Photos

I've been a bit remiss with this blog. I've been on a huge learning endeavor in regards to education and reading and writing as I strive to become a better teacher. I've made considerable growth just from where I was two years ago. Sadly this little blog of mine had to take back burner.

However, my goal this Christmas break was to learn how to teach writing in a better way to little 8 year olds. If I want them to write better, I told myself that I need to write more.

That said, I'm leaving 2020 with photos instead. I didn't take very many as I sat and relished the moment of having our grandbaby and MOST of my kids with us. It was simply glorious.

Christmas break began with a quick trip to Ferron. This was a run/hike I went on one morning. It was absolutely beautiful with cool, crisp, clean air.

Nate accompanied the sister missionaries on a Christmas song. Thanks to some pretty remarkable technology, we were able to "zoom" in and watch.

The cutest baby in the world; no biases here.

Our traditional Christmas meal of Korean bulgogi was moved from Christmas Day to Christmas Eve since we were losing KJ and baby to the other inlaws. It was a great present to me. I LOVED not having to make a meal on Christmas day.

Nate left behind a bag for us open on Christmas (or any other time . . . We chose Christmas Eve). In September while he was busily getting ready to leave home for 2 years to bring people to Christ, he was also exemplifying Christ's attributes of thoughtfulness and kindness by preparing that bag for us. It was a bunch of random gadgets from work but I was touched that he was thinking of us months in advance.

I also discovered a shared family photos album where Nate had uploaded some photos from his mission. He hasn't been as diligent with attaching photos to his weekly email as Erik did. I was extremely happy to peruse and save.

Goodbye Brighton

Good morning! I hope you all had a fantastic week!

We had transfers on Thursday, and I am now serving in the Peoria ward in Aurora. I didn't realize how nice my other apartment was until coming here. It's still pretty good, but I now wake up at 2 in the morning to hear our neighbors screaming at each other, or the cops show up at our complex. We don't have a washer or dryer, the shower randomly switches back and forth between scalding hot and ice cold, and I'm back to not having a car. It's honestly been a lot of fun, but it's a very different place than where I was just at.

I'm now with Elder Gulbransen and Elder Stastny. I came in with Elder Gulbransen; we actually spent the first night in a hotel together. Elder Stastny is leaving on Thursday to go back to his original assignment of Durban, South Africa.

The ward here has a lot more older people, so it's very difficult with COVID because many can't go to church. Many of the ward members won't answer calls from us either, so it will be a lot harder to get the system going that we did in my last area. We're going to have to be more creative, but it will be good to have that challenge.

The Christmas devotional was awesome! For those that didn't watch it, I'd encourage you to go back and do so. I loved all the talks, about "swaddling" others during hard times, about appreciating the true Gift of Christmas, of how the Savior's birth brought about the reality of many people's hopes and dreams, and of our Prophet's message about the symbolism of His birth. I am so grateful to celebrate His birth, the birth prophesied of by countless prophets throughout history. I know as we ponder on the gifts He's given us, and on how He is the Gift we can give to others, that we will feel more peace, and that our Heavenly Father will help us find opportunities this Christmas season to share about Him with others. I promise that if you are bold this season in testifying of your love for the Savior, then our Heavenly Father will help you feel His love and you will have joy in Him. I say this in the name of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, amen. 

- Elder Leary 

On the 12th Day of COVID . . .

There was a great surprise.

12 rolls of toilet paper
11 ounce of Clorox
10 mandarin oranges
9 ripe bananas
8 ounce of cheese
7 cans of soup
6 slice of bacon
5 rows of Oreos
4 cubes of butter
3 macaroni
2 chips and salsa
and a loaf of Grandma Sycamore's white bread!

I took some liberty to make that little song work. 

But seriously. This is the third time in 4 years that we've received such an abundance on our doorstep, but this time the good elves revealed themselves. People are so good. Especially the people at Beehive Wireless whom Erik works for. They take such good care of him. He worked for them the summer before his mission and he impressed them so much then that they immediately hired him back. 

Erik joined the COVID club and Beehive wanted to make sure he was taken care of EVEN THOUGH he lives with his parents who are pretty capable people. We put Erik and Ash (she had a slight fever) in isolation for a week until tests came back. Tyler, Alex, and Ash negative. Erik positive. I opted out since I had no symptoms and it had been 9 days since Erik's exposure when they all decided to test.

