A great day at the Temple

This was a great day. We were able to go to the Temple when Mai See Xiong went throught the Temple for the first time. Even though it was several months ago and she has already left for her mission. It is something that I wanted to make sure that I remembered. It was amazing to go and be in the Temple with so many great members of my ward. Mai See is a great example of courage and strength. I know that she is going to be a great missionary. The people of Taipai Taiwan will be greatly blessed because she will be serving her mission there.

Keep on the path

Life is amazing with all its ups and downs.....the way I have realized to survive is to keep on the path. The path is an upward course and if we keep looking upward then we will see where we want to go. I love this picture of half dome taken last year. It is still my goal to make it up that little hill. So even if I have to try many more times..at least I have my sights on what I want to do. I know I will make it.

To me it is through little things that Iwill prepare to go on this hike. Exercising....running...walking...hiking...climbing stairs...and getting my mind set on doing it. It is all about preparation.

I had a great day...without no pictures to show but had to share. I subbed today and had a great day. I was able to spend some time just listening to students read. It is something little that makes a huge difference in the life of children at my school. I had subbed in a 2nd grade class a few weeks ago. One of the boys was having a hard time. He was mad and crying. He had been at another school the year before and he did not like this school. So I asked him to read to me. He introduced me to Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold...very cute books for boys. He read two of them. I asked if he could read to me more often. I saw him again today and he remembered. I was able to arrange for him to leave his classroom and come read to me. He had marbles and was explaining all about marbles. I learned what a dragon marble is, mustand and ketcup and a black widow. It was a great experience and two children of God had a unifying experience that I will treasure. Another experience happened on Facebook. I served my mission in the Finland Helsinki mission. During the years I have lost contact with everyone but through facebook I found some companions from my mission. So today I had a great conversation with an amazing sister. It was good for my heart to go back and remember some amazing experiences from my mission. Those experiences are around us all the time. We just have to stop.....reach out....enjoy and be a part of someone else's life. It is those moments that I feel sorry for myself and feel life is not fair...that I stop...look around and find someone who needs a smile, a hug, a card or to laugh. It has been a long road to not be afraid to reach out to others. I have prayed for it and the God has been so generous to allow me to an instrument in His hands. Miracles have happened in my heart and I am grateful...it helps me stay on the path and look upward to where I want to be...back with my Father in Heaven. So it is my goal and motto to do whatever it takes to stay on the path....it is the best place to be.

Mai See leaving on a mission!!!!

Well we did it. Mai See left from Fresno at 6:30am...so that meant we had to say good bye at 5:30am. I am so grateful to be there and see her off at the airport. She is a very extraordinary person and will be an incredible missionary. I have had the chance to see her as a ward missionary and have been so impressed. Tuesday night we were able to go to the Stake President offices and see her be set apart. What an amazing time to have this experience. It will be great to hear all about her mission experiences. The next 18 months will go so fast and before we know it she will be home. I know that she will has so much to offer the people of Taiwan. I will miss her so much. She has touched my heart and I am grateful to have gotten to know her. One of the many blessings of being in the Pioneer Park Ward.

Great life lesson

An autobiograpy in five short chapters
by Portia Nelson



I.
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost...I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

II.
I walk down the street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend that I do not see it.
I fall in again
I can not believe I am in the same place
But it is not my fault
It still takes me a long time to get out.
III.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in....it's a habit
My eyes are open.
I know where I am
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

IV.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

V.
I walk down another street.

I just love this quote. It has made me realize that too many times in life we really do not like what is happening in our lives. The problem comes from not doing anything about it to change it. There are so many ways to make our lives better. We just have to believe it and make the changes necessary to be happy. God has a plan for us and that is for each of to be happy. We just have to have faith and be willing to do whatever it takes to make our lives the best it was meant to be.

Amazing Baptism

Sunday was an amazing day. Not only was it General conference but it was also Naly's baptismal day. What a great way to end an already great day. Naly is one of my MiaMaids and was baptized. She is a very sweet and nice girl. The youth came out to support her. This is a picture of a few of them. They are so much fun and are always smiling and enjoying life.

I was able to give the baptismal talk. I related it to the beginning of something amazing. The chance to return to live with our Heavenly Father. It reminded me of my own baptism as a 15 year old youth. That it was the first step to many amazing things. It is sometimes scary to take the first step but it has to be done. I am proud of her for this decision.

Scott also had the great opportunity to help the missionaries talk about the gospel. They take a few moments to teach gospel principles. Scott did such a great job. He was nervous to get up in front but he did and did a great job. I was so proud of him. It was a great day and I was grateful to be a part of it..

Swinging cool women....

