there is beauty everywhere

letter to granddaughter Acadia serving in the Oregon Eugene mission:

there is beauty all around Barbara Robarts <motherof8robarts@gmail.com> 11:05 AM (6 minutes ago) to Acadia You already know the big news from this week. Your mother called me just as we were leaving the temple Friday and told me that your family is moving to Arizona the first of the year. Wow oh wow!  Then she emailed our family.  I never expected to see her leave the Pacific Northwest and I loved being able to visit there now and then. But I love how she says she loves the Pacific Northwest but she loves your dad more. I know your whole family has prayed and received confirmations, so I know this is a good thing for your family.  We had a great Relief Society & Young Women Activity Wednesday. Except the YW didn’t come. A couple of YW leaders did and they say they had not seen any information. (How did they know to be there then?) We had a potluck dinner in the Foell’s backyard. This house is a great party house and has a nice big backyard that Greg has really made beautiful.  The potluck was nice, but the speed friending was great. We only had a minute or two with each person, but connections were made. Who knew it could be so easy to get to know someone better?! I grew in knowledge, appreciation, and affection for the sisters I was able to speed friend. I hope to better develop my friendshipping skills to enrich my own life and learn to better minister. Our Relief Society lesson was taken from Dallin H. Oaks talk in April conference “Cleansed by Repentance”. We had a pretty good standard lesson until two comments/questions. One sister asked about abusive people in her life. She keeps forgiving and they keep hurting her. Other sisters shared teachings bu Elder Holland and personal experience that forgiving does not mean allowing yourself to be hurt or damaged. I told about doing child care for a sister in my ward who didn’t pay me. She owed me hundreds. After trying to work it out a number of ways, I realized that she was never going to pay me. What was I going to do about it? I decided to forgive her the debt. I told her. For a time I knew to the penney what she owed me, but then I realized that I didn’t any more. I felt that I had truly forgiven then, but I was still troubled. I spoke to my Bishop. “Does forgiving the debt mean I must do child care for her again? “ He said, “Forgiveness does not mean you have to be stupid.” We urged the abused sister to cut the abusers out of her life as much as possible and not put herself in their power.  The other discussion came from Oaks : ‘Just last evening President Nelson challenged us, “Brethren, we all need to repent.” ‘ That got me. What do apostles have to repent of?! How much do I need to repent of to get to where they are? IF THEY need to repent, I must be pretty much hopeless. The sisters responded: They said repentance is not just about stop doing wrong things, it is about starting to do or improving doing good things. Also, the more righteous we become, the smaller things we learn to repent of. On the home front. Nothing. No work in the kitchen. Just when I told the vet that the cat had not had any “episodes” since before I took her it, she did. Sigh. Tomorrow she goes to the vet again for another x-ray. Expen$ive. $igh And the bird goes to a different vet Wednesday with a severely overgrown beak.  My grandfather used to get Arizona Highways. I don’t know why. Except he had been a Highway Engineer, but for California. Beautiful pictures. Every place has its own beauty. Some we appreciate more than others But we can learn. Wishing you much beauty and joy. much love, Grandma Barbara