The Work of Creation!

Elder Uchtdorf says that "the desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul! No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before... after all, we are spirit daughters of the most creative Being in the universe! Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty! As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world WITHIN YOU!" Those of you who know me well, know that I love to create! And NO... I am not some wonderfully talented, artistic, creative person! I just love the feeling of being able to create something beautiful or original that did not exist before! Over the years my family have been recipients of my creations.... tole painted projects, jewelry, purses, photo books and sewing projects are some of them! I love giving the people that I love something that I have created! It's like giving them a little piece of myself! These little Easter outfits are my latest creation! I had so much fun thinking about each of these special little girls while I CREATED their individual outfits... and what a thrill it is for me to have these pictures of them in MY CREATIONS! What joy our Heavenly Father must feel as he shares his creations with us and sometimes even lets us be involved in helping Him create beautiful bodies for His spirit children! I love these little darlings that call me "Lita!" What CREATIVE parents they have and what satisfaction their parents must feel in their creations!

ONE WEEK INTO MY TRAINING!

Today marks one week since I started my training as a Family Search Support Missionary! My sister in law, Carol, warned me that it is HARD and she didn't exagerate! I feel like a kindergardener who has been thrust into a college course! My poor brain does not know how to respond! So much information is being given to me and I just can't remember it all! I have found that everyone in my class (there are 13 of us) is at least 15 years older than me and all have many, many years experience working in genealogy, PAFF, Extraction/Indexing and Family Search! Everyone in my group has served as a Ward Family History Consultant except me!

My experience is VERY limited ! We had online classes 4 nights last week with asignments to do every day! Lots of them! I am no longer bored!!! lol! On the contrary, I have felt overwhelmed all week long! In our very first class we were all told to download a talk from Elder Bednar and read it. Our teacher said that the spiritual thought each night was to be given from our thoughts and ideas about this article. The article is titled "That We May Always Have His Spirit To Be With Us." Sister Myers said that the prayer and spiritual thought asignments would be posted...... who knows where??? That is one bit of information I never figured out! Well, on Thursday night, about 6:40 I was doing some last minute things in order to be ready for the online class that started at 7:00 when into my mind popped the words... "YOU have the Spiritual Thought!" I ran to the computer to try to find where the asignments were listed but couldn't. I quickly grabbed my scriptures and pulled up a talk on my computer that I had given recently in Sacrament Mtg. about recognizing and receiving the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I read through a quote from my talk and found the scripture I was looking for just in time to log into the class just a couple of minutes before 7:00. After the opening prayer, onto the screen of my computer came the words... "Spiritual Thought by Sister Hatch!" I was not even surprised as the Holy Ghost had already told me and I was prepared! Our teacher has given our class of missionaries the name "Let the Holy Spirit Guide." What a tender mercy and special wittness I was given that evening that my Heavenly Father is aware of me, my needs and wants me to be successful as a missionary! I know that the "Holy Spirit will guide me" in my faithful efforts to do all that is required of me to prepare to serve as a missionary in Family Search Worldwide Support!

I AM A MISSIONARY !!!

I have EXCITING news! I am a MISSIONARY! I know this is a surprise, so let me start at the beginning! A couple of weeks ago, I got a SURPRISE email from the Missionary Deparment in Salt Lake City! In this email, I was told that the church is looking for members to serve as Worldwilde Support Missionaries in the Family Search/Church History Department. It asked if I was interested and had the time to serve in this manner. There was a phone number in the Missionary Department to call, if I was! Those of you who know me well know that this email came as a direct answer to prayer! For quite some time now, I have been frustrated with my life because I WASTE too much time! As an empty nester... with lots of time on my hands I have felt that my life was USELESS AND MEANINGLESS! I just wasted away the days... filling my time with some fun PROJECTS and MANY WASTED HOURS, feeling that I should be doing something more meaningful with my time! So, I started praying about this situation! I asked Heavenly Father to help me find something to do that would " satisfy my soul!" Well, HE DID! I received my missionary papers and filled them out and then went to see my Bishop & Stake President for their interviews and signitures! On Saturday my mom came down with the mail from El Paso! DRUM ROLL........

The week has been spent on the telephone with the Family History Department in Salt Lake City! They tested ME and MY COMPUTER! We BOTH had to be ready to serve! I had many phone calls from them as I made lots of adjustments to my computer! I had to upgrade my internet service and install some new programs on my computer.....do some required drills for them so they could see if I know enough about the computer to serve! It took some effort but we both passed!

Yesterday.... EASTER SUNDY I was set apart by my bishopric and my husband as a WORLDWIDE SUPPORT MISSIONARY for Family Search! My 2 months of training (through a classroom on the internet) will begin TODAY! I will be trained in how to use the Family Search Program and then how to access other's computers and help them with their search for their relatives and preparing their temple ready sheets to take to the temple. From what I understand, this will be done through Skype, telephone conversations and email. I am expected to spend a minimum of 15 hours and not more than 30 hours a week. I was set apart yesterday between the morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference! The very first talk in the afternoon, after my setting apart was by Elder Russell M. Nelson! It was about the love we feel for our families and how we can, through the Family Search Program search out our families and have them sealed in the temple! I LOVED his message! The SPIRIT OF ELIJAH is already getting ahold of me!

I am SO EXICITED about his calling! SERIOUSLY! I AM THRILILED! I will be starting my training today and I PRAY the LORD WILL QUALIFY ME for this great work! I am a MORE THAN WILLING SPIRIT and so thankful for such a direct answer to sincere prayer! I love my SAVIOR AND HIS GOSPEL and am EXCITED to be involved in the GREAT WORK of helping families be sealed together for eternity!