Sweet Sacrifices to Ease My Trial

On December 8, 2008, I found a lump in my breast. I’ve often wondered what goes through someone’s mind in such a situation. My reaction was interesting. First, “Where did this come from?” “It’s huge!” “Why didn’t I notice this before?” Second, “This can’t be good!” “ I need to have this checked out right away.”

I told my husband when he woke up that morning about what I’d found. He was decidedly worried and suggested I call the doctor immediately. I think he knew, as well as I, that this was probably cancer.

This was not a good time to be sick! Not before Christmas. But cancer doesn’t wait for holidays. It doesn’t care if you are a Relief Society President with a Christmas Dinner and program the next evening. You just deal with it. My dear friend, Gail (she’s an RN) was in the kitchen at church helping with the dinner when I told her about the lump and asked what she thought. Her words, “call your doctor right away. I’ll call you every day until you do.” I assured her that I would.

I saw the doctor the following day. Things moved very quickly then. A mammogram, sonogram and biopsy confirmed our suspicions of cancer. I was referred to Roswell Breast Cancer and surgery was scheduled for a double mastectomy. I think I was in shock.

I’m so thankful for priesthood blessings. I wanted to be calm and positive and the blessing helped me beyond words. I knew I would get through this. It didn’t mean that it would be easy though. I would lose my breasts, my hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. I’d deal with chemo and neulasta shots, infection, isolation and everything else that comes with being a cancer patient.
Through it all, I have had wonderful doctors and staff. Incredible friends and family. Relief Society sisters who cared and prayed, called, wrote, cleaned my house and delivered gifts. They were my Angels! Sister Terry Smith delivered a beautiful basket made by the Relief Society. It really touched my heart. It was so wonderful to see Terry with a big smile on her face and the basket in tow. We had a great visit.

My big concern was losing my hair. Funny what you worry about, huh? My sweet, wonderful friend, Fran-e Campbell told me that she would come and shave my head when the hair started coming out in handfuls. That day came too soon and then the hair was gone. She turned to me, handed me the clippers and said, “Now you shave my head.” What a sweet sacrifice. I shaved her head and then we looked into the mirror together. I will always be grateful to her for doing such a selfless act. It made facing my reflection so much easier. Thanks Fran-e.

It is said that adversity will make you stronger and teach you things if you let it. I have learned a lot about love, compassion and serving others. We all need one another so much. Especially when we face adversity. The love that we share with each other can really make a difference. It gives us hope. The Breast Cancer Society has a saying, “Hope wins the race.” It’s true. It means everything.

I have had people I don’t even know pray for me. I’ve had prayer shawls made for me. Sisters have put my name in Temples around the country. My sister was attending a Bar Mitzvah and the rabbi prayed for me. I have had words of encouragement from friends and family that swell my soul with joy. Yes! You can experience joy, even in adversity. And it is glorious.

My best friend and comfort has been my dear husband, John, who takes such good care of me. He never complained about all the extra work he took on while I was sick. Always encouraging and making me laugh. Telling me I’m beautiful without my hair. He shaved his head too. Now we are a matched set but I already knew that.

Being with others as they struggled with chemo was humbling. So many were so much worse off than I and yet so often their concern was how I was doing. I saw so much faith and courage. I thought a lot about the Savior and how he really knows each of us. He knows our suffering because he felt it too when he atoned for us. The realization of that fact gives us strength to deal with whatever comes because he really does understand. I can testify that when we love and serve one another, our Heavenly Father and the Savior smile and the heavens sing.
Thanks to all who have loved me through this journey. I love you too.

Sister Rhandy Ling, A survivor, Jamestown Ward

Cleaning the Chapel

The sisters in the Jamestown Ward are working hard to clean the chapel.
It is great working together. The boys in the picture are the photographers and helpers
too.

Blessings...

My family has been served and blessed by many people in many ways. Friendship, help, prayers, blessings, and the fatherly love of a Bishop.

My kids especially appreciated the missionaries jumping right in as they do and assembling our trampoline!

I have attached photos of two gifts we recieved that serve as constant reminders of the sisters love for my family.

