Haitian Mother's Day!

We wrote on our blog last Monday night but for some reason it didn't get posted. I still don't know what happened but I didn't realize it until a few days later. By that time I decided I might as well wait until this week. I am not a great writer & I really struggle trying to think of something interesting to write that people might be interested in. Even if no one reads this, it will be a good journal for us.

Last week I wrote on Angie's birthday. We were reminiscing about how we didn't know anything about raising our children but we were so blessed to have each one of them & they even turned out to be such great kids in spite of us. What a great blessing to know that we will all be together for eternity because of the blessings of the temple.

Our title for last week was, "Go Celtics!" We are so excited that they are in the finals. We have always liked the Celtics but it is so exciting now that we live in Boston.

Last Sunday we went to Concord, New Hampshire, with the Spears & listened to their talks. Then we went to Sharon, Vermont, which is Joseph Smith's birthplace. We fell in love with it when we were there last fall with Mom & Dad. There are some sculptures of Christ & his ministry & in June they are going to go to the Washington D.C. Visitors Center. They were beautiful. You can see them if you google, "Angela Johnson sculptures". It was well worth the trip to see them in person.

Rod has been helping the Elders teach a man who is 61. He is a professor at Harvard & it has been a very interesting experience for Rod. The last time he went the Mission President was there. This man is very smart & hopefully he will decide to get baptized.

There is a man that we have met here & his 13 year old son committed suicide about 18 months ago. Their family is really struggling & he asked us if we would go with the missionaries & talk to his 7 & 9 year old daughters & his wife. We are going to go tomorrow afternoon. I hope we are able to say the right things to help them a little.

Pres. Wood talked to a Stake President who wants us to go to Boston 1st Ward. We went to their Sac. Mtg. & Sunday School today & they were so friendly. We each felt the Spirit & felt so good about being a part of that ward. After Sunday School we went to the Haitian Branch in the same building. We had promised a brother at the temple that we would go to his branch today. Anyway, it was very interesting. It was their Haitian Mother's Day so I got another flower. They spoke French, & there were hymnbooks in English, French & Portuguese. The youth were giving talks about mother's & half were speaking English & half French. One of the missionaries was translating for us & at one point he said, "They are speaking Portuguese. I don't know what they are saying." I don't know how they know when to translate or when to wear the headsets. It was a good experience for us. It sure makes you realize that we are all children of Heavenly Father & He doesn't care what language we speak.

We had a couple of good experiences in the Temple this week. Rod went up to help with a session & realized that it was all in French & those who spoke English had the headsets on. He said, "I can't speak French." He was a little worried & then someone told him that he only had to help in English. It was pretty funny how worried he was.

A sister came in to do some work for her mother, sister, & several grandmothers. She had a stroke 3 years ago & could barely walk, talk, & couldn't swallow so we kept kleenex's & a garbage can close to her. She told me that she had prayed that morning that she would be able to do some of their work. When I pointed to her mother's name, she said, "That's my mother. That's my mother." It was a very spiritual experience. It brought tears to my eyes. She was only able to do her mother, sister & grandmother. Then she had to quit. While we were waiting, the sister who brought her told me her story. After she married her husband he became inactive because she wasn't a member. After being married for many years, she had the stroke & he asked sisters in the ward to come & read to her because he thought she was going to die. Instead of dying, she asked to be baptized & then he became active. They were sealed in the Temple 2 weeks ago. It was a wonderful experience for me.

In June we start working the night shift from 2-10 pm. I can see benefits to all of the shifts. This will be good because we won't have to get up at 5 am.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. We have been thinking about this weekend in past years & how we have gone to Chena Hot Springs & Homer for so many years. We sure have had some fun times together. We will be remembering Nathan & wishing we could visit his grave. It gives me comfort to go to that peaceful & beautiful place.

Well, it's late & I've gone on too long. I sure hope this works when I post it. We send our love to all of you.