When I think back over the past week, it has been a week of incredible highs and lows. Which reminds me that we have opposition in all things. 2 Nephi 2:11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. As I was pondering on the events of the week, one morning my scripture reading had me in Alma 17, where the sons of Mosiah had been on missions for fourteen years. In Alma 17:5, I read, Now these are the circumstances which attended them in their journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both in body and in mind, such as hunger, thirst and fatigue, and also much labor in the spirit. As I was reading this, it gave me pause and I realized that I am not exempt from suffering while on my mission. I’ve only been on this mission for three months and it’s been a whirlwind thus far. When I got to verse 10, And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted. It’s true, I have felt the comforting hand of the Lord this week. While the winds of the world are swirling and pushing against us, we can have comfort in knowing who we are as children of God as well as knowing that we are capable of overcoming when we turn to Him.

Monday brought heat warnings again and it was 34C with high humidity so we decided to stay home in the air conditioning and try to stay comfortable. The usual chores were done and we stayed cool. What an incredible blessing to have air conditioning! Our friends, the Stevens do not have central air conditioning and their apartment is a heat box. They have a little floor unit in their bedroom that attaches to the window. It was so hot they wanted to get a thermometer to see how hot it was in their bedroom upstairs.

Another round of sugar ants arrived. During the last round, I pulled one out of my ear and I was ready to move. I saw one on my arm and I was about to lose my shizel. My belief is that bugs can live outside and I will live inside. Each to their own environment! We laid down an ant trap and watched the frenzy occur. Is this to desensitize me? I have received bug bites here which I think are spider bites and I’m wondering what my guardian angels are up to when stuff like this happens.

On Monday night, I experienced pain as I was going to bed and I knew what it was. Around one in the morning, I was whimpering and decided to call upon my ministering angels. Sure enough, the pain eased so that I could sleep. I explained to them that I needed help because I was going to work a shift first thing in the morning and needed help. I arose in the morning and prepared for our shift. I could feel that I wasn’t well but the pain stayed away during the shift. I was reminded that I needed to go to urgent care and get this issue looked after. On the drive home, I was feeling more unwell. I told Erik that we were heading to Newark to the urgent care. I was seen quickly and received a prescription for an antibiotic. I learned a hot tip from my fellow temple workers. There is a product in the USA that is over the counter in the pharmacy, called AZO. AZO has a line of products that deal with menopause, urinary and bladder relief, yeast infections. Some products in the USA need a prescription that we don’t need a prescription for in Canada and vice versa. Tuesday ended with me feeling like I had been tossed around a barrel and I was ready for bed.

Wednesday was a lovely day where I had an incredible experience in the temple. I was told that there was a disabled lady who would need some help during the endowment ordinance. I told the shift coordinator not to worry because the Lord knows her needs and that He would send her to me. Sure enough, I was able to look after her and I had the distinct impression that it was like I was presenting perfection to the Lord. Was I worthy to do that? I was weeping as the Spirit overcame me while I was helping this sister to complete the ordinance. The next endowment session was starting, and I was told that the same sister would be in the session and again, I knew that I would be helping her. Sure enough, I had the second opportunity to present perfection to the Lord. Our temple recorder talked with me later and said, “You were having quite the experience!” There are no coincidences in life; everything is according to a grand design and we must choose our path.

Wednesday evening, we headed to Rochester with Wanda and Mark Stevens to attend a free event for Concerts in the Park. It was held at Ontario Beach Park. The park itself was very well built, with lots of picnic shelters. My first impression was of the heavy police presence. We arrived around 6 pm to set up our lawn chairs. Many people were already there. The band was to start at 7 pm.

Poor Mark had a headache and wasn’t feeling well. The band was to play 60’s and 70’s hits. Wanda and I sat together and tried to decipher each song. Do you see where I am going with this? It turned out that watching the crowd was far more entertaining than listening to the poor band struggle. There was a dance area in front of the bandstand and many people filled it. This experience reminds me of a Leanne Morgan comedy bit about her and her husband attending a Journey concert not too long ago. Look it up because what she described in her video was pretty acurate for this evening. Lots of walkers and canes abounded along with motorized wheelchairs. Marks’s prediction was that the evening would be over by 8 pm. Erik got up and scouted out the beach. Wanda headed to the washrooms. I told her, “Don’t talk to anyone and keep to yourself!” Mark decided that he better accompany her. There were food vendors doing a hopping business (ice cream, hotdogs, etc.)

Sure enough, at 8 p.m., we saw people starting to pack up and leave. By 8:15, I couldn’t take it anymore, and we decided en masse to pack up, take our chairs to the car, and walk to the beach. It was wild walking past drug induced people and the smell of Mary Jane everywhere. Mark wondered how we were going to explain ourselves to the temple president. What a weird predicament to get ourselves into!