Shannon, Jamestown Ward

Working For Our Ancestors

As soon as I read the news article in the Ensign last year, I signed up for indexing names from census records not previously available for geneologists. What a great way to help others! It was frustrating at times as I had a dial up account then and sometimes the census sheets were really, really slow coming. But I persevered and got them done. In 2008 I did 40,007 names. So far this year I've done 15,956 names. Now that I have a highspeed server it goes so much faster, I can do 3 or 4 pages instead of 1 or 2 each day.

Sometimes the hand writing with those old style fountain pens or dip in ink pens make for difficult and even at times impossible disciphering of the names. At times I type out a name that I haven't a clue on but just seems right. I like to think that's the Spirit of Elijah telling me what the name is.

Now for new.familysearch.com. This is a fun way to check for previous temple work for ancestors already done or to get names submitted to the temples to be done. We can't attend the temple very often so I submit the names to be done by the temples rather than print out cards to do ourselves. I've submitted hundreds of names so far. The last Stake Temple trip in April, 17 of the ladies had their endowments done and all the others have been done since then. 129 males are still waiting for theirs to be done, then the sealings can take place. I check my list of submitted names every other week so I can go into my PAF and mark them done.

It was gratifying to see that the work was completed for thousands of our ancestors from way back to the first years the temple work was being done for the dead! What a blessing for us and for them. The sad part is that several have had their work done numerous times which is such a waste! So many others are still waiting that could have been completed by now if the work was not duplicated so many times.

I feel so privileged and blessed to be able to do both indexing and submitting names to the temples, both forms of Missionary work!Now I need to buckle down and to the research for those names who are not able to be done because of lack of information and the generations that I have no record of as yet.

Marilyn Antill, Corry Branch

Born to Serve

One of things I love the most about being LDS is the emphasis on service. I definitely feel that I was born to serve others and I have worked very hard to instill this value in my children. It is a good feeling when you’ve taught your kids to serve and then get to see them cheerfully do so on their own. Since I have been in the Young Women’s Presidency in my Ward, I have had many opportunities to plan and participate in service projects with my Young Women. They always amaze me with their willingness to do whatever is asked of them and they usually find a way to have fun while accomplishing their task. Their attitudes are so positive and after the service is complete, they talk about it for the next few weeks. They even post pictures on their myspace and facebook pages. Not only are they building their mansions in Heaven, but they are also building great friendships and memories that will last throughout their lives. Service projects are also a great way for the youth to fellowship their non-member friends. Taking a friend on a service project generally proves to be a great, non-threatening environment in which to meet other members and get comfortable around them. Service is such an important principle of the gospel. Our Savior is the perfect example of service and I happily try to follow in his footsteps.

Trish Rhodes, Jamestown Ward

Kitchen Help at the Wedding

My niece was married in the Palmyra Temple on August lst. My husband and I were the Master and Mistress of Ceremonies, and I only tell you this because of what happened next. My brother- in -law forgot one small detail at the reception – he didn’t ask anyone to be in the kitchen. I took matters into my own hands and asked my daughter, Tiffany, and two other sisters, Stacey Micciche and Katie Swanson, to help. They said yes, and so we set out to cut all the fruit and continue to replace the food as the guests went through the line. It wasn’t what these ladies had planned to do that night but they pitched in anyway. We went through the food line last and sat down long enough to see the bride and groom dance their first dance.
But, the story doesn’t stop there. My sister had chosen to use glass place settings and real silverware, so now the insurmountable task of clean up had to begin or it would never get done. (But remember no kitchen staff) So Betsy Trusel began cleaning up the tables before we finished eating . I felt bad about that, but she cheerfully began and didn’t stop until every dirty dish, glass, and piece of silverware was back in the kitchen. She stacked all the plates together, the silverware together and saved the glasses for last. So Kate, Stacey and I began to wash, rinse and dry for the remainder of the night. But as we worked we found that singing and dancing while we worked made it fun. So dance, sing and work, we did.

The dance consisted of the four of us moving to the beat, while washing the dishes, dipping it in the rinse pan and then wiping it, while at the top of our lungs, singing the song. The DJ played this one song that struck our fancy and we sang it so loud a small crowd formed to watch and videotape our singing and dancing skills. It went something like this:

“It’s gonna take – All night Long, all night, all night, all night long”

The words seemed pretty appropriate under the circumstances, since that is exactly what it took us to finish the task. I will be forever grateful for the help of these wonderful sisters.