His symptoms were a mild cold.

Satan sure unleashed a good one this year. The "last days" always conjured up images of war and fires and earthquakes and drought . . . Okay that pretty much sums up this year if you consider civil unrest and rioting as a form of war. However, I never imagined something so small could take down an entire planet. I never dreamed I would be wearing a mask and hiding from people. I never imagined the backlash among friends and neighbors that could come over "to wear a mask or not to wear a mask."

If Satan's intentions were to create division, he's sure done a pretty good job. Even within my own home this past week it's been pretty divisive and ugly at times. That is not the Lord's way.

I've never been more grateful for the presence of the Holy Ghost in my life as I have been this year in navigating some pretty turbulent times. I know the decisions I make with regards to my own health and the health of my family have brought peace to me. I've received that quiet witness that we're going to be okay. That is the Holy Ghost confirming that my decisions are good ones. 

I choose to live by faith, not fear.

I'm also grateful for a prophet I can look to for guidance. Our government leaders at times have asked us to do some hard things. One of the articles of faith that I live by is that I believe in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. President Nelson also lives by this article of faith because I've watched him as he too quietly obeys, honors, and sustains these government mandates.

There is hope. There is victory around the corner. 2020 has certainly been a year of ups and downs. For our family, the ups far outweigh the downs. 

Be a pineapple: Stand tall. Wear a crown. And be sweet on the inside.

Thanksgiving!

Last week we got up do some fun service. On Wednesday we got to go to Barr Lake and put up Christmas lights all over. I generally don't think Christmas decorations should go up before Thanksgiving, but this year was definitely an exception. Thanksgiving morning, we got to go to the cemetery and get all the snow off the graves and dig out the grass covering them so they'd look nice. On Friday and Saturday we had the awesome idea of taking around plates of cookies with Light the World calendars to the ward members. We left them at the door and ran, and had a little note on them that said to do the same thing to three of their neighbors. It was a lot of fun, and we're hoping that they'll help light up their neighborhood around them. 

Thanksgiving was super cool. We had that service, and then had a devotional as a zone which was a lot of fun. The stake had ward members bring food, and the Stake President dished us all up and sent us home since we're no longer allowed to eat in churches with COVID restrictions. That night, we got to watch The Fighting Preacher over zoom, and it was kind of weird to watch a movie again, but it was a lot of fun. 

It is now December, and that means today kicks off Light the World! We have our p-day today because we used yesterday to get as many people as possible to sign up for Light the World. I want to share something I came across this week, and I'd encourage you all to go read Daniel chapter 5 to read the whole story. The king throws this feast, and during it, this writing shows up on the wall. He asks all these wise people to interpret it, and none of them can. His wife, the queen, ends up telling him to ask Daniel, and Daniel is able to interpret it. However, what I love about this is that the king, when he goes to ask Daniel, says that he knows he is a man of light and understanding. I LOVE this idea that Daniel's reputation had preceded him as a man of light. He had stood out by how he acted and his devotion to God, and it was seen as Light. I'd invite you all to be known as People of Light this Christmas season. Serve others, show them love, be an example, and invite people to learn more about Christ this Christmas season. I know as you do so, the Lord will pour out blessings upon you and those you serve, and I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

All my love,
Elder Leary 

We got a car . . . and a companion!

This week has been so much fun!

Last week, we challenged all our members in our weekly message as a family to go serve someone who needs it. The Vera's did that for some people, but also showed up at our apartment with Crumbl cookies and an entire cheesecake! We ended up giving some of it away by dropping it off at the doorstep of a family who is in quarantine right now, but I can't believe how nice people have been to us.

We also invited them to do Come and See Me- to invite 10 family or friends to come watch their son speak in church- and they invited Brother Vera's brother and his family! His brother is inactive and his family aren't members, but they all came and brought a friend that was visiting them for the weekend!

Thursday night, right before a lesson, President Blake called us and asked if our apartment could fit three people. We said it could, and he said that's all he needed to know, so we thought maybe at transfers we were going to get a new companion, or two new ones if one of us left. However, the AP's called later that night and said we were getting a new companion the next day, and what do you know, but it's Elder Ogden!

