

-Sister Gwilliam 

Pictures-

-Easter basket from Sister Woodard

-Watch Him Work board pic with Pres. Nygaard

-Harley-Davidson shirts🙌🏻

-Easter shirts

-Easter sunrise at the temple (with scones😋)