Georgia Ognibene, Jamestown Ward

Service at Girl's Camp 2009

1 Timothy 4:12
“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

Each year at Girl’s Camp the Young Women in our stake participate in a service project. This year at an overnight activity that the girls attended in March they choose 3 service projects that were a little different from the traditional and then made some preliminary plans as to how they would accomplish these projects. The projects of their choosing were: Reverence Bags for those chapels and wards with high numbers of young children, Missionary Care Packages with items collected from the members in our stake, and then a YCL Pie Toss to help raise money for the mailing of our Care Packages. In addition to these projects the girls also knew that they would participate in the traditional service of doing something to improve or maintain the physical integrity of Camp Foster.

The Reverence Bags were filled with books, crayons, and file folder games for children to sit and quietly play while in Sacrament Meeting. The file folder games are quiet games that children can easily play during Sacrament Meeting that support gospel principles through matching, organizing, and placing various pieces in categories. The girls spent many hours coloring these games and cutting out the pieces. Unfortunately, we were not able to finish this project due to the weather. The paper, markers, and glue required did not mix well with high humidity and rain. This will be something that we will finish sometime this fall and then the YW will give them to the Bishops within our stake that perceive a need and would like to have these Reverence Bags to share with ward members in their specific chapels.

The project that we did for Camp Foster this year to developed out of need during camp. The Sunday just prior to camp there was a great deal of rain which made the trails very wet and in places muddy. That alone was not a big deal but on Wednesday—all day long—it rained and rained and as a result the paths and trails throughout camp were muddy and needed our attention. Thursday is the traditional day of service and the girls laid many bales of hay and rocks along the paths throughout camp to help with the mud. President Foster, President Miller, and Brother May helped us with this so that the girls were successful in this physical work that they learn so little of in our world of conveniences. The last part—probably the silly fun part as well—was the stomping down of the hay into the mud… In rows of 4 we walked up and down the hill along the main path until it was much more passable.

The Missionary Care Package Service Project was a GREAT success and true joy to participate in. In each ward building within our stake we placed a small box to assist the Young Women in the collection of donations for the missionaries that have left our stake and are currently serving in other places throughout the world. We collected simple items that would be helpful or perhaps just nice for our missionaries. A flyer was sent to each of the Relief Society Presidents within the stake and then the YW were also supposed to be our ‘spoke persons’ for this project. The collection time was approximately 2 months and then the girls were told to bring what was donated to camp. I am unable to adequately express the way I felt as the bags kept appearing during that first day of camp. I wish that I had counted the number of tubes of toothpaste, disposable razors, deodorant, and bags of candy that were given. We put together 7 boxes for missionaries that are either already serving or will be leaving this Fall. A couple of our Young Women have brothers that were missionaries and it was such a joy to listen to them as they chose items that they felt their brothers would like most or select a particular tie that they thought their brother would need or look best in. In addition to the items within the boxes the girls also wrote letters to each of the missionaries. Some of the letters were funny and meant to lift their spirits while others were full of very thoughtful sincere wishes for their well being. The generosity of the Saints in our stake made this a project of joy and giving—and caused the YW to stop, appreciate, think of the missionary they were giving to , and be grateful for the kindness of others.

The girls also planned a YCL (Youth Camp Leader) Pie Toss. The idea behind this was to help raise money to mail the Missionary Care Packages. The girls charge .25 to .50 cents per ticket and then drew names from a box of those that could throw a whip cream pie in a face of the YCL who raised the most money. The pies were tossed and smeared into the faces of a half dozen YCLs. This was a messy affair that brought about much laughing and silliness. It raised $68.00 but that is mostly due to the kindness of Bishops that came up on Wednesday night and upon hearing about our pie toss they generously donated to the cause in the hopes that their YCLs would be ‘creamed’.

I am unable to adequately express the success of what was accomplished in regards to these projects this year. As a leader it is always a blessing to work with those that you serve. BUT this year I feel a particularly fortunate to have been a part of the inspiration of the Young Women and their desire to serve the Lord and to do so with the enthusiasm of youth. The success of these projects was due to the love they have for those they served—what choice youth we have in our stake!!!
With love,
Diane Nilsen