Back from Oblivion

Sorry, everybody, I kind of dropped off the face of the earth for a while. Our current Gospel Doctrine teacher is great, but I admit that when I had that calling, I did much, much better at reading the lessons beforehand! I gotta repent. Speaking of which, I'll throw in a little joke that my mom cut out and sent me:
Once there was a painter who was very poor. When his parish church needed repainting the members of the congregation and the church elders got together and when bids were considered for the job, offered him the job because while his bid was not the lowest it was close and he was of their congregation. So the painter bought paint for the job and set to work. When he got about three quarters of the job finished it became apparent that he wouldnt have enough paint. Well his bid was about as low as he could go and so he decided to thin his paint some so that it would spread farther. Well he got about half of the remainder done and concluded that he would have to thin what he had left just a little and his paint would stretch to cover the whole church.
Unfortunately, that night a terrible storm came to the town and when the painter was awakened by the crash of thunder he realized the thinned paint wouldn't stick to the walls of the church and would be washed away. The painter is panicked and he realizes that he has betrayed the trust put in him by his neighbors and that he will be shamed in front of everyone.
As soon as the next day has dawned, he rushed out of the house to the church and sees all of the thinned paint covering the lawn in front of the church. Faced with humiliation and possible ruin of his business, he does what is only natural and falls down on his knees and prays.
"God," he says, "please forgive me and help me to see the error of my ways." Just then the heavens open above him and he is bathed in a pearly radiance from above. A voice can be heard in the sudden stillness of the morning that rings as if it comes from Heaven itself. God speaks to the painter and says: "Repaint and thin no more!"
Okay, no more jokes...my next posting will contain some contemplation...

Released . . .

As wards and branches grow and change, so, too, do callings. As it happens (inevitably it is often when becomes comfortable with a calling), I’ve been released from my calling as Gospel Doctrine teacher to serve in another needed area of the branch. Therefore, I will no longer be handing out flyers in my class (won’t be my class). However, I’ve grown fond of making these flyers and, as the site meter indicates, many others have also. I’d like to continue doing these online at least in some form, but I’m not yet positive what form that will take. Doing the flyers has helped me to read the lesson ahead of time, so I may simply use the flyers to help myself prepare for the lesson as a student. I’m not positive what change in format that may make in the flyers, but I’m sure there will be some change.

One thing that may change is the reliability of the postings. Since I don’t have to have a flyer for my in-person students, on a way-too-busy week, I may not be able to post a flyer simply for myself and online readers, so forgive me ahead of time for any lapses that may occur. This spring alone my health issues have caused me to seek substitutes more often than usual: I had surgery on a torn rotator cuff in January, which is slowly but surely healing, lately, more slowly as I have been hit with a 1-2-3 punch of ear infection, sinus infection, and bronchitis, made worse by starting up while out of town at a work conference, so I currently completely miserable and will have a setback with my shoulder physical therapy, since I have been so weakened. Combine all that with the fatigue from my MS and my exhaustion after being gone for another 10 days to help my aging parents move into a retirement home, with my mother having Alzheimer’s and you could understand that I might need a rest of some sort. All this and I’m actually on a sabbatical this semester! Not that my body would know this! Anyway, if you have any thoughts or comments you want to pass along, I’m available, as always, at wendywarrenaustin@hotmail.com and would love to hear from you. I’d appreciate any thoughts you might have about how the flyer or blog might change, especially, or if you think these physical setbacks are the Lord’s ways of telling me to take a rest entirely.

On a brighter note, our youngest got his mission call—San Fernando mission, Spanish-speaking—and an acceptance to BYU within the last couple weeks as well! Lots of changes ahead!

Lesson 13: "The Allegory of the Olive Trees" [.pdf] [.pub]

I was not able to post Lesson 12 online because I was out of town taking care of some family business--but I will before Sunday (4/13).

Lesson 10: "He Inviteth All to Come unto Him" [.pdf] [.pub]

and (these are on the SAME flyer)

Lesson 11: Press Forward with a Steadfastness in Christ" [.pdf] [.pub]

We have Branch Conference next week, so the 2 lessons are being given together so we don't get too far behind everyone else.

p.s. Sorry for the mistake in the link address; typing w/my left hand is fraught w/peril!. It is fixed now. Thanks for the comment alerting me. 1:16 EST 3/9/08

Lesson 9: "My Soul Delighteth in the Words of Isaiah" [.pdf] [.pub]

Lesson 8: "O How Great the Goodness of Our God" [.pdf] [pub]

p.s. I fixed the date problem.

Lesson 7: "I Know in Whom I Have Trusted" [.pdf] [.pub]

Many thanks to those who have written get well messages to me, and especially to my husband who has taught my class while I've been out. I'm still typing one-handed (w/my left hand, and I'm very right-handed), so things are slow going, but bear with me.

p.s. I don't know why the date is always in dark green on the pdf version; I'm trying to fix that...