Elder Ogden and I went to high school together, and ran cross country together, so I was super excited. He's two years older than me, so he's finishing his last 3 weeks, and I'm finishing my ... last 22 months. Sorry to my mom if that sounded like a long time, but I'm still super excited to be out here. Anyways, the AP's were on an exchange with the zone leaders, so they drove me to the mission home the next morning on their way back to their area. I got to have waffles with President and Sister Blake, and then me and Elder Ogden drove back to our apartment. That's right, we drove. It's been so nice to have a car the last couple days.

Anyways, we had an awesome couple days with him, and then we received another call from President last night, and Elder Ogden was transferred to Aurora to be a zone leader for his last two weeks. He packed up his things in twenty minutes or so, and then he was gone as fast as he came. I did learn some things from him so I'm so grateful for that. And ... we kept the car! So we now have a 2020 equinox with only about 2000 miles on it. We'll keep it at least until the end of the transfer, but then it might go back to its old area. We also kept the new mattress we got, and the bunk bed, so Elder Hales sleeps on the top bunk (he likes being high up, he tends to just chill out on top of our fridge) and I get a double decker bed.

I want to testify that I know families are central to our Heavenly Father's plan for us. I'm so grateful to all of my family who have all supported me in coming out here, and for all they've done for me. I'm grateful to know that we can live forever with our families, that we can be sealed together. I know our Heavenly Father loves us as His children, and wants us to return to Him, just like any father would with his kids. I bear testimony of that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

All my love,

Elder Leary 

God Plays Deep Chess

I was asked to talk in our sacrament meeting last week. As I sat writing it late Friday night, the thoughts just came to me. I realized I could not take credit for this talk. Afterwards I had many who reached out with words of appreciation and love. This talk came from the Lord. I was simply the conduit.

In 1988 I became the 6th grade chess champion. My dad taught me how to win in 4 moves which proved to be unstoppable.

A few year later, I met Tyler who plays chess, who plays much deeper chess than I had ever played.

To play “deep chess” you are thinking several moves ahead and anticipating your opponents moves.

Chess is not a game of chance or coincidences. There is design and purpose to each move.

Our lives are like a chess board. Our Father in Heaven is orchestrating moves far in advance, moving us from place to place. He is playing ‘deep chess’ and if we are receptive to spiritual promptings, we will be able to look back and see the Lord’s hand or at least his fingerprint in those moves.

Gerald Lund in his book Divine Signatures says “Sometimes, the Lord sends His blessings in such a highly unusual, dramatic, or precisely timed manner, that it might be likened to a ‘divine signature.’ It is as though the Lord ‘signs’ the blessing personally so that we will know with certainty that it comes from Him.”

Many years ago as I was struggling through a pretty significant trial, I was worrying to my dad about my life. He reminded me that this trial of mine had not caught the Lord by surprise like it had me. He knew this was going to happen and he had designed a different path for me.

God was playing deep chess. And through that trial he placed me in circumstances where my faith could deepen. Looking back I know for deep certainty Heavenly Father was watching over me and my family. I could see the tender mercies and divine signatures in my life.

God is in the details of our lives and when we recognize those small instances of his divine signatures then when the small instances become pandemic proportional problems, we will take comfort that he still has our back and that things will be okay.

I remember very clearly the phone call I got from Dr. Affify telling me that Ashlyn had neuroblastoma. The immediate peace I felt after that sentence was palpable. I knew that everything was going to be okay. That was a divine signature from a loving Heavenly Father. He was playing deep chess, bolstering my faith for bigger things to come.

Currently we live in a world that is just a tad bit unsettled and less than peaceful.

"To yearn to go back to a world that cannot be lived in now; to be perennially dissatisfied with present circumstances and have only dismal views of the future; to miss the here-and-now-and-tomorrow because we are so trapped in the there-and-then-and-yesterday are some of the sins of Lot’s wife."

Elder Holland goes on to remind us that

*Faith is always pointed toward the future.

*Do not dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been.

*The past is to be learned from but not lived in. 

*Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had.

*Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the “high priest of good things to come."

God is playing deep chess. This pandemic did not catch him by surprise. He is moving us into positions to strengthen our faith, to strengthen the church, to create more effective missionary service. Technology has allowed us to stream sacrament services and classes. Missionary work is taking on social media. Erik's last 6 months of missionary services was more or less survival mode as they tried to figure out how to do missionary work differently. Nate hit the ground running  using technology to do missionary work. His mission president recently reported that his mission is finding people to teach at twice the rate than it was at this time last year.

