Mt. St. Mindy Calmed

Another Pulitzer Prize winner I love is Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. Early in the novel Lyman Ward greets his new bride Susan and brings her to their new home in the West. She finds the place beautiful, he is charming, and she is excited about her new life. Later in the novel, after many years and hardships, she travels East and returns back home. He picks her up and they travel home in nearly identical circumstances. Yet this time she finds him repulsive and the place depressing. For some reason those parallel scenes were very poignant to me. They show that no matter where you are, what truly matters is your point of view, the feeling in your heart. If I am at peace with myself, it doesn't matter where I live or what people do or say around me. I can take the angle of love, beauty and joy in any circumstance if I but choose to.

So that brings me to today--Sunday. I often call my mom after church on Sundays so she can hear the hilarious/traumatic/unbelievable things that happened in our branch and how I dealt with them. It usually runs along the lines of an embarrassing tantrum in sacrament meeting, giving an impromptu lesson, some shocking hygiene or mosquito moment, or someone coming home with me from church to see the breakfast dishes and legos all over the floor. But Mom's not in the right time zone at the moment (she's holding Janielle's beautiful new baby Camberly in Texas!), and the Pulsiphers have gone home, so the blog will get the Sunday de-briefing.

I had a typical Sunday. But the way I felt about it inside was atypically cheerful and mature. Maybe Mt. St. Mindy will become inactive very soon after all.

1st Moment: Late for Church
Though I try very hard to arrive early at church, unfortunately I wasn't able to tear the boys away from their legos early enough or anticipate the last-minute requests for apple juice from Graham. I gave them a good lecture on the way to Church about how we need to do better Sunday mornings getting ready in time, and they all said they would try harder and I think they meant it. When we pulled up to the church, we parked behind the cars we knew belonged to the mission president and two members of the district presidency. Perfect. But I walked in without shame and we sat down in the front, knowing that I had tried, and at least I had come. It helps that Pres. Taylor and other priesthood leaders are often so kind and complimentary of our family, so I didn't feel like they were judging me in my less-than-perfect arrival.

2nd Moment: "I Want the Most Water!"
When the sacrament water came to our row, Isaac looked for the cup with the most water in it and took it. Then Russell started SCREAMING, "Mommy, I wanted the most water!" I tried my best to whisper calming things, but he just kept on screaming. So I picked him up and walked out of there. But amazingly enough, I didn't feel that rage building up in my heart which I often feel at such moments. We went into the Primary room and talked calmly about what the sacrament water is really about and how it's not okay to be loud during sacrament because you draw attention to you and away from people thinking about Jesus. Then we said a prayer, got a nice big drink of water and went back in. And the rest of sacrament was pretty uneventful as far as attention-drawing kid moments.

3rd Moment: "I'm Going to Put My Wife on the Spot Here"
I had the wonderful opportunity of attending the 1st Annual New Delhi Young Women Camp this weekend. It was fabulous in so many ways, and I love each of these beautiful five girls who attended from our branch. The one on the far right, Niharika, was baptized just last week. She has been coming to my seminary class and church faithfully for a few months, and it has been beautiful to see this girl who doesn't go to school and didn't have any friends grow in confidence and make friends. Carolina, the girl on the far left was once the only active young woman, but has recently become inactive. I was so happy she came to camp and I think it gave her just the boost she needed to propel her back into activity.

So lucky me, Rich asked me without warning to come up and speak about the experience of attending Camp. Thankfully I had felt a small impression in the car on the way that I would be speaking in sacrament, so I didn't feel too shocked. As I started to stand up, Russell whispered in my ear, "I should have brought my testimony glove to help you, Mom." So I started with bearing testimony of those five basic things--Jesus Christ, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Thomas S. Monson, Restored Gospel. And the Spirit carried me after that to speak about the activities of camp, how they strengthened our girls, and how proud I am and how proud our Heavenly Father must be of our beautiful girls. When I sat down I felt like I had said just what the Lord intended for me to say. I'm grateful that I was able to be in the right state of mind to be an instrument in the Lord's hands at that moment.

4th Moment: "Bhoomika Will Play"
Since Elizabeth and Andrew went back to Rexburg, I had thought I would be the one doing the Primary music again. But when I went into the Primary room I found Sis. Mickelson playing beautifully. She asked me to stay so she could lead the music while I played, but later she said I could go because Bhoomika was prepared to play "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet." Bhoomika is this sweet 11-year-old whom the missionary Sis. Daniels worked with to teach her to play the piano. I started teaching her lessons a month ago with the intent of helping her play in Primary, but I hadn't anticipated that she'd be ready to go so soon. What a relief and joy!

5th Moment: "Sister, While the Iron's Hot, Let's Have Mutual"
Since I wasn't needed in Primary, I was able to go up and check on Graham in Nursery and found him with his two teachers Poojah and Dolly with the lesson manual opened and three other young adults in the room all doting on Graham (What nursery in the Church has five teachers for every kid!?!). One of them was Tamanna our Young Women's president, who had missed camp but had heard enough about it and was excited enough about the girls who had come that she said, "While the iron is hot, let's have mutual this week." We have not had a mutual activity for around six months. In the end, we decided to change the time of Seminary Saturday for the activity, which I really don't like to do. But I was able to flow with it and recognize that it's most important that we don't lose these girls while they are on fire. I'm so grateful for Tamanna and her inspiration and efforts as a Young Women's president.

6th Moment: "Walk in the Light"
Yesterday at the close of Camp we watched the General Young Women Broadcast, but the DVD froze up just before President Eyring's talk, so we all decided to watch it in our branch Young Women classes today. I love Henry B. Eyring. He never minces words and those words are always drenched in Spirit, depth and power. I think my favorite words he spoke this time were:
"I promise you that within the next few days you will feel the illumination of the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Ghost in your everyday life. When you walk in the light, you will feel at that moment some of the warmth and the happiness that will finally be yours when you are welcomed home again with the hundreds and perhaps thousands of others whom you will bring with you, who have walked in the light because you did."

So here's to a day where I was able to keep Mt. St. Mindy under control and share and partake of the light of those around me freely. Happy Sunday.