We decided to take a break from making eggrolls. So we went outside and swang on the swings. It was a good break from the back breaking work on rolling those eggrolls.....not really it is not that bad. This is MaLy and Sandy Lor. They are some of the most incredible YSA girls. They are always smiling and have such a good sense of humor. They always make me laugh and one can not laugh too much.....so they are always good for one soul. We were only out there for a short time and then it was back to work.

Youth Fundraiser eggrolls

The Pioneer Park Ward has a eggroll fundraiser every year. It takes all day and we usually make around 4,000 eggrolls. Even though it is alot of work..it is still alot of fun. The moms in the ward do such an awesome job at working and keeping us on track. The girls work hard and put their heart and soul into it. It is quite the production and takes the whole Farley house to be a success. We use the kitchen, the living and family room and outside. We are so tired at the end of the day and vow we will never do it again. It is kind of like childbirth...once we have recovered we forget how tired we were...then we do it again. This year we made eggrolls and spring rolls. Eggrolls are fried and spring rolls are not.

The girls in the ward are just so amazing. They are a blessing to be around. It makes my calling so much fun. They can even make working all day enjoyable. So here a couple of pictures to show us making the eggrolls. We are inside rolling the eggrolls. First you need to cut all the ingredients and mix them in a huge bowl. The moms do not have recipes...they just go by a gut feeling..and it always works out. After the mixing then comes the rolling. The hardest job is frying them. We do that outside and those moms spend all day over the pot full of hot oil and I find that amazing.

God miracles.

God send miracles in so many ways and here is one big miracle God has sent me. This is a great friend Kris Smith. We went to lunch one day and asked a total stranger to take this picture. Kris was Scott's 8th grade teacher. Then our paths crossed often and one thing led to another and we became friends. She is such an inspiration to me. Kris is one of the most positive, uplifting and nicest woman that I have ever met. I am grateful to her and the example that sets for me.

She always has time for me. She is a good listener and always has a way to make a negative situation into a positive one. I can always e-mail her my thoughts and feelings. She has taught me to bake rolls and muffins. I am actually enjoying it. Kris has also included me in some amazing activities...scripture class and a book club. We both love to read and it is amazing to be able to share and swap books that we have read. She was there for me when I really needed a good friend and I am grateful that when I prayed to God for a friend He sent me Kris.

Enjoy the simple things in life!!!!

While on our youth snow trip we had decided the easiest lunch was cup of noodles, chips and hot chocolate. The youth went up and had a great time with the snow, food and each other. It is amazing how simple things can bring us such joy. Blia Lee is a YSA girl in our ward. She is an amazing person who I find strength and courage from everytime I see her. She taught me to put fritos in my cup of noodles. It actually tasted great. It has been on my mind for awhile.

I have been thinking about how the gospel of Jesus Christ is simple and beautiful. That we as people make it much more complicated than it was ever meant to be. I have loved being in the Pioneer Park Ward. It has been one of the biggest blessings in our lives. I have really been able to focus on what is most important and that is becoming more Christlike and simply living the gospel. I have learned to love in a way that I never thought I could. I have learned to enjoy the moment. I have learned to have fun no matter what happens and enjoy the people and being together. There has been several activities that I was stressed out about. I found all that stress did not no good. The activity happened and even though it could have been done so much better the youth had a great time. At times in the church we are too busy trying to make the perfect activity that we push the most important thing out and that is the people and the spirit. I find that it all works out if we just open up our hearts and minds. I have also learned to look at people's heart and not what they wear, say and even do. It is too easy as members to judge and be critical...we all want to love and be given the benefit of the doubt...but we are not so easy to do likewise.

I once heard a great talk about becoming Christlike. The person put the characterstics of the Savior on the board. The list was long and amazing. Then we were challenged to take on of the attributes and work on it for a month and make it part of us. Then we pick another one and continue replacing our bad habits with good habits from the Savior. I love the story about a general authority asking what as members could we do that would show that we have a testimony of the Savior. The list went on for about 45 minutes...it is all the good things that we do...magnify our callings, going to the Temple etc... Finally the person giving the talk said the biggest way we can show that we have a testimony of the Savior is how we treat others. That has really stuck out in my mind. We at times get to stuck on doing and being.

I have just realized that it is my small and simple things that we do makes a big difference. It is all about the small things that we do for each other. We made a covenant when we were baptized that we would uplift each others burden. It is my testimony that the biggest thing I have learned in the last few years is that the spirit will tell us what we need to help each other. We just need to be close enough to the spirit to do it. The little things are calling a friend, sending a note to a friend, smiling and giving someone a hug at church and many other small acts of kindness. So it is our family's goal to be able to focus more on the Savior and becoming like him. To have more trust faith in God and what He has planned for us. Most important is to stop and see the small and simple miracles in our lives.