Several weeks ago in our Relief Society lesson, the question was asked “What do you do to be spiritually prepared?”

I thought about that during the week and the thought kept coming back to me that I have looked for God’s hand in my life and recorded it faithfully. When we are consciously looking for God’s divine signatures, we will find them and they will help us through not only the small moments but especially when the biggies hit in pandemic proportions.

This might not be the year any of us envisioned. Personally my family missed out on 2 graduations, a senior year of tennis, vacations, a niece’s wedding. We’ve missed getting together with family and friends and just doing our normal stuff. BUT the Lord in his mercy has given us a beautiful grandbaby whom we can’t get enough of. He’s given us good health even though our missionary ended up with the virus. We had a missionary come home and another depart within weeks of each other. We got to experience missionary life first hand with home-MTC. We got to attend a very sacred, intimate temple experience with just our family. Our high school graduation experience was much more personalized and up close than the Marriott Center and we have a new driver in the house.  Um . . . actually scratch that last one. So even though 2020 might be a year to just flush down the toilet, I wouldn’t trade it for all the great things we got to experience this year. Our family was so blessed.

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." D&C 123

Cheerfully. The Lord wants us to cheerfully do what we can. Lately, I’ve heard a lot of grumbling about wanting this pandemic situation to be over. To never have to wear a mask again. Challenge 1. Do what we’ve been asked to do by our prophet and our governor because as members of the Lord’s church we believe in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. But not only do but do it cheerfully. And Challenge 2. Look for God’s arm to be revealed through those divine signatures that will come to you and your family this week.

May you forever stand still with the utmost assurance that God loves you, cares about you, and he is playing deep chess to give you something better than you already have.

Taco Bell and Roger

Hello everybody!

We got out of quarantine last Monday, and it has been so nice to have a normal week again. We're both feeling back to 100% normal by now, and we had a crazy week!

On Wednesday we got to go to Barr Lake State Park, where we helped build a split rail fence and lay down some decomposed granite for a trail. I think it was decomposed granite anyway, don't quote me on that. It was so nice to get out and just do something physical for once.

On Thursday we went and raked some leaves for people, and I got to go to my first district council with my new district because Elder Hales and I have been quarantined since transfers.

Friday we found out we had surprise interviews with President Blake, and afterwords we went to Taco Bell with Elders Beal and Ellis. We pulled out from the street next to Taco Bell and made a left turn into the middle lane, but another car from a street on the other side didn't see us and tried to make a left turn as well and hit into us. The streets were a little off center so we were both turning through that lane in the same spot, but we had actually turned and slammed on our brakes when we saw him. He had just started to turn and didn't see us until the last second. We're all fine, it was just a little bump, and he didn't really have any damage. He hit the front and twisted his license plate a little, but we were turned already and he put a dent in our front bumper. We had turned first and actually tried to stop so I think he's at fault, but I don't know what that'll mean for fixing the damage, or if it's even necessary. It was the first "wreck" any of us had been in, but it was an interesting experience. We filed it online and exchanged insurance information, but we're still waiting on the mission office to hear about what will happen.

On Sunday Brother Thatcher brought someone to church! His name is Roger; he works with Brother Thatcher and approached him about our church because he's trying to change some things in his life. Brother Thatcher invited us over to his house after to talk with Roger, and it was so much fun. We taught him about our church and answered some questions, and talked a lot about what changes he wanted to make and how he was going to be able to do that. It was the first time that I've taught someone since coming out, and the first members house we've been in. It was so much fun!

In closing, with Thanksgiving around the corner I want to say how grateful I am for all of you, my friends, family, neighbors, and examples in life. I am so grateful to be out here serving and to have the chance to meet all these new people. I'm grateful for the chance to live in this time where we have so many blessings that we too often take for granted. Above all, I'm grateful for my Savior, for His teachings, His atonement, and His death and resurrection. I can't imagine a world where I couldn't lean on Him to support me as I try to change, and where I would live without the knowledge of life after this one and eternal families. I know He lives, He loves you, and He's reaching out to you. I say that in His name, Jesus Christ, amen.

All my love,
Elder Leary

p.s. I think all you Utahns got a bunch of snow but it hasn't hit us yet so we'll see what we're in for.

p.p.s. Also some missionaries are leaving for their assigned country, I'm not on that list yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Australia!