We also saw a group of moms and daughters selling Girl Scout cookies. Because we enrolled our daughters in the Girl Guide organization, Erik wanted to support the Girl Scouts and went off to buy some cookies. He came back with a gluten free version and Caramel deLites (Samoas), which Wanda declared were the best flavor. There was not a better crowd to sell to, a concert full of grandpas and grandmas!

The beach was a lovely sand beach but when we arrived at the water, the odor that I had been smelling went to a whole new level of disgusting, then to gagging. All along the shore, it looked and smelled like sewage from an outhouse. It makes me gag, even writing about it. There were beach volleyball games going on and we decided to walk along the boardwalk. I needed to get more steps in for the day. Along the way, I stop and talk to locals and ask about the effluent in the lake. My advice was, “Don’t get in the lake!!!!” Farther along, there were people swimming and I thought, “Wow, they must be immune to the toxicity!” More Mary Jane as we walked along and finally decided to head back to the car and leave the city. Dan Nabrotsky warned me not to go to downtown Rochester but he didn’t say anything about Ontario Beach Park. The heavy police presence is for the fighting. Oye! But what a beautiful sunset sky we saw.

Thursday dawned with me having eye issues. My left eye was very swollen and the surrounding tissue was red. I was cleaning the tub and bent over to get into the corner of the tile and the tub and hit my head on the tub controller. But the irritation in the eye started a couple of days ago and I don’t think that thumping my head off of the controller helped at all. I had bruising on my left cheek bone and everything hurt. I held warm compresses to my eye for awhile and then we headed off to the temple. By Friday morning, I arose, looked in the mirror and determined that I looked like an ogre. I better do something about this issue. I am not inclined to share a photo of my latest predicament!

Erik had made arrangements for us to go to the Wilson’s home (Bob and Ivana). Ivana is from Slovenia and they are hoping to serve a mission there. I have been learning some phrases in Slovenian. Grandmother is Babica, similar to Russian (Babushka).

We went to pick cherries. They have both sour cherries and sweet cherries. I was also able to pick some strawberries whilst Erik was on the ladder picking cherries. Their highbush blueberries will be ready in a couple of weeks. One of my loves is eating fresh asparagus and Bob invited me to snap off what I wanted and I ate them in the garden. Neither of them like asparagus and I asked why they were in the garden. Bob’s great grandparents planted them. The Wilson’s are in their early 80’s. Imagine how long ago those asparagus were planted! The farm used to be much larger but Bob started selling off farmland and they have 10 acres remaining. Many varieties of apples are grown on their acreage.

On the way home, we stopped in Newark for groceries and I went to the pharmacy looking for Polysporin eye drops. No such thing is to be found; need a prescription. Off to the urgent care again! The doctor said that I came in just in time. Eye issues progress rapidly and I didn’t have pink eye but instead Blepheritis. The whole eye socket was now involved and painful. I must have scratched my eyelid or inside my eye at some point to start this problem. I was now prescribed another antibiotic (for someone who shuns drugs as much as I can, I was overwhelmed at this point). Antihistimine drops were to be used as well. By my Saturday shift, I had a lot of explaining to do, hahaha! While working with patrons, I had to explain that I was not contagious. One of the patrons told me that she knew the moral of this story; don’t do cleaning! Another missionary said nearly the identical thing, “I think that you need to learn to not do cleaning!”

Two weeks ago, we were involved in an outside tour of the temple for a Stake Youth Conference. Erik and I were assigned to the Celestial Room Window and that side of the temple. We went to the temple to scope out our responsibilities and I ended up practicing on a family with young children. They were a delight and I felt that we would be fine. Two more families sidled up to us to catch what we were saying and we shared the presentation again. In our Celestial Room, the stained glass has a representation of the “Tree of Life”. There are 12 round crystals representing the fruit on the tree. We also have moon phases representing different events. In the middle of the wall above the Celestial Room window, the moon phase shown is of April 6, 2000. This is the date that the Palmyra Temple was dedicated. The moon phases are depicted avery two weeks going around the temple. Even when I have the opportunity to meet patrons in the foyer, I tell them a little about the exterior and what to look for. It helps to extend their experience amongst the Church historic sites.

What a week! Tears of joy and of sorrow were happening. I needed to prepare my family history lesson for our Spanish Branch. Erik seemed more worried than I was. I was trying to survive one day at a time. We decided to bring a Canada Day cake to the temple for July 1. That will need to be ordered. Times roll forth and we look forward to another week of learning and growth.

When life hands you difficulties, where do your thoughts lead you? Many years ago, I learned to think that there was something that I was to learn from the situation. So, this past week, full of ups and downs, I pondered on what I was to learn. It will be ongoing as I try to decipher the messages from the Lord.

This is very true! No matter the obstacles, we can find a way. The Lord does remind me on occasion that my ways are not His ways and I need to slow down and consider another way that I may not have thought about. There are days that I think that I am worrying about things in my life needlessly. Fear does not come from God. I put my trust in Him and know that He holds my eternal welfare in His hands.

Much love and gratitude to you all; be well, be kind to others, and definitely to yourself!