Where do you get your inspiration from? What inspires you? I think about my day to day life and think about the instances where I get a jolt of joy. Yesterday was a day where I was wondering if and when the ground breaking will happen for the Victoria, BC temple. Shortly after thinking about it, I read the announcement! August 22, 2026 will be the groundbreaking ceremony for the temple. What a joyous time for the saints on Vancouver Island!

On Saturday, I headed into Lacombe for some groceries. I decided to go to No-Frills (it’s never my first choice) but felt impressed to go there. As I was going to get a cart, I realized that I didn’t remember what coin I needed for a cart. A family gave me their cart and said that it didn’t use a coin. As I entered the store, I went past a couple in the produce area. The husband was trying to pick tomatoes for his wife and she was looking a little exasperated. I could hear them speaking Spanish so I threw myself into their presence and asked the woman, “El es tu jefe?” (Is he your boss?) She looked at me and said, “No, el es mi esposo, no es mi jefe” (No, he is my husband, not my boss). Then she started laughing because she understood what I was inferring. Her husband looked at me in shock and said, “Tu hables Espanol!?!” (You speak Spanish!?!) He asked me if I just heard him yell out, “Algunas personas aqui hablan Espanol?” (Does anybody here speak Spanish?) I told them that I had just entered the store and missed his announcement. We were laughing and getting to know one another. It brought me so much joy. We exchanged phone numbers and they have invited Erik and I to their home. Marco is from El Salvador and Gineth is from Venezuela. I look forward to getting to know them better. My many years of daily work on learning Spanish has paid off in many ways. Marco asked me how I learned Spanish and I was able to tell them about our mission and being assigned to a Spanish congregation. The hard part for anyone is trying to speak out loud in the language you are learning. People don’t want to feel like they are making fools of themselves and thus don’t want to speak. My strength is that I don’t care if I make a mistake in speaking another language, I just want to try. My inspiration comes from wanting to talk to people and get to know them; basically it’s my love of people that drives me.

We decided to drive four hours down to the Little Bow Resort east of Champion. Erik found a travel trailer that he felt was a good buy. It was owned by a lovely couple who absolutely babied the trailer. It was in pristine condition and we decided to purchase it. Something important to me was that they were gluten free and the trailer didn’t have gluten being used in it. She even had a bread maker that she used to make her loaves in the trailer. Having celiac disease, I go to extreme lengths to make sure I don’t accidently ingest gluten. I feel like a hawk sometimes watching food to see what happens. Cross contamination is a hard issue to explain. So, once again, we have a bug-out trailer and now comes the part of learning the trailer and finding our supplies to stock it with.

On Thursday evening, we gave our mission report to the High Council. We weren’t sure what exactly we were supposed to do or say but then we were asked to tell a little about the mission and how our testimonies grew from serving. Afterwards, we answered a couple of questions and then we were done. One thing I told everyone was how shocked I was about the busloads of youth coming from all over the USA to the Palmyra temple. In Canada, we don’t load our youth up and send them off across the country. I said, “We can’t even take our youth out of the Stake boundaries for camp!” I knew that they would totally understand that. There were some chuckles and remarks made about that. One of the Stake Presidency is from our home Ward and on Sunday, he told us that we did a great job. I was a little surprised, considering that we had never done it before or seen a report before. He explained that we really inspired people to want to serve a mission. There we were being the inspiration for others.

Saturday was my baking day; cinnamon knots, hamburger buns and a large loaf of bread. I had not made the cinnamon knots since 2010; pre-celiac days. It was fun to recreate them. I learned the technique from a Bosch dealer in Calgary, where my great-aunt Opal worked. I discovered that my really old Bosch mixer easily handled two loaves worth of gluten free dough. My kitchen Aid could only do one loaf at a time without a struggle. The dough itself reminds me of whole wheat dough. I use millet flour and sorghum flour mixed with tapioca starch. Psyllium husk is what I use to form a gel and this mixture replaces the gluten in regular bread.

For Father’s Day, we did smoke the pineapple wrapped in pork ribs. Erik wanted the pineapple leaves cut off to make it easier to wrap, so it wasn’t pretty. The acid from the pineapple tenderizes the meat and gives it a lovely flavor. Braeden stopped by on his way to Edmonton and had a plate with us. We gave him a tour of the new-to-us trailer. We all had a laugh about the trailer mattress that was stocked by the manufacturer. The previous owners simply put one of their own queen mattresses in it and we will do the same.

Today we can get inspiration from many places and people. Pinterest has become my go-to to look up recipes and instructions. Just “Google” it has become a world wide phenomenon. I am grateful for technology, for the good that can come of it. I was reminded of some quotes that speak truth to me.

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” Amelia Earhart

“You do not find the happy life, you make it.” Thomas Monson

We have survived the rains of June thus far. Some communities in Alberta have had very hard times with flooding. I am reminded that not everything is in our control but we can act. When the waters of life keep rising, we need to learn to tread water and rise above. Last night at Family Home Evening, we talked about our battles and how we handle them. Mostly, we handle them the best by turning to God and getting His help. In 1 Samuel 17, these verses talk about the faith of David who was just a teenager offering to face Goliath.

45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

46 This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.

Thus, our battles are the Lord’s battles. We can think on David and he only used one stone to kill Goliath but he was prepared with five stones! Sister Andrea Munoz Spannaus gave a talk in General Conference April 2024 and she thought about the possibilities of what those five stones could represent for her.

What if each of David’s stones represented a strength we need to be triumphant in our lives? What could those five stones be? I thought of these possibilities:

1. The stone of my love for God.
2. The stone of my faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
3. The stone of the knowledge of my true identity.
4. The stone of my daily repentance.
5. The stone of my access to God’s power.

These stones represent inspiration to guide your life. Determine your inspiration and then remember to act on it. Have courage to act, and you will find new possibilities opened to you that provide you with growth, strength and stamina. Enjoy the sunshine where you find it!